In my own particular case, I chose this profession because at the time, I became interested in working in adult entertainment and was conveniently located in Ventura, Calif. — though at that time I had no clue just how close I was to the core of this industry. This being said, my total thought process at that time was "what can I do to make money while staying at home?"
I had three young children to support and was exhausted from trying to work out of the house while trying to take care of them and everything else that comes with being a parent. I started searching for something that would give me enough income from home, but everything I found wasn't rewarding or secure enough to support my family. So I gave up the search and figured that like everything else good that's happened to me in my life, it would come to me. I was right; one night I was watching a show on adult entertainment and how you could make millions from home — and just like that, I was hooked. For some reason, I knew that this lifestyle was for me and that this was the answer to my prayers — and by the way, God loves porn chicks!
I had a slow start because I had no idea where to begin, but that didn't stop me, that just made me want to know more. So I got out the Yellow Pages, because at that time, I didn't even know how to go online and do a search. Of course this was more than 10 years ago when not many people knew about searching online. I found quite a few computer-related companies in the area (surprise, surprise) and went down the list, calling each one to ask them if they worked in adult entertainment and built sites for people. I received only one call back, but that's all I needed. I set up an appointment and told him my plan. His company built and ran my first site from their main hub; I sent him weekly photos, and he made the updates and added anything else that I wanted.
This being said, I wanted to be in control of the process from start to finish, and so after I learned all I needed to know and bought every device required at that time to continue on my own, I dove in without a life jacket and learned how to swim. Wow! It's a good thing I didn't know what I was doing, because this industry can be brutal, but I was in my own little porn world of bliss, learning everything I could to be the best, staying up all night sometimes and even going as far as breaking a few keyboards, etc. No thanks to dial-up, which was all I could afford at the time. But I wanted what I saw others in this business enjoying, so like a bulldog with a sock, I hung on. I'm still riding the ride, but the difference now is that it's all mine.
I've been in this business for 10 years now; it took me about five years to get noticed, but if you think about it, it takes at least that amount and then some before you graduate from college and get a good-paying job, and then you've got to specialize to get noticed.
I've been tempted to work in video production as content for other companies many times, but it's never happened, and as time progresses and wisdom creeps in, it probably never will — unless the right offer comes along. I'm satisfied now just to be doing what I'm doing for my own site, and working in other areas of this industry has given me other, more important things to focus on and opportunities that would have never come my way if I hadn't been willing to take the time to learn and be more than just a model.
But that's just me; what about other girls that have entered the adult industry? What's their story? I thought I'd find out, and so I asked a few of my friends. Here's what they had to say:
Lori Anderson
Why did I choose this profession? That's a good story. I was actually sitting on the couch one evening with my husband watching TV and there was a special on "20/20" that piqued our interest. Basically the story they had on was about a couple that had been on the Internet doing live webcam shows and their daytime job caught up with them. Anyway, once we heard what kind of revenue they were bringing in, my husband said to me, "Hey, would you do that?" I responded quickly by saying, "In the privacy of my own bedroom? For sure!" So we got started right away!
I started off simply just being in front of a webcam back in early 1999. Almost overnight I was a cover girl for some of the more popular webcam companies on the Internet. Soon after that, I had more than 8,000 paying customers. I couldn't believe the response I received from all the guys watching me. I became just as addicted to doing it as these guys were watching me. I had reached such a large fan base just from doing these webcam shows that many of them were asking me to build a personal website of my own. The many faces of Lori Anderson were born. Unlike some of the other amateur websites, I concentrated on different micro-niches. All my websites were created based on what my members were asking for. We started our affiliate program LotzaDollars.com with these sites and built up from there.
I am happy that seven years later, I am still doing what I do best, and that is private webcam shows. I guess I really owe it all to my fans and all the other nice people that I've met in this industry. Everyone has really been a pleasure to work with.
Brooke Skye
I was friends with an agent for the adult business who I later started to work for; it's not something I ever saw myself doing, but when I got into the business, I realized it wasn't that bad and I actually enjoyed it. I look at being in this business as a door-opener to other things. I don't plan on doing porn forever, but for right now, it's been a good move ... I think. I still have goals that I will accomplish, and this hasn't hurt my future plans for success.
Jelena Jensen
I actually never aspired to be a model, let alone a nude model. I didn't really know much about the industry until I worked for an adult DVD Internet retail site while in college. As the marketing manager for my company, I attended Erotica LA and AEE for a couple years. I was always approached by porn directors but wasn't interested in shooting hardcore.
It wasn't until I was in the last semester of getting my bachelor's in early 2003 that a friend in the business turned me on to softcore solo modeling. I met Scott St. James, Andrew Blake and Suze Randall and decided to jump into it. I only planned on working for about a year to help pay off my student debt. But about six months into it, things really took off, and I was shooting so much that I had to quit my full-time job.
At first, I was only shooting glamour for magazines. Eventually, I started shooting for various websites, and it wasn't until I befriended Aria Giovanni that I started to shoot amateur. It wasn't until my year-and-a-half mark that I launched my own personal site, JelenaJensen.com. About six months after the launch, I took over as webmistress, and I've been a one-woman show ever since. It's been fun and a definite learning experience, and I don't plan to quit anytime soon.
At first, I never really had any strategies and goals in this business because I didn't really look at it as a career. But once I launched my site, I definitely had to change my outlook on it all. Instead of working 6-15 days a month, like I previously did, I had to invest all of my time into it.
The web has definitely been good to me. I always tell people that if it wasn't for the web and my site, I wouldn't be able to be a full-time model. In today's technology, practically everyone who is into adult content uses the Internet to find what he or she is looking for. Having a strong web presence helps when you have your own site. I try to get my face out there as much as I can to market myself and my brand — and it does work. Many people find their way over to my site after discovering me someplace else.
Still being quite new to the business compared with most other models that I work with, and my site being just two years old, I have yet to reach my current goals, though I'm positive that I will reach them in the near future.
Sammy Smack
Being on the Internet is a natural fit for me. I love entertaining people, and I am a bit of an exhibitionist. I didn't have any moral or family dilemmas to deal with, so it just came easy to me. I thought of it as a safe, fun way to make a living. When I started out with Sammy4u.com I was still in college, so I never really thought it would turn into my full-time profession, but it has and I love it.
Honestly, I started out in this industry for the quick money. My first job in adult was as a club dancer. From there I went on to own my own dance company and eventually landed on the Internet. Out of all the jobs I have ever had, owning and operating my own website is the best. The Internet has been good to us, and we have met some great friends. I can't think of any other job that would suit my personality better.
Having my own site has taught me a lot. I have been through the ups and downs, and I have learned to persevere through them. I guess my site was kind of the guinea pig for us, and now that we have been around for seven years, we feel it is time to start helping other girls that are struggling to make it in this business. Our goal is to build SammySmack.com into an affiliate program dedicated to helping out girls or couples that know how to retain their members but have a hard time juggling both web modeling and marketing.
Naughty Allie
I didn't actually choose "web girl" as a profession. After graduating college with a B.S. in business, I was working as an intern for an Internet start-up company. Jake was my boss, and that's how we met. The company went out of business, but we had started a relationship together. Jake must have been surfing porn one night and found an ad for webmasters to make $25 for every free sign-up sent to a live cam site. Eventually, Jake had to tell me what he was doing because he was doing so well financially and he never left the house. During the same time frame, Jake and I had been talking about bringing other people into our sex lives. This was a long time before we had even considered starting our own website. After working with Jake promoting affiliate programs, I told him that I thought it would be fun and a challenge to start our own website based on our sex lives. That's how NaughtyAllie.com came about and my web girl career started.
My overall career goal was to be successful at whatever it was I chose to do in life. Based on the success of NaughtyAllie, I'd say that at this point, I've achieved that goal. Although I feel comfortable where I'm at with the site, there's always room for improvement. I'm constantly looking at ways to improve NaughtyAllie.com to make the experience even more enjoyable for my existing members and more enticing to potential members.
