Membership News
Added 2024-08-21 14:35:19 +0000 UTCHello, my dear patrons and followers!
This post is different from what you are used to, but I found it necessary to talk to you about this. For those of you that don't like reading (longer) texts, here comes the short version :-)
<TL;DR>
The project needs a new studio and I can't sponsor it for another 5 years - it needs to prove it is sustainable, so I'm basically crowdfunding its operation to see if running it makes any sense (other than being a hobby) and if I could one day turn it into my new fulltime job.
I created the new LEGGY.ME SPONSOR tier. Sponsors get:
everything I ever published
everything I will publish in the next 12 months (in monthly .zip archives to download)
custom photo set (inspired by their wishes)
authentic pantyhose worn by the model during the shooting of the set, delivered to their door (wordwide shipping included)
video clip of the model posing in them for the last time and taking them off to be put in the packaging to be shipped...
</TL;DR>
Now the version for those of you who wish to know more about what's going on with the project.
Running LEGGY.ME for the 5th year now, I have no choice but to face the truth: I can't sponsor the project forever. If it shall continue, it has to earn its existence under the sun. If it's not sustainable after 4+ years, it probably will never start to be... But I'm not giving up!
It wasn't an issue until now, because I had my fulltime job and I didn't mind to invest a portion of my income into this hobby project. To be totally honest, somewhere deep inside I was still hoping that keeping the prices this low (V.I.P. patrons are in fact buying a full photo set for something around $0.4 an average) would attract more people to join over those years, but sadly, that didn't happen. Most girls starting their OnlyFans will easily beat my numbers in their first month or so.
Earlier this year I quit my dayjob. Call it a mid-life crisis, but I was so unhappy for so long that I felt I need to change it - and just switching one corporate for another wouldn't solve it. I was so tired and burned out with my "other" (non-photography) career, that I just couldn't go on anymore and do for the rest of my life what I don't enjoy, just for the money. On the other hand I shoot women for 24 years, I love it and I always will! For the first time in my life I feel THIS should be my career for my second half-time... I'm totally ready to give it my whole heart and soul, time, focus, wonderful relationships with the girls involved, creativity and "craftsmanship" to take this project to new levels, even hopefully to create the globaly recognizable and trusted brand in field of (soft) erotics / legs & feet & nylon adult (classy fetish) content, if I see it has a potential and is able to earn enough of patronage to keep its head above the water. And I'm not talking about the Instagram following (fun fact: in my case, the conversion rate of the IG followers to paying patrons is only around 0.1%, so even a 100k IG followers most probably won't get me much closer to this dream with the current pricelist...).
The costs of running LEGGY.ME will even grow, as this project desperately needs a space (interior) in Prague where I could build a dedicated studio. I won't go much into details now, but trust me on this: to go on, grow, attract new models and create more (and more diverse & more spicy...) content, we definitely need a dedicated space. And renting (boring and mostly sterile) photo studios by hour or renting Airbnb apartments for every single shooting isn't a way to go. The truth is, that even after these 4+ years, I'm not collecting enough to be able to rent such space, not speaking about the models' fees, buying all the hosiery, clothes & accessories, not to mention a single buck for me as a photographer (another fun fact: it would take 4-6 V.I.P. patrons each month to cover just one session's average model's fee here in Czech Republic. No space rent, no purchase of hosiery or accessories, no make-up artist, no assistant, no photographer's fee, no videographer, no nothing). Add "operational" things like equipment amortization (and the need to ivest a few thousands of $ every few years...), Adobe licences, disks to store and backup the content, literally hundreds of my (unbilled) hours spend around the project every year, etc. - I believe now you understand better why (if I'm not completely naive) simply MUST ask myself if this whole makes any sense - or if it was just my dream that has no chance to come true...
Why I'm writing you all this? Because it's important for me that you understand that any price changes or asking for your support is not out of some personal greed (NB: I will never change the price of your current tier - it will stay valid as long as you stay on board, so if you secure a lower price before I change it for the newcommers, you can keep it until you cancel your pledge...). I found it imtportant to let you know that you literally have a chance to steer this project and make it both: an established brand and a top-notch niche content provider, or a (business-wise) failure.
I will gladly consider any other offer you might have (general sponsorship, studio sponsorship, life-time membership, one-time boost / donation / "tip", partnership, investment - whatever comes to your mind...) and if you know me at least a bit, you know I'll be always honest with you and try to be as generous as I can be to give you something valuable in return.
Thanks for reading and for ANY support, I really appreciate it more you think (or at least more than you were thinking before reading this rather lengthy post :-).
Take care!
Rado.