Working on a third party cam site, it’s easy to feel like a “virtual street walker” in the cold giving the pimp his undue cut for all your hard work. Why not truly go into business for yourself, book your own Skype shows, and cut out the “pimp” entirely? This can be done alongside your private contracting with an established camgirl site or on your own exclusively. You earn 100% of what you make! You will have to do all the legwork and find your own traffic. But if you’re an experienced, creative and driven internet model this shouldn’t be a problem.
Being an independent camgirl is not for everyone.
Before setting off on your own, you should give yourself ample opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade as well as common customer deceptions. You should be well versed in promoting yourself and already have a handful of devoted regulars who will follow you anywhere.
I recommend at least one year of camming experience on third party sites.
When you go independent, it’s ALL you – no tech support, no one to advocate for you in customer disputes. If you do it right, you won’t need anyone else. You’ll have already prevented the problems that present themselves to the naïve. So in contrast to the 3 Reasons NOT to Start Camming on Skype, here are 3 tips for successful camming on Skype.
TIP #1
Establish your unique model name from day one and scream it across the Internet.
[wp-svg-icons icon=”star-3″ wrap=”i”] Your unique handle should be consistent across your web of social networking sites. This will be essential to obtaining traffic.
Most third party camgirl sites prohibit you from advertising any services you provide outside of their website. This includes your social networking handles (even though they are thrilled when you use those shunned outlets to advertise their site and what work you do for them).
Seasoned customers know to do an internet search for your model name to track down your Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress or personal website. These should alert them to the fact you do Skype shows.
[wp-svg-icons icon=”star-3″ wrap=”i”] Make a ruckus out there with your sexy pictures, use hashtags, and make it clear that you are up for Skype shows! Even if you don’t advertise on official websites for obtaining camshows your social networking/blogs will bring you some traffic. It all begins with your unique name.
Even though you are not allowed to announce your website or any affiliations on most third party cam sites, you can get away with a vague “search for me online…” during a private show, whether someone asks if you “do Skype” or not. 😉
Most members are abhorred to find out how little a model receives of the money they fork over and appreciate the opportunity to give it ALL to you. Independent shows can also save your customers some money, since you don’t have to set your rates as high to pay off the “pimp”.
…but they need to know how to find you first, so begin to weave your web across the internet early on. Keep your handle/performer name consistent so that customers are directed to other sites where they can learn of your Skype sessions.
TIP #2
Never EVER begin a Skype show until you see solid proof of payment.
“…but now that you mention it, Arcana, how the hell DO you get paid for Skype shows?”
Unfortunately, getting paid is the hardest part about being an independent internet model. But it is not impossible, and sometimes it’s actually seamless. There are few options out there for anonymous payment. Also, many major commerce companies (like Paypal) and banks refuse to do business with sex workers due to the unjust stigma that permeates nearly every culture (but that is a topic for another time).
[wp-svg-icons icon=”star-3″ wrap=”i”] Short of setting up your own merchant account via your website, two legit and viable options are:
1. GiftRocket.com (US option only, unfortunately)
A customer can send a cash certificate to your email address. From there, GiftRocket.com can discreetly deposit it into your bank account or mail you a check. It’s as simple as that!
2. Amazon gift cards via Amazon.com
These can also be sent to an email address for your discreet deposit. But they can only be used to purchase items on Amazon.com. While Amazon sells a lot of useful items (from household goods to costumes & wigs to wear on cam), they can’t pay your bills.
(Please feel free to mention in the comments any other lawful and anonymous means of exchanging money on the internet that sex workers can use to receive payment.)
As mentioned in 3 Reasons NOT to Start Camming on Skype, there are a lot of Skype scammers out there. The way around ALL of them is to ensure the payment has gone through and is viable before the session. They will try though… beg you to let them pay half at first and the rest after? Nope! Sends you a screenshot of a receipt for an Amazon giftcard they supposedly just purchased? Nope! (-not until you personally redeem the gift code and see the amount in your account.)
[wp-svg-icons icon=”star-3″ wrap=”i”] The way around scammers is to not allow yourself to be scammed. Simple as that.
TIP #3
Use this as an opportunity to learn more about business, advertising, and marketing yourself.
Yes, the third party sites magically bring you traffic, handle your transactions, assist with promotion. They do this for a very significant cut of your pay. There is no reason why you can’t learn to harness those abilities yourself.
[wp-svg-icons icon=”star-3″ wrap=”i”] Expand your horizons and embrace new knowledge to use to your advantage.
Attend courses, read relevant books and tinker with advertising platforms on your own. It may be time consuming and cost money, but if you retain and utilize what you learn it will end up saving you money in the long run. You’ll learn to obtain your own traffic and promote yourself in the best way possible. There are many different ways to do this. It all depends on how you operate.
[wp-svg-icons icon=”star-3″ wrap=”i”] An independent internet model values her freedom and will pride herself in learning and enacting new skills that benefit her entrepreneurship that much further.
Happy Skyping! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and perhaps some other tips and tricks for the aspiring cam girl mercenary.
Pervoutpay.com is a super sexy work friendly payment option. You can sell cam shows, content, get tips, anything you want. Please use me as your referral if you sign up. I love it. Thanks 🙂
Raven Skye
I use deliverycode wishlist cash vouchers for payment. All of my specials require “Purchase or cash voucher minimum”. I also have regular clients who sometimes like to offline tip with this feature. I get 85% of profits, which is far better than any of the commerical cam sites, and the customer service from the company has been great. They 100% hide my real name and location from customers. And there is an option for it to automatically tweet my wishlist name on my twitter when someone does so. The only issue I have is finding out who sent the payment sometimes because all I see is their email – so I make clear where I advertise my wishlist that people can email or instagram DM me proof of purchase (screen cap or forward email from deliverycode). The money usually hits my account within two days. And I can add items from other areas of the internet to my wishlist.
I also use DeliveryCode for my wishlist, but hadn’t thought of using the cash vouchers to accept payment. Great tip!
SkyPrivate and Paxum are two other payment options worth mentioning. I really like how you pointed out all the life skills a model can learn from camming, it’s something I try to bring up all the time and I don’t think a lot of people realize how many skillsets they’re able to learn.
Fabulous info, Webcam Startup, and thank you for sharing! Yes, it is too easy for people to write you off as some kind of mere “porn floozey” upon hearing that you are an internet model, unaware of just how versatile and skilled one must be to fully sustain your own business as well as navigate the particular issues we face in doing so for being in the adult genre (payment difficulties especially). It becomes essential to expand your knowledge of business in setting out as an independent cam girl which can comport to other professions as well. Thanks again for sharing the other payment options you are aware of. I hope we can help to arm independent camgirls with a slew of ways to be successful and come to rely even less on the third party pimps. 😉 #camgirlsunite