Dear friend,
Let’s say you got $1,000 to invest. What should you buy? Stocks, or something else?
Naw cousin, invest that money into yourself.
1. Buy books, not gear
Worst investment of money: gear.
Why? All digital camera will get outdated in 6 months. Same with laptops, phones, cars, etc.
A book might cost you $20, but might give you 1 million dollars worth of value in terms of ideas.
For me, the books that have changed my life include Steve Jobs by Isaacson, ANTIFRAGILE and all of Nassim Taleb books, Zero to One by Peter Thiel, All books by SENECA (download for free online), NIETZSCHE WILL TO POWER book (free download on Project Gutenberg). I’ve re-read all these book, the only test whether a book is good or not.
Anyways, the ultimate tool you have is your mind. The bigger you can think the more money, influence, and power you can build. Of course you can do this all without fucking others over or throwing others under the bus.
Rather, build your own mind. Think massive. It’s better to die huge than die passive (Jay-Z).
2. Build your own empire
Don’t build your own empire on foreign soil.
For example, make your own photo blog, and build your own website following.
Fuck making an Instagram, and getting followers. You’re essentially helping Facebook (who owns Instagram) their own empire.
An assignment:
Make your own photo blog, and don’t upload to Facebook or Instagram for 1 month. All the photos you would have uploaded to social media, upload it to your own photography blog.
Pay money for your own platform. Super easy: bluehost.com and WordPress.org. Even easier: pay WordPress.com $10 a month for your own photo blog.
I say avoid Squarespace, because their platform isn’t as open. WordPress is the shit.
3. Promote yourself and your clique
You have friends. Promote them. Promote yourself. Build your own mafia, your own clique, your own team.
First help your family. Second, help your friends. Third, help all of society.
Essentially, be selfish and first water your own garden before watering the garden of others.
My clique:
CINDY NGUYEN
HAPTICPRESS.COM
WEARETHESTREET
4. Be selfish with your time
Cindy’s easy: MY LABOR IS NOT FREE is powerful. Don’t give away your time for free, unless you want to.
Consider, if you were born with 100 gold coins, would you give away one of those gold coins for free? Hell no.
1 of those gold coins is 1 year of your life.
And these number of gold coins are limited. You can never have any more, assuming we live to be 100 years old.
I’ll give gold coins to my friends, family, and loved ones. But not to everyone or anyone.
My suggestion:
Protect your gold coins (your time) with your life.
Be selfish with your time. You can always make another $100, but you can never gain another year of your life.
Learn to ignore, learn to say NO, or learn how to let things slide. Don’t always follow-up. Don’t always answer all your emails. Use “purposeful procrastination” in your favor.
Conclusion
Be selfish before you can be selfless.
BE STRONG,
ERIC
PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101 by ERIC KIM
If you want to make a living (or a killing) from photography, download:
KEYS TO SUCCESS
- The Two Camera Rule
- MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION
- Advice For College Students
- How to Thrive in Uncertain Times
- CANNIBALIZE YOURSELF.
- DO AND GROW RICH
- Does Fear of Punishment Hold You Back?
- HOW TO GET MORE FOLLOWERS
- How to Innovate
- How to Build Your Own Empire
- YOU ARE ENTITLED TO HARD WORK.
- PICK YOURSELF.
- OWN YOUR PLATFORM
- 10 KEYS TO SUCCESS
Table of Contents
Learn how to make a living from your passion:
- Preface. BRAVE NEW WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY
- Chapter 1. How to Create Value
- Chapter 2. ZEN CAPITALISM
- Chapter 3. Scarcity
- Chapter 4. How to Brand Yourself
- Chapter 5. How to Build a True Following
- Chapter 6. The Blueprint to Success in Photography
- Chapter 7. HOW TO BE BOLD
- Chapter 8. How to Sell Out
- Chapter 9. GO AGAINST THE GRAIN
- Chapter 10. EXTREME ABUNDANCE
- Chapter 11. Photography Experience Economy
- Chapter 12. Why You Should Make Money for Your Photography
- Chapter 13. How to Become a Famous Photographer
Photography Business 101
How to Make Money with Photography
- How to Charge More Money in Your Photography
- Why You Should Not Pursue Photography as Career
- Can Photography Make You Rich?
- How I Earn $200,000+ a Year From Photography
- How to earn $10,000 a month as a photographer
- Why you must be an expensive photographer
Photography Marketing 101
- Why You Should Do Photography Work For Free
- How I Became an Internet Famous Photographer
- Photography Blogging Ideas
- Why You Should Promote Your Own Name
- How to Build a Following
- How to Stand Out as a Photographer.
- HOW TO GO VIRAL AS A PHOTOGRAPHER.
- How to Master Marketing
- How to Sell Yourself
How to Hustle.
- Entrepreneurial Advice to My 18 Year Old Self
- How to Become Insanely Productive.
- 5 Lessons From Hesiod on Hustling
Entrepreneurial Principles
- It is Better to Beg For Forgiveness Than Ask For Permission
- The Free Way to Become Rich
- JUST DO IT.
- 7 Steps: How to Make a Living From Your Passion
- How to Do What You Love for a Living
- How to Create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
- How to Fail Big
- How to Invest in Yourself
- How to Be Bold in Photography and Life
- Mission: Cover Your Rent and Food
- 1,000 True Fans
- The “10x Principle”: The Only Difference Between “Success” and “Failure”
- Make More Value Not Money
- We Live in a Photo Utopia
How to be a Full-time Photographer
- How to Make a Living From Photography
- The 3 Principles of Making Money With Photography
- Advice for Aspiring Full-Time Photographers
- Don’t Go Into Debt For Your Photography
- How to Brand Yourself as a Photographer
- Trust: The Most Important Thing You Need to Succeed as a Photographer
Photography Blogging
- How to become rich from photography blogging
- How to Make a Living with Blogging
- 50 Blogging Tips For Beginners
- How to Start Your Own Photography Blog
- A Photographer’s Guide to SEO, Blogging, and Social Media
How to Teach Photography
- How to Become a Photography Teacher
- How to Teach a Street Photography Class
- Why I Teach Street Photography Workshops
Social Media
- Why I Deleted My Instagram
- The Social Media Blackbook for Photographers
- Why Do You Need More Likes or Followers?
- Instagram is Going to Be the Next Facebook
- Don’t Trust “Free” Photography Social Networks