You can thank an AdultFriendFinder banner for Sleazy. Essentially, that's how the Gimli, Manitoba (pop. 2,000,) native came to be in the adult world, but more on that later.
Scott Hjorleifson, aka Sleazy of SleazyDream.com fame, has built a rare combination of persona and business that are equally powerful in the online adult space.
The name Sleazy probably conjures up images of an intimidator, but his business, SleazyDream.com, has nonetheless become one of the monsters on the TGP landscape.
Hjorleifson, whose father owned a gravel pit and was its only employee, came to the industry in 2000—a successful financial planner with a B.A. in criminology and a TGP habit. Since then, he's built his site and his personal brand into very recognizable names.
Never shy, Hjorleifson speaks his mind in person or in his favorite forum: GFY. He's an astute, no-bullshit observer of the industry.
At times he looks like a bully, but those who know him know that he's quite the opposite–generous, kind, and fun.
Shit, the secret's out.
MJ McMahon: How's the TGP game today?
Scott Hjorleifson: It's stronger than ever. I've found my income to be stable or increasing ever since I've started in the TGP game. The longer I stay in it, the more traffic I get and the better my bottom line is.
Is it self-perpetuating or do you have to constantly work at it?
Both. One of the things about the TGP game is you have to be on it every single day or you're not going to go anywhere. You have to maintain relationships. You have to maintain a presence within the industry or nobody is going to know who you are. You're not going to get noticed. You're not going to get listed. Even with paid listings, relationships are the key to this business, as they are with any business when you're working for yourself.
Why porn? Is it the women?
I used to buy porn, but no more than the typical guy. It's the marketing that appeals to me. It was an emerging marketplace and exciting. But I love women and am an incurable flirt. Probably always will be.
How long have you been working in the adult industry and how did you get here?
I started full time at the beginning of 2000 and was part time for about two years before that. I was a financial planner before that. I came into the industry by selling cigarette lighters on eBay. At that time, they allowed you to have banner ads, and I put one up to AdultFriendFinder and I started clearing $1,000 a month on them. Then I was looking through eBay in the adult section. They had all this stuff for free porn, but it was garbage. I was surfing TGPs at the time, knew they were great, so I put together an information kit listing the biggest TGPs and basically told people how to use them to get free porn and sold it for $5. Suddenly, I was making about $2,000 a month in cash. The funny thing was, I also made $2,000 or more on the ad for AdultFriendFinder on those auctions. After a few months of doing that I realized eBay doesn't have all the traffic on the Internet. I saw all the traffic on these TGPs and everyone was whining that they could get 100,000 hits and not make any money, so I decided that rather than sell free porn, I'm going to give away porn and sell a dating service. The rest is history.
Why the name SleazyDream for both your site and your persona?
My persona was named after my site. I didn't pick Sleazy for myself; people just immediately started calling me that. When I started in 2000, all of the good one-word domains were gone. There was, and probably still are, tons of words you can put together to make a cool name. The two sites I looked at when I started were GermanHardcore and NightRider. Both of them were just two words put together to make something that sounded cool, so I came up with about 30 words, paired them with each other in different combinations and SleazyDream just popped up.
How important is it to keep your finger on the pulse of the webmaster community?
If you want to be in any business you have to have an understanding of the business and the people that are in it. The pulse of the community on a per-second basis really is GFY and that's where I spend the majority of my time, for that aspect. You have to know what's going on to be able to act appropriately.
What's the key to success in the TGP market?
When I was in insurance, one of my sales managers who made a lot of money said something that always stuck with me. People used to say he was really lucky and his reply was, "It's really funny, the harder I work, the luckier I get."
What is your opinion on the state of the adult Internet industry—slow down or upswing?
The industry as a whole, in the last couple years, has leveled off. I'm seeing more than anything [that] companies are consolidating. The industry is maturing. I don't think there's less money out there, I just think it's winding up more in the pockets of the people who know what they're doing, more so than those that fell into this.
With more and more TGPs popping up, how do you stay on top?
I've never really ranked myself as being on top. I've never really cared what other people are doing. I think you can wind up running around in circles and beating yourself to death worrying about what's happening at someone else's business. All I really care about is my own bottom line. That's what I focus on.
Why have TGPs suddenly become so popular?
TGPs were always popular trafficwise. One of the things that keeps TGPs in business is bookmarks. The reason is, you always want a surfer coming back. People say, "Oh my God, they're just looking for free porn," but if you get in front of a surfer first that day, you have a better chance of selling them something. It's why search engine traffic is valuable, it's why type-in traffic is valuable, and it's why bookmark traffic is valuable. So TGPs that have been around for a long time, of course, grow as they get more and more bookmarkers and more and more of a following. TGPs are getting more popular as more people find out about them. From a sponsor standpoint – not to degrade the fact that we are getting more and more traffic these days – but as things like email and spyware installs become more difficult and there's more heat on people working in those markets, sponsors are forced to look for other areas to advertise their products to generate the same revenue. TGPs have been relatively safe in traffic generation and stable, and it's opening up a lot of eyes in the marketplace.
What are your work hours?
I don't like mornings. [laughs] I generally do most of the stuff I have to do around the house in the afternoon and I work in the evening. I'm really a nighthawk.
What's the best advice you've ever gotten?
The best advice in this business came from [Legendary] Lars. I met him near the beginning and he told me, if you want to sell porn to someone, you need to get in front of the surfer first that day. As I said before, that's why certain types of traffic are valuable and that's why certain types of TGPs are more valuable than others. A TGP that has more bookmarks and type-ins is more valuable than a TGP that has all traded traffic.
What's the worst advice?
The worst advice I've ever gotten has probably been to diversify. An uncle of mine made millions of dollars in the '60s in the concrete business, and he diversified into several other businesses as well. He was a genius in his own business and made piles of money in it, but every time he went outside of that, he lost his shirt. What he told me then was, focus on what you know. Just because you're good at one thing, doesn't mean you're good at everything. A lot of people that are successful get caught up in that. I've had many deals where I've lost enormous amounts of money on that basis, so I'm now trying to stick to what I know. A lot of people say diversify, diversify, diversify? there's some intelligence to that, but diversifying outside of the field that you know is often a disaster.
How do you stay motivated?
I find conventions motivate me more than anything. I live in a town – Winnipeg – where I'm in the top 1 percent of income earned. When I go to conventions, I realize what other people are doing and what they've achieved; it sets the bar for what I need to go after.
Office fashion: Armani suits or Hawaiian shirt?
Hawaiian shirts. There are two kinds of guys that can wear a Hawaiian shirt—gay guys and big, fat party animals.
What role does GFY play in your life? In your business?
When GFY just started getting big, there was a convention in Montreal, and Eric Matis, marketing director for GFY, was talking to three or four major pay site owners. He was describing GFY as a place you can go to network yourself, show a good image for your company, and that it is great exposure with the right kind of clientele. You have to carry yourself with a certain amount of respect and dignity. And then he turned to me and says, "and this fucker, he goes there for sport." That's been my philosophy on GFY since day one. I've never gone there for business at any point. That's not to say I haven't gotten an enormous amount of business from GFY, but I've never used it that way. It's recreation.
Is there something to be said for pissing people off on GFY?
I don't necessarily go to GFY to piss someone off on purpose. I do go trolling to see if I can get into an argument. I love to argue, and if I disagree with someone or I see something I think is stupid, I tell them as such. The problem is, people tend to take that rather personally, so it does create some drama.
Have you ever gone too far?
Yes. I made a comment to Choker that I felt was distasteful and I did apologize for.
Anyone else you'd like to apologize to?
No. The rest of them can take it in the face.
Do you think you intimidate other people in the industry?
I'm told that I do, but I don't do it on purpose. I'm a big guy – 6 foot 4 inches – and I have a large presence. Add to that my GFY exposure, and I guess to some people that's intimidating. If someone feels that way it's solely them and not me.
Do you feel like you're misunderstood at all? If so, do you care?
In my reality, the only thing I can control is me, and I'm not even very good at doing that. I have no idea what others perceive me as—that's their problem.
Why did you start the Ambush Interview?
I went to GFY for three or four days straight, and there was absolutely no relevant information to the industry. I found, at that point, the board was taking a turn in that it was just complete garbage—people were talking about movies, their dates, and which girl was hot. I said to myself, I'm either going to turn this off and walk away completely or I'm going to contribute something to get the tone back to where GFY had been—to not only make it fun, but to give people something they can use in the industry and enjoy.
Is it strange being on the other side?
Not really; I've gone through interviews before.
Do you ever get sick of the Canadian winters?
Well, I did 50,000 air miles this winter. [laughs] It's harder to get me on a plane in the summer because the summer's here are fantastic, but as soon as the weather starts getting crappy and someone says, "a little get together in Hawaii?" My ass is on that plane.
If you weren't running SleazyDream, what would you be doing?
I was a financial planner with a six-figure income. At this point, I wouldn't go back to that, but I couldn't say if I'd still be doing that or something else. It would be marketing related and I would be working for myself. I'm a marketer through and through.
Is there a CEO at a mainstream or adult company that you admire in terms of business insight or for what he or she has achieved?
Andrew Conru
Looking back to when you started in this business, is there anything you would have done differently?
I wouldn't have picked the name SleazyDream. I would have picked something more mainstream, similar to The Hun, that I could market and talk about in a nonadult environment and not get tagged.
Have any advice for future business leaders out there?
Don't do what everyone says, but listen to what everyone says.
If you were to one day be on the cover of Forbes, what would you like the headline to read? Good question. [laughs] I have no idea. I've never looked at my success from that standpoint. I've always looked at it as, I'd rather be the quiet power behind the scenes. I'm fine to have people in my industry know who I am and have some recognition for that, but with the general public, I'd rather be behind the scenes.
