Ok, so August was exactly what I expected - our busiest month and the least likely to result in any new stock. Other than a couple of trial images to show people how stock works, I didn’t upload one image this month for the first time since March. I feel terrible about how August went and Sept may not be a ton better.

We’re preparing for our trip in Sept. as well as launching a new Picture Infinity website on the 12th. We have a bridal show on the 14th and our trip starts October 8th. Once we get back from the trip, we have one more wedding and then it’s on. If you’re wondering when I’m going to kick it into another gear and start down the road of finding Mil, that’s the time. In the meantime..

Total earnings for August 2008 - $415.82

Simple and to the point this month, like my month of work.

Overall gallery increased from 5777 to 9052 but that was mostly the result of adding YayMicro and 1100 images as well as pending May images finally being reviewed.

Overall income increased to a record $524.84 and 5 agencies had a Best Month Ever despite me doing basically no work.  Not a bad month, but I hope to dramatically improve it in July.  That was disappointing.

Every industry has what I like to call a v.2 player. Who are some v.2s?

Google, MySpace, Apple’s Ipod, Ebay, IPhone.

A v.2 player is a business (or product) that didn’t exist until later in the relevant cycle than other players. Google came much later than Yahoo, Altavista and Go.com Myspace followed Friendster and the IPod followed many failed MP3 players. IPhone success blows away even the Blackberry, not to mention other cell competitors.

The main feature of a v.2 is their education came free. They are able to learn from the predecessors and do something unique, something different, something essential - right from the start. They gather the type of momentum that simply devours the competition and blow them off the board (How’s auction.com doing?)

If we were to have anything resembling that right now in microstock, it would be YayMicro. Yay has come out of the gate strong. They have the most essential pieces of the puzzle already in place - a fantastic site that everyone raves about; a clean, simple brand; a memorable name; and most importantly - a strong starting collection of images. Images of McCain, Obama. Images from top contributors such as Lev Dolgachov and IOFoto.

I recently joined the YayMicro site and love everything about it so far. They seem to have a plan (editorial=big market, creative=another big market, ease of use all around=more people using it). We’ll see if it plays out that YayMicro is the v.2 of the microstock industry. Someone must be. It’s about the time we see someone emerge to absolutely destroy the competition - maybe it’s YayMicro.

Check out YayMicro here and let me know what you think of them!