< Previous20 @BCAMS 2021 BCAMS MAGAZINE Newcomers A real smile converts better than anything on the market Embracing the American entrepreneurial spirit in the heart of Bucharest next It’s not about the dream, it’s not about the vision, it’s about having the courage to take that very first step—to start. NEWCOMERS CORNER a one-stop destination to bring you the complete journey about entrepre- neurs and founders, who recently established themselves in the livecam industry. With each issue we bring you exclusive stories from around the world. 22 @BCAMS 2021 BCAMS MAGAZINE A real smile converts better than anything on the market Founded by two childhood best friends with the vision of creating a new adult streaming era in the country, White Lion Media was established in Buda- pest, Hungary, one of the most rapidly developing cities in Europe. We had the pleasure to talk to Adam, chief manager officer of White Lion, who with a vast experience in the live cam industry, especially in managing hundreds of performers and self mas- tering web broadcasting/media to a professional level, started his first cam studio in 2012. White Lion, which sym- bolizes courage, strength and determination, is a new project with a different approach, the management being committed to their performers, by focusing on their special needs and by offering them the best training possible, in order to obtain a high conversion rate. “Our concept is easy”, says Adam, “Just have happy performers! Help them have fun while making mon- ey, because a real smile converts bet- ter than anything on the market.” What is your experience in the live cam industry? I started my career as a video editor and later affiliate content manager at Do- cler Holding in 2009 then worked for needlive.com before opening my first cam studio in 2012. In the last decade I managed hundreds of performers and self mastered web broadcasting/media management to a professional level. What type of marketing strategy are you planning to adopt? Socialmedia platforms, ad words, referrals? As we believe finding talents is the key to success we use every possible way to reach out and promote our studios. We also offer referrals for our performers. What type of cam sites are you work- ing with? We are not committed towards any site or type as we believe every performer has special needs. I know every pos- sible method, trick, tool and even the smallest most hidden button of every site of the industry and we select the ones fitting the qualities of our models the most. The common examples are of course Chaturbate, Streammate and Myfreecams but we see a great come- back from the classic premium sites as well. 23 www.bcams.ro “The market is growing and as long as we can stay on top our conversions will grow with it. I consider this simple as that. “ NEW COMMERS What expectations do you have in terms of support from the cam sites? As newcomers in the international stu- dio scene we expect our partners to co- operate and have willingness to follow our feedback. As we already produced multiple top converter performers and an xbiz nominee our partnership offers skyrocketed in the past weeks. This makes all of us really excited. How many working places do you have/ or plan to have, to start with? We operate 4 studio locations in dif- ferent parts of the city to make our service more accessible. We also give support and provide tech back- ground/coaching for performers working from home. Do you plan to relate the salary of the models to the average salary in the economy? Which is the model’s salary growth expectation compared to the aver- age salary in the economy? I tend to be extremely in depth with performer incomes and camsite conversions and the studio found- ers have a big experience in finance, investment, and business so we make a perfect team when it comes to the examination of incomes. Our performers tend to comfortably make three or even ten times of the av- erage hungarian salary with a very low time investment. Most of our currently active performers usually hit the 100$ hour average or more but we manage a model being close to the 800$/hour average (based on last 30 day data.) The market is growing and as long as we can stay on top our conversions will grow with it. I consider this simple as that. CHIEF MANAGER OFFICER Adam STUDIO White Lion24 @BCAMS 2021 BCAMS MAGAZINE It is well known that apart from a great business environment in Romania for small and medium-sized enterprises, companies and investors also have ac- cess to an affordable multilingual work- force in most cities, especially in Bucha- rest. But it is not very often that an US citizen decides to open a cam studio here. Of course we asked Bryan, owner of Cleopatra Studio, the classic, almost cliché question ”Why did you move to Romania?”: ” I didn’t abruptly decide to move here. I worked for a company in the U.S. that decided to open an office in Bucharest. I applied for the position and was ultimately selected to come here with another colleague to help fa- cilitate the growth of the company’s of- fice here. My academic background fo- cused on Eastern Europe so it was not a strange move to move to Romania.” With absolutely no experience in the live cam industry, in any regard, Bryan said he virtually knew nothing about the industry before moving to Roma- nia, but he was triggered by the idea of starting a business of his own in a well established market. And that is how Cleopatra Studio got off the ground last month. Located right next to Unirii Square, just a few steps from the Par- liament building, Bryan told us, enthu- siastically, that he came up with the name Cleopatra because he wanted a unique name with a meaning behind it. He chose the name Cleopatra because it evokes an image of a beautiful, pow- erful, and desired woman-something all female livechat models want to be! Here is the complete revealing inter- view with Bryan about leaving his role in a multinational company and the reasons to be optimistic about the new road ahead in the live cam industry. What determined you to open up a live cam studio? The desire primarily came from my in- terest in starting my own business and working for myself. I wanted to start a business in a field that was well estab- lished and could scale easily. I had a few ideas, but I had heard about livechat studios being popular in Bucharest. It’s also hard to ignore some of the ad- vertisements and cars with branding from places like Charm Studious and LiveJasmin. While it does seem the market is quite saturated with lots of studios, it’s a well established industry that I am confident I can thrive in. What is your experience in the live cam industry? If any. I have no experience in this industry in any regard. I knew virtually noth- ing about the industry before coming to Romania, and still knew very little about it before talking to people who had worked in the industry. Did you receive any advice/consul- tancy from any other studio or from any other experienced person in this field? As someone with no experience in the field, let alone general business experience, I knew it would be very important to hire someone who could help me in the process. After meeting and discussing with a few people who had or are currently working in the industry, including models, admins, and owners, I was referred to Bogdan Dumitrescu from AMP. We’ve been working together since May and his support has been indispensable, and I can’t imagine opening my studio without his help. If I were to have done this on my own I think it would have turned out very poorly. On the surface the business model seems quite simple; however, livechat is a much more complicat- ed and multi-faceted industry than I thought at first, considering the tech- nological, legal, marketing, etc. aspects of the business. So, without working with someone experienced in the field the project would have been a lot more difficult and stressful According to your business plan, in how much time do you expect re- turn on investment? From the projections I have, it will prob- ably take at least a year to recoup my initial investment, but probably more, considering a reasonable reinvestment rate. Personally, I’m more interested in building up positive cash flow and then scaling the business to really boost the company’s revenue. What type of marketing strategy are you planning to adopt? Social media platforms, adwords, referrals? All of the above! I want to utilize all platforms possible. Social media mar- keting strikes me as something that will be very useful, considering that the average livechat model candi- date is probably using social media platforms like Instagram frequent- ly. I would also like to implement an appealing referral program that Embracing the American entrepreneurial spirit in the heart of Bucharest25 www.bcams.ro I tend to be extremely in depth with performer’s income and cam site conversions and the studio founders have a big experience in finance, investments, and business so we make a perfect team when it comes to the examination of incomes. NEW COMMERS OWNER Bryan STUDIO Cleopatra Studio will entice team members to recruit friends and acquaintances to join. What type of cam sites are you go- ing to work with? I plan to use both premium and free- mium sites, at least from the start.. The studio will be able to accommodate both of these sites in terms of design. And since I’m new to the industry, I can’t say what will be best for my stu- dio from the start; however, the free- mium sites interest me more. It seems like this is the direction the industry is trending in. These sites also allow, in my opinion, for greater creativity and variety, which seems like they would really allow models to be themselves and find what works best for them in terms of style, marketing, etc What expectations do you have in terms of support from the cam sites? In terms of support, I only expect that they provide support on the techno- logical side, and that we will take re- sponsibility for growth and marketing of the models. How many working places do you have/ or plan to have, to start with? Cleopatra will have 3 workstations to start. I’d like to think of it as a “bou- tique”. It’s smaller perhaps than other studios, but for me it’s better to start smaller and become established, as opposed to having a much larger stu- dio with higher fixed costs. Bryan, we wish you nothing but best of luck in this new venture you have embarked upon. May your business be prosperous with many years to come!26 @BCAMS 2021 BCAMS MAGAZINE MEET YOUR NEIGHBOUR Inspiring worldwide studio stories of entrepreneurs & startup founders, unleashing insights of their journey and how they overcome hurdles. An innovative idea, money, time and support from colleagues and friends are important, but the determination, perseverance and the self belief of owners are often a business’s greatest assets. To help inspire you and your business, BCAMS Magazine will unearth with each issue some success stories from entrepreneurs, whose mentality helped them transform their startups from small ventures to international players. An unique training program for the superstars of tomorrow From Bucharest to Tenerife a new approach to the webcam industry next28 @BCAMS 2021 BCAMS MAGAZINE Katya Tiuni has more than 15 years of rich experience in the cam model in- dustry as a model but also as a coach and consultant for models and web- cam studios. Her work is dedicated to empowering women in the webcam industry. For this, she founded Models- Guide.online - an unique training pro- gram for the superstars of tomorrow. She also owns her own webcam studio called Model´s Guide Studio. Over the years, she has been winning many in- dustry awards and is a known guest speaker at events. What determined you to open up a live cam studio? Generally, becoming a webcam girl is a choice like you chose any other pro- fession. Which is great. Originally, I am from Odessa. Life for women there and in any other Russian speaking country is different. Whilst becoming a web- cam girl is a free choice there too, it is also a life changer. The money they earn means financial independence in a strong patriarchal society. All of a sudden, they are able to make life de- cisions for themselves. Based on my personal experience, I want to empow- er these women to achieve exactly this. What is your experience in the live cam industry? My experience stretches back for more than 15 years now. As described before, I was in the very same situation. Lucki- ly, I am very social and open minded, I had what it takes to do the job. I even opened a cam studio in Odessa, which was successful right from the start. However, the legal situation of cam studios is in a gray zone and one day, we got raided by the police. Of course, nothing really happened as they simply went after the money only. For me, this was a clear reason to leave my home country. Fortunately, I was a part of the webcam family already and I restarted my business from scratch once more. I am very grateful that I met so many great people in the cam industry, who are amazing business partners but also became friends. A big thank you to all of them from this place. Did you receive any advice/consul- tancy from any other studio or from any other experienced person in this field when you started? At the beginning, there was a lot of trial and error. So, I learned a lot this way. But soon, I connected with other people from the industry, who shared their advice and knowledge. For this, I am grateful and it determines my way of thinking and working. Whilst I am happy to work with professional models in my studio, I also welcome beginners. In fact, this was leading me to another business venture two years ago, when I started with Model´s Guide Online, which is a webcam train- ing academy or as we also like to call it CAMpus. Our courses are for different levels, no matter if you are a total be- ginner or an experienced professional already. We believe in constant learn- ing and improvement especially in an ever changing environment. Is there any financial difference be- tween last year and this year’s 1st quarter? Is there any increase in profits? Good question. This is just one of the examples of our changing industry en- vironment. My team and I have noticed two trends. As people spent more time at home and in consequence online, the demand for adult online entertain- ment increased. One can say that we benefited from the situation. There is an increasing demand. The second trend we saw and see is towards qual- ity performance. Whilst it was always about 30% nude content only, non- nude content is driving sustainable revenues to studios or independent models. This reflects in our training courses and in all consequence drives the success of our clients. Since you started your studio, which was your hardest period? How did you get over it? Surely, the hardest period was after being raided by police in the Ukraine. Literally, everything was gone during one night. I had almost nothing when I came to Prague. This was not only the lowest point as a business woman but also personally as everything was gone and only going away was an option - an option, where I also had to restart my life from scratch. What type of marketing strategy have you adopted? Social media platforms, adwords, referrals? As a studio we use a mix of tools to attract models to work with us. Of course, we promote our offer on social media like instagram for example. Ad- words is also an important part of our toolbox. However, referrals is a key ele- ment in recruiting as it is connected to trusted sources. For our models and us it is a very important aspect. However, it doesn’t stop there. Quality is very im- portant for us. Hence, all of our models receive intensive training, when they start with us. After all, we are aiming for a long-term relationship, which keeps both sides happy and fluctuation low for the studio. What type of cam sites are you working with? We closely cooperate with the lead- ing premium pages in the market. Of course, we also explore new concepts along the way. Most importantly, we want to deliver premium quality to our target audience. Hence, this is the key aspect by choosing a particular cam site. What expectations do you have from the cam sites you are working with? As a studio, you are looking for two things basically. One is an attractive platform with high traffic. The oth- er one is easy management for your models and the studio from a busi- ness perspective. Of course, if you look closer, more detailed issues need to be reflected on like special niches, target audience demographics, technical re- quirements etc. This will always lead to a very personal decision either of the studio or the model. We got good experience with a couple of different sites, which serve our requirements.. An unique training program for the superstars of tomorrow29 www.bcams.ro I am very grateful that I met so many great people in the cam industry, who are amazing business partners but also became friends. A big thank you to all of them from this place. OWNER Katya STUDIO Model’s Guide Studio MEET YOUR NEIGHBOURNext >