Let me explain to you as easy as I can.I study management of business and the first thing that I learned in my 1st year was that no business exist without competition.YOU CAN NOT BE TRULLY GOOD IF THERE IS NO COMPETITION.

More ha ha ha.

YOU CAN NOT BE TRULLY GOOD IF THERE IS NO COMPETITION

That may be what they teach in business school but in reality most companies strive to eliminate competition by whatever means available or at a minimum to set prices illegally.

Let me explain to you as easy as I can.I study management of business and the first thing that I learned in my 1st year was that no business exist without competition.

OK, so I have the only shop selling apples in my town. I'm doing just fine, everyone loves apples and they come to me to buy them (they have no choice). I exist happily for years. Then the guy down the road, seeing how well I'm doing, decides he's going to sell apples. He either has to sell better ones for the same price or the same ones cheaper. Either way, I'm screwed.

The World Bank has shafted the Developing World this way for at least four decades - "Oh look, X country grows coffee/tea/cocoa/fruit, you have to do it to or we won't lend to you". All that happens is a surplus is produced and the worldwide price drops.

Ask for your money back on that course.

(Of course, if I introduce a friend who shoots totally different things than me to microstock, I'm not shooting myself in the foot.   )

And here I was wondering where all the knockdown/drag out threads went.  I guess you just have to hit a powder keg issue.

Personally, I don't worry about competition that much. I know all the work it took to get to where I am, so if someone else wants to do that, then they deserve a little success. I can also see where people are coming from about too many contributors. Some keywords are so diluted with "me too" copycat garbage that new good images with those keywords may never get seen. But, I think that is the nature of the beast with the micros. Everyone was invited to the party. You knew that when you came, so it's kind of hard to complain about them when you get there.

Seriously, I think you have to be pretty good to make any dent at all in this business now. I used to be very bullish (that's one of those business school terms) on stock and recommended it to anyone with a camera who I knew and liked.  But not so any more.

"Pretty good" has changed. Today you need to have way above average knowledge of your camera settings, lighting, and composition plus stuff like Photoshop, business, and SEO.

If you lack the skills or perseverance this most likely will be a frustrating and disappointing experience. Kind of like the recent "I'm destitute" post where the person quickly hit a wall.

This ain't easy. People who tell you it is easy most likely are earning money by telling you that.

Everyone was invited to the party. You knew that when you came, so it's kind of hard to complain about them when you get there.

No one was "invited" to the party.  Most everyone had to go looking for it .

A good question would be how many actually make a full time living off of microstock. Dollar amounts are not necessarily an indication of success. It all depends on what part of the world or country you live in. In many parts of the world, the cost of living is much less than in other parts so some photographers would be able to live off much lower numbers.

I should move to the US. I've just been doing some comparison checks on some lighting equipment I was thinking of buying. The stuff I'm looking at either isn't available in, and doesn't shop to the UK; or it costs about twice as much here. Plus the general cost of living is much lower.

No one was "invited" to the party.  Most everyone had to go looking for it .

Ha. Ha. True. Although, I have gotten email invitations from small stock sites to join. So, maybe my original invite was lost in the mail.

Quote from: elvinstar on February 28, 2010, 09:26

Quote

Why would we want to encourage people to see the potential of this business?  All that does is create more competition.

I would guess that some people are just naturally helpful and enjoy teaching and seeing their students succeed. It seems to me that there are enough "Make money from your snapshots" articles out there that the few microstockers that want to teach/encourage others wouldn't really make that much of a difference.

Every bit makes a difference in some sense.  Rationalizing it that way doesn't help the issue.

I was just giving my answer to the question, not endorsing one school of thought or the other.

DANG!  I had a good month and was looking forward to flaunting my numbers.  Too bad the thread got so diluted with the expected bickering.

Oh well, Guess I'll just have to vote for the Big Six.   

Quote from: deyu16 on February 28, 2010, 10:12

Let me explain to you as easy as I can.I study management of business and the first thing that I learned in my 1st year was that no business exist without competition.

OK, so I have the only shop selling apples in my town. I'm doing just fine, everyone loves apples and they come to me to buy them (they have no choice). I exist happily for years. Then the guy down the road, seeing how well I'm doing, decides he's going to sell apples. He either has to sell better ones for the same price or the same ones cheaper. Either way, I'm screwed.

The World Bank has shafted the Developing World this way for at least four decades - "Oh look, X country grows coffee/tea/cocoa/fruit, you have to do it to or we won't lend to you". All that happens is a surplus is produced and the worldwide price drops.

Ask for your money back on that course.

(Of course, if I introduce a friend who shoots totally different things than me to microstock, I'm not shooting myself in the foot.   )

Ok I see that you are thinking inside the box ...Lets see if I got this right...so you are the only one who sells apples right?That means that you can sell any apples you like it doesn't matter if the client likes them or not...You are the only one and the client has to buy from you...furthermore you can charge whatever you want for that apples ...for example let's say you got an apple for $1 and you sell it for $10(because you are the only one selling there no competition) so you make 10 times profit...ok all good but when the other guy decides to open his own store the picture has change...Now you have competition and you can't do what you like because you will go out of business! So you have 2 options 1)continue living in the box with no competition and go bankrupted OR struggle to have the freshest apples and with a good price....the I guarante you that the demand will be much bigger......Competition is good either way you look at it...if a new microstocker comes in and submiting the most eye catching images this world has ever seen what do you do??Don't you try to perfect your self as much as you can? Don't get me wrong but thats business....you can't change anything...what ever you do there will always be competition ....and besides denying it you might as well look at the best part of competition

.for example let's say you got an apple for $1 and you sell it for $10(because you are the only one selling there no competition) so you make 10 times profit...ok all good but when the other guy decides to open his own store the picture has change...Now you have competition and you can't do what you like because you will go out of business! So you have 2 options 1)continue living in the box with no competition and go bankrupted OR struggle to have the freshest apples and with a good price....the I guarante you that the demand will be much bigger......Competition is good either way you look at it

Are you sure you went to business school?  I'll stick with number 1 (where I wouldn't go "bankrupted" as the only seller).

Quote from: deyu16 on February 28, 2010, 14:19

.for example let's say you got an apple for $1 and you sell it for $10(because you are the only one selling there no competition) so you make 10 times profit...ok all good but when the other guy decides to open his own store the picture has change...Now you have competition and you can't do what you like because you will go out of business! So you have 2 options 1)continue living in the box with no competition and go bankrupted OR struggle to have the freshest apples and with a good price....the I guarante you that the demand will be much bigger......Competition is good either way you look at it

Are you sure you went to business school?  I'll stick with number 1 (where I wouldn't go "bankrupted" as the only seller).

I am big fan of yours, and I see you respect every guy here at forum and IS forum, but today I am seeing a different guy, why is that??