HOW I MAKE MONEY FROM PHOTOGRAPHY

Money, moneta … essentially the temple of Juno where coin-money was minted.

In some ways, coin money is more ancient than paper money. Paper money (and more recently Bitcoin and crypto-currency) is a more recent phenomenon.

Thus when we think of money … what do we really mean to talk about money? And how can we make (more) of it?

Money as a concept

I will still never forget my experience with Ryan at Backyard Brew in Palo Alto. Ryan showed me two super old-school $100 dollar bills:

One showed a more ‘confederate’ style $100, and the other what we know as the ‘standard’ $100 bill.

Just follow your gut

I cannot speak for you, but I don’t like to pay for stuff. I like it free.

I also like open source. Why? I want to look at the code and fuck around with it! I want open access!

What do I like to pay for?

I like to pay for services. I like to pay for experiences. I like to pay for physical things, books, etc. This is why I created HAPTIC INDUSTRIES with Cindy … as a means of creating dope things to empower others.

Teaching workshops

This is the big one: teaching workshops. Education.

Simple barbell strategy:

Give away all your stuff for free, and charge lots of money for your paid services and products.

Create products

Create products — digital or physical.

For example for us:

Make print books
Make camera straps
Make leather products

Where to host your e-commerce?

You can use ‘WooCommerce‘ on your self-hosted wordpress.org website, or you can host on Amazon Fulfillment services. We barbell both; our own site (here), and our own Amazon store.

This is one of the greatest reasons for building your own self-hosted website; more freedom!

The steps

Build your own self-hosted website (1and1.com and install wordpress.org)
Start a YouTube channel (no ads), and mention your website and blog every single time
Start blogging and sharing your ideas, art work, and more
Build an email newsletter, and have people subscribe. Install ‘Sendy.co‘ on your website and web server, and start building your email mailing list.
Send out emails with free resources, ideas, motivation, PDF’s, etc … and also advertise your products, goods, and services
Use PayPal buy it now buttons to make money.