I wonder where are you from? I came to Canada from Russia in 1993 with nothing but a backpack with a spare pair of jeans and a couple of t-shirts. The jeans was my most expensive possession back then. Seriously. So I am actually from that "vast majority of the world" you're talking about. The most valuable "possession" was my education though, which allowed me to succeed in life. Even if I had to live in slums I'd still spend money on my kids education, that's the most important thing parents can give. I know what it's like to be dirt poor and I don't mind it, but I also know that having some money for decent fairly comfortable living is not being "rich" - it's being normal. With money I make on microstock I don't have excesses - I drive a 10 year old car and live in a condo. You can not call that "rich" by any standards.

Really fantastic post!  Take a heart. 

Totally agree about education.  My husband and I are having to cut back a lot to put our daughter through a top college.  It will be worth it.   We have never bought a new car in our lives, and live in a 1200 sq. foot house in a nice, but working class neighborhood. 

A couple of years back we thought microstock would finance a move to a more upscale neighborhood, but if we had done that, imagine the mess we would find ourselves in today!  We will continue with our relatively modest lifestyle regardless of where microstock is in the next few years. 

To be honest, living in the good ole US of A any extra money we have gotten has gone to medical bills and high insurance premiums.  I've had three surgeries in the last three years.   Living in the only Industrialized Western nation that doesn't provide medical care to its population gets REALLY expensive. 

With regards to your children, I think I'm of the other opinion. That's not to say I do not help my children. But I would not sacrifice my life style to ensure they got the best education available. On the contrary, I would prefer they earned their way through life which will teach them respect for money, property and such. That's more important than how well educated you are or how rich you are.

I don't think that education and respect are mutually exclusive, even if my ex-boss seemed to think so.
I also think that whereas in the past it might have been relatively easy to get on without an education if you had an entrepreneurial spirit, and there are plenty of examples from Lord Sugar down, it's not like that nowadays in a lot of countries. Even to be a cleaner here nowadays you need to do a college course and get a certificate before many larger employers will take you on (I mean an institutional cleaner, not a 'maid'-type cleaner in a private home).
I was at a theatre performance last week, when the performer had this for a throwaway line:
"My father left school with no qualifications. Sounds trite, but just try it today!"

Somehow I think we are expecting too much from photography, stock, especially micro. Rich photographers are more associated with what we call the Masters, the kind of photogrpahers whos pictures end up in museums, big auctions, etc and these photographers are more or less associated with high end Fashion, made their names in that genre.
I never made myself any illusions in stock, I still maintain, the best years and the best revenues were undoubtly between 1985 upto around 2000,  some 15 years of incredible earnings by many photographers. Ofcourse! there was much less of us doing this business and it was work for all of us, even as a dayrate photogrpher I got twice as much back in them days.
Interesting to note: this was BEFORE, the explosion of the Internet, google, micro, etc,  one would assume that with todays techniques of finding pictures, photographers, etc, it would be raining dollars from heaven? but thats a big, fat, no.

Getty, was a fantastic corporation back in 93, after the purchase of Stones and Image-Bank, with their entire network in those days they really made us earn smaller fortunes, their enormous duping dept, made 15, 4x5, inch dupes of all accepted pics and then spread them around the world through all their offices, just the duping precidiure ran into millions of dollars. Ofcourse Getty, Stones, Image-Bank, only workerd with bona-fide professional photographers, that was basically all there was in them days.

Getting rich from micro?  doubt it,  yes Yuri has got rich but as he openly confess here, sadly, no increase. His wealth is probably due to his business model as well as photography but as the great Tony-Stone, used to say, " any business model, no matter what, get its 10 years then its good-bye"

well, a bit of rubbish from down memory lane here, for what its worth.

Quote from: Freedom on August 16, 2012, 15:51

I just want to pick up the previous discussion about Alamy. My observation is that, not only DLs, the prices have gone down drastically. One of my images was sold for a little over $100, but the print run is unlimited for both prints and e-book, the size is for 2-page spread.

I had a $ 7.63 sale on Alamy, which equals to earning  $4.58 (not a novel use one, a standard RF license) the same day I made $18 on Shutterstock for a single license dl. And occasionally people are getting even $120 on SS for a single dl. So I think the borderlines between, micro, mid and macro stock are getting more and more blurry, at least when it comes to RF.

And as for getting rich ... well I wouldn't call Yuri a guy that got wealthy on micro stock. He earned enough to open up a business and that allowed him to earn even more. No single person is in my humble opinion able to get beyond 'upper middle class' earnings in a western country. And hiring extra stuff to do keywording, helping with photoshoots etc. is making you a businessman. Not to mention hiring 100 people It also depends where you live. For example in most eastern european countries $3-4k a month is a very good wage (I'd guess top 5% or so in most cases). In US or western Europe as a photographer or a graphics artists one would easily make more.

Yes but one must never forget, call it business model or whatever, its products are still photography and the photography, has to be much better then just good, stand out among the competition or else it falls flat on its face.

Yes indeed.  It's earning well plus living well within those means that makes a person feel rich (no matter what the official definition of 'rich' is).  If higher earnings just generate higher outgoings, people are simply running on the spot without accumulating the enormous advantage of a financial buffer.

I do think that those of us outside the U.S. often forget the extra burden that healthcare costs place on Americans and their families.  Because we never have to worry about that, we just don't think about it, and that one factor completely distorts our idea of how wealthy US citizens really are.

Lisa's message seems the obvious lead in to another Oscar Wilde quote:

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilisation in between."

Agreed.  For me that would just feel too precarious.

I think wealth is (as in the case of the financial buffer) about peace of mind.  I don't see how I could ever feel that if everything I'd accumulated could be wiped out in an instant.

Quote from: Lagereek on August 18, 2012, 00:24

Getting rich from micro?  doubt it,  yes Yuri has got rich but as he openly confess here, sadly, no increase.

Quote

Last time I answered this question was in 2009 and the company had a royalty income of about 3 million USD per year. Today about three years later, it is way higher and the next goal is to reach into the 8 figures.

Quote

$10 Million a Year in Sight for Yuri Arcurs

actually he only said that he had no increase in RM with about 6k files on 4 agencies

thats right!

Don't forget, his costs have likely quadrupled with the '100 employees' plus expensive overhead costs.

indeed, they took for sure 30% to 50% of those 10 M in sight for 2012

His costs?  so what?  its academic.

ahahah good one

Quote from: rubyroo on August 18, 2012, 09:56

I do think that those of us outside the U.S. often forget the extra burden that healthcare costs place on Americans and their families.  Because we never have to worry about that, we just don't think about it, and that one factor completely distorts our idea of how wealthy US citizens really are.

That, plus there must have been either a huge sink in earnings there or we zoomed up without really noticing.
I read an article in Times Ed several years ago (c10?) which showed that on average US teachers were being paid 1/3 more than we were, and their t&c were better (but not as good as the t&c in Germany!). Plus the cost of living was then so much lower. By the time I left, it was about even or maybe a bit lower in the US, and I'm not sure the cost of living differential was as great either. It used to be that goods in shops, eg food and clothes was $1 for �1, when a dollar was worth about 66p, and petrol was even less.

Well in England, Scotland and Ireland, we are very spoilt, National-health care, you know. Now if you take Sweden for example,  one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world, experts in technology, IT, engineering, you name it. Here, old people have no value, they die, because the elder-care is totally non existant, 2 years, etc, for a hip replacement!  and this is in one of the richest countries in the world with just a 9 million population, where big-brother is watching you around the clock.  There is no excuse.
Sweden escaped two world wars but act as if they went through three world wars. They should be ashamed.

.....
I never made myself any illusions in stock, I still maintain, the best years and the best revenues were undoubtly between 1985 upto around 2000,  some 15 years of incredible earnings by many photographers. Ofcourse! there was much less of us doing this business and it was work for all of us, even as a dayrate photogrpher I got twice as much back in them days.
Interesting to note: this was BEFORE, the explosion of the Internet, google, micro, etc,  one would assume that with todays techniques of finding pictures, photographers, etc, it would be raining dollars from heaven? but thats a big, fat, no.

......
well, a bit of rubbish from down memory lane here, for what its worth.

agreed - film-based stock prices meant a reasonable income on just  a few sales.  oi got into digital stock in the early 90s when many others were saying it was the road to ruin for photographers.  buggywhip craftsmen probably said the same about  henry ford.  but at that time a cd with 100 images sold for $200-300 and the photographer got 50% royalties

i got into microstock later [ca 2006]  but have been able to keep a steadily increasing income of about +20% each year.  this year has been the same

SS has been odd - while rejections have increased about 1/3 of my current sales are of editorial images that would no longer be accepted under their current definition of editorial  --eg http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=49499494

Are you serious, qualified cleaners!

Yes, my sister manages a university Hall of Residence and her cleaners must have at least a basic level module (40 hours of study).

SVQ Level 1 Cleaning and Support Services
To provide a work based qulification for those employed as a cleaner in, for example, an office, factory or hospital. This programme is a work based qualification and you must be employed and working in this capacity.

Course Content:
The course involves a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge and skills.

Theory includes:
Health and Safety
Hygiene and Safe Work Practices
Effective Working Relationships
Fulfilling Your Work Role

Practical Skills Include:
Cleaning of Floors and Surfaces
Furniture
Sanitary Fixtures and Fittings

than you can move on to:

SVQ Level 2 Cleaning and Support Services (Building Interiors)
Aim of Course:
To provide a work based qualification for those employed as a cleaner in, for example, an office, factory or hospital. This programme is a work based qualification and you must be employed and working in this capacity.

Course Content:
The course involves a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge and skills.

Theory Includes:
Health and Safety
Hygiene and Safe Working Practices
Effective Working Relationships

Practical Skills Include:
Cleaning of Floors and Drainage Systems
Deep Clean Equipment used in Preparation, Processing and Storage of Food

Hard work and passion still mean more to me, but that's me.

Ever thought about applying for a job as a doctor, lawyer, teacher, architect, or many, many other jobs? "Oh, I don't even have any Standard Grades (or your country's equivalent), but don't worry, I'm hardworking and passionate." See where that would get you.
Jobs are so hard fought these days that not having qualifications is just an easy way of whittling down the pile of applications.
We can't all be entrepreneurs, and even the maverick formerly known as Siralan has, now that he's off the street barrow, surrounded himself with a lot of highly qualified top level employees.
You need it all nowadays as a young person: hard work, passion and, almost always, the highest qualifications. By ignoring the importance of qualifications, you are limiting your childrens' choices. It doesn't matter how hard working and passionate you are, if your application forms get skimmed and tossed.

Quote

Hard work and passion still mean more to me, but that's me.

Ever thought about applying for a job as a doctor, lawyer, teacher, architect, or many, many other jobs? "Oh, I don't even have any Standard Grades (or your country's equivalent), but don't worry, I'm hardworking and passionate." See where that would get you.
Jobs are so hard fought these days that not having qualifications is just an easy way of whittling down the pile of applications.
We can't all be entrepreneurs, and even the maverick formerly known as Siralan has, now that he's off the street barrow, surrounded himself with a lot of highly qualified top level employees.
You need it all nowadays as a young person: hard work, passion and, almost always, the highest qualifications. By ignoring the importance of qualifications, you are limiting your childrens' choices. It doesn't matter how hard working and passionate you are, if your application forms get skimmed and tossed.

But that doesn't make it right. I often laugh at the job hiring process these days. A bimbo office worker filtering job applications based on qualifications. How ridiculous. When I hire someone I look at what they can do not what a piece of paper says.