Money, Ideas, and A Treat

[Harley Spencer]

First, what I really want to talk about is money and ideas. The other day, I finished entering all of my receipts into Quicken for the year of 2013, and discovered that I made a whopping $10,283.64 for the entire year. That's it. $2,404.75 of that money went to things for my website, which include mailing out items I sell on abibids, paypal fees, abibids fees, and clothing, toys, and other things to use for shooting. After those expenses, plus medical bills, groceries, phone payments, donations to charities, and sales tax, I was left with $4,917.21 to spend on myself, for the entire year.

So I'd like to debunk the myth that models, particularly girls in the adult industry, make a ton of money. It's simply not true. Sure, some of the girls do make a lot of money, but most don't make nearly as much as people think they do.

Keep in mind, I'm not any government assistance whatsoever. I don't receive unemployment, I don't get food stamps, I don't have health insurance. Nothing.

Now, I could go asking for a pity party and beg for donations, but I don't want to be that guy (I mean... ok, if you want to give me money so I can live a better life, I certainly won't complain...). So I got to thinking, what can I do to make more money and be more successful? I could get a regular 9-5 job, but to me that's a last resort. I want to be able to dedicate my time to working on my website, studying, improving my living situation (for those of you who saw the pics of my messy apartment, you know what I mean), and working on writing my screenplay. If I get a 9-5, I can't do all that.

My first step, before I calculated how much money I made for 2013, was deciding to release not 1, but 2 sets per week on my website, in hopes of possibly driving more people to sign up with the increase in content.

There's only so much I can do. I am only one person, working with a team of two other people- the photographer and the webmaster. So we can't push out new content every single day like many other websites can, who have both large teams of people (multiple photographers, models, etc.) and lots of money.

Something I've been wanting to do for a long time now is completely redesign my website, and hire lots of girls to do girl/girl and solo shoots for my website. However, due to such a small team of people and making so little money, that is absolutely impossible to do. So I started brain storming. What can I do, what can I do? So today I looked into kickstarter, but they don't allow adult related projects. Then I discovered this new website called offbeatr.com, that works basically the exact same way kickstarter does, except for one thing: It's 100% dedicated to adult projects! Oh my god. That's perfect.

But the question is, would my project be successful? Would I be able to reach my goal in pledges? That's a tricky one. After browsing through all their projects, I noticed that the only ones that received enough money and succeeded in completing their projects were people who were starting adult video games, and people making cartoon/furry/animated books, comics, websites and other media. So it doesn't look too promising for me.

The project I would like to fund is what I said before, to completely redesign my website and hire a bunch of girls to shoot solo and girl/girl scenes with (mostly photos, some videos). I have a few other ideas for it as well, such as creating a store where the models and myself can sell used shoot items, like panties and toys, directly from the website. Maybe include a special section where members can pay models to shoot a specific idea, so in other words, shoot custom photo shoots and videos. And everything would be downloadable, so if you were to sign up, you could download absolutely everything your heart desires, and have it for your viewing pleasure even after your membership has expired (which I already do on my website, by the way).

There's another big problem: The maximum you're allowed to have donated is $30,000, and there would be a 30% fee that goes to offbeatr, leaving me with $21,000 to pay the girls, pay for locations to shoot in (hotels and rentals), pay for shoot items like toys and lingerie, and pay someone to redesign the website. That's not very much to work with, it's only double what I make right now. I'd want to be able to pay the girls at minimum between $200 and $500 per day. I wish it could be more, but I'm limited. If I did $500/day per girl, and got 30 girls, that'd leave me with $6,000 for everything else. Not enough, at all, but I'm sure I could make due and it's at least a start.

My question to you guys is, would you be interested in funding this project if I did this on offbeatr? Would it be worth it to you? Or is it a lost cause? Do you have any other ideas?

Last but not least, I want to announce that as of yesterday, I am now offering a special price of $29.99 for a 3 month membership to my website, which will run through February 15.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

My question to you guys is, would you be interested in funding this project if I did this on offbeatr? Would it be worth it to you? Or is it a lost cause? Do you have any other ideas?

Personally? I'm a fan of you specifically. So the whole "other girls" thing doesn't really appeal to me (honestly, I'm aware your website has a "Guest Models" section, but I've only been there once or twice to see if you were in any of the sets, and when I realized you weren't I didn't go back :dunno:... haven't downloaded any of the sets from there and don't plan to, which is no offense meant to the models there, I just know what I like). Even with you involved with girl/girl stuff... I'd rather see you solo. Maybe I'm weird, but I'd rather not have someone else in the way...

That said, as a fan I'd probably donate something simply as a show of support to you.

Last but not least, I want to announce that as of yesterday, I am now offering a special price of $29.99 for a 3 month membership to my website, which will run through February 15.

Cool, of course I think I still have about six months left on my subscription. Definitely plan on keeping up with it when that ends though.

 

[Harley Spencer]

Personally? I'm a fan of you specifically. So the whole "other girls" thing doesn't really appeal to me (honestly, I'm aware your website has a "Guest Models" section, but I've only been there once or twice to see if you were in any of the sets, and when I realized you weren't I didn't go back :dunno:... haven't downloaded any of the sets from there and don't plan to, which is no offense meant to the models there, I just know what I like). Even with you involved with girl/girl stuff... I'd rather see you solo. Maybe I'm weird, but I'd rather not have someone else in the way...

That said, as a fan I'd probably donate something simply as a show of support to you.

Cool, of course I think I still have about six months left on my subscription. Definitely plan on keeping up with it when that ends though.

I would still continue to do what I'm already doing, with me being the main focus of the website, having weekly video and photo releases of me, just with the addition of other girls. So you'd get everything there already is, plus more.

I'd also like to get a whole new domain name as well. Something like "BeyondHarley" or "HarleysGirls", or something like that.

 

[luis1972]

Why don't look for partners, some fans could put money in change of free membership

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

I would still continue to do what I'm already doing, with me being the main focus of the website, having weekly video and photo releases of me, just with the addition of other girls. So you'd get everything there already is, plus more.

Well, all I'm saying is that for me the appeal is you. So as long as the "plus more" is more you... then I'm totally on board.

 

[Harley Spencer]

Why don't look for partners, some fans could put money in change of free membership

That is an option. But the problem is, partners (affiliates, models, photographers, places to advertise, etc) all want money. They either want a flat fee or they want a cut of the month to month earnings. I don't make enough money to pay people to partner up with me. It's kind of out of the question, unfortunately, not unless someone wants to partner up with me for free. Out of the $10,000 that I made last year, probably less than $1,000 was from my website. The rest came from selling items on abibids, doing custom videos, and doing shoots outside of my website with other photographers.

I typically don't make a single dollar per month off my website. Nothing. People don't sign up. I have very few members. I'd be lucky if I had 20 members, but I doubt it's even that many. We used to keep a document that listed all the members emails and duration of their memberships, and I think the highest we ever had at one time was like... 14. It's pathetic and extremely discouraging.

As for letting people give me money in exchange for a free membership, I could do that, but it wouldn't make much sense. Why wouldn't they just buy a membership? Either way, they're paying something. But the biggest issue with accepting money in exchange for a membership is that the sales are split between 3 people- I get 50%, and the photographer and webmaster each get 25%. So it would be really unfair to them for me to do that.

Well, all I'm saying is that for me the appeal is you. So as long as the "plus more" is more you... then I'm totally on board.

The plus more is other models. I want my website to be huge. But I'm losing hope that it will ever be anything more than it already is. And I'm not getting any younger, I can't do this forever. The idea of doing a complete makeover of my site and adding more features and models is to increase profit, get more sales, be more successful, overall to make more money. I really, sincerely enjoy shooting for my site, but it's completely thankless. I don't get much out of it. In fact, I get absolutely nothing out of it when you consider how much money I put into it, and how little I get out of it. In the end, I lose money by having my website going.

 

[squallumz]

honestly, you wont know until you try.

things like kickstarter are getting mainstream, i never heard of offbeatr before, but im not surprised.

i think success on those sites are all about the rewards. personally, i like tangibles. autographs, panties, shit like that. im a bit of a collector of treasures.


custom sets are probably a big draw, as are videos. anything to make the donor feel like he's getting attention and "better than the others."

give to receive, be smart, work with people like freeones, make friends (friends can really help), attend conventions, work your ass off and it will payoff.

 

[bobjustbob]

Any product can be sold. You've got to go out there and sell it. Do you dance? Can you sell at these dance clubs? That's where the customers are. Have you explored adult publications where you can drop an ad? Some Local tabloids carry adult entertainment venue advertising.

 

[Harley Spencer]

honestly, you wont know until you try.

things like kickstarter are getting mainstream, i never heard of offbeatr before, but im not surprised.

i think success on those sites are all about the rewards. personally, i like tangibles. autographs, panties, shit like that. im a bit of a collector of treasures.


custom sets are probably a big draw, as are videos. anything to make the donor feel like he's getting attention and "better than the others."

give to receive, be smart, work with people like freeones, make friends (friends can really help), attend conventions, work your ass off and it will payoff.

Custom sets and custom videos would be ok, but there's no way I could do that many. Say I reached $30,000, and there were how many people who donated? At least 1000. Shoot 1000 custom photo sets and videos? No way. That'd take years to do.

But I could do different rewards for different price points. They let you set them for, say, if you donate $10, you get such and such prize. If you donate $50, you get such and such prize. If you donate $100, you get such and such prize. And so on. So I could do customs for a certain price, and do different prizes for other prices, like free memberships, autographs, panties, etc.

Any product can be sold. You've got to go out there and sell it. Do you dance? Can you sell at these dance clubs? That's where the customers are. Have you explored adult publications where you can drop an ad? Some Local tabloids carry adult entertainment venue advertising.

No, I don't dance. Not only have I considered that before, years ago (as soon as I turned 18, to be exact), but my webmaster has tried to persuade me to strip multiple times. Even if I could dance, I wouldn't be interested. Out of my comfort zone.

As for dropping ads, that's a tough one. It usually costs money to put your ad in someone's magazine or on someone's website, and as mentioned in my OP, unfortunately I don't have that kind of money laying around.

 

[naughtylaura]

Hey Harley, i'm really shocked how little your website is earning, I would highly suggest speaking to your webmaster and seeing if they can work a little more to promote your website. With regards to affiliates, you say that you cant afford to be paying out for them to promote you (and yeah you're right, they do want usually 50% of the sales they send) however, surely 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing? For a model so active with her website/ modelling/ fans, you really should have higher figures x

 

[Mr_Stiffy]

My question to you guys is, would you be interested in funding this project if I did this on offbeatr? Would it be worth it to you? Or is it a lost cause? Do you have any other ideas?

I can't say I have any ideas but I would definitely donate. I like you, I like your work, and I'd be more than happy for my money to go into the pot to help you, whatever I could spare.

i think success on those sites are all about the rewards. personally, i like tangibles. autographs, panties, shit like that. im a bit of a collector of treasures.

This is me as well, although certainly wouldn't be a prerequisite of my donation. I'd just want to help out.

By the by, my "treasures" collection thus far for models/pornstars only consists of 3 plain autographs, 1 signed photo, 2 thongs and a Christmas card. It's a start.

 

[Harley Spencer]

Hey Harley, i'm really shocked how little your website is earning, I would highly suggest speaking to your webmaster and seeing if they can work a little more to promote your website. With regards to affiliates, you say that you cant afford to be paying out for them to promote you (and yeah you're right, they do want usually 50% of the sales they send) however, surely 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing? For a model so active with her website/ modelling/ fans, you really should have higher figures x

Yeah, you're absolutely right, I definitely need to talk to my webmaster some more about advertising. It's been a while since we've talked about it.

I can't say I have any ideas but I would definitely donate. I like you, I like your work, and I'd be more than happy for my money to go into the pot to help you, whatever I could spare.

This is me as well, although certainly wouldn't be a prerequisite of my donation. I'd just want to help out.

By the by, my "treasures" collection thus far for models/pornstars only consists of 3 plain autographs, 1 signed photo, 2 thongs and a Christmas card. It's a start.

Aww, that's really sweet of you.

Ok, so far I've got 2 people on board who would willing to help out with a donation for the project. It's a start!

Mainly I'm just looking to see if anyone else has any ideas for other features I could add to my site, if this project on offbeatr were to be successful, so that I could have more to offer for people to sign up. I've done some browsing around of other adult sites, and it looks like they mostly all offer the same basic stuff- tons of videos and photos, and some offer stuff like model interviews, behind the scenes content, free incentives for signing up (I saw one site was giving out free Rokus!), some have stores, and many do webcam. Pretty much all of those things are possible for me to do, save for the free Roku. The only thing I could really offer for free with a signup would be maybe a custom photo set or video, or a pair of worn underwear or something. Oh, and webcam. Not comfortable with doing that either.

What I'm trying to think of, and generate ideas from you guys, is new ideas and features that might interest you. Something to make my website really stand out from the rest. Because with my site, with the idea of redesigning it and implementing lots of other girls, you'd have that and then this next website, say Brazzers, would have thousands of girls, with not just girl/girl but boy/girl as well, plus extras, so which are you going to choose? Brazzers, of course. The goal is to make myself stand out from the competition. A tough feat with being a 3 man team.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

Ok, so far I've got 2 people on board who would willing to help out with a donation for the project. It's a start!

Hopefully you know that you've pretty much got my support in anything you do.

Mainly I'm just looking to see if anyone else has any ideas for other features I could add to my site, if this project on offbeatr were to be successful, so that I could have more to offer for people to sign up. I've done some browsing around of other adult sites, and it looks like they mostly all offer the same basic stuff- tons of videos and photos, and some offer stuff like model interviews, behind the scenes content, free incentives for signing up (I saw one site was giving out free Rokus!), some have stores, and many do webcam. Pretty much all of those things are possible for me to do, save for the free Roku. The only thing I could really offer for free with a signup would be maybe a custom photo set or video, or a pair of worn underwear or something. Oh, and webcam. Not comfortable with doing that either.

Hmm. I'll think about this.

I can say that, since I find you a rather interesting person that the whole interview thing has an appeal. And I'm not sure what you mean by stories, but are we talking about, like, erotic fiction written by Harley Spencer herself? Because, as I've mentioned before, I would like to read some of your writing, erotic of not... though I'm not sure how many other people that would necessarily apply to.

 

[Harley Spencer]

Hopefully you know that you've pretty much got my support in anything you do.

Hmm. I'll think about this.

I can say that, since I find you a rather interesting person that the whole interview thing has an appeal. And I'm not sure what you mean by stories, but are we talking about, like, erotic fiction written by Harley Spencer herself? Because, as I've mentioned before, I would like to read some of your writing, erotic of not... though I'm not sure how many other people that would necessarily apply to.

No no, not stories. Stores. Like selling toys, apparel and other things.

The interview idea is definitely doable. I could include interviews of each model, including myself.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

No no, not stories. Stores. Like selling toys, apparel and other things.

Oh. Yeah. I see that now. Not sure whether that was wishful thinking on my part, or whether it was because I just got inside and I'm still a little snowblind.

That'd be convenient for you I'd imagine, having everything in one spot and not having to deal with various fees from abibids and whatnot.

I was kinda hoping for stories though. You more or less fantasizing in narrative format? Sounds good to me. And I guess there might be some appeal there for other people. I mean, they do sell those whole "Penthouse Forums" books and stuff like that. And you do like to write, and since you're planning on doing a bunch of themed shoots based on a series of erotic novels it's not like it's entirely outside of your area of interest. So... I dunno, maybe that would appeal to other people, it would to me (but then, yeah, I'm a little weird :dunno.

The interview idea is definitely doable. I could include interviews of each model, including myself.

That could be cool.

 

[Harley Spencer]

Writing short erotic stories isn't a bad idea. It'd take some time to put together and write the stories, but yeah, it's a good idea. I've considered it before, but hadn't put too much thought into it and am constantly getting distracted with other things. Maybe if I can successfully get the site redesigned and implement all these new features and girls, I can incorporate a section for stories.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

Writing short erotic stories isn't a bad idea. It'd take some time to put together and write the stories, but yeah, it's a good idea. I've considered it before, but hadn't put too much thought into it and am constantly getting distracted with other things. Maybe if I can successfully get the site redesigned and implement all these new features and girls, I can incorporate a section for stories.

Well, I'd like that.

 

[vanlee1]

Writing short erotic stories isn't a bad idea. It'd take some time to put together and write the stories, but yeah, it's a good idea. I've considered it before, but hadn't put too much thought into it and am constantly getting distracted with other things. Maybe if I can successfully get the site redesigned and implement all these new features and girls, I can incorporate a section for stories.

Well, I'd like that.

I would like this too and am looking forward to your "Sleeping Beauty" themed shoots.

 

[Rey C.]

I don't really know anything about the adult industry (though in general terms, a business is a business), but as Laura said, if you could do affiliate deals (even if they took 50%), you're still incrementally better off, right? From what I understand, Apple takes something like 30% of the in-app sales that come from its App Store. But because the App Store drives so much volume, the app developers still make money hand over fist.

Just a question here: you have a primary site - but in addition to that, have you considered joining a network like Dreamnet or ************** (just throwing out names here)??? With your personality and looks, I'm really surprised that your site doesn't have more members. Maybe a network (with a forum and/or a feature page) would help get your "face" out there better. I don't know how a funding campaign would work in this case. If it'll help you grow your business, then that may be a good strategy. But maybe in addition to more/different content, it's increased and more effective marketing that you really need? :dunno:

P.S. Have you ever tried "webcamming" on a network like MyFreeCams or whatever? You may have already addressed that and I missed it.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

P.S. Have you ever tried "webcamming" on a network like MyFreeCams or whatever? You may have already addressed that and I missed it.

Yeah, already addressed. Harley is really shy, so it's not going to happen. She wouldn't be comfortable doing it.