CAMGIRL 101 - Shit to do first
2023 Edit:
Howdy – welcome to the Camgirl Survival Guide. My name is Ashley Tea and I have been writing advice here since 2015. It’s recently come to my attention that this article shows up pretty damn high on the Google search results, so … welcome on in! Please head to my main blog page for everything you need to know about becoming a camgirl.
https://camgirlsurvivalguide.tumblr.com/
Without further ado …
So you’re broke as fuck and you are stoked on camming and want to shred off all your clothes and make a million bucks right this fucking second. I get it. Read this first. It’s worth it to be prepared.
SOCIAL MEDIA SHIT (DO THIS FIRST)
1) Lock down your personal social media. Instagram, facebook, twitter - set all that stuff to private, or if you’re not partial to it, delete it. If you’re using your full first and last name on Facebook, don’t. At the very least, change your last name to a nickname. If you’ve got the time and the patience (and you’re paranoid like I am), go through and lock or shut down or privatize any old blogs or profiles you may have set up elsewhere - tumblr, livejournal, wordpress, bla bla bla. Why? A shitty potential problem with cam work is having someone get a hold of your first and last name and post photos/videos/screenshots/whatever of you on sites where you can’t get things removed. Ultimately this means that if someone were to google your First + Last name, they’d see your ladybits, and that might potentially fuck some shit up for you later on in life. Obviously it’s a risk no matter what you do, but it’s better to at least put some precautionary work in.
2) Create a cam-related snapchat and a twitter. Twitter is king in the cam world. You can use it to tell people when you’re going to be online, to connect with members and to make friends with other camgirls! I used to hate twitter and now I adore it. I 100% recommend making a twitter and a snapchat for cam purposes before you get on cam because it’s a good way to make money and a good way to market yourself. Most camgirls allow a tip option to receive a snapchat add, whereas twitter is usually shared with members for free. Post your twitter link in your chat when you cam and people will know how to find you next time you’re online.
SIGN UP SHIT
Yes, the site you work on needs your actual name and actual information because they’re going to pay you with actual money. And yes, you also need to show your face. If any of this seems too risky for you, close up shop and look for something else.
MONEY SHIT
1 token = 0.05USD. To check what you’re making, plug in your token amount x 0.05 (NOT 0.5. I have had people think they were making shit tons of money on their first show, show their vaginas to the world and then realize after the fact that they made $50 not $500. BE MATH SMART lol).
i.e: 500 tokens = 500 x 0.05 = $25.
TECHNICAL SHIT
You will need a webcam, a computer and some half decent lighting. If you’re broke as shit and can’t afford fancy stuff, it’s okay, you can always start basic and work your way up. I used a second hand macbook and it’s built in camera for the first year of camming and it worked fine. I’d say more important than high tech stuff is good lighting, so if you can haul a couple lamps from around your house, you’re golden.
From the model admin page…
GEOBLOCK YOUR STATE OR PROVINCE. from the Model Admin page, on the left hand side, scroll down until you see a link called “model settings”. You will see an option there for “Blocked Locations” – use this to block your area or others you want to keep away from you. This will prevent people from within the province from seeing your profile or being able to see your webcam stream!
From the web broadcaster…
You have three basic modes on MFC: free chat, group chat and private chat (private/true private). The majority of the highest earning girls spend most of their time in free chat. Stay in free chat for your first few shows. Save group and private chat for prizes or special occasions. Under the “options” button on the left hand bottom side of your screen, click “chat” and make sure you aren’t accepting group, private or true private requests.
BLOCK PRIVATE MESSAGES FROM NON-FRIENDS. From your Web Broadcaster page, on the bottom left hand side of the page is a button that says “options”. Click that, then click “chat”. Make sure to only accept private messages from friends. It is also wise to block other models from your chat room (some models will attempt to “poach” tipping members by sending PMs to anyone who tips you).
BLOCK GUESTS AND BASICS FROM CHATTING. Guests do not have an MFC account and are viewing your cam but can’t tip until they sign up and buy tokens. Basics do have an MFC account but have never purchased tokens, so they also can’t tip (until they buy tokens). The first time you buy tokens, your account becomes ‘premium’ - these members either have tokens or have bought tokens before, therefore are the most likely members to tip (in most cases). For this reason, most models block guests and basics from chatting - on the top of your screen you’ll see two little buttons beside the topic bar. Holding your mouse over them will bring up a note that says “block guests from chat” and “block basics from chat”. Make sure you click both of them so that you’re only talking to people who are most likely to tip you.
BLOCK ASSHOLES AND TROLLS. Yes, there’s a fine line between being ban happy and being assertive, but you’ll figure out your own stance on that as you mature on the site. In the mean time, if people are bothering you, ban them. You can do this by clicking on their name in the chat: notice that a box shows up on the left hand side with their information on it. There’s a drop down menu you can click that gives you a number of options, one of them being “ban” - this will shut them out of your cam room for 6 hours, and hopefully get them out of your face while you’re trying to figure shit out. Remember that annoying members don’t only annoy you, they annoy potential tipping members, too - it’s best to get them out and keep the vibe of your room positive.
RULES SHIT
Do not accept paypal as a new model. Scamming members will offer new models paypal for things/shows/blabla – it’s against MFC rules to accept paypal for shit and they will always, always cancel the payment before you get it and you end up with nothing.
Skype is the same. Don’t let people tip you for skype – stay on the website, if people want to tip you they can tip you for your time on cam.
NEW MODEL STATUS, CAMSCORE AND RANK SHIT
New model status is a small yellow icon that appears next to your name for the first six hours that you stream on MFC. It’s a way for members to pay attention to models that just start out. Some people consider new model status really important and valuable … personally, I think it’s hit or miss. Yes, it boosts your visibility, so you should aim to use those six hours wisely. No, it doesn’t guarantee quality members or tippers; if anything, I’d say it guarantees more trolls and douchebags who are looking to take advantage of a girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing. Regardless, people will know you’re new for the first six hours, so make what you will of that.
Camscore is a model points system. It’s complicated as fuck and makes zero sense but essentially speaking, the more tips you make in an hour, the higher your camscore, the higher your camscore, the higher up on the front page you appear, aka the better the exposure and the more members you are able to meet (more or less). Aim to make a minimum of 1000 tokens an hour. This will help keep your score competitive. If you notice that after an hour you haven’t made that, don’t be afraid to encourage the room to help you reach your goals (“I’m really trying to hit the 1000 token mark this hour, every tip helps”, etc etc).
Miss MFC is a monthly rank competition that numbers girls according to their token earnings for that month. The #1 girl is whoever makes the most tokens, so on and so forth. This is a huge point of interest on the site and many girls use “rank push” months to boost their team moral and their incomes. For now, you don’t have to worry about it.
TOPIC, COUNTDOWN & TIP SHIT:
TOPIC: You can get creative with how you do this in future, but here’s a good idea for a start point:
@remain top off – 25 Spank, 200 Friend Add, 550 Snapchat, 900 Name On Booty [First Day On MFC!]
Now you have a basic idea of what people charge for, and members have an idea of what they can tip you to get you to do. The options here are endless – I have tips for making a pot of Kraft Dinner, for example – so do whatever you feel comfortable with! You’d be surprised what people will tip for.
COUNTDOWN: MFC does this for you automatically. When you hit broadcast, on the right hand upper side of your screen (beside your topic bar) you’ll see a button that says “Start Countdown” or something like that. When you put a number there, as members tip, MFC automatically keeps track of how many tokens have been put toward that countdown. You can automatically display your countdown in your topic so that your members can see the progress by typing @remain in your topic bar – this will display the number and update it all for you.
TIP: It is customary on the site for members to ask about a request before tipping it. If someone tips you 10,000 tokens and says “flash ur tits” and you don’t have an option for flashing anywhere on your profile or in your topic, YOU DO NOT NEED TO FLASH YOUR TITS. You’re under no obligation to do anything you haven’t advertised, and even if you do advertise it, you’re never going to be in trouble for not following through. Tips are not payment for a service: tips are a gratuity. People will try to take advantage of new models in this way. If someone tips you to do something you’re not comfortable with, thank them for their tip but remind them that you don’t do whatever they’re asking and move on.
There are three types of tips on MFC: public tip, “ninja” tip and anonymous tip. A public tip shows up as a yellow bar: you and all of the members of your room can see who the tip came from and how many tokens the tip was. It is customary to thank the member and use their name for public tips. “Ninja tips” are tips that only you, the model, can see: the room cannot see the tip amount nor who sent a tip. They will appear as a grey bar, not a yellow bar. Because these tips are hidden from the rest of the room, it is customary to thank “ninja” for the tip and NOT use the member’s username. Anonymous tips show a username of anonymous to both you and the chat room. Sometimes, anonymous tips are also ninja tips - the room can’t see the anonymous tip but you can. There’s no weird ass name for these kinds of tips even though it seems like there should be.
BANS AND FRIEND ADD SHIT:
BANS: Like I said before, if someone is making you feel uncomfortable, don’t hesitate to ban them. Doesn’t matter how much they’ve tipped – your comfort is paramount and you need to be in control of your room. Once again, if you click on a member’s name, on the left hand side you’ll see a little menu option: you can hit “ban” and they won’t be able to see your chat room for six hours. You can also perma-ban people, which I’ll teach you later because it doesn’t really matter right now lol
FRIEND ADD: If someone wants to PM you (and tips for an add), you add them similar to how you’d ban them: click their name and on the left hand side of your screen you’ll see a little heart option to “add as a friend”. You can also remove them using this same method. Their private messages will pop up near your topic bar at the top of your screen. While it’s nice to talk one on one, I usually try to keep PM conversations short and give most of my focus to the chat room.
GENERAL ADVICE SHIT
As mentioned, new model status can be a huge draw for assholes who assume you have no idea what you’re doing and can be taken advantage of. Think about what people are saying to you before you take advice from even seemingly helpful members, especially in your first few days. They’re gonna offer you tons of advice and some of them are honestly great people but others are really manipulative little shits so USE YOUR OWN INTUITION AND OTHER CAMGIRLS AS YOUR SOURCE OF INFORMATION and take what members tell you with a grain of salt.
Be grateful for every tip. Avoid the word “slow”. People tip on MFC because they enjoy the vibe of the room and think you’re cool/hot/fun – so your number one job is to create a fun environment where people can relax and laugh and feel good about themselves. Try to remember people’s names. Don’t be afraid to be a little over the top if someone tips you a lot.
Play music that makes you feel good, dance around, show off your bod, be confident and feel cute and people will notice!! Having the jitters is normal. Feeling frazzled on your first show is normal. It’s also cute as fuck. Work it to your advantage – you’re bound to make mistakes and do things you regret in the first little while but as long as you’re willing to make a couple mistakes along the way, it’ll be a fun experience.
Value yourself highly and others will be forced to do the same. Sometimes I offer deals on raffle tickets or videos, but very rarely will I make my countdowns cheaper. Never, ever will I do what the countdown was for if we don’t make the count. Say you put a 1000 token countdown up and you only make it halfway, but since it’s slow you think that maybe being topless would draw a crowd, so you pop the top off anyway. You have effectively just taught all of the freeloaders in your room that if they wait long enough, they’ll get to see what you offer for sale … for free. It’s better to wait it out or walk away and consider a slightly lower countdown for next time than it is to reduce the count during the show.
It pays to be friendly and kind. People want to feel liked. Don’t be a doormat, but try not to be an asshole. People are always more motivated to help a friend than they are to help someone who they fear might turn on them or be using them.
BASIC SHOW IDEA SHIT
Countdowns: 1000 for top off, 1200 for panties off (I wear a thong underneath booty shorts usually), 1500 for “braless tease” (sort of like a pin-up-esque dance, lots of covering my nipples with my hands and sexydancing lol), and then 2000 for a “show” like lotion (rubbing lotion on my butt), bath tease (I wear a bikini top and a thong in the bath and get soapy), something like that. This usually takes two or three hours. If I’m near my “day goal” (which is usually 4000 to 6000 tokens), I’ll put up a countdown just to reach that goal, with no show or anything tied to it – people are usually pretty motivated to help out. These are obviously non-nude tips. If you’re up to getting naked, don’t be afraid to ask for more! In fact never be afraid to ask for more. Again, you’d be surprised what people are up to helping you for.
Don’t be afraid to chill between countdowns. If you finish a countdown really fast, give it five or ten minutes before you put up a new one! Chatting and getting to know people is important so leaving some space between shows gives you room to relax – and people will still often tip in between countdowns, too, so you can sneak extra tokens in like that.
Don’t worry about your profile for now. I’ll talk about that in another post. With what you’ve just read, you should be more than ready to tackle your first few shows.
Keep in mind these countdown numbers are my numbers. I used them on my first day and I continue to use them today. If you aren’t hitting your goals and it’s bumming you out there is nothing wrong with asking for less. If you want to do 500 token counts instead, nothing is stopping you. Some models prefer to do higher countdowns with the chance of not finishing them, others perfer to do lower countdowns in order to feel successful every show. This is personal preference. Wiggle around and see what suits you best.
