The Mistake That Cost This Photographer $100,000

$100,000 is a lot of money. Perhaps life-changing for many among us. But that's how much this photographer insists he lost due to a regrettable mistake. Learn what it is so you don't do the same.

Back in December of 2018, I was dabbling in cryptocurrencies. At the time, I had a few cryptos on the go, including Bitcoin and Ripple. As I was going home to Australia for the new year, I wanted to put some money aside for spending. As it so happened, the crypto market went on a nice little bull run and Bitcoin and Ripple had some lovely gains. Sensing an opportunity, I sold on a high and cashed in, happy with the addition to my bank account. Big, big mistake. I sold Ripple at around 60c, which was more than double what I'd paid for it. What's wrong with that? Heading into January, Ripple skyrocketed to $3, and to this day I'm still bitter about how much my trigger fingers cost me. Certainly not $100k or anything like that, but enough that I could've bought a lot of the camera gear I'd coveted.

Which brings us to this great video by Evan Ranft. As a photography YouTuber with over 255k subscribers, he's done very well at monetizing his audience and turning a vlogging hobby into a serious income. However, in this video, he outlines the mistake he made that he says cost him in excess of $100,000. That's a lot of money, but he's been in the online game for a long time and worked hard to build a business model that's profitable. Thus, I can only take him on his word. I don't want to spoil it for you but what he says makes a lot of sense, so I recommend giving the video a watch, especially if you're trying to set up a photography business or you have a business that is barely treading water.

Iain Stanley's picture

Iain Stanley is an Associate Professor teaching photography and composition in Japan. Fstoppers is where he writes about photography, but he's also a 5x Top Writer on Medium, where he writes about his expat (mis)adventures in Japan and other things not related to photography. To view his writing, click the link above.

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7 Comments

Substitute ( any body ) in the body of this story. Photography specific ? Not.

What a BS piece of click-bait that's not even related to photography. FStoppers keeps sinking to new lows, and I haven't even been on this site in months.

I am getting a little tired of the phrase " me as an Artist " there not many Artists on YouTube Photography
channels .......just many money makers ....

What adult hasn’t had a few, “what if stories”? Years ago, I lost potential high six to low seven figures because I trusted a friend, my best friend of fifteen years with money. Then there was the Intellectual Property case that disappeared because I didn’t register the images correctly. You live long enough and you have a couple missed opportunities or missteps.

Geez stopped watching this guy long ago. Hard pass

Seriously? WTAF fstoppers? This is not photography news. This is crap. Unfollowing now. Either moderate your posts or stop calling yourself a photography related media.