How did you get started?

So, I've never really asked this. I've read this on GFY a couple of times and after scrolling down after the first 5 posts, there was a lot of bashing hitting so I left it alone.

So, I'm wondering how everyone got started in the industry.

For me...
I worked on a live cam site for PrideIslandStuds.com (it's old). I was a live in model, lived my life on cam.

Then I went off to work for another small studio, that was a joke... Long drawn out story - wasn't a real studio.

Then I was living in Louisville, KY. I answered an ad for EON Films. Rocky moved me from Louisville, KY to San Diego, CA. I was on his live cam sites FratFoot.com and DormBoiz.com.

Then I went and worked for NakedFratHouse.com.

After that I worked for a bareback studio out of San Diego doing shipping in the mornings, marketing in the afternoons, did a bit of on film modeling for them, and in the evenings in my spare time I did some other misc. marketing for them.

I loved the job but unfortunately, that's when the economy started hitting and I amongst 6 others were laid off. Didn't make much since being I was one of the marketing guys, but oh well life goes on.

A couple months after that. I started directing for a studio. I did a couple films for them. Then they decided to shut down. I then started directing, paying the models, doing everything myself and then selling the footage to other companies.

I kinda got screwed over by one. They promised commision and I thought oh great! I'm gonna make some good cash. Wrong! Earned $10.00. Or so they said.

After that, I came here with a friend and that's how I got where I am today.

So how did you get started?

I started in adult when I picked up a contract as a computer consultant with an adult company and saw just how much adult companies were paying for hosting. That's when I started ChiliHost, and I was the first company to offer pricing less than $1/Gig (I offered it for 0.75). That was in 2000, shortly after I started my own paysite....the rest is history, or maybe more accurately, history is still in the making :)

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Originally Posted by HunkMoneyLuke

That's when I started ChiliHost, and I was the first company to offer pricing less than $1/Gig (I offered it for 0.75). That was in 2000, shortly after I started my own paysite....

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Gosh Luke, we have known each other a long time! I remember when HDK Bill was with Chili Host. He advised us to go over to Chili Host. That's when you and I first talked. Unfortunately, we didn't go - we had just started up a bit before then and couldn't afford it. God, that's been years. Congrats on your success with HunkMoney. :toast:

I've always had an interest in running my own business, and the Internet has fascinated me since I was first able to dial-up.
I began with BlokeToys, and then became involved with an adult on-line community.

Then I began blogging and found that I could make more money through writing blog posts and making affiliate sales than I could with BlokeToys (although it's still an ongoing concern)

Last year I had a major health scare, and at the age of 33 I found that I have a heart condition. I faced the concept of leaving my job of five years and becoming unemployed or having to find another employer able to take me on - unlikely with my current health condition.

So, I thought about it for a few weeks and realized that my experience of writing could serve me well.
I started GayContentWriter at the end of last year, providing unique blogging and written content to affiliates and sponsors. After only six months I am now earning a full-time income, with approximately fifteen lovely clients, and growing.

It's strange how things come full-circle. I began writing in my teens, and had abandoned it for many years as an option for my future career. And suddenly one bad experience brought me right back to it and has given me a real chance of a stable and profitable business for the future.

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Originally Posted by HunkMoneyLuke

I started in adult when I picked up a contract as a computer consultant with an adult company and saw just how much adult companies were paying for hosting. That's when I started ChiliHost, and I was the first company to offer pricing less than $1/Gig (I offered it for 0.75). That was in 2000, shortly after I started my own paysite....the rest is history, or maybe more accurately, history is still in the making :)

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what was your first site?

My first site was SpunkSearch and my first paysite was BoyMegaplex

Conran, is all well with your condition?

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Originally Posted by HunkMoneyLuke

Conran, is all well with your condition?

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Things seem okay at the moment. There are plenty of tests to go through to find out exactly what it is and it's being treated with basic Beta Blockers. All I really know is that there's a heart "irregularity", and it seems to be leading to sudden collapse due to stress.

I'm not deathly ill or anything like that (as far as I'm aware), I just have to be cautious about my blood pressure dropping off a cliff and me hitting the floor at a moments notice.

It's kind of self-perpetuating, the slightest hint of feeling dizzy or increased heart rate due to stress makes me panic about collapsing, which makes it worse, which results in sudden collapse and a seizure.

I'm learning to control it through distraction. Basically if I find myself worrying about it, or any of the early indicators start, I try to find something else to distract me, and it seems to be working with the medication.

Glad to be out of my stressful job and finally doing something I really enjoy. I really wasn't expecting it to be a full-time job. I just hoped I'd be able to cover rent. As it is now I could take on another three or four blogs a day and be earning more from home than I was in an office on 12 hour night shifts!

Thanks for asking :)

Did Not mean to ease drop Conran but I did.. :) have you thought about relaxation things such as Yoga Self hypnosis etc? Dont knock them till you try them. Could be really helpful with lots of things.

Now to the post.

I was working for a Fortune 500 Pharma company and my wife was with a Fortune 100 Computer company. We made great money and worked 9-5. One day while surfing we saw a guy in a chat room offering free porn in your email. KOOL.. so we check it out. Signed up and started getting spammed and looked deeper. Next thing we know we are making 1k a week collecting opt in emails.

Then the wife got an offer we had to refuse. Move to South America and head up the Dept there for 1/2 of what she was making, or quit. She quit and I quite mine about 5 months later.

Been in adult since.

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Originally Posted by PornGuy

Did Not mean to ease drop Conran but I did.. :) have you thought about relaxation things such as Yoga Self hypnosis etc? Dont knock them till you try them. Could be really helpful with lots of things.

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Oh I'm definitely open to all suggestions. I have been thinking about it actually. And I am definitely looking at alternative therapies.
I always automatically look at alternatives before medication. I have a Pagan background, so I'm considered a bit of a new-age hippy. :aniflow:

And that's a great way to find your path into the adult world! When I used to see the stories about people making so much money on the Internet I would just dismiss it all as fantasy. But it actually is true if you find a market or discover a secret or two.

As you might expect from a writer, I started through writing. I’d written this book and I wanted to sell it online – this was before Lulu.com and the rest. So I set up my own website called bookpuppy.com (which I gave to Luke when I didn’t have the time to look after it… long-ish story). This stared to grow into an outlet for erotic writing and soon others were coming on board, there was a small membership, and writers got free access in return for their contributions. This also then spawned some other fun sites that I did from home as a hobby… but this process showed me how adult sites worked: what was good to view, what wasn’t, how some ripped you off, how others were good value and so on…

And then one day Porn Inspector asked me to review for them and… well there you go. I still write my own books and sell them (non-gay) and I am now into writing screenplays (first will hopefully be filmed later his year) and I still write erotica for a few clients through GayStoryContent which I set up many years ago. But the main income now is review writing which I do for several clients. Mind you the economic do-dah has been biting and there’s not as much work as before but I’m hoping it will improve again.

To make a full time job/salary out of writing takes an awful lot of typing and I find that to do it well you've got to restrict the amount of creating you do – so three long reviews, four articles of 600 words and a short story is more than enough for anyone in a day. After that, and sometimes before reaching that target, you can find you’re just turning out the same old-same old. Hopefully I will never do that!

I'm still in the start-up process. So many things to do, so little time.