Jake and Allie. Allie and Jake. In the world of adult entertainment, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. You know Jake as the backbone of NaughtyBank and Allie as the gorgeous star and operator of NaughtyAllie. She’s the queen of the amateur niche. He’s a former Marine (which would explain the haircut and work ethic) who ran a failed dot-com startup. He didn’t come out of that dot-com empty handed though. Jake met his wife and business partner while working at the company, in some senses parlaying that failed business venture into a marriage that lead to a swinging lifestyle and a wildly successful adult business. Not a bad return on investment, if I may say so myself.
What’s it like being a Marine?
Jake: It was an incredible growth experience. The time I spent in the Marines gave me the tools and instilled the character traits that have gotten me to where I am today. I had the opportunityto do a broad range of things, from serving as an infantryman to being a public relations officer for one of the highest commands in the Marine Corps.
What’s it like being married to a Marine? Is he militant? A disciplinarian?
Allie: I have to admit that at times it can be a little frustrating, since I’m a bit more free spirited than Jake. He’s extremely anal about everything that goes into our sites and the program. He’s a perfectionist—which means in order to get everything just right, we both usually end up working 14 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Although it’s a little annoying, I realize that we achieved this level of success by being so particular about everything that we do. He’s only militant with his computer when it doesn’t want to cooperate with him.
How did you get started in the adult industry?
Jake: Allie and I were both working for an Internet startup that specialized in providing downloadable photo, video, and audio content to the mainstream entertainment industry. It was a sound business model, but the company lacked sufficient startup capital to keep it afloat. The company went under after burning through its initial seed money in less than six months. We both began spending a lot of time online searching for employment opportunities. That’s when I received an unsolicited email from a well-known, live-cam site. I went to check out the site and noticed at the bottom of the page it read: “Click here to earn $20 for each referred free sign-up.” That was back in 2000, and I guess you could consider that day to be the beginning of our new career in the adult industry.
What’s it like being swingers? Is there any jealousy?
Allie: It’s pretty much like dating, only we’re a couple dating other people together. Divorce statistics are staggering and usually a result of infidelity, but it’s not sex that breaks up these marriages; it’s the deceit that accompanies it. Monogamy simply isn’t natural, so why fight it? In our case, we’re honest with each other, and there’s no lying or cheating involved. We’ve never had any jealousy issues. You can’t have a jealous personality and enjoy this lifestyle. It takes a special type of person. If either partner has anyinsecurities about themselves or the relationship, it just won’t work.
Are there ground rules?
Allie: We both have to agree on the other person or persons involved, we only do it as a couple, and No. 1, we always use protection.
How did you guys get into the swinging lifestyle?
Jake: Our relationship was getting serious, and I mentioned that I didn’t see myself in a completely monogamous relationship at any point. I had never done the swinging thing because I had never been in a serious relationship, I had just dated. I suggested it and she was like, “no fucking way. That’s not the kind of thing I’m into.” I dropped it, but then she read an article in one of her women’s magazines about a woman being with another woman, and for some reason it seemed to make her more receptive to it.
Allie: I really liked Jake and I wanted to move forward, so I thought I’d try it. I figured if I liked it that would be good, and if I didn’t, then maybe we weren’t meant to be.
Jake: I was thinking that it wasn’t going to happen and she brought it up a couple months later and wanted to give it a try, so we registered a profile on AdultFriendFinder.
What was your first time like?
Allie: It was awesome. I was really nervous, but the couple we met was really hot and really cool. They knew it was our first time, so they made the whole experience easy and relaxing. It was amazing to watch Jake with another woman, and I think he felt the same about watching me with another man.
Talk about the amateur niche. It seems to be quite competitive.
Allie: In terms of the number of sites in the niche, it is quite competitive. If you follow the niche at all, then you’re well aware of how many new amateur sites are popping up every day. You’ll also notice that most of them quietly fade away just as quickly. It really takes a lot of perseverance to be successful in the niche today.
How do you stay on top?
Jake: You need to market yourself more aggressively than your competitors. You can offer the best product and support in the world, but if nobody knows about it, you’re not going to be successful. Sometimes you just have to take a shotgun approach. Our marketing motto is “test, test, test, and then test some more.” Test market yourself in every conceivable place at every possible opportunity. You’re going to lose money on some ad campaigns, but that’s just the cost of doing business. This is really a strange industry that doesn’t necessarily follow conventional wisdom. Some of our most successful marketing campaigns have been the ones that we thought, “What the hell? Let’s give this a shot and see what happens.”
How can it be called amateur when you’re making money?
Jake: That’s a question we hear people asking a lot. My definition of an amateur site is one where the girl produces the content, maintains the site, and personally interacts with her members. If you don’t have those three elements, then you don’t have a genuine amateur site.
You used to say that you’d never add another girl’s site to your program. Now you have NaughtyJulie. What made you change your mind?
Jake: You’re right: I’ve always been very adamant about never taking on a site for another girl. Julie is definitely the exception to the rule. She has a great head for business, a magnetic personality, and she’s smoking hot. She produces some of the best amateur content on the Web. With Julie it was pretty much a no-brainer, it was simply an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up.
Who do you look up to in this business?
Jake: Ron Cadwell and Chris Mallick. These are the true pioneers of the industry. They’re the ones who’ve been on the forefront helping to forge the IPSP model and in doing so have enabled a processing solution for those who otherwise would not have had any options. Without the IPSPs, the barrier to entry would be far too great of an obstacle for most people entering the business. I can recall when we first started NaughtyAllie back in April 2003. We looked at setting up a merchant account, but most of the banks wouldn’t touch you unless you were doing at least $100,000 a month. That’s a huge number for someone just starting out. I wouldn’t even want to guess how many successful businesses have been launched as a result of the efforts of these two guys.
If you were ever on the cover of Forbes, what would you want the headline to read?
Allie: Yeah, that I’d like to see, an amateur porn company featured on the cover of Forbes. I guess the headline would read, “NaughtyAllie: From Girl Next Door To Adult Internet Entrepreneur!”
