I found Jason's post very inspirational too, kudos to him for laying his professional growth bare for all to see. I'm sure that with your dedication to the WordPress community, you can find just as much success!

But I wouldn't be so quick to write off consulting, especially since you don't have a product to sell aside from your expertise. You might think of a consultant as someone who writes code or makes fancy designs, but after the dust settles on a new site, many clients still need someone to take their hand and show them the best ways to use WordPress, blogging, and social media in general.

As much as you like to talk about WordPress, I'm sure you'd have no problem chatting with clients for $XXX an hour about how they can get the most out of the software. I think I could speak for a lot of coders and designers when I say that we'd rather not get into the real practical nuts and bolts of running a site and would happily pass that on to an able consultant such as yourself :)

Don't be afraid to experiment with existing revenue sources either. Display Advertising is one of those tricky things where one ad in a certain size and position could outperform many ads in the wrong spot, might not hurt to try blending them into the site more. And when one is empty, like that prime spot in the header, maybe you could pop in a nice ad to an affiliate product to keep it productive?

Same goes for the audio spot, I'm sure this one is the best for you and the advertiser, but if you don't have one, shame to let it go to waste. Lots of the podcasts I listen to are sponsored by Audible, you could do something similar by promoting an affiliate product, especially if it is timely. "Gravity Forms just released a new version, it has cool features X,Y, and Z, visit wptavern.com/gforms to pick up a copy and support the show."

Some sites, the Affiliated Reviews would really bother me, but you do a great job of covering it critically just like you would any non-commercial product or service. To increase their potential, have you thought about making them a sticky post for a while, maybe style the sticky post to stand out a bit?

All of your ideas for new revenue sources are sound, you should definitely implement them all. For the VIP membership, I wouldn't worry too much about what it offers. Think about public radio, plenty of us would signup as members simply to support the show, getting a mug or a gold star next to our names in the forum would just be a bonus.

Best of luck on building your career Jeff, if all else fails, get your wife-to-be to bring home the bacon! ;)