Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dominic Ford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Dominic, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I owned an adult film studio for about 11 years before starting JustFor.Fans. I had always wanted to find a way to provide a more sustainable, passive income to performers that was not available to them under the studio model (in which they get a singular flat fee for their work). I created JustFor.Fans, the second fan site to exist (we launched about a year or so after OnlyFans) to fill that need, amongst a few others. It was clear to me that our competitor was not willing to call themselves a porn site, and knew little to nothing about the needs to the adult industry. It was my goal to create a fan platform that was truly from the adult industry. To this day, with a myriad of competitors now, we can still say we are the only ones that are truly from the industry. Our staff is 100% sex workers (almost all have their own pages on the site), and we are the only fan platform that gives back to the adult community, and specifically to the LBGTQ+ side of our industry. We have a charitable giving arm in which models can donate a percentage of their income to select charities. To date, they have raised over $170,000 for various charities that represent our community. We are the only platform that really does its part as a leader in the community.

Dominic, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In 2008 I started a gay porn studio called DominicFord.com. Our claim to fame was that we filmed everything in 3D. This was before 3D TVs came out, so we mailed all our users blue and red 3D glasses! Then, 3D TVs came out and we exploded, because we were the only gay porn studio with content for the new devices. Our first feature-length movie was “Whorrey Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls,” which really put us on the map.

Shortly thereafter, I started another company called PornGuardian.com. That is an anti-piracy company that other studios would hire to find and remove the illegal versions of their content online.

Then, in early 2018, I started JustFor.Fans, which is one of the top fan sites in the world, especially on the gay and fetish sides of the industry.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As the owner of an adult production studio, the writing was on the wall several years ago. Profits were flatlining, and amateur content websites were taking off. At the conferences I would attend (for the adult content industry), everyone was afraid of this new paradigm shift.

But it was clear to me that this was the future, and either I had to adapt to it, or look for another job. So instead of whining about how these companies would decimate studios further (piracy and illegal tube sites were already taking their tolls), I decided to build a “fan” platform, but do so in a way that really understood the industry, and had pathways for the traditional industry players to make money: studios, photographers, affiliates, etc… That way, I could present a path to the future and bring along my my fearsome associates who didn’t know where they would fit in in this new economy.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The porn industry is rife with outsiders that come in, cut their teeth using our market, and then abandon us. Our history is littered with these companies, and therefore the entire industry is skeptical of outsiders coming in with big promises. In fact, we saw this play out in front of us when our biggest competitor, OnlyFans, declared they were removing all porn from their site a couple of years ago. This fear of companies coming in and then “mainstreaming” and leaving us high and dry is real.

So it helped greatly that I had been a trusted name in the adult industry for 10+ years before starting JustFor.Fans, and they we have publicly said that we have zero interest in mainstreaming. Also, our entire customer service staff are also models on the site. So when models (content creators) write in for help, they are talking to people who innately get them and speak to them like equals, unlike our competitors whose call centers treat their creators with disdain and disrespect.

JustFor.Fans has won more industry awards (and so have I individually) than any other fan platform, so it’s clear the the industry knows we are a reliable company that has the back of our community.

Contact Info:

• Website: JustFor.Fans
• Instagram: @JustForFansSite
• Twitter: @JustForFansSite, @DominicFord

Image Credits
Dominic Ford