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L-Pink 07-04-2015 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice22 (Post 20515882)
Ehhh
Most writers of short stories lost 75-90% of there income from this month.
(after amazon decided to cut the borrows and pay per page read).
So, it's not going to be this way anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice22 (Post 20515883)
What do you mean by "game will change" ? what direction?

See your own post above. :)

Everything changes. And changes quickly.


.

Alice22 07-04-2015 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 20515885)
See your own post above. :)

Everything changes. And changes quickly.

.

hehe, well, maybe something specific that i don't know...

Shap 07-05-2015 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice22 (Post 20515891)
hehe, well, maybe something specific that i don't know...

No i think it's just in general the web moves so fast you have to be ready for change at all times.

sojproductions 07-05-2015 03:22 AM

Traffic from affiliates, we used to have stacks of good affiliates, most are on auto pilot nowadays and new affiliates dont seem to be interested in our main niche even though it still sells well :/

Shap 07-05-2015 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lock (Post 20515884)
finding time seems i need much more of it.

I know that feeling as well. I think in most cases an honest audit of how you spend your time may reveal you actually have more time than you think. I know one tactic Personal Trainers use is to have clients start a very detailed food diary to show just how poorly they eat. If you did the same with your time you may be surprised :)

Shap 07-05-2015 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sojproductions (Post 20515955)
Traffic from affiliates, we used to have stacks of good affiliates, most are on auto pilot nowadays and new affiliates dont seem to be interested in our main niche even though it still sells well :/

Which program specifically?

Shap 07-05-2015 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonofsam (Post 20515679)
I'm the exact same way, and that stuff makes me feel overwhelmed and like there are always 300 things I don't want to do, but have to be done, which makes me lose drive

What works for that is bringing someone on you can delegate that stuff to, do you can focus on the stuff you're good at an actually enjoy. Makes the whole process more fun :2 cents:

Agreed! When we sold there were so many emotions. The hardest moment was telling staff about the decision to sell. At the same time I was relieved to not have to carry the stress of an office full of people that rely on me in so many ways. It was a stress that I wasn't comfortable with at that time.

Now the thing I miss the most is my staff (maybe not all of them LOL but at least the key ones). I'd love to be able to walk into my office on Monday and say alright guys lets work on this. Having a group you can work with and get stuff done is something I took for granted.

Shap 07-05-2015 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonofsam (Post 20515850)
Start a business doing something you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life... or something along those lines.



Shap: Do you still have your lambo?

Ferrari! Never had a lambo. Yes I still have it :)

Shap 07-05-2015 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bladewire (Post 20515720)
Right now my biggest business struggle is trusting others in business.

Over the last 15 years I've given ideas to people I've personally worked with in the industry (not so much online) and things worked out great for them. A good few years of income, both of the really successful ones kind of puddled out slowly over time, as a lot of things do. I have a few close people I've known for years that I trust.

But what I've been focussed in on like a laser the last last month now, none of them can help with as it's a small programming glitch in a software solution for adult. I've put 2 things together that nobody has thought of, and a little bit of code is getting in the way of them working perfectly together, creating the final solution. Fully open source license, all clear. The bit of code I need made, or will create myself, will not be open source.

I'm afraid that if I get a freelancer they will put 2 & 2 together and run with it. My biggest struggle right now is trusting others.

The second struggle I'm seeing ahead, is implementing it in such a way that it gains traction before being copied by others that clearly don't have the best interest of our industry / community at heart. I'm not that guy that has those connections. While it will make a ton of money and turn things around for many people, and I have the enthusiastic support of my biller (NDA), I want it to go right and fly into what it's meant to be, not being stifled by my lack of connections.

Aside from that life is great and Happy 4th of July everybody !! :-D

If you'd like any feedback feel free to drop me an email.

Jane-Busty.pl 07-05-2015 04:47 AM

Have in mind, offline is online's biggest enemy.

Don't let Your biz, which is an online reality, grow with huge offline ballast on the sides.

Spend time and money on Your online reality, get rid of offline heavy ballasts.

Cut off as much as You can from offline which surrounded Your online.

You'll be surprised how much offline shit is around Your biz and sucks on it like vampire.

Then You will be healthy again. ;-)

http://3wasonnet.com/tour/photos/gfy...andstripes.jpg

Feng-PD 07-05-2015 05:02 AM

Getting bought traffic to convert. Tried loads of shit without any success.

Shap 07-05-2015 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane-Busty.pl (Post 20515986)
Have in mind, offline is online's biggest enemy.

Don't let Your biz, which is an online reality, grow with huge offline ballast on the sides.

Spend time and money on Your online reality, get rid of offline heavy ballasts.

Cut off as much as You can from offline which surrounded Your online.

You'll be surprised how much offline shit is around Your biz and sucks on it like vampire.

Then You will be healthy again. ;-)

http://3wasonnet.com/tour/photos/gfy...andstripes.jpg

I don't really understand what you are saying. What problems is offline causing people?

Shap 07-05-2015 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane-Busty.pl (Post 20515986)
Have in mind, offline is online's biggest enemy.

Don't let Your biz, which is an online reality, grow with huge offline ballast on the sides.

Spend time and money on Your online reality, get rid of offline heavy ballasts.

Cut off as much as You can from offline which surrounded Your online.

You'll be surprised how much offline shit is around Your biz and sucks on it like vampire.

Then You will be healthy again. ;-)

http://3wasonnet.com/tour/photos/gfy...andstripes.jpg

I think your use of the word ballast is incorrect and making this hard to understand.

Shap 07-05-2015 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feng-PD (Post 20515993)
Getting bought traffic to convert. Tried loads of shit without any success.

Where are you buying from? What are you trying to sell?

RummyBoy 07-05-2015 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane-Busty.pl (Post 20515986)
Have in mind, offline is online's biggest enemy.

Don't let Your biz, which is an online reality, grow with huge offline ballast on the sides.

Spend time and money on Your online reality, get rid of offline heavy ballasts.

Cut off as much as You can from offline which surrounded Your online.

You'll be surprised how much offline shit is around Your biz and sucks on it like vampire.

Then You will be healthy again. ;-)

This makes so little sense that I'm inclined to think there is a higher probability that you are the girl in the picture :1orglaugh

MaDalton 07-05-2015 05:21 AM

Getting people to answer their mails.

Jane-Busty.pl 07-05-2015 05:31 AM

Right, my English may be not easy to understand.
It is enough when You understand "Offline is online's biggest enemy".

Calculate the time and/or money You spend on offline things surrounding Your online biz then You will notice, Your biz is affected by so much of the offline shit. But Your biz does not need it.

At least You like the pics. Do You? ;-)

http://3wasonnet.com/tour/photos/gfy/themost.jpg

Shap 07-05-2015 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane-Busty.pl (Post 20516006)
Right, my English may be not easy to understand.
It is enough when You understand "Offline is online's biggest enemy".

Calculate the time and/or money You spend on offline things surrounding Your online biz then You will notice, Your biz is affected by so much of the offline shit. But Your biz does not need it.

At least You like the pics. Do You? ;-)

http://3wasonnet.com/tour/photos/gfy/themost.jpg

Honestly I don't think offline was ever a problem for my online business. Do you have any examples? Maybe I'm missing something.

And of course Ewa pics are great

Freedom6995 07-05-2015 06:00 AM

Writing a killer cold call email for a mainstream venture.

Shap 07-05-2015 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freedom6995 (Post 20516020)
Writing a killer cold call email for a mainstream venture.

To get clients or investors? Is cold call approach a smart approach?

TwinCities 07-05-2015 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 20516001)
Getting people to answer their mails.

This is a big problem. It shows the unwillingness people have in this industry to truly want to get anything done. In my mind, managing e-mail is a life skill, and many here just don't have it. I respond to every email that needs or should have a response even if its just a "not a good fit right now."

Shap 07-05-2015 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwinCities (Post 20516023)
This is a big problem. It shows the unwillingness people have in this industry to truly want to get anything done. In my mind, managing e-mail is a life skill, and many here just don't have it. I respond to every email that needs or should have a response even if its just a "not a good fit right now."

I fail so miserably at this "life skill"

I like to refer to it as a never ending virus lol

Freedom6995 07-05-2015 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shap (Post 20516022)
To get clients or investors? Is cold call approach a smart approach?

For selling advertising on a travel site.

When I'm in the area I can knock on the door, but there is a far bigger market to reach, so working on the email approach. Struggling to find the tone atm.

mineistaken 07-05-2015 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 20516001)
Getting people to answer their mails.

:2 cents:
This is amazing. So many businesses do not reply to emails. Losing deals left and right.
If you are my employee and you do not reply to emails - you are fired.
Leaving money on the table like that...

femdomdestiny 07-05-2015 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sojproductions (Post 20515955)
Traffic from affiliates, we used to have stacks of good affiliates, most are on auto pilot nowadays and new affiliates dont seem to be interested in our main niche even though it still sells well :/

Change the format of affiliate newsletter. Put pics in it, we don't have a time to copy paste every link to see is it good for next update. Also, add descriptions of every gallery (few sentences) so we can copy-paste (with some text changes).

Simply, see how cashkaboom is doing.

wehateporn 07-05-2015 06:45 AM

I don't sit properly in my chair

Shap 07-05-2015 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by femdomdestiny (Post 20516032)
Change the format of affiliate newsletter. Put pics in it, we don't have a time to copy paste every link to see is it good for next update. Also, add descriptions of every gallery (few sentences) so we can copy-paste (with some text changes).

Simply, see how cashkaboom is doing.

Great actionable feedback :)

Shap 07-05-2015 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mineistaken (Post 20516029)
:2 cents:
This is amazing. So many businesses do not reply to emails. Losing deals left and right.
If you are my employee and you do not reply to emails - you are fired.
Leaving money on the table like that...

Agreed 100% however at the same time how much time is wasted on email? As an example I like MaDalton but when I had Twistys I had 15 madaltons hounding me on email. Eventually you tune out and only tune back in when you need something.

Email is very hard to master imo. I imagine if you are strictly a sales person email should be your specialty. For me it's always been a struggle

Barefootsies 07-05-2015 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shap (Post 20515962)
At the same time I was relieved to not have to carry the stress of an office full of people that rely on me in so many ways. It was a stress that I wasn't comfortable with at that time.

That right there is a HUGE responsibility, and I also am glad to be out from under it. A few years back I had 5 part timers, 2 full times, a handful of programmers and designers working on all of my projects. Between servers + programming + payroll I was carrying a lot of responsibility and monthly expense. It was very very stressful having these people livelihood in your hands.

In the past 18+ months, I have had a lot of change and people close to me or that I have known through the years pass away. It has given me a lot of perspective considering I will be 43 this year on how I would like to spend the last 1/3rd of my life.

I have cut almost all staff, server expenses by 90%, and scaled back and back and back to the point that through automation I can still attempt to live a decent lifestyle without that huge monthly recurring nut you have to carry on your shoulders. I am honestly very relived.

What I had thought I wanted a couple of years ago, is not really what I want now. I would much rather invest in life experience (weekend trips, vacations, traveling) and free time with a comfortable life and my friends versus working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, trying to be the next (fill in the blank). I am much happier now.

:pimp

Shap 07-05-2015 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 20516043)
That right there is a HUGE responsibility, and I also am glad to be out from under it. A few years back I had 5 part timers, 2 full times, a handful of programmers and designers working on all of my projects. Between servers + programming + payroll I was carrying a lot of responsibility and monthly expense. It was very very stressful having these people livelihood in your hands.

In the past 18+ months, I have had a lot of change and people close to me or that I have known through the years pass away. It has given me a lot of perspective considering I will be 43 this year on how I would like to spend the last 1/3rd of my life.

I have cut almost all staff, server expenses by 90%, and scaled back and back and back to the point that through automation I can still attempt to live a decent lifestyle without that huge monthly recurring nut you have to carry on your shoulders. I am honestly very relived.

What I had thought I wanted a couple of years ago, is not really what I want now. I would much rather invest in life experience (weekend trips, vacations, traveling) and free time with a comfortable life and my friends versus working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, trying to be the next (fill in the blank). I am much happier now.

:pimp

That is amazing and well said. It's also amazing when you realize what you thought you wanted wasn't really what you wanted.

I also think a lot of people get stuck chasing something they don't want because of their life situation (is spouse pressure etc)

Barefootsies 07-05-2015 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freedom6995 (Post 20516020)
Writing a killer cold call email for a mainstream venture.

Email marketing has a lot of moving parts. The application could be amazing, but you still have to worry about ip reputation management, delivery plus getting past spam filters, then there is just having good offers and conversions not to mention the source lists to mail. That is just the tip of the iceberg. All of those can easily be overcome assuming you have the budget and time to learn. But most don't.

Good luck on the venture top notch.

:thumbsup

mineistaken 07-05-2015 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shap (Post 20516040)
Agreed 100% however at the same time how much time is wasted on email? As an example I like MaDalton but when I had Twistys I had 15 madaltons hounding me on email. Eventually you tune out and only tune back in when you need something.

Email is very hard to master imo. I imagine if you are strictly a sales person email should be your specialty. For me it's always been a struggle

Yeah, that is the problem. When you (as business owner/ceo) do not have time for emails. Solution is to delegate them to someone in your company who has more time or who's hours are cheaper. Try not to give out your own email too much etc.

Ps: there is a difference between emails that try to sell you something and emails that buys. It is not a big deal to ignore selling emails, but ignoring emails from buying customers is completely different matter. Many companies do that, it amazed me for years :)

Barefootsies 07-05-2015 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shap (Post 20516044)
It's also amazing when you realize what you thought you wanted wasn't really what you wanted.

Yep. I simply had gotten so caught up in the chase, I did not realize that I could do most of what I really wanted now while I am healthy enough to do it (i.e. traveling). Why chase down $5 million dollar dreams that could be 5/10/20 years away when you can do them making a $100/200/300k?

It seems almost laughable now that I did not see I already had the keys in my hand to what it was I really wanted, and was simply not using them because I had built this prison of responsibility and took my eyes off the ball. I simply was spending 90% of my time on work, and little time on myself or my own happiness.

Barefootsies 07-05-2015 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mineistaken (Post 20516049)
Ps: there is a difference between emails that try to sell you something and emails that buys. It is not a big deal to ignore selling emails, but ignoring emails from buying customers is completely different matter. Many companies do that, it amazed me for years :)

Quickly to your point, that is you're assuming they actually get them.

Most of the emails I receive from an adult oriented company end up in my spam folder. I do occasionally peek in there, and assuming your on that first page I might see it. But if not, you could be easily missed depending on how much spam that person gets. I find many, not all, adult webmasters dump their pornographer.com emails into a Gmail account. So they will end up being shit canned more often than not by default.

Food for thought.

:upsidedow

Markul 07-05-2015 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sojproductions (Post 20515955)
Traffic from affiliates, we used to have stacks of good affiliates, most are on auto pilot nowadays and new affiliates dont seem to be interested in our main niche even though it still sells well :/

If you have hosted mp4 files I can get you both traffic and affiliates :thumbsup hit me up: markul (att1) easyxsites.com :pimp

Shap 07-05-2015 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markul (Post 20516055)
If you have hosted mp4 files I can get you both traffic and affiliates :thumbsup hit me up: markul (att1) easyxsites.com :pimp

sojproductions is getting great feedback and offers here :)

mineistaken 07-05-2015 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 20516052)
Quickly to your point, that is you're assuming they actually get them.

Most of the emails I receive from an adult oriented company end up in my spam folder. I do occasionally peek in there, and assuming your on that first page I might see it. But if not, you could be easily missed depending on how much spam that person gets. I find many, not all, adult webmasters dump their pornographer.com emails into a Gmail account. So they will end up being shit canned more often than not by default.

Food for thought.

:upsidedow

Fair point, but if you run business and provide email to customers - make sure you do not miss any email in your spam folder or whatever.
I mean does it make any business sense to lose half of your customers just because you can not take care of your spam folder?
Spam folder is not an excuse :2 cents:

Shap 07-05-2015 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mineistaken (Post 20516059)
Fair point, but if you run business and provide email to customers - make sure you do not miss any email in your spam folder or whatever.
I mean does it make any business sense to lose half of your customers just because you can not take care of your spam folder?
Spam folder is not an excuse :2 cents:

Agreed!!

Barefootsies 07-05-2015 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mineistaken (Post 20516059)
Spam folder is not an excuse

True dat top notch.

However, I am just talking from experience. Most of the adult domain related emails I see are junk boxed. Not because I put them there, the gmail filters do. I do try and check my spam folder every now and then to see if there is something in there that shouldn't be. But, not everyone does that.

The better solution as a business owner (you) would be to make sure your emails are hitting the inbox, and finding a way to track openers and such that way you know they are, or are not, receiving and reading them. You would then be able to follow up accordingly if your emails are not being opened or read. That would actually be a better solution for you if this is a major problem for you as discussed versus waiting on them, assuming they read and do not reply, etc.. It's a no-brainer based on your example.

In short, you invest in your business and take a more proactive approach if this is so critical in regard to them actually being able to receive and read your emails. Especially if it's costing you thousands or whatever was previously cited. For a few bucks, you could resolve this, and follow up by IM or phone if it was that important.

:2 cents:

MaDalton 07-05-2015 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shap (Post 20516040)
Agreed 100% however at the same time how much time is wasted on email? As an example I like MaDalton but when I had Twistys I had 15 madaltons hounding me on email. Eventually you tune out and only tune back in when you need something.

Email is very hard to master imo. I imagine if you are strictly a sales person email should be your specialty. For me it's always been a struggle

it is one thing when someone just sends out emails as a cold call but when someone asks me to make an offer and then - after spending my time and efforts to put everything together - doesn't even have the courtesy to reply "sorry, not what I was looking for", I find it outright rude - no matter who big the income imbalance is.

I worked for large mainstream companies and this is not what I was taught - but I notice it a lot among people that always just worked on their own/online.

MaDalton 07-05-2015 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 20516062)
True dat top notch.

However, I am just talking from experience. Most of the adult domain related emails I see are junk boxed. Not because I put them there, the gmail filters do. I do try and check my spam folder every now and then to see if there is something in there that shouldn't be. But, not everyone does that.

The better solution as a business owner (you) would be to make sure your emails are hitting the inbox, and finding a way to track openers and such that way you know they are, or are not, receiving and reading them. You would then be able to follow up accordingly if your emails are not being opened or read. That would actually be a better solution for you if this is a major problem for you as discussed versus waiting on them, assuming they read and do not reply, etc.. It's a no-brainer based on your example.

In short, you invest in your business and take a more proactive approach if this is so critical in regard to them actually being able to receive and read your emails. Especially if it's costing you thousands or whatever was previously cited. For a few bucks, you could resolve this, and follow up by IM or phone if it was that important.

:2 cents:

I check my spam folder every day, it is the nature of our business that make emails end up in there, can't avoid it completely.

and i started using Sidekick by HubSpot - The Ultimate Email Advantage for important emails to see whether they were opened

Barefootsies 07-05-2015 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaDalton (Post 20516070)
i started using Sidekick by HubSpot - The Ultimate Email Advantage for important emails to see whether they were opened

My point exactly. If you're using email as your main POC, than spending a few bucks invested in tracking those emails so you can follow up accordingly by IM or phone whatever seems like a sound proactive business no-brainer.

:2 cents:

mineistaken 07-05-2015 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 20516062)
The better solution as a business owner (you) would be to make sure your emails are hitting the inbox, and finding a way to track openers and such that way you know they are, or are not, receiving and reading them. You would then be able to follow up accordingly if your emails are not being opened or read. That would actually be a better solution for you if this is a major problem for you as discussed versus waiting on them, assuming they read and do not reply, etc.. It's a no-brainer based on your example.

In short, you invest in your business and take a more proactive approach if this is so critical in regard to them actually being able to receive and read your emails. Especially if it's costing you thousands or whatever was previously cited. For a few bucks, you could resolve this, and follow up by IM or phone if it was that important.

:2 cents:

Actually it is the other way around.
THEY should make sure they read buyers emails, not buyer (me). If I send 5 emails to 5 companies trying to buy one thing and only 2 replies - I pick and buy from one of the 2. Those 3 that did not reply - lost possible sale.
It is not my problem to make sure that THEY received my buying lead. It is their problem, not mine. I am not going out of my way (tracking openers etc) to convince that they should take my money.
And when I AM on the receiving end (people send buying request to me) I am 100% sure to catch every single one of those emails. They do not need any tracking openers when sending to me as well.

Tracking openers is for those who send emails trying to SELL things :)
And as we agreed - answering to emails that sells you something is not that crucial.

When I send emails trying to sell something I am perfectly fine knowing that many of them will not reply. That is kind of normal.
When I send emails trying to buy something - I am amazed that some do not reply.

geedub 07-05-2015 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSquealer (Post 20515646)
Finding that drive, hunger and motivation again. That drive that made me lose track of time, work 18 hr days and realize I forgot to eat that day because I was so engrossed in what I was doing.

I miss this too.

Shap 07-05-2015 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geedub (Post 20516094)
I miss this too.

What changed that caused you to lose it?

RSD 07-05-2015 09:01 AM

Marketing for Zwipper.com, so it becomes the no1 ads website all over the world!

takethebluepill 07-05-2015 09:25 AM

Honest answer....finding sites to promote that I can feel good about promoting. There is so much crap out there that offers nothing more to the surfer then a weight loss plan for their wallets.

I'm speaking mainly about dating sites, as I tend to spend most of my efforts in that niche. But in the adult arena there are really only 2 that I would ever consider dealing with....Ashley Madison and Adult Friend Finder. Sure, on AFF, the ratio is about 1 female to 20 males....but there are real females, which is more then I can say for the rest of the crap out there.

THe industry as a whole is so terribly dated and stale. The general business strategy seems to be to treat the actual product as an afterthought...as long as we can get some money out of each surfer before they realize that we really aren't offering anything new.

It may be porn, but that doesn't mean that my normal business ethics and morals need to be thrown out the window. And in this industry, its very hard to find that balance.

BigFurry 07-05-2015 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by takethebluepill (Post 20516111)
I'm speaking mainly about dating sites, as I tend to spend most of my efforts in that niche. But in the adult arena there are really only 2 that I would ever consider dealing with....Ashley Madison and Adult Friend Finder. Sure, on AFF, the ratio is about 1 female to 20 males....but there are real females, which is more then I can say for the rest of the crap out there.

On the other hand, there are lots of honest porn paysites, that are upfront, give tons of exclusive content to their members, and don't do anything shady.

Ironic, isn't it?

Relentless 07-05-2015 09:48 AM

Building a sales force in a new industry. I'm finding I can sell the product but I'm having a hard time finding other people able to sell effectively as well. Now sorting out whether I can automate some of the process so I can sell more, or build a better training program and tools so they can sell more, or both.

The Porn Nerd 07-05-2015 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 20516043)
That right there is a HUGE responsibility, and I also am glad to be out from under it. A few years back I had 5 part timers, 2 full times, a handful of programmers and designers working on all of my projects. Between servers + programming + payroll I was carrying a lot of responsibility and monthly expense. It was very very stressful having these people livelihood in your hands.

In the past 18+ months, I have had a lot of change and people close to me or that I have known through the years pass away. It has given me a lot of perspective considering I will be 43 this year on how I would like to spend the last 1/3rd of my life.

I have cut almost all staff, server expenses by 90%, and scaled back and back and back to the point that through automation I can still attempt to live a decent lifestyle without that huge monthly recurring nut you have to carry on your shoulders. I am honestly very relived.

What I had thought I wanted a couple of years ago, is not really what I want now. I would much rather invest in life experience (weekend trips, vacations, traveling) and free time with a comfortable life and my friends versus working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, trying to be the next (fill in the blank). I am much happier now.

:pimp

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barefootsies (Post 20516051)
Yep. I simply had gotten so caught up in the chase, I did not realize that I could do most of what I really wanted now while I am healthy enough to do it (i.e. traveling). Why chase down $5 million dollar dreams that could be 5/10/20 years away when you can do them making a $100/200/300k?

It seems almost laughable now that I did not see I already had the keys in my hand to what it was I really wanted, and was simply not using them because I had built this prison of responsibility and took my eyes off the ball. I simply was spending 90% of my time on work, and little time on myself or my own happiness.

This is a brilliant post because it shows what can happen in this Industry (and I am assuming other online businesses as well). I too did the same thing building my little paysite empire. I started with 2 sites and now I have 88. LOL But I was spending 16 hours a day, 7 days a week doing this shit. I had resisted for years opening an office and hiring in-house employees EXACTLY for the reasons you outlined BF.

So now I take days off, travel, use the freedom online work gives you, etc. I am MUCH happier now. Do I still obsess over my business? Yes, every single day. But I found that balance so it's all good.


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