Am I being taken advantage of?

So I've pretty much become exhausted with the line of work I do... I have been a webcam model for my current boyfriend's website for going on 3 years now. As a result of this, I became very addicted to drugs because it made me extremely uncomfortable to strip and masturbate and talk dirty to strangers. However, I did make a lot of money doing this.

Now I feel like I am in a transition and I have not been bringing in much of an income (because I drastically decreased my drug usage).

My boyfriend told me if I could come up with an idea for a website that I was interested in, he would help me out.

So after much thought, I finally decided on a great idea for a website and bought a domain name and everything. He told me that he already had that idea.

So he said I could still "create" my website... I wrote out a design and everything for it... but it would be a white label website to his site...

Basically I'd just be an affiliate and advertise my domain name which when clicked upon leads to his website. He gets a percentage of what the models make no matter what. I only do if I can advertise my domain name.

I feel like it isn't very fair because he has a ton of websites already and does extremely well and he would not have even gone forward with this idea if I hadn't brought up my idea.

As a result, I'm extremely depressed and now I don't know what I'm going to do for money because what I can make in affiliate sales is pretty much nothing.

Any advice? I'm really stuck here...

Hmmmm,

I am inclined to say yes. There are so many things about this that are intertwined together that I am not having much in the way of ideas for untangling it.

I don't mean to offend but in my opinion if he really cared he would be much more willing to help you get going on your interests, even if he didn't make a dime on it, or even if it cost him some money.

It sounds like your doing all the work and he is getting the benefit at this point.

I'll be rather blunt about this. If you don't want to do the webcam thing anymore than don't, if you want to run a site than do that. He should be offering you help and support through this, not trying to make more money off of you.

If you can't get him to care than do it on your own.

Also, not to butt in too much but please seek help for the addiction. It will do nothing positive for you (emotionally, financially or just in life) if you stay addicted.

Anyway, I would say that you should stop worrying about him and focus more on you and what you want to do. If he really cares he will stand by you through it.

Best of luck to you.

hey, would you mind putting a trigger icon on this thread? there are some young kids who read on this forum. thanks.

i went back and read the rest of your post after the initial shock of the subject matter. your boyfriend is definitely taking advantage of you. please get away from this guy. you do not deserve to be treated this way. you may have to take a job doing something where you make a lot less money but no amount of money is worth what he has asked you to do. i agree that you should go ahead and do a site on your own without him if it's something you really want to do and feel good about. you aren't in any danger from him if you do it on your own are you?

He is quite the pimp.

Go solo. You can get someone decent and humanistic and tech savvy to help you create a website. People do it every day.

Thanks for the responses. Here's a little more info...

I actually met my current boyfriend because my ex boyfriend used to force me to webcam almost every day to support him because he was lazy and didn't want to work... We finally broke up.

I did a photo shoot for the webcam site a few months later and hit it off with the site owner (who is now my new boyfriend) so he had nothing to do with getting me into the business. He also says I don't have to webcam if I don't want too.

I barely do as it is anymore because I can't without drugs and I don't want that to be a part of my life. I thank him for helping me out of the state that I was in.

We talked some more and he basically thinks I should start off small by being an affiliate and making a solo website because I wouldn't be investing as much money.

If I do the site on my own I'd have to invest thousands and he said it probably wouldn't be successful.

His reasoning for him being able to run a site like this is because it doesn't matter because he is already successful.

So yeah, I'm still stressed out and still have no idea what to do because he really discouraged me.

A site is no different than other businesses. A great deal about it being successful is the amount of effort you put into it.

It sounds like you aren't really getting what you want. Sure you have the domain but if it just leads to his site than your not really doing a site of your own. If you have ideas than give them a try. If you want to start out getting some experience than start a site that is hosted and only costs $20 or so a month plus your time. If you have to start small than do so, sure you might not make a million dollars in the first year but it is a start.

Honestly I don't know why he just shot your idea down like that. Even if the idea isn't a new one, many of the most profitable companies on the planet have never had an original idea. Just because it isn't a new idea doesn't mean it can't make money.

I refer back to my earlier statement. Do what you want, if he cares he will stand by you. The worst that can possibly happen is that one idea doesn't work and you try another, you've spent a little time and a little money but you can try again. However if you never go for it than you can't possibly succeed.