Meet Juicy Jay, one of the few CEOs who still works 12-hour days doing programming, handling support tickets, while still running his marketplace for publishers and ad buyers.
Juicy Jay — who is all about “dedication and commitment” — still keeps that connection with clients that lets him know what’s really going on.
One of the big benefits of being a programmer is that I don’t have to rely on a development team to do everything.
He sat down with XBIZ World last month to let us know what makes him tick in this Q&A.
XBIZ: How did you get into the traffic and ad business?
JUICY JAY: Since I was 17 I’ve been an affiliate, and my websites were fairly popular in their niche so I had people asking to buy ad space and TGP spots. I brokered so many ad sales that I had to systemize the process, and that’s when others started to ask if I would broker for them as well. That’s when I started the JuicyAds brand to broker the sale of ad space. The websites I ran are sold and long gone from my life, but after JuicyAds was launched publically it started to grow momentum.
XBIZ: What defines JuicyAds and makes it stand out from the rest?
JUICY JAY: From the start, I knew I wanted my advertising company to be fun and sexy. As the CEO I like being casual, accessible, and approachable. With that said, our clients know that we do take their business seriously and I try to make decisions that are always in the best interest of our Advertisers and Publishers instead of what makes the most money for us. As a broker trying to keep both sets of clients happy, that can be difficult. I think people understand the value of my experience in advertising and traffic sales, the hands-on approach our entire staff takes with any issues. Since the launch of JuicyAds we have built a reputation of being one of the most transparent, trustworthy, and ethical networks in the world. We have won every award in the industry not because we are the biggest but because we are the best at what we do.
We never stop working for our clients, whether that is resolving a conflict, or adding features our clients need. doesn’t matter how many times we break our sales records, I always want things to be better. Things can always be better and that’s always the direction JuicyAds is going because we simply don’t stop. You don’t find too many companies where the CEO is still super hands-on and working 12 hours a day doing programming, handling support tickets, and still running the company itself. I still keep that connection to our clients that lets me know what’s really going on. That’s dedication and commitment.
XBIZ: How many ads does JuicyAds facilitate each month?
JUICY JAY: We deliver over 1 billion ad impressions per day through our platform for banners, mobile, pops, as well as private deals.
XBIZ: Is JuicyAds working on any new features and inititiatives?
JUICY JAY: We are currently in the middle of the largest initiative we have ever faced; we are redeveloping the core infrastructure for the entire ad network, and that includes moving to a new hosting company. I won’t say who our new host is, but they’re widely loved in the industry and win a lot of awards just like JuicyAds. Over 42,000 clients rely on us every day and JuicyAds is going to the next stage in its life and we needed a new partner who understood the scale and importance of what we do, and we had simply reached the limitations of what we could do with our current provider. The migration has already been in progress for several months, but once complete we are going to be able to do things we simply were not able to do before. This is probably the most important year for JuicyAds, there are enormous changes happening here, and its going to mean an improved platform, better statistics, some new proprietary features (including some concepts I intend to patent), new optimization technology, and all of it will result in more profits for both advertisers and publishers on our network of over 70,000 websites.
XBIZ: What sector of the online adult business is driving the market these days?
JUICY JAY: Mobile, mobile, mobile. In fact, JuicyAds sells more mobile traffic than banners or pops. Our carrier targeting has been delayed until after the next phase of our migration, but should be launching soon. After that, we have additional changes that will drastically improve the revenues of our Publishers, and improve the reach for our Advertisers. Its difficult to contain my personal excitement because I know what’s coming, and I’m more of a “deliver instead of making promises” kinda guy.
XBIZ: What’s been the biggest struggle running your company?
JUICY JAY: The biggest struggle I faced running the company had nothing to do with JuicyAds at all, it was my relationship. Four years ago I was working from my home office where I was constantly under pressure from my ex-wife who did not respect my work-home boundary.
Some days she would come into my office and start these arguments that lasted for hours on end and she was constantly creating fictional drama, so often times I’d be up until 2 a.m. trying to finish my work. At that time I was the only full-time employee and my marriage was failing in part because of it. It was extremely difficult trying to keep that private from clients. When I hired new staff to take work off of my plate, she repeatedly insisted on firing female staff members.
She acted inappropriately and constantly tried to pull me away from networking when she attended conventions, and grew angry and untrusting when I attended without her. At one point, she tried to convince me to sell JuicyAds, so I could spend even more time with her. It became clear that it was not possible to save a marriage with an impossible person. For several years I struggled with running JuicyAds while in the background jumping through hoop after endless hoop for a woman that I loved and was dedicated to. Needless to say it eventually ended, and that’s when everything completely changed for both my business and personal life.
XBIZ: How did you recover from that?
JUICY JAY: Last summer I took a six-month hiatus from the company and could only manage to work a few hours a day while dealing with the fallout from my marriage. I relied heavily on the JuicyAds team to continue without me during that time. I started traveling more to help deal with it, which forced me to finally delegate more. I switched to working out of an office, which was a big adjustment for me, since I had worked from home my entire life.
The entire JuicyAds team works remotely (its one of the perks). Having an office outside the home dramatically improved my workhome balance and it was nice to work with the other locals in the office. Then one day I just got my mojo back and started working again like a giant weight had been lifted. I just recently closed the local office so I could work again from home, which I greatly prefer and works better with my lifestyle.
XBIZ: What’s a typical work day like now?
JUICY JAY: A typical day now for the CEO at JuicyAds is pretty insane, but in a much more positive way. When I’m at home and not traveling, I do my workout and then immediately check email when I get home. I get about 300 emails per day and it usually takes me an hour or two to handle them all. Now that I’ve finally returned to coding, I try to improve one part of JuicyAds every single day, that’s one of my true loves. I have always been extremely hands on, but now I spend a lot of time delegating and finding ways to simplify the way the company runs.
My mind creates a lot of new ideas every day, so I spend a lot of time making notes, testing ideas, planning new features.
One of the big benefits of being a programmer is that I don’t have to rely on a development team to do everything. I schedule very few things because I like to stay casual. Unless there is something critical on my schedule, most days after I finish my email I simply work organically on whatever crosses my path, which is probably the most rewarding at the end of the day.
XBIZ: When not thinking about the biz, what do you like to do, what is your lifestyle like?
JUICY JAY: I spend a lot of time still trying to find myself right now because of the dramatic shift in my personal life. I think that process is pretty different for someone in the adult industry. I’m not exactly known for my “filter” so dating now that I’m single has been tricky.
Traveling is my one true passion, we always used to take family trips when I was a kid and I caught the bug pretty early. I’m usually home only about half the time since I can easily work with just a laptop.
When I’m not in another country I work out with my trainer four times a week and then on my own when I have time. I used to be a champion mountain bike racer, and I’ve been trying to get back into that.
I’ve always been a quiet and modest person, and my relationship always kept me pretty grounded. The shift in my life to living more in the “now” and being able to do anything I want has been really liberating and has changed me a lot in a good way.
Probably the funniest thing was last year when I forced myself to splurge and bought a sportscar. I love cars but have always been practical, now I drive that convertible every chance I get and its sort of this symbol of my new life. I guess the last year of my life has been more or less embracing myself, relearning what I truly love, and who I want to share that with.
XBIZ: Everyone knows you because of JuicyAds, what other ventures are you involved with?
JUICY JAY: Strangely enough, I own a local restaurant/bar. I’m a big foodie and wine conneseur, so I found the opportunity really exciting and a chance to do something else I love. I’ve worked primarily as the investor but provided my experience in advertising and advising as business consultant while my partner is responsible for the day to day operations.
It’s been a learning process and a struggle, as everyone knows, its a very competitive and difficult industry. I am currently working on a column about the balance between business and personal, it’s a pretty critical thing for entrepreneurs and I have a lot of life experience to draw from.
Aside from that, there is a project I’ve had on the backburner for years now that is more related to my travel and lifestyle, but being able to turn that into something is quite some time away.
