Speaker 1: 0:01

So welcome to the second episode of my podcast, sisters in Cash. My second guest is the one and only Melrose Michaels, i'm really happy that you are right now my podcast. Yeah, mel, can you tell us a little bit about you?

Speaker 2: 0:25

Yeah, first off, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you, i'm very excited to be here. I'm very excited to be here. I'm super cool. I'm really exciting. I guess, really, how I'd introduce myself is that I'm an active creator and performer myself. I've been in the industry over 11 years now and originally got my start in the web camping space And then eventually it kind of transitioned into premium Snapchat, and then I started working as a sex work CEO, which is my educational company for adult creators and performers. And then, adjacent to that, i have Networthy, which is a clothing company for sex workers by sex worker that donates a percentage of proceeds to pineapple support, which is a mental health organization in our space, and I'm actually working on launching another company, but I can't say too much about that just yet.

Speaker 1: 1:20

So we'll have to see. This is really interesting another company, but I've seen a lot of companies already. Yeah, So um, did you say it before. How long are we right now in the industry?

Speaker 2: 1:32

Yeah, I'm going on just over 11 years. So I first did my first live cam show October 30, 2011. So we're just over 11 years now.

Speaker 1: 1:43

Wow, that's a really long time And I know you're really also focused on some shows, so you are really um. You have also a lot of connections at some summits with other people, with other companies, so you are traveling also a lot, right.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Yeah, you're not just only at home creating content and Yeah, no, i was traveling a lot more, uh right before COVID And then when COVID kind of shut everyone down, um, i'm just now getting kind of back into the traveling swing of things. This is kind of the first year I've attended conventions again and I've gone to the summit I did X, x. X was LA in January, x was Miami, which just passed in May. Um, i'm debating about doing X was Amsterdam, we'll see. It's a little too soon to tell, but um, hopefully I'll make it over there And, uh, with some of the exotic cousin stuff I have lined up as well.

Speaker 1: 2:36

Nice, really, really nice. Maybe, maybe we will meet each other on Amsterdam, Oh that'd be so cool. Um, okay, so another question Why you started sex work, ceo, and um, why you start to help models, because normally models are not so, um, i don't, i don't, so, uh, don't communicate a lot with other models to help them or to push them. So why you started this?

Speaker 2: 3:09

Yeah, so when I first got started in the adult space, it was very like gatekeeping, like I would. I remember asking a model uh, just like in, you know, email and MFC. Back in MFC days, my pre-cams was the platform I was on and I had email turned. I was like, what kind of light do you use to get that cool effect when you're on cam? And I had a really rude response And it was just kind of like I had to figure it out for myself. So do you. And I remember that so vividly, so like that's not how it should be, like anyone could go onto my page and see that I'm camming eight to 12 hours a day, every single day, like I was not just here as a side hustle, like I took a very serious, so like that was kind of a slap in the face. Um, at least that's how it felt then.

Speaker 2: 3:51

And then, as I kind of learned the ropes and I was around for longer, it is really hard to learn how to navigate the space, especially with that help, and I remember that. And I remember thinking like I would rather have the provide the opposite experience to someone in my community where I am helpful to them And I can give them, you know, that learning curve so that I can get ahead more quickly than I did. I think that's kind of kind of a responsibility and maybe that's the wrong word to phrase it with, but it's. It's a responsibility to give back to your community. Especially, this industry has given me so much. You know, i've achieved a lot and I have a beautiful life because of it, and I really want to make sure that when I leave this space, if I leave the space that I do so leaving it better than I found it. I think that's really important. Um, and then, beyond that, like one of the real, like I've always kind of wanted to give back in some way. I didn't know what it was going to look like.

Speaker 2: 4:44

And then, when COVID happened, some of the things I expected and like my predictions of what would come out of COVID for our industry were not accurate And some of them were being like, obviously, you know COVID happened a lot of more creators entered the space. They were coming in dabbling and make the only fans thing, even if they were completely vanilla mainstream types, and then also we saw a huge influx of traffic from people who are home from work or working remote, all of that. So it made for a really interesting ecosystem where we had more traffic but we also had more competition. So, like, i shifted my business model during that time so I could capitalize on what was going on. So like, for example, i made my clip store prices really low so that people who were not familiar with me could buy a clip, get exposure to me and see if they liked my content for a very low price, a very low barrier to entry. If they liked me, i would obviously funnel them from the clip store to my fan site, which I had a really low entry price for the subscription, and then I could upsell and make more revenue in the DM. So it was more time-intensive but the price point to get in to be a fan of me and to enjoy my content was much lower. And that's kind of how I navigated that era of our industry when we had that huge boom. So I was able to capitalize it and I made the most money that I had made up until that point in my career during that time of COVID.

Speaker 2: 6:08

And I knew that a lot of the biggest creators in our space had made a lot more money that year as well, whereas some of the smaller creators, who maybe didn't know how to navigate that, didn't capitalize on that moment as good as they could have potentially, and what I was hoping to see was that the larger creators would use those resources financially to give back to organizations like Free Speech Coalition or to donate to lobbying Congress, like to do things that could change policy and legislation. But that's not what happened. So my prediction was completely wrong And after noticing that, i was like well, maybe because there's just so few of us at that top threshold and I'm not even, i don't even include myself in what I considered the peak, to be honest, but there's so few of us up there that maybe the expectation that that handful of people was going to give back to any meaningful amount of financially was just not a fair expectation to place on them, whereas if we could make majority of the creators more financially successful or have the financial resources to impact these organizations and impact change in policy, that that was a more important route to go. So then it became like okay, well, how can I make more adult creators more financially successful? And the only way that I saw that happening was like giving them the information that I had either discovered it had to encounter an overcome along the way or that someone had helped me with. So that's kind of when I was like, okay, the times now, like I really want to do this And I think that the more you give, the more you get, like I think most businesses that operate that way do really, really well.

Speaker 2: 7:43

And it's not a non-for-profit business, this is a business for me. It's just I'm trying to do it in the most ethical way for our space as possible And I don't think, you know, gatekeeping or restricting information is the right way to go about that. The business model we have for SexRex, ceo, is we make our earnings not off the creators but off of the platforms who want to get their brand and products and services in front of creators. And what I like about this business model is that I am that gatekeeper where I'm not just giving access to this wonderful community of people who love and trust me and who I owe kind of this debt to because of my own success. I don't want to put bad things out in front of them that aren't the platforms, aren't being led by good teams, maybe don't have our best intention for the community at heart. So I think that what I've been able to do is kind of curate this wonderful community into one place where we can share resources, share education, share success stories, help build each other up And then in doing so, we can also let companies who are deserving of that access gain that access to get in front of these creators as well. So I think it's kind of a really neat way to have built a business.

Speaker 2: 8:58

I didn't know what I was doing, necessarily when I first set out. I didn't know how I'd monetize it. I didn't know how to make it profitable. Those things weren't even priorities. I'm two years in now and the companies only now, around the two year mark, become profitable. So I've been doing this off of my own free labor, off of my own content creation you know finances for more than two years, before we were ever in the green. So I think people who cited that too I think that like this is wildly profitable because we look big online, like we are everywhere all the time very consistent, we've got a lot of great processes and systems in place, but this entire company is run by me and one other person and we spend a lot of time on it. So yeah, it's a baby, but it's got legs.

Speaker 1: 9:44

Sounds amazing. Sounds amazing. Do you have also your own community, maybe in Discord or Telegram or something?

Speaker 2: 9:51

Yeah, so we do have a telegram group, which is closed for creators only, because that's something that I struggle with too is where I don't want to gatekeep information in any way.

Speaker 2: 10:02

I do kind of need to keep the information we put out separate from our fans, because if you, we can give away so much information, but there's some things that models don't necessarily want fans knowing, or also private things we don't want to share publicly in front of fans. Some of the things we do in our telegram group is survey creators. like we'll put a poll up that is like have you been dealing with this kind of interaction or have you been catfished online or have you lost a bank account due to your job? And a lot of adult performers were business people. we're also just people that want our privacy, so there's some things I just can't put publicly, and also there's things that you know. if there's a special kind of affiliate link or if we're only trying to survey a creator specifically and we want to keep fans out of the mix from accessing that link, like there's some things that have to be behind some sort of gate, but creators are all welcome to that, and so that's kind of the way I differentiate it.

Speaker 1: 10:55

How models can join your telegram group.

Speaker 2: 10:58

Yeah, so we post about it pretty much every day on Instagram or Twitter in one way or another, And if you just comment like an emoji on that tweet or you know, DM us on Instagram, we send you the link, you know, within 24 hours. Everyone's always welcome.

Speaker 1: 11:12

Okay, perfect, perfect. And this brings me to my next question. As I know, you don't have any corporations with companies, and I know that other models monetize their trust to their models and make some, for example, youtube videos for companies or promote any products, but in the end, models have, for example, problems with the products, and why it's so important for you and why your trust is more important for you than to monetize the trust with the models.

Speaker 2: 11:52

So I think so this is going to be. there's a couple things I want to touch on. So, first off, i think that monetizing your trust or monetizing your brand or however it's raised, it almost has a bad connotation, and I don't want people listening to think that it's bad to do that. I think you can run a business and you can do it in a kind, ethical, valuable way and still make money Like. I don't think those two are need to be separate. I think that they can coexist. But what I'll say is that I was, for a time, a brand ambassador to a company called Fence Show. I had a great experience there. I had a lot of success there. I knew the platform inside and out. So before I launched X-Flexio, i actually opted to try to make courses for Fence Show and there's a lot of success with them. We got worldwide press. We helped a lot of creators grow their business on that platform.

Speaker 1: 12:48

I learned it really a lot from you.

Speaker 2: 12:53

So that alone was such a great experience for me and I would not trade that experience, The reason I decided ultimately after learning so much there, working with an incredible team there, making a ton of money on that platform as a creator there I saw that as valuable as I was teaching creator, Fence Show models or performers to be successful on Fence Show that I also had a wide range of knowledge on OnlyFans, on ManyBits, on StripChat, MyFiCams to SexPanth all the other platforms I was on, because the average creator is not on one platform, We're on 15. I knew a lot more than I could speak on when I was being an ambassador for that company. After seeing the success with Centro and their courses that we put out, I was just like man. I have so much more to offer than just what I know about this single product. This was again at the same time COVID was happening. At the same time, all these things were a perfect storm was coming together. Then, ultimately, when I left being a brand ambassador for them, I left a lot of money on the table. That was a very scary thing to do because I was not just going off on my own, but I didn't know if it would work. I didn't know if launching SexFixio was going to pan out. I didn't know if people would trust me because I had already spoken to only this thing for so long and maybe I was viewed as only knowing about this thing or only trustworthy around that one product.

Speaker 2: 14:21

When I decided to do SexFixio, the decision was made because I knew I could offer more value in more areas because I had the expertise from a decade plus in the industry. I wanted to be able to give that value to the community. I couldn't do it strictly as an ambassador for one company. While that was an incredible experience and I think most models that get the opportunity to be an ambassador like a real ambassador to a company and speak to their product if you love the product and if you've had success with a product, I do think that's a great business move because you're going to learn a ton of stuff. I don't necessarily know that I would have had as much success with SexFixio if I hadn't had that as a really important step in my journey. I do want to say that Now with SexFixio, the reason I stay independent of companies because I can't tell you, I've had a lot of companies try to take me back under their wing and be their brand ambassador.

Speaker 2: 15:11

Or I've talked to companies about owning equity, stake in their business and their product and service in exchange for being their ambassador to the face of the company. I've kept saying no. It's very hard because at every level there's more money thrown at you. It's more than I make now from my own, SexFixio. It gets very hard to say no to those kinds of opportunities.

Speaker 2: 15:35

I think it's so important for my brand with SexFixio that people can't say I'm making these videos or these Twitter threads or these newsletters or whatever we put out Instagram Reels, that they can't say I'm giving my opinion because I'm being paid to. I think that that's really important. Now I will say there's a caveat to this. We have sponsors who will pay me to do their video courses, their educational stuff, and they go up on our YouTube channel. It's very clear that they're sponsored. It's very clear that they're well advertised. It's on the video. You can't miss it.

Speaker 2: 16:09

The difference is I'm showing a strategic business way to use their product, versus saying, if they're just paying me to say what they want me to say, That's not how it goes. I do all the scripting, I do all the outlining. I talk about how I personally use the product. I also will not work with companies that I do not want to associate with. I'm very clear on that.

Speaker 2: 16:32

I turned down probably 90% of sponsorship opportunities that are approached to us because I don't want to just work with anyone. I want, when someone sees the SexFixio logo or a brand association with something, that they know they can trust it. That's really important to me. It's hard because every level just gets harder. Being independent is also what makes what I'm doing so special. I also don't know if I wasn't in such a privileged position, with what I know because of my experiences and the money I make being a creator to support building this, that I could say no to those opportunities when they are very tempting. I've been lucky enough to be in a place where I can. I'm going to just keep staying focused on what I'm trying to build and keep my head down in the meantime.

Speaker 1: 17:21

That's perfect. If you have the freedom to do something. What do you really like? That's amazing. A lot of girls don't have it. I can remember when you started first in some IG stories to share some tips and tricks. It was amazing for your close friends, for girls because we never know a girl. They have done it. For girls to, for example, share some shooting outlines We all don't know a shooting outline before For example, first shoot something in one outfit for Twitter posts, for Instagram, for teasing, then your content for your pay sites. It was amazing, really amazing. I also love German girls. I really love it. You have a lot of fans here.

Speaker 2: 18:17

Oh, I love that. That's so good.

Speaker 1: 18:22

Yeah, in 2023,. What is, for you, the best platform to generate some traffic? TikTok, twitter, instagram.

Speaker 2: 18:35

The generating traffic. I want to speak to what I think is best and not what I'm actively doing, because I like to be a product of what I preach, but I'm also about to launch another company. My hands are tired. I'm in 1,000 meetings a day now, which is very unusual to how my normal day-to-day would go. It's not going to be aligned with what I'm doing, but it's what I would be doing if I had the ability to.

Speaker 2: 19:00

I think TikTok is 100% number one. Then repurposing TikToks to Reels. I think something that's very underrated that creators should be doing is more video content on Twitter, because Twitter is now really refocusing onto visual and video. You can see that if you go into the For You page now, there's an entire video panel that you see. If you start playing, then they actually scroll, like TikTok does. I think that you're going to see a lot more success with video on Twitter in the future. I also will include that.

Speaker 2: 19:36

I think if you're building on TikTok and Instagram and Twitter as a mainstream brand, you will have more success than building as an adult brand, whether it's Get Ready With Me or Fashion like I'm wearing this today, this today, this today, putting on clothes, adding a bag, sunglasses, or doing the fitness thing and being a fitness creator, or doing ASMR and being that or being a gamer whatever the mainstream thing is you're going to have a lot more success and you're going to have a lot more ease of access to grow your business. That way, as soon as you categorize yourself as an adult performer and creator, you're hitting the shadow bands, you're hitting the roadblocks. You're going to get visibility issues. Although it's not the way it should be, i really like to build my businesses and navigate the space in the way it exists and not in the way we would like it to be, because that's just not real life Right now, with the way things are set up. You really have to build a mainstream brand and then funnel it to your adult platforms and profiles.

Speaker 2: 20:36

I would do it that way. Definitely TikTok Reels, twitter video. Twitter is where we have the most chance of survival, just keeping our platforms alive. I do think that's really important. Then a big one I would say that's also massively underrated is YouTube. I think if you can focus on building YouTube channels, especially with shorts shorts get massive views and it's very easy to monetize I would take that route. If I was starting over today I would be live camming. I would be focusing on TikTok and then YouTube shorts and then Twitter. Those would be where I'd live.

Speaker 1: 21:09

Also, you recycle your TikToks in Instagram as Reels and YouTube shorts and Twitter right Without the TikTok watermark.

Speaker 2: 21:18

Yes, there are some programs that can help with some of that. Repurposing AI is changing every day. That it will only get easier Even if you could film your short form video, just the source video, to your phone and have the source video caption it before you post it. Then you could distribute it to TikTok, to Instagram, to Twitter, to shorts, because I think that that is going to be a much easier way than pulling out the watermark, because then the video gets compressed and it's not going to do as well. It has TikTok's metadata. You have to resave it and export it. It creates a little bit of a headache, but it can be done either way. I would just say working with the source video is probably going to be a little bit easier.

Speaker 1: 22:02

Yeah, do you think it's true that longer Twitter videos get more attention? So, yes, because Elon Musk posted something or he treats something like if the longer the video is, it will get a better ranking.

Speaker 2: 22:22

So I remember seeing or hearing about that tweet, but when we so Six-Rick CEO, did a really deep dissection of the code when they released Twitter's code to be open source, we evaluated, like a bunch of other Twitter threads that were talking about the code, compared and contrast them, and we were following the updates as more code got released.

Speaker 2: 22:41

And one of the things that it said is not necessarily about the length of the video, but it's the length of the watch time, which is very similar to what TikTok and YouTube does. So if you have a short video but they're watching 100% of it, that's going to do much, much better performance wise than a, you know, two minute video that's getting five seconds of watch time. So you have to really have a self awareness of how good is the content you're about to post. How long are they probably going to watch it for? How long does your fun watch it for before they look at their phone or look at you or whatever, and then have a judgment call and, okay, let's make it shorter. So if you're just not sure how your content is going to perform, i would keep it short, because the shorter it is, the better the ads, the complete, you know full watch time.

Speaker 1: 23:21

Yeah, so you know a lot about social media. Can you tell us why you know so much about social media?

Speaker 2: 23:29

So I don't know if it's. I'm a very compulsive, like obsessive compulsive person, so when I get interested in something I kind of disappear for a few days and I just obsess over everything I can learn and absorb about it. So, like with Twitter, when the code came out, i obsessed over that for three or four days. Tiktok I have a friend that's a pretty big TikToker and I know a lot from them. But also I'll go down the YouTube rabbit hole and, you know, learn everything I can about TikTok and how people are succeeding there. Youtube, same thing I'm really obsessed with Mr Beast and the way he runs his channels.

Speaker 2: 24:01

So big Ryan Trayhan fan he blew up not out of nowhere, but everyone thinks it was out of nowhere. You know, overnight successes are usually like 10 years of remaking. But really seeing how he did his penny challenge, he crossed the US starting only with a penny and all money to get across the US had to come from this penny And he flogged the whole thing. But he had a very cool structure to his blogs. He ran them like episodes in a sitcom, which was really interesting.

Speaker 2: 24:27

The music he used, the rough cuts he used, how seemingly candid everything was and unproduced and unpolished things like that really stand out to me. So I mean, i've got Google Docs and Google Docs of like notes about seeing what all these other mainstream creators are doing and then what will and won't apply to adults in terms of, like the way I run my socials or the way I run my adult content and seeing how I can implement things there, because I'm I like to stay a student Like that's something I like to live by is like to always be learning from other people, and if someone has succeeded at anything whether they're, you know, a billionaire, whether they're a billion subscribers on YouTube, whatever it is they know something I don't know and I want to learn that thing. So I just try to keep you know, staying a student.

Speaker 1: 25:11

So you do a lot of research, right.

Speaker 2: 25:14

Yes, And I don't. I don't look at it like researchers. I really enjoy learning that stuff, So like when I'm not working and I go to sit on the couch like that's what I'll watch.

Speaker 1: 25:23

And read marketing books right.

Speaker 2: 25:25

I do like a lot of marketing books. I don't read as much as I used to. I'm more of an audible like a book on tape personnel, which is because of time. But yeah, yeah, i love books.

Speaker 1: 25:34

Perfect, perfect. That's amazing. A lot of girls that I think this is also a mistake in our industry don't do a lot of research about social media. Yeah, and then they don't know how social media works. So, for example, in Germany, tiktok isn't really famous, it's just for them it's Facebook or Instagram and post something on Twitter. But even on Twitter they don't like, they don't know something about the community guidelines. So, yeah, sometimes it's horrible, and then they don't understand why they don't generate a lot of reach.

Speaker 2: 26:13

Yeah, i know, and I can't speak too much to this but there are going to be ways where we can gain more traffic coming out in the future. I'm consulting for a company right now that's working on solving this problem and creating a really good solution for us, and that's what I love about Sexyx CEO is that's. Another revenue stream for us is getting paid to consults to help products and platforms we believe in to build it better for the community, and I think that's also why, when we do these polls and surveys, it's so valuable, because it gives me insight, not just from my perspective, but from the community's perspective, of what we need as a community. And then when I'm doing consulting for these companies, it's like, no, i've talked to the community. They said they don't want that, or they said that they need this or they need it this way, and then when they're building these things, they're building better things for us.

Speaker 2: 27:02

So I'm hoping that the work that goes on in those spaces behind the scenes is stuff that I'm never going to get credit for, the stuff that no one knows I'm a part of, the stuff that has nothing to do with Sexyx CEO, forward-facing the brand or malrose the brand.

Speaker 2: 27:15

It's like the stuff that will make the difference in the future, and I'm hopeful that that specific product, when it drops, i will be screaming it from the rooftops and it'll be a new way to generate traffic. But good things are coming to solve some of these problems, because I also think, although social media is so important, not just to building the business but to building the brand And brand is oftentimes way more important than the business But if you want to choose to be that kind of creator who doesn't use social or doesn't want to be involved in social, or has a lot of privacy concerns and doesn't want to do that, there will, in the future, be other routes to success in terms of driving traffic. I'm really excited for those and I'll announce them as soon as I'm able. But, yeah, good things are coming.

Speaker 1: 27:58

I can't wait that you drop your new product.

Speaker 2: 28:02

Oh, this one's on me. This one's what I'm talking on. My new company is actually just a market research company. So the surveying that we've been doing with creators and we just did a collaboration survey with Free Speech Coalition to find out how many adult performance have had bank accounts closed or lost the PayPal or Venmo or what have you due to the nature of our business And we took that data to Congress and they were really alarmed by it.

Speaker 2: 28:29

They all unitedly agreed that they need to do something about this. So that market research company, that's where, still in beta, we're preparing to launch. But when that comes to the space, it's not necessarily for creators, but it's for really impacting change on the background of a lot of these companies and products and being able to steer them in the right directions for what the community actually needs, and hopefully we'll be able to. You know our plan is to pay every creator that takes the survey once we get to that point, so that even taking the surveys for this new company will be a revenue stream for adult performers at one point or another. So I'm really excited for that Me too.

Speaker 1: 29:09

So I read a lot about the new TikTok algorithm and I also, on some yeah, I read a lot about other big performers wrote something in their communities that their TikToks don't perform really good right now. That real starting to perform better, Also with the feature of share to Facebook. Did you feel the same? Is it the same for you?

Speaker 2: 29:43

So I haven't been active on TikTok lately just because of like again my time. But what I will say is, whenever there's news or there's so like there's a difference, right. So Twitter released their source code, which is hard code. It doesn't change unless someone changes it versus an algorithm, which algorithms are almost self-learning, they adapt to whatever performs best and they're constantly adapting. So whenever someone says, like the new Instagram algorithm or the algorithm is changed again or whatever, for me like that's kind of bullshit. That's just not. that's not how it works. We don't know what the algorithm does Like pretty much no one does. We know what, the base baseline of what it's supposed to do, because they built it right, but then it's navigating it by itself. It's kind of a living organism, but to a degree it's constantly changing. So to say, one thing works now and it didn't before, it's like we might notice that, but we can't say the algorithm has changed. It's always changing. It's not the same today as it was yesterday. So that's kind of like a tough thing to call When we notice stuff that's not performing as well one place and starts performing well another place. I think that that's really important. I'm big on data, so if you're looking at your analytics and you're noticing those changes. you should absolutely adapt to those changes, but I don't think that that's going to apply across the board to every creator in our space at the same time. So one creator might see a huge change in their TikTok, because TikTok I mean, they have never said this, but they shadow band too.

Speaker 2: 31:10

I was getting 200 views on my TikToks and I think I saw one last one I posted. I think I got like a thousand, but I have 300K plus, like 360K on TikTok. So, yeah, the people that followed me aren't seeing my content. So what's that about? Something's happening there. I'm being limited with visibility. It's the same thing on Instagram, and though I have 350 plus K on Instagram, some of my reels will get a thousand views. Some of them will get 20,000.

Speaker 2: 31:33

So there's two things that are factored in right Are you being limited with your visibility, which is a huge thing that we all face? And another thing is is your content good enough? Because when you post content, if enough people don't engage with it right away, the algorithm just says it's not good enough. We're not going to show it to more people, and that's the name of the game. So a lot of what I see happening where people like I'm really shadowed, but I'm really shadowed, maybe that could be true. But also, is the content good enough? And I think that we think just because we're posting like TZ, sexy things, that it's going to perform well if people see it.

Speaker 2: 32:07

So not really how it goes. Good content is still good content. You have to have good content. So I can't speak to like if the algorithm changer, if I've noticed, because I just haven't been posting on TikTok lately to actually have that data, but what I will say is that when I create content that has a strong hook, like the first couple seconds are really engaging, whether that's something I'm doing physically, whether that's something I say, whether that's the music that's involved, something that hooks in the viewer, that's the content that performs the best.

Speaker 2: 32:36

So if you're trying to improve your content and I guess game the algorithm, which isn't gaming, it's just making better content work on your hook, like work on those first seconds of the video or in this applies across social, in any place the caption of your post should be a hook. the caption of your tweet should have a hook. the caption on your only fan's post should have a hook. You need to stop them from scrolling and capture attention. We're all in this massive war for attention And if you can't get people's attention to begin with, you're losing the war.

Speaker 2: 33:06

So I would just say for everyone you're trying to figure out how to perform better is just work on your hooks and making really good content. And also, that might not happen overnight. It's going to take time, but you will get better at it and then it'll become easier for you and then you'll notice your content consistently performing better. Is that a change in the algorithm? Probably not. You probably just got better at making content, because that's what's going to happen if you keep at it long enough.

Speaker 2: 33:28

So I think it's like it's easy to say it's one thing I think more often than not, we're just not. we're not putting out the best content because we expect it to perform well, because it used to. it used to when it wasn't an algorithm based. you know, social back in the early days of Instagram, because something sexy or like even a little bit scandalous, and everyone was all about it, because obviously you know, and because that was getting in huge, but they showed it to more people. So it's just like it's a cycle and you got to learn how to how to crack the cycle, and it all comes down to a good hook or good content.

Speaker 1: 33:59

I can tell you a lot about this. I changed it from spicy content just to fitness content. It's horrible. I had before 300,000, 400,000, 1 million wheels views, and then on every wheel, yes, then I started with the fitness journey and I get 1000 views.

Speaker 2: 34:21

So I would suggest for that is so the thing too is, we train our audience right. So if your audience is expecting spicy stuff, that's what they're following you for, So they change it out of nowhere. They're going to be like, well, what the hell You know? so I would have just started a new social and grown it with only the fitness stuff, so you track that audience and then it would have performed better. But that's a lot. That's the same thing. I think that mistake a lot of creators do, because we want to shift it, to be more safe and to be more allowing of us And we don't want to give up what we build. It's like it's hard to build a huge social. That's so hard. So yeah, but I would definitely separate out. If you asked me five years ago if I thought a safer work social not safer worker, less safer work social was a good thing to do, i would have said no, because at the time I don't think in the market didn't reinforce that. That was important to do. But now it's a lot different.

Speaker 1: 35:08

I know, i know. I know also about the shadow one on tick tock. When I post something I had a 100 K account before and, yeah, i lost it Then I now I have a 15 K account. I was so often live, so I am now on the tick tock marketplace or whatever. Also, you get some prices for everything And when I post something there I get maybe 300 views. When I post something on a new account, i get 3000 views.

Speaker 2: 35:39

Yeah, it's hard.

Speaker 1: 35:42

So yeah, TikTok is a good video.

Speaker 2: 35:48

Honestly, if it was six months ago, I've tweeted this from Sextor CEO like TikTok is worth that. It's overlooked. You should be focusing there. But now, the way that they're monetizing YouTube shorts and the visibility that they're giving YouTube shorts, I honestly think YouTube is where everyone should live. That's what I'm gearing up personally on my Malvra's brand and on SextorXeo, to focus very strategically on YouTube in the next coming months. I think that that is going to offer the most sustainability and not from what?

Speaker 1: 36:16

We will start also with SextorXeo on YouTube.

Speaker 2: 36:19

Yeah, so we have a channel. It's only like 4,000 subscribers. It's not very big because we haven't. It's not where I was focused on Twitter, because that's where most of us live first. But I'm pivoting to start really focusing on YouTube for all of my brands, just because I think it's offering the most sustainability.

Speaker 2: 36:36

Now, i don't think us as a community is going to be able to monetize through AdSense and stuff. I wouldn't count on that. What I would say is that build a big channel and then you have all these followers and subscribers tuning in and then they're going to find your social and they're going to find your platforms. So it's just going to be a sales funnel And if you want to do stuff like a sponsored video for a laundry company or sponsored video for a toy company or something like that, a try on haul Those are really popular stuff in that area You can monetize that way through sponsoring videos. But I wouldn't count on AdSense. But what you should do is capitalize on how easy it is to still build an audience there, because I think that's the key, especially with shorts. I've seen people blow up on shorts within 30 days. It's wild.

Speaker 1: 37:20

Really.

Speaker 2: 37:21

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:22

OK, so yeah, what would you recommend is the best thing to post on shorts, funny videos or more like daily vlogs?

Speaker 2: 37:33

I think so I think what you post. so, in terms of content, whatever, whatever you're going to do, it's going to take work right. So you want to make sure the thing that you like creating you're going to be able to do it for a long time, because if that channel blows up and you're at like 5 million, 10 million subscribers, you've got to keep doing that thing. So, whatever it is.

Speaker 1: 37:53

I have to close the window, just quick.

Speaker 2: 37:55

No worries.

Speaker 1: 37:57

I'll be my neighbor all the time.

Speaker 2: 38:00

OK, i'm back, Whatever it is that you end up posting. If that channel grows and you have like a 10 million subscriber channel or 20 million subscriber channel whatever it is, 150k even you're going to have to keep doing that thing and producing that kind of content because that's the audience. You built The same with your fitness stuff on Instagram, right, because you were not doing fitness. If you would have kept spicy, that would have still grown and hopefully performed well. So, whatever you decide to do on shorts or on YouTube, just make it something you like doing and make it so it's the kind of thing the audience you want will be attracted to. If you're trying to build adult platforms and that's the goals to get traffic to adult platforms do something sexy. Do something like the stuff we see on Instagram Reels already. Do stuff like that If you want a brand that's going to be bigger than when you're just an adult and say you're doing fitness, but you're doing fitness in a spicy way close ups, low angles, when you're squatting, stuff like that But you're still building a fitness channel And that can take you beyond adults once you're decided you want to leave it behind. So it really has to be to each individual's person's future goals and aspirations.

Speaker 2: 39:09

When I'm thinking about doing for Melrose, i'm not sure what I'm going to post yet And that's kind of what's held me up so long to capitalize on this. To be honest, because I have a lot of visions and a lot of really big ambitions from like what can I do for a decade Because it's going to take me a decade to build it. It took me a decade to build what I have now. So what can I do for the next 10 years that I'm really going to enjoy doing? And then I don't have this extra obstacle to face because I'm dreading doing the work of doing it. It has to be something you like. So that's why I try not to give advice on what they should be posting, because whatever you post is the right answer for you is going to be the right answer. It's not going to be one size fits all.

Speaker 1: 39:46

Yeah, I understand. What would you recommend? how often should influencer posts on Instagram to make it as much as possible?

Speaker 2: 39:59

You could like. Right now, someone I really look up to and follow is Gary V, and he talks about seven platforms up to seven times a day. He says, which is insane to think about putting out that much content. And that's really when you got to think critically and specifically about how you recycle content. So right now, for example, on Sex Work CO, i will make a Twitter thread which I mean I handwrite those. They take a lot of work. That's like I spend so much time on those. It's crazy.

Speaker 2: 40:24

But I will make these Twitter threads putting as much value and information as I possibly can. And then, when I go to make my reels, i'll pull up my Twitter threads And I'll make the reel about the Twitter thread. So now I've got the thread and I've got the reel. That reel will go on Pinterest, reddit, youtube, shorts, instagram. It was on TikTok, so TikTok got deleted. They don't like me there, so that's fine. And then that same Twitter thread also gets turned into a vlog, and that same Twitter thread often gets turned into a Twitter space or vice versa. Sometimes I do the space first, then turn it into a blog, then turn it into a thread, however, but that same piece of content, the same information is getting turned into all the things, so that I'm not doing 1,000 extra steps in work but I'm still getting a massive amount of content out of my work. So you have to really be critical on how you kind of tier your content, because we're coming from the adult space, we don't really have a lot of educational or informational stuff that we're putting out often. But what we do have, and what I've kind of tested on Melrose for a while, is stories. Like at the base of everything you want to be either educating, motivating, inspiring or storytelling mostly storytelling. So as an adult creator, we have lots of stories.

Speaker 2: 41:34

So for a little bit on Twitter, what I was doing from Melrose was I was doing story times where I would do these Twitter threads telling crazy stories of people I've dated or experiences I've had, and they were really funny and really humorous And people loved those. I want to start doing them again because I fell off because again too many meetings. But when I was doing the story times they were amazing. They landed so well. My fans loved it, other models loved it. Like it got crazy engagement And as adult performers, we have crazy stories of people in our DMs crazy real life stories, crazy stories at XBOX, crazy stories with other performers, crazy stories with companies.

Speaker 2: 42:07

We got stories for days. So if I was another creator and this one I will leave by example, because I am going to get back to doing this myself start tweeting stories like things that have happened to you that other people can't rip off, because it's your real experience. And then go on Instagram or TikTok and do a story time and tell your story of what happened. And then that goes up on YouTube Shorts, goes up on Reels, goes up on TikTok, and then you have your short form video taken care of And you can take that story from that Twitter thread and you can turn it into a podcast episode.

Speaker 2: 42:37

And now you've started a podcast, like it comes down to telling your story, whatever that is, and every adult performer has that ability to expand on their story. So I think that's something that we don't talk enough about, because we see all these other businesses capitalizing on social media and all these other ways And we're just like man. But you can't do that as a sex worker. Like, how do I do that as a sex worker? The way you do that is through stories, 100%.

Speaker 1: 43:01

Yeah, yeah, so you also use Reddit.

Speaker 2: 43:04

Yes, well, i don't do that myself because Reddit is a fucking headache, so I pay someone to do my Reddit. But yeah, i'm on Reddit.

Speaker 1: 43:11

So you're working within Reddit agency, not?

Speaker 2: 43:14

an agency. No, i'm not a big fan of agencies. I don't work with an agency on OnlyFans. I don't work with an agency on the modeling side. Like I don't have an agency, i have no management, it's all me. But I pay a freelancer who is good at posting to Reddit, at curating Reddit, responding to Reddit, and then they try to drive the traffic from my Reddit profile to my OnlyFans with traffic links.

Speaker 1: 43:36

You do it only for Melrose, or you do it also for Sexbubco?

Speaker 2: 43:40

For Melrose, I pay that person to do it. And for Sexbubco we do it in-house But we're not very strategic about it. It's mostly we update Reddit the same way we update our other socials, if that makes sense. So people can find us And I try to get in and respond to some sex worker subreddits and threads and stuff. But yeah, we're just mostly posting there for consistency across it as a social And then occasionally, when there's time, we go in and we answer questions and stuff.

Speaker 1: 44:06

Okay, okay. So the next point, because you already mentioned that you pay a freelancer for Reddit. do you have some tips for the models to handle their business, to outsource some things, or how they do their time schedule, for example, because a lot of models even don't have a time schedule for their week?

Speaker 2: 44:35

Yeah, it's hard to know where to start because I first let me know. I know I want to caveat this by saying this is not going to be one size fits all. I'm trying to grow a big business, so I do things in a rare way because I want a rare outcome. So let me preface this by saying that if you are a sex worker that's neurodivergent, or you're a sex worker that's disabled, or you're dealing with any of these other things, you're not going to be able to do a lot of the things that I'm about to suggest in the same way. You need to work it in a way that will work for you and be sustainable for you, because it's not one size fits all at all.

Speaker 2: 45:16

But I time block my day down to the minute Monday through Friday, weekends. I have things on my agenda, but they're a little bit more flexible. And even no matter what my time block is whether it's wake up this time, meditate this time, work out this time, take meetings from this time, create content from this time, this time's for lunch, take more meetings this time's for content creation, for sex work, ceo. Whatever is in my time block, i do. If it's on my calendar, it's an appointment with myself and I do not miss my appointment.

Speaker 1: 45:44

So you don't use a to-do list at the weekend, so when it's not in your calendar, it won't get done, right.

Speaker 2: 45:50

I have both. So first yeah, first I time block for what I'm focused on, at what point of the day, and then I use a program called Asana, which is a little bit more expensive, but I have a team that I need to collaborate with, so it makes more sense for me to use Asana. If you're just you know your own, you're just running the business as a solo entrepreneur. Right now, it's just you I would suggest using Google Tasks, because there's an app for it and it's built into your Google Calendar. It's right on the side, so they go really hand in hand. Well, and it's free, and I still use Google Tasks just for some stuff anyways, but Google Tasks is a great option if it's just you.

Speaker 2: 46:26

So I have my to-do list, which I, on Asana. I break it into like Sex Work, seo stuff, melrose stuff, net worthy stuff, the market data company that we're launching. It's all broken down And then I have it organized by how urgent it is or how important it is. So we kind of just talked about this in Sex Work, seo's recent Twitter space. But if it's really urgent, really important, that's going on my get done today list. If it's important but not as urgent, that is something I'm going to work on, scheduling in a later time in the day or a different day If it is not important, and not wait. If it's urgent but not important, that's stuff that I will delegate to a team member. So that's stuff I will pay Loretta guy to do. You know my Reddit because that's urgent, it's going to fill my sales funnel for only fans and my platforms but it's not important for me to do. It doesn't need to be me doing that. You know someone else can replicate it and he's going to do a better job. So I don't fucking understand Reddit. So like that is something you delegate. And then the other stuff that's not important and not urgent. That's the stuff I'm like why am I fucking doing this? Why is this on my list?

Speaker 2: 47:28

Like when I was doing the Twitter space, talking about that matrix, that framework I'm discussing about, like urgent, the urgency and the portancy and doing or scheduling, or delegating or not doing. That's the Eisenhower matrix. It's a framework I used to take my big task list and make it manageable And when I'm going through that, it helps me to narrow things down. So even when I go back to my to do list in Asana, i will strategically move things around so that I'm only doing five big things that are really urgent and really important each day, and maybe at the end of the day I'm scheduling three things that are important but not urgent. And then I go about my day like that And when my time block on my Google calendar says okay, you're not talk, you're not focused on Melrose brand anymore, you focus on sex. We're CEO now. Then I go to Asana under my sex your category And then I do those tasks.

Speaker 2: 48:16

So I use the calendar to dictate what I'm focused on And I use a task list to dictate what I'm actually doing. And in between that, like I have actual breaks, like I take a break for lunch, i don't sit on the couch because if I do, the rest of my day gets eaten by Netflix. So I see the table and I eat my food or I'll go for a walk. That's like a reward system I have for myself so that I don't get burnt out. But the biggest thing is, like, if you set an appointment for yourself on your calendar, show up for it, because, like, if you don't have that discipline with yourself as an entrepreneur, you're just not going to win. Like, no one is going to hold you accountable to you. You have to do that And that is the beauty of what, why you're in business for yourself, and that is also the you know, the biggest temptation is because, like, no one's going to yell at me if I don't show up for work today.

Speaker 2: 49:01

No one's going to come for me, literally no one. The people that I hire, they're not even going to hold me accountable. So you have to show up for yourself. And if you can't get that muscle strong enough of that self-discipline, you're kind of dead in the water, and I say that lightly because everyone's discipline will look different. Mine is very, very, very focused in, you know, tuity and at least to an extent like I'm not perfect, but I try to not miss appointments I set with myself. And then I forgot what the other second part of what you had asked me was.

Speaker 1: 49:31

Yeah, so it just was. if you have some content days, so if we're just, we're just shooting the content, for example, two days per week and the rest of the week you don't have to shoot content.

Speaker 2: 49:46

So I fluctuated in my career many different times. So again, this has to be what fits you as a creator. So when I was in my premium Snapchat days, i've filming every single day, so I was very used to putting out a lot of content very quickly And I like that pace because it makes me feel productive. It keeps my fans really happy, so I like to stick to that. I have three hours blocked out of my day to film all content, and that's every day.

Speaker 2: 50:14

If I can't do that because of meetings or because of life or because of you know whatever, then I will batch film on the weekend or I will batch film more in my next three hour content block than I would have had to do one thing in my regular content block, and I'll also change what I'm focused on filming to accommodate my time.

Speaker 2: 50:32

So, like, if I have three hours today to film but I can't film the rest of the week for, you know, meeting reasons or whatever, then I'm going to do BJ videos, jy videos, asmr videos, dirty talk videos, stuff that's more simple on my body, so that I can make a lot of it very quickly, and I will navigate in that way and constantly be adjusting, but on a normal work week where I'm not like taking crazy meetings, i have three hours a day where I'll film, and that that is more than enough time to get a new show which includes a teaser, which includes, you know, short form video for like Instagram reels or only fan story, and also the teaser, the explicit and bonus content, because for every show I film now I also do extended footage or bonus content that I sell in DMs.

Speaker 2: 51:16

So I have all of that for all of my content sessions. And hopefully, because I'm going to start posting again to YouTube for Sex Work SEO, i'm also incorporating into my content creator time block each day, time to film for Sex Work SEO. So that's going to be YouTube videos that will be coming out in August.

Speaker 1: 51:34

Yeah, yeah. So do you think that YouTube videos are the hardest to film? because to cut them after or to film a daily blog Because I know you also started on daily blogs in the past right On YouTube.

Speaker 2: 51:52

Yeah, i've done. I did daily vlogs. They're all private now I don't think there you can't even see them. And then I did like I did a reality show. So I always thought it would be really cool to like film a reality show, just because I love the cinematography of it. So we did shameless in the south, which was really cool to that for 10 episodes And that's just kind of me like playing around and figuring out what I want to do on YouTube, because there's so many things I want to do, i just don't know if I can do them forever.

Speaker 2: 52:15

So I'm trying to solve that problem for myself too. I wouldn't say creating for YouTube is harder. I think that as creators, especially as female creators or female identifying creators, we want to be perfect, right, and that's what ruins our fucking content is like I create the most beautiful cinematic, polished, you know, perfect content, because that's what I like And that's not what sells well And YouTube's the same. So like the more real you are on YouTube, where you can actually see yourself starting reporting the camera and see yourself stopping the camera, like that's what's going to do well on YouTube. So I don't think. I think if we can get away from the perfectionism of it. We can really simplify how easy YouTube is Because, as adult creators, we know how to produce content Like we've already done the hard learning of what we do. We know how to film, we know how to edit, we know how to market on social, we know how to do sales, we know how to close sales. We have these massive skill sets at our advantage. But then we get to YouTube. We're like I don't know what to do. Like, what are you doing? We've been doing this for years. It's just we're not naked anymore.

Speaker 2: 53:17

So you know, do it on storytelling based content, or you know a different kind of content style. So it's more about, like separating yourself out of the box of the kind of content you films up to now and shifting it to a new kind of content, probably going to be story storytelling based. So once you can can do that, or once you research what it really takes to tell a story, because there's a whole science to that. There's a beautiful way of storytelling called the Harman Circle, which is where you start in one place, you reach a challenge, overcome your challenge and then you get to the end, which is like the resolution, but it's back where you started. It's this beautiful circle storytelling. Most videos, most sitcoms, most TV shows use that Harman Circle kind of storytelling.

Speaker 2: 53:58

So if you can do some research on storytelling and really become a good storyteller, then the content part you've already thought you got that Like. That's not the hard part. You don't need the fancy graphics, you don't need a fancy intro. Most people make these good. Even sex works. Yeah, we have this beautiful intro to our educational videos. It's like 10 seconds long. That's way too long. That's not a hook that loses everyone who's watching the video. So like there's so much that you have to learn. Like have a strong hook, get right into the fucking story. Don't waste time. Don't make it perfect. You don't need to. We already know how to make content. We just have to become better storytellers And that's the only change I think we need for YouTube.

Speaker 1: 54:33

I also started with some YouTube vlogs. It was really hard for me because, yeah, as you said, we always like to have it perfect. Then, yeah, but yeah also, i think for me it's really hard is then, if you created a lot of content before and you have to shooting outline, and then because also about your privacy, you just take your camera and film your day. It's really for me it was really weird.

Speaker 2: 55:03

Yeah, it is really weird, It is.

Speaker 1: 55:05

Yeah, it is So. Yeah, I stopped with this. So I do it more like I film it with big YouTubers together. So just some cool shooting, what also was a little bit like to shoot something for also my Viking brand, you know, that matched a little bit. That was pretty cool. But to do every day or every week, some daily vlogs, that's yeah.

Speaker 2: 55:34

It's very overwhelming, and the privacy thing is very hard, because you want to show your life but you don't want people to know where you go get coffee every day. Like that's a real danger for people like us. Yes, so I think that's honestly what deterred me from daily vlogging. I actually used to daily vlog. This is so long ago. I was like, not, i was in the industry but I was taking a break. So it was actually I got my real estate license.

Speaker 2: 55:58

I was doing real estate for about a year And so I was more focused on the real estate side of things. So I was daily vlogging to a channel for real estate And it was like Snapchat daily vlogs. They were very cool, they were really well done And I was posting them to YouTube as well And they were performing good. But then when I would like do a cam show or when I would like sneak off to visit my adult you know business then I'm like, oh, people are finding my stuff And like they know where we're sitting I'm in and like this is really problematic, cause if you're doing real estate, you got to say what city you're working, like you could tell them where you are.

Speaker 2: 56:27

So, yeah, the daily vlogging can be very dangerous for an adult performer And I think that's why I don't really push that as a great format for us. Also, it's very high pressure, right, to do something every day. That's a lot of high pressure If you can just do a weekly vlog and then you could be way more curated and you could be more, way more sensitive and careful And that's a much better approach personally. Or if you're going to do a daily vlog and you know that you're going to have to censor it, maybe put out a different version on YouTube than you put out to only fans. You know something a little bit more censored for privacy on both platforms, but maybe on only fans. You make a very spicy version And like that's very appealing And then your daily vlog could help funnel people to your spicy vlog, which could be very cool.

Speaker 1: 57:11

Yeah, I saw it on a lot of fitness girls. They started their blog at their blog at the YouTube and they turned over to, for example, pay platforms.

Speaker 2: 57:24

Yeah, yeah for sure, there's also a lot of people don't realize. But OnlyFansTV is a massive competitor to YouTube, not competitor in size, like YouTube is huge right, but I heard it said once and don't quote me on this because I don't know if the data point is real but it was told to me that only 2% of OnlyFans traffic is paying, which means that 98% of it is non-paying. So they're on free pages, they're lucky lose, they don't subscribe, they're on trials, whatever. So they launched OnlyFansTV and this is my assumption. Again, i'm saying this from my own belief that they launched OnlyFansTV as a way to capitalize on all of that non-paying traffic.

Speaker 2: 58:03

So now if you go and you start posting OnlyFansTV, which they have a lot of kind of hoops to jump through, you actually have to get interviewed, you have to be accepted. They want like 4K video, they want microphone audio. But if you can get approval to the platform, you basically link your videos on OnlyFansTV to your free page. And when I was interviewed with them to set up an OnlyFansTV profile, they had told me like, yeah, your free page has to be completely safe for work. You know, you can't have anything on the feed, which is, i understand.

Speaker 1: 58:35

You have to be safe for work, right Yeah?

Speaker 2: 58:37

Yeah, very safe for work. And even though it's your free page and it's all safe for work, on the feed and in the stories and stuff you can have a list of fans who opt in like, yes, i'm gonna tip you to be on this list and you can still send them explicit content on your free page. So, technically, if you start an OnlyFansTV and you get all the traffic because there's a ton of traffic on there and I see girls doing this girls are blowing up with OnlyFansTV and they're funneling it back to their free page and they're sending explicit NDMs for lock you can grow your page that way And it's a massively missed opportunity because people just don't know it's out there, like that's. One of the other things I was debating was like do I focus on OnlyFansTV, do I focus on YouTube, and can I focus on both? And so if you can make content for YouTube, you can also post it to OnlyFansTV And then boom, now you're getting a huge increase of traffic. That's totally separate from YouTube and you're still growing in both places and monetizing.

Speaker 1: 59:34

I also didn't know that's so big.

Speaker 2: 59:38

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 59:38

I just saw some cooking shows there or some fitness influencers there, but I didn't know that also adult influencers can post there too.

Speaker 2: 59:48

Yeah, yeah, if you can. it just can't be explicit content. So it has to be like what you're saying, like a cooking show or a fitness thing, or they have like some TV shows and stuff that they make themselves. But if you can think of, like, again, a mainstream thing that you want to build your brand around, you can post it to YouTube, you can post it to OFTV and you can drive it all back to your platforms. It's a great way of advertising.

Speaker 1: 1:00:08

Yeah, yeah, ok, so nearly the last question. I like to learn a little bit more about the person behind the business person, melrose. So can you tell us what makes you really happy?

Speaker 2: 1:00:26

What makes you really happy is being offline, and I don't get to do that very often these days. I love being with my family and friends. Like we do game nights with my family all the time and we play cards against really inappropriate games, like cards against humanity or stuff like that. We love to just play games and laugh. Anytime I can get my family all together in one place, that's the peak thing for me.

Speaker 2: 1:00:53

I don't see friends often. I have a very small friend group because I really believe that you are the result of the people you hang out with. So it's very hard, especially where I live, because I live in the Bible Belt in the US, so it's very religious here, it's very conservative, so it's very hard to find people like me or even in business like me. So it's hard to find friends where I'm at, and I'm OK with that because also the people I do have in my life and the friends I do have are like me. They're very focused, they're very driven, they add value to the things I'm doing and they teach me stuff and I can learn from them, which is really special. But I don't have a lot of downtime. I don't know if I can make the distinction between Melrose the person and Melrose the business person, because from 11 years old I was trying to start a business. I first started a dog walking business where I was growing up and hanging flyers around town, and then that was 11. And I had that business one summer and then the next summer I wanted to get beauty pageants but we didn't have any money. So I had to go business to business asking for sponsorships and telling them that they could sponsor me. And I put out this newsletter and they get advertising for sponsoring this pageant girl. And then I did the pageant and tripped on stage and I was like, ah, this isn't for me.

Speaker 2: 1:02:09

Like I've always been an entrepreneur, it's very much a part of my DNA I don't think that I would be happy if I wasn't working on something that I really cared about. So most of my time if you've checked my screen time, it says 22 hours a day, but I don't know how that's possible So at least 12 to 16 hours of my day has spent working. But it's things like that's what makes me happy. That's what I really enjoy doing. If I don't feel like I'm working on something valuable or fulfilling, then I don't feel like I'm doing anything Like I feel like I'm wasting my time. So for me they're very much kind of one and the same. I guess It's hard to separate the two.

Speaker 1: 1:02:50

I have it also. I'm always thinking I can sit down and watch some TV, because I'm always thinking what I can do more. Yeah, it's like really time, wasting time of your life.

Speaker 2: 1:03:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:03:03

But yeah, it's hard to find some people that can deal with it.

Speaker 2: 1:03:07

Yes, well, there's days where I'll binge watch a whole season of something. Netflix is such a trap for me. I actively try to avoid sitting on the couch Because if I do, it's all downhill And that's partially like that's how I escape. I don't turn off my brain very well. I have trouble sleeping and stuff because I'm just I'm always thinking So if I can get into a TV show and get sucked in, it's the only time my brain isn't focused on the stuff I'm working on. So there's absolutely like if I feel overwhelmed or if I feel burnt out, like I'll go offline. It looks like I'm still online to everyone else because my posts are scheduled and things are going up And I have a team that helps me. But if I'm offline, like I'll just watch a season or something, and then the next day I'm like I'm good, i feel good, i feel rested, my brain feels rested. So I still make time for that. It doesn't happen all the time, but it still happens.

Speaker 1: 1:03:56

To track Yeah, I also watched some video on YouTube. You have to sleep minimum eight to 10 hours. That the yeah, that the things between your brain cells can go away and you can think clear again.

Speaker 1: 1:04:10

Then you don't get sick. It's really interesting also And also, as you know, i started first as a model some 11 years ago And then three years ago I started for fan center in sales, and also to learn what you said, to learn to work with this time schedule and also to come down with your brain, because if you have two jobs or more, like you, you can understand. You're always thinking and you have to think in different ways, even at the shows or wherever. You have to think for your sex work, ceo, you have to think as a model. You have to think for your clothing brand. So, yeah, there's a lot of what's going on in your head And if you like to go to sleep, you always find something, what you can do more.

Speaker 2: 1:05:04

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:05:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:05:06

Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 1:05:07

For your mental health to set boundaries. It's really important.

Speaker 2: 1:05:12

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 1: 1:05:14

Yeah, mel, that was a really long talk And I'm so thankful that you was with me in the podcast.

Speaker 2: 1:05:21

Of course, of course. Thank you for having me. I love this. I love doing these.

Speaker 1: 1:05:25

It was an honor for me because also I'm a really big fan of you.

Speaker 2: 1:05:30

You're so sweet. Yeah, i'm a fan of you too.

Speaker 1: 1:05:34

Oh my god, thank you. I can't sleep tonight, yeah, So I hope I will see you on the next shows again, absolutely. I saw you in LA and I was thinking oh my god, she's so beautiful, you're so sweet.

Speaker 2: 1:05:51

I'm so glad we got to hang out at that restaurant for a little bit in chat. It was so good.

Speaker 1: 1:05:55

Yeah, even if you was at the night at the parties and I saw you in the next day. You look so fresh. There was nothing. It was amazing. I was thinking, oh my god, she's so professional, her makeup is perfect again. Whoa.

Speaker 2: 1:06:11

That's makeup, that's for sure makeup, because I was exhausted.

Speaker 1: 1:06:14

Awesome. Thank you so much. My pleasure.