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Ben,
When I got in roughly 3 years ago, was probably the peak of the biz. Back then, the AVS trick was still hot, you could make a ton of money with 20 sites a day to Age Check and Adult Check... The TGP"s still allowed you to put in a link at the bottom of the page that said, NEXT 20 Pics, Click here, blah blah blah...
Traffic was easy to get, CJ's were the craze, I had a couple... It was good to be a free site webmaster, you got paid good.
Now... You have a ton of competition, tons of fucking rules for link lists, tgps, etc...
I stopped teaching Newbies about 1 and 1/2 years ago at Netpond. Those I did, were probably the last ones who had the proper tools to go and do it and the competition wasn't as fierce as it is now. Couple of Newbies that started off at Netpond come to mind... Foxy, TechChick, Bestat, Horny Devil, and there are a ton more, they now have their own big link lists, content providers, etc...
I don't see that happening anymore. I had a talk with Nickatilynx regarding the situation today. Without a big support group, or corporate backing, the millions made some years ago are virtually unreachable now. To quote Brad Shaw, Nothing coming out now is ground breaking or new, it's just an old idea wrapped in new paper. Okay, it's not word for word, but you get the gist.
Make big money doing this? Not doing TGP's, Links LIsts, AVS, etc... You had to have started at least 3 years ago.
Sorry for the downer, but it's the truth. You can make a comfortable living. But not a great living.
My best,
Anthony