Beauty Salon owner funds business by becoming an OnlyFans sensation

A 24-year-old woman who opened her own beauty salon said she funded her business with money made on the OnlyFans website.

Sophie Carpenter opened beauty salon House of You in Exeter thanks to money she earned after setting herself up on OnlyFans after she turned just 21. In her first 24 hours, Sophie, who lives in Ottery St Mary, made around £3,700 reports Devon Online.

It was a far cry from the low wages she had been earning working for Costa Coffee and when trying to break through into the male-dominated car sales garage industry. She now owns five plush cars, has her own company, takes multiple holidays a year and has been able to lavish expensive gifts, including cars, on her family.

OnlyFans is a social network that allows members to make money sharing content and videos with their subscribers. It is completely free to join but most content access requires a subscription to the content creator’s fan page.

Recalling her former life of no luxuries and struggling to make ends meet, Sophie – who has already had five holidays this year – recalled: “I was living pay cheque to pay cheque. I wasn’t treated very well at the car garage so I left my job and worked with my boyfriend in Costa. I was so unhappy as I wanted more money so that I could go on holiday and buy a house with my boyfriend.

“A friend suggested that as I had such a good following on Instagram I should try OnlyFans. My boyfriend’s view of it was massively negative at that time, but I made my account and made around $30,000 – nearly £26,000 – in the first 30 days.

“I was literally so shocked and that was by not even doing anything nude or explicit. All I was posting were lingerie pictures. I’m quite confident on social media anyway so it wasn’t anything more than I was used to posting on Instagram.

Sophie Carpenter is the owner of House of You in Exeter (Image: Sophie Carpenter)

“I stopped posting them on Instagram and on OnlyFans posted some very simple stuff. Within the first month, I had about 500 fans and for the first couple of months I posted about three times a day to make as much money as I could.

“Most of the money comes from pay-per-view (PPV) messages and they were mostly men in the UK.”

Sophie, who joined OnlyFans in August 2019, set herself a target of making £3,000 a month which she would sometimes smash in a single day, especially during Covid. Her at first reluctant boyfriend, Elliot Newman, 25, soon changed his mind about not wanting her to be on OnlyFans. He now even joins her on there.

Sophie recalled: “Once I proved how much money there was to be made and how much it could better our lives he was more open to it. We are still together and now it’s just the norm to us. He gets the benefits from it highly so he can’t really have an issue with it.”

Revealing how much of herself she shares with her fans, Sophie continued: “I know a lot of people who do full-on porn. I don’t think I would get to that point. It took a year or maybe more before I sold anything really explicit like topless photographs. I moved on to striptease videos and within the last six to eight months I have started to go a bit further.

Sophie Carpenter’s distinctive pink car (Image: Sophie Carpenter)

“That’s because since starting up my own salon I haven’t had much time to do OnlyFans and as it’s still my main income I have changed my boundaries so that I can earn more money by going slightly further but by spending less time online. I now offer full nudity and couple videos I make with my boyfriend.”

Since joining OnlyFans in August 2019, Sophie has now made more than $620,000 – around £535,000, and is currently earning between $8,000-$10,000 a month – £7,000 to £8,600.

Sophie Carpenter has already enjoyed five holidays this year (Image: Sophie Carpenter)

Sophie said: “OnlyFans is always something I’ve known about as I had a couple of friends who did it before me and had been able to quit their jobs and make a full-time income out of it. I had already gained a bit of a following on social media from my love of cars.

“I don’t see it as a career; I’ve always seen it as a stepping stone to my career. I have never wanted to be employed by anyone else and the money I make on OnlyFans will help me get to where I want to be which is to be a multiple business owner.”

Despite OnlyFans having dramatically changed Sophie’s life, she is keen to warn others to think carefully before trying to follow in her footsteps and the likes of so many others who are earning high incomes thanks to the social media platform.

She said: “I’ve always been open about what I do from day one. I have never kept it a secret from anyone and all my family and friends have been supportive. But you have to understand that the things you put online are going to be on the internet forever and you can’t get rid of them.

“I don’t know where I would be without OnlyFans because it has completely changed my life, but if I had to apply for a corporate job somewhere I would struggle because if they did a search of me online they would discover what I have done. Anyone thinking of doing OnlyFans should think of that, especially if you are under the age of 23.

Sophie Carpenter and her boyfriend Elliot Newman (Image: Sophie Carpenter)

“You also have to realise that it’s not just about creating an account and getting money; you have to market yourself quite well on social media. I did well as I already had a good following on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.”

Sophie also says she feels no ‘shame’ in what she does and thinks that no one should.

She said: “The adult industry has been around for so long and it’s an industry that’s never going to go away. It’s so massive at the moment with opportunities to make good amounts of money.

“People are struggling at the moment and if you can make good money and are comfortable with having that content online and doing those things then why not do it? It just makes sense.”

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