Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
So way back when I first turned 18 (Nov 2014), I thought I did all of the research in the world. Little did I know, I was about to be scammed out of my ass.
I'm trying to make camming my primary income. No vanilla BS. Just camming. I'm not even asking for the world. I'd cry happy tears and thank the gods I don't believe in for $500 a week. Well, I've been streaming on and off with the IM studio on streamate. When I finally realized my $40 could've been $75+, I said FUCK THIS. Haven't streamed since mid May of this year.
I've been reading up. Threads concerning these type of things are old. I'm not about to get in a whole PJ debacle, and I can't switch over to another studio like Boleyn Models anyway because IM, of course, has long since changed their contract to no streaming "directly or indirectly". Closed my account, tried "sneaking through the cracks" but that failed. So I'm fucked for 6mo-1yr, depending on how "nice" they feel.
Now I don't know what to do. MFC/Chaturbate sounds fun and all, but I don't think I could handle the ups/downs. They're the most discouraging sites to work on, and UMMMMMMM I was already pretty discouraged getting paid 20% and not being able to do anything about it.
BUT you know what else is discouraging? It feels like Streamate is the "private site monopoly". Streamate is many camgirls' primary and favorite site and it's the best thing ever etc, etc. I have NO IDEA what site to stick to in the meantime. LJ? LOL, pic requirements. AW? LOL, need passport. Any other site I've read about, INCLUDING the two I've mentioned? They ALL seem to have dicey reviews on here. And please ---I don't want to waste any more of my time. It feels like I have to jump through 1,000,000 different hoops just to be able to make, according to reviews, nothing.
I'd REALLY appreciate some site suggestions. PM me maybe? I don't know where I should invest my time at all. I don't know the true yay's or nay's; a lot of girls can't seem to remain objective. I've been thinking about this forever, and it's stressing the living hell out of me. It's like it's either MFC or Streamate and that's the end of everything. :O
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Some girls primary income are clips and indie shows. You can start making clips and selling them on Clips4Sale, ManyVid, ect. To do cam shows with your clip custies, you can sign up with indie skype sites like Cammodel Directory or LiveCamModelShows. Marketing yourself is a biggy since you won't have bigbox sites to do that for you.
How To Maximize Your Twitter Experience
Promoting Yourself/Advertising/Getting More Traffic 101
You don't need big box sites to make money from camming. So your career is not doomed unless you let it. And once your time is up on the waiting period from being released from IM, you can sign back up if you want to add more eggs to your basket.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Try the selling subreddits on reddit as well as content sites.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
I agree with going the indy route. I would as well, but I have to study up on more fetish/kink shows and during our Google Hangout, Katy and I were discussing how much of a different mentality it is to be an indy cam girl. The big box sites kind of kill your creativity and innovation because you end up thinking the majority of men out there are only into a certain type of show and the big box sites seem to encourage that kind of show. There are very successful indy cam girls here. anoncamgirl and loveshooks are the first that come to mind. Don't feel as if you are trapped!
This is the coolest thing ever:
https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...-and-promotion!
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Thank you ladies soooo so much!
I signed up for both indie sites, and I'm just now getting C4S ready 8)
Indie makes so much more sense for me. I second on the creative thing. As I'm signing up for sites, I'm noticing so many fields that box sites would predetermine. I'm like... oh shit, I'm on my own now. ::)
This is probably going to be a lot of work. Just kidding, it will be.
But here's my theory: I'd rather live on twitter/tumblr, edit photos and clips all day (something I genuinely enjoy doing) than put up with constant robbery ---in a literal sense from mainstream sites themselves, and emotionally from being "on", visible and audible in free chat for god knows how long smiling through all of the bullshit freeloaders. That's just something I get tired of dealing with in live, real time. I need the "introvert lag period" to just... exhale slowly. LOL.
At least going independent I can have a complete say in where my traffic comes from. I think that can be very powerful. And there's no freekin' free chat. Also, because YOU are bringing in YOUR traffic, it seems like your regulars on indie would be a little stickier. I like that.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Once I give it enough time, I'll come back to give you the scoop. Thanks again! (:
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
You should try NiteFlirt as well. When I started out I was on ImLive then also went on SM. Now I do strictly indy which I am on CMD, LCMS, and NF. I don't push myself enough, meaning I sign in and when I get a call I get on and when I don't its no biggy and I am usually only on from like 10-2 EST. However, I need to start getting on more....things I wanna do this summer and this fortunatley for us is just a secondary income and not dependent on it. I worked only Friday and Sat last week and made 500$ and that was literally just maybe 4 hours combined days. You can put up goody bags and people will purchase them, that's also where a lot of my money comes from. But once you get regulars they are good to you and keep up with you. There is also a thread on here for NF.
https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...ight=Niteflirt
Hope it helps. BTW I do get international calls, they charge more for those but it doesn't come out of my half...they charge the customer more for it.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
I feel like my camming career is doomed because I've become to lazy to cam. I love sex work, but I know camming is not the end all, for me anyway. Token sites are fun but they're mentally and emotionally exhausting for me. I used to hate private-based sites but I'm thinking of doing those more or at least keep them on the back burner. My main focus is residual income, and I want to do that through C4S, NF, Kinkbomb, etc. I'm looking into having my own site and going indy too. I know how to do the marketing and hustling, I just have to do the actual work to get there.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LadyCoco
I feel like my camming career is doomed because I've become to lazy to cam. I love sex work, but I know camming is not the end all, for me anyway. Token sites are fun but they're mentally and emotionally exhausting for me. I used to hate private-based sites but I'm thinking of doing those more or at least keep them on the back burner. My main focus is residual income, and I want to do that through C4S, NF, Kinkbomb, etc. I'm looking into having my own site and going indy too. I know how to do the marketing and hustling, I just have to do the actual work to get there.
This is a pattern we see with a lot of models, which is one of the reasons why we pushed out our generous affiliate program quickly. We noticed that also with .cammodels income that we're cutting regular (and large) checks to models that haven't actually cammed in months/years but are still seeing residuals both from referrals to us and customer referrals to the sites. For SM, using their sitebuilder program for a whitelabel is a slightly better percent, but its also more difficult to market. With .cammodels income, you're parlaying your efforts you built up while become a camming sensation and using that to turn your efforts into long-term residual income. Another one is C4S and other clip sites - I haven't cammed in months myself, and haven't posted new content in a long while, but somehow custies are still finding my old fetish clips and I get a check for some mad money once in a while :)
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Bumping this thread because it's been a huge motivator for me. I love camming, but I no longer can pursue that anymore. I'm only going to do indy camming and focus being a PSO.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
anonsauce
So way back when I first turned 18 (Nov 2014), I thought I did all of the research in the world. Little did I know, I was about to be scammed out of my ass.
I'm trying to make camming my primary income. No vanilla BS. Just camming. I'm not even asking for the world. I'd cry happy tears and thank the gods I don't believe in for $500 a week. Well, I've been streaming on and off with the IM studio on streamate. When I finally realized my $40 could've been $75+, I said FUCK THIS. Haven't streamed since mid May of this year.
I've been reading up. Threads concerning these type of things are old. I'm not about to get in a whole PJ debacle, and I can't switch over to another studio like Boleyn Models anyway because IM, of course, has long since changed their contract to no streaming "directly or indirectly". Closed my account, tried "sneaking through the cracks" but that failed. So I'm fucked for 6mo-1yr, depending on how "nice" they feel.
Now I don't know what to do. MFC/Chaturbate sounds fun and all, but I don't think I could handle the ups/downs. They're the most discouraging sites to work on, and UMMMMMMM I was already pretty discouraged getting paid 20% and not being able to do anything about it.
BUT you know what else is discouraging? It feels like Streamate is the "private site monopoly". Streamate is many camgirls' primary and favorite site and it's the best thing ever etc, etc. I have NO IDEA what site to stick to in the meantime. LJ? LOL, pic requirements. AW? LOL, need passport. Any other site I've read about, INCLUDING the two I've mentioned? They ALL seem to have dicey reviews on here. And please ---I don't want to waste any more of my time. It feels like I have to jump through 1,000,000 different hoops just to be able to make, according to reviews, nothing.
I'd REALLY appreciate some site suggestions. PM me maybe? I don't know where I should invest my time at all. I don't know the true yay's or nay's; a lot of girls can't seem to remain objective. I've been thinking about this forever, and it's stressing the living hell out of me. It's like it's either MFC or Streamate and that's the end of everything. :O
Did you ask the studio to let you out of the contract? I believe if you havent streamed for three months, SM let's you close that account and make a new one. Its been talked about here before but I dont remember the exact thread.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
I'm very sorry this is happening to you girl :( but i'm glad that you are now motivating yourself by going indie! have my best wishes! hugs
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
I'm having this same issue as well! SM is too mentally exhausting for me. I hate free chat because I can't afford to sit in front of my computer for 6-8 hours and walk away with $40 when I could be making clips or working on my other vanilla businesses (which are also making nothing). Everytime I learn about a new camsite I get really excited and run to SW to check reviews and it seems like everyone has horrible things to say about EVERY. DAMN. SITE. Not enough traffic, too many rules, ban hammer, DEAD DEAD DEAD. I'm so discouraged and sick to my stomach because I want this to work so bad but everytime I hear all these negative reviews about camsites I feel like I'm doomed for failure. I'm not a "mad hustler" I get called sweet, kitty and dollface a lot which I guess is my niche (it picked me) so I just don't know how to work from that angle. I cammed for the first time on Skyprivate this week and didn't get a single customer. I have my own modelcentro site and nobody has even tipped me yet. I feel like a failure at Indy and keep trying to find a website that will work for me but with high payouts and negative reviews I am really discouraged and don't even want to try :-( I'm going to try making more content and spreading it around like clips4sale but at this point I don't know if that will work out either.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dahlia_love
I'm having this same issue as well! SM is too mentally exhausting for me. I hate free chat because I can't afford to sit in front of my computer for 6-8 hours and walk away with $40 when I could be making clips or working on my other vanilla businesses (which are also making nothing). Everytime I learn about a new camsite I get really excited and run to SW to check reviews and it seems like everyone has horrible things to say about EVERY. DAMN. SITE. Not enough traffic, too many rules, ban hammer, DEAD DEAD DEAD. I'm so discouraged and sick to my stomach because I want this to work so bad but everytime I hear all these negative reviews about camsites I feel like I'm doomed for failure. I'm not a "mad hustler" I get called sweet, kitty and dollface a lot which I guess is my niche (it picked me) so I just don't know how to work from that angle. I cammed for the first time on Skyprivate this week and didn't get a single customer. I have my own modelcentro site and nobody has even tipped me yet. I feel like a failure at Indy and keep trying to find a website that will work for me but with high payouts and negative reviews I am really discouraged and don't even want to try :-( I'm going to try making more content and spreading it around like clips4sale but at this point I don't know if that will work out either.
Don't get too discouraged..sometimes you just have to try a bunch of things and see what works. This business can be tough. I've been doing it for 6 years, and I've had to hustle my butt off, literally...I do paid shoots..live fetish sessions..cam shows every once in a while..niteflirt calls..run a couple clips4sale stores..shoot customs..
Right now, shooting customs is the most lucrative thing for me.
I am also trying to get into mainstream acting.
But I find that a lot of just managing to pay your BILLS..never mind getting rich..is throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks.
I have a friend who runs her own site, and clients buy content directly from her site. That seems to be the smartest way. She's also really good at marketing herself. Runs a very unusual niche site that got a lot of mainstream press a few years ago. She also shoots porn. She makes 6 figures doing all of that. She's kind of my idol lol
Oh and I also go out on paid dates..seeking arrangement/whatsyourprice although those sites can be frustrating.
I'm actually working on a book about how you can quit your day job and just make money from this--my first book was a Kindle guide called "The Happy Damsel in Distress"--I put together a short guide for wanna be fetish models.
This would be sort of the sequel to that, with WAY more information about all the different ways I've explored to make money. :)
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Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Damnit! I got sucked in by the title of being doomed because of IM
I thought she meant instant messaging.
I miss AOL and Yahoo.:'(
Sorry to derail.
Carry on.
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Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Thanks, I'm doing pretty good on clips4sale. I just picked a ton of fetishes, made 1 or 2 vids of each fetish and "threw them at the wall to see what would stick." LOL. I've found a couple, totally unexpected, niches that I plan to capitalize on. I take one night a week off and use it to make clips then I set them up to post twice a day for the next week. I LOVE it. Now to find a good cam site lol...I'm on Skyprivate but customers are few and far between.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LadyCoco
Bumping this thread because it's been a huge motivator for me. I love camming, but I no longer can pursue that anymore. I'm only going to do indy camming and focus being a PSO.
I was camming for a while and one of my friends was like. When you are a PSO you don't have to put on make up you can work in whatever you are comfortable and when the phone rings you answer it. I was hooked. Now I run several characters and I have lots of goodie bags so I have not cammed in about a year unless it is my one foot guy who just wants to see my arches. But I get $3.99 per min and I don't have to talk.
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sarahlove
I was camming for a while and one of my friends was like. When you are a PSO you don't have to put on make up you can work in whatever you are comfortable and when the phone rings you answer it. I was hooked. Now I run several characters and I have lots of goodie bags so I have not cammed in about a year unless it is my one foot guy who just wants to see my arches. But I get $3.99 per min and I don't have to talk.
HI sarahlove, what do you mean by you don't have to talk? Also, I'm really interested in pso but I the couple places I applied too never got back to me and the thought of going indy is a little scary as I can barely get by doing indy camming. Interested in any info you have to offer, thanks :-)
Re: Feeling like my camming career is DOOMED because of IM.
[QUOTE=dahlia_love;2904848]HI sarahlove, what do you mean by you don't have to talk? Also, I'm really interested in pso but I the couple places I applied too never got back to me and the thought of going indy is a little scary as I can barely get by doing indy camming. Interested in any info you have to offer, thanks :-)[/
I mean that particular caller only wanted to see my feet and didn't want me to talk. Sure, I have tons of info if you want to PM me I can send you the link for my website I train girls. I will be hiring my own soon but I am just now setting up the site. We should chat :)