When I first started my OF adventure in September, I had a very different concept of how everything would turn out.
I had no intention of launching a course, podcast, model marketplace, or acting as a "connector" in the community.
However, my strategy evolved over time into what it is today: merging the capabilities of recruiters, traffic suppliers, and chatters to create a fully-outsourced agency.
My original plan wasn’t even to focus on OF – I wanted to start a webcam studio.
That didn't go so well, so I decided to restart, this time focused on OF.
This presented its own set of difficulties.
For one thing, I couldn't generate any traffic for my models and couldn't get any subs for her OF - despite the fact that it was free!
By chance, I met someone who was doing well with a model and promised to teach me how to generate traffic using Reddit in return for sending him a model.
You guys know the story by now – but this eventually lead to my partnership with my future partner and the development of my Superstar.
This was my first experience of what it might be like to form alliances with other service providers and let them do their thing.
However, this strategy, like all others, has weaknesses.
In this essay, I'll discuss the five main obstacles I'm presently having in my own OF agency, as well as how I intend to solve them.
PS: If you don't want to waste any time and want to get started right away, click this link to access The Avatar Empire: the #1 OF Agency Course and learn the strategies we use to scale our models to $2,000/day.
After switching from webcam studio to OF agency, my results were awful right off the bat.
I knew little about webcamming and even less about developing a successful OF page.
And, as you might expect:
I spent a frustrating week attempting to obtain some responses from my most communicative model, a 37-year-old MILF who answered to my text messages within 5 minutes.
She was the most dedicated employee I'd ever had, so I sincerely wanted her to succeed.
But no matter what I tried, I couldn't get her any results.
After a week of spamming her content on Reddit, she was sitting at a measly 26 fans.
I couldn't gain her any traction even with a free account.
Sure, part of that was because her content was awful and she refused to take my feedback.
But, seriously, 26 fans?! I thought I could do better than that.
Fortunately, it was at this point that I met my first partner: the "Reddit Genius".
We used to talk about Reddit methods here and there before partnering up, and he was one of the OGs in my Telegram agency owner group.
He was aware of my frustrations, so one day he approached me with an offer: find him a new model, and he would teach me his Reddit method, and we would split the profits.
I decided I had nothing to lose, so I accepted his offer.
Long story short, he achieved excellent results straight away. And, as promised, he taught me his ways.
However, nothing lasts forever.
Our models left, things slowed, and I was obliged to restart... again.
Since then, he has extended his business to provide Reddit accounts, coaching, and traffic services.
He also has at least one really gorgeous model.
We're still working on one model together, but her material isn't performing as well as we expected.
Put yourself in his shoes for a moment:
What would you rather concentrate your efforts on:
It's not a difficult decision to make. And I'm sure if I were in his shoes, I'd do the same thing.
But here's what I'm trying to say:
When you collaborate with others, their contribution is precisely proportionate to the value they receive from the collaboration.
In our situation, the profit share provides the majority of the value gained from our cooperation.
Sure, you could say there’s some peripheral benefit from being my friend, but that’s minor by comparison.
And don’t think that I’m saying that he’s dropped me like a hot potato.
We continue to communicate on a daily basis and have further partnerships in the works, such as a premium model recruitment framework that may be distributed to specific online groups.
But, in terms of the operator-model relationship, it's not the same as it was with the celebrity.
My other operators are having identical problems.
It's not a tremendous leap of logic to suppose that if I worked on their accounts individually and took 70%, I'd put in more time and effort than if I worked on someone else's models for half the price.
An operator's involvement is not directly tied to the percentage they get, but rather to the total amount of money they make.
That appears to be basic sense.
Having a LOWER percentage of profits from managing a successful model is MORE attractive than a HIGHER percentage of profits from a LESS successful model.
So perhaps the lesson here is not about operators, but about the quality of the models themselves.
Better models will bring more money and be easier to place with an operator.
It's no secret that I'm searching for operators to manage the accounts of my models.
I can't tell you how many agency owners I've spoken with in the last several months.
I've successfully hired some of them as operators, while others tell me "no thanks".
Surprisingly, those that reject my offer do it for the same reason:
The % is not worth their time.
It's also worth noting that when they decline, I hear some variation of the following:
"You'll never be able to find someone to manage an account like that for you. They'd do it for themselves if they could."
That is true in certain circumstances.
If someone was already really skilled and established, with a proven strategy for producing $20k/mo from a new model, they wouldn't need my assistance.
I've discovered that many of my operators share the following characteristics:
These operators are more of the "freelancer" variety than the "entrepreneur" variety.
They are hustlers rather than entrepreneurs.
The approach you must take with entrepreneurs differs from the approach you must take with hustlers.
I don't believe I'm "hurting" my operators in any way. Nobody is being forced to do anything.
Great if the transaction works out for them. If not, that's OK.
When evaluating a bargain, I make the same decision - albeit, as we'll see in the next section, I pretty much take any deal...
In my last piece, I discussed how I never say no to money.
I make it a point to ALWAYS say yes to each opportunity that comes my way.
There's a simple explanation for this: I want to be the first person who comes to mind when someone asks:
“Wow, I just got access to this awesome resource that I have no idea how to leverage. Who can I ask about it for help?”
Then someone else will be like, “Oh just ask Mathieu – he’s got his fingers in all the pies.”
If I don't have the tools to earn money from it right away, I'll look about until I find someone who does.
Then it's only a matter of striking a contract and linking everyone.
In my mind, this is how it would work:
Doesn't that sound fantastic on paper?
In actuality, it goes somewhat like this:
Other times, I’m faced with another problem: low quality deals.
According to my observations, the most successful people in our profession operate in small teams.
Successful agencies, in particular, do not sign EVERY model; rather, they sign THE BEST models.
I'm not sure why, but the mass approach has always appealed to me.
I'll sign (almost) anyone who has a pulse.
Why?
Who am I to deny an operator the opportunity to learn a new model if he is interested, motivated, and ready to do so?
"Hey, I have this new model, are you interested?" I constantly say.
They say yes and no at different times.
If they say no, MAYBE I'll try to exert some pressure on them to change their minds.
But, in the end, these operators are not my employees.
They are contractors who have decided to do business with me because the transaction appears to be attractive.
Another concern I have is the caliber of models with whom I accept to work.
"Quality" is a loaded word that might signify "attractiveness," "motivation," "responsiveness," "pre-existing social media following," and a dozen other things.
But if I offer you the option of:
I believe we can all agree on which one is of "higher quality."
The bottom line is this:
If I say yes to every model my scouts give me, I'm basically restricted by the number of operators I have who can manage their accounts.
And anybody who has ever onboarded a model knows that the first 1-2 weeks are critical.
I'll write about it later (maybe in my future blog), but the onboarding phase is an EXTREMELY sensitive moment that sets the tone for your working relationship with a model.
When dealing with numerous operators, each with their own communication style, management strategy, and onboarding procedure, things may rapidly get hectic.
That gets me to my next point...
I currently have four operators, each with their own account management method.
Here are some examples of how the accounts are managed:
As if that wasn't hard enough, consider how convoluted things may get when you combine it with the differences that MODELS can have:
The actual issue here isn't with any of these characteristics.
The problem is that I lack a consistent system for managing their accounts.
And don't get the impression that I'm moaning about my operators or models.
Things are, for the most part, heading in the correct way.
My teams are interacting, work is being completed, accounts are expanding, and habits are being established.
However, everyone is always making stuff up as they go along.
Corporate culture, SOPs, and business dogma used to make me giggle.
But now I see the importance of having workplace regulations and processes.
You start out experimenting, f*ck up, and then develop a rule to avoid the same f*ck up from happening again.
If I were as bright as I appear to be in these writings, I would give SOPs that instruct my operators and models exactly what to do to succeed.
This is something I've already done with my recruitment and onboarding procedures, which is why they work so well.
I don't have to repeat the same talks since I can just send a sales letter or an email template.
My issue is that I STOPPED developing my model development life cycle in the middle of the onboarding stage.
Consider the entire process of designing a new model:
I have parts 1, 2, and 3 locked down.
Parts 4, 5, and 6 are halfway finished.
I have a rudimentary understanding of part 7 and minimal [hands on] experience.
I know nothing about parts 8, 9, and 10.
Now that I've put it down, I believe I know the answer:
Instead of adding more operators, which is a temporary remedy, I need to walk a model through all 10 steps by myself so that I can develop SOPs for each of them.
THEN instead of being limited to operators, I can write SOPs and hire VAs to execute them on their own.
This is how an agency SHOULD be run:
I've been bypassing steps 1 and 2 and going straight to step 3, which I believe is what’s led to my frustration.
Before we go any further, please don't believe for a second that I'm saying you shouldn't attempt to network as much as possible.
Partnerships are still an excellent idea.
To be clear, just because there are some small flaws does not imply that I will dismiss all of my operators and manage all of these models alone.
As I previously stated, progress is being done, cash is being earned, and I am now free to focus on developing the brand.
Here's a brief rundown of the tremendous benefits partnerships have offered me in recent months:
Don't get me wrong: partnerships are fantastic.
People would sometimes gift me free items without expecting anything in return.
Someone recently sent me a Drive folder containing IG advertisements that he used to recruit ladies for $0.10 per lead.
I didn't even have to request it. They just said that they would send it to me.
When I questioned what they expected in return, they said, "nothing."
However, creating partnerships has failed to achieve one crucial thing: deposit large sums of money into my bank account on a regular basis.
(The only significant exception is the now-defunct superstar that my partner handled for me).
Yes, everything on that list is fantastic.
I'm starting to feel like one of the cool kids on the playground.
However, I'm mostly in this industry to generate money.
I no longer want to work trade shows or sell roofing.
I want to pimp girls, twinks, and passable post-op trannies on the internet to desperate men who make bad choices with their money.
What's even more aggravating is that I KNOW I have all of the parts; I'm simply having difficulties putting them together.
And, if I'm being really honest, the reason is actually very embarrassing:
I'm terrified of failing.
I know it sounds ridiculous. In fact, as I was writing it, I realized how ridiculous it sounded.
I've already failed several times. I got to where I am because I failed. I made a name for myself by failing.
So what if I continue to fail?
It's not like I'll never make another mistake. I most certainly will.
And, to be honest, I learn the most when I fail.
Now that people are looking to me for solutions, I feel compelled to deny that I have no idea what I'm doing.
Which is odd given that I've done it at least a dozen times in this article and nearly every other post I've ever written.
I even wrote an article called 60 Things I've Learned From Running An OF Agency For 60 Days, the majority of which came from making errors.
If I were to be more explicit, this dread may be further characterized as:
This is also why I've never really gotten into paid advertising - I hate feeling like I'm wasting money.
That being said, I've been considering hiring models using Instagram advertisements for months.
I've even prepared the advertising; I simply haven't taken the plunge.
And no one is going to point and laugh at me for screwing up. I'd probably publish an essay acknowledging all of this.
When you think about it, it's quite weird and nonsensical.
So the answer appears to be simple:
I'll have to return to working on model accounts on my own until I've developed a method that I can clearly explain and pay a VA $4/hr to accomplish for me.
When I think about it, this is how all of the major agency owners I know manage their businesses.
If you want the gold, you have to face the dragon.
Even though I consider myself a hard worker, there are some tasks that I find difficult to do.
My natural tendency is to give in to my internal resistance, ignore the work that is creating it, and focus on something more pleasurable.
That is why, after writing 50,000 words of lovely content, I still lack a viable traffic strategy.
I enjoy creating articles. I despise spamming postings and trying to figure out traffic.
But it's these places of resistance (aka "dragons") that I need to concentrate on.
For example, if I took two weeks off from producing articles and concentrated just on nailing a traffic strategy, I would start generating insane sums of money.
Each of us has a unique dragon.
My dragons are as follows:
What's amusing is that many people have previously defeated these dragons.
It's not like I'm attempting to build a nuclear fission reactor or send a man to Mars.
I only need to learn something that others already know.
If I were the sort to create plans, I would probably put them together as follows:
First step:
Second step:
Third step:
Fourth step:
Now it's simply a matter of rolling up my sleeves and getting to work.
The Avatar Empire Blog, my OF agency owner blog, is now online.
I'm seeking for authors that want to provide a fresh perspective on:
If you wish to contribute something to this blog and have knowledge on these topics, let me know.
I get what you're thinking:
"I'm a bigshot agency owner, but I'm not going to waste multiple hours of my day writing a 1000-5000 word article".
Listen, I understand.
But what if we were referred to as "co-authors"?
Essentially, we have a conversation or two, you show me what you have, we build an outline, and I write the piece for you.
If you want to write it yourself, by all means do so.
I'll edit it and make it lovely, and then we'll post it here so everyone can see how brilliant and great you are.
But if you want to co-author it with me, please contact me at theavatarempire@gmail.com.
After viewing a couple of OBH's Zoom sessions, I got an idea: why not establish my own YouTube channel?
Finally, I decided to go with a podcast broadcast on a YouTube channel.
Podcasts are better for branding, networking, and are more pleasurable for me to do.
But, because it's a podcast, I'll need some guests to shoot the crap with.
Here's a brief list of the types of people I'd want to have on the show:
If you or someone you know is interested in advertising your business, being interviewed, and sharing their opinions on the industry, please let me know and we'll have you on board.
I know it seems funny to be talking about mentorship after I just spent this entire piece moaning about troubles in my business, but here we are.
Many individuals have asked me in recent weeks if I provide mentorship services.
And the response back then was negative for one simple reason: I didn't think my results were good enough to give mentorship.
After all, consumers aren't purchasing mentorship in and of itself; they are purchasing a result.
However, I don't believe my outcomes have been particularly amazing...
It's like the old joke about being a piano teacher: you don't have to be an expert, just one lesson ahead of the student.
Now, I'll be honest with you: my intention with this coaching is to someday charge ridiculous amounts of money for it.
Even if someone were prepared to give me $20,000, $10,000, or even $5,000 right now, I wouldn't feel good asking that much since I can't guarantee a result that I haven't received regularly and reliably myself.
Is it possible that I didn't receive these outcomes because I didn't know what to do? No, I don't believe so.
I believe my failure has been due to the fact that I KNOW what I should do but DO NOT DO IT (because of fear of failure).
I still have the information. And the connections. And the capacity to effectively describe the approaches.
I just haven't done it regularly and reliably myself... yet.
Excuses aside, I feel that if you already have a strong business experience (and don't share my mental obstacles), I could assist you perform fairly well.
I already know WHAT to do; I simply can't seem to do it myself.
That being said, I don't see anything wrong with giving coaching to consenting capitalists who want to spend meaningful one-on-one time with me.
So I'm going to TEST THE WATERS to see if there's any interest in hosting a 90-day mentoring cohort of 10-15 mentees.
Click this link to access The Avatar Empire: the #1 OF Agency Course and learn the strategies we use to scale our models to $2,000/day.
Have a wonderful day.