It started with my roommate Jake being an idiot. We were watching some YouTube video about cam models — one of those "I made $10k in a month" clickbait things — and I said something like "I could probably do that." Jake immediately said no, I couldn't. He said straight guys don't make money on cam, that nobody watches, and that I'd get zero tips. So I said fine. Bet me. He bet me $50 I wouldn't even last an hour without quitting out of embarrassment. He also bet me I'd make less than $20 if I did stay on. I kept $150 of what I made that night and paid him the $50 I owed him for losing both bets. He doesn't talk about it anymore. ## How I set it up (the whole afternoon) I'd never used Chaturbate before as a viewer or performer. Here's what the actual setup looked like. **Account creation:** Maybe 15 minutes. You need a government ID — I used my driver's license. Upload it, wait for approval. I got approved in about 38 hours. During that time I read everything I could about the platform. **Equipment:** I already had a decent laptop webcam (Logitech C920 that I'd bought for video calls). I grabbed a $28 ring light off Amazon the same day — arrived same night because I'm impatient. Total gear cost: $28. The webcam I already owned. **Stage name and separate email:** This is important. I created a completely separate Gmail for this. My stage name is two random words with numbers. Nothing that connects to my real name, handle, or anything searchable. **Geo-blocking:** This saved my sanity. Chaturbate lets you block specific US states. I blocked my home state and the two neighboring states where people I know might be. Takes five minutes in settings. **Tip menu:** I wrote out what I'd do for tips. I kept it pretty tame — shirtless stuff, dares from chat, answering questions. I wrote explicitly in my bio what I wouldn't do. Setting the hard limits before you go live is essential. ## The first two hours I went live at 9 PM on a Thursday because someone on a forum said weeknight evenings are decent for building a first audience. The first 20 minutes were genuinely awkward. I'm sitting in my room, ring light on, talking to three people in chat. One of them immediately asked me to do something explicit that was clearly on my "no" list. I said no. They left. The other two were actually pretty cool — asked normal questions, said hi. By 30 minutes in I had about 40 viewers. By 45 minutes I had 80. The "New" tag on Chaturbate actually works — new performers get placed higher in the discovery algorithm for their first week or two. Viewers come to check out new faces. The tipping started slow. My first tip was 50 tokens from someone who said "welcome." That's $2.50. Not exactly life-changing. But something about receiving it made the whole thing feel real. By the end of hour one I'd made $67. Not $20 like Jake predicted. ## Hours two through four The thing nobody tells you about camming is that it's actually kind of fun once you get over the initial weirdness. I was chatting with real people, doing goofy stuff, answering questions. Someone dared me to do push-ups on camera. Someone else wanted me to drink water in a specific way for some reason. Normal weird internet stuff. My viewer count peaked around 180 during the second hour. A viewer called "whalesharkluvr" (I have no idea) dropped 500 tokens in one tip. That's $25 from one person in one moment. That's when I stopped thinking of this as Jake's bet and started thinking of it as potentially actually worth doing. By the end of hour two I was at around $160. Hour three took me to $280. I stopped at the end of hour four at $402. I messaged Jake the screenshot. He said "how the hell." I said I told you. ## What actually surprised me **The audience:** I was nervous the audience would be weird or predatory. It mostly wasn't. Most viewers are just curious guys who are into watching other curious guys. The questions were surprisingly normal. A lot of them were just... supportive? Like genuinely encouraging. That was unexpected. **What they tipped for:** Not what I expected. The biggest tips came from personality stuff — being funny, being comfortable, responding to chat. Not from anything explicit. The "authentic straight guy" energy is apparently what the audience came for, and leaning into that (rather than trying to perform) worked way better. **The money cadence:** Tips don't come in evenly. You'll have quiet stretches and then someone will drop a big tip and it wakes the room up. Understanding this rhythm takes time. **The platform mechanics:** Chaturbate is more like a video game than I expected. There are goals, tip menus, countdowns. Viewers engage with the structure. Setting up a simple goal ("get to X tokens and I'll do Y") dramatically increases tipping behavior. ## What I'd do differently I went in completely cold. If I were doing it again I'd spend a day just watching other male performers to understand pacing, how they handle requests, how tip menus actually work in practice. I also set my tip menu values too high for the first stream. I was nervous so I priced everything high thinking it would protect me. Lower entry-point items on your tip menu get more interaction early on, which builds momentum. ## The honest assessment I'm not going to pretend this is easy money for everyone. I got lucky with the timing (Thursday evening, first week on the platform when the "New" boost was active, decent equipment). Some people have first sessions where they make $15. The Reddit threads about this are full of realistic accounts. But here's what I know from my experience: the idea that nobody watches straight guys on cam is wrong. The idea that the audience is predatory or weird is mostly wrong. The idea that you can stay completely anonymous if you're careful is right. Jake owes me a lot more than $50 in humility. If you're actually thinking about trying this, read the [anonymity guide](/board/anonymous-cam-guide-privacy) before you start. And read about [what the audience actually looks like](/board/do-people-watch-straight-guys-cam) so you're not surprised. If you want to actually do it, the [Brave Enough Challenge](/brave-enough) is where to start. --- *Posted by u/definitely_str8. All earnings figures are from personal experience. Results vary significantly. This post contains affiliate links — we earn a commission if you sign up through our links.*