Jamie Rodriguez is helping guide Flirt4Free, one of the internet’s most iconic cam portals with its 100 million unique visitors, to another year of success.
Joining the company in 2006, Rodriguez for more than a decade has played vital roles at Flirt4Free, which has offered since 1996 personable and exciting cam action for consumers and lucrative white-label opportunities for business partners.
How lucrative can it get for affiliates? We’ve had a white label do more than $1 million in a month. So, it can be serious money.
These days, Rodriguez, the company’s director of product, has her hands in a wide array of important functions for the company — everything from managing its broadcast department to event coordination to social media to processing to customer service. And, she plies her trade with passion.
“I like understanding as much as I can of the business in order for each element I’m responsible for to be at its best,” she says.
XBIZ recently sat down with Rodriguez to learn more about that passion and about all those hats she wears for Flirt4Free in this exclusive interview.
XBIZ: Tell us about your journey into the cam business. What prepared you for the world of adult entertainment?
Rodriguez: I don’t know that I was prepared. I had recently graduated from college and was undecided if I was going to get a Ph.D. in psychology or pursue a career in the film industry. I decided to pick up an office job to pay the bills, and the description mentioned it was for an adult company.
I’d always been open-minded and then felt comfortable with the environment and product after my interview, and so I accepted a broadcast assistant position. I quickly found myself really interested in the business and developed the role into a career I didn’t even know existed.
XBIZ: How immersed are you into all of the company’s business segments? And what is your main role?
Rodriguez: As director of product for Flirt4Free, I’m involved in a wide range of the company’s business segments.
Under my umbrella is our “product team,” which consists of everything from social media email marketing to event coordination, as well as our broadcast department.
Product for us means the site as well as the broadcasters on it, and so every element of the site from processing to customer service to systems end up being relevant in my role.
I like understanding as much as I can of the business in order for each element I’m responsible for to be at its best.
XBIZ: What does it take to be a Flirt4Free broadcaster? What’s needed?
Rodriguez: Dedication, personality and quality of care. Our customers spend a great deal of money on the site and it’s not to just get off.
They tend to want models who will be around consistently, who can carry a conversation, and who can really be an online friend or girlfriend or boyfriend.
Our most successful models spend about 80 percent of their time in show being engaging and 20 percent being sexual on average. This makes it a mental game and one that takes thoughtful care and focus on camming.
Guys and girls are equally successful on our network, and we see this same need on both sides of the site for caring about the users and being available frequently.
XBIZ: How has sex toy interactivity entered into the equation of cam broadcasting?
Rodriguez: Interactive toys have added an interesting dynamic into the chatroom.
We had tried the Shockspot sex machine, the Kiiroo Pearl and Onyx before OhMiBod.
But it wasn’t until OhMiBod that interactivity really seemed to be relevant to more than just a niche audience. The low price point made it easily attainable for cam models; customers, meanwhile, could easily understand the simplicity of action and reaction.
Since OhMiBod first came out, other interactive toys like ones made by WeVibe have also made the same connection with models and users.
Now that there are so many devices out there, our models use the FeelApp to have an interactive experience on our site and it supports a wide range of toys, which is great since everyone has different preferred toys.
XBIZ: Let’s hear about Flirt4Free’s contests, as well as the Flirt Summit. How important are these to the company’s push to draw the best broadcasters?
Rodriguez: Contests are huge on our network. We were one of the first if not the first cam company to do frequent model contests giving out big cash prizes. Over time they’ve continued to develop and grow into huge motivators for models and a big perk to being part of our network.
We do daily bonuses, promo contests every few days, Flirt of the Month, and then we have special holiday-themed multi-day events in addition to our truly spectacular contests for Flirt Summit and Flirt of the Year — both of which are three-month contests.
Flirt Summit was started seven years ago as a way to connect in-person with our broadcasters and to share information. It has grown to something our models and studios look forward to every year, and we spend about 10 months planning.
Models compete for rooms June to August, and then the event is held in the fall. Winning a room means a full four-night stay at a luxury resort for themselves and a guest with all food and drinks covered, as well as prize money for their flight.
Over the four-day period we have parties, excursions, seminars, activities at the resort, and on our final night an award ceremony acknowledging attendees in different ways.
This year we’re going to Costa Rica and we’ll be giving away 35 rooms and then have another 50 booked.
We were a little nervous taking over a bigger resort than previous years, but we had all rooms booked within six days of opening up our reservations and now have a waitlist for if any rooms become available, which was really exciting to see happen.
We’ve done resort take-overs the last two years because we like to keep it intimate and really connect with our broadcasters and allow them a space to be themselves and learn from each other.
We know how hard our broadcasters work to be successful, and with camming being a 24/7 business these Flirt4Free vacations can really be a needed break and a great reward for their achievements.
XBIZ: What does Flirt4Free have to offer with its white label program? How lucrative can it get for affiliates?
Rodriguez: Flirt4Free’s white label program has been perfected since its inception in 2009.
Site owners can feature beautiful women the way that HustlerLive.com, VividLive.com and KinkLive.com do. Or for those looking for muscle hunks, almost every major gay brand has a Flirt4Free White Label, including BelAmi, Adam4Adam and Cocky Boys, to name a few.
Each of these white labels has become a significant new revenue stream for the respective companies, with virtually no work involved. For any site owner who is looking for a passive extra revenue stream, Flirt4Free white labels are a great solution.
For larger companies looking for a deeper integration, we also have a suite of APIs to make for the most cohesive experience between standalone websites and their Flirt4Free white labels. This means that affiliates can co-reg customer signups, pull model information, stats, implement one-clicks and dynamically create ads — all programmatically.
How lucrative can it get for affiliates? We’ve had a white label do more than $1 million in a month. So, it can be serious money.
XBIZ: How important is the gay market for Flirt4Free?
Rodriguez: Guys are 50 percent of our business, so for us they’re never niche and they’re never an afterthought.
Every contest we hold for example has equal spots for girls and guys, and all features and marketing is equal on both sides of the site.
Many of our best affiliates are also on the gay side of the industry, and we buy a ton of gay traffic and are always looking for more.
XBIZ: Tell us about the company and its culture. What is it like to work at Flirt4Free?
Rodriguez: We have a really special environment I feel. People are truly given the opportunity to grow and develop in their roles and contribute to the company’s goals.
There is a ton of energy and enthusiasm within the teams for what they do and that is felt across the office.
We also have team pride — every Friday is Flirt Friday for example, and people wear their Flirt gear and have fun repping the brand from accounting to the graphic designers.
We’re also in a period of growth right now, so there is a large segment of the company that is in their first or second year at Flirt4Free, and we’re in the process of taking over another 8,000 square feet in our building to fit more new hires.
XBIZ: How important is it to attend and be active at trade shows and events?
Rodriguez: For us the biggest benefit we find to sponsoring or attending events is with the meetings we setup during the shows or people we meet for the first time that we wouldn’t have come across otherwise.
There are some key relationships I can think of that only happened due to conversations at shows or because we were there and visible.
Some of the show locations are also in places where we have broadcasters or affiliates, so we always appreciate those opportunities to spend time with them and hear what they need from our network.
XBIZ: What’s a typical work day like?
Rodriguez: Busy! I wake up at 5 a.m. every day and have a pretty set routine that gets me home by 7 p.m. But the constant across the day is lots of emails and meetings. There’s always a new hurdle or a new success each day, and I appreciate that I never get bored. I have a great team to tackle each project with.
XBIZ: When not thinking about the biz, what do you like to do?
Rodriguez: Well, I like to travel and get to do so with my position, which is great, but I suppose that’s still “thinking about the biz.”
Southern California is a beautiful place to live, so when not working I like to be outdoors hiking with my dog or decompressing with a good book and a great view.
