is anyone else finding camming particulary quiet at moment? like this last month?
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is anyone else finding camming particulary quiet at moment? like this last month?
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Yes. I thought it was due to Valentine's Day week last week but it's this week too. Maybe it's the high gas prices.
This week has been my slowest ever.
I actually signed on for a few hours Tuesday and made 0.00 Which has never happened before.
I am still bitter about it!
YES! My husband and I hoped that with tax season in that custy's would have more to spare, but this hasn't been the case yet. We made a whopping $98 last night which is very low for us as a couple. And it has been ANY site we are on. We usually jump around if it gets slow at one place. We actually went to our "last resort" chaturbate the other night and made more in an hour there than we did on any other site this week! lol I'm not sure whats going on..but sitting around gets old. We could have been watching a movie =P
I have been doing fine made 93 dollars yesterday only working bout 5hrs. . .
Yeah, we work from 9:30pm-12am. (Have to put kids in bed and he has to work in the morning) But we usually make at least double that! This past month has been the slowest for us. It makes him not to even bother getting on. lol We usually don't work daytime hours, but all the kiddos will be gone this weekend so we are going to try and change up our customer base and get on tomorrow morning. Hopefully that will help out a little. My Husband is dying to get a gold dredge. (yes we go huntin for gold) lol So we've been saving up. =P
Oh, and not to mention I'm getting my boobies re-done this coming up Tues. Ive had them for 8 years, but they started to ripple on the sides. =( We have to make up that 5700 I just paid lol
If I get many more guys this week who go pvt, THEN try to get me to gag on a dildo til I literally vomit, or do 12 year old age roleplay, DP with my biggest toys, or anything else I don't do, my head is going to start spinning around 360 degrees and shooting poison at them, or I'll crawl out through their computer like that girl in The Ring and strangle them. lol!
yep.. very quiet lately.......
Camming is going from a decent opportunity with high earning potential.
To a decent opportunity with mediocre earning potential. The stress that you will experience on slower weeks will be immense, but if you have another stable opportunity it takes alot of pressure off of you and you can cam for the actual fun of it, while making money.
"Good money" now and "good money" from a couple years ago is changing, sites are changing to a less expensive group show format, so custies are now getting used to spending less overall. Why pay $3.99 per min (over $40 for a 10 min show) when you can pay $5 for a 10 min show? People are happy to make some money rather then none also, it is not a bad thing but it is what it is. Custies also usually have NO IDEA that we are making (35% in some cases), I have always pointed this out to them so they do not bitch about my "high rates" Some even feel bad and spend more, then. My tactics I do not suggest but they work for me lol.
The industry is headed in a direction where even top models are making just above MINIMUM WAGE, after all is said and done. If you make $1,000 a week after all is said and done, you are making JUST ABOVE minimum wage, at least where I am from, the min. wage is a bit higher. If you want to make an above average wage in camming, $100,000 and more you will have to do much more then just camming to get there unless you are a top pornstar with a loyal fanbase, and even then it could be a daunting task. I am not saying it is impossible, but just sharing my observations. You can do the math and the figures to find out how much the $1,000/wk cammer is making after expenses, taxes, etc. Many people get into camming for other reasons besides the wages, though, so the money is not the main factor for everyone. Usually it is the flexibility, working from home, etc, that make the job worth while even if you are making around minimum wage, at least you do not have to leave the house, drive, be on a strict schedule every day etc.
All the sites lie about possible earning potential. Some nights you may even make LESS then a minimum wage.
^^ I agree with you on this.... but just one question... where the hell do you live?! LOL!
Min. wage in Texas is $7.25/hr. (which is also the Federal min wage level) That means if you are working a 40 hour work week you are making $290 PER WEEK before taxes. For $1000/week to be just above min wage that would mean that where you live, min wage is like... $25/hr...?
Even where I grew up, Washington state, current min wage is $9.04/hr. After a 40 hour work week that is still only $360.60 before taxes. And it's expensive as hell to live there too, which is why the min wage is so much higher. This is the highest of any state, with the exception of San Fransisco which is $10.24/hr.
I mean really.... many of us make in a few hours.... ONE DAY.... what most people in this country make in an ENTIRE WEEK. If they are even lucky enough to get full time hours. After doing the math on this.... I am humbled. This is what I needed to quit complaining about it being slow and thank my lucky stars that I have the ability to cam.
The quiet has been making me really nervous. I am such a new cammer that I can't tell the difference between this being the 'normal' wax and wane of camming or it being something different.
If 1000$ a week is just over minimum wage the whole freaking country would move to wherever you are. Those figures are grossly misrepresenting the situation. Most of my family and my husband's family are minimum wage workers and they are lucky if they bring home 500$ every 2 weeks, that's 1000$ PER MONTH.
I just did a search online and found that the highest minimum wage in the states is (Washington) $9.04/hr. $9.04/hr times 25% taxes at 40 hrs/wk is $271/wk after taxes. If you make $1000/wk camming and pay 30% taxes, that's $600 take-home (more than twice as much as the min wage job), and I'm assuming you're not working more than 40 hrs/wk... but you might be.
I suppose you could be working 111 hrs/wk and making $9/hr. But I seriously doubt most people will put in 111 hrs/wk on cam. And even then you're still making more than minimum wage in every state but one. :)
Oops, Sarah, I think you edited your post while I was writing mine. And TX, you just posted while I was writing. We're all on the same page methinks. ;)
You deduct your expenses when you do your taxes, and there are very few expenses for camming that are essential, such as a minimally-functioning computer, camera, etc. We are paid more because of what we do. And, if at some point, you feel you're not making enough to make it worth your while, you do something else to make money.
Most of the time, if I'm not making AT LEAST $35/hr, I sign off. Sometimes it does get really slow and I just have to keep working no matter how much I'm making. But I am grateful for my ability to make as much money as I do in as few hours as I work. I am also grateful that I spend $0 commuting, I can take breaks whenever I want, I can take days off, go to appointments without approval, etc.
I also had to remind myself (today) to take a shit or get off the pot.
Camming has definitely been significantly slower since mid-January on all sites, and slow since like November on all European sites. The more they are talked about, the slower they get I've noticed. Luckily all my regulars have been great so I haven't noticed much of a difference. But I have noticed that Streamate's tech issues have been out of control so I've kinda been avoiding that site for the last couple months.
The highest minimum wage is where I am, San Francisco and it is $10.24. Renting a studio equivalent to the size of a box is about like $1500+/month. A room will set you back around $1000. But making $4k/month ($1k/week) after taxes is still about $700/week (more if you have added deductions). But its still better than working minimum wage here, where you would not even be able to afford your own studio (probably not even your own room) if you worked a minimum wage job. All the people my age here live off their parents or off hefty school loans that will have trouble paying back if they don't move away. I'm even going to move away and would have already if I wasn't raised in this area. But anyway, the perks of this job (deductions, flexibility, convenient, easy) make it much much more worth it than a minimum wage job. You can deduct at least half of your rent/bills/etc (in my case at least), you pay no gas or transportation fee (and you save that precious time), and you can schedule important things when needed or take time off when needed.
I haven't been camming long enough to say, but I've been doing well enough. I guess I'm glad I didn't start when it was any better so I don't know what I'm missing.
GLAMOUR! Seriously girl, you have to explain your signature to me. It's so distracting and it makes the forum really hard to read in a public place :(
Things had been getting markedly slower for me over the past month, but this week I started changing things up a bit and my hourly is almost back up to where it was a few months ago. Also, since I've started doing things a little bit differently I'm able to put in a couple of more hours per day on cam than I had been, so overall my daily earnings are better now. Of course a week isn't enough to tell if this is a permanent change or not, but I'm hopeful. I'm definitely happier. Maybe try switching things up a little bit? It can't hurt!
Again some factual correction. While there may be taxes withheld from minimum wage paychecks, in almost all cases 'refundable tax credits' result in the minimum wage earner receiving every dollar back ( and some even receive additional dollars ) when they file their annual tax return. Thus minimum wage workers might actually wind up paying 3% net payroll taxes thus $9.04 * .97 * 40 = $351 per week. On the other hand, $1000 a week in webcam earnings will be subject to a 15.3% Social Security tax plus a 15% income tax leaving perhaps $700.Quote:
$9.04/hr times 25% taxes at 40 hrs/wk is $271/wk after taxes
Indeed - from there the minimum wage worker is most likely eligible for 'free' medicaid benefits, while the camgirl will wind up paying out ~$100 per week for private health insurance.Quote:
If you make $1,000 a week after all is said and done, you are making JUST ABOVE minimum wage
And from there the minimum wage worker is most likely eligible for public / subsidized housing costing $50 a week for rent, while the camgirl will wind up paying out ~$200.
And from there the minimum wage worker is most likely eligible for subsidized utilities costing $25 per week, while the camgirl will wind up paying out ~$50
And from there the minimum wage worker is most likely eligible for SNAP which saves them $50 a week on grocery bills, while the camgirl will wind up paying out that ~$50
If you put all of the pieces together, from a standard of living standpoint, there isn't a big difference between a minimum wage worker and a camgirl earning $1000 a week pre-tax.
This speaks to several economic issues discussed in the Dollar Den.Quote:
My husband and I hoped that with tax season in that custy's would have more to spare, but this hasn't been the case yet
For starters, while US federal taxes remain unchanged from 2011 to 2012 ( so far at least ), a number of states enacted sizeable income tax, sales tax, and property tax increases last year as a result of their budget problems. As such, some federal tax refunds are being redirected to pay state tax bills !
Beyond that, other federal tax refunds are being redirected to pay down maxxed out credit cards, winter heating bills etc.
Also, there is an increasing income divide between the highest earning 1% and the remaining 99%. With a tiny handful of exceptions, camming earnings come from the 99%. This is different from exotic dancing, since it's possible to 'cash in' on the 1% at certain upscale clubs. The larger point is that while Ferrari and Louis Vuitton and Whole Foods are earning gangbuster profits these days, Toyota and JC Penneys and WalMart are 'hurting'.
There are lots of potential explanations for this. But the major one is that, despite official statistics, prices of 'necessities' are starting to rise significantly. Thus for webcam customers who had perhaps an extra $200 a week in 'discretionary income' to spend last year, this year their paycheck is unchanged while their costs of gasoline, food, state & local taxes, utilities, health insurance etc. have all increased. As such, the only way these 'customers' can handle the higher costs of 'necessities' is to cut back on 'discretionary' spending ... i.e paid webcams.
I love Glamour`s signiture, its sexy as hell, I might just have to borrow the concept for my 34B`s lol.
Also, yes been slow for me too, although still fairly new to a few sites. AW is pants at mo, usually make a good £120+ on a Saturday afternoon, 3 hours in I have £19 to bank. Cant do MFC til evening, hope its better. Think its retail therapy time........x
^^^ well, the UK implemented even bigger tax increases in 2012 ... from your 'national sales tax' ( VAT ) being increased from 17.5% to 20%, to your income / investment tax rates being increased significantly. And of course the UK is even more sensitive to oil / gasoline and food price increases than the USA is. The point of course is that a decrease in 'discretionary income' after necessities are paid for is a near global phenomenon thus affecting the vast majority of potential 'english speaking' paying webcam customers.
hahaha I know right? But atleast I know where it is every time and can quickly scroll down :P
Hell yeah, don't get me wrong - I love me some pretty boobies! That's exactly my problem, I end up staring at them instead of reading LOL