http://hunchmag.com/interview-yuri-arcurs-the-top-selling-microstock-photographer/

New Interview with Yuri Arcurs released today has him talking about his earnings. Something he has not done for 3 years.

He also talks about starting off in Microstock today in 2012 and do people have a chance to be successful?

Talks about quality vs quanity. Talks about the early days.

what do you mean by that sue?

"We have more than 100 people employed worldwide, and paying them their monthly salaries is our biggest expense. "

I agree with you on some level there. But I also can't help thinking to myself if he had not kept investing back into his photography, hiring staff, etc. then maybe he wouldnt be the microstock giant he is today.

PeopleImages might not have come around etc.

Maybe he has a 15 year plan with his photography and PeopleImages and part of that plan is to put all the money back into it until it is at such a size it threatens istock, shutterstock etc.

Maybe he has a 15 year plan with his photography and PeopleImages and part of that plan is to put all the money back into it until it is at such a size it threatens istock, shutterstock etc.

Yes, his goal is to shut you down and put you out of business by flooding the market with tons of images.  Nice, eh?  Then you can join his agency for 10% royalty.

"We have more than 100 people employed worldwide, and paying them their monthly salaries is our biggest expense. "

I agree with you on some level there. But I also can't help thinking to myself if he had not kept investing back into his photography, hiring staff, etc. then maybe he wouldnt be the microstock giant he is today.

PeopleImages might not have come around etc.

Maybe he has a 15 year plan with his photography and PeopleImages and part of that plan is to put all the money back into it until it is at such a size it threatens istock, shutterstock etc.

16!

 Come on folks!  you know the drill, assholes and ellbows,  get out shooting instead of just reading about it. Jealous bums, the lot of ya.

'My average return on investment is currently about 30 months and I�m the world�s best!'

I'm guessing my return is 3-4 months.  I won't make any claim besides that.

Is that a cost out for time or just expenses? If it's just expenses, then I don't really have any. So, my time to return is zero seconds. Maybe, I'm the world's best? 

She means he got three fan threads posted here today, with no effort of his own.

Nice picture in the private jet with the hot swimsuit model and the large camera, lol.

I'm pretty sure that's his Girlfriend / fiance Cecilie .. I guess that doesn't negate the fact about her being a swimsuit model.

Anyhow, nice article thanks for the link anc.  It's nice to see their didn't glorify microstock.  I don't think there is much doubt that Yuri has created an impressive machine.

Quote from: anc on July 16, 2012, 11:29

...I also can't help thinking to myself if he had not kept investing back into his photography, hiring staff, etc. then maybe he wouldnt be the microstock giant he is today.

PeopleImages might not have come around etc...

Depends on how you define "microstock giant." Yuri says in that interview that he "was earning the income of a plastic surgeon within the first year." That's a giant of the business by pretty much any standard, I think. And that was back when he didn't have the big staff, the huge overhead, etc.

At some point I think Yuri could have just shifted into a casual shooting mode and maintained a pretty easy million dollar annual income without all of the overhead. Or he could do exactly that now. Close the business, and just enjoy the royalties for many years to come. Why doesn't he?

I hate to say it, but I think that at least part of his motivation has to do with fame. He would do better financially on his own, without the big business overhead and 100 staff to pay. So the only reason I can think of as to why he'd do all of this is more about building his name, becoming even more well-known, and maybe creating some sort of lasting legacy as the guy who went from nothing to the biggest name in the business, and then possibly changed the very business itself.

Fame with who though? Microstock people? That's hardly going to make him a household name.
If it was me, I'd be worried about the overheads. He obviously has plenty of turnover, but he also seems to have plenty of costs.
Turnover is nothing really. The only figure that matters is the bottom line after all the expenses have been taken out.

Quote from: EmberMike on July 16, 2012, 12:05

Quote from: anc on July 16, 2012, 11:29

...I also can't help thinking to myself if he had not kept investing back into his photography, hiring staff, etc. then maybe he wouldnt be the microstock giant he is today.

PeopleImages might not have come around etc...

Depends on how you define "microstock giant." Yuri says in that interview that he "was earning the income of a plastic surgeon within the first year." That's a giant of the business by pretty much any standard, I think. And that was back when he didn't have the big staff, the huge overhead, etc.

At some point I think Yuri could have just shifted into a casual shooting mode and maintained a pretty easy million dollar annual income without all of the overhead. Or he could do exactly that now. Close the business, and just enjoy the royalties for many years to come. Why doesn't he?

I hate to say it, but I think that at least part of his motivation has to do with fame. He would do better financially on his own, without the big business overhead and 100 staff to pay. So the only reason I can think of as to why he'd do all of this is more about building his name, becoming even more well-known, and maybe creating some sort of lasting legacy as the guy who went from nothing to the biggest name in the business, and then possibly changed the very business itself.

Fame with who though? Microstock people? That's hardly going to make him a household name.
If it was me, I'd be worried about the overheads. He obviously has plenty of turnover, but he also seems to have plenty of costs.
Turnover is nothing really. The only figure that matters is the bottom line after all the expenses have been taken out.

Dave!  you nailed it completely!  fame with who, us?, micros?, etc? outside here we are nobodies. Outside in the real world of commissioned photogrpahy we are totally unheard of. Fame, household names? blimey, you have to go to the photographers like Newton, Bailey, Avedon, Penn, Turner, Haas, Webber, etc, etc, whos images sell for millions at auctions.
we are still nothing but small fry.

Quote from: Difydave on July 16, 2012, 12:18

The only figure that matters is the bottom line after all the expenses have been taken out.

As in "turnover is vanity, profit is sanity"

Oh yes! I actually put "turnover is only vanity" and altered it!

Quote from: anc on July 16, 2012, 11:29

Maybe he has a 15 year plan with his photography and PeopleImages and part of that plan is to put all the money back into it until it is at such a size it threatens istock, shutterstock etc.

Yes, his goal is to shut you down and put you out of business by flooding the market with tons of images.  Nice, eh?  Then you can join his agency for 10% royalty.

jokes apart he's maybe the only man in the stock business who has both the expertise of successful photographer and successful entrepreneur.

if someone tomorrow is going to launch an agency that can seriously become a big player this is Yuri, he's delivering much more than what
he says and he only focus on shooting best sellers (people, business, etc), he doesn't try to diversify in fields like travel or nature or conceptual ..

PeopleImages is the first step, next step could be the launch of the next IS/SS killer and i'm sure it's in his grand plan for stock domination.

"Which means by the time he has prepared and eaten his breakfast he has already made more money than most people make in a day."

All i wanted to say is WOW. Some people live a blessed life. Good fore you Yuri!

I was never in it for the simple life and the million dollar income. I could stop tomorrow and never have to work a day in my life, but then why do I keep going?
To be honest, the only thing I really care about is creating content that is mind-blowing and give buyers a "wow" experience. I want the most consistent, perfect, excellently executed collection everywhere I sell my images. I also want it to be available on the simplest, most intuitive and fastest platform thinkable. If I cared only for the income, I would not have students, neither would I do conferences nor interviews. I would only go for the "low hanging fruits" kind of images (and I know what they are)�
You can claim it na�ve, obsessed, or even stupid (as done here), but you cannot deny that if you were to spend your own money buying images, you would care a lot about these qualities. We are at a turning point, rather you like it or not or perhaps have not even seen it coming.
In the midst of the masses of microstock, there is a growing frustration being built up, and it will not be solved by us just adding more content. Passion will prevail!

I was never in it for the simple life and the million dollar income. I could stop tomorrow and never have to work a day in my life, but then why do I keep going?
To be honest, the only thing I really care about is creating content that is mind-blowing and give buyers a "wow" experience. I want the most consistent, perfect, excellently executed collection everywhere I sell my images. I also want it to be available on the simplest, most intuitive and fastest platform thinkable. If I cared only for the income, I would not have students, neither would I do conferences nor interviews. I would only go for the "low hanging fruits" kind of images (and I know what they are)�
You can claim it na�ve, obsessed, or even stupid (as done here), but you cannot deny that if you were to spend your own money buying images, you would care a lot about these qualities. We are at a turning point, rather you like it or not or perhaps have not even seen it coming.
In the midst of the masses of microstock, there is a growing frustration being built up, and it will not be solved by us just adding more content. Passion will prevail!

Steve Jobs was as worth $25 Million  at 25-years-old. He said, It was not about making money. It was about making great products and putting a dent in the universe.. Go get'em Yuri. You are young, talented and ambitious. Make some dents my friend. 

Quote from: Yuri_Arcurs on July 16, 2012, 15:22

I was never in it for the simple life and the million dollar income. I could stop tomorrow and never have to work a day in my life, but then why do I keep going?
To be honest, the only thing I really care about is creating content that is mind-blowing and give buyers a "wow" experience. I want the most consistent, perfect, excellently executed collection everywhere I sell my images. I also want it to be available on the simplest, most intuitive and fastest platform thinkable. If I cared only for the income, I would not have students, neither would I do conferences nor interviews. I would only go for the "low hanging fruits" kind of images (and I know what they are)�
You can claim it na�ve, obsessed, or even stupid (as done here), but you cannot deny that if you were to spend your own money buying images, you would care a lot about these qualities. We are at a turning point, rather you like it or not or perhaps have not even seen it coming.
In the midst of the masses of microstock, there is a growing frustration being built up, and it will not be solved by us just adding more content. Passion will prevail!

Steve Jobs was as worth $25 Million  at 25-years-old. He said, It was not about making money. It was about making great products and putting a dent in the universe.. Go get'em Yuri. You are young, talented and ambitious. Make some dents my friend. 

+1

I once knew this guy who from nothing started up a cell phone network in Asia. He ended up selling it for over 20M dollars or some huge amount. I asked him how he did that. He said it was so common place for the shareholders of the other companies ripping out as much money as they could from the other networks each year - that all he did was fight ferociously to see that all the money his company could spare was put back into the company, and in the end it paid off. He had the better company.

curious how can everybody wish

free of charge like this forum!

lets all hold our hands and WISH

'And yet people sit around and complain about someone putting money back into their photography to GROW it. In 5 years time those same people will be saying I wish I grew my portfolio earlier on in the game.'

A lot of us put plenty of cash back into growing our content portfolio.  If we all operated at that level, we could all be doing fine.  However, the goal here is to crush everyone else with huge numbers - we all can't develop '100 person' companies, thus making it 'unsustainable' for anyone else.

I understand what you are saying. But Yuri was just the same as you, ie working alone on microstock, and he created the machine he has now. So anyone could create 100 person companies.

And as for crushing people with huge numbers, as discussed in this post, Yuri seems to have stopped uploading to microstock agencies for now: http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/yuri-arcurs-has-stopped-to-upload-on-istock-3-months-ago/

On Istock he has 11 thousand images uploaded....and you have 12k images uploaded... So I dont get why you keep saying he is "crushing" other microstockers by flooding the sites with thousands of images.

He is concentrating on PeopleImages. Which is its own thing. I think he has 80k images there right? And probably many more in the near future. I dont see anything wrong in that. Even if he uploaded all 80k to microstock sites, nothing wrong with that either. 80K of Shutterstocks 20 million files - from someone who has worked on it for near 10 years (?)

I just dont get your argument or what you are complaining about. It is more worthwhile to complain about royalty rates than how prolific another photographer is

10 years? you are so weak with numbers, at least prepare what you are going to say

Quote from: luissantos84 on July 16, 2012, 17:43

10 years? you are so weak with numbers, at least prepare what you are going to say

80K images

10 years = 3560 days

80K divided by 3560 = 22.47

Dude check your own numbers before you attack someone else

dude Yuri ain't doing stock for 10 years

Quote from: anc on July 16, 2012, 17:52

Quote from: luissantos84 on July 16, 2012, 17:43

10 years? you are so weak with numbers, at least prepare what you are going to say

80K images

10 years = 3560 days

80K divided by 3560 = 22.47


Dude check your own numbers before you attack someone else

dude Yuri ain't doing stock for 10 years

That is why I said "Over 10 years that is about 20 images a day. Not sure if he has been shooting that long so even over 5 years that is about 40 images a day".

So maybe you should read before you attack  

Envy, the lot of you. 

honestly there are only two options, envy or not? thats very curious

this is a highly intellectual conversation that I do not qualify to participate in...

Anyone could create a big company, but I still wonder why anyone would want to. I'd much rather have Sean's business than Yuri's. Low overhead, small operation, high profitability.

I can appreciate and applaud Yuri's interest in making a dent in the universe so to speak, but that is an ambition that I don't understand, personally anyway. That's not the kind of life I'd want. I much rather stay low-key, not have to pour tons of money into staff and expenses, and enjoy a low-pressure yet profitable business. I guess it all depends on where you are in your life. Given the opportunity to never have to work again a day in my life, I wouldn't be as motivated as Yuri to want to do something so ambitious, no matter how much I loved the craft. I'd rather spend that time with my family, doing things with my wife and son, traveling, etc.

100% agree.

I think Yuri has earned his fame and his clients. He is a hard worker.  And in any interview it is very easy to sound like a pompous deity which may or may not be the intention.

I have seen the evolution of his work over the years and he has upped the level considerably.  I used to find severe flaws in the isolation and other aspects of the images but now its just consistent quality. Thant shows drive and passion not a resting on his laurels approach.  Overhead aside I find him as a role model of this business, same as sjlocke and lise.

You can call Yuri many things but not lazy or untalented.

Something he touched on is the commissions which as we know are pretty terrible on Microstock and probably will continue downward.  What I would like to see is a sense of respect for us artists and our work but accepting low commissions is not helping the cause.

For Yuri Peopleimages.com is probably an escape pod for when the business becomes completely unsustainable for the individual.  Being an agency or selling direct will be the only way to survive in the future without a gargantuan effort of producing images like a factory.

Interesting interview and opinions.

Anyone could create a big company, but I still wonder why anyone would want to. I'd much rather have Sean's business than Yuri's. Low overhead, small operation, high profitability.

I don't agree that anyone could create a big company. Most would fail before the first hurdle.
And if it hadn't been for some entrepreneurial people creating companies, Sean wouldn't have his current business and this forum wouldn't exist.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, "We can't all be heroes. Some people have to stand at the side at the road and cheer."
Or carp, ATCMB.

Questioning business decisions is not always born of envy as a motive.  If istock had yuri as an exclusive it would have been better for istock, yuri and  exclusives.  The other sites may not have made it.  It would solitified istocks positioning.  Yuri agency and vetta sales would have been amazing.  He could had mad on average 10 times what he makes now per sale.  Believe that!!  Look at the top selling vetta photo and do the math.  Yuri would have sold 100's of those amounts.  He also could have slowed down on the need to upload and streched it out over years lowering his overhead to sean's 5% model.  It was a short term plan by the owners of istock to maximize the company bottom lines to get the most money in a sale.  It has muddied the microstock waters even for istock.

It is curious that not liking or rooting for getty or h&f is not envious even though they both have  a guy like yuri at the helm making decisions like yuri is making which is the best for yuri and not you.  Yuri taking money from you good, Getty taking money from you bad!  When does yuri become an evil getty.  When you decide he is too big and successful!  Steve Jobs cut his college roommate out of stock options.  A guy who helped him from the begging.  Is he good or bad.  Odd on this forum who is applauded and disliked. 

 

It depends on how you quantify "way higher" and "in sight".

With 100 staff he probably also pays 3.000.000 $$ per year on salaries.

Quote from: anc on July 16, 2012, 17:52

Quote from: luissantos84 on July 16, 2012, 17:43

10 years? you are so weak with numbers, at least prepare what you are going to say

80K images

10 years = 3560 days

80K divided by 3560 = 22.47

Dude check your own numbers before you attack someone else

Theres 365 days in a year not 356!

And you forgot the leap years (and leap seconds aswell)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second

From what I see, Yuri's goal is not just producing stock photos, he wants to build the next iStock. That is why he invests so much into the growth of his business instead of taking the returns. For someone like him, to be exclusive with any agency only limits his sky.

he's doing something NEW, nobody pushed micro RF production so far in such an industrial and massive scale.

however it turns out in the worst scenario he will live as a millionaire and sub-licence his whole collection to Getty & others or sell the whole
company for 10-20 millions cash or in getty stocks (as soon as they go back to Nasdaq).

that's what i keep saying since the very beginning ... quantity in the end is the real factor, not just quality alone.

he's doing both, and nobody else can keep up with him at the moment.

launching his own agency is the first milestone, next step will be maybe to launch its own generic micro agency and compete directly with the big 4 but he will need millions for that, not just to run the company i mean but for the advertising, sales, and marketing.

if he succeeds in his mission, well the sky could be really the only limit.
otherwise, he did an amazing job anyway, and unlike many others who are just whining he tried to do something new and pushed the boundaries.

30 months to break even.  a bit longer than I'd would have thought would be a target for a full time microstock machine.

I should say so. 30 months is a ridiculously long payback for an 'investment' as unpredictable as a stock shoot. What's worse is that that timescale has probably been steadily lengthening too. Yuri appears to be spending more and more on ever-more-perfect shoots, in ever-more-exotic locations to be added to an ever-more-crowded market. Sooner or later he may have to reassess and scale back expenditure. Of course, in common with most of us, many of his best-selling and highest earning images are amongst the simplest and probably the cheapest he has shot.

It seems to me that it is now more of a game than a business to Yuri. Having a bigger presence, astronomic sales and 'legend' status is presumeably more important to him than quietly optimising profit. I guess the game is relatively risk free though in that his cash flow will be excellent and he can stop spending at any time, confident in the knowledge that his future is already secure.

Ironically the harder he works and the more images he produces per week/month/year the faster the day will come when it will be no longer worth doing so. Of course that applies to all of us to some degree so I guess Peopleimages.com is about the best insurance policy he could have in that regard.

In contrast I remember Ron Chapple (Iofoto) dipping his toe into microstock a few years ago. Having sunk a huge chunk of money producing 15K images for microstock, with apparent considerable success judging by his sales, he came to the conclusion that the returns were not worth his effort. The business wasn't sufficiently scalable and the barriers to entry were so low (i.e. anyone with a camera) that microstock was never going to be either profitable enough or secure enough to warrant his investment. He ended up specialising in helicopter aerial video work instead.

I was wondering why nobody has brought up iofoto yet.   It would seem like something that is applicable to the situation at hand.

Well, yes it is ... and no it isn't ... I suppose! I'm not sure you can adequately compare and contrast the two. Ron's a hard-headed businessman, continually crunching the numbers and opting for the best investment of his time and money, which is fair enough. Yuri, on the other hand, is like  some sort of 'extreme hobbyist'. His main interest appears to be pushing the boundaries of what he does, always getting better, with only enough concern for the financial side to ensure that it is sustainable for the immediate future. Those are surely the qualities of a true artist. Warhol had factories with workers producing tons of 'his' work and fully enjoyed the money and the show-biz lifestyle that came with it __ but nobody questions his abilities or influence as a true artist.

She means he got three fan threads posted here today, with no effort of his own.

Nice picture in the private jet with the hot swimsuit model and the large camera, lol.

If you can get us a swimsuit model and a private jet, I will be happy to interview you and take pictures. Where should we go?   

I was wondering why nobody has brought up iofoto yet.   It would seem like something that is applicable to the situation at hand.

IOfoto were big spenders and then complained they couldn't sustain the production costs, they also went overboard with expensive aerial shoots.