|
How good is J$tyle$ at selling? During the course of doing
this interview he managed to sell or rent me the following:
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Simply amazing.
JBM:
According to my crack research team, you started in the phone
sex business in 1996, tell us a little about that.
J$tyle$
Yeah, that was definitely my jump off point into the Adult
industry. Actually, my cousin (who I credit for getting me
into this business) was in Adult - and always had a booth
at AVN’s Adult Video Show in Las Vegas. I had flown
into town a few times over the years to “check things
out” so I was somewhat familiar with certain aspects
of the biz.
Those shows always left quite an impression! LOL
I began by selling 900 numbers for this company (Bureau One).
They placed ads in the Business Opportunity sections of all
the best selling daily newspapers around the country. (USA
Today, LA Times, NY Daily News, etc) There were literally
tons of everyday people that wanted to make extra money by
getting involved with the 900 boom at the time. We had 40
about guys at the company taking inbound phones calls. It
was fast paced and always exciting! I learned a lot about
the implementation and application of practical sales and
marketing skills during this period. Also, learned that I
had no qualms about asking people for the sale, no matter
what the amount. I made some decent coin, and had a lot of
fun doing it. In retrospect, the phone sex biz was like high
school for me in relation to my career.
This was also the time I met a number of people that now
(almost 8 yrs later) have done good business in the adult
industry! The biggest of the bunch (in business acumen and
personality) is my good friend Marty who recently helped launch
the (up-and-coming-next-generation-bleeding-edge) adult Video
On Demand company http://www.VideoPassCash.com
. Marty is, and always has been a great salesman and marketer!
Turns out, that he was one of the founders of http://www.AdultCheck.com,
which was THE ORIGINAL PIONEER of AVS and the Adult Verification
business! Looks like his new venture is going to shake up
that marketplace a little.
Anyway, enough about him … LOL … there was also
my good friend Raffi from http://www.AdultLounge.com
who was Marty’s boss at the time, and I can’t
forget Nader from http://www.NichePay.com who also worked
at the same company. Then there was Ken Lawson from http://www.Jettis.com,
whom I actually did my first big deal with (and made $10K
in one day) back when he owned a reseller phone sex company
called Investor’s Media Group!
Those were great times that laid down the foundation for
me to break into the Adult Internet biz! While selling these
900 lines I learned about the up-sell and the cross-sell!
Whenever someone acquired phone sex numbers, the first thing
that they needed to line up as a new business was advertising,
right? Their real job was to advertise them! How else were
they going to begin making money? So BAM … we directed
them to get involved with placing ads in adult magazines and
commercials on television, as well as helped devise ideas
for them to get exposure locally, in their area. At this juncture,
the Internet was all over the news – it was the buzzword
of the day!
One morning, we had a meeting and were told that we were
to begin to refer all of our customers to this one advertising
agency. They were going to put our client’s phone sex
ads online. Supposedly, this agency could get our clients
in front of 20 - 30 million people on the Internet so everyone
was pretty eager to send them business. They were charging
$750 a month for the equivalent of an eighth-of-a-page ad.
Of course, at this point - I’m still a fuckin’
newbie when it came to the business! I didn't know a damn
thing about computers or the Internet, but simple math and
logic told me that at $6,000 a page - it's all pretty much
profit! I mean, c’mon - there was no way it cost $6,000
for a single web page to go up on the Internet no matter how
much traffic they had at the time
It got me thinking that there was a huge opportunity that
I couldn’t miss out on! A few days later, I called my
cousin to ask him if he knew anyone who had any adult sites.
He told me to check out AVN magazine!
I ended up calling up the guy who owned Adult.com
at the time. (NOT LENSMAN) I'm at my office, at the phone
sex place - and I say to him, “We have hundreds of clients
a month and I’m looking to get them involved with the
Internet; how much would you charge me for a full-page ad
on your Website? He said, how about a hundred bucks?!?!”
From that moment, IT WAS ON!
So I'm sitting there and grinning from ear to ear! I tell
the guy sitting opposite from me, “don’t refer
your clients to the advertising company for the Internet anymore.
Instead of $750 a month for an eighth-of-a-page ad, we can
give them a full-page ad for $1K! Instead of giving you a
measly 5 percent commission on $750, I'll line your pockets
with 20 percent on that $1K!”
That was it! What I did at that moment was give the perfect
pitch for the situation! My offer gave value to the client
that surpassed what they were presently getting. It also,
gave super monetary motivation to the salesperson for referring
me the business. All I knew was that this guy who owned Adult.com
said he had had 500,000 visitors a day, and I was now going
to give my advertisers an opportunity to take advantage of
the Internet! It was my own little gold rush, and it worked!
A couple weeks later I had most of the salesman in the company
trying to send me business. Then, my manager found out what
I was doing and gave me an ultimatum … stop or leave!
Well, I had made about $15K in a very short period of time
so I said fuck it and left!
JBM:
From there you jumped onto the web, what was your immediate
impression of differences between online and offline business?
J$tyle$
Not much initially. I started my first company, Internet Unlimited,
and secured this little 9x9 room as an office. Within three
days of leaving the phone sex company I was dialed in and
ready to bling-bling all the way to the bank!
At this point, all I was really doing was selling advertising
on the Internet. It was a no brainer! I found a few more sites
that my phone sex clients could advertise on, and I had all
these sales-guys referring me business from multiple phone
sex service bureaus around the country. Everyone involved
was ecstatic! It was the epitome of easy money!
Shortly thereafter, I hooked up with a company that was offering
downloadable software that made it possible for surfers to
see live girls naked and in “real time” on the
web. This company was the pioneer of 1-on-1 video conferencing,
Virtual Dreams. So, I had a few sites built that integrated
the software and started pitching my phone sex clients that
this was the next big thing and a logical extension of the
phone sex business! They were like kids in a candy store!
Most of my serious clients were making money with the 900#
stuff, so they jumped at the chance. And why not? It made
perfect sense! If guys surfing the web were spending money
on phone sex, wouldn’t they pay to see live girls naked
instead?
Of course they did! This was the GROUND FLOOR!
I sold like 30+ sites for $3,500 to $7,000, and it only
cost me about $350 to have them designed - plus they were
generating $2 per minute in revenue, and I paid the website
owner $1 per minute and made $1 myself!
This was 1996. It was so early on that you could get a listing
in Yahoo in 24 – 72 hrs, and it was SO EASY to make
money by posting in all the news groups! All you had to do
was POST, and BAM you were making money! Ridiculous money
for what amounted to very little effort!
So, then I started thinking about how I could expand and
do this on a national scale. I figured I could do what the
phone sex company did and place ads in the Business Opportunity
sections of all the best selling daily newspapers around the
country promoting the ownership of adult websites!
I was a great idea. The timing was ripe, however, I got into
business with the wrong guy and the idea fell to shit! I was
pissed!
JBM:
You went on to work for Seth Warshavsky, what did you think
when you got to your first show representing them and found
out that he wasn't all that great at managing his finances?
J$tyle$
Well, I sent Seth my business plan for selling the website
opportunity. He flew me up to Seattle and offered me the position
of Director of Sales and Marketing for IEG. The rest is history!
LOL
Turns out Seth had bounced some checks on affiliate payouts,
and I just found out right before going to my first tradeshow
representing IEG. I thought that I could turn things around.
I thought that he genuinely wanted to put his best foot forward
and re-build Webmaster relations.
That show was a huge eye opener for me because I could see
how this industry was beginning to shape up. There were a
few people there that I recognized from a previous Vegas show
I’d been to - and I also recognized some people from
their names on YNOT back in the day.
This was the show I met Serge (that Russian fox). Python
had a party at some strip club, and as I was leaving - I jumped
into a limo with a few people I’d met there. I heard
someone say Serge’s name and I began confronting him
on why he talked so much shit on the boards about IEG. He
started laughing and told me he loved Seth so much he was
collecting other Webmaster’s bounced checks, some for
as little as 3 cents! LOL
We became friendly over time and I negotiated a deal whereby
Serge’s company handled payouts to IEG’s Webmaster’s
because (at the time) he was very well known and trusted when
it came to paying on time. I also became friendly with Ron
Levi on a trip to Amsterdam, and convinced to sell Seth his
Fast Cash program!
In between all of that we released the Pamela Anderson and
Tommy Lee Video on Clublove.com
and Seth became known as the Bill Gates of porn. It was a
very surreal and interesting time, and an extremely fun part
of Internet history to be involved with.
JBM:
Did you ever worry about your check bouncing? Or did you demand
to be paid in cash?
J$tyle$:
As I found out more over time, Seth liked to slow pay or NO
PAY! I never worried about any of that shit though, and he
never bounced a check on me or stiffed me for any money. He
knew if he did that I’d be gone - and at the time he
needed my presence. Ultimately, when I left IEG - Seth owed
me about 25 grand in commissions. He wrote the check and I
cashed it. Other people didn’t have it so easy to say
the least, but when I did a deal with someone on behalf of
IEG, he always paid!
When I left we were on good terms, and I ended up becoming
the President of Cybererotica for the next 2 years. That was
a blast to say the least!
JBM:
What lessons did you learn from your Elite Cash experience?
J$tyle$:
Elite Cash was a great experience, and again - I had a lot
of fun! After leaving Cybererotica, I had several consulting
clients and life was good. I was offered a partnership in
Elite Cash, and decided to put all of my energy into that.
To launch the program I had a great appearance on the Howard
Stern show because we had nude photos of Cindy Margolis. It
generated hundreds of sales, however, that wasn’t really
a good thing.
In a nutshell, we spent 10 months trying to build this company
and it imploded due to legal troubles stemming from the Cindy
Margolis pictures. Nuff said!
The moral of that story was not to live beyond my means and
blow though my life savings while tying to build a company.
Also, that wonderful saying – don’t put all of
your eggs in one basket!
JBM:
Have you single handedly destroyed the content market as some
people claim?
J$tyle$:
Yes and no! Some people believe I destroyed the content market
when I did the first Content Blowout for http://www.Cloud9Content.com.
It was something that had never been done before, and it was
wildly successful! Scott Del Amo was the original mastermind.
Then, when I launched http://www.ContentBlowout.com
a couple months later - all hell broke loose!
All these Content providers were bitching and moaning like
little girls. Some of the guys that cried the loudest jumped
on the bandwagon and tried to do their own blowouts. A few
did well, but most failed miserably because they were not
very good at sales and marketing.
I blame those content producers for ruining the content biz
because they were shitty marketers! THOSE BASTARDS! LOL They
ruined a good thing because none of them individually sold
the volume of content I did … but - because so many
of them thought they could - they created a glut of cheap
content in the marketplace. Webmasters began expecting it,
and a lot of those guys went out of business. Fuckin’
idiots!
Me? I’m still here! ContentBlowout.com
still sells awesome Blowout Packages every day from some of
the best providers in the biz! We’ve got several packages
from Fresh Photos, Sexier Content, Sinamotion Studios, and
HOT AMATEUR MPEG’s! All high quality video and images
at greatly reduced prices that most webmasters can afford
and surfers will love!
Actually, I just did a deal with Scott from Cloud9content
and The Erotic Networks to handle sales and marketing for
TEN’s content plug-ins. More about that in a bit.
JBM:
How great is Paris Hilton and will Rick be releasing anymore
of his celebrity conquests?
J$tyle$:
Paris is a dirty dirty girl, and that’s not such a bad
thing! You’ll have to ask KB about Rick though. I just
did some online promotions and marketing for Xpays when they
released http://www.HotelHeiress.com.
I spent about 3 days on the boards pushing affiliates to
sign up, and I still get checks every week for my Webmaster
overrides. I love those guys! Xpays Always Pays!
JBM:
Whats the strangest thing you've ever seen at a show?
J$tyle$:
A lobster suit
JBM:
Whats your favorite vacation spot?
J$tyle$:
That’s a toss up between Bermuda, Atlantis in the Bahamas,
and the French Riviera. I have yet to go Hawaii. I get the
feeling it would be my favorite. I love warm weather and the
beach if you can’t tell!
JBM:
What’s the biggest regret you have from your many years
in the business?
J$tyle$:
Look, I’ve had a great run in the adult industry and
I’m thankful I’ve made more than a decent living
for all these years, and spent time having fun all over the
country and half the world! I’ve enjoyed myself completely,
and made some good friends.
Everything I’ve done in my life has put me where I
am today. I’m in love with the greatest woman I’ve
ever met, and we have an incredible family! Business prospects
abound, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I
really have no regrets!
JBM:
What’s your biggest pet peeve about this business? What
pisses you off the most?
J$tyle$:
This business is a double-edged sword. The financial benefits
are tremendous, but the stigma from being in adult sucks.
JBM:
Any special projects planned for the future that you can tell
us about?
J$tyle$:
I’ve been working on a deal with Cloud9Content to handle
sales and marketing for this new endeavor with the Erotic
Networks. The first package contains modules currently available
for most every niche to satisfy almost every desire!
There are 30 products that run the gamut from Gay, to Teens,
Asian, Lesbians, Blow Jobs, Porn stars, Gang Bangs, Erotic
Stories, Fetish, etc.,
Also, still available are old school favorites such as the
Houston 500 Gang Bang, Hustler's Barely Legal, and much more.
Featured as a stand-alone product for $350 is the ever ghetto
fabulous Snoop Doggy Dogg's "DoggyStyle" video!
Which still happens to sell like crazy!
Webmasters can seamlessly add the entire content package
to their pay site "Member's Area" for only $1000.00
by visiting http://sales.ten.com. The temporary Username is
“new” and Password is “products”.
If anyone has questions, I can be contacted by ICQ 40-361-994
or by email at sales [at] contentblowout.com
JBM:
What do you see as the biggest problem for the future of this
industry?
J$tyle$:
Credit Card companies and the government further regulating
what can and can’t be done. It’s the same shit
that happened with the phone sex biz. People got creative
and revenues still exist in phone sex, but a lot of people
migrated into other industries. Some came to the Internet
and became even more successful, but it’s belt-tightening
time across the board!
I still believe the strong will survive, but a shake out
is happening every day. Just look at how the landscape has
changed in the past 2 years alone! Billing companies have
gone down, programs have closed doors, and some webmasters
have gone back to flipping burgers!
Sure there are still a lot of successful people and opportunity
abounds, but for most – the free ride is over. You have
to work smart!
JBM:
If you could be reincarnated as any animal, which would you
chose and why?
J$tyle$:
What’s with the Freudian shtick?
LOL
I don’t know – how about a bird? I’d love
to be able to fly!
JBM:
To finish up, why don’t you take this opportunity to
sell us everything you got.
J$tyle$:
There’s a lot, but let’s stick to the top 3.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m handling sales and marketing
for The Erotic Network’s content library, and that gives
webmasters the opportunity to load up on 30 great XXX content
plug-ins that are all 2257 compliant, and updated daily!
Also, I recently signed a deal to exclusively represent a
very hot software company that has a desktop application that
allows companies to Geo-target surfers through the use of
graphical ads. I’m working on the press release I’m
going to send out to the tech press in about a week. Fortune
1000 companies are going to eat it up! Who knows? This could
be my ticket to non-adult success.
This technology makes it possible to deliver dynamic images
based on your surfer's geographical location. Imagine being
able to target banners and ads to your surfer's city. Ultimately,
you will grab your surfer's attention and increase click-thru
rates dramatically with this patent-pending technology.
For instance, lets say you own a dating site and used this
program to create full-page ads for mailers or just simple
banners. Imagine how much greater the response rate would
be if a surfer in Boise, Idaho sees and ad that says, “Click
here NOW to meet singles in Boise!” or “Wanna
get laid tonight in Boise?”
In testing over the past few months, in just the dating sector
alone - we’ve seen click thru rates INCREASE about 30%
over traditional ads or banners! Now apply the same Geo-targeting
ability to other industries like Mortgages, Auto Sales, Flowers,
or any type of business that needs customers in a particular
geographical location! It’s pretty damn powerful!
When surfers see their city, it makes them take notice. The
advertisement becomes more familiar, and makes the surfer
more comfortable to click, IMHO. This is what business on
the web is supposed to be!
If anyone is interested on a demo they can hit me up on ICQ
40-361-994 or email me sales [at] contentblowout.com.
In addition to that, I’m still working behind the scenes
doing consulting for a couple of clients, and I’m presently
negotiating a contract with one company to bring them to market
in a big way. They have an awesome business plan and foundation,
and I’d love to help them blow up. Hopefully, we’ll
get past a few sticking points shortly and we’ll be
able to make an announcement!
JBM:
Thanks for the interview; it sure beats talking with brad.
J$tyle$:
Thanks for the time this was fun! Hope to see you at a show
one day!
|
