Vicious Cycle

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Someone commented on my blog about the vicious cycle that we all are entangled in. Yes, I fully agree on this and that is exactly what keeps us in this rat race. We are so tied up with kid’s, families and other liabilities that we just cannot see any exit route to get out of this race.

Having said that, it’s never too late to try. Accepting for a fact that we are here to stay in this vicious cycle for life is giving up on your dreams. It’s like surrendering to the circumstances and yielding to the pressures of running a family.

‘Never give up on your dreams.’

Unless you dream of achieving something big, you will never find a way to get to those dreams.

I started my career on a small note with a meager salary. It’s only with time, experience and changing a few jobs that I reached a considerable position and salary. So the initial years of the career have been just about gathering experience and no savings. However, there are many who start their career on a good remuneration. Most of them who start their careers don’t have much liability of running a family or other such expenses at the beginning of their career.

Such individuals who start good should really look at how they manage their income. Many just lead a carefree life and spend the money without giving much thought. Yes, the bachelor life is to be lived to the fullest, but the sudden increase in their income vis-a- vis the pocket money from their parents, gives them a big sense of ‘Financial Freedom’. Many just misuse this false sense of freedom and spend way beyond what they should be.

Bachelor life if definitely to be enjoyed and what good is life, if you cannot enjoy what you earn. However, it does not really mean that you enjoy everything today. Unless a limit is drawn to how you use your money, the pinch would be felt at a later stage in life. So for those who really start on a good career and remuneration, my advice is invest some amount of the money you earn. When you are 25 and earning around 3000$ or equivalent, the risk factor in investment is quite high, which means that you are somebody who can’t take potential high risk in investment. This risk factor just gets lower with age and by the time you are , you would have accumulated enough liabilities to think twice in investments.

However, for those who are investment savvy and start on a smart note at 25, by the time you reach 35, you would have taken care of the future for sure. This is when the road to ‘Financial Freedom’ would be a cakewalk. This is when families and other responsibilities will not drag you into a vicious cycle and you will be at ease with your finances. By 40, you would probably be looking at planning your retirement. This however, I am assuming that you are consistent with your career growth and parallelly investing and monitoring your finances.

As for those who were not lucky to be starting early like me, as I said, its never too late. It’s about keeping an open mind and trying to bring in some passive income and probably look for multiple incomes.

To achieve all that is said, the most important thing is to have a ‘Dream’, it all begins with that.
Like somebody said

“Dreams are not what you see when you sleep; dreams are what keep you from sleeping.”

Instill that passion in you to ‘Dream’, and make your exit route to “Financial Freedom.”

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‘Pashion’ Photography

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One big reason why we are in the rat race is because most of us are doing a job which we don’t like. Now why do we do that? Only one reason MONEY. So what do we do about it?

Well just do what you like to do and make money out of it. Simple isn’t.
I think people who make passion their business are really the lucky ones. They really don’t have to work anymore. They just enjoy doing what they do and the more they do there more money they make and the more they enjoy doing it.

So what are you passionate about? Ask yourself that question. Then ask, what can I do to make this passion make money for me? Nowadays finding answers is not that difficult. We don’t need to ask anyone to find answers, all we have to do is ask Mr. Google and there is a plethora of information available at your fingertips.

Do some research online on how to make your hobby into a business. I am sure you will find a million ways. And if you don’t find any answers, I think it is even better. You know why?

Because that means there is no one doing that business, so you have a niche market to tap into, so be the trend setter.
Having said that, nothing in life is that simple. Nothing comes served on a platter, especially success. You really need to put your heart into it. Success to me is a recipe made in Blood, Sweat and Tears. Give everything you got once you have a roadmap in sight.

What passion do I have, you may ask? Well, there are many passions that I follow and one of them is photography. So what have I done to make this passion a business?

Well there are a number of sites were you can upload your photos online [I am not talking about Picasa or such ‘share my pictures to the world’ sites]. I am talking about serious photography here. These sites are called ‘Stock Photography’ sites and there are a number of them which have sprung up. As I had mentioned before, I am sure there would have been one guy who was a trendsetter for this ‘Online Stock Photography’ concept. I am sure right now he is sitting on hoards of money and still enjoying his passion.

After doing some research I started uploading my photographs at http://www.istockphoto.com/menonsstocks. I started out in 2006 with this site. I had no clue what I was getting into. Many skeptical minds told me what if they cheat and use your pictures somewhere without letting you know. My reasoning to this is, what good are my pictures doing anyways sitting on my laptop hard drive. I might as well give it a try. Surprisingly, the first month or may be less than that one of my pictures did get downloaded. That was motivation enough for me to start downloading more pictures.
There are many such sites that offer the same concept.

So what do you do to make it working? Go to Mr. Google and search the word ‘Stock Photography’. I have given one example with istockphoto. You would find many such sites. Most of these sites offer free membership, so go ahead and make a username and start uploading. You can upload your pictures to all the sites at the same time and probably earn revenue from all the sites. Most of these sites offer to make the payment when your account balance has reached $100. You can then ask for a cheque or paypal transfer or any such transaction methods. You can check with the particular site for their payment method.

Initially, I did try uploading pictures to a few sites and did create a username. But eventually I concentrated on only one site and stuck with istockphoto. I am in no way marketing istockphoto, you can select any site you are comfortable with. Although istock is one major player in the stock photography market along with http://www.gettyimages.com/.

Each of these site will also have a exclusivity offer where in you can be in a contract with them and offer your pictures only to this particular site. However there are certain criteria you have to meet to be eligible to be exclusive. I did finally after 3 long years meet the criteria and have gone exclusive with them. Benefits are, more money for each download and more visibility at their site. I also have my own business card from them. How cool is that?

Am I making enough to make a living? Well, I am not there yet, definitely a long way, as I write this. But if you go through the site, you will find guys who have accomplished the financial freedom through this method.

Is it that easy? Well conceptually yes it is easy, however ‘No pain No gain’ holds good here as well. It takes a lot of patience to upload the images and not all the images you upload get accepted. Yes, you heard it right. These are professional sites and unless the photographs meet their quality standards and stock imagery standards they do not get accepted. You have to be very precise in what you upload, scan the images closely to make sure there no brand images visible or peoples face visible. If you are submitting human recognizable pictures make sure you have a model release form duly signed before uploading.

I have been doing this for sometime, as I said, it has not made me achieve my financial freedom as yet, but certainly helped me in enhancing my photography skills. I probably make about $100 per month. Better than nothing, right? Now I have better acceptance rate with this site as I know exactly what they will select and what they will reject. Well I don’t know exactly, because the rejection sometimes does get on your nerve.

So here is one way of making an income sitting at home with all those loads and loads of vacation pictures that you take.
Here are a few links that can be a helping guide in starting off on this venture or you can just start off on your own.
CameraDollars

Digicamcash


If you have looked at my link http://www.istockphoto.com/menonsstocks then if I can do it, so can you. Give it a try. No harm in trying. All the very best.

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Trading Places

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If real estate is the 'Trump Card’ in your investment portfolio, I will say that investments in stock will come, a close second. Any investment portfolio is incomplete without this essential asset. Many skeptics feel that stock trading is a risky business, my response to them is “So is life”. We don’t stop living just because we all know that the end is somewhere and we don’t know about it. Any unknowns will always carry the element of risk. It’s how we deal with the risk and do some analytics on the probabilities of an investment going bad. That is where the term ‘Calculated Risk’ plays a major role. Be it a management initiatives, family decisions or be it the stock market, decisions have to be based on facts and figures. If you put some amount of due diligence in your investment style then you can always make a safe bet on which side of the Return on Investment [ROI] you will fall into.

I know many middle class men feel that fixed deposit is the safest bet for our ‘Rat Race’ salary that we draw. I do agree it is a safe bet compared to other investment strategies. If you would have read my 'Trump Card’ article then I am sure you realize the ‘Risk versus Returns’ benefits. My understanding of fixed deposit is to keep your savings locked up for a certain period. If god forbid, any situation arises and there is an emergency cash required then we break the fixed deposit and use up the fund. Yes, we do stand to lose the interest rate for the fixed deposit term, however, even in this scenario, different banks have different schemes. Find the best that suits you and deposit in such schemes.

If you have secured the funds for any such emergencies that your envisage for the coming 6-8 months, I think you are ready to getting into the Stock Trading World with some of the funds available for this investment.

To get out of the ‘Rat Race’ that we are in, on a daily basis, it is important to multiply our money. With a little caution and continuous monitoring, stock market is one way of achieving this objective. As with any investment, returns are high when the risk is high. Stock market due to globalization can change directions quickly based on any global cues, for the positive or negative trends. This is why continuous monitoring of this asset is a must as compared to real estate.

Nevertheless, unless we get into understanding this investment strategy, we as common man will continue to accept the monthly pay check and pay our bills and carry on with the monotonous lifestyle governed by our need to survive financially. Please think about this as an option to multiply your money.

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