I worked as a webcam model for a few months last year. It was honestly a pretty awesome job and experience to have.
I was originally introduced to cam sex by a boyfriend I had at the time. He was pretty into it, so at first, we'd start off by watching some cam sites together. I really enjoy amateur porn, so webcams were a perfect outlet for me. I was pretty intrigued. Then we moved to fucking on cam on an adult dating site, and it eventually moved to fucking just for fun and for free on a potentially paying site. However, since we were both two fairly attractive individuals, we attracted quite an audience each time we did it - normally about 2,000 viewers, if not more. Both of us were obviously enjoying ourselves, so we figured, well, why not get paid for it? So we filled out the proper paperwork and became our own little version of porn stars.
Well, it quickly became apparent to me that although couples got a lot of viewers, solo girls actually seemed to earn more. I decided to keep doing cam work on my own free time. The relationship was a long-distance one by this point, and airfare was racking up, so I figured any easy, extra money I could get was well appreciated. I worked on
MyFreeCams and an
Adult Chatroulette, and it became pretty lucrative. I didn't work that long, only for a few hours when I got off my regular job, and I was getting paid to socialize, listen to music, and get myself off. Not a bad arrangement.
Best parts of the job? Easily, gaining more sexual confidence. And it's not just the aspect of people finding you attractive and tipping you for it. Honestly, it's working with all sorts of sexuality and becoming comfortable with it. First, I became immensely more comfortable in my own skin. I liked how I looked on cam, and suddenly I was able to transfer that into my personal life as well - being way more relaxed when it came to being naked around boyfriends and girlfriends. Also, people ask you to indulge in all sorts of fetishes, so you really see the whole gamut of what humans enjoy and just how little a basis there is for "normalcy" when it comes to sex. I really enjoyed the unusual clients that would ask for things that weren't harmful, but just a little beyond my realm of comfort. I had one guy who wanted to pay me private show rates just for me to sit there on camera for 15 to 20 minutes with scarves tied around my mouth and wrist as slight restraints, acting like I was just lightly struggling against them. Was it slightly odd? Yes. Did I feel like an idiot for the first 20 seconds? Entirely. But did I feel strangely empowered, strangely experienced, and like I had a damn good story to tell when I had earned almost $100 just for doing it? Of fucking course.
I also had a lot of people come into my room just for the intellectual conversation aspect, I kid you not. I normally did my shows with a huge bookcase in the back, and people would often ask about the books on it. From there, the conversation would progress that I had focused on
Shakespearean literature in my studies, and we would fairly often spend more time discussing early Renaissance literature than sex. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not naive enough to think that having my tits out didn't play some role in keeping viewers. But a lot of people honestly appreciated a cam girl who could keep up in a conversation and have a genuine personality, rather than just being some sort of plastic, unrelatable entity. That was a bit refreshing to see, considering that I was quite worried that I would be dehumanized or completely debased in this work, and I found the opposite instead. If anything, people were overly respectful to me, and regular viewers became protective of me, telling off the newer viewers who would become pushy or demanding when requesting to see things.
Worst part of the job? When no one's tipping, of course. Same as any tip-related job, I'd imagine. You're doing pretty much the same thing you did yesterday, and you made $250 yesterday and just nickels today. There's just no rhyme or reason to it sometimes. Then, you get the "backseat drivers" coming out of the woodwork when times are slow. They'll try to hassle you and pester you with tips on why you're not making more money or having more viewers, whether it's expecting you to show everything for nothing "to get tips started" or just being overbearing, telling you to dance or change into a particular outfit. More often than not, that's when I'll just sign off for the day. Overall, a fairly minor drawback compared to some of the other jobs I've had.
I'm no longer working in that world, simply because I found some lucrative, fulfilling, and very time-consuming employment in my field in real life. Just no time for it anymore, although I love to occasionally play for free online. (I still really enjoy it that much - it's not just a job, although it can be.) However, it's always on the back burner for me - it's a great safety net to have to go back to if I'm ever short on money due to emergencies or perhaps in between jobs again.
TL;DR - Cam work is pretty much fucking fantastic if you're comfortable with it and can find a good audience.
