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Bree Olson Camming on MFC – How Will it Affect Other Camgirls?

February 17, 2016September 20, 2019 CamgirlMFC 1 Comment

Bree Olson, one of the most famous ex-pornstars has decided to pursue camming on Myfreecams in her adult industry retirement. This decision didn’t come without its critics. Bree has been harassed by other models telling her that she’s taking away their tippers and directing traffic toward her room, to the point where Bree had to make a tearful Periscope video explaining that she only wants to help, not hurt the camming community.

What these girls fail to see is that Bree’s influence is a positive thing for MFC overall. A lot of her 1M+ Twitter followers may not have even known about MFC were it not for her, but with Bree tweeting about it, they’re more likely to go check it out and tip not only her, but other girls. Having more tippers on the site is a good thing for everyone involved, but it is understandable that there will be jealousy among other girls.

So far, Bree is doing very well on the site, and she climbed to #18 on the Miss MFC charts halfway through the month. It will be interesting to see how high she can finish this month! Go, Bree!

Click here to go to Bree’s room!

Doing Taxes as a Camgirl – What You Need to Know

January 17, 2016August 5, 2019 CamgirlMFC 7 Comments

Tax season is upon us, so camming tax advice is due! What sort of write offs can you have as a cam model? Do you need to file your taxes? Do you need an accountant or can you do it yourself?

I’ll answer these questions here, but keep in mind that I am not a licensed professional and don’t know your particular situation. For any specific advice, I would always suggest asking an accountant.

First off, YES, you need to file taxes for any income you receive the previous year (if it’s over $400 if you’re in the US). Working for a camsite, you are classified as an independent contractor, and they will mail you a 1099 form listing your income. If you are not american, you’ll have to report your income earned yourself without the form.

What happens if I just don’t file taxes?

Well, somewhere down the line IRS will be contacting you asking why you haven’t been making payments and making sure that you do, in which case you will be paying late penalties. Another way to get on IRS’s bad side is overstating your expenses/write offs. If you have way too many or too many inappropriate expenses, it might raise some red flags resulting in an audit.

However, if you record your earnings and don’t go totally crazy with deductions, you will be fine.

I’ve never done taxes before! Should I hire an accountant?!

Possibly, but in a lot of cases an accountant is not needed. I understand that filing taxes for the first time or doing it for the first time as a self-employed person is scary, but tax software is really easy to work with and is created in a way that guides you through it step by step and corrects any potential mistakes. I recommend the TurboTax Home & Business version, which you can get as a PC/Mac download or as a disc.

If you want the peace of mind, I do recommend having an accountant assist you with taxes to ensure you’re covering all your bases and that you save as much money as you can when you file your return. Jeff Lang is a certified public accountant (CPA), specializing in tax preparation for those in the adult industry, so you don’t have to worry about going to an H&R Block and getting an accountant who may not be comfortable with your job or understand your situation. Jeff can also assist with quarterly estimates and business incorporation (S-Corp or LLC), and make the whole experience quick and easy.

If you mention the promo code, CAMTAX10, you will get $10 off your tax preparation fee!

Click here to get in touch with Jeff!

Write Offs for Camming

The beauty of being self-employed is that you can write off a lot of your expenses, but only those that you used directly for camming. That’s why deducting things like lingerie or makeup is a bit of a grey area and different people will tell you different things. To be on the safe side, I would not include expenses like makeup, clothes, lingerie, salon visits, tanning, plastic surgery, or toys UNLESS you can prove that you only used them for camming.

Also, remember to save all your receipts! You will have to show them if you’re ever audited.

So, here are the things you can write off:

- Part of your rent (You will have to report what percentage of your house is used for “business” and any expenses associated with it will count as deductions)
- Percentage of your utilities: heat, water, electricity, internet, phone
- Equipment, such as webcams, lights, camera (that you use specifically for camming), laptop (again, strictly for camming)
- Other supplies and camroom decorations
- Travel expenses (to go to conventions or photoshoots, including gas, flights, hotel room charges, food)
- Mailing supplies and expenses, if you ever ship any items to customers
- Other business expenses, like advertising, web design or hosting fees if you have your own website

Remember to save about 20-30% of your paycheck throughout the year to not be hit with a huge tax bill and not having money to pay it. Keeping track of all your expenses throughout the year is also a good idea, so that you’re not scrambling to find things at the last minute.

One more thing, if your tax bill is over $1,000 this year (if you’re in the US), you will be required to pay quarterly estimated taxes the following year, so be aware of that. Check out my post on quarterly estimated tax payments here.

Any questions? Let me know! Good luck!

3 Best Laptops for Camming – Top Laptops Reviewed

November 27, 2015April 28, 2020 CamgirlMFC 8 Comments

Having a quality laptop is one of the best tools a camgirl can have. It’s better to invest from the start (or to upgrade a slow and lagging laptop) than having to deal with a constantly breaking or inefficient one. Remember, time is money, and if you have to take your laptop in for repairs, that is wasted time that you’ll never get back.

What should you look for in a laptop you’ll use for camming?

RAM: 8 GB and above. Stands for random-access memory and it’s what will keep your laptop running smoothly when you have lots of tabs open, music streaming, and cam broadcasting at the same time.
Hard Drive: 1TB or more. That’s where all your files are stored. A large enough hard drive lets you save thousands of HD photos, videos you make, songs and movies on your laptop. For reference, a 500GB hard drive (half of 1 TB) lets you hold up to 140,000 pictures, 130,000 songs, or 400 movies. So, if you’re planning on storing a lot of cam-related pics and videos (and they tend to be quite big in size!), go for a 1TB hard drive.
Size and Weight. This is up to you, but a laptop with a display size of 13″ to 15″ is more portable and easier to move around the house when you cam from different location and also take with you when you travel. Weight is a similar issue, anything under 5 lbs will be more portable.
Processor: Intel Core i7 is the way to go. If you ever feel like your current laptop is “too slow”, then you need to upgrade to Intel Core i7 processor.

You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned built-in webcams, and that is because you cannot rely on your laptop’s webcam for camming. The quality will NEVER be as good as an external webcam, such as a Logitech C920, which is, in my opinion, the best webcam for cam models.

So, with all these things in mind, here are my Top 3 laptop picks that look good, are portable AND powerful. Click on the links to check them out on Amazon!

ASUS X555DA-AS11 15 inch Full-HD AMD Quad Core Laptop with Windows 10, Black & Silver

AMD Quad Core A10-7400P 2.5GHz (Turbo up to 3.4GHz) processor
8GB RAM/ 1TB 5400RPM with DL DVD±RW/CD-RW. Windows 10 operation system
15.6 inches LED backlit display, 1366 by 768 resolution, matte finished
Feature 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x HDMI and VGA ports
1 year International Warranty with 1 year Accidental Damage Protection
Ergonomically designed keyboard with IceCool technology keeps the palm rest at a comfort temperature

Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-76YK 15.6-inch Full HD Notebook(Intel Core i7, NVIDIA 940MX,8 GB ,256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home 64-bit Edition),Black

6th Generation Intel Core i7-6500U Processor (Up to 3.1GHz)
15.6-inch Full HD Display, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX with 2GB DDR5 VRAM
8GB DDR4 Memory, 256GB SSD; Memory Speed – 2133 MHz
Windows 10 Home
Up to 12-hours Battery Life

LG gram Ultra-Slim Laptop 15Z960 i5 15” (Gold)

Weighs under 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds)
15.6-inch Full HD IPS Display
Intel Core i5-6200U 2.8 GHz
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
256 GB Solid-State Drive
15.6-Inch Screen

So, there you have it, some great choices for a camming laptop. If you ever want to go hardcore and splurge, I would suggest looking for a powerful gaming laptop, because they’re made to handle a lot and will never lag. Alienware, anyone? It’s a beast of a machine. 😉

Make sure to also check out my posts on the Best Webcams and the Best Lighting Setup to get completely equipped for cam!

⋆ How to Become a Webcam Model – Beginner Camgirl Advice

November 18, 2015September 22, 2021 CamgirlMFC 12 Comments

“How do you become a cam model? Do you need any special equipment or have a certain look for it to work? How easy is it to get started and make that first paycheck?”

I had ALL of these questions when I was starting out camming years ago and this is what I’ve learned. Above all, if you’ve done your research, you’re already further ahead than an average camgirl, so read on!

MAKE SURE YOU:

Pick the Right Site! There is a wide variety of camsites: some older and more established, some new ones just starting up, and they all feel and work differently. My recommendations are joining Chaturbate and Myfreecams. Chaturbate is the more “sexual” of the two and also allows men and couples to stream. They both have a 50%+ payout percentage and high traffic (Chaturbate more so than MFC). Check out this post for a full list of camsites to join!

Have the Right Tools Ready! Being prepared ahead of time is key. Using your built-in webcam to stream is unfortunately not good enough. You need a good quality external webcam like a Logitech C920, which is my personal fave and is used by the majority of camgirls. Check out my post about the Top 3 webcams for camming for other great options. In terms of other tools, having great lighting is such a big part of the equation in looking good on cam, and looking your best will give you the best chance in tippers finding your room. You can see some of my lighting recommendation in this post. As well as having a webcam and a few umbrella lights, make sure your laptop can handle streaming and won’t die on you at the most inopportune moment. Make sure your internet connection is good as well!

Consider your Boundaries. Camming is a risky job. You WILL be recorded and uploaded to various sites, including porn sites, and this increases your risk of being seen by your co-worker, neighbor, old highschool friend. The way to minimize the risk is to minimize your exposure, so make sure you block your location on the site. A service like CamModelProtection can help you remove your recorded content that makes its way online. Another consideration is how comfortable are you in your sexuality and can you be on a site doing sexual things? You don’t have to be a sex kitten, but you need to feel ok about being watched naked, masturbating, etc. A lot of girls love the thrill!

BENEFITS OF CAMMING

Setting your own schedule
No one there to tell you what to do
Can easily ban anyone who is rude or demanding toward you
Potential to make A LOT of money very quickly
Being spoiled with gifts

Ok, so how do you REALLY become a full-fledged camgirl? What are the exact steps you should take?

No need to be anxious about trying out camming (a lot of guys actually really like a new, inexperienced girl!). Go through the steps below:

Step 1:

Sign up as a Model: Pick a site you’d like to try out (or 2! Nothing wrong with having options, and you get a chance to see what you like on each site). You’ll be asked to fill out your personal details and upload a photo ID to show that you are at least 18 years old. Approval time varies between sites, but you should get a notification in a day or two.

Step 2:

While you wait, make sure you’ve got some equipment ready that I’ve mentioned – an external webcam (I recommend Logitech C920), a set of umbrella lights (like the Limo Studio Umbrella Lights) and if you’d like – some cute lingerie and maybe a new toy or two. Pinkcherry is a great place to get all those! Beyond that, you just need to bring your personality and a lot of patience. 🙂

Speaking of patience, you’re going to need to give yourself time to succeed on a site. Don’t think that just because you see top models making hundreds of dollars an hour that you will get there overnight. You need months and months of consistent camming to build up an audience and ‘regulars’, guys who will tune in to watch you every time you’re on. Consistency is key! This is one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give an aspiring cam model. Of course, a bit of luck is important too. Just because you have the looks, the personality and the work ethic, you will not automatically have success, but it you’ve done your research and have all the things ready before broadcasting you give yourself the best chance of success!

Step 3:

Once you get approved, this is a good time to create a Twitter and an Amazon wishlist, and add some graphics to your model profile. While Twitter and wishlist are not required, promoting yourself on social media is so important to get yourself new tippers, unless of course, you prefer to keep things on the down-low, in which case you can do a protected twitter. Some girls even keep a tumblr and other blogs. It’s all up to you, so do what feels right. A word of warning: Make sure you don’t put your real address on your Amazon wishlist and either use a PO box or don’t add it at all. Your profile doesn’t need to be complicated – add some information about yourself and put up some eye-catching pics.

Step 4:

You’re ready to broadcast!I know it can be nerve-wracking to press that Broadcast button for the first time, but you gotta jump in and experience it. Remember, you’re in control, and you can sign out at any point, for any reason. If anyone is making you uncomfortable or is being rude or demanding, don’t be afraid to ban them. Put on whatever will make you most comfortable, apply some nice makeup, if you wear it, and click that button! There is going to be a lot of learning going on in the first few months, and you’ll probably make a lot of mistakes, which all of us do, but practice makes perfect! When you’re on cam, my biggest tip is to smile! Yes, it’s so simple, but a lot of new girls don’t realize how unapproachable they look without a smile.

To get some conversation going, you can ask guys some small-talk general questions, or say something interesting about yourself and someone will jump into the conversation. Set your “room topic” to some sort of token countdown. For example, “Top off in 555! 50=Flash, 100=Fansign, 30=Spanks”. You are giving guys something to tip for and get them interacting. A dance and some teasing is a good way to get people in the room, I find. It’s a good idea to watch other models to see what they put in their topics and what kinds of countdowns work.

Step 5:

First cam shift is over! Pat yourself on the back. Now you can start thinking about what you may do the next time you’re on. It’s a good idea to offer tipping incentives for guys to tip offline, because it can boost your camscore on a site like MFC, and of course makes you more money. A very popular option these days is offering a Snapchat or an OnlyFans subscription on a monthly basis. If you can commit to sending out pics every day/a few times a week, it’s a good option. Another option is to make photosets and videos. I recommend setting up an account on Manyvids to sell them there. This is a great option to make that passive income! You can also do a raffle, which are really popular on MFC, and they can be for anything – a custom video, a Skype, homemade cookies shipped directly to the winner! (Be careful about not giving away your real address when doing this).

So, these are the basics to becoming a camgirl. Through trial and error you’ll know what works for you and what doesn’t, because everyone is different and there is room for all. 🙂 Good luck!

Is Myfreecams Making its Models’ Accounts Easy to Hack?

November 6, 2015September 20, 2019 CamgirlMFC Leave a comment

Keeping your private information private is one of the main concerns for cam models, but this recent article from Vice reveals that models’ passwords may be hackable due to Myfreecams‘ ineffective password system. Considering the token glitch that occurred last month, MFC should beef up their security systems to protect their models.

From the article:

“MyFreeCams.com, which describes itself as “The #1 adult webcam community,” has terrible password security, for both its users and, more importantly, its models, Motherboard has learned.

The site actually undermines strong passwords created by its users, Motherboard has found.

If a password contains upper and lower case, as well as punctuation, it is bypassed by simply typing in the password in lowercase, while omitting any special characters.

For example, if a model’s password is “!!!PASSword???”, simply typing in “password” would access the account.

This is especially concerning because cam girls may be at a heightened risk of stalking or harassment. Many of the girls on the site appear to use pseudonyms, perhaps to protect their identity. Having access to their account might reveal their real name or location.”

To counterract this, you should create a longer password and not use the same password for any of your other online logins.

Check your IP Log on your model profile often and if there are any logins that you don’t recognize, change passwords immediately. Stay safe online!

Tag: MFC