At last month’s Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop, it was incredibly clear that all our experts… and all our biggest success stories… found success fast by starting local.
They took pictures and wrote stories about their own hometown before they moved on to larger projects because it was faster, easier, and more lucrative. And it gave them a chance to jump in without going whole hog.
For the next few weeks, I’m going to profile the best opportunities to turn your hometown into $$ and I’ll tell you how to get started with each of them, too.
Some of these ideas you’ve heard about before. But others—like today’s—you haven’t, so I’ll get right to it…
This next opportunity I love because it has a very short learning curve and the per-weekend income potential is high.
One of our members, Amy Muschik, turned me on to this idea earlier this year at our Ultimate Photography Workshop and I could immediately see myself doing it in my own hometown on weekends.
She’s currently earning $300 to $3,000 per project, and it’s formulaic so there’s not a lot of chance for error.
It’s also bite-sized—a project here and a project there—so no big commitment and no years of practice necessary.
It’s called 360-Degree Photography which makes it sound big and complicated even when it’s not.
You basically buy some extra gear for your camera that makes these photos possible… learn how to stitch the images together on your computer… and then you’re ready for $300 – $500 projects.
$3,000 projects come after you’ve gotten a few $500 projects under your belt. And it’s waaaay easier than you think.
What’s more, it’s shaping up to be the next “big thing” in the photo world. Cafés, shoe stores, bagel shops, realtors, massage therapists, dentist’s offices… just about any small business wants these images to be featured on Google as a “virtual tour.”
And because you’re creating a 360-degree photograph of everything in the room – there’s not much creativity involved. The viewer is going to click on the image and move their computer mouse around to see what’s ahead, behind, and to the side of them. It’s a virtual tour.
It takes a tripod and a little know-how, but, after a weekend of practice you should be fine to take on your first client… which means your return on investment happens fast.
Can you do it?
Absolutely. It’s one of the easier hometown opportunities we have. Also one of the most lucrative.
If you like to take pictures, this is a fun way to play (and earn) that doesn’t involve pitching editors, committing to the long-term payout of stock, or printing/promoting your work as fine art.
It’s simple, formulaic, and it could be an extra $3,000 in a single weekend.
It helps your local community, too. And it gets you out there providing a service that might come in handy later when you want to sell your other photos. It’s a lot easier to ask a local restaurant if they’ll feature your photos on their wall if you’ve already helped them get a virtual tour of their business online.
Not a lot of people are doing this just yet which is good news for you if you get in now. You’ll be ahead of the curve.