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Author Topic: Under Performing Portfolio  (Read 12298 times)

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« Reply #25 on: April 22, 2012, 07:31 »
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From content created in the last year I have earned approx $3000 , and spent about 120 hours to create them. So thats about $25 per hour. Of course that per hour number increases over time, since the time spent is fixed, but the $ returned keeps rising.
...
Stockmarketer, the images in your port are primarily illustrations, and I am guessing they take quite a bit more time to produce than mine. Have you ever calculated the "return per hour" instead of RPI?

Who said I do primarily illustrations?  That's not true. 

But interesting calculation.  When I do the math on estimated earnings on images added to my port last year, I calculate a return of around $45-$50 per hour.


« Reply #26 on: April 22, 2012, 08:42 »
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Who said I do primarily illustrations?  That's not true. 

[/quote]

So you do photography? The portfolio I was assuming is yours is 3D/illustration images. Maybe I have the wrong port.

Great return numbers you're getting, either way though.

« Reply #27 on: April 22, 2012, 15:02 »
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LOL...and this is why people get confused when others talk about $2.30 RPI in their portfolio (and why I never believe them)  :D :D :D
My RPI (for month of March) was $3.92.   Daily hovers around $.12.  No tricks.
That is really impressive, as you know I calculate the same way as you and hover around the 3.50 mark

It is really the right way to assess a business (rpi) if you treat it like a business. A real company is not going to want to invest in production costs if there is no return.  RPI really must be a key measure of business success.  Why? What if you plot RPI over time and you are on a downward trend? Now there's a lot that can cause that but wouldn't you want to know?

« Reply #28 on: April 22, 2012, 20:05 »
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It is really the right way to assess a business (rpi) if you treat it like a business. A real company is not going to want to invest in production costs if there is no return.  RPI really must be a key measure of business success.  Why? What if you plot RPI over time and you are on a downward trend? Now there's a lot that can cause that but wouldn't you want to know?

I'd say overall income is the most important stat. RPI and RPD are good stats, but they are more for forecasting or formulating strategies. A falling RPI doesn't really concern me as long as my income is rising. I see RPI as more of a gauge for success or failure of a particular agency. Sites with really low RPI usually aren't worth the time to continue uploading to.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2012, 20:07 by cthoman »

Microbius

« Reply #29 on: April 23, 2012, 03:39 »
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That is correct, RPI is useful for business planning and forecasting. Of course what I want is a high total income. RPI helps me know where I'm heading and how to get there.

« Reply #30 on: April 23, 2012, 05:18 »
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That is correct, RPI is useful for business planning and forecasting. Of course what I want is a high total income. RPI helps me know where I'm heading and how to get there.
+1

« Reply #31 on: April 23, 2012, 09:42 »
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Well, you can all sit and plot your RPIs and RPDs and RPI/As and whatever. I just do what I like and that works for me. If I really intended to get rich I would follow Yuri's lead and carry out a detailed analysis of the top-selling images to see what angle of the model's head sells best, what position the hands should be in etc. etc. but I'd rather enjoy life than spend time poring over numbers or doing statistical analysis.

I guess I'm still in the top 1,000 overall and the top 100 of the non-people portfolios and I've never chased these numbers you're worked up about.

PS: Here's a secret I've spotted about people who are ahead of me in the lists ... they all seem to take better photos than I do. I expect that's because they calculate RPIs. 
« Last Edit: April 23, 2012, 09:44 by BaldricksTrousers »

rubyroo

« Reply #32 on: April 23, 2012, 10:08 »
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PS: Here's a secret I've spotted about people who are ahead of me in the lists ... they all seem to take better photos than I do. I expect that's because they calculate RPIs. 

 :D

I wholeheartedly agree with BT!  When I first came across all these RPI and RPD discussions, I started worrying about these things.  As time has gone on though, I find it a complete waste of time and energy.  Energy I prefer to spend thinking up ideas and turning them into creative adventures.  As long as my overall income increases month on month, I couldn't care less about the minutiae.  Life's too short.

« Reply #33 on: April 23, 2012, 10:09 »
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but I'd rather enjoy life than spend time poring over numbers or doing statistical analysis.

I use a Fun-O-Meter to measure that.  ;D

Seriously though, I agree. I try to balance it all by doing images that are fun for me. I don't think I'd make it very far if I didn't. There are a lot better selling subjects than mine, but they are incredibly boring to me.

lisafx

« Reply #34 on: April 23, 2012, 10:57 »
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Great post Baldrick.  I prefer to shoot what interests me as well, and still try to get as much enjoyment out of each shoot as possible.  When I get too bogged down with the business aspects of microstock, my creativity dries up. 

I do keep track of RPI and RPD, but only out of casual interest.  Overall earnings, and performance of each site interests me a lot more. 

Well, you can all sit and plot your RPIs and RPDs and RPI/As and whatever. I just do what I like and that works for me. If I really intended to get rich I would follow Yuri's lead and carry out a detailed analysis of the top-selling images to see what angle of the model's head sells best, what position the hands should be in etc. etc. but I'd rather enjoy life than spend time poring over numbers or doing statistical analysis.

I guess I'm still in the top 1,000 overall and the top 100 of the non-people portfolios and I've never chased these numbers you're worked up about.

PS: Here's a secret I've spotted about people who are ahead of me in the lists ... they all seem to take better photos than I do. I expect that's because they calculate RPIs. 

« Reply #35 on: April 23, 2012, 13:47 »
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Great post Baldrick.  I prefer to shoot what interests me as well, and still try to get as much enjoyment out of each shoot as possible.  When I get too bogged down with the business aspects of microstock, my creativity dries up. 

I do keep track of RPI and RPD, but only out of casual interest.  Overall earnings, and performance of each site interests me a lot more. 

Well, you can all sit and plot your RPIs and RPDs and RPI/As and whatever. I just do what I like and that works for me. If I really intended to get rich I would follow Yuri's lead and carry out a detailed analysis of the top-selling images to see what angle of the model's head sells best, what position the hands should be in etc. etc. but I'd rather enjoy life than spend time poring over numbers or doing statistical analysis.

I guess I'm still in the top 1,000 overall and the top 100 of the non-people portfolios and I've never chased these numbers you're worked up about.

PS: Here's a secret I've spotted about people who are ahead of me in the lists ... they all seem to take better photos than I do. I expect that's because they calculate RPIs. 


To each his own.  I look at RPI oh about every quarter.  It takes a few seconds to compute it and is a dashboard item for me.  It certainly doesn't drive me necessarily more in one direction or another but does provide an indication of image effectiveness (usefulness, etc.) over the long term.  So I view RPI as a long term indication of competitiveness.   Now, does that mean I drink more or less beer when I am shooting? Usually not.

RacePhoto

« Reply #36 on: April 24, 2012, 15:08 »
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PS: Here's a secret I've spotted about people who are ahead of me in the lists ... they all seem to take better photos than I do. I expect that's because they calculate RPIs. 

Are you sure it's not RPD that you should be calculating into the late hours of the night? ;)

#1:
If your images are good enough then they will sell. If they're not then they won't. No point in concocting elaborate conspiracy theories to explain a lack of sales because that is unlikely to be the issue.

Should I add something about studying RPD and PDI will not create more sales? It's just an indication of what has already happened. (kind of like trends in sports betting...)

I'm still considering lopping off about 100 non-sellers on SS to make my sales statistics more impressive.  ::)

Microbius

« Reply #37 on: April 25, 2012, 01:53 »
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Again, that wouldn't work, because you should be calculating RPI based on the number of images created, not on which ones are currently up on any given site.

« Reply #38 on: April 25, 2012, 03:38 »
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Again, that wouldn't work, because you should be calculating RPI based on the number of images created, not on which ones are currently up on any given site.

+1.  Exactly.  It seems there are a handful of us who see the usefulness in stepping back and saying, "Is the work I'm doing paying off, or am I just spinning my wheels?"  RPI is simply the payoff for work put into this pursuit.  The whole notion of killing non-performers to improve RPI is delusional... it achieves the opposite of what RPI is supposed to help you track.  Yes, you should try to identify the non-performers... but the action you should take from this knowledge is to stop creating more pics like those moving forward and see if your RPI rises... DON'T just DELETE the past non-performers while you keep creating more like them. 

I want to know that I am creating new stuff that is selling right out of the gate, or if it is not connecting with buyers.  An overall RPI across all sites is the best indicator of this.  Yes, you have to consider other factors like changes in the overall business (I keep tabs on this here), and seasonal changes (I plot monthly RPI against the same months for the past several years to track these variations), but in general, once I adjust for these factors, a steady RPI means I'm on the right course and a falling one means I'm not and need to adjust my subject matter or style because my current stuff isn't connecting with buyers.

To everyone who says, "All I care about is my total earnings... if it's growing, then I'm doing the right thing"... I think this is like having your head in the sand.  Your growth could simply be coming from older pics selling better and better but your new stuff is DOA.  If you're afraid what real-time RPI will tell you, ignore it at your own peril.    After a number of years in ms, I'm still on a pretty solid growth track, and I'm pretty confident it's because I watch my numbers like a hawk and make daily changes in my direction from this knowledge... yes, I analyze my numbers every day with the help of a spreadsheet with tons of formulas built into it to automatically crunch numbers a hundred different ways so I don't have to do anything but plug in the day's sales at each agency. 

Information is power.  Better information empowers you to make better decisions.  There.  I'll try to make those my last words on the subject.

« Reply #39 on: April 25, 2012, 04:09 »
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According to Serban (who should know) killing non-performers at DT will improve your search ranking. Or, at least, it would have done 18 months ago, whether that is still part of the calculation or not I don't know. I did scrap about 700 dead files there but I couldn't make out a clear improvement in subsequent sales.

rubyroo

« Reply #40 on: April 25, 2012, 07:35 »
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To everyone who says, "All I care about is my total earnings... if it's growing, then I'm doing the right thing"... I think this is like having your head in the sand.  Your growth could simply be coming from older pics selling better and better but your new stuff is DOA.  If you're afraid what real-time RPI will tell you, ignore it at your own peril.  

I honestly don't understand this.  I do a visual check of what sells every day, and I can tell from that what sells and what doesn't.  I use that visual reference to tell me which subjects have a good market, which subjects don't and which subjects might be failing because I didn't think the pictures through well enough.   I watch both my port and the market and consider carefully on past performance what to shoot and how to make every shot count.  I just don't think I need to calculate RPI to tell me what I can see by straightforward observation.

Mind you, I've always thought number-obsession was more a 'boy thing'.  ;)  <duck>

ETA:  I'm not afraid of what my RPI will tell me.  Far from it.  I've just 'been there, done that' and didn't find that it had any advantage over what my eyes tell me from looking at the agency information.  I prefer to do it this way because it doesn't break my creative flow so much - it keeps my mind in a more fluid state.  

Each to his own.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2012, 07:50 by rubyroo »

Microbius

« Reply #41 on: April 25, 2012, 08:31 »
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I used to do it like that too, and that works fine if you are selling a few or even a few hundred images per month. If you are licensing somewhere in excess of 6000 images per month, trying to get a visual reference gets more tricky.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2012, 09:04 by Microbius »


ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #42 on: April 25, 2012, 08:52 »
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[Deleted post]
« Last Edit: April 25, 2012, 09:14 by ShadySue »

rubyroo

« Reply #43 on: April 25, 2012, 09:15 »
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@ Microbius

I sell more than a few hundred a month and my eyes are OK so far (my back's another story.  I hear ya Sue!)... but OTOH I don't have Richard Branson's pockets...  If I do reach the point where my eyes start boggling in dogged determination to stick to my visual method, I'll let you & Stockmarketer know that you were right and I was wrong (I'm not proud!)  :D 

Microbius

« Reply #44 on: April 25, 2012, 09:23 »
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Apologies I didn't mean to presume!  :)

rubyroo

« Reply #45 on: April 25, 2012, 09:27 »
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No apology necessary Microbius.  I didn't take offence... just wanted to make my position a little clearer (albeit in the vaguest terms possible..)  :D

« Reply #46 on: April 25, 2012, 10:43 »
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I used to do it like that too, and that works fine if you are selling a few or even a few hundred images per month. If you are licensing somewhere in excess of 6000 images per month, trying to get a visual reference gets more tricky.

That sounds like too many, you need to get that number down.  ;D

I used to follow my numbers and sales more closely, then iStock went crazy, Shutterstock stopped growing and everybody else was playing a shell game with their numbers. And that was the end of that.

Microbius

« Reply #47 on: April 25, 2012, 11:20 »
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No apology necessary Microbius.  I didn't take offence... just wanted to make my position a little clearer (albeit in the vaguest terms possible..)  :D
Yeah, you're very tolerant, but I read my post back and I sounded like an a**hole, so the apology still stands whether you like it or not, so there  :P

rubyroo

« Reply #48 on: April 25, 2012, 11:42 »
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Ah well, if you're going to beat it into me... I suppose I'll have to accept it graciously. :D

But for the record, I didn't think you sounded the way you think at all.  You always seem perfectly charming to me.

RacePhoto

« Reply #49 on: April 25, 2012, 14:10 »
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LOL...and this is why people get confused when others talk about $2.30 RPI in their portfolio (and why I never believe them)  :D :D :D
My RPI (for month of March) was $3.92.   Daily hovers around $.12.  No tricks.

Wow at $360 a day you should be able to buy iStock soon, or start an agency that pays 50% and has everyone here cheering for you as The new King of Microstock!  ;D


 

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