January 13, 2012

Submit 250 Photos to a Stock Photo Website

Last year, I bought a Canon 60D to start shooting comedy videos for the Impatient Theatre Co. That hasn’t quite panned out like I had intended, but it did allow me to shoot headshots for more than 30 people in my company and start building a photography portfolio. (I love shooting portraits mostly — like Rankin – capturing the essence of someone in a single moment.)

As part of my push to build sources of passive income, I have decided to start uploading some of my work to be licensed and used as stock photography. I’m looking at iStockphoto.com initially. Not the portraits, but the other stuff: the sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains, close-ups of flowers, beach scenes, city skylines, etc. In order to get 250 approved photos in a stock collection, I’m going to have to take a lot of photos and plan for a lot of specific shoots. (I’m likely going to shoot some stock video footage, as well, but I’m starting with the photography.)

The great thing about stock photography, though, is that once the photo is taken, processed and uploaded, it can generate revenue for years to come. The more photos that are in your collection, the more potential revenue you can earn. Passive income, it’s the key to a happy life.

Tag: Stock Photography

January 13, 2012

Build At Least One New Website Each Month That Generates Passive Income

Part of my 100 Things Challenge list.

Passive income is one of the areas that fascinates me in wealth growth and management. I was first introduced to the concept when I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Simply put, passive income is income that you don’t need to constantly be working to earn. There is initial investment, of course, of time or money, usually both, but minimal maintenance after that point.

Rental properties and patent royalties are typical sources of passive income, but in the digital age, websites are a great investment with a potentially large return on investment (ROI). Websites that generate advertising revenue or operate under an SaaS design, are great ways to develop passive income sources. One of my best friends has a number of websites that generate passive income with a minimal investment of his time and he has been encouraging me to do the same.

My current problem is that my ideas are too big. My current ideas are company-building ideas, not website-building ideas. My current ideas would require a team of people to develop and manage and sell. I need to work on smaller ideas, ideas that are manageable and that drive traffic to a website, maybe a blog about transforming your life through a series of 100 challenges. We’ll see.

Challenge accepted!

Tag: Passive Income Websites