Making the Winter Blues Work for You

By Taja Ethereal

For those dealing with the winter blues, making it through the holiday season is a monumental feat — like running a marathon, when all you really want is for the race to just be over already. I can completely relate to this sentiment, especially since I’m now getting over a bout of the flu after two long weeks of Christmas celebrations and festivities spent with the in-laws, topped off by a long camathon that started on New Year’s Eve and ended Jan. 1. I am still exhausted but particularly pleased with the outcome.

In spite of the lack of sunshine on the shorter winter days, I’ve come to realize that I make the most money during the winter season. I surmise this to be the result of certain behaviors, like people spending less time outdoors due to colder weather and decreasingly less activity overall. So what’s a horny man to do during this state? Masturbate, of course. What? Did you think I was gonna say hibernate?

Once I realized that I gained more customers both on webcam and phone sex during the colder winter months, I learned how to profit from this. Many of my sessions are with men who… Let’s just say they may be members of the Lonely Hearts Club. I’ve made this assessment due to the high number of GFE requests.

Now, if you are not familiar with what GFE stands for, it’s known as the girlfriend experience. Some may think this only pertains to the world of escorting, but that is not true at all. With today’s technology and social media, becoming an online girlfriend is easier than most people think. Typically as a cam model and PSO (phone sex operator), I found myself performing sessions where small talk developed into deep and heartfelt conversations. Many of my shows during this time are far more involved than the quick jerk-off instruction shows that I perform in warmer summer months. These guys are looking for more of a connection.

Becoming a GFE performer can go beyond the chat room, and in most cases I would suggest it immensely. Again, customers who are dealing with seasonal depression and regrouping after a strenuous holiday season are searching for something more that gives them the ability to get lost in the idea of a girlfriend. It’s a fantasy, and of course there are guidelines and specific lines that can become blurred during the process. But if managed correctly, GFE performances can be rewarding for both models and their fans. I try to incorporate real time services, like offering members the option of joining my private twitter account where I respond to direct messages on a daily basis. It’s a smaller account, and I quite often post pictures that are on the sweet and vanilla side of the industry. I may even send a pic to them immediately after a session.

Finding out what they want or what sort of intimate fantasies they’re looking for is a part of the process. During the month of December, I found myself in long phone calls that were almost platonic in nature. There was an absence of sexual references or innuendo while I spent hours talking on the phone to lonely men. A large number of my callers just wanted someone to ask them how their day went. In addition to long phone sessions, I noticed an increase of customized GFE-type video requests, as well. Never underestimate the power of whispering sweet nothings into a man’s ear while looking directly into your webcam, telling him how amazing he is.

Another way to encourage customer spending during the winter months when other models notice a slowdown is to rephrase the way you describe your shows. The shows may still be essentially the same, but giving shows a nice re-brand and a shiny new name can make all the difference. Summer sessions that you may have sold as “Wild & Hot Fun Live On Skype” now become “Sensual Meet & Greet With A Real Sweetheart” followed by promotional materials — captioned on Instagram with “Good Morning Baby.”

Of course, if this is not your hustle style, there is no reason why you can’t capitalize from all the horny men cooped up in the house all winter long. If sweet and playful isn’t your thing, or maybe you feel this crosses your own set of boundaries, you may still be able to reel them in by just doing a simple update. Create a winter newsletter letting them know you, too, are bored and in need of some company. How you choose to word it is completely up to you, as long as you are making an effort to let them know they haven’t been forgotten after the money is spent. That’s really the key to tapping into additional money after the Christmas trees have been put away.

The money is still out there, but it may take some additional effort and the ability to listen for it when it needs you — and not just the other way around.

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Taja Ethereal is a 10-year veteran of the webcam industry and creates weird and peculiar fetish content for depraved kinksters online. She is the force behind camhustlers.com, focusing on SEO marketing and building social media strategies for adult performers. When she isn’t performing, you can find her in the kitchen making homemade ice cream. Follow Taja on Twitter at @PussyByThePound.