How did you go from a medium sized biz to a big one?

[digi]

I've been running porn / mainstream sites my entire adult life and I am currently in my 30s. I make a good living at it and have no problem paying bills, go on vacations etc etc.

However, even though I'm having a very good year I feel like my business is sort of stuck and isn't growing very much the last few years.

Just curious if you guys have any tips on how to grow your business when you're at the stage of doing well, but not well enough that you can afford to hire help full time or invest thousands every month?

[NoWhErE]

Find good partners to help you bring your business to the next level. Hopefully someone that is strong in areas where you are weak.

Also, be sure to spend time working ON your business instead of IN your business. Spend time researching new markets and developping new project ideas instead of maintaining what you already have (time spent writing, designing, backlinking, etc.)

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by digi

I've been running porn / mainstream sites my entire adult life and I am currently in my 30s. I make a good living at it and have no problem paying bills, go on vacations etc etc.

However, even though I'm having a very good year I feel like my business is sort of stuck and isn't growing very much the last few years.

Just curious if you guys have any tips on how to grow your business when you're at the stage of doing well, but not well enough that you can afford to hire help full time or invest thousands every month?

We're in the same position. We're larger than most programs as far as volume and the amount of self generated sales we make, but getting to the brazzers level is something that obviously I missed out on.

[ContentPimp]

Originally Posted by digi

I've been running porn / mainstream sites my entire adult life and I am currently in my 30s. I make a good living at it and have no problem paying bills, go on vacations etc etc.

However, even though I'm having a very good year I feel like my business is sort of stuck and isn't growing very much the last few years.

Just curious if you guys have any tips on how to grow your business when you're at the stage of doing well, but not well enough that you can afford to hire help full time or invest thousands every month?

Digi,


Probably the reason why it isn't growing is because you made it got stuck right there?
Try to innovate, try to expand.
Or much better, you more likely need somebody like me in your porn business.

I do work VERY FAST and EFFICIENT!

You can freely click on my site and see if there's work that I can do for you!

And oh, did I mention? My work is as AFFORDABLE as 1 CENT per WORD!

Looking forward doing awesome business with you!

[ilnjscb]

Originally Posted by DukeSkywalker

We're in the same position. We're larger than most programs as far as volume and the amount of self generated sales we make, but getting to the brazzers level is something that obviously I missed out on.

That's interesting, because I would consider you to be a "star" in the adult world, in that you have an established brand name of your own beyond the female talent you employ.

Have you considered acquisition? That is how many midsize firms in flat industries grow, and they use economies of scale to get better pricing from vendors and better margins from customers.

[celandina]

[MakeMeGrrrrowl]

Originally Posted by ContentPimp

Digi,


Probably the reason why it isn't growing is because you made it got stuck right there?
Try to innovate, try to expand.
Or much better, you more likely need somebody like me in your porn business.

I do work VERY FAST and EFFICIENT!

You can freely click on my site and see if there's work that I can do for you!

And oh, did I mention? My work is as AFFORDABLE as 1 CENT per WORD!

Looking forward doing awesome business with you!

Why don't you use skype? I hate being forced to use ICQ.

[nico-t]

asking $10 instead of $5 for my ass

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by ilnjscb

That's interesting, because I would consider you to be a "star" in the adult world, in that you have an established brand name of your own beyond the female talent you employ.

Have you considered acquisition? That is how many midsize firms in flat industries grow, and they use economies of scale to get better pricing from vendors and better margins from customers.

I mean don't get me wrong we're bigger than 90% of programs. What I meant by big programs are the ones doing 1000 + joins a day, not several hundred. Yes we are looking to acquire.
Ds

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by ilnjscb

That's interesting, because I would consider you to be a "star" in the adult world, in that you have an established brand name of your own beyond the female talent you employ.

Have you considered acquisition? That is how many midsize firms in flat industries grow, and they use economies of scale to get better pricing from vendors and better margins from customers.

I'd consider a strategic merger but I'm a 66.25% owner of DD so there is a bit of my controlling personality in there too which makes me hard to work with, albeit more driven/keener than most. I'd consider selling for 2 million if someone had the money. Not like the bob rice type deal back in the day. I'd want my money in full and ride off into the sunset. I'd consider a deal like ruseful got with brazzers as 20% of a whole lot is better than 66.25% of a lot. I'm also content with the status quo. We have some new stuff coming out and just recently started shooting in 4K. In short, I'm in a pretty good position. I don't know which of the following above options I mentioned would be best. That's probably a question for Mr Shap, although you seem to know a thing or two also.
Best
Ds

[BigFurry]

Hmm, another good thread.

What's going on?

[ilnjscb]

Originally Posted by DukeSkywalker

I'd consider a strategic merger but I'm a 66.25% owner of DD so there is a bit of my controlling personality in there too which makes me hard to work with, albeit more driven/keener than most. I'd consider selling for 2 million if someone had the money. Not like the bob rice type deal back in the day. I'd want my money in full and ride off into the sunset. I'd consider a deal like ruseful got with brazzers as 20% of a whole lot is better than 66.25% of a lot. I'm also content with the status quo. We have some new stuff coming out and just recently started shooting in 4K. In short, I'm in a pretty good position. I don't know which of the following above options I mentioned would be best. That's probably a question for Mr Shap, although you seem to know a thing or two also.
Best
Ds

A merger probably wouldn't be fruitful. You understand marketing and distribution better than most, you might want to look at sources of capital and make some acquisitions.

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by ilnjscb

A merger probably wouldn't be fruitful. You understand marketing and distribution better than most, you might want to look at sources of capital and make some acquisitions.

It isn't easy getting a business loc in the adult Biz.
Ds

[American Psycho]

sounds like you are a small business not medium.

not to be a dick just so you think according to being small.

i have 8 staff and still consider mself small biz.

anyways, focus on being creative amd delegate.

[ContentPimp]

Originally Posted by MakeMeGrrrrowl

Why don't you use skype? I hate being forced to use ICQ.

MakeMeGrrrrowl,

I do have skype account and email, you can freely reach me there and I can do any content writing service for you.
Be looking forward to your message.


skype: miro.netmarketing
email: [email protected]

[Barry-xlovecam]

The US SBA definition of a small business is around less than $38.5 million in annual revenues ... (For government set-aside contracts for small business.)
The IT SMB definition is under $50 million in annual revenues -- small sized business, +$50 million to $ 1Billion in annual revenues -- medium sized business.

I would consider the cut off as Small business is up to $100 million annually, Medium business is $100 million to $1 Billion annually.

Current and new product development is one way -- acquisition and/or merger is the other.
I don't think of anyone here as big business as that would be over $1 Billion a year in revenues.

Real question is how to move from being a micro-business, 95% of US businesses are in this class, with balance sheets of less than $2 Million, to being a substantial small business -- I think the right answers are a lot of working smart and a bit of good fortune. Choosing the right trends to develop product for is probably the ladder up. I always try to remember that there are fewer good ideas than the money chasing them.

[Ruseful]

Originally Posted by DukeSkywalker

I'd consider a strategic merger but I'm a 66.25% owner of DD so there is a bit of my controlling personality in there too which makes me hard to work with, albeit more driven/keener than most. I'd consider selling for 2 million if someone had the money. Not like the bob rice type deal back in the day. I'd want my money in full and ride off into the sunset. I'd consider a deal like ruseful got with brazzers as 20% of a whole lot is better than 66.25% of a lot. I'm also content with the status quo. We have some new stuff coming out and just recently started shooting in 4K. In short, I'm in a pretty good position. I don't know which of the following above options I mentioned would be best. That's probably a question for Mr Shap, although you seem to know a thing or two also.
Best
Ds

And what exactly is the deal you believe I got with MG? I still own 100% of my company last time I looked...

[ilnjscb]

Originally Posted by Barry-xlovecam

The US SBA definition of a small business is around less than $38.5 million in annual revenues ... (For government set-aside contracts for small business.)
The IT SMB definition is under $50 million in annual revenues -- small sized business, +$50 million to $ 1Billion in annual revenues -- medium sized business.

I would consider the cut off as Small business is up to $100 million annually, Medium business is $100 million to $1 Billion annually.

Current and new product development is one way -- acquisition and/or merger is the other.
I don't think of anyone here as big business as that would be over $1 Billion a year in revenues.

Real question is how to move from being a micro-business, 95% of US businesses are in this class, with balance sheets of less than $2 Million, to being a substantial small business -- I think the right answers are a lot of working smart and a bit of good fortune. Choosing the right trends to develop product for is probably the ladder up. I always try to remember that there are fewer good ideas than the money chasing them.

If you consider 100m the mark then, out of 550,000 firms founded in the US, .02% - .05% of US firms reach the "medium sized business" mark. Quite a high bar!

"Anywhere from 125 to 250 companies per year (out of roughly 552,000 new employer firms) are founded in the United States that reach $100 million in revenues. "

According to IDC, small businesses have an average revenue of 3.6m/ annual (because so many have almost no revenue) and

Represent more than 99.7% of all employers
Employ half of all private-sector workers and 39% of workers in high-tech jobs
Provide 60% to 80% of the net new jobs annually
Pay 44.3% of total U.S. private payroll
Produce more than 50% of nonfarm private gross domestic product, or a GDP of roughly $6 trillion

Source: SBA

"The Office of Advocacy defines a small
business as an independent business
having fewer than 500 employees"

Who in adult has 500 employees? Anyone? Additionally, only .3% of US businesses have more than 20 employees.

The EU has a category "microbusiness" that you use above for a business that has less than 10 employees. I agree with you we should have that in the US, because over 97% of businesses have less than 10 employees.

The data also agrees with you, the real hump is going from zero to over 10 employees. Now I know several people with businesses in the 10-19 size, and they bust their asses. They're all handsome, smart, hardworking, socially capable people. The difference between them and larger business owners is, IMHO, lack of ruthlessness and lack of access to capital.

[ilnjscb]

Originally Posted by DukeSkywalker

It isn't easy getting a business loc in the adult Biz.
Ds

It sure as hell isn't. Most people looking for capital in the less-than-1m range go to banks, and what bank loans to adult. Many of them won't even process for adult, and in some cases won't even open personal bank accounts for people who work in adult.

Basically you have to use cash flow (painful) or get a loan from an investor or a mainstream business you own.

Fabian's thing, getting a hedge fund to invest a few hundred million, is unlikely to ever happen again.