Balancing motherhood, freedom and OnlyFans

Johannesburg adult content creator Naughty Nicky first worked in the adult massage industry but moved to content creation four years ago – and in the Vaal Triangle, Megan Janse van Rensburg said becoming a creator began with the desire to build a business for herself.

Nicky felt she had the confidence to pull off a career change. “I started doing OnlyFans. I found it interesting, so I tried it out and it’s been working well,” she said.

Naughty Nicky is not her real name, but it created an online identity for her and the latitude to build it into whatever she wanted.

OnlyFans means more than income

“First, I opened a TikTok channel, Instagram channel and Twitter,” she said.

“Then I verified myself on OnlyFans and started posting, going live, putting up content three times a day to get into the algorithm. That’s where it began.”

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Megan recently returned to OnlyFans after a short hiatus. She views the work as much about connection as it is about content.

“It’s more than just explicit content. Sometimes a person just needs someone else to listen to them, or they want to build a relationship with someone that’s not going to judge them. It’s not just about the videos and photos. It’s building relationships. It’s being an online companion.”

Megan’s workday is structured based on her strategy. Custom content, one-on-one interaction and conversations with subscribers is how she spends work time.

Financial freedom, companionship, and independence

“If you subscribe, it’s not just a video and ’bye. It’s about getting to know you, trying to build something more than just what’s on the screen. It’s companionship.”

Both Megan and Nicky said in a depressed job market the opportunity to build your own business across these platforms is not just a way to earn a living, but it provides what a 9 to 5 job cannot. You are in control of your own destiny – and it is lucrative.

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Nicky said it puts food on the table and pays the bills, like any regular job. She balances being a mother and creator and said that it fits her lifestyle.

“It’s given me a lot of independence. I can be a full-time mother during the day and do my work at night. It’s the freedom that I love the most. You can do it any day of the week.”

Deciding when, how and what to post

She decides when, how and what she posts. “You choose what you want to post, you choose what you want to shoot. You don’t have someone managing you or telling you what to do.”

Megan is also upbeat. “I’ve made money out of it. And it’s just a consistent thing that will keep growing, getting better and giving me more financial benefit.

“I would definitely recommend it if you can handle the hate, because you get a lot of it…”

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Here’s a list of the digital platforms

The digital sex work economy includes dozens of platforms:

• OnlyFans sits at the top with annual earnings last year well over R100 billion. The service is subscription-based and there creators offer custom videos, private chats and pay-per-view clips.
• Similar site Fansly follows closely, with looser content rules and similar revenue mechanics.
• ManyVids is a store front where adult creators sell photo or video bundles, custom shoots and fetish content outright.
• Patreon, originally for artists and podcasters, now sells softer porn to clients.
• FeetFinder monetises nothing but feet for fetishists.
• Chaturbate and MyFreeCams lead the live-streaming element, where tipping is instant.
• JustForFans was built specifically for adult performers and not dissimilar in structure to OnlyFans and Fansly.
• Pornhub’s Model Hub offers mainstream reach.
• Niche players like BentBox and iWantClips specialise in custom clips and picture sets.

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