Hi shijin, I'm impressed by your approach and happy for you, especially after your other endeavors didn't go quite well as you mentioned at the beginning.
I've been reading this thread (and organizing knowledge) for the last week. I live in Europe, and it seems it will be harder to start from here. I still have a sea of questions because not everything is clear to me as an amateur, but I'm learning, and I will be persistent.
I hope I can get some help here and maybe contribute something insightful as well, as I progress.
Appreciate that a lot, seriously
Yeah, this definitely didn’t come from a straight line of wins, a few past projects failing was honestly what made me approach this one way more methodically.
Being in Europe does add some friction (payments, socials, targeting), but it’s absolutely doable. Most of the early struggle is just uncertainty and overthinking, not location. The fact that you’re already reading, organizing info, and asking the right questions puts you ahead of 90% of people.
Happy to help where I can, and I’m sure once you start testing things yourself, you’ll have insights to share too. Stick with it, persistence + reps matter more than starting conditions.
Appreciate it! I may give this a try soon! Some more questions if you don't mind:
- You mention that it's revshare but how does it look like the split? And do you target smaller content creators on purpose so you can get higher revenue share?
- Are they the ones doing the regular payouts/payments to you or is there some sort of automated system to handle that?
- You did ads early on, are you still doing them and how do you figure out how much you want to spend per model?
You mention that IG is one of your best sources, how are you building up your IG accounts to get followers and people into your OF? I know reddit is easy since it's all about posting previews / bait images in a bunch of related nudity subreddits for example but I have no clue how to approach IG since it's a lot more safe for work
–
Revshare / split: it’s a revenue split, not fixed fees. Early on it’s usually closer to 50/50 or 60/40 depending on what the model brings to the table (existing audience, consistency, content quality). I do tend to work with smaller or newer creators because they’re more flexible, more motivated, and the upside is bigger for both sides. Bigger creators want higher guarantees, which makes less sense until the systems are proven.
–
Payments: OF pays the model directly. Then we settle on a fixed schedule (weekly/bi-weekly). No fancy automation here, just transparency, shared dashboards, and screenshots so there’s zero confusion. Simple but effective.
–
Ads: I tested ads early mainly for learning and model outreach. I’m still running them selectively, not heavy scaling. Budget per model depends on performance signals (DM volume, conversion rate, content quality). If a model can’t convert organically, ads won’t save it, so I keep spend conservative until there’s proof.
–
Instagram approach: IG is very SFW, so it’s all about
teasing, not selling. Short reels, face + personality, trends, captions that spark curiosity, and a clean funnel (soft CTA → bio → OF). No nudity, no hard links in DMs early. Think “attention and intrigue” first, monetization later. Reddit is brute force; IG is psychology and consistency.
Hope that clears things up.
How much time did you spend studying each traffic source? Did you start studying as soon as you had a model? Could you recommend some good YouTube videos that helped you or threads on this site? Are you still doing all the publishing and traffic yourself, or do you already have a VA for that and are trying to automate the work?
Do you use any software for these social networks? I've only heard about Twitter, that many people use software for it, but I don't know about other social networks
Every time I read your thread, I feel motivated
Appreciate that a lot
–
Time spent learning traffic: I didn’t “study for months” before starting. I learned
while doing. Once I had the first model, I focused on one source at a time (first Reddit, then IG, then TikTok). Usually a few intense days to understand the basics, then constant small tweaks daily. You learn way faster once real money and real bans are involved.
–
When I started studying: basically the same time I started. I had some general knowledge, but most of the real learning happened
after launching and seeing what worked or failed.
–
Resources: I honestly didn’t rely much on YouTube. Most videos are either too generic or outdated. The best value came from long case-study threads on this forum, especially people documenting daily progress, mistakes, and numbers. I read a lot, tested fast, and ignored anything that sounded “too clean” or guru-ish.
–
Who does the work now: in the beginning I did everything myself. Right now I still handle strategy, testing, and anything sensitive, but some posting and repetitive tasks are slowly being delegated. Automation is light and careful, socials punish over-automation.
–
Software: nothing crazy. No heavy “all-in-one” social bots. Mostly manual posting, simple tools for tracking, light helpers (like planners/sheets), and AI for content/chat drafting. Twitter is the only place where heavier tooling is more common; IG, TikTok, Reddit are way stricter so I keep it human.
You aren't try to do AI models on fanvue?
Not at the moment. I looked into Fanvue and AI models early on, but I decided to focus on real models first. It’s easier to build trust, convert fans, and avoid platform headaches. AI models are interesting long term, but right now I’d rather scale what’s already working instead of splitting focus.
posting more 
