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Reality is Malleable!

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Selfie hotel room ricoh gr ii
Tokyo Hotel Selfie, 2018

Dear friend,

A word of encouragement and something I believe in: realize that reality is malleable!


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You have the power!

This is my thoughts:

In the modern world, many of us feel disempowered, because we don’t think we have the power to change our external reality. We feel trapped; we feel like prisoners. We feel trapped in our 9-5 jobs, we feel trapped by outside social expectations, and we feel trapped by society.

However realize friend — reality is malleable! You have the power to change your external reality (and internal reality).

Perhaps in the past if you were born as a slave, you literally wouldn’t have any ability to change your external reality. But in today’s free world– you have infinite power to do anything you desire!


Human needs

For example, let us ask ourselves:

What do we really need in order to not die?

Simply put, we must not starve to death, we must not freeze to death, and we must not die of thirst. Beyond that– our needs are actually very meager.

In other words, what we NEED in order to survive:

  1. Eat food
  2. Stay warm
  3. Drink water

Beyond that, everything else is “superfluous”.


We are living in the best possible time, in human history.

The phenomenal thing to consider is that in today’s world, to survive (and not die) is essentially free. In today’s prosperous modern world, you couldn’t starve to death (even if you tried). You wouldn’t freeze to death (clothes are essentially free). You wouldn’t die of thirst (there are free water faucets/fountains everywhere in all public places).

Taking it a step forward– a lot of us like having access to power outlets and wifi. And that is essentially free and open at community libraries, some public parks/places, and can also be accessed for very cheap (assuming you spend $2 for a cup of coffee at a coffee shop).

Not only that– but you can essentially buy a super-high end smartphone for almost nothing. You can get an uber-powerful smartphone for less than $100 USD! This blows me away. With your smartphone you can access the internet, access infinite video content (YouTube), you can access infinite knowledge/books/information (Project Gutenberg at gutenberg.org / Internet archive at archive.org), you have access to free publishing platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Medium, WordPress, YouTube), and at worst– the only minor annoyance is online advertising. But beyond that– the internet affords us infinite possibilities, is open, democratic, and to some extent– a “level playing field”.


What do you really want out of life?

Sorry I’m getting a bit distracted with the internet– realize that when I say that “reality is malleable” what I mean is this:

You have the power to dictate how you live your life, with whom you associate yourself with, and you have control over your time/attention/energy/life.

The only thing which restricts our freedom is when we desire the superfluous. If you desire to live a life where you are making a bunch of money, that you drive a BMW, that you own a Rolex, all the newest Apple gadgets, live in a big house, etc — then of course, you’re going to have to compromise your time/freedom/attention/life. If you desire to have all of these superfluous stuff– you will probably have to trade your life-energy for this stuff.

But, if your #1 priority in life is to have control over your time, energy, attention, focus, and life force– then I encourage you to create a lifestyle which allows you to have maximum personal freedom, with the minimum amount of compromising.


There are infinite options on how to make a living

For example, do you know that you can live in Vietnam (Hanoi or Saigon) for quite well– for less than $20 a day? (~$600 USD a month). If you speak English, do you realize how easy it is to get a job teaching English in Vietnam, Korea, or many other Asian countries?

Do you realize that you don’t have to live the rest of your life with a “traditional” 9-5 job, working 5 days a week? You have so many options to “make a living”!

For example, some ideas:

  1. You can work like crazy for a year and make a bunch of money at your traditional job, and save a bunch of that money, and then after the year– live as cheaply as possible in Saigon or Bangkok until your money runs out, and then you can start the cycle again.
  2. You can figure out ways to monetize your passion: For example if your passion is photography, you can end up teaching workshops, you can shoot commercial work, you can sell products, you can sell education/courses/information, and you don’t need to make a million dollars. You can earn a “basic” income for yourself through your passion, and then focus on living a place with a low-cost of living. For example even living in the states, DON’T live in San Francisco/Bay Area, New York — opt for Detroit, or any cheaper city/neighborhood.
  3. To make a “living” as an entrepreneur — the easiest strategy is to LOWER your costs of living (instead of trying to increase your income). Earning more money/increasing your income depends on convincing others to give you money — whereas you have 100% control to REDUCE your daily living expenses/lifestyle. Ideas for reducing your lifestyle expenses: don’t eat at expensive/fancy restaurants, don’t pay a lease/monthly payments for an expensive car (you can just buy a cheap used car), you can end up sharing a room (or move in back with your parents), and get rid of your smartphone data plan (you can just use Wifi when you need it).

You have more control than you think you have

Essentially what I want to share with you is this:

You have more options in life than you think you have.

The hard thing about life is that most of us live by analogy. We look at the lifestyles of others, and it is really hard for us to reason from “first principles” in terms of how to live our lives.

Which means– you can create your own unique lifestyle for yourself (as long as you don’t starve, freeze, or die of thirst).


Dictate your own ideal lifestyle for yourself.

I’m currently living a “digital nomadic” life — and I like this lifestyle. However this isn’t for everyone. I prefer it, but others might not.

And that is cool — you don’t need to justify your personal lifestyle preferences. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to live. This is what makes being alive/reality fun — it is the ultimate “MMORPG” with infinite possibilities!

Real life is the best video game. We have the maximum frame-rate, no lag, endless worlds to explore, every human being is a “playable character” (NPC is a character in a video game you cannot interact with — a ‘non playable character’), and as long as the laws of physics allow for a certain movement/behavior — you can do it!

This is why video games/Grand Theft Auto/world of warcraft/RPG games are so hilarious to me– real life is the ultimate video game! In Grand Theft Auto, it is amazing they’ve created a replica of Los Angeles that can be explored so much. However in video games you always have restrictions — in real life you don’t have any! For myself, I’ve realized some fun “life hacks” — like you can hang out in expensive hotel lobbies without spending a dime, you go to an expensive restaurant and only order 1 entree (and still get served), and the whole of planet Earth is so infinitely big– even if you wanted to see all of it in your lifetime you couldn’t (and planet Earth is constantly in a state of flux/change).


Photography = the ultimate video game

This is why photography is so fun to me– photography is like the ultimate video game. Do you remember the game, “Pokemon snap?” Or even nowadays “Pokemon Go” — you explore the real world (Augmented Reality) with your phone– and you gotta “catch em all!” In photography, you gotta capture all of reality– capture photos of people, capture “decisive moments”, capture nature, capture urban landscapes, etc.


Create your own reality.

You have more power than you think. You can change reality– your own reality (both internal and external). Put a dent in the universe.

BE BOLD,
ERIC


Put a dent in the universe.

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Photography Entrepreneurship 101

How to Succeed as an Entrepreneur

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  • You Have No Limits.
  • Calculated Risk-Taking
  • Invest in Yourself
  • The Secret of Happiness: Shoot for the Moon!
  • Moonshot Thinking
  • Why We Should all Be Photography Entrepreneurs
  • Memento Mori Entrepreneurship
  • Why it is Better to Beg For Forgiveness than Ask For Permission
  • How to Become a Digital Nomad
  • Why You Must Own Your Own Platform
  • First Principle Thinking for Photography Entrepreneurs
  • How I Became a Digital Nomad
  • Better to Beg For Forgiveness than Ask For Permission!
  • Spurn Pleasing Others!
  • Create Your Own Niche
  • How to Gain More Exposure For Your Photography
  • Intense Focus
  • How to Conquer Your Fears as an Entrepreneur
  • Define Yourself
  • Let Dissatisfaction Drive You Forward!
  • It Doesn’t Matter if Someone Else Has Done it Before!
  • How to Succeed as a Photography Entrepreneur: Be Extremely Resourceful
  • Open Source Business Model in Photography Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurship 101: Growth and Innovation Over Self-Preservation
  • How to Create Value as a Photography Entrepreneur
  • Why Become a Photography Entrepreneur?
  • Why You Must Ignore Nay-Sayers to Succeed in Entrepreneurship, Business, and Life

The Modern Photographer: Tips, Strategies, and Tactics to Thrive as a Visual Artist in the Digital Age

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Marketing, Branding, Entrepreneurship Principles For Success

MODERN PHOTOGRAPHER is your new philosophical and practical primer to succeed as a modern photographer in today’s digital world.

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Business Mental Models

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  • How to Succeed as a Photography Entrepreneur: Be Extremely Resourceful
  • Open Source Business Model in Photography Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurship 101: Growth and Innovation Over Self-Preservation

How to Monetize Your Photography

EURO CAMERA MONEY by ANNETTE KIM

  • Photography Entrepreneurship 101: INFLUENCE
  • Should I Monetize My Passion for Photography?
  • 10 Practical Photography Monetization Strategies: Pricing, Google SEO, & Entrepreneurship
  • How to Make Money From Street Photography

Why Become a Photography Entrepreneur?

Take control of your own photographic destiny:

  1. Photography Startup Manual
  2. PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP MANUAL
  3. On Risk Taking and Entrepreneurship

THE MODERN PHOTOGRAPHER

  • CREATIVE CAPITALISM
  • How to Monetize Your Photography
  • 5 Practical Photography Career Tips and Advice
  • 10x Thinking
  • How to Hustle as a Photographer
  • How to Become Your Own Master Marketer
  • The ‘T’ Technique of Success
  • Go Ahead and Sell Out
  • What is Your Unique Voice?
  • Why You Must Self-Promote Yourself
  • What is Your Unique Angle as a Photographer?
  • Photography Content Marketing 101
  • Why You Must Become Your Own Publisher
  • The Art of Cross-Pollination in Photography

Photography Entrepreneurship Articles

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  • Why You Shouldn’t Trust Your Pictures to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Flickr
  • How to Make Money From Your Photography
  • Photography SEO and Blogging: How to Become Number One on Google
  • Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
  •  Now is the Best Time to Be a Photographer
  • PRODUCERISM
  • What Is The Value of a Picture?
  • Your Photographic Labor is Not Free

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS 101

CAMERA MONEY GBP by ANNETTE KIM

  • Chapter 1. How to Make a Photography Blog
  • Chapter 2. How to Price Yourself
  • Chapter 3. How to Find Your Market
  • Chapter 4. Why Teach Workshops?
  • Chapter 5. How to Build Trust
  • Chapter 6. How to Market Yourself
  • Chapter 7: Why Should Someone Attend Your Workshop?

KEYS TO SUCCESS

  • Why You Must Be a “Personality” in Order to Succeed
  • THRIVE OR DIE.
  • Impatience is a Virtue
  • Create Your Own Category
  • HOW TO DREAM BIG.
  • Will Not or Cannot?
  • Why Not?
  • How to Think BIG
  • How to Stay Ahead of the Curve
  • How to Invest in Yourself
  • 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

  • Practical Photography Business Advice

How to Make Money with Photography

CAMERA MONEY USD by ANNETTE KIM
CAMERA MONEY USD by ANNETTE KIM
  • 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 Have More Followers?
  • 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

SELLOUT ERIC KIM

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

How to Save Money

  • How Cindy Saved Us $150,000+
  • The Free Way to Become Rich

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