It is the time of the year that, when you’re in business for yourself, has its own particular rituals. I’ve put the year’s receipts in manila folders by category into a file storage box. I’ve archived the 2006 files and folders on the hard drive, and created my 2007 Business folder. I’ve closed up the books for the year, which is when I get that high vista view of the preceding year, and get a sense of how the business is doing.
Here’s what I learned. My assignment fees remained flat—actually, I made a little less this year in that category. I was expecting a big burst of work this past fall, from multiple clients, that did not actually transpire. No matter what your client says, there is no job until you see the purchase order. My stock photography sales, however, went way up, 55% over the previous year. It is the first full year of the Getty takeover of Photonica, to which I attribute my good fortune. Stock makes up about a third of my income, so overall it was a better year than last.
No matter how else I’m doing, what I make from original print sales remains stable year after year. The problem is that it remains stable at the same miniscule level. This year it made up 2.4% of my gross. I’m an artist with a day job.
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