GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - 100 questions for Steve Lightspeed of Lightspeedcash

SteveLightspeed · 12-29-2004, 04:00 PM

41) Good people are the lifeblood of any successful organization. How do you personally go about hiring good employees? Are there any "secrets" or "tips" (you've learnt over time) to hiring and retaining the best people?
I had the bad experience of working for a crappy boss once. He fired a bunch of my co-workers, only to buy an expensive motorcycle for himself later that week. I remember thinking ?What an asshole!? When I started hiring my own employees, I decided that if I?m going to get rich doing this, then so will my employees. We implemented a 20% profit sharing plan in the very beginning. When we have a good month, our employee?s profit-sharing bonus often exceeds their regular paycheck. Ask Rochard about ?Golden Handcuffs?.

42) What aspects of your business do you personally focus on? What areas do you delegate out?
I handle most of the marketing and branding aspects. I also like to personally attend the industry events and tradeshows. I used to shoot all the content myself, I?ve backed off of that now but I?m still involved in recruiting and model management. Rochard handles all our sites, servers, and operations issues, Lisa (Sweetums) handles traffic and affiliates, and Shannon handles all the accounting and taxes.

43) How active were you in marketing your sites when you started? (was there an affiliate program from the beginning?)
I didn?t know what an affiliate program WAS in the beginning. I marketed my site by trading with other sites for traffic and content, and by submitting my own galleries to tgps. I didn?t start the Lightspeedcash affiliate program until almost 2 years after my first sites were open.

44) How long did it take for your business to become profitable?
We were profitable in the first month, since my startup costs were so minimal.

45) Were there any failures/losses/setbacks before your business started to boom?
Shortly after Tawnee started working for us, all 5 of our other contract models quit for various reasons, all within the same week or so. It felt like we were finished. We basically had to start over with everything.

46) Who is your favorite processor?
CCbill has been our primary processor since the beginning, and I enjoy a great relationship with them. We also use Epoch/Paycom as our backup processor, and NoCreditCard supplies our dialers. I used Ibill for a while, but that turned out to be a poor decision.

47) What Single girl Site just passed the Bling Bling Mark last month for the first time?
Tawnee Stone, currently in her 4th year as a 19 year old, is still our #1 site and more popular than ever. She is truly a phenomenon that I can?t explain!

48) What will the two best events in April be?
The 2005 Phoenix Forum is going to be great, and I?m personally looking forward to a private vacation with a few close friends in April!

49) What single strategy (either marketing/affiliates/site/models) has been the single largest contributor to help make the program a success?
When I hired Tanker in 2001, we agreed to hit the marketing trail hard by attending EVERY SHOW. Our goal from 2001-2003 was to ?Get out there, be seen, meet everyone?. Between us, we attended and/or sponsored 50 consecutive events and tradeshows.

50) what's your opinion about B.Shaw?
He is a legend in his own mind! He doesn?t like me, but who the hell cares? I?ve made it this far without his help, haven?t I? I like to say, ?Every hero needs a villain.? Life would be pretty boring if we were all the same, right? I think Brad is my top unpaid referrer. Every time he bashes me, I get droves of great new affiliates!

His opinions of me seem to be based on a lot of inaccurate and obsolete information. I think I spoke to him ONCE a few years ago. We have lots of mutual friends who try to tell him to lighten up, but he apparently doesn?t value their opinions. I?m sure he?ll start bashing away at me again as soon as he reads this. Whatever Brad, at least you are consistently an asshole. Go ahead, I could always use some more new affiliates!

However, he does have a nice online operation, good employees, and a beautiful wife. He seems to have done well for himself. I?d bet money that he has checked this thread every day for this answer since this question was posted (hahaha)

12-29-2004, 04:00 PM
SteveLightspeed Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Lightspeedworld Posts: 7,940	41) Good people are the lifeblood of any successful organization. How do you personally go about hiring good employees? Are there any "secrets" or "tips" (you've learnt over time) to hiring and retaining the best people? I had the bad experience of working for a crappy boss once. He fired a bunch of my co-workers, only to buy an expensive motorcycle for himself later that week. I remember thinking ?What an asshole!? When I started hiring my own employees, I decided that if I?m going to get rich doing this, then so will my employees. We implemented a 20% profit sharing plan in the very beginning. When we have a good month, our employee?s profit-sharing bonus often exceeds their regular paycheck. Ask Rochard about ?Golden Handcuffs?. 42) What aspects of your business do you personally focus on? What areas do you delegate out? I handle most of the marketing and branding aspects. I also like to personally attend the industry events and tradeshows. I used to shoot all the content myself, I?ve backed off of that now but I?m still involved in recruiting and model management. Rochard handles all our sites, servers, and operations issues, Lisa (Sweetums) handles traffic and affiliates, and Shannon handles all the accounting and taxes. 43) How active were you in marketing your sites when you started? (was there an affiliate program from the beginning?) I didn?t know what an affiliate program WAS in the beginning. I marketed my site by trading with other sites for traffic and content, and by submitting my own galleries to tgps. I didn?t start the Lightspeedcash affiliate program until almost 2 years after my first sites were open. 44) How long did it take for your business to become profitable? We were profitable in the first month, since my startup costs were so minimal. 45) Were there any failures/losses/setbacks before your business started to boom? Shortly after Tawnee started working for us, all 5 of our other contract models quit for various reasons, all within the same week or so. It felt like we were finished. We basically had to start over with everything. 46) Who is your favorite processor? CCbill has been our primary processor since the beginning, and I enjoy a great relationship with them. We also use Epoch/Paycom as our backup processor, and NoCreditCard supplies our dialers. I used Ibill for a while, but that turned out to be a poor decision. 47) What Single girl Site just passed the Bling Bling Mark last month for the first time? Tawnee Stone, currently in her 4th year as a 19 year old, is still our #1 site and more popular than ever. She is truly a phenomenon that I can?t explain! 48) What will the two best events in April be? The 2005 Phoenix Forum is going to be great, and I?m personally looking forward to a private vacation with a few close friends in April! 49) What single strategy (either marketing/affiliates/site/models) has been the single largest contributor to help make the program a success? When I hired Tanker in 2001, we agreed to hit the marketing trail hard by attending EVERY SHOW. Our goal from 2001-2003 was to ?Get out there, be seen, meet everyone?. Between us, we attended and/or sponsored 50 consecutive events and tradeshows. 50) what's your opinion about B.Shaw? He is a legend in his own mind! He doesn?t like me, but who the hell cares? I?ve made it this far without his help, haven?t I? I like to say, ?Every hero needs a villain.? Life would be pretty boring if we were all the same, right? I think Brad is my top unpaid referrer. Every time he bashes me, I get droves of great new affiliates! His opinions of me seem to be based on a lot of inaccurate and obsolete information. I think I spoke to him ONCE a few years ago. We have lots of mutual friends who try to tell him to lighten up, but he apparently doesn?t value their opinions. I?m sure he?ll start bashing away at me again as soon as he reads this. Whatever Brad, at least you are consistently an asshole. Go ahead, I could always use some more new affiliates! However, he does have a nice online operation, good employees, and a beautiful wife. He seems to have done well for himself. I?d bet money that he has checked this thread every day for this answer since this question was posted (hahaha) __________________ Abra-cadabra!