Every frontier has its dangers and only the bravest can weather them. The Internet, in spite of AOL and user-friendly GUI's and Java and Flash and Shockwave and the million other bits and pieces of technology meant to ease the experience, is still a frontier. Skye Blue is fast becoming a veteran of frontier battles and, more importantly, a victor.
"Right now it's all new to me and I have just taken on a huge company," she shared recently. "This is a very large firm for having started in April. At that point, I had four people working for me and now I have seventeen.
"Hopefully I'm doing something right," she says, referring to the latest addition to her Website: video chat. One of the things that she and her business partner, Joe Bailey, have done right is learn from early mistakes. The initial set-up company the duo hired went out of business within the first six weeks of the new chat site's launch. And no wonder, since, according to Skye, their software was unreliable and the company's technical support "did not inspire confidence. We were being used as guinea pigs to see if they could market and lease their software," she says. "It was not a pretty picture. Joe and I were in a position where we were trying to sell our company. They didn't even tell us they were selling out." Skye learned about the sale through a friend who used the same service. Only when she called the company from her Las Vegas tattoo parlor was she informed the video server would soon go offline.
Fortunately, a programmer-friend in Florida was able to come to the rescue; re-writing the software and customizing it for the site's specific needs. "It's out of our location, it's off our servers, we do it all ourselves and there's no downloads or plug-ins, none of that stuff," says an enthused Skye.
Where the site had previously averaged $200 a week, within four hours of severance from the old server, the new software was operational, online and within 12 hours, had generated $1200 worth of business. Skye and Joe had learned one of the most important lessons in owning a Website: hire tech workers who know what they're doing and have integrity.
And integrity matters to Skye Blue. "We really pride ourselves on the fact that we really are live. If we do run a tape, it's because every girl is in a show." A "teaser" feed then plays pre-recorded video until one of the girls becomes available. There are currently two feeds broadcasting live video action, a "Sexy Chat" feed for foot and leg fetish talk, and an "Anything Goes" feed where, well... almost anything goes. Girls are not nude but can be booked for private and more explicit shows. Theme rooms and a "Star Lounge," which would feature porn stars once a week, are in the works.
The success of the Websites is nearly all-absorbing for Skye. "It's a full-time job for me. I can barely squeeze in producing or directing any videos now, which is kind of a bummer since I really love doing that. I'm not on the road at all because I can't be. There's just no way. This is now my full-time job: creating live, interactive video chat for adult entertainment that is attractive, has pretty girls, works and is really live."
Fortunately, Skye does find time to exercise some of her other professional skills. She has a video series called Lusty Busty Dolls that she shoots every six weeks to two months that has been picked up by Playboy. She hopes to eventually direct a big picture for either VCA or Wicked once things at the chat studio start to smooth out.
Skye says she's thankful for the loyal tech workers and video girls who've stuck with her through the chaos, as well as the members, including women and couples, who visit the site and enjoy a chat. Currently chat is available from noon to midnight, Pacific Time, and 24-hour chat is planned by the end of the year, once enough girls are on board to staff all hours. In the meantime, as Skye says, "It's nothing but good and better happening with the possibility of even better things to come."
You can check out Skye Blue's work at www.summerskyes.com, and www.livefetishgirls.com.
