So, can it be done?

[cfeather]

This section of hte forum seems pretty slow, so I'd like to toss out the question, is it possible to make a living making slide shows? If so, what kind are you making?

I see 10-15 obituaries in our newspaper every day. Actually, I see 10-15 slide show possibilities. I also see anniversaries, graduations, new businesses. I'd like to hear any success stories from folks who made the leap.

[KellyInAz Profile Private message]

I do pretty well with my business, but by no means do I make a "living." I do not advertise heavily as it is very expensive. I concentrate on getting my business via my website. Maybe with a lot of effort in advertising and gaining clients you could make an okay living. I don't want to get too busy anyhow. Right now my main focus is being a stay at home mom. I think I would get burned out doing this full time. I want this to be fun for a long time

As we speak, I have 3 shows that are due to clients soon, and one on the way. That is plenty for me.

I look forward to hearing what others have to say.

Kelly

[marmart Profile Private message]

I think it would be very difficult - without employees, to make a living. There are only so many shows you can make when they all come due around the same time. I am busiest at the end of the school year and quite frankly, I have had times when I have had 3-4 going at once and it can be very hectic and not much else gets done.

Memorial shows have one of the fastest turn arounds and I can see if you really concentrated on them, you could burn out quickly. So....I guess it depends on how busy you want to be and what other things you have going.

I don't want to become so busy that it becomes just a job and the joy is gone.

Mary

[DickK Profile Private messageWebsite]

This section of hte forum seems pretty slow, so I'd like to toss out the question, is it possible to make a living making slide shows? If so, what kind are you making?

I don't personally tho' I'm seriously considering it as a business after I "retire". I doubt you're going to get many responses with income figures by the way.

Can you make a living--sure, but the question is what does that mean to you? Look at some other folks' sites and their pricing, then do some math.

-- Assume you stay can 100% busy with some mix of jobs priced according to whatever you decide is typical (you won't but it's an upper bound).
-- Figure out how much gross revenue that represents by taking a guess at how many hours per job or how many jobs you can do per day/month/year.
-- Estimate the cost of goods sold (expendables, advertising/promotional costs, costs of a web site, capital cost of equipment over time, travel expenses, etc, etc).
-- Figure taxes and social security (don't forget you have to pay both parts of SS).

At that point you've got a first guess at the income potential, but it's going to be on the optimistic side. By the guidelines I've seen, now take 50% of that--can you live on that? If not, then it's too high risk to do it.

I doubt that very many people are in a situation where they could really live on just the income derived from this kind of business. Supplement another income, yes, be the sole/primary income source for a typical single (never mind family), I doubt it, but "Your mileage may vary"