Originally Posted by
Incantatious
Welcome back Tinsley! :)
Ahh I'm afraid I can't give you any input on the selling of physical stuff (underwear, etc), but I was in a similar position to you for about a year! I didn't even have a lock on my door, but my mum usually would knock before she came in, and I already had an excuse for what I was doing if she saw / asked / caught me. (On Skype with my boyfriend / making videos for my boyfriend). My plan was to cam during the night, as much as I could, when everyone else was asleep. This plan works out alright, but how loud you can be of course depends on how near their bedroom is to yours and how much or how little sound proofing your room has..
If most of your stuff is content work, I'd film any explicit clips during the night. If you are editing them during the day, perhaps in your bedroom, position your set-up so that if someone comes into your room, they can't instantly just see your screen. Also use headphones. If you have a desktop computer rather than a laptop, and you can't easily rearrange your room (to stop people seeing your screen when they come in), without your parents being suspicious (though you could always say that you "just felt like a change!" to explain away the change of your room layout to enhance your privacy), it might be tricky unless you have an alternative place to work.
I think it mostly just comes down to being very strategic with how and when you work, and having an excuse ready (that they would believe), if you, or anything you're doing gets found out. That of course includes your income.. If you suddenly start ballin' and start buying expensive things, they might want to know more about what it is that you do, and why you've come into all this money. For me, I relate it to things I either have done, or still already do (art, and working on forums). I'm a forum admin on a different site, but I have led them to believe that I make money through donations and referrals and such (and we do in fact have a donation button on our site!) XD
Best of luck!
P.S.
I couldn't leave without telling you this.. Unless you plan on telling your family what it is that you do.. if you are going to be lying to your family as relentlessly as I do.. you must, must prepare yourself for the backlashes of that.
If this is your job, and your job needs to be surrounded in deceit, you will be leading a double life.
If you are going into this gig entirely out of desperation, (I know you must have heard this before), you do have to do some soul-searching and really ask yourself if it's worth it, and as much as you can have plans in place to reduce various risks - you still will not only face the risk of being found out, (and any consequences of that), but the guilt that comes with knowing you are deceiving your family is also something you also have to bear...
You will want a care strategy in place for yourself, and possibly a network (we can help with that!) of people who do understand what you are going through, because doing all that I outlined above can feel intensely isolating. And I do mean like 'nuclear Winter' isolating.. Keeping this many secrets, and having a head full of fabrication for your own flesh and blood can truly take it's toll over time.
It might sound strange, but I find that women with traditional parents, who do this for short periods of time (as in, they try it out for a bit, getting some money from it), may be more likely to end up telling their family - breaking down, just opening up to them, feeling dirty, guilty and ashamed - and this in and of itself can cause a crisis even though she only did it for the smallest time!!
But women with traditional parents who are in this for the long haul, have to find ways of suppressing all of that, internalizing those feelings and turning them into something they can live with without it eroding them...
So please, do make sure that you formulate ways to keep your well being intact... We're all here for you. :)