I’m the ever optimist.
The modern world is fucking awesome.
Okay, let’s consider some facts:
- Life has never been safer. Ignore the news and terrorist stacks.
- If you live in the “developed” world, you will NOT DIE of starvation, or more diseases. Assuming you don’t die in a texting and driving accident, you will probably live to be at least 80 years old. If you’re born in the 1980s (my generation), you will probably be 90 years old.
- Anyone in the developed world can afford an iPhone. Or a used iPhone. So you can take very good pictures. You can use free Google services for unlimited photo storage, backups, searching for information, free music and media on YouTube, free email, and free books via Gutenberg.org or archive.org
You have a SUPER ABUNDANCE of opportunities with modern digital and internet technology lowering the barrier to entry for entrepreneurship. For example, anyone who wants to start their own blog, with enough hard work (and some luck) can make it to the first page of Google. And therefore get “free advertising” for your business.
Everything is free
Clothes are essentially free. You will never freeze to death.
Phones cost practically nothing. WiFi is free. Coffee is close to free. Food is insanely cheap, I survive mostly on eggs and cheap pork belly.
We have all our basic needs met. You can live in a very cheap apartment, assuming you don’t need your own room and “privacy.”
If you live BELOW your means, you will be abundantly wealthy. And enough money to cover your basic needs, and have 100% unlimited free leisure time… to do whatever you want. Even if you have a 40-hour a week job, you have a LOT of free time before work, during your lunch break, and after work. And on weekends.
We cannot complain of having no “free time” if we watch Netflix or play video games.
You can make art for free
You can make pictures for free. You can access art for free (wikiart.ort and Google Art / Images). You can make free digital illustrations. I make a lot of art on iPad and Procreate app. By the way, you can buy a BRAND NEW iPad for only $330! And, you can buy an iPhone Touch for Only $199 (which has a good camera).
What is holding you back?
So friend, we live in a world of super abundance… what is holding you back?
My only theory; fear. Fear of judgment of your peers. Fear that you won’t be able to meet your own potential.
My suggestion: Learn to Believe in Yourself by taking more risks, ignoring others, and listening to yourself… your own gut. Have the freedom to be a bit crazy.
Play like a kid. Treat life like your own playground. Don’t take it too seriously.
Embrace Nietzsche’s concept of the “eternal return”— if you knew today that you would live forever, with your life on loop, would you be fucking horrified, or would you jump for joy?
Share your favorite artwork in ERIC KIM FORUM, and conquer your fears and meet new peers in ERIC KIM EXPERIENCE.
BE BOLD,
ERIC
PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101
If you want to make a living (or a killing) from photography, download:
PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS 101
- 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
- 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
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