The flood of information and tools needed to have successful microstock sales has been overwhelming me at the moment. Add into all of that the need to keep learning more about photography and digital imaging, plus the need to keep progressing as an illustrator, and you have one frustrated microstocker. It's important to keep up with the publicity and networking side of microstock as it is a business. But, the creative side is just as important as without new creative input, the images start to get a stale repetitive look. I'm finding it hard to do everything and keep progressing in all areas. The flood of technology information available is particularly daunting. It multiplies daily.
How much time do all of you who are a one person business spend keeping up with the avalanche of information? How do you still find time to keep learning and trying out new ideas? it's a delicate balance. How do you manage it all?
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Patballard
Yes, I think little by little is the key. Sometimes I just get overwhelmed with all of the information.
Patballard
But it's a wonderful reply. Thank you so much!
Fultonsphoto
I do see this as a compromise; this being how much time are you willing or able to spend or sacrifice in order to become successful in this business. It’s the old scenario of opportunity cost, where the input must be rewarded by the output, financially and time wise i.e. do you get paid according to the time spent from start to finish taking stock images. That said, if one takes all factors into account and decides to make this a business opportunity (which it is) then as with any other business sacrifices need to be made in order to be successful, one of these being trying to keep abreast of current market trends and the plethora of information that comes along with the majority of business opportunities that exist today, and learning what it is that sells and adapting at all levels in order to supply this demand. But I am also of the belief that what sells today is not necessarily what has to sell tomorrow, rather than be a trend follower, with creativity be a trend setter and become the start of what will sell tomorrow. For me I look at my own images and style, they are my own and do not follow a trend of what sells nor is popular within this industry, but then I do not do this as my main source of income so it does not impact me that much at this time, however, if I had to decide to make a real attempt at decent sales I would adapt to what style I knew was popular and would have to put all efforts into researching and keeping abreast of what sells and learning new techniques in order to survive, as the saying goes “adapt or die”, one cannot be truly successful until they have made all necessary efforts to try. PS….Sorry, I think this will probably be the longest ever reply to a blog article :0)
Aughty
Little by little ... I will always upgrade myself with the information I need to stay on top of my game. I read books from the library, get information from the Internet and study my competition moves. This is done at least 3 to 4 times a week. To be good at anything you have to take the time to learn new technical information about the subject.