Are you taking any steps to cut your costs because of hard times?

[jscott]

Economy, free porn (tubes), excess competition, saturation, etc etc, is all hurting this biz VERY badly, are you doing anything to help minimize your overhead?

My biggest overheads are my hosting and my employees, and those I need VERY badly, anyone have any other ways or suggestions to help tighten up your expenses?

[Eddi]

do you mean on a private basis or business wise ?

[Eddi]

well business wise, you maybe should start thinking like you ran a normal business like every others business as well.
I think 90% of all webmasters do still run their websites from their sleeping room, with hardly any fix costs and a few bucks comming in every month.

Maybe its also time for all the webmasters out there to rethink and make a proper company.
i dont know whats it like in the united states but most eu countries support new business founders very much. you get back the investmentcosts (100%)for hardware like computers, screens, printers.
If you still want to run your business from your home but you have a registered company with office in your home, you get back half of the monthly rent of your home (taxes are reduced).
making a company (like Limited, IBC. or INC which is anyway recommended for all ecommerce) takes very short time and does not cost a fortune. (around 1000 euros including atm and credit cards)
server cost nowadays dont cost a fortune. euro 200 a month and you get
unlimited bandwith.
as for employees do outsourcing whats possible, and the rest with affiliate marketing.
You dont have to say or state you work in porn, you simply live on comissions made by ecommerce.

I agree that the competition is fierce, however dont forget that 90% of all webmasters maybe make a 1000 bucks a month and dont even have a legitimate business or company.

If you start thinking that you run your websites as a business like every other business as well, you will see that cost are in fact very low in comparison with non adult or non online businesses, and the profits are still being made.
Try to specialize in a market, translate your website into one specific language, it is still very easy to get great google rankings at google.it, google.de or others.

example:
you shoot a sologirlsite (lets say the model costs you for 10days eur 3000,-- which is normal price in czech republic)
a camera for another 1000 euro
some lights for 800 euro
design of paysite 700 euro
affiliate programm 1000 euro
location 1000 euro

in sum thats 7500 euro

now calculate how many memberships a month you normally sell with your tgps or what so ever. lets say around 120 which is very realistic.
with a price of 25 us per membership you make revenue of 3000 us a month
lets say minus the clearing comissions and server cost you make 2000 profit.

that means your are break even in only 6 months !!!! (amortication of investment) and then you live from that.

and now think you had like 10 sologirlsites.

so now please tell me in which other business is that possible ?!

[nyllover]

err... in which Euro country do you live? Because here, in Italy, taxes can kill a just starting business, of any kind.

[Eddi]

austria,
in the first 3 years after founding business, you dont even pay income taxes

[Eddi]

by the way, money for first little investments like computers, screens etc.., comes from eu fonds from bruxessels. so this definately applies also for italy :-)
i know this is not know to many people, just go to your local economical authority and inform yourself.

[nyllover]

Yes that i know... but taxes in Italy... are way too much... :(

[somona]

well business wise, you maybe should start thinking like you ran a normal business like every others business as well.
I think 90% of all webmasters do still run their websites from their sleeping room, with hardly any fix costs and a few bucks comming in every month.

Maybe its also time for all the webmasters out there to rethink and make a proper company.
i dont know whats it like in the united states but most eu countries support new business founders very much. you get back the investmentcosts (100%)for hardware like computers, screens, printers.
If you still want to run your business from your home but you have a registered company with office in your home, you get back half of the monthly rent of your home (taxes are reduced).
making a company (like Limited, IBC. or INC which is anyway recommended for all ecommerce) takes very short time and does not cost a fortune. (around 1000 euros including atm and credit cards)
server cost nowadays dont cost a fortune. euro 200 a month and you get
unlimited bandwith.
as for employees do outsourcing whats possible, and the rest with affiliate marketing.
You dont have to say or state you work in porn, you simply live on comissions made by ecommerce.

I agree that the competition is fierce, however dont forget that 90% of all webmasters maybe make a 1000 bucks a month and dont even have a legitimate business or company.

If you start thinking that you run your websites as a business like every other business as well, you will see that cost are in fact very low in comparison with non adult or non online businesses, and the profits are still being made.
Try to specialize in a market, translate your website into one specific language, it is still very easy to get great google rankings at google.it, google.de or others.

example:
you shoot a sologirlsite (lets say the model costs you for 10days eur 3000,-- which is normal price in czech republic)
a camera for another 1000 euro
some lights for 800 euro
design of paysite 700 euro
affiliate programm 1000 euro
location 1000 euro

in sum thats 7500 euro

now calculate how many memberships a month you normally sell with your tgps or what so ever. lets say around 120 which is very realistic.
with a price of 25 us per membership you make revenue of 3000 us a month
lets say minus the clearing comissions and server cost you make 2000 profit.

that means your are break even in only 6 months !!!! (amortication of investment) and then you live from that.

and now think you had like 10 sologirlsites.

so now please tell me in which other business is that possible ?!

Hi :)

For the most , it's quite possible....
But look...the reality is quite different ...
Like Jscott said, with the bad economy time. it's more difficult to find recurring members for our websites ....even at 25 $, they want more than you would naturally offer in a classic adult website ....
I spend many times with my members on messenger, I saw some evolution...they join because they want to have a direct contact with the model....the forums are very important for them to keep the contact ...
If you run an " army" of sologirls ( excuse ne for the term ;)) it's very hard to do that...you pay the girl, but the contract stop here ...no direct contact....no attention ...etc.....

Many of my members joined to have some real contacts with us....to find a way to talk with us about their problems, their wishes....it's quite weird, but I have many couples on my websites, asking me some ideas for them ....

And like this, with recurrent members who have all my attention, I have a recurrent pay .....and that's the only way I have found to pass this bad economic times :)

Like Nyllover says....after make all those sales....you must pay some taxes ;)

And in starting a website ...I doubt you have instantly 125 members ....but I don't doubt you spent much than 7000 $ ( per month to run it )

Oh Jscott ....to answer about your question, as you surely know, legmodels have always an extra "secure job" to have some " secure cash "
So....I have a real lingerie shop and a little association to help persons to create a website and learn them to run it ....;)

Somona xxxx

[Eddi]

yea nylover, taxes are also high in austria (50% maximum)
but there is also a legal trick to avoid paying that.
the answer is a offshore company (lets say caribean) a Ltd. IBC or Inc. (like stated above) and a offshore bankaccount.
all of the revenue you make,ccbill sends to a bankaccount of your choice.
Of course you have to live from something in the country you really live in.
you receive a fix paycheck every month in the country A (in which you really live) from the offshorecompany in country B (caribean)you pay your local taxes, social healthcare etc. The rest of the money (made by offshorecompany) you declare as
shareholders profit. and for shareholders profits you only pay 25% taxes.
with that trick you legally save 25% on income taxes (in most of eu countries)
or have you never asked yourself, why so many adultcompanies have their mainoffice in the caribean?

[nyllover]

I did ask myself and i actually had the same answer. But noone ever explained it to me in a so understandable way :)

Thanks a lot!

[Suckerpunch]

JScott: Cut out the hooker expenses and you'll be fine!

Truthfully this is the best time to grow the business as there will be a glut of cheap talent and sites on the market within the next little while. People are starting to exit the business because all the easy money disappeared a long time ago. They've abandoned sites and watched their commission checks diminish to nothing and don't have the time or energy to continue.

Best way to cut expenses is to find cheaper ways of doing things. For instance I used to write all my own blog posts but posted a couple projects on Scriptlance and found a more economical solution in two freelancers. Now I can freelance out on bigger jobs and still earn a profit while having two people on the go.

Another way to cut your expenses is to barter. I have traded traffic, writing and marketing services for design, coding and ad spots. Takes up a bit of my time but if you find quality people it pays off.

Negotiate deals with your current hosting company. Find equivalent servers with cheaper pricing at a different company and ask them to match it or you're going to move over to them.

Ask for discounts! If someone you regularly pay $100 for the job, preach hard times and ask for the same service at $75.

There are tons of ways to bootstrap... you just have to be creative.

And if people think that the sales are going to dry up because of the economic downturn, that's not the reality in my opinion. There's going to be a lot of unemployed and underemployed guys looking for something to lift their spirits and $25 to join a porn site is just what the doctor ordered.

I am embracing the downturn and plan on making out like a bandit when the economists say its over. Be aggressive, dedicate to finding the best opportunities and follow through with them.

[Eddi]

hey jscott,

sit down and make an actionplan.
write down your strenghts and your weeknesses.
dont try to improve your weeknesses, try to increase your strenghts!!
I mean that in a sense, get rid of for instance tgp or blogs which you dont really need, which have not improved in productivity or traffic since a long time.
check exactly where your sales are being made. try to put more energy in where the sales are being made.
If you have employees, check exactly what they do and what they in return really bring you in terms of money. In case of inproductivity, get rid of them.
I dont know where you have your employees, but as far as you have written so far, you are many times in asia. so try to find a it student overthere, i am sure you find somebody on a university who desperatly seeks work for a "hand of rice".
Try to reorient yourself, where did you stay 1 year ago, where do you stay now and where do you want to stay in 1 year (not only in terms of business, but also private).
once you know where you are going and you have a goal just go straight ahead and reach that goal. calculate how much this goal will cost you, calculate how much it will bring you.
If you need a certain amount of money inorder to reach the goal, work parttime in something else and safe some of your income in order to reinvest.
try to do something which you havnt done before traffic wise. if your main activity is traffic trading, submit galleries. if your main activity is submitting, trade more traffic.
if you run a paysite and tgps, concentrate on the paysite and get rid of your tgps (or vice versa). dont diversitate, concentrate !!

hope the tips help you

[jscott]

JScott: Cut out the hooker expenses and you'll be fine!
Hahahhaa, i'm hella cutting back man!!! :D LOL

My hand is my hooker nowdays

....1 thing that is HUGE for me that i cannot cut back on is travel, i'm addicted to travelling, it's probably my largest cost per year, totally probably $20-30k/year :(

[The Heron]

In bad times, invest in bird seed!

[jscott]

so far, since this thread................

1. my employee expenses, cut $140/month
2. car payment, cut $375/month (paid it off)
3. student loan, cut $50/month (paid it off)
4. changed paysite password protection, cut $50/month

So far so good, I've cut $715/month so far :)

And, on top of that, I've been really holding back from going out partying, banging girls, and I'm working a LOT more, hopefully this is enough to get me through the rough times

[The Heron]

wtf why were you paying for a car you never saw hahahah

[jscott]

wtf why were you paying for a car you never saw hahahah
yeah it sucks man, but it's paid off now, so nothing more to bitch or feel bad about :D

[Suckerpunch]

I ended up paying off a bunch of debts as well so I didn't have to worry about the monthly payments. It's surprising how much farther ahead you feel when you don't have to pay a couple hundred bucks a month. My plan is to be debt free by the end of May and stay away from getting in the credit crunch again.

[jscott]

I ended up paying off a bunch of debts as well so I didn't have to worry about the monthly payments. It's surprising how much farther ahead you feel when you don't have to pay a couple hundred bucks a month. My plan is to be debt free by the end of May and stay away from getting in the credit crunch again.
Hey man, good job, yea it does feel great to pay off the loans. I have 0 debts right now, probably would be a good time for me to buy a home, but of course I wont

[jscott]

Fyi, I was shopping around for hosting deals, found somebody who would give me SAME specs as my current host for a discounted price
.....nobody likes moving hosting, so I told my current host about it, and asked if they could lower my monthly costs, they agreed, and cut my entire hosting costs by 17% :) that will help out in a way also

Just a thought and tip for you guys, get the best hosting for best price possible, sometimes you gotta research and fight for it!

[Nurgle]

....1 thing that is HUGE for me that i cannot cut back on is travel, i'm addicted to travelling, it's probably my largest cost per year, totally probably $20-30k/year :(


ive been saving $ by losing some staff and by doing more work myself.. but i just cant help travelling, been away 3 times thisd year already and about to go on 4th.. and along with my fetish for fast cars arghhh

[jscott]

Nurgle where do you normally travel?

What car do you own?

[Nurgle]

i usually go to the USA 2-3 times a yr.. was in Costa Rica and Bali also this year, and love going to Thailand and around there too!

cars.. well.. got a nice Mazda rx-7.. and recently got myself a f430 hehe :)

[jscott]

Thai, and we never kicked it??? WTF!!!!!! hehehehe

[Nurgle]

opps are u there LOL

[jscott]

Yep, lets kick it next time man :)

[AfterDarkkMedia]

I am a one man band so to speak, my costs are low

[somona]

Around 25 $ per month is a low price ??? :D:D ....oki....I am half the low prices so !!! :D:D:D