He may just as well be sitting on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific, kicking back, noshing on papaya, watching pretty local girls stroll by; just passing time before the next ocean swell rolls ashore. The only stress is figuring which sun tan lotion to apply.
Instead, he chooses to help adult Webmasters. And though it's in an office and not on a sandy beach, Bob Rice, a.k.a. YNOTBob, (www.ynotbob.com) consistently injects the adult Internet business with a refreshing, hang-loose style that's made him into one of the most well-liked personalities - and a respected voice - in the industry.
Were it not for a little fate and some inspired business negotiations (Rick Muenyong founded YNOT, sold it to Flying Crocodile, Inc., managing company of SexTracker, who then sold YNOT to Rice, Greg "Otto" Geelan, and Gary Grigoryan), Bob would probably still be whipping up a good time at his Mission Beach, Calif. bar and grill, Guava Beach, where he was affectionately known as Guava Bob. In fact, Bob spent 15 years in the restaurant game before jumping hip deep into the adult industry as VP of Webmaster Sales with the San Diego-based YNOT network (www.ynotmasters.com) in 1999.
"From booze to porn," is how Bob jokingly refers to his transition from restaurateur to adult Internet player, where he's adapted past business experience to his new career. "I think the key is, when you're in the restaurant business, it's like the more people you know and the better you treat people and the more comfortable you make them feel... the more business you will get out of it on the other end."
He continues, "If you treat people right, make them feel important, if you give them a good product and you get the word out there, I think that's part of the reason why my restaurant went from doing nothing for sales when I first bought it, to when I left, it was doing over a million dollars."
Not yet familiar with the adult landscape when he arrived, Bob was steadfast in learning the business from A to Z. "I read as much as I possibly could, and I became accustomed to what I was doing and made sure to carry over that motto of 'treat people right, be honest with them, give them a good product and open up as many doors as I possibly can' approach."
When Bob isn't filling the Internet radio waves with a deft blend of helpful news and entertainment (more on that in a minute), he oversees all of the YNOT advertising campaigns, which can total as many as 170 at one time; delivers comprehensive statistic reports; handles all the re-sells; and, perhaps most important, makes sure advertising dollars are maximized to their fullest potential.
"I think YNOT does it like nobody else," says Bob. "When we tell you that a banner is $3,000, we tell you why."
For Bob, the adult industry is but another adventure. This is a guy who has backpacked across Europe and, after graduating college, spent a year traveling the South Pacific with just a surfboard and backpack.
What's most interesting, but not at all surprising, about Bob's career so far is how quickly and easily he's been embraced by the industry. "It happened through osmosis," he lightheartedly remarks. "And it happened because I was eager to learn and eager to meet people."
He adds, "When I came over, Otto goes, 'You need a nickname when you're in this industry,' so I thought, 'I was Guava Bob, I'll just be YNOTBob." And just like that, it was surf's up for the YNOTBob era.
"It just got to where I was having so much fun that I started wanting to do more and go to more shows and meet more people and the advertisers who are spending money with us," says Bob, who also penned a popular weekly article called the "YNOT Wire." "Then we developed the YNOTBob Website and the YNOTBob Hump Day Lunch Show and kind of put it all out there."
Bob's current Internet radio show, which debuted in October 2001, was the offspring of a onetime Friday night show called The YNOTMasters Albumside, which had been around for a number of years. "We ended up stopping that because it had pretty much run its course, and I was listening to a radio show during the day and it was one of the worst things I ever heard," says Bob. "They were getting stoned on the air and talking crap about everybody who weren't even in the room, which I don't think is right... and I was like, 'This is horrible, I hope somebody's not listening to this and thinking this is indicative of adult Internet radio.'"
Bob realized he could do a better job, and immediately pitched an idea for a new radio show to the marketing chief. "I said I could do a better show than this and probably have a whole lot more fun," says Bob. "So, he said, 'Let's do it.' So we did it."
After contacting adult radio pioneer Dokk to set up the programming and tapping a few sponsors, the show was off and running.
Bob's easygoing manner and excitable presence was perfect for the live Internet airwaves. It was a winning formula that proved a big hit from the get go. "When I went into this radio show thing, I didn't want to be like an informative, script school type of show where you sit there for an hour and a half and learn how to build an HTML page, and I didn't want to interview the same five people that everybody interviews every week on their show," says Bob. "I wanted to do something, because it is during the middle of the day, where people could just tune in, and whether they're just listening or chatting, they can just forget about everything for an hour and a half."
And that hour-plus is loaded with music, funny skits, practical jokes, and just a whole lot of fun, with Bob as the master of ceremonies. "It's an up-level, upbeat and positive type of show," he says.
Up-level, upbeat, and positive. That sounds a lot like Bob.
What he possesses is a genuine passion for what he's doing. It's a job, yes, but it's also a chance to reach out and connect with people. You get the sense that he knows he's helping to shape the future of the business, happy to do his part for the revolution.
"It's amazing to me that this industry is still so new," says Bob. "It'd be like getting involved with Henry Ford right after he built his first car. Here I am, part owner of the very first adult resource site on the Internet. That, to me, is amazing."
Bob likes to think about where the adult Internet will be 100 years from now, and he's often amazed at the technological advances he's witnessed of late. "The whole concept of the pay site is going to be changed within the next year or two," he predicts.
Even with the excitement surrounding the early 2003 debut of a brand new YNOTMasters and all of the success he has achieved, Bob imagines a life post-YNOT, setting his sights on new explorations. "Eventually, I see myself down the road selling YNOT and buying myself a nice little house in Mexico and running a fishing business for the rest of my life," he says. "Life is way too short. I lost a mom and a sister... surprisingly and suddenly... so everyday you have to grab it. I mean, look at what happened to Mike Rick. Forty-two years old. Stuff like that really startles me."
While he is quite happy to live each day to the fullest, he keeps a close lookout for the next adventure to embark upon.
His feeling is that he's open to just about anything. "If it's interesting and it's fun for me, I'll give it a whack," says Bob. "I picture myself down in La Paz, Mexico on the Sea of Cortez, inviting friends down and taking them out on the fishing boat and catching marlin all day.
"And if something else comes up and they say, 'Hey Bob, we need some help doing this, can ya' help us?' I'd probably say 'Sure... why not?'"
YNOT indeed.
