Keily Blair’s Post

Every now and then we come across a thought leader, a philosophy or an approach that has a material influence on how we approach life. A couple of years ago a friend recommended that I check out the Daily Stoic. The impact it has had on how I approach work, parenting, my personal relationships, my finances, pretty much everything has been immense. It has helped me to gain perspective, make better choices, and focus on what matters and what I can control/influence. One email this week particularly resonated and it struck me that we find something helpful - we owe it to others to share it (especially if it’s free to access) because maybe they will find it useful too. Hence this post! Open call to everyone in my network to share what works for them - any nuggets or gems you want to share that you think may help others? Drop them in the comments below 👇

How many people in my network have had their bank account frozen, their account closed/suspended pending review, their salary payments rejected/questioned, their account/mortgage/insurance application rejected all because they are associated with a legal - but not universally loved - business or set of beliefs? The truth, I suspect, is not many. But this is the reality for many members of the OnlyFans creator community and other marginalised groups. Lee Taylor and I have shared our experiences with Financial Times, Fortune, Money20/20 amongst others because we are fortunate enough to have a platform to raise awareness about an issue which is fundamental. If you don't have consistent access to secure financial services at a competitive rate how can you grow your business and support your family, and how can UK plc maintain its place in the financial ecosystem when we are excluding lawful, profitable, tax paying businesses and individuals access to basic financial services. This campaign is gaining traction. Government and Financial Institutions are starting to evaluate what is actually "high risk" and there is mounting pressure to stop hiding behind the nebulous "reputational risk" when it comes to providing services to lawful business and individuals. I am feeling optimistic about the future but we are not there yet. If you are reading this and work in banking, financial services or payments this is your call to action. Resist the urge to slide into my DMs asking to chat about OnlyFans corporate banking or payments processes or whether we can recommend your services to our creators (I know I know ruining the sales opportunity here 😉 ), instead talk to your risk and compliance folks understand how they approach this issue and look to make appropriate changes in your organisation - the sales opportunities will naturally follow. In the meantime, we will keep advocating for our community any chance that we get!

Last week a vibrant and diverse community of founders, investors, policy makers, CEOs and thought leaders gathered for London Tech Week and Founders Forum Group Global at Soho Farmhouse (Soho House & Co). OnlyFans is UK founded business with a global reach and one of our tech success stories. But we need to see more UK tech success stories leading the way on the global stage - so here were my key takeaways from last week. 🌎 We need to think globally. We can only do that if we are solving global problems, creating and hiring the best talent and creating a financial and legal environment in which businesses and entrepreneurs can thrive and want to build a business in the UK. 🦄 Our diversity is our strength. The UK tech ecosystem covers everything from OnlyFans to DeepMind - we need to embrace it all and champion success rather than talk it down. We need to get behind UK business and our entrepreneurs. ⚖️ Our legal and regulatory system needs to support growth. We cannot be a country of “no” we need to be a country of “yes - how?”. If we are not we risk losing out to countries that will welcome founders, start ups and scale ups. This starts with real dialogue and a willingness to work together (on all sides). ⚠️ Risk is unavoidable. If you take no risk you reap no rewards. Have a mindset which recognises risk and develops appropriate controls but don’t let the “fear” hold you back. True innovators do not accept the current paradigms about what is/is not possible. 📚There is a wealth of experience out there and people are generous with their connections and knowledge. Go to conferences, read books, listen to podcasts, and also take care of yourself and your mental well-being. Particularly enjoyed the insights from Deepak Chopra MD (official) and Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes. Thanks to everyone shared their insights during London Tech week especially Carolyn Dawson Brent Hoberman London & Partners and Soho House & Co

We have always known that our 220 million+ fan community on OnlyFans have a broad range of interests including sports. More than 200 combat sports athletes have launched accounts on OnlyFans in the last two years, changing how athletes engage with their fans in the digital era. We are stepping up our commitment to fighters and fans with a flagship content and sponsorship partnership with DAZN across a series of fight nights over the next 12 months. Eagle eyed viewers of the epic Haney x Garcia fight on Saturday may have spotted the OnlyFans Exclusive Moment of the Night and fans can now subscribe to DAZN’s OnlyFans @daznboxing to catch all the post-fight action. So what sort of content can you expect to see from DAZN? OnlyFans will be DAZN's dedicated online fanclub, sharing custom content from fighters as they compete and taking the fan experience to the next level. We are also co-producing an exclusive new show for our free streaming service OFTV, titled ‘All Access’.

Want to know what it takes to scale a finance function in a business which has paid out over $15 billion to creators since 2016 while operating in a complex regulatory and payments environment? If so then this interview from Adam Zaki with OnlyFans' legendary CFO Lee Taylor in the aptly titled CFO is a must read.

I received a lot of support when I shared my personal experience of being told "no thanks" by a financial institution because of my role OnlyFans but I am privileged enough to have other options (and thanks to Fortune Most Powerful Women and the Financial Times for allowing me to share it). This is not the case for many OnlyFans creators and other folks who work in lawful but controversial industries. As noted by the Financial Times more than 140,000 businesses (in the UK alone) have had their accounts closed by the country's biggest banks this year which is now being reviewed by the Financial Conduct Authority. I can only imagine the scale of this issue in the US and other countries. Access to financial services should be universal unless there is a lawful reason to withhold or restrict them. Locking people out of established and safe financial systems increases risk it does not reduce it. Banks operate with the licence and approval of their respective governments which legislate about what is - and what is not - a lawful business yet elect to withhold basic financial services on nebulous and often unexplained grounds its simply "policy". Shining a light on the practices which institutionalise prejudices against people's politics or profession is imperative.

Are you “OnlyFans curious”? Want to know what’s next for OnlyFans, tech and social platforms and how we deal with the big questions about our place in society? My deep dive interview with Cristina Criddle from the Financial Times covers everything from: - creator monetisation strategies - the perils of the ad revenue model - what’s next for OnlyFans - prejudice, preconceptions and adult content - debanking and financial inclusion - sports and sponsorships - online safety - the opportunities and risks of AI - loneliness and the importance of online and offline connections So grab a cup of tea or coffee and take a read. It is outside the paywall so no subscription required for this spicy content 🌶️.

Who is Ricky Stanicky? As a lifelong WWE fan (Smackdown, Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble anyone??), I loved that idea that John Cena’s character in the upcoming film on Amazon Prime Ricky Stanicky starring Cena and Zac Efron would have an OnlyFans account to showcase his spicy and gross out antics with extracts from the movie and some hilarious original content from Cena. Turns out the internet loved it too - and went a little nuts 👀! Ricky/John even got a collab offer (IYKYK) from another WWE superstar Randy Orton. In the creator/attention economy, the main takeaway is don’t follow the same old playbook. At OnlyFans we’ve always believed there is an alternative to the tired old models and being innovative, cheeky, and creative about how social media can help actors, musicians, sports stars, adult content creators and the occasional imaginary friend monetise their content. You can’t see me 👋👀 (except maybe on OnlyFans ). #creatoreconomy #activations

📣 Milestone moment for OnlyFans and OFTV - Season 1 of our OFTV Originals series House of Sims has been licensed to Netflix. OnlyFans exists to provide opportunities for creators to grow their global fanbase and monetise their content. This is the latest example of how we are always looking for new and innovative ways to champion our creator community. Kudos to the whole Sims family and to the brilliant teams at OnlyFans who made this possible. House of Sims follows the journey of British reality TV royalty, The Sims Family, as they packed up their lives in Essex to make it big in Hollywood. Season 2 - which shows what happened next - will be debuting on OFTV, our SFW free to access streaming service, soon and it promises to be "one to watch". #creatoreconomy