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-   -   What was your big turning point? Story Telling Time :) (https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=1117492)

Socks 08-05-2013 09:48 AM
In adult I think one of our big breaks was having JennaJameson.com put us at the top of their main page tour, was there for years. We had $40/join links from them through CCBill, made a killing.

Another big turning point will be when SHAP answers my EMAILS later today. :)

MaDalton 08-05-2013 09:50 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shap (Post 19746622)
:thumbsup:thumbsup

No way that's awesome! How've you been?
doing good, thanks! or do you see me complaining about tubes and stuff like that? :winkwink:

for us the money never came easy and sometimes the ups and downs can be a little annoying but overall we're doing very well :)

Dirty D 08-05-2013 09:50 AM
Great Thread!

My big turning point was realizing that my after hours fun (swinging and sex parties) where much more profitable than my corporate job.

I had a fantastic career with Compaq/HP, lots of travel, expense account, respect, great salary, etc.

When HP did a downsizing (after buying Digital Equipment Corp), I raised my hand.
Went to my PO Box and scooped out all of the checks from online companies.
I then realized that I was making far more money having fun, than working.

At that time I had only one paysite - www.TampaBukkake.com and no affiliate program.
I launched more sites and started www.HowIgotRich.com to pay affiliates.
The growth was stellar.

I have made, paid, kept and invested millions of dollars from my online ventures!
Life is good :)

Jel 08-05-2013 10:01 AM
My turning point was reading a post by Ramster in about 2004 on GG's board stating if you weren't making at least $6k a month from freesites alone, something was very wrong. I was still part-time back then, after coming in to adult in 2003, but it gave me an actual decent figure to aim for. Put the work in, and lo and behold, the income shot up. Went full-time shortly after, and made some good money. Definitely my turning point, and I still thank him to this day for making that post.

Jel 08-05-2013 10:04 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuzebox (Post 19746590)
Google Penguin. Crushed my traffic network overnight, and I was forced to get into media buying. Best thing I ever did :)
Heh, part of my forward strategy - hopefully this was today's equivalent of seeng Ramster's post back in 2004 :thumbsup

MaDalton 08-05-2013 10:06 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jel (Post 19746955)
My turning point was reading a post by Ramster in about 2004 on GG's board stating if you weren't making at least $6k a month from freesites alone, something was very wrong. I was still part-time back then, after coming in to adult in 2003, but it gave me an actual decent figure to aim for. Put the work in, and lo and behold, the income shot up. Went full-time shortly after, and made some good money. Definitely my turning point, and I still thank him to this day for making that post.
Ramster is a cool guy - one of our very first exclusive clients :thumbsup

trevesty 08-05-2013 10:09 AM
I ran a few "webcam" chat rooms on Yahoo.. I mostly did that because a)I was young, and b) I loved being a script kiddie. ;)

Well, I also had a couple of websites linked at the top sending me an easy 20k/day. I didn't monetize for the LONGEST time. Why should I? Came from an affluent family.. I was fed. I had the site mostly to mess around code wise & put up random shit I found from tits to gore stuff.

Then someone bought an ad for 2k. That's when I went from developing random things for fun to doing traffic/marketing & just minor development to supplement that.

Jel 08-05-2013 10:13 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 19746963)
Ramster is a cool guy - one of our very first exclusive clients :thumbsup
He is indeed.

For all the pissballing around I do on gfy (I somehow turn into Slim Shady on here lol) and elsewhere to a far lesser degree, I'm lucky to know some very knowledgeable, cool, and truly nice guys, all willing to help anyone who asks :thumbsup

Great thread, too :)

MaDalton 08-05-2013 10:15 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 19746963)
Ramster is a cool guy - one of our very first exclusive clients :thumbsup
as was Shap, Karups, Lenny2, ATK, Pimproll and Mansef (hehe)

and many more since then.

thanks again, guys :thumbsup

adultmobile 08-05-2013 11:00 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutt (Post 19746646)
You created the original lake applets or they existed and you copied them?
I created from 1996, prior to this there was not even Java, but I sure did not invent the concept ot a "lake". I just converted effects I made before on commodore, including "lake" and other effects, here some 1993 code of mine:




I was in BBS's and thinking internet it was lame, and wrote the applets for fun, no idea I was wrong and get assaulted by "wanna be webmasters" willing to pay $20 shareware (I was using multicards biller, from 1997). A turning point, totally unplanned, I was a kid with the right product in the right moment of "net economy" boom. My hosting provider collapsed for too big traffic, switched to "webby.com" who was customer too (animated cards site). Had applets in the wetlands (I had no idea the guy died, RIP), and in leonardo di caprio site and thousands more I forgot, applets was viral in "geocities" too (along with matrix backgrounds). Then after year 2000 no one wanted to pay for java applets anymore, again I had not planned would end so abruptly (looked like what happened to pay sites in 2009), so I tried a few different businesses and ended up into cams. That business is super stable but also super boring, I wish to escape it soon :)

Femjoy Michael 08-05-2013 01:05 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shap (Post 19746492)
Anybody else have a story about a turning point that changed their business forever?
Yes. The day Dave hired me to work for you. I learned a lot from Dave, Michael, you, and everyone on the Twistys team. Thank you.

Shap 08-05-2013 01:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Femjoy Michael (Post 19747304)
Yes. The day Dave hired me to work for you. I learned a lot from Dave, Michael, you, and everyone on the Twistys team. Thank you.
Hi Michael!

You are with Femjoy now? Nice. Where are you working from? How's it going? Hit me up some time :winkwink:

Shap 08-05-2013 01:10 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass (Post 19746541)
I downloaded a gallery template from the sites that Pimpdog ran. It was Girls Fuck Guys. It was totally off the chart as far as keyword stuffing, about 90% keywords. Google was doing this "fresh" thing. This meant anything new was put to a different test of whether or not it was relevant. I was number 1 for 3 days. I did that all summer with Topbuck's new sites and some others. I was making $10k a week sometimes. It made me realize that online porn was for real and had the potential to make me rich.
Very Cool! It's great to see and understand that there is huge potential in whatever you are doing if done right :thumbsup

Shap 08-05-2013 01:10 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by scubadiver626 (Post 19746558)
I was tech support and went on a smoke break with good ol Mac. He told me about dudes making money in adult, this was hack in 1999.

I went home and started my first ac gold site in the bukkake niche. The day after it was approved, and 36 signups came in. That was a morning dump to remember!
DAMN! Now that's awesome! Every see that guy again?

xNetworx 08-05-2013 01:15 PM
Adult Check Gold :)

Roald 08-05-2013 01:22 PM
For me it was the contract FreeOnes offered me in 2005. Maybe not the best step to become a millionaire but i've learned so much business wise and created a a very proper network around me.

That millionaire thingy is still on the list but hey im young ;)

MaDalton 08-05-2013 01:23 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roald (Post 19747333)
For me it was the contract FreeOnes offered me in 2005. Maybe not the best step to become a millionaire but i've learned so much business wise and created a a very proper network around me.

That millionaire thingy is still on the list but hey im young ;)
so you haven't collected enough dirt about Maurice yet? :winkwink: :1orglaugh

Shap 08-05-2013 01:24 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roald (Post 19747333)
For me it was the contract FreeOnes offered me in 2005. Maybe not the best step to become a millionaire but i've learned so much business wise and created a a very proper network around me.

That millionaire thingy is still on the list but hey im young ;)
Maurice had good timing on that. I was going to try to convince you to join us but he beat me to it. Geography didn't play in our favour but would have loved to have you on board.

fuzebox 08-05-2013 02:11 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuzebox (Post 19746590)
Google Penguin. Crushed my traffic network overnight, and I was forced to get into media buying. Best thing I ever did :)
Just realized I wrote Penguin and not Panda. The event predated Penguin :)

CaptainHowdy 08-05-2013 02:20 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 19746567)
when you took me to that dinner in Miami 2004 and introduced me to all those people like Score etc :winkwink:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XrtzANDBKK...36969384-3.jpg

MaDalton 08-05-2013 02:21 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy (Post 19747418)
lol - only valid if he was still in the business :1orglaugh

Shap 08-05-2013 02:26 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 19747419)
lol - only valid if he was still in the business :1orglaugh
:thumbsup:thumbsup

Shap 08-05-2013 02:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuzebox (Post 19746590)
Google Penguin. Crushed my traffic network overnight, and I was forced to get into media buying. Best thing I ever did :)
Funny how sometimes the best opportunities come right after a major failure or disappointment.

Shap 08-05-2013 02:55 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SilentKnight (Post 19746606)
When we launched Kastle Archives back in '99 - we were a free site hosted through GoCasino.com. By the end of the second week we were already exceeding our 2gb/day bandwidth - and GoCasino contacted us to say they wouldn't continue hosting us and that we should look for an alternate option.

That was pretty much our turning point.

I knew of a father/son owned hosting company overseas that specialized in hosting fetish/bdsm sites - so we worked out a deal with them and turned Kastle Archives in to a paysite under their hosting.
That's awesome!

Shap 08-05-2013 02:57 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 19746610)
Honestly, I can't recall any ONE single turning point that was like what you had laid out in your initial reply. There has been any number of them that I find equally or greater than the last.... pay sites, clips stores, hosting, email, mainstream...

While I have always made good money in adult, when 2007/2008 hit, it effected me the same as everyone else. However, as a fetish or niche provider, much less so. I decided to diversify. I went into the hosting side of things, and after some tinkering I found some niche markets that were insanely profitable. From there we screwed around in some mainstream and other markets over the past 5 years, and found some mainstream marketing stuff that was even more profitable than the stuff before.

I would love to say I am a genius, but I simply follow the money, it's really always been that simple for me. As long as it's legal, the web is still the wild west and there is sooooooo much money to be made. Especially if you know some level of marketing 101 and think outside of the box. The biggest issue for me was holding on too long to the 'glory days' when I should kept innovating and listening to the trends as the ground of the industry was shifting.

I love adult, and do not expect to ever leave it (especially my core niches) despite the ROI and business model has changed dramatically. But at the same time, diversity is never a bad thing if you can effectively manage it. I have invested in a lot of automation to help do that, not only in regards to minimizing labor expense in the number of bodies, but to dumb shit down to the point I can grab anyone off CL and have them doing the work within a few hours. That is a massive cost savings I can tell you. Plus they tend to work out much better than hiring people in the industry who tend to be lazy and apathetic. You need people who are hungry for an opportunity.

That being said, each venture has made me more than the last so it feels a lot like a game of leap frog. It does get a lot easier as you apply what you've learned to the next project and things go much smoother. People who know how to making money online really should be able to keep doing it fairly easily. If that's not the case, you're fishing in the wrong hole.

:2 cents:
Wow awesome post! Well said! And well done on moving on to the next one and continuing to do well :thumbsup

kane 08-05-2013 03:08 PM
For me it was the week I finally got over some of my fears about costs in this business. Not long after getting my own hosting and domain (the first year or so I was in this biz I used free hosting) I got a movie gallery listed on The Hun in one of the top spots. I saw it listed before I went to bed and was happy, but nervous. Hosting back then (1998,1999) was a lot more expensive than today so I was paranoid about going over my transfer limit and spending way too much on hosting.

In the morning I woke up and saw that overnight I had blown through my transfer limit and accumulated $500 worth of overage fees. I had a couple of urgent emails from hosting company asking if I wanted to keep the site up or have them take it down. I checked my stats and saw that I had 71 signups from that gallery. I was very happy and told them to keep it up.

After three days I had about $1000 in overage fees, but I had gotten about 260 signups at $30 per so it was a very good trade off.

From that point on I realized that I was good enough at designing galleries and sites that they would convert and I didn't need to worry about losing a few dollars on hosting costs because I likely would make up for it in sales. That gallery also opened my eyes to following my own ideas. Up until then I was promoting the same stuff everyone else seemed to be, but this gallery was for a completely different site in a different niche. I realized I didn't have to do what everyone else was doing to be successful and that there was more low hanging fruit elsewhere.

Jel 08-05-2013 03:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shap (Post 19747472)
Funny how sometimes the best opportunities come right after a major failure or disappointment.
I think almost all do :2 cents:

VikingMan 08-05-2013 03:47 PM
Ok my turning point was when I got the Ibill email list and mailed the fuck out of it. 100 sign ups a day? No problem FTW!!!!. :1orglaugh

Barefootsies 08-05-2013 04:18 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shap (Post 19747472)
Funny how sometimes the best opportunities come right after a major failure or disappointment.
You can learn more from failure than success. In failure you?re forced to find out what part did not work. But in success you can believe everything you did was great, when in fact some parts may not have worked at all. Failure forces you to face reality.

Fred Brooks

:2 cents:

The Porn Nerd 08-05-2013 04:22 PM
The day Shap emailed me off-GFY changed my life forever.

Thank you Shap!

SilentKnight 08-05-2013 04:26 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 19747549)
You can learn more from failure than success. In failure you?re forced to find out what part did not work. But in success you can believe everything you did was great, when in fact some parts may not have worked at all. Failure forces you to face reality.

Fred Brooks

:2 cents:
I like that. :thumbsup

kane 08-05-2013 04:43 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SilentKnight (Post 19747565)
I like that. :thumbsup
His saying that reminds me of a quote from Bill Gates where he said that success was a terrible teacher because it makes smart people feel like they can't fail.

georgeyw 08-05-2013 05:50 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kane (Post 19747574)
His saying that reminds me of a quote from Bill Gates where he said that success was a terrible teacher because it makes smart people feel like they can't fail.
reminds me of my favourite Edison quote

Quote:
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Thomas A. Edison

kane 08-05-2013 06:09 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by georgeyw (Post 19747628)
reminds me of my favourite Edison quote
That is very good.

johnnyloadproductions 08-05-2013 07:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by georgeyw (Post 19747628)
reminds me of my favourite Edison quote
Yes, but Nikola Tesla said he was a blustering idiot for not having a systematic approach to solving problems. That is Edison used brute force.
You read accounts of him, even at old age, putting in 100+ (even over 130, which is just work and sleep deprivation), doing stuff.
Nikola put in insane hours as well, and despite his superior intellect to Tesla (proved AC was better than Edison's want for DC) he was not a business man.

Hard work, like love, covers many faults. The higher up the food chain you move the more your game has to be together.

johnnyloadproductions 08-05-2013 07:13 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterPeabody (Post 19747554)
The day Shap emailed me off-GFY changed my life forever.

Thank you Shap!
Not sure if serious...

Is Shap a music friend? Did you meet him in that diner that closed suddenly, or are you just fucking around?

State your case kind sir...

SilentKnight 08-05-2013 08:14 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by georgeyw (Post 19747628)
reminds me of my favourite Edison quote
The Edisons are distant relatives.

True fact :)

But while Thomas invented the longer-lasting lightbulb - I merely know how to turn it on. :1orglaugh

Roald 08-05-2013 08:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 19747334)
so you haven't collected enough dirt about Maurice yet? :winkwink: :1orglaugh
I'm pretty sure he has more on me by now ;)

Roald 08-05-2013 08:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shap (Post 19747335)
Maurice had good timing on that. I was going to try to convince you to join us but he beat me to it. Geography didn't play in our favour but would have loved to have you on board.
Imagine that huh ;))

Adam_M 08-05-2013 08:53 PM
Great thread!


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