havent worked for anyone but myself since i was 23-24 :)

Turning 36 next time

No, actually www.modelgig.com was my first, started it in November of 2001.

Since 1995 myself. :thumbsup

I'm self employed but a fucking failure :Oh crap

I have only had three real jobs too long ago to remember really. I made my first porn movie in 1983. It made 19 on the UK Billboard video rental charts.

I've been successfully self employed for over 10 years. I love it and have been working for myself for so long that I am afraid I have become unemployable. Failure isn't an option anymore because I know I would be too big of a pain in the ass to work for anyone else.

:thumbsup Yeah, yell it from the mountain top! :thumbsup

I am very much self-UNemployed...but still am able to pay the bills....

I live off welfare

Come to the Dark Side(Jersey)!

I quit my office job(8 years) sometime around Christmas of 06, and I haven't looked back since. My animation business has been doing so well in that time, I sometimes wish for the work to stop coming in so I can have a break.

there's no way I can go back to 9 to 5 bullshit, dealing with office politics and dumb ass bosses. I always thought that if I'm going to work for an asshole, it might as well be me.

I've been self employed since I was 17 running sites. Put myself through college and pay all my bills from porn. I'm spoiled

over the GW bridge area or 20 minutes into NJ is okay with me since I am only 10 minutes away from the bridge now, but I am not into those wooded type areas. It's still expensive over there and has high taxes...since its so close to NYC. My wife has me taking her food shopping in Edgewater once a month at Mitsuwa Marketplace. Little Falls, NJ is nice also.

Haven't punched the mans clock since 02'... :thumbsup

I am self employeed for over 10 years, last "JOB" i worked was back in october 1999.

There are a lot of things you can do wrong (and right) being self employeed mainly when it comes to taxes and protecting yourself and your income. If you are in the US I can give you some advice. Hit me up if you interested.

The last 'man' I worked for was my dad when I was about 19.

lol funny... but true.

prepare, prepare, and plan....

I can relate to what you are saying above. Since the net is 24/7 you can make money all t he time. Who wants to sleep when you could be making more money. But just as important as it is to make money is to make sure you don't blow it or lose it. As you make money make sure what you are making is put to good use. Set yourself up with a retirement plan, get yourself insured for health, life and disability insurance. If you get sick or hurt and you didn't do any propery planning your ability to make money will not only cease but you will blow through everything you have made and saved.

Sometimes making the money is the easiest part. It is everything else you need to do to make sure you don't fuck up something to lose it that is even harder.

Most self employed people are entrepreneurs and could never work directly for a boss.

That being said... We all work for somebody

I quit my day job new years eve 2003... The first few years were a struggle though, didn't start doing really well until about 2 years ago.

Thanks Will, thats good, solid advice. I am reinvesting into my concepts right now. After my other 2 concepts are up this spring, I am going to to transfer my savings into long term endeavors to do that.

While in law school I actually dated the grand-daughter of one of the pioneers of this industry... Milton Luros... you and no one else has ever heard of him but he was basically the founder of the porn industry in the San Fernando Valley...

He predates Hefner, Flynt and everyone else now alive. He was friends with Rueben Sturman and Sam Roth...

At one time he was considered the wealthiest man in porn by Time Magazine...

Talking with him really started me down the path towards this industry... He was a fascinating and interesting man. And thanks to him, we have an industry. He has three Supreme Court cases in his name and he was directly responsible for bringing the Karma Sutra to the US...

http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-...89/200/426227/

Dave, when you started, were you just reinvesting everything back into cyberage, or hiring employees based on projected income. The internet was a much different place then, but I bet those first days were like christmas for you every day.

Best advice I have learned over 10+ years.... Don't wait, start now.

If you want to be successful long term first thing you need to do is put the pieces in place to protect your income. Second thing you need to do is set up long term retirement as a safety net. Based on your age, how much you can afford a month and how much you want to retire on at age 65 will determine how much you need to allocate from your revenue each month towards that.

ALL OF US, want to reinvest into our business, start new ventures, etc.. but there is no guarantee that the money will always be there or the new ventures wont flop (most will). If all else fails you always have your retirment plan to fall back on... those that don't have a retirement plan may be depending on family members, social security (if it is even still around) or worst, working till the day they die.

I have seen so many people do really well for themselves for 3-5 years and then they end up going back to working for someone else and making a lot less money. Everything they made they either blew or lost it all. They had no plan, and as fast as the money came in it was gone they may be spending the rest of their lives working for someone else.

1. protect your income.
2. set up a retirement plan as a "worst case scenerio" so if all else fails you can still retire when you get old vs working at walmart till you die.
3. invest what you have left over into your business and new SAFE ventures.

self employed since 2002

self employed since 92...
(1992, not 1892)

I have 2 LLC corporations.

One adult (first first)
One offline (my second)

Both are very successful and growing all the time. It does take alot of hardwork and good decision making. So worth it though. There is literally NOTHING like working for yourself. Especially online and in adult. TAke your laptop to the beach and work if you want too. Where else can you do that? We are lucky bastards haha.

Im 25

Been self employed since January of 1997

Been working for myself most of my life. But, I'll take a side job in a second to help support the dream. Why? Whachoo want? Whatchoo need? All the great shooters work for others as well as themselves. Last I checked money all stacks up the same in the bank. I asked my client: "I thought you were the boss?" He said: "No matter how high you climb, you're always someone's bitch"

Since Wed April 12, 1995 4:30 pm,

One of my stories if you want the long version.. :)

I drove into work at Dominos like the previous 6 1/2 years. Now anyone who has ever walked thru a bar at 12:45 looking for who ordered this pizza knows how stressful this can be. I worked 5:00 pm till 2-3 am in the city.

It is not so much the public (I learned in over 30,000 deliveries, that anyone, even Charlie Manson for example (if I was delivering to Spawn Ranch hehe) could be dealt with. People, almost always treat you the way you treat them for that first impression. Yes you have to kiss lots of ass but you walk out in one piece. :) But you get tired.. That is the hardest part of any job.. keeping the hours.

I used to come home so angry sometimes I would scream and yell at the walls. Yes I had a few people where things went wrong. Stress baby. (The "what went wrong" stories.. that's another thread :)

Anyhow I spent 30 mins taking very complicated orders. For some reason the owner was in and gave me some guff about a small mistake. (Even tho only someone of my knowledge at that point could take all these orders without making an address mistake or an ingredient mistake.

I took one run. I boiled over. I came back, through the hotbag down and said I'm out of here. No 2 week notice. :upsidedow So I burned that bridge. No past employer recommendation for me.

I floated around and gambled for a year, then came the internet.

Today.. as the one guy said, failure is not an option.

The great thing is, little did I know on 4/12/95 as I was driving home thinking wtf did I just do, ( I was well liked and a top employee at a pretty kushy job at that point) I could have just went to Network Solutions and got some great domains. It showed me there is always opportunity somewhere, you just don't know about it.

There is always ying and yang. When your luck swings one way it must swing another way. It is best to have middle of the road luck. But one time in your life you have to give "ying" a boot in the pants..

If I hadn't followed my gut and did something really dumb at the time I wouldn't be here. It was the turning point and best day of my life.

That was the ying. The yang was Network Solutions. (occurring simultaneously) My opportunity knocks once. By the time I figured it out in say 1998, the best was gone.

My real "opportunity knocks once" was of course the internet. Net Sol was just the rainbow I couldnt see on that cloudy day.

I've been running my paysite as a full time occupation over the last 5 years and making ALOT more money than I ever made at my previous jobs. :)

100% self employed, but most of my money is coming from a printing business I own these days. Too bad because both industries are in pretty bad shape... :)

What a great thread - good topic digitaldivas

Luckily I had my contemplative 'medicine' tonight :)

I've been full-time in adult since 1997.

Over 10 years self employed.

All I see in failure it's success so...

Started my first limited company when I was 20... now 33 and 5 companies later, 1 or 2 bumps in the road.. get up and dust yourself off and go again! started blue pixels in july 06, not had any outside help/second job for 13 years now... dont think i could ever go back! I have a home in Thailand and England and live the life of riley so I guess thats successful!

I haven't worked a "real job" since late 2001.

im an alcoholic and i cannot wake up morning, so i must be self employed. and yes, i have one warn food daily