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Wow this week seems to have been the week for silly questions. Almost every day a client has called or an email has come in from a client and the questions they have asked have all been silly.

"Why does some of the emails I send people go into their spam folder. Can't you do something about it?" Ah ... no.

"Why do I have to reduce the file sizes of my images? Why can't I just upload them to my online shop straight out of the camera?" Because ... trust me ... just because.

"Why is my payment processor rejecting some of my clients' credit cards?" Could it be that they really don't have any money?

"What have you done to my website? Why are other people's ads appearing on my site?" Check your computer because ...

And it's gone on and on and on ... and then this morning I realised that those questions that sounded so silly to me aren't all that silly to the client. Although some of them are very blonde many of them simply don't know how the Internet works ... or how people work for that matter. They just think that everything is going to happen just as they think it will.

And after contemplating my navel for several more minutes I realised that dumb questions and total ignorance are things that aren't just confined to my clients ... or any web designer's mainstream clients for that matter. People that come into this industry are no less likely to think that things must work the way they expect them to and by the time they discover the truth it's too late ... they're screwed and they're leaving the industry.

So with that in mind here are three quick points that every newbie should know if they really do want to survive in this business.

Hype v reality The hype says that you can't avoid making money in this business. It's been the same hype for years and people still fall for it. When they arrive in this industry they know that they're going to make money ... they can't possibly fail ... and they know that they're won't have to work hard to make that money.

The reality is that most of those who try to make a start in this industry do not survive. They find that making money here is hard and to even make a pittance you have to work long hours and while you're doing that your social life goes down the toilet.

But then that's the way it is in just about any industry. If you want to be your own boss here in adult you have to work hard and not expect to see large waves of cash rolling in any time soon.

The adult industry is not different
There was a time when quite a few people inside the industry would tell you that the adult industry was totally different to any other industry out there in the real world. According to them, the normal economic "rules" that govern basic supply and demand just didn't apply here.

Most of those guys are now gone ... they didn't survive the GFC or any of the other economic downturns that have had a major impact on ALL types of business ... including ours. They either ignored the warning signs ... or didn't bother even looking for them ... and just went on with an expectation that the good times would never end.

The adult industry is not in any way different to any other industry out there. We ... like all the others ... suffer in the bad times ... and do better when times are good. Our fortunes are just as cyclical as any other industry and if you want to survive those ups and downs you need to keep an eye on the economy so you will know when they're coming.

If you don't watch and prepare for those highs and lows you won't survive in business ... no matter what sort of business you're in.

You can't cut yourself off from the world It's not uncommon for new webmasters who come into this industry to totally immerse themselves in what goes on here. The only people they talk to are other adult webmasters ... the only webmaster boards they read are the adult boards ... they stop reading newspapers or watching to quality news programs on TV.

They eat ... sleep ... and breath nothing but the adult industry ... and it's not hard to do that. My partner and I were like that in the early years. We slipped into the industry like many others and for several years we never looking outside of it.

But that's almost suicidal. Drowning in the industry is just another way to cut yourself off from reality ... another way to miss the important things that are going to have an impact on your business. Another way to miss the miss the fact that world has moved on and left you behind.

So if your new here remember those three things because they're going to be important for your future survival and growth.