Getting Started in Adult
Posted On: 2010-10-04
There are always people who want to get out of the rut of working for someone else and being kicked around by supervisors on power trips and abused by customers who think that they have the right to abuse any worker ant that they can find.
For those people ... people who are tired of being treated like shit by supervisors and customers ... the online adult industry seems like the perfect escape. They see it as a place where earning large gobs of money is easy and somewhere that they don't have to answer to anyone. They also see it as a place where they won't have to work hard to make all that money and have all that freedom.
Of course that's just an illusion and while working in adult online does mean that you are your own boss and you don't have to put up with ignorant and abusive customers it's not an easy place to make money. Sure, there was a time when it was easy to make money here but those days are long gone ... now it's just hard work and long hours and all the risks that are associated with working for yourself.
But that doesn't mean that people shouldn't give themselves a chance to make money here. It can be done but there are some fundamentals that everyone coming into this industry should either know or be prepared to learn before their dreams of making big money can come true.
So today and on Thursday I'll run through some of those fundamentals that anyone coming into this industry needs to know about so if you're new to this industry or you want to make a start here then this and at least the next Rated Hot column are for you. Hopefully you'll pick up enough information to be able to survive and take your new business to the next level.
Go hard or go home
This is not an industry for quitters and it's not an industry for those who don't like to work long hours day after day and week after week.
A few years ago my partner Steve ... when he was still inclined to do one-on-one coaching for newbies ... had a guy contact him and ask for help in building his first gallery. Steve spent quite a few hours, spread over two or three days, on Skype walking this guy through everything he needed to know about building that gallery and getting it up online.
During the building process Steve also talked to him about the need to understand that this first gallery probably wouldn't make any money and it was only the first of possibly many thousands that he would build over the years. Sadly it became clear that the guy Steve was coaching hadn't listened because when the gallery was finished and Steve urged him to start the next one he didn't want to ... he wanted to sit back and watch the money roll in.
That's not the way it works here ... you either go hard and never stop building free sites and galleries or you may as well go home right now because one gallery or one free site isn't going to make you your fortune. In fact the first hundred galleries or free sites won't make you a fortune either.
You will undoubtedly begin to make money but if you don't go on building and building you're income will begin to dwindle and before long it will stop. So you will need to build and submit galleries and free sites every single day.
Be prepared to grow big
When Steve and I came into the industry many years ago it was the norm for people to work alone. There was good money to be made if you were prepared to put in the effort and you didn't have to think about employing others to do anything.
These days the solo operator is struggling to survive so you have to be prepared to grow big ... employ others ... look beyond building free sites and galleries ... go beyond sitting in your home office and working alone. Obviously you're not going to grow like that before you've worked through the fundamentals but you have to be prepared to grow and that has to be part of your business plan.
Sure it's comfortable working for yourself and I can attest to the fact that employing others to help grow your business is an exercise in frustration and you will have to develop anger management strategies too. But if you're not prepared to grow beyond your work-at-home-alone beginnings then you simply won't survive.
And that's where I'll leave you for today ... come back on Thursday for some more advice on getting started in adult.