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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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