Most creative industries are highly competitive and difficult to earn high income. In this video, Lizzie Peirce walks you through her nine income streams and how they work, which may give you inspiration for your own business.
When I made the decision to become a full-time, professional photographer, I knew it was going to be tough to make decent money. I was willing to fight for my place in the industry, but even then, I wasn't prepared for the first two years. As an industry, photography is one of the most competitive out there, and due to its low barrier of entry, you can end up fighting for even basic jobs.
I quickly learned that photography alone would not suffice and that I needed more revenue streams. This isn't to say that photography would be the root of the income, but pressing my shutter button in exchange for money couldn't be the only way I got income. Given my background in academia and writing, starting a blog and freelancing as a writer were my first steps and they worked out well and led me to be an Editor here at Fstoppers. However, the more revenue stream you can develop and maintain, the better.
What revenue streams outside of photoshoots have been the most lucrative for you?
Super boring self promo influencer or what ever she does. Nothing to do with photography. This and kardashians, bottom of the bottom.
She is a social media influencer, not a professional photographer. Why is this being posted on a photography forum? Complete waste of my time, and that upsets me. No interest at all.
Yep, that crap wouldn't have lasted one issue if this was a printed publication.
Francisco, get lost or grow up. But yeah your thumb downs do say a lot.
About 95 % of all down votes on my postings of the last months are due to this bloke. He cannot forgive and cannot forget being criticised.
And yes, that video above is one of the new all time lows here on FS. Too bad, Robert seems to care a shit about FS readers. It is not the first one which is very bad.
Yes, good photographer, but immature. I've seen him down vote me like he is tracking me.
My account will be delated within 48 hours after the site's cache catches up with my decision to leave. Super nice to meet you Jan. Have a great Christmas and the best to you for the new year.
That makes me a little sad. Very nice to meet you too. Your comments were one of the reasons why I participated. But I understand your decision. Where are you heading?
LOL that dude [francisco] is a pathetic insecure troll upvoting his own posts and downvoting everybody who questions his fragile “authority”. What a friggin’ shame…
Wow, I had no clue he had issues with so many people. From his youtube, I see all the love comments, but here he has a different pattern. Down thumb is a very negative and aggressive type of expression and a bad option. I know I have upset him for pointing at lack of consistency in his videos presented here. I thought he could find positive into it. I know I try to figure out if people are attempting to tell me something in their comments when we have differences. May be he can change, may be not.
Never mind him. I will miss your qualified comments and hope we will meet online sometime. All the best to you. Cheers. -jan
Thanks Jan.
Hi Benoit,
I hope you dont' delete your account, as your commentary has always been insightful, well-balanced and an excellent counter to many of the trolls proliferating this site.
If you do, then all the best in your journey!
Thanks a lot, I really appreciate. Right now I want to distance myself from all that photography for a click for my sponsor useless crowd. I have photography projects I want to work on and I've seen enough of the click bait business to take a break from it.
I've seen that Francisco kid go around and pick fights with tons of people. Pretty sad.
"I quickly learned that photography alone would not suffice and that I needed more revenue streams."
Apparently, good advice she is following; she realized that she sucks as a photographer.
Pssst...the person that made that quote was the author of this article and is not the same as the creator of the video. To put it plainly, Robert is not Lizzie. I thought maybe you should know.
Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. It's a typo, should have been "he." As professional shooters, via their own admissions, they both suck.
Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. It's a typo, should have been "he." As professional shooters, via their own admissions, they both suck.
One typo, yeah, I could excuse that. But, two typos, put on your big boy pants and just own your mistake.
Relax. Why all the angst? Not doing so well lately? Might do you well to pay attention.
Angst? You're a riot; "angst" is your raison d'être.
On the one hand, she's got 127k followeres on Instagram, and a diversified business model; on the other hand, I'm 21 seconds in, and her superior condescending tone has already alienated me.
She does seem to think quite highly of herself, and is not afraid to tell the world how great she is and how successful she is.
I managed to make it to 38 seconds before wanting to 🤮 from listening to / watching her, OMG...
The fact she's so into sponsorships (states "my largest source of income") completely invalidates her opinions IMHO, as I've found most people will, despite claiming impartiality, recommend stuff simply because they are paid to, and as she classifies herself as a freaking "influencer", that further disqualifies anything she has to say.
Oh, and she's into presets as well, another 🤮 item on my list...
Watching her in PiP as I type my response here, and WOW she is REALLY doing the used-car salesman bit for pushing Intel and HP, holy crap, what a turn off... She plugged that damned laptop 4 times in this video, holy shit...
Bottom line, saying she's a self-absorbed, obnoxious influencer would be a polite understatement, OMG.
As for the article here on Fstoppers and how it was written, can't say I'm surprised. These days, no matter where you go online, and even in the physical world, bombastic, hyperbolic misleading headlines are everywhere because, well, it drives that click and foot traffic, which almost everyone based their business models on. On occasion I recognize them and steer clear, other times (like now), I choose to go in for different reasons, thus I've contributed to the hosts' revenue stream.
This is the world we live in now, filled with "people" like the Lizzie, and this site, and we can either choose to A) live under a rock and hide, B) try to get by with balancing what we do and do not interact with, or C) embrace the new world order and become an obnoxious, self-absorbed, mediocre "influencer".
The choice is ours...
So, I was scrolling along the articles and noticed a strong stench of professional envy coming from this room. And, lo and behold, just a bunch of old "men" clutching their little fragile ego throwing a tantrum and hating on someone that found a way to make money. smh
I know a photographer who is into Bitcoin. Are you suggesting he writes his story here?.After all, you have - he found a way to make money + photographer. Yes he probably should. I know another one who invests in real estate. Photographer + real estate = great photography story? Honestly, I come here and barely go on social media for a reason, if this turns into the same commercial world of empty content what's the point?
Genuine question. Given so many amazing photographers run workshops so they can survive, is this any different? What about a paid article about photography? Simarly, your own diversification into CGI. And if these things are different, where is the line?
I've been around for a long time, and none of this is new to me, but I imagine it may be pretty useful to a 16 year old trying to get into the business.
Professional photography is hard no matter how good you are.
Diversification increases resiliance of the business. Ultimately, it may mean the difference between survival and not.
And I still found her annoying.
Yes but the title made no indication that the income is not related to photography. It did not say how to complement your income as a photographer with non photography related solutions. Isn't it what people who decide not making a living out photography do for way over 100 years?
Headlines are a slightly different question; in this particular case, there is a linguistic ambiguity, caused by "...as a...".
I don't have any particar issue with the headline, but I can see why you may.
Article should come before the video, Who wants to read it after the title and after watching this video. Even William who now supports your comments couldn't go past 21 seconds ...
The fact I found her insufferable is a different issue. I actually only started watching because you and Tom were a little upset about the content.
Anyway, the fact she has 127k followers on IG would suggest my emotional response puts me in the minority.
Also, I think you intended that for Black Z Eddie.
Yeah, you won't catch me looking at or even find any value in followers count. I can't even imagine what is going on in these people's head on a daily basis when counts becomes their only purpose in life. Sounds super depressing and dangerous for the weak ones.
Modern society is depressing.
Yep, why not. As per article, "What revenue streams outside of photoshoots have been the most lucrative for you?" Notice the words "outside" "of" "photoshoots".
It says streams, not streams outside photography, please read the title again.
Ahhh...I see. You're hung up on the title. Probably best to ingest the article + video as a whole. Smart money is on that.
Yes, titles used to be important, but no longer have value.
I am deleting my account soon. You and a few can argue and debate properly. You can argue and totally agree with the same person on the next article. I appreciate that.
Let me preface this by saying I'm not attacking you.
It has been demonstrated psychological well-being has a negative correlation (causation has been established) to the amount of time you spend on social media (which Fstoppers is).
There is no shame in walking away because it's making you unhappy.
Peace.
No worries William, I am pretty sure we have established in the past that we can communicate no matter how much we can disagree at time.. I've been wanting to leave for awhile.
Nah, you won't delete your account. You'll stick around even if to just pop in from time to time.
Bye
Later alligator
It says 48 hours before the cache totally clears.
I would regret it, always enjoy reading your opinions.
This was like maybe 5 years ago, but, I could have sworn they deleted your account immediately. I vaguely remember them sending an email and you had to respond to it. It's like a second chance in case you change your mind. Basically, you initiate on site. Respond to email. Finalize on site. Then, pooof.
At any rate, if your account doesn't disappear, maybe it's a sign. :)
I didn''t get an email so far, just a screen saying up to 48 hours. Also said my posts will stay, but name and other info will go.
All of my photography income comes outside of photoshoots. But it is still income that comes directly from photography itself. The licensing of photos to publishers and advertising agencies and conservation organizations. The selling of prints. Commissions and royalties earned via licensing usage rights thru stock agencies. That is all directly from photography. Yet no one ever pays me to do a photoshoot.
I hope you are not trying to imply this is some sort of badge of honor?
No. Just trying to make sure that everybody understands that there is a huge distinction between actual photography income and income from fields that parallel photography. And also a distinction between being paid to photograph something and being paid for the images themselves. Some photographers provide a service/product package, while a photographer such as myself provides a product, but does not provide any service. It is imperative that we are all clear on all of this and do not confuse something with something else. Accurately defining and categorizing everything is of such great importance!
Yep, I laughed.