how bad are things going to get?

I think its going to be a tough year for many ,some will trim off fat others will close or consolidate and others will find new revenue streams.

Its a natural cycle that happens in all biz,just look at the dot com bubble that bust,now banks and shares,no industry is immune.

The health/fitness industry is a good one. Gyms, supplements etc all sorts of stuff seem to be pretty immune and even growing in a lot of areas.

It is not part of a natural cycle claire. This is not your typical boom and bust situation. Makes me even wonder if you understand everything that is at play right now in these times and the very near future.

Im sure you are correct, l learn something new every day.

Maybe you could give some outline of what your take on the situation is, it would be cool to get everyones view on what they think the year will bring for the industry.

I think it will be okay in the end.

we will fight it!

The industry is just a bit player.
My best hopes is to survive it intact and acquire what I can if the price is good enough. Mostly use the time to really lay low and build hard. I have always operated on as little money as possible and am very used to keeping costs very low. I know I can hold out some time with little to no sales (even though that is not happening).

I am seeing drops though and they are pretty steady in assorted sectors. For now they seem to be good around 20-30%. I am also seeing a lot of cancels inside of my billers with the reason - could no longer afford it.

I personally feel the real storm has yet to hit. We are just experiencing the small waves right now. A lot in my own opinion is on the false unemployment numbers we get to hear, when in reality not only are those numbers way off and super below the real numbers thanks to whom they count as unemployed and all of that crap - it does not even touch on the issue of people coming of age, exiting college, or whatever and attempting to enter the job market for the first time.
Toss in that the automakers are not out of the woods. The banks have still not all disclosed every penny of bad debt, and there are still a couple more years of interest only ARM mortgages that have not matured yet to still pop on the market. Plus hell nobody in my state is getting a tax refund check any time soon and the only ray of hope there is if it takes longer than May I think, then interest may kick in. Yet I do not see the government in California agreeing enough to get shit done when everyone and their brothers organization keeps butting in and trying to recall or strike shit. Which of course is almost certain to mean CA will soon tax internet purchases just like NY.

How is that for a mouthful.
Oh and PS since I live in Far Northern CA which pretty much waters the state. We are in our 3rd year of a drought and well the rain this year (what rain) and lack of snow pack. Has our lake and as I said snow pack at record lows. Which only means a big drought this year for CA. That could mean rises in costs to many food items country wide, and well fires - to a cash strapped state.

It depends on how bad we all let it get....

I don't remember the guys name.. but my Freshman year... some hotsie totsie economist did this big 3 hour power point presentation predicting all of this... We got an automatic A in poli sci if we went and wrote a paper about the presentation... it was like a $50 ticket to see this dude...

Then he showed us the trough and wave pattern surrounding catastrophic events in history...

Similar unemployment numbers, recession numbers, GDP dips... happen 5-10 years following most catastropic events...

If you talk to any of the big economists that aren't being paid to doom and gloom in the Times or to political pundits... they will tell you this is normal.. it will bounce back.... trough and wave.. trough and wave..

But there's money in selling articles and interviews of doom and gloom...

That's not to say I don't think it's bad... and I don't think it's going to affect us.. and I don't think it's real..

but it will bounce back. History shows that with similar scenarios.

And July, August, September sucks for phone sex.... if the DOW is still 7000-8000 by then.. I look to have to really, really get creative with my advertising, marketing and diversifying..

But the one great thing about bad economy... more educated women wanting to give the WAHM job market a try.. Smarter applicants for PSO jobs = better retention and money.. so hopefully I'll net me some really great girls..


And I think all big companies with a brain will last thru this.... and the shady people will just find another hustle.

How bad will things get for PAY sites? Very very bad!

Recessions come and go, the mentality of "if it's on the Net it's free" will stay. It will become the "culture" of the new Net users.

Cams and dating should be OK once the economy bounces back. If you start building new sites build them around cams and dating sponsors and use less pay site sponsors (of course some very tight niches will continue to do well) - just my 2c.

What do you mean no industry is immune. Shut up.

NO INDUSTRY is Immune. In one way or another its going to be impacted at some point. It may NOT be hit as hard as others but they will all be hit. Right now, debt consolidation companies will be making more, but when things start to straighten out, they will get hit.

All things get hit at some point.

it's pretty tough out there for some

Whatever... Since don't affect on my wallet, fuck it... hehehe

Some will never update their sites, cross-sell the fuck out of surfers and ding their credit cards for as much as they can get away with. Oh wait..........

I'm glad I have a solid foothold on mainstream, I'm about to dive into some new adult things but I agree "If it's on the net it's free" mentality is here for good, surfers are way to savvy.... the days of new folks discovering the internet are long over, it's now about doing things better, and putting distance between you and your competition