Business How did you get into the adult business?

[ironwebmaster]

Hey Everyone,

I've seen lots of threads about how you all made lots of money back when men still had pubes and porn was easy and profitable.

What I am curious about is not when you got into this business, nor how successful you have been, but strictly:

What was the instigator that got you involved with the adult business in general? what caused it?

For me it was quite random having worked in support for a large cam site and then gradually worked my way up in the company. It was never a plan until it happened for me.

Share your stories please..

[lovebitch]

I was masturbating one day watching porn and suddenly i see webmaster link in footer and from that day i am in porn business.

[Look Chang]

I used to pay a lot for sex before starting to make money with it

[Spunky]

Taught myself HTML on MSN communities and yahoo groups way back when and got a few sites up and running soon after

[AdultKing]

Christmas Eve 1994 at 4pm I launched my first porn site and had made a couple of grand by Christmas morning. Every membership manually processed on a card terminal

[Phoenix]

Chad from python..made it look so cool..lol

[ironwebmaster]

Cool! But where did you get the idea of building a porn site? Why not a plumber or president?

Originally Posted by AdultKing

Christmas Eve 1994 at 4pm I launched my first porn site and had made a couple of grand by Christmas morning. Every membership manually processed on a card terminal

[AdultKing]

Originally Posted by ironwebmaster

Cool! But where did you get the idea of building a porn site? Why not a plumber or president?

I ran a phone sex business, seemed like a logical extension at the time.

I also had involvement in the more tangible areas of the adult industry prior.

[ironwebmaster]

More tangible

Alright so that pretty much explains how you would have tried to move things online, which answers my initial question. Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by AdultKing

I ran a phone sex business, seemed like a logical extension at the time.

I also had involvement in the more tangible areas of the adult industry prior.

[Rochard]

I got online in 1994 and was instantly drawn into making web pages. In my first few weeks I started collecting animated gifs which I would eventually use on my future web pages; Back then hard drive space was at a premium so I stored them all on floppy disks.

I started my first website a short time later on Geocities, a daily bikini site, updated by hand every day by dialing in on a modem. Eventually I bought my first domain, a business domain, and then later on a dedicated domain. After doing the bikini site and making money off of it, I did other "girlie" sites - high heels, short skirts, boobs - and then made a solo girl site.

What a great ride it's been.

[Paul Markham]

Read my story. gfy.com/fucking-around-and-program-discussion/1191923-personal-50-timeline-porn-business.html

[ironwebmaster]

Saw that. It's epic!

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Read my story. gfy.com/fucking-around-and-program-discussion/1191923-personal-50-timeline-porn-business.html

[wehateporn]

Typed "How to get rich" into Google, was taken to a website looking something like this

The rest, as they say, is history

[rayadp05]

I couldn't find that many paysites to sign up with ....that had content EXACTLY how I wanted it to be. I joined several GOOD sites but they never really had the super closeup shots and the REAL amateur girls. If I did stumble upon a site with real amateur girls, the photos were not LARGE enough and on top of that, were mostly just ripped off from various sources on the internet. You know...the smaller and blurry looking shit. That's when I decided to launch MY OWN website! I wanted to make it JUST how I wanted it to be! That's when I started learning how to schedule the shoots, how to approach the girls to ask them to participate in my shoots, acquiring knowledge regarding html, PHP, web design, marketing ...etc.

I was eventually set up with hosting, processing, my affiliate program ...and the rest was pretty much downhill once I launched the affiliate program. To this day, I have several sales coming through every day ...and all through out the day. It's actually been that way now for over 10 years.

So yeah, it worked out good for me. I know that it does not always work out the same for other content producers, but on the other hand, I am not making MILLIONS of dollars either like some of the HUGE websites do. However, I do make enough to be able to shoot as a FULL TIME JOB ....and my affiliates are happy too!

But sure, that's how I came about working in the adult entertainment industry. It also helps to have contacts that work in the industry too and to stay as active as you can on the webmaster boards.

[ironwebmaster]

Originally Posted by rayadp05

I couldn't find that many paysites to sign up with ....that had content EXACTLY how I wanted it to be. I joined several GOOD sites but they never really had the super closeup shots and the REAL amateur girls. If I did stumble upon a site with real amateur girls, the photos were not LARGE enough and on top of that, were mostly just ripped off from various sources on the internet. You know...the smaller and blurry looking shit. That's when I decided to launch MY OWN website! I wanted to make it JUST how I wanted it to be! That's when I started learning how to schedule the shoots, how to approach the girls to ask them to participate in my shoots, acquiring knowledge regarding html, PHP, web design, marketing ...etc.

I was eventually set up with hosting, processing, my affiliate program ...and the rest was pretty much downhill once I launched the affiliate program. To this day, I have several sales coming through every day ...and all through out the day. It's actually been that way now for over 10 years.

So yeah, it worked out good for me. I know that it does not always work out the same for other content producers, but on the other hand, I am not making MILLIONS of dollars either like some of the HUGE websites do. However, I do make enough to be able to shoot as a FULL TIME JOB ....and my affiliates are happy too!

But sure, that's how I came about working in the adult entertainment industry. It also helps to have contacts that work in the industry too and to stay as active as you can on the webmaster boards.

Hey thanks for sharing man! So how did you come across the idea that you wanted to record content? Where did this idea come from?

[Hannes]

through a work colleague, never regretted a thing.

[yuu.design]

fortuity, i apply for job and didn't know they work in adult, i started designing my first sites for them

[ironwebmaster]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I got online in 1994 and was instantly drawn into making web pages. In my first few weeks I started collecting animated gifs which I would eventually use on my future web pages; Back then hard drive space was at a premium so I stored them all on floppy disks.

I started my first website a short time later on Geocities, a daily bikini site, updated by hand every day by dialing in on a modem. Eventually I bought my first domain, a business domain, and then later on a dedicated domain. After doing the bikini site and making money off of it, I did other "girlie" sites - high heels, short skirts, boobs - and then made a solo girl site.

What a great ride it's been.

Love this one )

[teg0]

A ytcracker song

[celandina]

In 1999 VHS took an overnight dive into oblivion and so were all my action, sci fi and other mainstream movies. Luckily I had a few erotic thrillers ( for those too young to remember these were a sex teasing only genre)... So I put them on DVD and sold them over the internet... And never looked back. The only difference now and then? Then shot on 35mm film and budgeted in 100's thousands of dollars, now shot on video with budgets in 10's thousand of dollars.

[kane]

It was 1998 and a friend of mine showed me a site. The site was nothing special, just pics of naked girls, but being the geeks we are we were both intrigued by the hit counter. We did the math and realized they were getting about 25,000 hits a day. I did some research and learned about webmaster sponsor programs. I started doing HTML and actually began working for a company that made websites. I wasn't a designer, but was a good HTML code monkey. On the side I started an amateur site where people could submit their personal pics. As it turns out my boss tried to submit pics he took at a topless beach while in Florida for a business trip (he didn't know it was my site). The email bounced, he recognized my email in the header and asked if I ran the site. I told him I did. We decided to go our separate ways. I started focusing on doing this full time and within a few months I was making more doing this than at my old job.

The funny thing was my old boss got fired (not sure why) about a year later, and he came to me looking for a job. I gave him some pointers, but I don't know if he ever followed through.

[CaptainHowdy]

Out of sheer need ...

[euronudes]

My czech wife forced me into it back in 2005.

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by euronudes

My czech wife forced me into it back in 2005.

Tell us more ...

[euronudes]

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

Tell us more ...

Not so much to tell. We had some bottles of wine on a hotel balcony in Bulgaria in the sunset. And she told me about affiliate programs for DOMAI (if I remember correctly). And she said I would waste my knowledge if I didnt start promoting them. So I did

Then I had some sites during the years and even some breaks and now I am running a pretty well-visited blog.

[Bladewire]

In '98 I was a single Dad going to school for computer science / mechanical engineering while being a live in apartment manager for my job in Huntington Beach, CA. I'd recently broke up from a 5 year relationship and wanted to start completely fresh in a new city and a friend randomly was leaving the job and I took it over so I could have free rent, get paid, be there for my kid and goto school. I had some extra cash after selling my first website venture ( a searchable database of all apartment complexes in the U.S., now it's forrent.com or something like that )

So one day a hot tenant prospect came in looking for an apartment. I showed them around the complex and at the end they said they could barely afford it and asked me what I was going to school for. I told them and they said I should make a porn site and they'd be the star. Bam! They moved in the next day, I shot a bunch of content at different locations around town and put up my first porn pay site in '99.

Later I was to be sued by my religious babysitter for custody of my son through probate court because I was a pornographer. That made headlines and we were all over the news & on TV. I easily won after 9 months in conservative Orange County Court, the woman was 53 and living with her mom, psycho. Then moved to Australia for 5 years and filmed there, traveled around that part of the world, etc.

[SilentKnight]

Started out making what we called 'fantasy bondage' photoart images in the mid-90s - mostly as a hobby. People collected and shared them like hockey cards on Usenet newsgroups...they got extremely popular amongst bdsm pic collectors.

So a buddy suggested we create a website to exhibit them all in one place (by this time there was over 1000 pics in the series).

In 1999 we reg'd the domain, built the site - and it caught on big from the start. We converted it to a paysite after the free hosting service we had told us we were exceeding their 2gb/day bandwidth cap and had to go elsewhere.

Over the years we expanded with our own original bdsm/fetish photography.

[euronudes]

Originally Posted by Bladewire

In '98 I was a single Dad going to school for computer science / mechanical engineering while being a live in apartment manager for my job in Huntington Beach, CA. I'd recently broke up from a 5 year relationship and wanted to start completely fresh in a new city and a friend randomly was leaving the job and I took it over so I could have free rent, get paid, be there for my kid and goto school. I had some extra cash after selling my first website venture ( a searchable database of all apartment complexes in the U.S., now it's forrent.com or something like that )

So one day a hot tenant prospect came in looking for an apartment. I showed them around the complex and at the end they said they could barely afford it and asked me what I was going to school for. I told them and they said I should make a porn site and they'd be the star. Bam! They moved in the next day, I shot a bunch of content at different locations around town and put up my first porn pay site in '99.

Later I was to be sued by my religious babysitter for custody of my son through probate court because I was a pornographer. That made headlines and we were all over the news & on TV. I easily won after 9 months in conservative Orange County Court, the woman was 53 and living with her mom, psycho. Then moved to Australia for 5 years and filmed there, traveled around that part of the world, etc.

Hey, thanks for sharing this

[Relic]

I was promoting online gambling at 12, porn was just a natural progression for me.

[AmeliaG]

Originally Posted by Bladewire

In '98 I was a single Dad going to school for computer science / mechanical engineering while being a live in apartment manager for my job in Huntington Beach, CA. I'd recently broke up from a 5 year relationship and wanted to start completely fresh in a new city and a friend randomly was leaving the job and I took it over so I could have free rent, get paid, be there for my kid and goto school. I had some extra cash after selling my first website venture ( a searchable database of all apartment complexes in the U.S., now it's forrent.com or something like that )

So one day a hot tenant prospect came in looking for an apartment. I showed them around the complex and at the end they said they could barely afford it and asked me what I was going to school for. I told them and they said I should make a porn site and they'd be the star. Bam! They moved in the next day, I shot a bunch of content at different locations around town and put up my first porn pay site in '99.

Later I was to be sued by my religious babysitter for custody of my son through probate court because I was a pornographer. That made headlines and we were all over the news & on TV. I easily won after 9 months in conservative Orange County Court, the woman was 53 and living with her mom, psycho. Then moved to Australia for 5 years and filmed there, traveled around that part of the world, etc.

Your babysitter was able to take you to court to try to get custody of your child?

#WTF

[JesseQuinn]

^^^qft, da fuck? know you've written about that before BW, just insane. Unfortunately not all that uncommon though, tho usually impacts women. Adult=unfit and irresponsible. good on you for fighting back, nuff respect and so sorry you had to go through that stress. must have been scary as fuck for you at the time.

and what a disgusting person for trying to separate a child from their actual family. that's some god's work in action there


As to me:

Burger King wouldn't hire me


for real though, was finishing two degrees (ma and second u/g) and working a low paid job in security as the hours fit my insane school schedule (and overnight shifts gave me ample time to study)

decided to try camming and clips along with my bf at the time, intending to quit once I graduated. even before I did graduate found my dream job but still earned more on cam so stuck with it too. I like working, having too much free time freaks me out

my bf (now husband) and I stopped camming together though, both of us were getting worn down and didn't find it fun having to 'perform' on cue in really inauthentic ways. beyond that, found I made far more solo.

took a couple years to really find my stride in it to bank consistently as I tended to dabble initially, but once I did create a solid plan that so fucking worked I have never looked back.

will always prob have a foot in 'vanilla/mainstream' work as I enjoy it, but I'll be in this for the foreseeable future.

love being my own boss (she's a demanding biatch at times but I'll keep her) and beyond the dollaz, love the freedom and creativity of the work.

[AmeliaG]

And, on topic:

1990 Started publishing fairly high circulation sorta cyberpunk zines.
1992 From the basement of a punk rock group house, started publishing Blue Blood, which became an internationally distributed, critically acclaimed, full color glossy magazine of counterculture erotica.
1994 Fans of Blue Blood put up first web site.
1997 Had first official Blue Blood web site.
1999 Started registering domains and seeing how many people were making paysites which scanned Blue Blood images fans had posted to Usenet.
?
Profit! (SpookyCash)

[2MuchMark]

A friend showed me the Interwebz for the first time way back in '94 or '95. I Taught myself HTML, learned how to make websites. Turned it into a business. Porn came knocking, followed the money. Discovered that LIVE was my fetish. Been there ever since.

[overdose]

once I went to get some p0t and the other guy who was waiting for my man was a tube admin... guess the rest I was already into PPD/PPV big time before I dived into adult and I learned designing / building websites at a very young age these days I'm slowly getting back to my non-adult roots... I still have ongoing adult project tho

[InSexWeTrust]

My father groomed me for the job

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by AmeliaG

Your babysitter was able to take you to court to try to get custody of your child?

#WTF

Yeah. Old news There's TV footage around somewhere, I saved some on one of my old drives too, but that link sums it up.

Back to on topic, we all have unique stories, keep them coming!

[ironwebmaster]

This thread turned out better than expected.. Thanks all for sharing and for the rest of you.. don't be shy ;)

[marlboroack]

webcamnews.com/business/brandon-ackerman

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by ironwebmaster

Saw that. It's epic!

Been a long time in the making. Not even reached the last 20 years. And left a lot out.

[davecummings]

During a swingers party, After having great sex with Nina Hartley, she suggested that I become a porn star----I then registered with a couple of the top Agents at the time, and began my fun life as a porn star. Seriously!

Dave

[j3rkules]

I learned how to make websites (htm etc), eventually created the one mainstream site but after a several months, one of my good friends showed me his porn sites (and taught me a few things about the industry) and I dived into adult.

[gmartfin]

Well it was 98 and I got involved in the domain business. I ran into Rick S and got some advice about registering type in domains. Naturally the domains with the most typeins were adult.

But every domain registered, even business, in those days were directed to adult affiliates because they were the only ones making money online.

We just used to throw up a coloured html page with an enter button that automatically redirected people to a pay porn site.

Even today we still own several hundred adult domains but only direct the traffic to ppc. I've never directly been in the adult biz. I considered it at one point but the girls in the pics were the same age as my daughter and I just couldn't do it.

[Andreweb]

Well I started as a cofounder of a cam studio ! Me and my business partner we worked hard to get that studio big and after an argument about money I left him and I kept the sites we had at that time (all were made by me he hadn't any IT skills) and he kept the studio but the models also left the studio since he wasn't able to manege it , now, after 6 years I left him, he is working as a constructor in UK and I am still in adult and making money !

I must admit that I need to thank him for bringing me to this because I like what I do !

[ianmoone332000]

I spent a lot of time learning SEO and thought " Hey, il start up with the porn industry, make some easy money and invest it in the type of sites id really like to build like Adsense/Affiliate". 2 years later im still here and realising the easy money is long gone. Still my goal to make enough to get into mainstream though

[Harambe]

irwin jones legacy

[ironwebmaster]

Originally Posted by Andreweb

Well I started as a cofounder of a cam studio ! Me and my business partner we worked hard to get that studio big and after an argument about money I left him and I kept the sites we had at that time (all were made by me he hadn't any IT skills) and he kept the studio but the models also left the studio since he wasn't able to manege it , now, after 6 years I left him, he is working as a constructor in UK and I am still in adult and making money !

I must admit that I need to thank him for bringing me to this because I like what I do !

Thanks for sharing. Where did you get the idea of starting a cam studio?

[Andreweb]

Originally Posted by ironwebmaster

Where did you get the idea of starting a cam studio?

I got that idea when I was in the highschool when I found that a classmate of mine is a cam girl , of course I started the studio later aftfer 5 years or so ! I remember that in the first day of work I made 98$ my money(my share) was a great start for me at that time !

[ironwebmaster]

Originally Posted by davecummings

During a swingers party, After having great sex with Nina Hartley, she suggested that I become a porn star----I then registered with a couple of the top Agents at the time, and began my fun life as a porn star. Seriously!

Dave

Awesome stuff

[theS2O]

Started as an employee of an outsourcing company. Get to handle a few clients. One of the clients offered 4x my current salary for me to work full time for him.. I quit my job. Started S2O. That's it. The rest is history!

[NemesisEnforcer]

Originally Posted by ironwebmaster

Share your stories please..

Started as a hobby running a couple of BBS using WildCat and Galacticomm tied into FidoNet and Usenet. I was charging to download pictures and shareware. It was easier for folks than using Archie, Gopher, WAIS and uudecoding multipart images. Once the Internet became commercial, it was a natural transition. I pulled pics from Usenet and the adult industry (Sin City Entertainment, Evil Angel, JM Productions, and others) would send me what they called their 20 sheets of chromes for free. It was pure profit.