Trek it Out Photos--Revised

Over the past five years, the use of photographs in decorating schemes, instead of painted pictures, has grown exponentially. Painted pictures will never become obsolete, but they do not offer decorators the variety and fluidity available through the use of photographs. So, demand for them will continue to wane. While there are a lot of photographs available for consumers to choose from, the things that make a photograph valuable are exclusivity and quality.

The decorator of today is seeking pictures with certain themes in mind. Photos of tulips in Holland, rivers in Thailand, mountains in Northern Africa, or crowds in Mumbai. But, photographs of this nature are not always readily available. Consumers are craving this and many are willing to pay top dollar for the right to own beautiful, exclusive photographs for decorating purposes. Trek it Out Photo Studios helps to make it possible—bringing highly sought after, but hard to obtain photographs to the homes, offices and galleries of demanding consumers everywhere.

The Mission

The mission of Trek it Out Photo Studios is two-fold. First, our mission is bringing beautiful, high-quality photos from abroad and here in the States to consumers, and second, providing a source of revenue for those living in nations surrounded by beauty, but rife with poverty. This revenue stream would be intermittent, but the value of the United States Dollar is very strong in many of the poorest countries. So, while the money may not be constant, a single payment could be a great boon to an individual or family.

The Method

Given a $10,000 budget, this is how Trek it Out Photo Studios would use the funds. Trek it Out management envisions purchasing 10 high-quality digital cameras with memory cards and a sufficient supply of lithium batteries. Trek it Out producers would travel to various places around the world, hiring locals as amateur photographers to capture the essence of where they live.

Trek it Out producers would teach the chosen locals how to use the cameras, give them rules and ideas about what to capture and then spend two or three days traveling across the area where they live to immortalize some of that region’s beauty and wonderment in photographs. The locals in any given country would be given $50 for each four hour work day. The assigned Trek it Out producer would provide food and water throughout the course of each day’s excursion. The Trek it Out producer will also be taking photographs during the outing, but the goal is to have the local capture the primary photograph. The Trek it Out producer will serve as a backup in the event the local’s camera malfunctions on a particular photo.

Once the two to three day excursion is over, the producer will have the local photographer sign an agreement that states that should any photos captured by him be sold, he will receive 30 percent of the sale price, per photo, in United States Dollars. Each photo is only available for sale once, fostering the exclusive nature of Trek it Out Photo Studio’s products. If none of the photos are sold, he will not be owed anything additional. Payment will be forwarded to the local photographer within 15 days of the sale of any individual photograph.

Trek it Out producers and editors will handle any necessary, minor editing of photos once they are brought back to the Trek it Out studio. This will not effect the payment to the local who captured the photograph.

The Breakdown

Costs for this effort should be minimal, with the bulk going to travel, but even that will be purchased in as frugal a manner as possible. The digital cameras selected will be high-quality, but on the lower end of the cost spectrum for a number of reasons. The cost of digital cameras has decreased tremendously in recent years making it much easier to get a quality camera at a much lower price. The camera should come with sufficient features to capture a good photograph, but should not intimidate the photographer. In the 2004 documentary Born Into Brothels, children in India were given very basic cameras to take photographs with and they were able to capture some amazing images. Location is the greatest factor in whether or not a great photograph will be captured, not the camera.

Once the first five excursions are completed, including the sale of photographs captured during those trips, Trek it Out Photo Studios should see a tremendous return on the initial $10,000 investment. It is highly possible and likely that more than 10 times the start-up costs will be generated at the end of the first five excursions. This is the breakdown of costs and projected revenue:

Five (5) Kodak EasyShare Z915 Black 10MP Digital Cameras
$179.99 each, Wal-Mart
Total Cost: $1,000 including tax

Five (5) Dane-Elec 4GB SDHC Memory Card, 2-Packs
$19.99 each, Wal-Mart
Total Cost: $110.00 including tax

Five (5) Ape Case PRO1800 Professional Digital SLR Backpack by Norazza
$78.84 each, Wal-Mart
Total Cost: $425 including tax

Five (5) AA Ultimate Photo Lithium Battery 24 Battery Bundle
$43.75, Amazon.com
Total Cost: $250 including tax

Estimated cost of five (5) flights to TBD locations
(These first five excursions will more than likely be in locations near South America and the Caribbean as the flights will be less expensive. Trek it Out will venture to more distant lands after revenue streams from these first excursions is realized.)
Total estimated cost: $3,500

Lodging for five (5) producers in each location for a maximum of three (3) nights
$125 per night
Total for five producers: $1,875

Food for five (5) producers and local photographers for a maximum of three days in each location
$75 per day
Total for five producers and local $1,125

Payment to local photographers in five (5) countries for a maximum of three (3) days.
$50 per day
Total for five local photographers $750

Website domain name, hosting and other peripherals necessary to sell photographs online
$100

Total Cost
$9,135

The Revenue

Once the initial costs have been realized, the next step is preparing the photos to be posted to the web for sale. Each image will only be sold once in keeping with the exclusive nature of Trek it Out Photographs. They will only be sold in either digital format, available for download directly from the site, or as a 30x40 sized print, with the option to come with or without a frame.
Photos will be marketed to individual homeowners, business owners (including popular magazines) and art galleries. Prices are as follows:

High-quality digital download, which comes with exclusive licensing rights
$500

High-quality 30x40 print, mailed to the location of choice (no frame)
$700

High-quality 30x40 print, mailed to the location of choice (with frame)
$1,000

It is estimated that at each location, at least 500 photos will be taken during the maximum three day excursion. Of these, a minimum of 100 should be viable for sale purposes. Heavy marketing to the right clientele should make selling the photographs very easy as there is an already established market for these images. The possible revenue, compared to the startup costs, is exponential.

If, even only 50 of the 100 viable for sale images captured at each location sell, that would mean $25,000 in sales. For all five locations, that number would jump to a total of $125,000. Close to 38 thousand ($37,500) would be directed to the local photographers, offering a remarkable opportunity for them to have a better life for themselves and their family for only a few days of relatively easy and exciting work. The Trek it Out producers would each be paid $1,000 per day during the excursions and they too would be paid either the same 30 percent as the local photographers per photo or stock options in Trek it Out Photo Studios if one of their individual photos is sold. It would be their choice to make. The local photographers will not have the choice of being paid in stock options.

All of these numbers are based upon the possibility that only 100 of the photos captured at each location are viable. There is no reason to believe that no more than 100 will be viable. This raises revenue expectations considerably.

The Conclusion

Trek it Out Photo Studios believes that this is an extremely worthwhile investment. Not only does this project generate massive revenue streams, it also does something good for the state of mankind globally. The first year will see steady growth of the project, but nothing like that which will happen in later years. Through word of mouth alone, the project will grow considerably.

Much of the equipment purchased initially will only have to be replaced every few years, and there is little overhead beyond that. This is one of the most pain-free investments of a lifetime.

Revised: Sweet Potato Recipe

Sweet potatoes are a healthy alternative to standard white potatoes. They are filled with fiber and good sugars, so they should be used as substitutes in a meal perfect with potatoes whenever possible. In many parts of the United States, sweet potatoes are incorrectly referred to as yams, a tuber from a completely different family of plants. Yams tend to be much drier and starchier than sweet potatoes and they tend to grow much larger. Some historians believe that African slaves in the United States and the Caribbean called the sweet potatoes they encountered yams because they looked like the ones that they'd eaten in their own countries. Since that time, the dubious distinction between the two tubers has been largely ignored. So, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that labels with the term “yam” be accompanied by the term “sweet potato” (2009).

To make delicious mashed sweet potatoes, it is important to pick good tubers during your trip to your local grocer. Look for larger rather than smaller potatoes in order to reduce the time needed to prepare them for cooking. Smaller potatoes mean more time peeling and cleaning, whereas if you start with larger potatoes, you need fewer and you peel fewer.

Once you’ve chosen your potatoes and you are in your kitchen ready to begin preparation, wash your cutting board with warm soapy water, dry it and place it on the countertop where you will do your prep work. Thoroughly wash your potatoes in warm running water, carefully rinsing all of the dirt and grit away. Place each potato in a clean bowl after you are done. Use one large potato for every one person who will take part in the meal.

Next, you should begin peeling your potatoes, using a clean knife. Carefully cut away any areas where the flesh is damaged. After peeling each potato, rinse again, this time under cold water, and cut into medium sized chunks. Place the chunks in a clean bowl.

When all of the potatoes are cleaned and cut into chunks, place into a pot (use an appropriate size based upon the amount of potatoes that you have cut up) and fill with cold water about two inches above the height of the potatoes. Place the pot on your stove over high heat and bring the contents to a boil.

The goal here is to the boil the potatoes until they are soft, but not mushy because additional ingredients still have to be added that will further soften them. Check the potatoes often as they are boiling and add more water as necessary. You will probably have to add water twice, but definitely at least once.

When the potatoes are sufficiently softened, remove the pot from the heat and strain the contents in a colander, then add the potatoes back to the pot. Remember, these are no recipe needed mashed sweet potatoes, so this is where your creativity and instinct will have to kick in. Mashed potatoes, regardless of the type of potato used, should have some milk added to them. The more milk used, the more runny the potato. So, start out adding about a cup of milk depending on how many potatoes you’ve boiled. More potatoes, more milk. Add your milk, and then add a dash of salt, some cinnamon (to taste) and at least a third stick of butter. Whip these ingredients together with the potatoes until you reach the desired consistency. Once you have, put the pot back onto the stove and heat slowly over medium heat, stirring frequently. This will allow the ingredients to bond together, creating the perfect mashed sweet potato. Enjoy!

These mashed sweet potatoes go well with baked chicken, roast pork and a host of baked meats.

Note: An even healthier alternative is to substitute chicken stock for milk in your potatoes. If you choose to do this, you will need less chicken stock than you did milk because the stock adds a real flavor explosion. It will also require less of that liquid than milk to sufficiently moisten the potatoes.

WORKS CITED

Congress, L. o. (2009, February 12). What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? Retrieved August 6, 2009, from Everyday Mysteries: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/sweetpotato.html

A Review of Blogtalkradio.com

If you’ve been bitten by the show business bug, yet can’t quite find a way to scratch your itch in the bright lights of a big city, BlogTalkRadio may be just what the doctor ordered. Launched in late 2006, the owners of BlogTalkRadio describe it this way:

BlogTalkRadio is the social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using an ordinary telephone and computer hosts can create free, live, call-in talk shows with unlimited participants that are automatically archived and made available as podcasts.

I have used the site, both as a listener and as an amateur radio host and I believe that it is one of the greatest social media tools created to date. Certainly, it is not appropriate in every situation requiring some form of outreach, but it truly offers more bang for the buck than many social media platforms.

Real-Time Connections

For one, the ability to connect with an audience in real-time, disseminating information to them all at once and in a live voice, is a precious commodity not only for those wanting to break into show business, but also to corporations and other organizations. Sometimes, there are issues that an organization deems important that the news media may not—in effect making the ability to speak to the public audibly impossible. BlogTalkRadio gives a business or organization a modicum of power that they did not have before its inception.

Amazing Sound Quality

Another great thing about BlogTalkRadio is the fact that considering you can use a standard telephone line, the quality of the broadcasts is actually very good. In fact, as long as the telephone used is in good working condition, the sound quality is as good as that heard on most any talk radio broadcast.

Ease of Use

For some, the thought of doing something in real-time can seem like a daunting task. There are the considerations about saying something inappropriate, not having the right answers or just simply freezing up, unable to perform altogether. Because BlogTalkRadio can be used with nothing more than a standard phone line, including cell phones, this tends to put the host at ease. They don’t feel so much like they are actually broadcasting something live, but more like they are simply having a conversation with friends or with a customer the same as they would while sitting at an office desk.

Now, this can be both a good and bad thing as the comfort level can make it a bit easy to forget that the broadcast is still actually a broadcast and it is being recorded to eventually be repackaged as a podcast. So, this is something that should be carefully broached with a host before going live.

To become broadcast ready, a host simply needs to register at www.blogtalkradio.com, set up a profile, which can include a logo, sound effects and any other audio files she would like to use during the broadcast of her shows. Then, using the show scheduling feature at the site, the host can schedule a broadcast and either prepare to go live in as little as 15 to 30 minutes, or set up a show for future broadcast and then begin promotion efforts.

Once the show is ready for broadcast, the host need simply to prepare herself for going live and answering questions from her audience or to fill the time with something more than dead air.

Almost As Good as the Real Thing

All of the simple processes mentioned above are just some of the many things that make BlogTalkRadio a tremendous asset to any organization’s social media toolkit. During live broadcasts of shows on BlogTalkRadio, hosts operate a switchboard that allows them to screen and take calls live on the air. It is a very simple set-up, requiring very little instruction for a host to get up and running.

Calls can be patched through to go live on air and if a host should tire of a caller who refuses to be respectful, with the click of a button the call can be ended and dropped from the air.

More than One Way to Connect

Aside from the live broadcast, there is even a chatroom feature attached to each account. So, during a live broadcast, a host or co-host can also engage in conversation with a listener in a chatroom. This is a wonderful feature for those who would like to ask a question of a host, but would rather not use their own voice over the air to ask the question. Or, the switchboard may be full and a listener desperately wants to ask the host a question. The chatroom makes this possible and every listener feels as though their needs have been met.

Worth a Try

BlogTalkRadio is one of the most innovative social media tools available on the market today. While there are some features that are only available for paid accounts, the features included in free accounts are more than sufficient for being able to create a live radio broadcast. It’s not Air or Radio America, but considering the fact that there is no cost associated with using this platform, it is too good to pass up. Give it a try.