Terrified of ROUND TWO

[WTF]

Originally Posted by atlcomedy

Finally, I'm not sure that seeing 10 clients a week is healthy or sustainable for an enitire year...500 clients a year.

.

No shit, I'd have a hard time boinking 500 chicka-dee's a year even if I was getting paid to do so.

So the guys should look at other factors beside just pay that women are giving up to be in this business...apples to apples as boomer69does pointed out. I bet he wouldn't want a broom handle shoved up his ass 500 times a year for a hundred grand!

[guest060911]

I can’t remember where I got this quote from or exactly how it goes, but I will try: “The economy may get worse or it may not, but if you strengthen your marketing strategy, you won’t have to worry about it.”

Basically, the economy may continue to decline, but you have control over how well your business thrives (or at least to an extent) in terms of the effort you put into marketing yourself.

Some things to consider when evaluating your marketing strategy:

Do you have professional photos/website?
Do you offer specials that devalue you to clients that can afford medium to higher rates?
Do you blog to show potential clients your fabulous personality?
Do you have a mailing list to keep clients up-to-date?
Do you utilize board presence and social media to your disposal?
Do you tour to keep the local gents from getting bored with you?
Do you have superior reviews (for the gents who look at them)?
Have you considered enhancing your look (e.g. hair, weight, etc)?

There are a lot of things that you can do to stand out from the crowd in order to survive in this economy...and you will NOT have to offer $175/hr...at least it's certainly worth a try in my mind.

I would suggest you read the following book: http://www.theinternetescortshandbook.com/

And yes you should definitely start saving now, if you haven’t already.

Good luck!

[Tracey P]

Originally Posted by GiamarieLynn

I can’t remember where I got this quote from or exactly how it goes, but I will try: “The economy may get worse or it may not, but if you strengthen your marketing strategy, you won’t have to worry about it.”

Basically, the economy may continue to decline, but you have control over how well your business thrives (or at least to an extent) in terms of the effort you put into marketing yourself.

Some things to consider when evaluating your marketing strategy:

Do you have professional photos/website?
Do you offer specials that devalue you to clients that can afford medium to higher rates?
Do you blog to show potential clients your fabulous personality?
Do you have a mailing list to keep clients up-to-date?
Do you utilize board presence and social media to your disposal?
Do you tour to keep the local gents from getting bored with you?
Do you have superior reviews (for the gents who look at them)?
Have you considered enhancing your look (e.g. hair, weight, etc)?

There are a lot of things that you can do to stand out from the crowd in order to survive in this economy...and you will NOT have to offer $175/hr...at least it's certainly worth a try in my mind.

Smart girl!!! So true.

[Guest031811]

Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by GiamarieLynn

I can’t remember where I got this quote from or exactly how it goes, but I will try: “The economy may get worse or it may not, but if you strengthen your marketing strategy, you won’t have to worry about it.”

Basically, the economy may continue to decline, but you have control over how well your business thrives (or at least to an extent) in terms of the effort you put into marketing yourself.

Some things to consider when evaluating your marketing strategy:

Do you have professional photos/website? = In the process of taking professional photos, and yes, I have a professional site.

Do you offer specials that devalue you to clients that can afford medium to higher rates? = Never


Do you blog to show potential clients your fabulous personality?=I try to post on ECCIE frequently. I never read other people's blogs... who would read mine?

Do you have a mailing list to keep clients up-to-date?= tried this, but it seems that more clients are annoyed with a monthly letter than encouraged by it.

Do you utilize board presence and social media to your disposal?= I do my best to stay positive and reveal my personality on the board.

Do you tour to keep the local gents from getting bored with you? = toured once, and I have tried to make arrangements again. It is difficult to generate interest.


Do you have superior reviews (for the gents who look at them)?= absolutely

Have you considered enhancing your look (e.g. hair, weight, etc)?= just hired a personal trainer on Monday

There are a lot of things that you can do to stand out from the crowd in order to survive in this economy...and you will NOT have to offer $175/hr...at least it's certainly worth a try in my mind.

I would suggest you read the following book: http://www.theinternetescortshandbook.com/

And yes you should definitely start saving now, if you haven’t already.

Good luck!

[atlcomedy]

Originally Posted by GiamarieLynn

IDo you have a mailing list to keep clients up-to-date?
!

As BL, noted most guys aren't a fan of this. I guess if it is an clear opt-in list as in "Sign up for my latest monthly letter" that might be different.

Originally Posted by Tracey P

Smart girl!!! So true.

Yeah a good list of diagnostic list for any lady to go thru but let me play devil's advocate for a moment. Say you've gone down this list and pretty much checked off most of the boxes but you find that you are only getting 2-3 appts. a week instead of 3-4 that you were a year ago. (the actual numbers are meant to be representative, point is bottomline business is down significantly but hasn't dried up completely). You rely on this income as your sole source of support.

What do you do?
1) Wait it out. Figure this is just temporary. Cut your personal spending where possible or dip into savings to ride this out.

2) Consider radically changing your pricing/volume strategy. Many higher priced women on here have stated if they wanted to make more money all they'd need to do is lower pricing and/or offer shorter sessions.

3) Look for a part time job outside this industry to offset the loss

4) Exit the business for good. Total career change.

5) Other

I think this is a very real scenario a number of gals have had to address in one form or fashion over the last few years.

[guest060911]

Originally Posted by atlcomedy

As BL, noted most guys aren't a fan of this. I guess if it is an clear opt-in list as in "Sign up for my latest monthly letter" that might be different.

I would never encourage anyone participate in unsolicited contact whether email, phone, text or mailing list. However, some men do willingly sign up for provider's mailing list. I have hundreds of subscribers who can unsubscribe at anytime.

Originally Posted by atlcomedy

Yeah a good list of diagnostic list for any lady to go thru but let me play devil's advocate for a moment. Say you've gone down this list and pretty much checked off most of the boxes but you find that you are only getting 2-3 appts. a week instead of 3-4 that you were a year ago. (the actual numbers are meant to be representative, point is bottomline business is down significantly but hasn't dried up completely). You rely on this income as your sole source of support.

Obviously some ladies aren’t in the position to wait it out or keep their same rates, and perhaps they should lower them or offer a special…whatever works best for them to survive. Of course they should be cautious of how low they set their rates, because if you go too low, it’s difficult to come back. For instance, I see many ladies offering specials and they can’t get out of the rat race of offering them, because their specials aren’t special anymore, they are their rates. It’s a cycle that once you start offering special, you have to keep offering them, as clients no longer see you as worth your regular rates. It would suit them best to come up with reasonable rates they can actually command in the first place than to offer specials IMHO.

And personally I would wait it out (provided I have a savings), but then I don’t have children and the cost of living in Minneapolis isn’t much, so my circumstances are different from many. And while waiting it out I would blog often, take new do-it-yourself photos weekly, tweet, post on the boards, draft creative mailing lists, etc. I would also stop looking at the clock as stringently with my regular clients. And on top of that, I would look for a job (part-time or full-time) or get back into school and use the student loans for living expenses. I *personally* would never resort to $175/hr (no offense anyone). I would leave this industry, give up my place, crawl back to mom’s house, stop going out for sushi and sake weekly, fire my trainer and cancel my gym membership, etc. before becoming so desperate. Unfortunately, not everyone is as privileged as me and other ladies who are in a similar position. They might have five kids to feed and they can’t wait until their marketing efforts pay off.

Gosh what a good question. There are so many variables that one must take into consideration. And while I’m certain the formula above will not work for everyone, it is definitely worth a try!

[anova444]

I live in Dallas where "provider" competition is supposed to be tough. I have one appointment a day. I speak my mind with out worry of loosing business. Actually, I speak my mind because I want to discourage bad business.
I'm not concerned about the economy. I am concerned about all of the negative thoughts and fear.
Have you ever heard the term: Thoughts become things.

[boomer69does]

Originally Posted by WTF

No shit, I'd have a hard time boinking 500 chicka-dee's a year even if I was getting paid to do so.

So the guys should look at other factors beside just pay that women are giving up to be in this business...apples to apples as boomer69does pointed out. I bet he wouldn't want a broom handle shoved up his ass 500 times a year for a hundred grand!

I wouldn't want anything that these girls get and have to put up from us. It takes an incredible and strong woman to do what they do.

Pick a realistic number 250/year or 20/month? That is still around $50k and not bad for a part time job which she stated this is while she goes to college.

[Ansley]

Originally Posted by boomer69does

Pick a realistic number 250/year or 20/month?

[atlcomedy]

Originally Posted by GiamarieLynn

Gosh what a good question. There are so many variables that one must take into consideration. And while I’m certain the formula above will not work for everyone, it is definitely worth a try!

Yeah, in addition to family situation a real assessment of your job prospects outside of this life is another one. If they are bleak the in & out cheap sessions may be the only viable option.

Originally Posted by WTF

No shit, I'd have a hard time boinking 500 chicka-dee's a year even if I was getting paid to do so.

So the guys should look at other factors beside just pay that women are giving up to be in this business...apples to apples as boomer69does pointed out. I bet he wouldn't want a broom handle shoved up his ass 500 times a year for a hundred grand!

Some of us probably (figuratively) feel like we get a broom handle 500/year in the civie world for whatever it is we take home

Originally Posted by boomer69does

I wouldn't want anything that these girls get and have to put up from us. It takes an incredible and strong woman to do what they do.

Pick a realistic number 250/year or 20/month? That is still around $50k and not bad for a part time job which she stated this is while she goes to college.

My point before is even for most "full time" gals they aren't working 50 weeks or if they are certainly not with a full schedule so you can't just multiply by 50. This truly is a job where you need to "recharge the batteries"

[Rudyard K]

Originally Posted by WTF

No shit, I'd have a hard time boinking 500 chicka-dee's a year even if I was getting paid to do so.

No wonder your golf game sucks...so I'm told.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by Rudyard K

No wonder your golf game sucks...so I'm told.

I'll have you know I shot an 88 this morning in the Houston heat. Shit truth be told , I'll take that when the weather is perfect! My expectation ain't that high so ole WTF had a great time.

[atlcomedy]

Originally Posted by WTF

I'll have you know I shot an 88 this morning in the Houston heat. Shit truth be told , I'll take that when the weather is perfect! My expectation ain't that high so ole WTF had a great time.

So that was the front 9. How was the back 9?

[WTF]

Originally Posted by atlcomedy

So that was the front 9. How was the back 9?

Just cause Tiger Woods ain't happy with an 88 don't mean I'm not.

[Guest031811]

Originally Posted by boomer69does

Pick a realistic number 250/year or 20/month? That is still around $50k and not bad for a part time job which she stated this is while she goes to college.

1. I want to thank you for participating in the discussion. I appreciate everyone's thoughts. Its great to get the perspective from other people.

2. Even though objective, you made some faulty assumptions. You have assumed that in a year, I will see a gentleman only ONCE and only for ONE hour. Hypothetically, if I have 5 "regular clients" who each book 4 times a month for a year, you would need to subtract 240 men from your "250/year" statement.

Furthermore, I really like the gentlemen I see. I do not wish to rush the session so that I can finish on time. Since I like to take my time, I offer a multi-hour discount. Since we are discussing my business practices, I will provide a more concrete example. Lets say a gentleman initially books an hour appointment @200/hr; he has a great time and wishes to book again next month. But this time, he wants a 5 hour appointment. In total, I make 600 OR 120/hr. The next month, he wants an 8 hour, all day appointment. For that day, I make 900 or 112.5/hr.

3. I attend a private university. My academic scholarship is supposed to cover "most" of my tuition (yeah right). I still owe 15k a year. Technically, I could attend a community college, but what for? I am 1 semester from graduating with a bachelor's degree. Plus, the professor I am doing research with is a "guarantee" for grad school and a fellowship.

Ok... so WHO cares right? The point is: it is probably not a good idea to make generalizations of what "good business" is for a particular lady. There are so many factors that drive a person's decisions. Some people can handle a high volume seamlessly, and therefore are able to lower their rates. I already pointed out that during the school year, school takes precedence over anything else. GiamarieLynn included something that I NEVER think about: children. I don't have any children, so I run business differently than someone who has to pick the kids up everyday at 3.

I appreciate your comments. I just wanted to let you know that your scope of view could be broadened slightly.