Wanna Make $100,000 a year?

[KmH]

Put the camera away. Learn how to fix cars.
Shortage of Auto Mechanics Has Dealerships Taking Action

 

[Hermes1]

No question there are more certain and lucrative ways to earn a living than photography which has become increasingly more difficult and getting close to impossible.

 

[480sparky]

I plan on continuing my chosen career: Professional Lottery Winner.

 

[Scoody]

After a stellar amateur career as a boxer I decided to turn pro. Pro boxing is a completely different animal. I was stopped in the second round of my very first fight and never set foot in the ring again.

 

[table1349]

Welcome to the world to come. The service industry is growing exponentially. A college education will one day come second to an education into one service trade or another.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Having worked as a tech for Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep, good luck making any where near 100k

 

[Vtec44]

I was an IT network engineer for 20 years making about that much. I quit and started my own photography business making 50% more than when I was working for someone else. It's a good thing because self employment tax is ridiculous!

 

[unpopular]

Welcome to the world to come. The service industry is growing exponentially. A college education will one day come second to an education into one service trade or another.

Young people are increasingly dissatisfied with traditional liberal education anyway. I don't think it will be long before universities start catching on and offer more technical four-year degrees that skip the general education nonsense.

I for one dropped out after getting enough experience in college to get a career before finishing gen eds.

Though, I'm not making 100k/year.

 

[CdTSnap]

Without being a show off... I make more than that from photography. I think the trick is the ones that don't stop growing and don't give up


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[CdTSnap]

Depends on the field of course obviously. You'll never make a solid living off landscapes but it would be one of freedom and travel. Some would say that's more important.


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[smoke665]

I left the corporate world in 1985 to start my last company. This wasn't the first time I'd started from the ground up, so that part didn't bother me, but it was the first time leaving a nice 6 figure job with all the frills to do it. Looking back I'm glad I did, but at the time there was a lot of self doubt. A lot of people are content to give up their independence to work a 9 to 5 job, and settle for a mediocre living. Doesn't matter if they have a college education or not, they get in a rut and stay there out of fear of the unknown.

A college education will one day come second to an education into one service trade or another.

This is one of the great fallacies of the modern world. Young people have been led to believe that a college degree is their automatic ticket to a high paying job, but the reality is there are a lot of degrees out there that aren't worth the paper they're printed on. In the 90's I had drivers making more than college graduates, in fact I had drivers with college educations that had left the jobs they trained for to drive, because of the pay difference. "A recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that for 10 broad degree categories ranging from engineering to communications, 2016 graduates are projected to have an average salary of $50,556. That’s up 5% from 2014, when new grads earned an average of $48,127." Here's What the Average Grad Makes Right Out of College WTH, I had drivers with nothing more than a CDL and a clean driving record earning 50k 20 years ago.

 

[KmH]

There are exceptions to every rule.

According the the US Dept. of Labor only the top 15% or so of professional photographers have income (not revenue) of more than $50,000 a year.
The % of photographers in that 15% making more than $75,000 is also about 15%.
To make a living wage a working photographer needs to have yearly revenues approaching $150k.

Photographers wanting to start in the business today have a tough row to hoe.
The 'churn' at the entry level has always been impressive but these days seems to be a negative percentage.
Many more people start a photography business that fails, or has to be supported with other income because the business doesn't at least break even, than there are photographers that earn a living income by the 3rd year they are in business and manage to stay in business until their 5th year.

Most new businesses, of any type, fail for 1 or both of these reasons:
1. Insufficient start-up capital.
2. The business owner lacks fundamental business management skills.

Way back in the day, as I was growing up I learned my business management skills in my families restaurant business.
They were very disappointed that I opted to become a photographer rather than a restaurateur.

 

[unpopular]

Young people have been led to believe that a college degree is their automatic ticket to a high paying job

There is truth to this, but there are very few options out there for high paying jobs without a college degree and what a lot of older people don't understand about younger people is that we feel that there is value in doing something that we want to be doing, and we feel that this should be accounted for as well.

Yes, there a few jobs out there that pay higher than what I make that wouldn't require a college degree. Recently I saw an ad for sanitation workers that are paid about what I make - and not to knock the profession, I certainly do appreciate the garbage being taken away so I don't have to think about it - don't get me wrong.

But that's not something I'd actually want to do, and if that means I have to pay $100/month on my student loans, then doing something I've always wanted to do is worth $1200/year.

On the flip side I think there are some young people out there with really unrealistic ideas about what a genuine career is; and it's pretty easy after being told for a lifetime to "follow our dreams" while every single odd-specialty becomes super visible to us on the internet - giving a false impression that there is a burgeoning demand of underwater basket weavers, when in fact the ones we're inspired by are exceptional craftspeople in a very limited market.

 

[table1349]

Young people have been led to believe that a college degree is their automatic ticket to a high paying job

On the flip side I think there are some young people out there with really unrealistic ideas about what a genuine career is; and it's pretty easy after being told for a lifetime to "follow our dreams" while every single odd-specialty becomes super visible to us on the internet - giving a false impression that there is a burgeoning demand of underwater basket weavers, when in fact the ones we're inspired by are exceptional craftspeople in a very limited market.

Crap, and I just signed up for Underwater Basket Weaving 101 at The Phoenix University.

Any one want to buy a snorkel and mask???

 

[KmH]

The job market is changing faster today than it ever has, making it a crap shoot to pick a college major that will have long term traction traction.
Young people should expect to go to college 2 or 3 times and have 5 or more 'careers'.

Young people could be facing a life of constantly being burdened with lots of education debt.