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tropo
04-14-2014, 04:06 PM
You can be happy without being complacent, but you will never be happy if you focus on what other people are doing except as a source of inspiration - not to be a copy or exactly like them, but to be in awe at the possibilities.

If I had said that I think a "moderately successful model" under the conditions listed makes about $20 an hour, it may stroke your ego, but would you feel complacent? The first week I started, I was making $18 an hour, and I was ecstatic about it at the time, but the key is that I was not complacent. I could have continued to make $18 in ignorant bliss, thinking that I was totally rolling in it and keeping that as my hourly goal, but I would have been worse off for it. Not only in terms of money and job comfort, but in the boredom that comes with such static goals and expectations.

I find it hard to believe that after 8 years, you are just now realizing that there are girls who make more money than you. If I recall correctly, you're in Asia (?), and so maybe you hadn't spent a whole lot of time on sites like SM or MFC (?), but if you want to be at the top of your game not just amongst your immediate peers, but in the industry at large, you need to be resourceful. I can't say what information you had access to 3, 5, or 8 years ago, but you've made it to stripperweb, so except in cases where your residence is a barrier to signing up with or accessing a site, I can only assume that you have access to a plethora of resources.

Even if we didn't post numbers, all you need to do is spend a little bit of time on SM, watch models on the first few rows, and see what kind of money they're pulling in. You know about SM at this point, so if you haven't done that kind of "market research" it's due to a lack of resourcefulness. This all ties into "drive" and "thinking critically and adapting to various situations in an active, positive, and forward thinking manner." I know it may sound harsh but this is exactly the information that you need to be successful...not just the vague notion of "trying harder."

We all have our own obstacles to overcome, though. I don't know where I'd be without stripperweb; it's been a great resource for me. I've been a fly on the wall here for a while now and studied this forum like the camming bible it is before I even started. I read through the raise your rates threads, I've read through Fridays posts and sooo many others that have contributed towards me having high expectations for myself and from my customers. But ultimately, my success comes down to me and how I apply myself throughout this process. You know, internal locus of control.

There will always be people who are prettier than us, smarter than us, and making more money than us. Short answer? Deal with it. You are not alone. Focus on your own happiness and success, however you choose to define it.

^^ Thank you very much for the psychology lesson. I'm dealing with it quite OK thanks and won't be hanging up my cam due to depression anytime soon. I've supported my entire family for over 8 years and they depend on me, so the pressure to succeed is high and I don't have the luxury to quit and complacency is not in my dictionary. Living in a region where the USD goes a lot further and not having to worry about taxes, my overheads are not quite as high as they would be in your country. I've had a bit more stress to make money this year as my savings were depleted as I had to put a new roof on the family home which was wrecked by Typhoon Yolanda which hit the Philippines in November last year. It has been a very stressful 6 months.

I came to SW because my regular site, on which I had been making a fairly livable income (I thought) started going bad and I needed to find new options, which I have. Thank you SW!! I have been at least resourceful enough to join 8 sites in total and I stream to 4 and sometimes 5 simultaneously. A couple of sites (ImLive, MFC and Webcams) have refused my applications, so I'm out of luck there. This has all happened since January and I've even started working on a token site for the fist time. Believe me, I'm not sitting back in complacency... and what I'm doing is working, only it's not making me $8000 per month on 4 hour shifts. If I was making that much I wouldn't stop at 4 hours either. I'd do 10 - 12 hours and pull in a grand a shift - I'm a very hard worker and I'm not as dumb as you may think. We're not all superstars are we? We have to work with what we've got... oh yeah, and making and selling videos is not going to happen for me - I don't do that and never will. I don't want my family to ever find out what I'm up to... I want to protect my future if I can. I know a lot of the girls on the token sites are offering videos for tokens (and even on SM they're offering videos for Gold Shows)... if that is what I have to do to increase my income, then I'm out of luck. When I do flashes on a token site (Chaturbate) I never show my face and pussy or tits in the same frame and don't allow video recording. I know this can limit my income somewhat, but that's how it is.

I did have a look at MFC when it first started out (when I was still able to join), but decided doing shows in public wasn't my thing. For most of my years on cam I only worked on Asians sites and part of the reason was the 50% income share compared to what sites such as SM (30%) and others were offering me. I remember joining LJ back in 2006, but didn't work it because at that time they only offered 30 - 33% commission and I was getting 50% on my site. I still remember my very first shift on November 17, 2005 - I made just over $500 and was so excited. This kicked off my camming career. I never made as much in one week again as I made in my very first week.

... yes, I've always known there are girls making more than I make. I'm not that naive, but I was at the top of the Asians sites I worked on and didn't feel comfortable switching over to non-Asian sites. I was always a bit shy and intimidated to work on a white girl's site and felt more at home working with my own people. Perhaps you can understand that. It was only out of necessity that I've had to join some non-Asian sites and it felt quite intimidating at first. I really didn't think I'd do well at all.

JaneBurgess
04-14-2014, 05:26 PM
Oh ok. I don't recall seeing any of her other posts, so I thought she meant she was brand new.


According to previous posts she has been working there a full year already so she isn't that new.... You can build some serious regulars in that time frame.

JaneBurgess
04-14-2014, 05:28 PM
I could care less if anyone brags, but when they play stupid to brag I find that annoying. I think that's amazing if she is making eight grand a month, more power to her.



I'm sorry but I think the OP is being attacked because of her earnings. Pretty sad how when someone makes above avg money, it's considered "greedy" and "bragging" but if someone posted about how LITTLE she is making, everyone has her back. The girl asked a simple question and this thread turned into an off topic "Oh you're being rude for "bragging"...I think it's pretty sad how we can't be happy for someone in our community who is working hard and doing well. Pretty darn sad.

Fitandpretty
04-14-2014, 05:31 PM
Oh ok. I don't recall seeing any of her other posts, so I thought she meant she was brand new.

That is what I thought too because she said she was, but her past post suggest otherwise.

Naiad
04-14-2014, 05:37 PM
tropo, I don't have time to post much right now but I just want to say that what I posted wasn't an attack on how much you earn or what your goals are. I was responding to you saying that you felt like a failure upon hearing what others girls earn, and suggesting that your depressed feelings stemmed from a lack of complacency with your current earnings (due to comparing yourself to others earnings). That's why I was saying you can be happy without being complacent. It's clear from your previous posts that you don't feel very complacent, at least after hearing about others earnings, but you don't need to and shouldn't base your happiness on that.

When you say things like you wish you had never read this thread, what kinds of responses do you expect? I gave my advice, even if unwanted, but I also gave my sympathy. We all go through similar struggles. Would you prefer if I just said "well shucks, that's too bad...guess that's the way the world is. want some tea?" then we could go on feeling hopeless, and we might convince ourselves that all those negative thoughts are justified, but it's not very constructive. It's perfectly normal to feel defeated sometimes, though. The point is that we work through those feelings and keep pushing forward.

Look at what I actually said in the context it was written in. I'm only responding to what you've posted and that's all I have to go by. I don't think you're dumb, nor was I speaking to your ability to take care of your family or how much the money is worth in your country. And again, it's up to you what constitutes your own success.

I can see how it would be intimidating to interact with primarily American or western customers if you weren't used to it before, but an Asian woman who has access to the right resources and applies herself can do well on any mainstream or fetish site. From my observations, this is true of every race. Every physical attribute we have is a niche we can play up. But, that was already explained in another thread.

The attitude that you present to us is self-defeating, which is one of the top barriers to success in any given situation. Again, I'm not telling you how much money you should be making, or that you need to fit into my subjective idea of a "moderately successful camgirl." I was illustrating a point in response to the OP and gave plenty of disclaimers. What I am responding to is how you frame your attitude around these issues. I do wish you the best.

SarahTime
04-14-2014, 05:46 PM
I think it's funny there's 3 pages on this girl and her question.... if you look back at her other forum posts, she kinda just posts questions about MFC and disappears for a while until she has another question she wants people to answer... no thanks to anyone for their help/support/attention/etc. I think people are putting way to much effort and attention to someone saying they make $8k in a month. It's not like she's the only one around here making $8k in a month. There's lots of us making that or MORE, people just don't talk about it, for good reason obviously because then you suddenly become "greedy" or all kinds of other things. No one should be basing their worth as a cam girl on what other random girls come on here and say they make. Take it with a grain of salt, it doesn't have anything to do with you as long as you are happy with your earnings that is what matters. And if you're not, do something about it.

$8k a month, that's great. Especially for MFC and especially with that camscore, I don't see how your score isn't higher if you're making $8k a month on MFC.

ConnyLove
04-14-2014, 06:42 PM
Sarah is absolutely right - as usual ;-) . The girl is not a very active member on this forum and if she is being working for a whole year in the industry she must know what amount could be considered as a good income, and I am sure that she knows that top girls in MFC make biggg money.

Personally I don't give too much attention to this kind of posts because anyone can come here to say that she makes thousands a day and nobody really knows if it's reality of fiction, and it happens in every industry , people can say that they make $$$$ a month and unless you have access to their taxes you will never know the truth.

melanielive
04-14-2014, 07:16 PM
I m a bit confused here... are tropo and serena1 the same person?
Looks like serena1 started the thread but now tropo sounds like serena...lol
Sorry if I m wrong, been in front of my comp for longs hrs I could be misreading something....lol

TheBrownFox
04-14-2014, 07:57 PM
I m a bit confused here... are tropo and serena1 the same person?
Looks like serena1 started the thread but now tropo sounds like serena...lol
Sorry if I m wrong, been in front of my comp for longs hrs I could be misreading something....lol
I think tropo said that she'd been a member of this forum for a while under a different name, and now posts under the name tropo.

No, I don't think she and serena are the same person.

tropo
04-15-2014, 02:30 AM
^^I'm not Serena1 although at $8k per month I wish I was LOL

I can't work on MFC as they don't accept applicants living in Thailand. I've never posted under a different name.

tropo
04-15-2014, 02:34 AM
I m a bit confused here... are tropo and serena1 the same person?
Looks like serena1 started the thread but now tropo sounds like serena...lol
Sorry if I m wrong, been in front of my comp for longs hrs I could be misreading something....lol

That's a most curious conclusion....did you not read in at least 3 of my posts that I cannot work on MFC?

tropo
04-15-2014, 02:45 AM
tropo, I don't have time to post much right now but I just want to say that what I posted wasn't an attack on how much you earn or what your goals are. I was responding to you saying that you felt like a failure upon hearing what others girls earn, and suggesting that your depressed feelings stemmed from a lack of complacency with your current earnings (due to comparing yourself to others earnings). That's why I was saying you can be happy without being complacent. It's clear from your previous posts that you don't feel very complacent, at least after hearing about others earnings, but you don't need to and shouldn't base your happiness on that.

When you say things like you wish you had never read this thread, what kinds of responses do you expect? I gave my advice, even if unwanted, but I also gave my sympathy. We all go through similar struggles. Would you prefer if I just said "well shucks, that's too bad...guess that's the way the world is. want some tea?" then we could go on feeling hopeless, and we might convince ourselves that all those negative thoughts are justified, but it's not very constructive. It's perfectly normal to feel defeated sometimes, though. The point is that we work through those feelings and keep pushing forward.

Look at what I actually said in the context it was written in. I'm only responding to what you've posted and that's all I have to go by. I don't think you're dumb, nor was I speaking to your ability to take care of your family or how much the money is worth in your country. And again, it's up to you what constitutes your own success.

I can see how it would be intimidating to interact with primarily American or western customers if you weren't used to it before, but an Asian woman who has access to the right resources and applies herself can do well on any mainstream or fetish site. From my observations, this is true of every race. Every physical attribute we have is a niche we can play up. But, that was already explained in another thread.

The attitude that you present to us is self-defeating, which is one of the top barriers to success in any given situation. Again, I'm not telling you how much money you should be making, or that you need to fit into my subjective idea of a "moderately successful camgirl." I was illustrating a point in response to the OP and gave plenty of disclaimers. What I am responding to is how you frame your attitude around these issues. I do wish you the best.

Your post did invoke a desire to defend myself though. You're obviously a very accomplished writer and perhaps I didn't express myself very well in reply and exaggerated my feelings somewhat...

I'm not defeated and not sad, but it does have an affect when you hear how easy others make money doing more or less the same job. I'm sure I'm not the only one despite no one else coming out and saying it. Most prefer to condemn the OP as a liar and pretend it doesn't affect them at all.

It's not like I'm going to jump off a bridge now due to depression... although I am aware a number of ladies would prefer I didn't post lol.

Magical_Hoohah
04-15-2014, 10:15 AM
This thread has definitely been one of those "grab the popcorn and sit back for the show" types, lol. I don't really have a comment to add to the discussion of the OP. I think a lot of Naiad's comments were insightful, though.


It's pretty bold to throw out numbers like Naiad did, but I've reached pretty similar conclusions based the information available here on SW. If you're paying attention, you can find a lot of hints about what other ladies are earning (or in the case of the OP, outright statements of earnings). Combine that with hints or statements about their placement (or camscore or similar), and you can get a feel for earnings ranges at various "levels" of the industry.


However, the part I thought was really important was what she said about knowing what others earn, and allowing that to fuel your ambition. Seeing hints about what other ladies earn has been HUGELY important to my growth in camming. To those that have given me an inspirational peek at your earnings, I can't thank you enough. There have been plenty of times that I read something that made my jaw drop in the "camming rocks" thread or a "brag" thread. It always gives me a quick fit of intense jealousy, so I totally understand what Tropo was saying. When that passes, though, I'm a better cam girl because now I have a better idea of what's possible. Over time, I've noticed that just knowing what's possible has actually increased my earnings.

For example, when I first started, I had a vague idea that $30-60/hour was normal, $60-80/hour was what you might hit on a really great day, and $100/hour was reserved for the most successful cam girls on their very best days. Then I realized that some ladies were averaging $70/hour on a regular basis, which I hadn't realized was even possible for a "normal" cam girl. Once I knew that, I could aim higher. There are endless things you can tweak and adjust to be a higher quality performer, as well as a higher earning performer. Without changing my perspective of the possibilities, I would have stopped tweaking and improving when I hit $60/hour.

I recently realized that there are ladies who regularly earn $100/hour, and hit much higher on their great days. They may be successful ladies, but they aren't movie-star perfect, they don't shoot lucky charms out their ass, and they aren't doing anything that I can't do. As soon as I realized that, I mentally left the $60-90/hour playing field, and started playing on the $100/hour field. Right now, I may be the weakest player on the $100/hour playing field, but I'm better off than the girl that doesn't even know it exists.
Here's the fun part: I'm not a $100/hour girl right now, but once I started aiming towards it, my hourly earnings increased by $10-20/hour almost immediately.

LilyAnderson
04-15-2014, 10:22 AM
Maybe the OP went into hiding.

chloemay
04-15-2014, 12:17 PM
Maybe the OP went into hiding.


LOL well it is Tax-time in the US… (comment meant for entertainment purposes only)

caramelDip
04-15-2014, 12:23 PM
Its not GREEDY if she feels that 8k/month isnt enough. How is that amount unbelievable? It doesn't matter if its a troll or not because there are PLENTY of models making this plus more! This is why models dont want to post their big earnings now because others think they're BRAGGING and the insecure "models" wanna be a debbie downers. gtfo hating, insecure asses. Excuse my French, its in my blood.

LuxFox
04-15-2014, 03:14 PM
When I read this my heart sunk and I asked myself, "what am I doing wrong?" I haven't been able to dedicate much time to camming, but when I do I get so many compliments. Here I am, behind on bills, and dreaming of making that much money a month for only 4 hours of work per day.

I also got the impression that she's not being honest. It's not being "debbie downers", bragging is annoying and an ugly way to act.

loveshooks
04-15-2014, 03:53 PM
I suspect the OP bailed on this thread cuz she doesn't feel like defending herself. count me in with those who are really shocked that the question posed in this thread (and this earnings level) has been met with such suspicion and hostility. this is just my personal POV but aside from a few awesome responses I'm just ...huh? at the reactions I've read here

for real, I love sw but spending all day on the net sparring with strangers isn't the most productive use of one's time. If the OP's aim is to boost her already great income further I'd say she made a smart choice by bailing on this thread.

wishing everyone a wicked $$$$ day

TheBrownFox
04-15-2014, 04:48 PM
I've never posted under a different name.
That was my mistake. I could've sworn in The Streamate Thread you said you're "not new on SW," and that you used to post under a different name. But I reread your post just now, and it said you're "not new to camming, but new to the forum." Sorry for misunderstanding.

Marina Starr
04-15-2014, 04:57 PM
I'm sorry that you're behind on bills. I empathize greatly but what's in bolded is a bit unnecessary, don't you think?
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/tsmelania/tumblr_n2b3ll1gux1qd8zg3o3_250_zpsd776697f.gif (http://s158.photobucket.com/user/tsmelania/media/tumblr_n2b3ll1gux1qd8zg3o3_250_zpsd776697f.gif.htm l)


The OP has bailed. It's time to let the ship sink.

When I read this my heart sunk and I asked myself, "what am I doing wrong?" I haven't been able to dedicate much time to camming, but when I do I get so many compliments. Here I am, behind on bills, and dreaming of making that much money a month for only 4 hours of work per day.

I also got the impression that she's not being honest. It's not being "debbie downers", bragging is annoying and an ugly way to act.