I never did go the corporate route. I'm not much of a cubical type person. I felt if I had to have a day job, it had better be an active one. I slowed a bit when I switched from waiting tables to cutting hair. Just the same, as a cosmetologist, I was still interacting with the public. I got used to standing up for a living. I've always office job outsider.
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"The adult Internet evolves at an almost blinding speed and the newbie is but a one-celled creature in a thriving ecosphere of smut." |
I hear things can get hairy when you have to face the same faces and the same lame rules every day. I have worked for corporate restaurants, nightclubs and hotels. The flurry of managers, training manuals and petty infighting is enough to make the kindest worker bee into a stinger.
Then again, there are thousands of adult webmasters that didn't come from an office environment. Some of us were shoe store clerks or nurses. Some of us worked in factories or were auto mechanics. We've got ex stock brokers, lawyers, and actual retirees from all kinds of professions. The adult Internet industry is populated with folks from every class and culture.
No matter what we did before we did this, we all had to learn one undeniable truth: This business is like no other business on earth.
The first thing you have to get used to as an adult webmaster is that you are completely free. You can run any kind of site you want. You can use any content you want. You can aim high or shoot for the middle. You can start out running or you can take things at a steady pace. It's your future. It's your fate. Whatever you do, it's all on you. If you stumble, you have to pick yourself up. If you make a bad choice, you're the one that has to learn from it and move on. There will be no handholding. There will be no free pass. No boss to forgive you. No two-more-strikes policy. No exit interview or transfer to another department. You are free therefore; all your actions are your responsibility.
A lot of what works in the real world doesn't work the same way in the adult web world. For example, your days of a single paycheck will be over. You'll be getting paid by several different people as the time goes by and you'll want it that way. The turnover in successful businesses is high in our field. Big players close shop all the time. That little guy will become a big dog in a month or two and then fade away after next year. The hot new sponsor will get overexposed. The genius designer or content producer will burn out.
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In addition, you have to self-educate for a myriad of skills.
You have to learn HTML, layout and graphics optimization. You have to figure out META tags, .htaccess protection, and file transfer protocol. You need to learn effective web promotion tactics and how to obtain traffic through trades, site submission and paid spots. You'll have to know about the concepts of quality traffic, niche marketing and the difference between free hosting and a free site. You'll need to familiarize yourself with transfer, bandwidth and server logs. You will eventually have to deal with databases, server side applications and scripts.
Most adult webmasters are one-person operations. There are thousands of us that have a working knowledge of everything I've mentioned. We can point you to the tutorials and lessons but you have to learn them for yourself.
What's more, you're going to have to research the legal aspects of this business because the laws that affect us are very serious. You will have to comply with the legalities of your country, your state, your city and county. Filing your taxes completely and accurately will become paramount to your future. You'll need to understand merchant accounts vs third-party billing and which one suits your needs. You'll have to use caution and common sense when buying from providers and services that you only know virtually.
You have to have the determination to take in all the existing knowledge and at the same time keep an eye towards changes down the road. Fads and fresh niches take off overnight. The newest hot model is always on the horizon. A novel concept is copied within days. You never know where that next celebrity porn tape is coming from so you need to have the domains at the ready. The adult Internet evolves at an almost blinding speed and the newbie is but a one-celled creature in a thriving ecosphere of smut.
Be you a cube rat or a tired old waitress. If you were once a suit-wearing schmoozer or an overalls and greasy fingernails guy. Whether you worked for the man or you were the man. This business ain't like no business you know.