This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Stock photo platform lowers commissions. Welcome friends, welcome to Side Hustle School, welcome to a new month as well. Episode 2862, excited to bring you another case study. And this is in the segment known as Failure Friday. It's a segment all about things that don't go so well.
We like to feature lots of successes and people making lots of money and things just going great. But we also like to look at challenges, difficulties, obstacles, mistakes, missteps, disasters, and also failure when a business idea doesn't work out or when it's working for a while and then it suddenly stops, which is kind of what we have here in today's example. And we like to consider what you can learn from this experience, what you can learn from this particular side hustler or a small business owner, entrepreneur, whatever the case may be, either as a preventative lesson, like, oh, here's something to be aware of going into an idea, or as just kind of a point of inspiration or motivation, kind of seeing how somebody gets unstuck, when this disaster or failure or whatever the case might be, just kind of shows up and how do they move forward? How do they move forward positively with a new idea perhaps or something different? Anyway, today's story features Jeffrey from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
As you might guess, his business has had a couple challenges. In fact, while he is a landscape photographer, he had a side hustle selling stock photos or licensing his photos, and he was making some good money passively, and then all of a sudden he wasn't. So let's hear this story from him as well as what he learned. I'll be back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
I thought I'd finally cracked the code.
After years of lugging my camera through dense forests and up steep mountains, I had a portfolio bursting with stunning landscapes. When I started selling my images on Shutterstock, it felt like I'm striking gold. At first, you know, the sales trickled in slowly, a mountain here, a valley there, but as I fine-tuned my keywords and built up a following, the trickle, that turned into a steady stream. Six months in, I was earning like $2,000 a month from my photos, not enough to quit my day job, but you know, it was a sweet supplement that funded new gear and travel. Unfortunately, I got cocky.
I mean, why bother with my own website or mailing list when Shutterstock was working so well? I poured like all of my energy into creating new content, certain that more photos meant more sales, then came the email that changed everything. We're updating our contributor earning structure, it said. Buried in the fine print was a bomb. Shutterstock was implementing a new earnings tier system that significantly reduced royalties for many contributors.
The effects were immediate and it was brutal. My sales didn't just dip, they plummeted. Overnight, my $2,000 monthly income, it became 500. My best-selling photos once front and center in search results now languished, you know, pages deep. I was crushed.
I had no backup plan, no direct connection to my customers, and I was completely at the mercy of Shutterstock's policies. I spent weeks trying to climb the new earnings tiers, but it was like swimming against a riptide. I was back to earning hundreds of dollars a month in extra income instead of thousands. Chastened but determined, I set out to rebuild. I launched my own website.
I started an email list and I explored other platforms, you know, like Adobe Stock and Getty Images. It was hard work, especially while continuing my day job, but slowly, my income began to recover. The lesson was clear. Never put all your eggs in one basket, no matter how sturdy it seems. Today, my photo business is more resilient with revenue streams from multiple sources.
When one falters, the others keep me afloat. That Shutterstock email was ultimately a blessing in disguise. It taught me that in the world of side hustles, adaptability, yeah, it's a necessity. [Music]
The interesting thing about this story I think is, yes, he could have been more prepared or more diversified. And, you know, if this is your only source of income, then it's good to do that.
But sometimes side hustles really work when there's kind of a gap in the market or you're able to exploit a platform like this. By exploit, I don't mean to hack them. I just mean, you know, to do something that works for you. Like it's a model that works and they've got money to pay and you figured it out. So it doesn't always work forever, but if it works for a while, that's great.
You know, so I actually think it's great. He was making $2,000 a month and it's not gonna last, you know, for years and years and years. But if it lasted for a while, that's a great success. And now he goes on to do something else. So maybe just another perspective there.
Yes, it's good to diversify, but you can also just take advantage of something while it lasts. In any case, thanks to Jeffrey for sharing this story. Listeners, if you have a question or an update, www.sidehustleschool.com/questions, this is episode 2,862. I'm so excited to keep making episodes for you. A new one every day, in fact.
You can always listen wherever you like. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
