Month: July 2017

Semi Mid 2017 Progress Report

Here’s my somewhat mid-year progress report to show how I’m doing in my photography side hustle.

TL;DR> Doing pretty well!

The numbers are as of July 31, 2017.

Goal Review

I have five goals for my photography side hustle in 2017:

  1. Gross income of $1,200
  2. Stock photography income of $50/month by end of year
  3. Net income of $700
  4. Write and publish two eBooks
  5. Get paid for one magazine article or photo

Here we go.

Gross Income

The gross income I’ve received is $1058.48. If you look at that as 7/12 of what I need to reach my $1,200 goal, I’m definitely well above target!

I had several streams of income in the first seven months of 2017, including stock photography, the Manitoba Marathon, several image sales and ad sales through Google AdSense.

  • Stock photography sales were strong, with two payments from Shutterstock, my first from Adobe and my first from iStock / Getty. In total it was almost $400.
  • I was asked to help photograph the Manitoba Marathon and that netted a decent income for 7 hours of work. I enjoy the experience and one of the best parts is that you don’t have to do any processing at all – just hand in the SD card and you’re done!
  • I sold several images, both privately and through RedBubble.
  • I cleared the $100 threshold twice for Google AdSense. I may or may not receive one more payment before the end of 2017.

Score: ON TRACK

 

Stock Photography Income

As I mentioned, I received payments from Shutterstock, Adobe and iStock. I’m averaging about $35/month in microstock royalties, so I am getting closer to that $50/month target.

Beyond the “big three” of Shutterstock, Adobe and iStock, I have had some sales on Bigstock and 123rf with Dreamstime and Canstock going very quiet.

I submitted a lot of images in July (expanding my library by about 15%) and I’ll be taking and submitting a lot of travel images in August to expand my portfolio further.

I purchased and read Alexandre Rotenberg’s excellent Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography eBook (affiliate link) and plan to apply its lessons going forward. I will write a review of it shortly but I recommend it highly.

Score: GETTING BETTER

Net Income

My net income is very strong this year, and is already over my goal of $700 for the year. I’ve kept my expenses low by signing up for my web site hosting for 2 years last year, and so my only real expenses are the monthly Adobe Creative Cloud payments, domain name renewals and the eBook I mentioned above.

Score: ON TRACK

 

Write and Publish Two eBooks

I haven’t done anything on this yet. I need to get on it!

Score: FAILING

 

Get Paid for One Magazine Photo or Article

I have to submit those before I get paid! So… another thing for the “to do” list.

Score: FAILING

 

Summary

I am having mixed success this year to date. Income and expenses are good but I want to diversify my income streams more with more eBooks and get into magazines. The work never ends!

Steps For The Rest of The Year

  • Start writing eBooks
  • Investigate which magazine(s) to submit to, and make inquiries as to what they are looking for