“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” – Warren Buffett

The quote by Warren Buffett that opens this blog post was the inspiration for my latest book (paperback and Ebook), How To Make Money While You are Sleeping: A photographer’s guide to passive income – and other savvy business strategies. Click here to order the paperback version ($14.95). Click here to order the Ebook version ($9.95).

In this post I’ll share with you the Introduction and Chapter 1. Before You Doze Off for that book. As you will see, if you put in the effort while you are awake, you can indeed make money while you sleep.

The book is dedicated to the memory of my dad, Robert M. Sammon, Sr., who, through his example, showed me the importance of paying careful attention to one’s income, expenses, and investments . . . as well as the benefit of living below your means.

My dad, an amateur photographer who got me started taking pictures, also gave me some invaluable advice when it comes to making money: “It takes a lot of peanuts to feed an elephant.” In other words, he was saying that all those pennies and dollars can add up, which is the theme of this book.

Introduction

“Dad, you’re not only a photographer, but you are also an entrepreneur who happens to be a photographer.” – Marco Sammon

That’s what my son Marco, seventeen years old at the time, said after I introduced myself as a photographer at a neighborhood party.

Marco, who has since received his PhD in Finance, was making the point that although I take pictures for a living, I spend a lot of time—the majority of my work time actually—on the business side of my profession. I’m always working hard on new projects—writing books, setting up affiliate programs, cultivating sponsorships, recording online classes and podcasts, and so on.

Marco also observed that I spend a lot of time promoting those projects on social media, and then tracking the results. We’ll talk more about tracking sales later in this book, but for now, if you self-publish a paperback or Kindle version on Amazon.com, you can actually track sales on an hourly basis – which I don’t encourage because it can become addictive. However, I have to admit that I do track sales quite frequently when I release a new book.

So, the message here is this: as much as you love photography (as I do), and as much as you want to save the world (its people, wildlife, environment, and so on) with your craft, it’s important to understand that in order to succeed you must also be a good businessperson—which involves generating income while you are both awake and asleep.

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If you know me from some of my other photography books, photo workshops, tours, seminars and online classes, you may be thinking, “I like Rick’s photography and I’ve learned some cool things from him, but what could he possibly know about sound business practices?” Well, believe it or not, before becoming a professional photographer I spent ten years (1980–1990) at Bozell & Jacobs as vice president/group supervisor on the Minolta camera account. At that time Bozell & Jacobs was one of the largest advertising and public relations firms in the world.

At that agency I learned about the business side of photography, as well as how to promote Minolta photographers, including famed Beatles’ photographer, Harry Benson.

When I left the agency, I had the “ammo” to promote myself through advertising and PR. I had also learned the business side of a professional photographer’s life from working with other famous photographers like fashion photographer, Robert Farber, and United Nations photographer, John Isaac.

The lessons I learned at the agency were invaluable, as were the business lessons I learned as editor of Studio Photography magazine (from 1978 to 1980). Having been hired with no editorial experience, my boss and the publisher of the magazine, Rudy Maschke, said this to me when I asked him for my first raise: “Sammon, you are learning so much that you should be paying me.”

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On these pages I will share all I know about the business side of photography with you, which of course includes making money while you are sleeping.

These lessons have helped my wife, Susan, and I run our business for more than thirty years—and I can tell you, there is nothing like running your own business. As a small business owner, you learn very quickly that you are both the “chief cook and bottle washer,” as my dad used to say.

When thinking of generating income while you are sleeping, please don’t get me wrong, I still work my butt off during my waking hours—because I love what I do. And as the saying goes: “If you love what you do, you never need to work a day in your life.”

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Generating income while you are sleeping starts with your waking time, something we’ll cover in Chapter 1. Before You Doze Off.

If you are new to generating passive income, the cool thing is that after you put in the work, you can doze off (take a nap during the day or go off to bed) and wake up a little richer than you were before you closed your eyes.

The key phrase here is “a little.” Before I explain, here’s another expression my dad shared with me: “Everything is relative.” In other words, “a little” means something different to different people. For example, “a little” passive income each day from different sources (including books, online classes, and crowdfunding projects) could possibly add up to a very nice source of income. In fact, I know several well-known photographers whose major source of income is generated passively.

In subsequent chapters, you’ll see how you can generate “a little” income while you sleep with different money-making projects that you can create during your waking hours.

Here’s a look at the table of contents (topics I cover) for the book:

Acknowledgments & Networking

Author’s Preface

Introduction

1. Before You Doze Off

2. Your Website: Your 24/7 Store

3. Socialize or Succumb

4. The Advantage of Affiliate Programs

5. Buy Me a Coffee

6. Start a Facebook Group

7. Write or Narrate a Book

8. Offer a Downloadable PDF EBook

9. Join the Crowd with Crowdfunding

Intermission

10. Start a Podcast

11. Record an Online Class or Classes

12. Offer a Newsletter

13. Strive for Sponsorship

14. Create Content for a YouTube Channel

15. Get into Webinars

16. Sell Prints Online

17. Launch an Online Forum

18. Suggest a Product to a Company

19. Take Stock of Stock Photography

20. Your Money Can Work Harder for You Than You Can

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Dollarwise, you might be asking, “How much is ‘a little?’” As I usually say when someone asks me these questions, the answer is, “It depends.” It depends on the project/product, the selling price, how well your item sells, how well you promote it, your name, and the size of your audience.

About the size of your audience: you need to do “everything in your power,” as Don Corleone said in the movie The Godfather to build and cultivate it. It’s the key to success.

We will talk more about building your audience/followers later in this book, but for now, that includes being very active on social media, building your mailing list, and treating everyone who comes into your “store” (your website) with respect.

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Let’s take a quick look at just three of the aforementioned money-making projects. Keep in mind that this book was written in 2021 and things may have changed by the time you read this text.

I feel compelled to reiterate that this is only a quick look to illustrate that there is passive income to be made on the internet. We’ll go into more detail later in this book.

Affiliate Programs. Basically, an affiliate or associate program is a system that lets you keep a very small percentage of a sale by posting a custom-for-you, company-generated link to a product. The more links you post—on social media, on your website, in newsletters, and so on—the more peanuts you make.

Sounds simple? It is, but there is more to it. I’ll tell you all the nuts and bolts in Chapter 4: The Advantage of Affiliate Programs. You may be surprised at how the Amazon Associates Program works, and how you can sometimes generate income from products that you are not even promoting.

Publishing Paperback and Kindle Books on Amazon. First, let’s talk about paperback books: KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) offers a fixed 60%royalty rate on paperbacks sold via Amazon’s various marketplaces.

When it comes to Kindle books (eBooks readable on any device), authors who self-publish on Amazon through KDP earn a 70% royalty on books priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and a 35% royalty on books that cost more or less than that.

If you offer a book on Amazon for $10, you'll receive $7 for each copy sold. Sell a few thousand copies (typical for a photo book by a well-known author), and that’s a lot of peanuts.

As an author who has published four books (including this one) on Amazon, as well as dozens of paper books with traditional book publishers, I can tell you that Amazon offers a much higher royalty (70% compared to about 5% to 8% for traditional publishing). But Amazon does not offer advances, while a number of photo book publishers still do.

In addition, Amazon does not do foreign language translations, which, when done by traditional publishers, can generate added income. If you want to do a translated edition and post it on Amazon in different countries, a professional translation can cost upward of $2,000. On top of that, you need to start from scratch when it comes to the actual production of the book. If you can't DIY it, this can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $4,000.

Click here to see my best-selling books.

Online Classes on Training Sites: Payment for online classes on established training sites, some of which have tens of thousands of members, varies from company to company and individual to individual (usually based on the instructor’s popularity and social media following).

I’ve recorded thirty-six online classes, thirty-two on KelbyOne, my favorite online training site. Click here to see my most popular classes.

While payment for an online class varies from site to site and company to company, the average class completion payment is between $1000 and $3000, and the royalty payment is a few dollars per class.

I’ll go into more detail as to what goes into the production of an online class in Chapter 11: Record an Online Class or Classes. But for now, if an online training site has thousands of members and many watch your class—that’s right, more peanuts.

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We’ll talk more about different make-money-while-you-are-sleeping projects on the following pages – starting with Chapter 1. Before You Doze Off.

While you're reading that chapter, as well as the chapters that follow, I encourage you to keep the “snowball effect” in mind. A snowball starts out as a few snowflakes, and as it rolls down a hill, it gets larger and larger, until it eventually starts to melt. When you see sales “melting away,” it’s time for you to “wake up” and get back to work promoting your products.

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In closing this Introduction, I’d like to emphasize the epigraph for this book: “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” —Warren Buffett

I’ll add to that a story from my friend and wonderful photographer Fernando Santos. “I have a friend” he says, “who, when someone told him how busy they were, the friend said, ‘You’re so busy working that you don’t even have time to make money.’”

In other words, it’s important to pay attention to your finances, especially your passive income.

Chapter 1. Before You Doze Off

“Tired minds don't plan well. Sleep first, plan later.”

—Walter Reisch

While you're reading this book, you’re probably going to notice that I like quotes. Each chapter begins with a quote that I tried to match to the theme of that chapter.

This chapter is an exception. I’ll begin with three well-known quotes. Each one applies to making money while you are sleeping, even though at first glance it may not seem that way. Take a look, and then I’ll explain what I mean.

“You snooze you lose.”

“You must put in the time before you have the time.”

“You have to spend money to make money.”

“You snooze you lose”. Simply put, you need to spend your waking hours working – creating materials (online classes, books, prints, PDF downloads, etc.), setting up your passive income system (affiliate links, downloads, online ordering, and the other topics covered in this book), and then marketing your work, which I will cover in Chapter 3: Socialize or Succumb.

The more time you spend snoozing in the beginning of your quest to make money while you are sleeping, the more you will lose out on generating passive income.

“You must put in the time before you have the time.” This is basically the same concept as “You snooze you lose.” I include it here to reinforce the idea that hard work pays off … for years (and maybe even generations) to come. For example, I know authors who are still making money on books that were written decades ago. It’s the same for online classes. And the same for old blog posts with affiliate links that folks stumble upon.

“You have to spend money to make money.” There’s an old expression, “Everyone needs an editor,” which by the way, includes me.

You may need to hire an editor or proofreader to help you with a blog post, article, copy for a book (traditional, Amazon, or PDF), or an app. You may need to hire a camera person and editor to help you with an online video class. That money will be well spent because it will make you “look” better.

If you don’t want to spend money, offer the person a percentage of sales. I do one or the other depending on the project.

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Speaking of time, like me, most of my professional photographer friends spend more time working on the business side of photography than they do on taking pictures. My breakdown is about eighty to ninety percent business, and about ten to twenty percent actually making and processing pictures.

As a result of their efforts, most of my friends have a nice passive income, in addition to a nice active income.

I asked a few of these friends share their business vs. photography ratio, along with their best business advice. Take a listen.

Ian Plant, www.ianplant.com and www.shuttermonkeys.com: “I spend about 80% to 90% of my time working on my business.

“My best business advice: I always tell aspiring photographers to focus on their business, not their photography. Don't worry about chasing the latest social media photo fad or trying to take photos that will appeal to the internet masses. Instead, take the photos that you want to make.

“If you have a solid business and marketing strategy, you will find the audience that appreciates your work, and more important, you will find the customers that want to purchase your goods and services.

“But the business model needs to be your single greatest priority whenever you aren't taking photos. I've seen great photographers languish in obscurity, and bad photographers make lots of money. What sets them apart is having a good business plan and marketing strategy.

“The single smartest thing you can do to make money is to aggressively grow your email marketing mailing list. It's really difficult to engineer a hugely successful social media presence, and even then, you aren't necessarily connecting with potential customers. Figure out who your target customers are, and then find ways to get in front of them and acquire email addresses.

“I spend a huge amount of time doing presentations with camera clubs and conferences, and each time I do so, I figure out the best way to acquire email addresses from participants.

“Over time, your list can grow to have thousands, or even tens of thousands, of email addresses, and this direct marketing list allows you to directly communicate with your biggest fans, followers, and customers, without having to cut through all of the social media noise.”

Sean Bagshaw, www.outdoorexposure.com: “I spend about 80% of my time on my business.

“My best business advice: 1) Immerse yourself in the thing you are passionate about long enough and you will eventually become sought out as an ‘expert’ in that field. 2) Never take business advice from Sean Bagshaw.“

Lewis Kemper, www.lewiskemper.com: “I spend about 70% of my time focusing on my business.

“My best business advice: Nurture all business relationships. Meet as many people in the photo industry as you can and keep in touch with them. Put yourself out in front of as many people as you can.”

Scott Bourne, www.scottbourne.com: “I spend 80% of my time selling/marketing and 20%creating images/video.

“My best business advice: Start every conversation about price with the following question: ‘What’s your budget?’ This lets you know if this is the kind of client you want and also gives you an idea of how much you can safely charge. If the person you are negotiating with has a lot of experience, assume that he/she offered a budget number that is lower than the real number.”

Richard Bernabe, www.richardbernabe.com: “Pre-pandemic, I spent about 70% of my time on my business and about 30% taking pictures. Post–March 2020, it was 95% on my business and only about 5% making photographs.

“Focus on your business is my best business advice.”

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My best business tip, one that can help you with many aspects of your business—including interacting on social media, giving seminars and webinars, recording online classes and podcasts, and writing a book or magazine article—is to take the Dale Carnegie (www.dalecarnegie.com) course, “Effective Communication and Human Relations.” If you can’t take the course live or online (it’s not cheap), I suggest reading the Dale Carnegie & Associates book, How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age.

Both Susan and I took the course in the mid-1980s. We both say: “Taking the course was the best business decision we ever made.” We learned how to give effective presentations and how to improve our communication skills, which includes a very important aspect of having a conversation: listening.

About listening: as photographers and presenters, we all need to listen to the audience when posting on social media, and when giving seminars and webinars. When we record an online class or write a book or blog post, we need to “listen” in advance to any questions the viewer or reader may have.

Take a listen to a few of my favorite quotes on listening:

"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen."

—Ernest Hemingway

"We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less."

—Diogenes

"Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking."

—Bernard Baruch

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While you are awake, it’s important to build your brand because it’s what draws people to your website and social media real estate, and because it’s what makes people trust you, and, in the case of making money while you are sleeping (and awake), buy from you.

Basically, your brand is you (to the public, not to your family and close friends). As Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you are not in the room.” Here’s another way to look at your brand: It’s your reputation.

Before telling the world about your brand, you need to build your brand. The key, I feel, is to be yourself, and to let your personality and passions shine through. Those attributes should be summed up in your mission statement or tag line.

My friend Art Wolfe’s mission statement sums up what he feels people will get from his books, workshops, and seminars: “Explore. Create. Inspire.” With these three words you get a good idea of why you want to hang out, in person or on the pages of one of his many books, with Art.

When I worked in the advertising industry we had meetings during which we discussed strategies, objectives, and tactics. In developing your brand, strategize about the ways in which you can spread the word (social media, for example), fulfill your objectives (filling workshops, selling books and prints, etc.), and hone your tactics (a daily practice for your business).

Another important step in building your brand is having a logo. If your brand takes off, you will not even need to use your name when publishing a print on social media. The Nike Swoosh (a check mark shape) and the CBS eye are two good examples of effective logos.

You can have a logo designed by an online logo designer. I had mine designed by Hudson Valley Graphic Design here in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. The process of creating a logo requires a lot of reflective thinking, which is a good thing!

Signatures can also become your logo. For a unique signature logo, check out www.fontbros.com. You can design a unique signature/logo there.

Well, my friend, if you know your audience and build your brand, you will be on your way to running a successful business and making a few bucks, which will allow you to do what you love most: take pictures.

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After you have built your brand, it’s time to promote that brand everywhere possible on the web. You need to be your own PR (public relations) person because no one will work harder for you than you will.

Put the time in while you are awake—tweet, post on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites, etc.—and folks will come to you in the middle of the night to see what you are doing, which includes selling stuff.

I’ll talk more about social media in Chapter 3: Socialize or Succumb. For now, it’s important to keep in mind that social media is the key not only to building your brand, but the key to building your audience . . . which, in turn, is the key to making money while you are asleep – as well as when you are awake.

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I started this chapter with three quotes, so I thought I’d end with three quotes specific to making money. I think they are self-explanatory.

“I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money.”

—Pablo Picasso

“Invest in as much of yourself as you can, you are your own
biggest asset by far.”

—Warren Buffett

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
—Sam Walton

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Good luck in all your business and photo endeavors. And enjoy your naps!
Rick