So here we are at the combined Vegas show—now combining the Web and video facets of the adult biz.
Is that to be a good thing or a bad thing? Only time will tell.
If there’s one thing that both sides of the business have shared throughout their respective histories, it’s the level of paranoia that has at times on both sides resembled the come-down aftermath of one of my parents LSD and mushroom parties of the ’60s. Having said that, the list of liars, sharks, scammers, con artists, and outright thieves that have come out of the adult business woodwork over the years is a long one.
Betrayal, deceit, misrepresentation, and underhanded dealings – whether we care to admit it or not – have been hallmarks of the business. Scams, even in recent history, have been perpetrated not just by the odd misguided individual but by everyone from the newbie webmaster to experienced and successful operators The level of theft and fraud is also unlimited, stretching from the relatively minor offense of generating a few false hits to make better trades to refusing to pay monies owed up to the millions.
The misdeeds and tentacles of mistrust have spread far and wide, infiltrating every level and even the most remote corners of the business. In their ever-escalating eager and sometimes feverish pursuit of money, power, and fame, overly ambitious men and women have sought the easy path to success that those before them have achieved. Our business, simply because of its differences with mainstream society, reflects human nature in spades.
And no one can hurt you like your friends. I think it was Eisenhower who said "It is better to have your enemies inside your tent pissing out than outside your tent pissing in". In this business of ours, on many occasions, doing business with perceived "enemies" or competitors makes far better sense than doing business with friends. Why? Because there is an innate sense of mistrust when dealing with an enemy, which subconsciously prepares you for when things start going bad. Friends, given the opportunity, will eventually betray you. They will then scurry back to their fundamental loyalties to power, money, and influence with that fantastic cliché, "It's nothing personal, it's just business."
This, of course, is a generalization, but there are many examples of successful business partnerships between people and/or groups of people that make you turn your head and say, "Huh?" Think about it.
The best liars, cheats, and scammers are sociopaths without conscience. They can pass themselves off as "the real deal," whereas more trustworthy, real people, would exhibit the atypical traits of someone doing the wrong thing. The key difference is emotion. Deceptiveness is not only about assertions that are made, but it is as importantly about what is omitted as well. It is almost as Mulder said on The X-Files, "Trust no one."
And so how does this all relate to the adult business as we know it?
Hypothetical # 1
Little Johnny was working for Big Pete in a position of some trust. Little Johnny accessed and stole Big Pete's member database, left Big Pete's employ, and started his own company, making many millions of dollars. Despite such inauspicious beginnings, Little Johnny never makes mention of the deed that got him started.
Hypothetical # 2
When a major services company realizes it has overextended and will not be able to continue trading for long in its current structure, it siphons off money—money that is actually not theirs but owed to clients, to establish a further infrastructure. Then, when the time is ripe, the company flips into the new structure and rips off millions from everyone from the lowliest webmaster to the biggest programs in operation. But it doesn't stop there—the company blackmails the clients to whom it owes money into using the new service by only paying monies owed should the clients participate in the new service.[WHAT???].
Hypothetical # 3
Susan infiltrated a major processing company and extracted its entire billing database. She then sold copies of the database "exclusively" to several major players for sums into the six figures. She has reinvented herself several times since that long-ago scam and most recently pilfered a large number of affiliates from a big company for another company, was caught and summarily fired. A third, totally unrelated company then almost immediately employed her in the same capacity with them.
The above hypotheticals are fictional representations of the types of scenarios that can occur in our industry. This game is one played out often as dinner party fodder whenever you get more than one person in the same room who has been in the adult game for longer than a couple of years. When some real old-school operators are thrown into that dinner party mix, the stories simply get more ribald and entertaining—while losing none of their import or relevance.
The recipe for success in the adult biz is therefore a simple one: Take a lot of hard work, fold in a mix of consistent application and effort, and add some generous portions of skepticism, doubt, and paranoia. Time and energy spent on revenge is far better spent focusing on your own goals so you can more quickly surpass the need to rely on or deal with the perceived miscreants.
I have always lived up to my own reputation, and I back my own knowledge, skills, and ability. I recognized early on that I needed to know who the people to know in this business were, and I needed them to know me, trust me, and support me. I have always believed (and my modicum of success provides proof positive of this) that there is a certain understanding in these matters—you do work, sometimes give favors, and carry out certain undertakings. You know what should be done and what cannot or should not be done, and you know what your return for your effort will be. In return for your hard work and goodwill, you then gain the backing of people with much greater position, wealth, and power. And so you work your way up. And up.
CuriousToyBoy is the affiliate manager for CuriousCash.com and a consultant to LionDollars.com, among various other things online and off. He started in the adult Internet business eas a webmaster in late 1999. Biting the bullet, he went full time in the business in mid-2000 and lived on beans and rice for a long time. He no longer eats neither beans nor rice. Contact CuriousToyBoy on ICQ 293070684 or via email: [email protected].
