That Pesky Break After Shows

Recent question from someone who frequents my streamate room:

"I am curious. why do you have a long break after every prv?"

On streamate, after every private, exclusive, or gold show, I use the break button to start a 10 minute counter to do whatever and start streaming again. If I don't make it back in 10 minutes, it kicks me off. However, I discovered that if I double click the return to public chat button, I get a new 10 minutes. So, sometimes I do that. Only once though. Using this method, my breaks can take anywhere from 5 to 19 minutes (if I double-click at 30 seconds left, that 9.5 mins, and then another 9.5 mins before I come back.). But note- I've used the double-click with 1.5 mins left and then come back only 3 mins later (so 11.5 min break). So when I say anywhere, I mean anywhere.

But what exactly do I do during that break? Well, any number of things, really.


Things I might be doing during that long break:

-finishing myself off and cleaning up
-getting dressed (it actually took me 7 minutes once just to find my underwear, let alone untagle it. I'm still not quite sure how it got behind the bookshelves...)
-doing something to relax because of stress from the private (this one was that, because he took so long and was so demanding, then took me for a 2 minute private... just a wtf...)
-taking care of stuff that has to be done offline (housework, bathroom stuff, checking mail, saying hi to my partner)
-working on a large project because it's better if it's a little at a time
-teasing myself to get horny again, either with phsyically touching myself or with writing erotic fiction
-getting food or drink, cause both are important to keep energy up
-exercising (pushups, situps, dancing, or some such)
-letting the room cool down

I might just do one of those things. I usually do at least two or three, and quite often will do four or five of them, all at once. Sometimes finishing myself off is part of relaxing myself. I always have to clean up if there was any nude play, and I always have to get dressed again if my clothes came off. Using the restroom is a must if any pussy play happened.

Now, I'm only speaking for myself here. I have no idea what other models do or don't do during that break.

BTW, things that I might do to relax:

-read a book

-write (erotic fiction to share, or personal fantasies that will never be shared)

-read amber's forum

-play a video game

-meditate

Things I might do that falls in "offline" or "large project"

-dishes

-putting away laundry

-minor cleanup

-paying bills

-working on my website (not live yet)

-working on my forum (live, you can find the link on my camming blog though it isn't always available)

-cross stitching

-pixel pictures

-chain mail

-write my novel

-any of the sewing or crafting projects I have going on

-draw with colored pencils

-go through music and put the music for camming to the relevant flash drive

-file sorting

Money Matters

How much money do you make?

When other camgirls, or people looking to be camgirls, ask this question, they are wanting to know how much they can expect to make, or how much they should be making. The problem with this, is that every girl is different. For some girls, they are lucky to make $100 in a night, and usually aim for something like $50. For some girls, $500 a night is normal, and for others, $1000 or even $2000 a night is their usual take.

What about an average?

An average is a useless number. All the average is meant to do is let you compare yourself to the rest of the world. That's all it was ever meant to do. It was never meant to be a benchmark. It was never meant to be an aspiration. It was simply meant to say "50% of the camgirls make more than this, 50% of the camgirls make less than this." It does not tell you about the outliers, the girls who make $10,000 a night, or the girls who make $2 a night.


Now, when a member asks how much a girl makes, sometimes it's just curiosity. Often, it's a troll, wanting to then ridicule her for not "making enough", or a freeloader wanting to feel better about not tipping or taking her for a show.

Here's the problem with that: every girl has different expenses. In some parts of the US, a girl only needs about $600 a month to live on her own (after taxes), while in others, anything less than $2000 a month will leave her trying to figure out which bill goes unpaid. Some girls are supporting others, either a significant other who is going to school, or a family that has fallen on hard times. Some girls are using it to pay for college. In the UK, they just need a few thousand a year for that. In the US, most colleges cost more than $15,000 a year, BEFORE room and board. Those who graduated and then found camming probably have a lot of debt (Mine's at about $30,000 for college alone, and I'm not currently making enough for even minimum payments on it).

So you can't judge how much extra money a girl has by asking how much she makes. Now the kicker- in the US, money is a taboo subject. We are taught not to ask about how much a person makes, and to not tell others how much we make. So when you ask how much a US girl makes, she sees you as being rude. I'm very open about things, I'll tell you that when I work all 7 days, I have two days that I make $30, two days that I make $50, two days that I make $70, and one day that I make $120. So.. $420 a week, if I work all 7 days.

Usually, I can't work all 7 days, but I do make up for it by working extra hours on a couple days. So instead, it goes:

$30 + $65 + $75 + $120 + $35 = $325 a week. Of course, one or two weeks a month, I can't work all those days. If red week is on a single week and takes Sat-Wed, I usually make $200 between Thurs, Fri, and Sat afternoon (paycheck closes around 8pm Saturdays for me). If red week is a single week and takes Tue-Sat, I usually make about $70, because I wasn't expecting it and usually take Sat night and Sun off. If it's straddling a week, say Thurs-Tues, then the first week I make about $120, and the second week I make about $250.

So, I might have:

$325 x 3 + $200 = $1175 for the month
$325 x 3 + $70 = $1045 for the month
$325 x 2 + $120 + $250 = $1020 for the month

When I first started camming, my first month I made $1,500, and my second one I made $2,100 . That was Nov 2009 and Dec 2009. In June 2010, I made a whole $325 for the entire month. (that was my birthday month, and yes, it did hurt)

OH, and those are before taxes, so take out 20% for taxes and that's what I have left to spend.



What do you spend your money on?

It's invariably the members who ask this one. I don't know what answer they're expecting to get, but, here's the priorities:

1. our needs, and the needs of those dependant on us
2. a small thing for ourselves if we can
(if we have any debts, those go here)
3. stuff for our camming if we can
4. this will be a mix of saving and spending money, depending on the girl

We need to spend a little bit on ourselves. If all we spend on is things we need and things for camming, we start to wonder if there's any point in camming when we can't get anything for it. So a little thing for ourselves is important. It keeps our mood up, and since mood is important to our earnings, it counts as putting back into the business. Any business will tell you that you need to put money into the product. Our product is ourselves. Of course, that's the bit we can't take out of our taxes.

Then comes things for our business. If you've ever owned a business you'll know that you need to put money back into it in order to get money out of it. Thus, we put money into our camming.

And lastly comes everything left after needs have been addressed. Some girls will save most of this. Some girls will spend most of it. Some girls will have a whole $2 left, say "fuck it", and head over to Taco Bell.

I only really make enough for 1 and occasionally 2. But that's me, not every girl.