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« on: November 09, 2010, 01:02 »
This forum, once a place for optimism and learning from each other, has degenerated into a place for demanding unionization, government regulation, and a general tearing down of the very people who created microstock.
Those people put their blood sweat and tears into creating new businesses that were long shots. They invested significant sums of their own money or worked hard to secure financing. They hired staffs, secured help from accountants and lawyers, spent significant sums on advertising, set up infrastructures (software, servers, etc.) In every case, these business owners took a big gamble. Some succeeded and some didn't.
That's called capitalism.
You too are a capitalist. You are creating a product, sending it out into a marketplace, and expecting to profit from it. You control your destiny. You are your own boss. You are a grown-up. You entered into agreements with those other capitalists, the microstock agencies, to sell your work. They are providing a service to you, and taking between 65 and 85% of the sale price, in exchange for the marketplace they created and all the associated costs of putting your product in front of buyers, facilitating sales, and putting the money into your pocket.
You are free to believe those services ARE or ARE NOT worth 65 to 85% of the sale prices, and have those agencies work on your behalf. And you're just as free to say that you're better off finding another solution, maybe starting your own agency, perhaps setting up your own website to sell your own work.
You are free to raise the funds needed to start your own venture, to hire a staff, pay for lawyers, accountants, advertising, servers, programmers, etc. Make no mistake, it's a lot of work, and it takes a lot of money to do it right. You either have the stomach and the pockets to do what the agencies are doing, or you don't and you agree to their terms in exchange for their services. Or you do neither and find another income stream/field of work that you believe will treat you more fairly.
The point is: you're FREE TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE. Don't feel stuck in one or the other scenario and complain about it endlessly. Make a decision you feel is best for you and focus all your energies into making it the most rewarding arrangement for all involved. Do you really feel it's right to enter into an arrangement with a business with the idea that you will both benefit, then trash that partner at every opportunity? Please, just walk away. Or at least stop crying about how you're being taken taken advantage of. Are you a slave? Just walk away.
When I set up accounts at these agencies, I knew what I would be selling was a COMMODITY. I accepted that it wasn't much different from producing a product and getting it into WalMart and having to agree to their terms to get onto their shelves. As long as my margins were good enough I could meet my own revenue goals, and I would feel fairly rewarded. I've gone into this with a capitalist mentality, and perhaps that attitude has helped me do well. Ultimately, I recognize that the microstocks have made it possible for me to make a living at this, and I think it's about time I stepped up and spoke out in their defense since no one else is.
Thank you for hearing me out. Now you can get back to calling for a microstocker's union to protect you from the greedy pigs stealing your money. Or get back to uploading your next batch. Or, most likely, both.
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