"Always make sure you sign the checks."
- Bill Cosby’s advice to a rising star
Naturally you want your adult online business to be successful. You probably would like to create a source of income that would support you and your loved ones. You might have even bigger plans that involve great wealth and power. You may have no plan at all. Your plans, whether they are small, medium, large or nonexistent, should always be adaptable to change and circumstance.
Whether you plan it or not, you might be faced with a time where you are very successful, so successful that you are overwhelmed. You may come to a point where you have to ask yourself if it’s time to lease outside help, partner with another or hire an employee or two. How do you know if you’ve arrived at that point?
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"Your plans, whether they are small, medium, large or nonexistent, should always be adaptable to change and circumstance." |
If given a choice, most people would favor being a big deal player with millions of dollars and tons of stuff. Every day I see evidence that most adult webmasters want to become a mogul of sorts. I’ve always admired those who take on the awesome responsibility of business ownership. I’ve watched them as they agonized over taxes, taken money out of their own pockets to make sure their employees are paid or felt their true sadness when they would have to fire someone. I’ve seen them bargain with banks, argue with contractors, plead with inspectors and I’ve seen my share of them suddenly give up and pack it in, leaving bewildered unemployed workers to fend for themselves.
I admire the person who takes on the responsibility of their customers, their suppliers, their taxes, their licensing and their payroll. I wonder if these dreamy-minded adult webmasters who boast of their plans to overtake online porn really know what they’re asking for.
Being a contract laborer is vastly different from being an employer/business owner. Contract labor (which is what most sponsor-pushing, free site running adult webmasters are) is
self-employment. You work on a contract basis and have no actual employer who would be responsible to pay payroll taxes or benefits. As a self-employed person, you take on the responsibilities an employer normally would but you are not an employer.
What happens if you end up like my friend "S"?
S was a regular guy who fell in love with the net and had grown tired of working in the corporate world. He didn’t really want to quit working for others; he just wanted to get off the fast track. He wanted some extra cash without having to work himself to death at his corporate job. He decided an adult site would be the perfect way to get a small bit of cushion money. After a failed first attempt at an adult site, he then built a little paysite. He shot his own content, licensed and paid his own models, built his own pages and his wife did all the accounting. They both thought it would be a comfy way to stash a few grand a month and all would be smooth.
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The site S built turned out to be better than he had planned on. His paysite became a hit within months and soon S and the Mrs. had more members on their hands than the two of them could handle. Soon after, S expanded to become the proprietor of several paysites and a sponsorship program. He became responsible for thousands of members, hundreds of affiliates, half a dozen employees, a stable of favorite models and a name known by Internet millions. S tells me often how he never planned to be so big. He just wanted some extra spending money for him and his
family. He didn’t plot out some fantastical scheme to become a millionaire and he isn’t quite sure how he got there. He only knows now he’s responsible for so many people and so much money.
S seems to be doing okay with his unexpected responsibility. After all, he’s a millionaire. Just the same, he never seems to have the time to enjoy the riches he’s acquired. Contrary to popular belief, most millionaires don’t have a lot of free time to ponder the meanings of their lives, much less enjoy them.
I worry for the rapid adult Internet successes like S. I silently pray for them, especially when they are as good and fair as my friend S.
In days pasts, I’ve watched a lot of bosses crumble under the pressure of their responsibilities. I’ve been left high and dry and back on the unemployment line more than once because a boss decided to call it quits. Before you set in motion your plans to take over the porn Internet, ask yourself if you truly want the responsibility, pressure and lack of free time that comes with your conquest?
You can still be self-employed and be quite wealthy. You can contract labor to perform tasks just like you do for others. You can pay a person to design a site if you’re too busy to do it. You can lease a plug in or four if your paysite needs content you have no time to buy or create. You can lease or buy software to perform applications on your web or for your customers without having to employ a programmer. You can do quite a bit by contracting others without ever actually becoming a "boss".
If you are at a juncture where you must choose between self-employment vs. employer/merchant, make sure you are ready for the duty. Like Cosby implies in the quote above, don’t get so big that you lose track of who’s in charge.