I used to know this guy. He owned a sweet, little salon. He was the manager of the salon when the owner sold it to him for a sweet song. He was a good hair stylist and a good businessman. He managed to turn a low performing, low profit shop into one of the most successful in our town. He was only 23 years old.
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"Take the time to slow down. Instead of building another new site, try to make the ones you have the best they can be." |
Mind you, this salon was in an amazing location. Past owners failures at making the shop successful were due entirely to their ineptitude. This salon was located at the busiest shopping mall in a tri-state area. It was right next to the Movie Theater. My friend (the guy) had been given a money machine and fortunately, he had the skills.
The thing was, my friend didn't have a dream to own a salon. He just wanted to be a hairdresser. He was a brilliant stylist and salesman, but he was also a husband, father and he had a bitching case of phlebitis.The longer he ran that shop, the more his phlebitis would act up. With every retail shipment, payroll and rent check, his eyes would grow more hollow and lost. He stayed at the shop later and later to pay for the overhead of his growing business. He had ten employees and by that time, he was 25.
I remember a conversation I had with him one night when we were closing the shop. He gave a heavy sigh and told me:
"After all my costs. After all I pay out on product and your guy's salaries and taxes and all of it. Well frankly, I don't make that much money. Hell this week, I'm not even taking a salary. If I rented a booth at someone else's' shop, I could make way more money than I do now".
I had worked for enough bosses in my lifetime to know when they start talking like that; it's time to look for another job. Sure enough, (not long after my amicable departure) the mall raised his rent from $4000.00 a month to $4500.00.
He sold the shop, rented a booth and does hair to this day. His phlebitis never acts up and his family is as happy as ever. What does all this have to do with the adult Internet industry? Working at online porn is a business. This is a cautionary tale about running a business.
How many hours a day do you work at your efforts to take over the Internet? Is that your dream? Are you in this smutty field because you wanted to get rich quick? Did somebody tell you the only way to be successful in cyber porn was to build a million websites?
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So, you've got half a million sites. You build and submit multiple galleries every day. You trade traffic. You buy tops spots on TGP lists. You buy content. You own domains. You eat bandwidth like a pig. You hire assistants. You have responsibilities you never imagined. You have tax debts you never knew existed. You are an up and coming smut king.
Well? Are you happy?
After you pay all your costs and add up all the hours of work you put into your business, how much is left over? Is it worth it? Do you have a life? Are you really following a dream or are you following the money?
Please don't get me wrong. I am not trying to discourage fame and fortune for anyone. This is not some attempt to discourage newbies from flooding the market. It's just that so many folks I have met in this business are very young. This Internet smut trade lends itself to the youths that know computers better than us old fogies. I'm not surprised at 24-year-old porn millionaires. I am thrilled with the fresh idealism and ingenuousness of Generations X, Y and Z.
The thing is, I am older and I know something you don't know. Life is damned short and before you can blink an eye, it's over. Sure, I know the story. You'll make your all your money now and retire at thirty. It's a nice story and a nice dream. I hope it comes true for you. Let me let you in on a little secret:
Life NEVER works out the way you planned. You can realize all your plans. Unless you take the time to have a life, you will not find happiness. If you find your loved ones begging you for attention. If you find you have no loved ones at all, perhaps it's time to take a break and reassess.
Remember that first website you built? Remember the thrill you got when you sold your first membership? Do you still feel that thrill? Does doing what you love fill your day? Or is it filled with efforts to pay the bills?
Take the time to slow down. Instead of building another new site, try to make the ones you have the best they can be. Instead of trying your brilliant idea out on a new page or venture, try to incorporate your genius into what you already have.
Look at what you have. Make it better. Make it the best it can ever be. If you spread yourself too thin, all your dreams and efforts will go to waste. Have a dream. Go for your dreams. Just remember that one day, you will wake up.