Hey entrepreneurs n business owners..,
 

Where do you get your creativity and ideas from? What would you say is the main factor you can attribute to your success in creating a profitable company and product?

Don't stop learning, the more I learn, the more I can apply those new skills to a fitting situation.

...or this, yes. Much easier and fun.

When I can, I lay in bed at night and sort of day dream about what I want to accomplish tomorrow, a year from now, in life in general. It seems all of my ideas come to me when everything is dark and calm.

I tend to talk about ideas with people and tell them all then never do jack shit about them. This is half the reason why I've failed in entrepreneurship I bet.

Agreed.

I have a white board in my office. I am constantly writing down ideas, thoughts, concepts. Sometimes it could take 6-24 months before an idea is completely thought out to the point of investing in it.

Over that time, I work out the ideas, the how-to's, bounce ideas off people, research, and so forth. I may spend a day writing out the step by step instructions for how I want it to work, and come back to it in a month. I start saving PDF's of sites I like, and can use to illustrate my thoughts.

Things of that nature. Almost any site or idea has been thought out for some time before investing a dime.

I generally like to attribute 50% to my stunning brilliance, and the rest to my giant cock

+1 This :thumbsup

I also save any info in forum threads that is useful, sometimes I even get ideas that way too. Over the history of GFY there has been some truly exceptional business related threads on different subjects and many have had very valuable information shared so I keep all that info saved.

This is any awesome reply. Thanks for the great detail here. I need to get my act together, stop trying to make a couple small bucks here and there and focus on building a true business with a real model. Barefootsies, you have a few things that I don't right now which is what I will have to work around (capital, office, time to work for self during day, etc.). Granted these are just obstacles not excuses. Thanks for the guidance here. I needed that!

Ideas come from any source, could be this thread for instance:winkwink:

Obama built my business. i didnt do it myself...


:winkwink:


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being awesome.

If you aren't awesome, the only thing you can do is crawl back into your mommy's womb, and cook for a little longer.

+1 for one of the guys whose posts I generally find the most interesting on this board.

When I did not have the money, I had to trade off my time/labor. Meaning, I was working 7 days a week, 18 hour days, for some time until things really started to get cooking. I had to learn how to rope-a-dope cheaper things together.

Sometimes a site would run on three different small or cheaper scripts to accomplish what I wanted. Sure, it was a hassle, but once money afforded it, I build a CMS from scratch that would so all of that and more. In the end, it actually helped me build a better mousetrap as I would see the flaws in the different things and would correct them in my reincarnation.

Do not discount hard work. If there is a will to succeed, there is a way to get around it.

You're welcome.

I have managed to get where I am based on hard work, and never giving up. I have had my ups and downs like anyone else in the industry. But I am always plugging away. I write down ideas all of the time where I find opportunities for money making.

Sometimes I think them out, and see the ROI is too small, and not worth the effort. Others I see higher returns, and less work. It's really about (over the long haul) getting the best return on your investment. Whether it's money, time, or both. If you want to work less, you need a bigger ROI for your efforts. But if you are just starting out, you just want to see ANY return on your efforts.

Hang in there champ. You're hungry, and will eventually get there. Luck favors the prepared mind.

:2 cents:

:2 cents:

Creativity. I've always been very creative.

Had I been a kid today they'd of put me on ADD/ADHD meds. Fucking crooks killing our kids.

Thank you. I really am just a no-nonsense kind of guy. I tell it how it is without pulling any punches.

Can people still make money in adult? Yes. Can then make 2001 money in adult for working 1 hour per day like they used too, no. Can you make a living wage in adult? Yes. It's all relative to what you are looking to accomplish, and what is "worth your time". For me, I prefer to live and die on my own sword.

You can license some content, and do a clip store, make $500.00+ a month for less than 30 minutes of your time daily (assuming you do it right). Now you have 7.5 hours left in your work day. Common sense would tell you to open up some more clip stores, and repeat the process a few times. Tada!! You are not making $3000-5000.00/month.

Is this an exciting day? No. But will it give your family a decent dollar to live on? Yes. Welcome to the adult business.

I can recommend reading the book six thinking hats, its a good kickstarter and tool for idea generation.

It takes slightly longer, still you're right if you have something that's not on 100s of the clip stores. Eva was doing it with our vintage and lesbian stuff while looking after me, more of a past time than a job. I definitely can't be bothered.

The problem today is too many in this business want it spoon fed to them. They got used to it in the easy days or couldn't survive without it and now they're out of their depth.

The earlier you can spot and take advantage of a trend the better. You do not necessarily have to be the first ... a lot of risk in that. Show up early and do it best.

Not really. 95% of the "work", and I use that term loosely, is done by your FTP client, and your video editing software. I do not count the 10 seconds it takes for me to load it into either on them as "work". I think 30 minutes per clip is pushing it to cut and paste a description from a spreadsheet, schedule a couple of clips, and hit save as well.

However, assuming it takes 30 minutes per scene. You have 7.5 hours left in your day. If you can make $500.00/month doing 30 minutes per day, and you have over 7 hours left, you may want to think about making a few more stores. Once you get up to where you want to be, add in a pay site or two. Now you're making $5-10k/month, working a full 8 hours per day, five days a week.

It's all about consistency and scaling.

My reply was geared more towards those who are trying to ramp up. Not those established.

Agreed.

Short myself on sleep and go into a strange trans-like state.

This. I read white papers, blogs, etc., like crazy. About half I already knew/apply, but even one tidbit of practical knowledge is worth the 2-3 hours of time spent doing it that evening.

Also, listen to your peers.. both the experienced, rich vets and the new guy who's still trying to make it. Never know what you may learn. :thumbsup

Planning and execution. Without either you will fail.

Yep. Always view learning as fun.

I don't think I've ever worked a day without smoking a bong.. :rasta

1) read, learn and read some more
2) network with others and learn about their product/services do and how you can find a niche or void in the market for what you can provide
3) work with others in your field of interest, even if it is a full time job for 3-6 months to learn the ropes of the business
4) repeat #1 with what you learned and gained in 2 & 3

Personally, its my passion to succeed. If you dont have a drive or need, you wont make it work :2 cents: you have to wake up every morning and go to bed every night thinking about your company and how you can make it better, faster, stronger...

Most people think starting a company is the easy way out. I hear it all the time from people, "i want to be my own boss." An easy way to know if someone is going to be successful is to look at their past and their current work ethic. If you half-ass it at your job now, leave your work place because its 5pm and only believe doctors work on the weekends and evenings--your doomed for failure.

When we are prospecting potential new clients, one of the first things I ask is "if someone calls you at 8pm on a Wednesday evening or 3pm on a Saturday, where do those calls go?" and if the answer is "voicemail--were closed!" I turn away their business. Why? Because being in this field for over 10 years, I can easily find what companies are going to be successful and which ones are not. If you don't take the extra mile, your competition will come right and take your customers from you.

In short, find what no one is currently doing and fill that void, don't try and reinvent the wheel. :thumbsup

Thanks everyone for the feedback here. Some really solid postings in this thread. I'm actually looking to take the knowledge I learn doing this as a hobby and using those skills to build something mainstream that is a real product or service. I mean if I could do 20-30k a month in adult I'd be stoked. And those that kill it doing this full time I give you props! I just see mainstream as being something I would be more passionate about from a business perspective. Although I do like boobs and ass. :)

Why not do that too? It can make a ton of money, but takes a bit more product and keyword research than adult. It's all affiliate marketing :upsidedow

My experience in business is less about award winning ideas than it is about details in actually running a company. Reading a P & L. Having great advisors. I have quarterly meetings with a top accounting firm. I also get semi-annual briefings from a great law firm. Things like estate planning, reinvesting capital,employee law,etc... There are a lot of details in keeping the money you make.

Probably the best tip I received early in my career was put together the best team you can and then let them do what you pay them to do. A few of you could probably name more than two players on the first Greenbay Packer superbowl team..But everyone knows who coached them.

Ideas are easy. Everyone has them. Applying them is the real trick.

I have a lot of critics in what I do. I've found them to be a wonderful source of ideas. I find that, for me, critics are a validation of my work and can really motivate you to greatness. That and learning from actual constructive criticism has been invaluable.

A true "business owner" response. This is what I'm talking about. Great stuff. However, you need the capital and you need the idea and most importantly you need to know how to implement that idea. The legal, financial and all that normal business activity is not difficult for me. It's the implementation and capital where I struggle. Come to think of it, I've never built anything that required force and individuals behind me. This is part of the reason why I don't make money in business I guess. Just shot myself in the foot here. At any rate, great feedback. If I have enough money to buy just one of those cars in your avatar I will be grateful for it. For now, I will keep thinking of what I can do to get there.

Truthfully...and some are going to disagree with me but I don't think it's affiliate marketing that is going to get me there. It's the development of a valuable product or service that people will pay for and that I am passionate enough about to want to work hard daily to make it grow and grow and grow.

bump for a gem of a thread.

One thing I'm kicking myself in the ass for is spending so much time on WarriorForum looking for ideas and ways to make money. What a waste of time that was. I would have been better off not knowing that even existed and spent time doing and not looking for a get rich method. Although, the process did make me realize that if I want to succeed I need to steer clear of all that shit and build a real valuable site/product/service. Not some piece of crap WSO or MMO tactic to get rich.

i have a group of 5 of us that are like minded... we have weekly google hangout meetings were we discuss what we did the previous week, and what we hope to do in the upcoming week... you can not only learn from what the others are doing, but you get a since of accountability since you have to report whether or not you have accomplished, or at least attempted, your previous goals

The most successful business people I know, directly and indirectly, don't have "get rich" as their primary daily goal in their business.

Of course, you may enjoy seeing the money flowing in - but more as a measure of success rather than thinking too much of the cars you can buy. Cars may be a nice add-on, but I'd rather start by finding something that you can be truly passionate about, and that of course has a market. Focus on it as your baby. Focus on doing the right things. Cars will come as an afterthought. :2 cents::2 cents:

Maybe Eva wasn't as organised as you. still it shows what people can do by having something that appeals to micro niche buyers can do for very little time invested and a bit of money.

Today my main problem is motivation. I loved shooting models it was fun and always different. Sitting at a keyboard is no comparison. You probably think the same. Without the need to earn money, I just can't be bothered to work. The garden, dog, book, TV, cooking is always calling me away. Posting here is fun, even getting taunted by most losers is fun.

Porn has always attracted the "Get rich quick and easy" mob. Today there are so many of them who know little and lack the ability to see opportunities. Plus the money to it into a working scheme.

Eve did well with the lesbian content and the retro stuff. Using your figures it wouldn't take long to return a profit on that if the person had the money to bulk buy the content. They don't they offer 3 months revenue, because that's the market price. Or is it all they can afford?

Maybe I'm being unfair to them from my perspective. we invest $1,000 minimum every day we shot, in the gamble of returning a profit in 12 months. It worked for us. :thumbsup

Most of the idiots hare couldn't do that. so all those who do, you're not included in this comment.

Many of the entrepreneurs and business owners in online porn are people who started when it was far easier and learned as they went along. They had the little extra required to survive. Because the casualties from those early days far out number the survivors. which is normal.

A few affiliates had the same talents to remain and survive. The rest don't. They have to be spoon fed, given everything they need or have it made easy as possible for them. Few have real talents that set them above the rest, have the ability to see an idea or opportunity and the majority of them can only do something 100s of others can copy easily.

This last thing was the undoing of online porn. It was to easy to paste and copy then rinse and repeat. Which leads to saturation of what ever they doing. That was our strong point. Few could emulate what we did and move up to a higher paying market, in whole or like we did as another tier to the business.

We're just one example as there are some others who operate at a level that 99.9% in this business never have a hope of reaching. Who can afford or have the ability to shoot really great porn. Run a Tube site that has 20 million surfers a day. Or get their links on the first page of Google?

Counter that with those who have a site with nothing special to offer, a Tube site with a few 1,000 a day and are lucky to get onto page 3 of Google. You all understand what I mean so no picking points.