I am targeting a niche , so not just anyone that is interested in blogging, but more specifically photographers who are interested in blogging. Hopefully by doing so I will be maximizing my potential to catch a larger percentage of a smaller audience rather than a small percentage of a much larger one due to much less competition and more targeted content to reach a specific audience segment.

The website will cover everything from the basic priciples of blogging, to technical tips and how-tos, and even discuss some more advanced ideas such as using inbound marketing strategies like SEO and social media to drive traffic to your photography blog/website.

Like any project I undertake… this one is born out of a serious passion; both for blogging and photography, however just like any project I follow through on, there are some ulterior financial motives.  In addition to simply providing valuable information and resources to photographers interested in starting or advancing their photography business online.   The website will act as a magnet for potential clients interested in taking their online presence farther than they are technically capable of achieving by themselves.

Picture this, A landscape photographer who sells stock photography decides they want a website to promote their work online.   They google “How to set up a photoblog” and find my post Quickstart Guide to Starting your Photography Blog.  They follow my tips and even though they are not that tech savy they manage to get their site going.  They are now finding a number of other helpful resources on Blogging Photographer, but then decide there are a few tweaks they’d like to make to their website, but they just don’t really care to learn HTML, CSS, PHP, or Wordpress to figure it out.

That’s where I come in.  I am generating an automated referral business, providing people with something of value hopefully people will continue coming to my site for useful information.  However when they want to take things one step farther… I will be there for them, offering my services to assist them in achieving their goals.

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However I have been able to accomplish a number of my longstanding goals in 2008 and 2009 bringing me closer to my financial freedom.  Most notable of those goals checked off my list was the purchase of my first condo.  I started researching the Chicago real estate market before even arriving in the Windy City, and spent the majority of my free time doing so ever since.  It was a bumpy ride for a while but everything ended up working out, and I bought my first bit of real estate near the bottom of what looks like ended up being one of the largest real estate sell offs in history.  It was mostly dumb-luck.

Buying a condo was an important part of my financial strategy.  My short-term goal was to save on rent every month, from my research of the Chicago real estate and rental market I knew that I could purchase a condo and pay less per month than what it would cost to rent a comparable apartment.

My long-term strategy was to build equity by rehabbing an undesirable unit, and rent it out while I pay down the mortgage.  Based on my research, my target was a to keep my monthly expenses below $1150 for a two bedroom condo on Chicago’s north side.

My research methods were a bit sneaky, more on that in another post, but they were validated upon moving in.  Two guys were moving in across the hall at the same time and as it turns out they were paying $1150 a month!

The second major goal I accomplished was to set aside a rainy day fund equivalent to 6 months living expenses (which I handsomely surpassed).  This was quite a bit harder than I had expected as I was pouring a significant amount of money into rehabbing my condo each month.  However I achieved this goal, though not in the way that I had hoped, by re-financing my condo and taking out a “lump-sum”.

Even so, this refinancing was an important step in it’s own right.  As a first-time homeowner, I had trouble coming up with a 20% down payment for my condo.  Subsequently I was stuck paying PMI with an outrageous interest rate of 7%.  Refinancing my house, not only allowed me to take a fairly large chunk of change, but more importantly it actually decreased my monthly expenses, by lowering my interest rate to 5%, and removing the Private Mortgage Insurance each month.

In the end, looking back over the past 18 months since I layed out my goals for this site and my life, I have marked a few major items off my list, however, I still have a lot of work left to do.

I have made little progress in the way of developing additional streams of income. I have not devoted enough time developing any single idea, to fully vet its merits to really see if any of them are a viable business, before moving on to something new.  I am still constantly coming up with ideas, jumping around from one to another like a lunatic. I have not been able to sustain the motivation, to keep pushing myself foreword, I have struggled with inspiration, I have lost interest, given up, and started over countless times. I have not held my self accountable for my goals, dreams, and passions, and that is what truly matters.

I have begun to realize that there is more to life than checking goals off a list, life is more than the destination, life is the journey, and that realization may be the biggest achievement yet.  In fact that is what this whole idea this whole website,  set out to capture, and as a result succeed itself by documenting that journey in spite of the acheivements or failures.

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My resistance the phone has only ever been the strain it would place on my financial well being. I was excited to check stocks on the train, look for the nearest bus stop at the bar, and compose an email at the beach.

The truth is this really is a revolutionary device and truly puts the worlds knowledge at your finger tips whenever and where ever you need it. (provided you have a data connection). Before I bought my phone there was a laundry list of things I had in my head I could do if I just had the phone. However I am finding something new everyday that I couldn’t do before that is just making it that much more of an amazing device.

I have about a 15 minute communte to my JOB downtown, in which I used to read magazines or merely stare out the window dreading, antcipating what the next 8 hours would have in store for me. Now I am able to stay up-to-date on my investments before the opening bell in the mornings, and my new goal is to use the 15 minute ride on the way home to compose a blog post everyday. Effectively using my time to be productive in thought, and document the day’s events rather than simply allowing the train to whisk me away from them.

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What if I told you the lunatic on the other end of that email could actually be right.  What if I told you that you could actually make money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and with almost no effort.  You would probably call me crazy too!

At first this idea sounds impossible, a bold faced lie more likely, however in practice it’s actually quite common.  I want you to close your eyes for a minute and imagine that you have all of the money you could ever need and you no longer are required to get up and go to work every morning.

What would you do?

Would you get up and go fly fishing? Maybe take your bike out and go for a long ride?  Perhaps you would go to the museum and study the contemporary sculpture exhibit and ask yourself over and over, How can they honestly pass this as art? Maybe you’d gather your friends in front of the TV:  beercan, chipbag, and remote.

Imagine if you could get paid to do whatever it is you do in your free time when there are no other responsibilities. Imagine you could get paid to simply live your life.

Think about your favorite celebrity…

1. Shaun White is an incredible snowboarder and gets paid to travel the world in search of the best spots to ride
2. Martha Stewart has managed to turn her love for cooking, entertaining, and decorating into a multi-million dollar enterprise
3. Donald Trump was fascinated with real estate as a young man and has literally built an empire
4. Oprah thrives on enriching peoples lives through sharing touching stories and information
5. Paris Hilton is famous for being…. well, famous.

…they all have one thing in common:

Their life is their business.

We may not all be superstars at something, like Shaun White there are boundless opportunities in our everyday lives to take advantage of.

I recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica which was part vacation, part volunteer work.  I entered the country with an excitement to explore a new culture and a new language; I left the country primed with two potential business startups and a new business partner.

Last week while picking up some milk and eggs at our local food market I ran into the owner we started chatting about his business.  He brought up the idea of a new website, I brought up the idea of re-useable shopping bags, I left with a gallon of mik, a handshake and a promise to deliver both the reusable bags and the website.

So while that email spammer is probably still peddling empty promises of easy money, making  your life your business could be your real cash cow.  Unique opportunities are presented to us every single day.  To begin, all you need to do is open your eyes to the possibilities. Make your business your life.

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Ashley runs Upstart Blogger a blog whose tag line reads “Successful Blogging Made Simple”, pretty much sums it up.  I have been following his site pretty closely for the last few months and have been continuously impressed by the quantity and quality of its content.  I have managed to read just about every article available and feel I have soaked up some very valuable information and lessons as a result.  So I felt his was an opinion I could trust.

From my reading I knew that a significant portion of Ashley’s income at Upstart Blogger is attributed to an affiliate marketing campaign with his hosting provider, ANHosting.  They happen to offer a two tier marketing program which means in theory he not only earns money from his refferrals, but could potentially earn money on their referrals as well.

What I wanted to know was how important this second tier was to his overall blogging strategy, and if the income from this second tier was worth finding a reputable company I was willing to promote that offers such a program.

So I shot him an email to ask him exactly this.  He replied with some great advice that answered a lot of questions for me, and I think it is really worth sharing…

Hi Kirk,

Thanks for your kind words. Second, and subsequent, tier marketing is a market that makes me exactly zero! In fairness, however, that is probably because I don’t actively say good things about that side of my partnership with AN hosting.

Not that they aren’t good. It’s just that I don’t like the idea of trying to persuade someone to push the same product that I push.

The only people who are good at making second tier incomes tend to be those who make nothing from the first tier. That is why programs like text link ads are promoted so aggressively by some less scrupulous pro bloggers.

I suppose it is possible for there to be a middle ground – where someone makes a good income from every tier – but I’m pretty sure it’s an either-or situation.

If you are able to promote a product successfully – a product that is complimentary to your blog – your income is much more stable than if you rely on the little and often approach of the second tier.

I thoroughly recommend AN Hosting as a host. I’m a customer of theirs and they look after me. Promoting them is pretty easy since I use them transparently – everyone knows I’m a customer so it’s not a hard sell.

To sum up – find a complementary product or service and go for the first tier sales – that’s where 100% of my blogging income comes from and that’s what I would recommend anyone else to do unless there was a better reason not to.

Cheers,

Ashley

Ashley, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions you have shed light on a question I have been struggling to find answers to.  I am always looking forward to reading your updates over at  Upstart Blogger.  Keep up the good work!

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The vast Majority of people falsely assume that working for a large corporation is the safest way to make a living, but what happens when your employer downsizes and you get laid off?  What will you do then?  You have no control and no say in the situation, your only option is to accept it and move on.  Becoming self employed puts the power in your hands, quite literally, you will fail or succeed based solely on your own actions, abilities and determination, rendering the above scenario inconceivable.

However regardless of the source, relying on a single form of income is risky business.  Whether it is a paycheck from an employer, profits from a business venture, or passive income from an investment property you are putting yourself in harms way.   Again, what will you do when something out of your control goes wrong, the economy slows and your business starts losing money?  Or your investment property requires unforeseen repairs that break the bank?   A single source of income is a single point of failure, and only one step away from financial disaster.

Diversification is the answer and is just as important to your financial freedom as it is to your stock portfolio.  Diversification is a  back up plan for when things go wrong with one piece of the puzzle. Diversification gives you the peace of mind to know you can rely your other profit centers until the problem has been remedied.  As a result I have decided to focus my attention on three activities I am very passionate about, The Three Pillars to My Financial and Personal Freedom, are small business, real estate investing, and… blogging.

Everyone has their own individual passions, dreams and ideas, and it is absolutely imperative that you follow the dreams you are passionate about.   Achieving personal and financial freedom is essentially being the business of you.  You have to love what you do, and let the money follow your passion.  There is no separation between work life, and real life, there is just life.  The goal is to live the life I want to live, without worrying about how I am going to support that kind of lifestyle.  It will just happen, Why?  Because I am in the business of me, my life is my business, and the rest will take care of its self.

For the most part this website will be focusing on the he Three Pillars to My Financial and Personal Freedom; small business, real estate investing, and… blogging.  I will be documenting my experiences in an attempt to convey the lessons I have learned along the way, both good and bad, and will shine the spotlight on other inspiring entrepreneurs in an effort to learn from their successes and failures alike.

I hope that this exercise will not only prove to be a valuable tool for my climb down the corporate ladder to financial freedom, it is my hope that KirkHatesWork will provide you with an immensely useful resource for you on your own personal journey to financial independence.

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So when websites first started coming out with the “Live Help” buttons a few years ago, I was elated. ” Screw sitting on hold for 15 minutes wasting cellphone minutes”, hop online and talk to someone instantly; it was a much more satisfactory way of getting to a real live person, quickly and efficiently.

However now it seems as though those have gone by way of automation as well. Is our capitalistic society so deranged that padding the bottom line is so important we are willing to give up every last bit of humanity in our world? How any company expects to provide any level of customer service or satisfaction from the use of such technology is beyond me.

Check out the most recent interaction I had over at Adobe.com…

Please hold as we route your chat to an Adobe Representative.
Welcome to Adobe.com! My name is Jason. May I assist you with your selection today?
Jason: Hello, how can I help you?
Visitor: Hi Jason, what is the difference between photoshop and photoshop extended?
Visitor: does extended have other applications included other than photoshop? or pre installed plugins?
Jason: I’ll be glad to help you.
Jason: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended software delivers all of the unrivaled image-editing power of Photoshop CS4 plus much more, including breakthrough 3D painting and editing, rich motion graphics editing, and enhanced image analysis.
Jason: Adobe Photoshop CS4 software provides improved access to its unrivaled power through a more intuitive user experience, greater editing freedom, and significant productivity enhancements.
Visitor: sure, I read that on the site, but what does it really mean, is it fundamentally a different application with different features and menu items, or does it simply have a few different plugins or is it just photoshop packaged with another application that assists photoshop with 3-4 elements
Jason: The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended is the same as Adobe Photoshop CS4 with more features.
Jason: Ok this is really cool. Photoshop CS4 Extended lets you paint directly on 3D models and wrap 2D images around 3D shapes. It also has more smooth panning and zooming with much better clarity than previous versions.
Visitor: are you a robot or a real person
Jason: I’m a live person and my name is Jason.
Visitor: Do you have a set of automated responses you can choose? Because honestly just resending me information that I have already read on the website is not helpful
Visitor: that is not a value added service
Visitor: Is there anything you can tell me about the differences between these two products that isn’t on the website?
Thank you for chatting with us today.

WTF?! FAIL

I want to go back to the time when companies put the customer first. A corporations number one obligation is to make a profit for its shareholder. We have already proven in the latest economic downturn that’s a bunch of bullshit. Shareholders, and taxpayers were screwed in favor of the corporation, so lets at least put the customer first!

We are so subservient to our corporations that we don’t even see how the decisions we are making effect our everyday lives.   God save humanity… corporations are ruining the world!!

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1. Stick To What You Know – Invest in your own backyard, you know the good blocks and the bad blocks
2. Start Small – Get your feet wet before becoming the “hot shot”
3. Buy the block  Not The House – when times are tough tennants always buy into a pretty environment
4. Examine rent receipts not the leases – make sure that people are actually paying the rent
5. Partner With an Opposite – One Partner picks up the others slack
6. Don’t call prospective tenants current landlord, call the one before that, the current landlord
7. If they move in quickly they move out quickly without notice

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1. Make meaning. The people who wake up in the morning wanting to make meaning usually succeed. The people who want to make money usually fail. Those who perpetuate good things, cause good things, or end bad things – those are the innovators.
2. Make a mantra. “Most organizations make mission statements and most mission statements suck.” A mantra is no more than two or three words. For example, Wendy’s should be “healthy fast food;” Nike stands for “authentic athletic performance;” eBay represents “democratization of commerce;” and Target could be “democratize design.”
3. Jump to the next curve. Don’t be satisfied battling it out on the same curve. Macintosh created a whole new curve, not a slightly better DOS computer. The telephone was not a slightly better telegraph, it was a whole new curve. Most organizations define their business on the curve they’re on. If you truly want to be innovative, it’s not about doing things 10 percent better – jump the curve to do something 10 times better!
4. Roll the DICEE. All innovations share the following elements.
   Depth: Create great products and services that are revolutionary (i.e., Reef makes a fanning sandal to protect feet and has a metal clip to open a beer bottle).
   Intelligent: Someone has anticipated what’s necessary (i.e., Panasonic developed a flashlight that takes three sizes of batteries so you’re sure to have one on hand).
   Complete: Not just the leather and steel and glass of the car – it’s the totality of the experience, it’s the Lexus experience.
   Elegance: The beauty of the industrial design.
   Emotive: Generate strong emotions – people love what you do or hate what you do, but they are certainly not indifferent. The worst case is that people don’t care about what you do.
5. Don’t worry, be crappy If you wait for perfection, you’ll never be ready.
6. Polarize people (emotiveness). Many organizations try to be all things to all people, which inevitably produces mediocrity. Don’t try to anger people, but do not hesitate to alienate a group.
7. Let 100 flowers blossom For example, Apple’s original goal wasn’t to spark a new desktop publishing industry, but it did encourage many software companies to write programs for the Mac. Apple Computer would have died if the Aldus Corporation hadn’t developed PageMaker for the Mac in 1985 – thus expanding the Mac beyond a simple word processor or spreadsheet tool.
8. Churn, baby, churn Take version 1 of your product, and make it 1.1 and 1.2 and 1.3. To be an innovator, you need to be in denial. Ignore the bozos who keep telling you it cannot be done. Then listen to customers to see how to fix your product.
9. Niche thyself. You want high uniqueness and high value. If you’re a great value but not unique, then you always have to compete on price (i.e., Dell Computer). If you’re only unique without value, you’re just a clown – you own a market that doesn’t exist. If your product/service is neither unique nor valuable, fahgeddaboutit! You want to produce something that is unique and of great value to the customer, like the Smart car, which can park perpendicular to the curb, among other things.
10. Follow the 10-20-30 rule. Create a maximum of 10 slides in a PowerPoint presentation; deliver it in 20 minutes; the optimal size font is 30 points.
11. Don’t let the bozos grind you down. Rich and famous parses to “lucky” not necessarily smart. “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at who he gives it to.” So watch for Bozosity. Take a shot of Bozosity to inoculate yourself against it

His message also included “The top 10 things he wishes teachers would teach students.” It struck a chord with me and I think applies to anyone interested in business as well.

What our schools do should prepare people for living. Part of living is working. But generally speaking, we’re preparing people for life, not work.

1. Teach students how to figure out anything by themselves.
2. How to explain anything in 30 seconds.
3. How to do a one-page report.
4. 10-20-30 rule of PowerPoint (see above).
5. Optimal length of an e-mail is five sentences, without an attachment.
6. How to survive a meeting (basically you get what you want out of the meeting and then you park your brain).
7. How to run a meeting (start on time, end on time, involve as few people as possible).
8. How to work as a group (the solo brilliant person doesn’t work in business).
9. How to negotiate win-wins.
10. Learning is a process not an event. It’s a lifelong process that is not limited to school.

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I started Kirk Hates Work as a way to document, organize reflect, and nurture the many ideas, business ventures and thoughts I have about financial inependence.  It was my goal to use Kirk Hates Work as a sort of fail-safe for these ideas, a place that if all else failed, would always have a purpose, would always be a success — as long I stuck to it.  Because its success is independent of outside metrics…  Its success is solely determined upon my interpretation of it as a resource, as a tool for learning.

The only way to fail in my mind was by not actually proceeding.  Sure enough that is exactly what happened.  I got busy with a number of other projects, and pushed Kirk Hates Work off, when in reality, it was during these times that I should have been posting every day, taking notes about what I was learning, and recounting my experiences.  It was exactly those parts of my life, that I was creating this blog to capture, to inspire, to learn from…

I set a goal back in April of 2008 to be self employed by the time the ball dropped for 2009 ringing in the new year.

So here’s my idea. I am giving myself until 2009 to quit work and become self sufficient. I will be blogging along the way about my experiences and chronicling my journey to financial and personal freedom right here at KirkHatesWork.com. Instead of “Picking a Pony” per-say and turning down every other idea I’ve had, I will be able to openly explore every opportunity all at once. KirkHatesWork.com becomes not only a means to the end, but a part of the final product.

Sadly it is now almost a quarter of the way through the new year and I have still not achieved that goal.  However, I am back with a renewed spirit, flush with new ideas, and possessing a renewed determination to achieve my goals for 2009.  I am excited to take Kirk Hates Work to the next level, but before jumping forward I will be revisiting 2008 and will be examining what I was able to accomplish last year in an effort to learn from the past and apply that knowledge to the new year, the new goals, and the new website.

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