How Did you Start in Porn? Tell us your tale...

[MaxCandy]

For me it was a hobby taking promo photos for Strippers in Vancouver. They would only show up half the time. Then i got the idea to pay them, get a release and give them there promo. They all started showing up.

It was 1995, - So, i put up a few naughty pix and people started wiring money from all of the world to buy original content. So easy.

Now, i actually have to listen very carefully to my clients, create exactly what they need, on budget, on time and do it with style.

There is still good money in porn, its just a much matured biz.

You actually need to plan and execute perfectly to make money.

Its a whole other world.

[Emil]

I read in some magazine about the Free6.com guy making a lot of money.
I waited until I was 18 and launched my first site with a homemade TGP-script made in ASP. This was about 10 years ago.

[Barry-xlovecam]

I started broadcasting porn videos and webcams in 1999.

We used a free service -- mplayer.com's adult chatrooms.

I said to myself I could get people to pay for this stuff and opened my first adult webcam chat program in 2001.

[jerryb]

I started with a local swingers magazine and a homepage for dating on AOL years ago.

Crazy Ernie (my stand up comedian side) sez: "I started by playing stink-finger with my girlfriend in the movies in the 40's."

[DamianJ]

I answered an ad for an Online Marketing Manager for Playboy UK.

[Crystal Scripts]

My friends took me to the business 7 years ago, as a content manager.
OMG, how much I learned during those 7 years

[Paul Markham]

In 1977 I had a big debt to pay off. a friend suggested I shoot nude pictures of my then wife and sell them mail order. Did the pics, put in an ad, opened a PO Box and in weeks was making 100s of UK pounds. Found more girls, put in more ads and it snowballed.

It was so fucking easy then.

Now, i actually have to listen very carefully to my clients, create exactly what they need, on budget, on time and do it with style.

There is still good money in porn, its just a much matured biz.

You actually need to plan and execute perfectly to make money.

Its a whole other world.

Max that was the world I lived in from 1988 onwards. Magazines or mail oder customers always have to be listened to. Otherwise they buy from someone who will.

[cherrylula]

I was 21 and needed a part time job to supplement my design business, so I answered an ad looking for chat people behind the scenes at a live sex studio in Chatsworth. There was an intercom system in the rooms, and we operated the chat and cameras and kept the feeds up, etc. It was so much fun.

I remember on break it was the first time I had conversations with people just standing around naked. Guys/girls. But so casually. LOL... It was nothing but fun and made some exciting friends (haha).

[CaptainHowdy]

I like ChokerTraffic's "I ain't in porn" approach ...

[Lucy - CSC]

I am a make up artist. Was doing catalogue stuff but that work was not regular. An amateur studio in the UK wanted someone to make up girls and guys for a few hours each day. From there I met performers daily who recommended me to other companies.

[Paul&John]

Net.Pond and Beta-Brigade

[rogueteens]

I clicked on a link that said "Webmasters $$$" and believed the crap about getting rich! :D

[x-rate]

Around 1995, my uncle had a ISP in montreal and I was working there and a guy came to have his own porn site, he gave the first and middle payment site was mostly done and then he just disapear....! So after couple of week wait I decided to take over the project and bingo! we started producing live show on our own cam site then discovered Ifriend back in days ($$$$) so basicly I run a studio since that.

[Nydahl]

don't remmember but I am sure it was a bad day and very bad idea

[michel]

Next month it will be 10 years ago thehun asked me to be his reviewer... that's all

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Nydahl

don't remmember but I am sure it was a bad day and very bad idea

Best move I ever made, you got in too late.

[shimmy2]

ran out of baking soda. had to re-up

[MaDalton]

i was 7 and in first grade - some other kid brought a magazine he stole from his brother. it all went down from there ;)

[BIGTYMER]

Saw a link at the bottom of a porn site saying make $$$. The rest is history!

[spazlabz]

I heard the internet was for porn back in 96 and bought a computer and started surfing with my blazing fast 14.4 modem, upgraded to a 56k and discovered if I wanted to see anything good I need to join. I did not have a credit card so got into cracking. met a guy who owned some sites, I was an affiliate of his for awhile, partnered up with him on apollos temple and grew from there

[Sophie Delancey]

Craigslist, honestly. I had my last exam in university and I started job hunting the next day. I was looking for anything in PR and marketing, and there just happened to the perfect job in porn. I've been a progressive porn enthusiast throughout my life, so this just fit perfectly!

[Klen]

I was looking for free hosting and found revsharehosting and that is how i learned about webmaster side.

[MaxCandy]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

i was 7 and in first grade - some other kid brought a magazine he stole from his brother. it all went down from there ;)

LOL was about the same age when i saw my first naughty images too

[SpicyM]

I remember we used to play with our dicks in the kindergarten already

[camperjohn64]

Got hired by my friends at virtuagirl.com

[DoubleD]

wow....well the short and dirty version...started running hotline then free/AVS sites while at University in Windsor, roomates and I started small program..back in 98', with niche membership sites, growth was quick, that all evolved, and is still around in a couple of forms...I'm sure they could add more

[sperbonzo]

In 1993 I got a job with an audiotext company in LA, (900 and 976 #s). Then they leased a content delivery system called "Virtual Dreams". People were mailing in checks and money orders, (and even cash) to view the content. We got a merchant account through First Bank of Beverly Hills, (who had no idea what this "internet" thing was), and they gave us a point-of-sale credit card machine. People would use the BBS on our site to send us their CC info, we would input it into the machine, get an approval, and then BBS back a password for them.

I got out of the business in 1996 and ran some call centers for 3 years.

Then moved to Miami in 1999, and became the face of one of the big 3rd party processors at the time. When they went down in 2003 I lost a ton of money. Rebuilt my own merchant account brokerage, then partnered in several alternative payment solutions, and still doing credit card and alternative billing to this day.

Of course probably 60% of my business is now outside of adult, and I also have a bank consulting firm that helps banks get into e-commerce acquiring, but the adult biz is still super fun!



.

[SmutHammer]

I met a girl in a strip club, started dating her, found out she was a pornstar....lol. she enjoyed the lifestyle, so we hit the road as she shot solo vids and pics for people, at alot of shoots I would just getted pulled into the scenes, we did this for a long time, at a convention in Florida "fetish con" we talked to Neil at the clips4sale booth and decided to make our own c4s site. and everything progressed from there.

[Rochard]

In 1995 my friend and I - with no experience what so ever - build me my first computer. A year later or so, I ventured on online and found a picture of two college cheerleaders I liked and used as wallpaper. I started searching for more similar pictures of these cheerleaders, and came across a website by Steve Lightspeed. I emailed him, and much to my surprise he emailed right back. (Keep in mind this was back when web pages were few and far between and even email was new.) We emailed back and forth, I told him I wished I could make webpages, and he told me what I needed. Twenty-four hours later I had a webpage on my computer he could see, and a little bit after that I opened up a daily bikini website on Geocities.

Eventually Steve let me use his hosting for a few of my websites, and we worked on a few websites together. Eventually he shot and opened up Lightspeed University, and I opened up a solo girl site. In 1999 - when I graduated college - he hired me full time to work for his new porn company.

The rest is history.

[MaxCandy]

This is great reading, thanks for sharing

[MaxCandy]

Allot of people started in the mid 90s

[baddog]

AOL spam telling me I could make millions selling porn.

[harvey]

I was on the corporate side, working on high positions in big companies. Really big money, but I was working Monday to Sunday 14 to 20 hours (really!), smoking 2 to 3 packs of cigs, drinking liters of coffee, eating pills... well, you get the picture. I was pretty excited with the "new big thing" that was Internet so after some health complications I resigned from work and started an Internet company in the Real Estate niche. I failed miserably because Internet wasn't really developed in my country, but I noticed the surging wave of adult Internet. Took a look and started with a free hosted page at Nettaxi and to my surprise, I started getting some money with close to 0 effort. The rest is history...

[nation-x]

I was a lonely teen girl... I thought I could make it big in Hollywood... I met this guy and he got me high and he and his buddies gangbanged me... now I am a sex slave in Romania.

[flpartyduo2]

Started in 1998 by putting up a basic site to document our real life swinging lifestyle - the rest is history!

[DeanCapture]

I moved to LA in 99' to pursue Arts & Entertainment Photography. I wanted to shoot celebs. Never panned out....

In 2000, I answered an online ad for a photo retoucher - it was David Lace. I went to work for him and after a few months there I started doing some shooting. A few months later I was managing his studio, training other retouchers and shooting full time. Did that for a year then went to work for J. Stephen Hicks, who was a big-time Penthouse shooter at the time (2001), but also shot for other mags. He brought me on as a retoucher, color corrector & assistant. I spent a year there and then left because I wanted to get back behind the camera. I felt at that time that I had enough knowledge & experience to get something going. That's basically how I got started.

I never imagined myself shooting hot nudie girls but it's been an amazing experience. My time working for Hicks was one of the highlights of my life. Becoming friends with Arny Freytag (Playboy Photographer) as well as Ken Marcus, both idols of mine, has been a dream come true.

Funny how life turns out sometimes....

[bns666]

i bumped onto yessignals.com and thought if that could make money, i could too.

[Internet Guy]

Somebody on Standard Internet (12clicks?) forums shared traffic stats from an adult site they built, from that moment I begun my quest to make it in adult.. That was 2001-2 or so

[Internet Guy]

Thanks 12clicks, if that was you behind SI? I've had a great run, blind-links to clickheretofind(?) and co were a big part of my income in the early days.

It's hilarious I find myself here 10 years later, disagreeing with your posts on the WallSt protesters

[Nicky]

I was sufing around some porn site and ended up on a sexshare(the old freehost) forum and started reading about the money some were making on doing galleries and freesites. I had done some simpler websites in school and at home (I was 16 at the time) So I read up on that forum(respect to Wolfshade) and did some galleries, submitted to thehun and a few more places. A week after I had made over $300 in sales so I saw the potential and started learning more. Ended up at old n-pond and their different boards. Learned a lot from Voltar, BillPMB, Anthony, Nickatilynx and a few more. This was early 1999.

[Bill8]

In late 97 I was friends with a strip club owner - some guy came in and tried to talk him into getting the girls to do camming - well that guy flaked out and he asked me if i could do it. I owned small business computer services companies back then, so I said sure I'll try.

I invested money into it - computers, cameras, websites - but as anyone who has worked with strippers knows, they make terrible camgirls - and teh strip club owner kept getting distracted, tried to start a printmag.website, and basically flaked - so the business venture collapsed. Did make my first porn checks in 98 tho.

But, I had learned about the affiliate model - so late 98 I started making freesites. Then posting galleries in 99. And doing search engine networks. Everybody who was there back then knows how easy the money was - 10k months with so little effort it was ridiculous. $180k years like nuthin - money for free, a few hours work a day.

It was the best home based business ever invented. Being an independent affiliate was the best of all possible worlds.

I'm still a vip at that strip club. Strippers are the world's most boring women, lol.

[jimmycooper]

Great thread.

I think my decision was based on the convergence of two entirely unrelated reasons, a professional and a personal.

First the professional. I moved to NYC in 1999 to work in advertising, specifically media planning. My first job was at one of the oldest most prestigious agencies, but the salary was only $24K. Even though I was able to partially subsidize my existence with a savings account, it was tough to get by so I left within a year for a more senior position with a $36K salary and hiring bonus at a smaller agency focused on tech/financial clients. That's also right around when the dot com bubble burst so they ended up laying off many employees including myself within 6 months. I quickly found a freelancing spot at another big, well known agency, but the job focused solely on print media. They kept offering me a permanent position and I put them off for as long as possible, but it was difficult to find a job doing exactly what I wanted b/c I was already typecast as a 'job hopper'. Combine that with the fact that I liked the people, plenty of room for growth, and the ability to walk to work from my West Village apt, I ultimately caved in, took the job, and was there for the better part of 9-10 years even though I never really liked what I was doing. During the last few years, I would even only work during 'contract season'. It was actually kind of sweet b/c I did real estate, traveled, and did other random shit during the six or so months per year that I had off before coming in as like a hired gun to negotiate contracts and manage three or so dozen employees, which is something that I actually did enjoy. Well, it didn't last because during my last contract season, I came up with the strategy that we should no longer negotiate contracts. That we should just tell the newspapers what our rates would be, that we would not sign contracts, and that if they didn't approve of our proposal, we would just move the money to another local medium or outside the dma. Reasons being that our client had grown and print media had been struggling. The strategy was so brilliant and worked so well that my contract negotiating skills were no longer needed the following year!

They did call me in for another freelance assignment, though. It was for a process mapping project where we as a team discovered and documented the beginning to end processes for each medium, mapped them, looked for similarities between each, and came up with suggestions as to how the processes of each could be made so as to be more in sync with parallel processes used in other departments. The goal was to come up with process maps which enabled employees to be more interchangeable (i.e., expendable). It was fun, challenging, and high level stuff, but during the discovery phase, I realized how little I knew about the online aspect of the business and that I needed to somehow learn more about it. Even though I knew I didn't want to work at that company or at a similar company ever again.

Now the personal. At around the same time that last project was ending (April 2010), some type of glitch caused my 'babe list' on FreeOnes to be deleted. There were a ton of girls on there too! I'm a bit of a spreadsheet dork, so when I began to repopulate the list on Freeones, I also put the info into an excel spreadsheet. Then after reading some article about information sales and affiliate marketing (which I had not even heard of beforehand), I started brainstorming ideas and came up with the idea of pimping out the porn star spreadsheet, bundling it with discounted memberships, selling it, and loading it with affiliate coded links so as I would also make money on the back end. I was able to sell a few hundred of them but my lack of experience led to so many tactical errors and things didn't exactly work out as planned. So I just shifted the site to be straight up affiliate marketing and voila!

[Tofu]

My uncle was a porn film producer and camera man back in the day and he'd tell me about the business, the pornstars that had terrible drug addictions and inner workings of the adult film business...I found it fascinating. Then, about a month out of college, I'm at one of my weekly events wearing an adultcash.com shirt my uncle got me from AVN show and was flagged down by Rich, who then worked fro adult.com. He said he'd heard of me through electronic music and asked if I'd ever thought about working in adult....I was like, "hellllll yeah!". And just like that, he set up and interview with Lensman and he hired me on the spot.

Excellent thread, BTW!

[jimmycooper]

Originally Posted by Tofu_Fleshlight

My uncle was a porn film producer and camera man back in the day and he'd tell me about the business, the pornstars that had terrible drug addictions and inner workings of the adult film business...I found it fascinating.

Awesome. Sounds like something Bukowski or Hunter S. Thompson would say.

[VladS]

I remember when i first started building sites, hahaha. I had a blank txt file in front of me and was reading a tutorial on how to build sites. When i changed the background color for my blank page, i felt like i'll rule the World, hahah.

After a few months of building sites and getting the hang of it, i though to build some affiliate sites to promote webcam models as one of my cousins had a webcam studio and i pretty much knew the webcam business subject.

I've had a talk to Yaron at ImLive, he told me about Net.pond and that's pretty much all to it.

[LeRoy]

06' I signed up @ Silver Cash and called Albert

He gave me the rundown and I asked a few q's. Then I built some paysites, freesites and blogs

Saw a thread here on GFY for an aff manger @ DTI Cash. The rest is history

[garce]

I never read this, and I only posted it because its really long:

In the beginning?

I stand alone

On the remains

Of a long, lonely road,

Looking for clues.

This place was so barren.

A sea of ruins all around me.

As I walked down the road

I saw there was no life.

But for the rats

That fed on the rotting flesh

Of dogs that once roamed these streets.

A deep blood-red sheet

Choked out the evening sky,

And time passed emptily

As night approached,

I looked up only to be greeted

By the darkness of death.

No stars, no moon.



A brisk wind cut through me

Like a guillotine blade,

So I sought refuge

In an empty building and thought,

Why am I the only one?

What did I do to deserve this?

All I remember

Was waking up alone.

And there was nothing.

Humanity was swept up

And dumped in the garbage.

I was what the broom missed,

I was left here alone. Alone.



The next day, Sunday,

I woke up to the

Same blood-red sky.

Strange,

No sun.

Just the blood-red sky.

I walked toward the door,

That would take me back into the void.

I tripped and came face to face

With a skull,

It?s lower jaw hanging

Like he or she or it was

Laughing at me.

I screamed, then, naturally

Looked around expecting

Cold stares from people.

I felt embarrassed.

But, why?

Nobody was around

To hear my cry.

I had to get out

I just wanted to leave

This morbid place

I once called home.



I was situated in a valley,

So I ventured up the hillside.

When I reached the top

I was standing on a point

Where I could see for miles.

What did I see?

A question that will haunt me

For my remaining years

Here on End-Earth.

I looked out and saw

The whole world

Cast before my eyes.

Same blood-red sky

Gave me the feeling of ?I?m in Hell.?

Maybe I WAS in Hell.

But how could I be?

Where were all the others?

I?m the only one.



I looked down,

And everything lay motionless,

Dead.

The world has moved on

And left me behind.

Was it my fault?

Did I do something to humanity?



This is my worst nightmare

And I can?t wake up.

I?m in my own Hell

Where I am the King.

All alone

I sit on my throne,

Death everywhere.

Same blood-red sky.

Afterward?

Sunday night:

My wrists were bleeding.

I cried out in

Agony and ecstasy.



Monday morning:

I woke up screaming and laughing.

There was no blood.

The whole day, that vision

Was with me like a constant shadow



Monday night:

I stared down the barrel

Of a hundred year-old rifle

Wanted, needed

To end it.

Please! Wake up from

This Nightmare In Red!

I pulled the trigger, and awakened.

I screamed and laughed at the same time.

All day, that vision

Like a shadow, was still with me.

My mind grew weak

From the nightmare.

Maybe it was a sign

Of things yet to unfold.

Maybe it was a sign of The Future.

My Future.



Tuesday night:

I took some pills

That I found

In an abandoned drug store.

I didn?t know if they would poison me,

But I needed

To stop the dreams.

I needed to live,

Not die.

I slept deeply, and

No dreams came to my throne that night

No shadowy visions

Haunted me.

Nothing will come to me ever again.

I am free.

End-Earth is free.

The Blood-red sky turned black.

But?

Was the Nightmare in Red really over?

[Spunky]

Interesting stories. started by making sites in MSN groups and Yahoo in early 98.Just as a hobby learning html and shit.had a few tgp/mgp's from then.basically driving down the road and throwing loot out the window

[CurrentlySober]

OK... As you asked...

I was kinda 'Born' into it! Really! My father used to sell '8mm Stag Loops' and there was always a stream of people coming to door to see Dad ! Of course I had no idea what he was doing... Just that he was very popular! Likewise my first 'Pocket Money' was earned by putting blank tapes into a huge bank of videos, and making them all record from the 'master tape'... Again though, I was still a child, and I was simply 'pressing buttons'... I was not viewing the tapes !

Anyway, aged about 18, I was by then aware of what my dad did, and I kinda took over myself... He didn't 'hand me the business' It was a natural progression... Every knew what I did, so it was not really that much of a surprise, when a very hot girl approached me and asked me for my advice regarding her having a career in porn. I not only gave her my advice, but I married her too ! Some 600+ movies later, and after living in LA with her for over 7 years, we kinda drifted apart, and I returned to the UK to concentrate on my true love... Not HARDCORE PORN... But... My Chosen Micro Niche fetish... See sig for details...

Point being though, that if I turned off my computer today - Deleted my sites - Never worked for anyone else, and never drew a pension...

I'd be good financially for the rest of my life...

[JFK]

got in it in 99, heard about someone making Large, so I figured I could do it as well. Got in with adult check, by the end had over 100 golds and about 6k feeders. Still own the domains, for old times sake, but drifted into FUBAR over 8 yrs ago and that's where it's at at the moment