Very interesting article, thank you for sharing.
From a sex workers perspective, I obviously was not working in the "golden era" of flats that the article goes on about. But I have spoken to more "old school" sex workers who are amazed at the amount of work newer escorts put into maintaining their client base. I don't think it would occur to the average punter how similar to any other self-employed small business escorting is, if done right and you take pride in what you do. I only escort part-time and I am self employed in another industry as well, but the admin involved is roughly the same in terms of labour. It is easy for a client to think "Oh well they get paid £100 for that hour" but in reality, there are a lot of unpaid hours put in behind the scenes, so it doesn't work out as that much per hour in terms of work put in. Don't get me wrong, we are still well paid for what we do, but it is harder to "switch off" than I think it was years ago.
I probably put in about 15 hours a week in unpaid admin a week (and I am part time) - advertisements, responding to queries, sorting out roleplay bookings (which sometimes take a bit to organise), fielding phone calls, text messages, marketing etc. There is also an assumption on the part of clients that I will respond almost immediately, probably because I am quite diligent about my communications and do respond pretty promptly, but if I have an off day and don't reply within 4-5 hours, there are clients that respond with follow up messages taking the huff because I haven't responded straight away! (and sometimes it is about bookings that are weeks away so there is really no rush for me to reply at 5am on a Sunday morning) There is also an expectation of accessibility as well, which has come with the instagram/pof/twitter generation - sometimes the pressure is really annoying. For example, a couple of spanking clients know I go to the gym and actually think it's appropriate to ask me to not go to the gym on the day that I see them (even though they have tried to book on gym day) and ask me to not use the steam room because I "might not be able to take as hard a spanking". It's that level of entitlement that can be annoying, that idea that my life can be dictated when I'm not being paid for it...comments like these get a polite response that I have my routine and life away from work and if they don't want to see me on gym day, they can have these alternative days, but it's emotional labour like this that your average straight forward "ring and book" punter would not think was a factor in our workload.
And then there's the cost of working and setting things up independently - of renting a flat or a hotel room. This is why I introduced a 10 percent deposit system for advance bookers with not much feedback, because then at least my per hour room cost is covered if they don't turn up (advance bookers with good feedback don't have to pay a deposit and if they no show, then more fool me). Then there's stuff that clients wouldn't think about - like the amount I spend on makeup has probably tripled since I became an escort, I wasn't really the type of girl who wore much makeup and now I am having to reapply it a few times a day. Outfits are not always cheap either. It really isn't a cheap lifestyle, I will be honest, which is great if you are a high maintenance lifestyle type of girl anyway, but lets put it this way....there is an assumption that I have certain things in my wardrobe for example that I can just pull out for outfit requests....well in reality, my entire off-duty wardrobe prior to escorting was probably 1950's day dresses and hoodies and jeans. Not that sexy little number that I supposedly just have or the many different variations on office wear that you get requested for
. My outcall travel costs are slightly more than my incall costs because I have worked out what extra the taxi will cost me, I don't make money on time spent travelling, much as say a home hairdresser doesn't charge to travel to their appointments. And then there's the downtime between bookings that you need to clean the room, change bedding etc, wash towels, replace toiletries, do yet more admin, prepare yourself mentally for roleplays, get yourself properly cleaned etc. Not every hour of work is actually paid. I actually understand why some girls prefer to use agencies to organise everything for them, I'm more of a lone wolf so it wouldn't be for me, but it must be nice to just turn up for work, do it for a few hours and then switch off after sometimes!
I'm not saying that we are not in a fortunate position of being able to earn more per hour than most people could dream of, but I would believe the Beyond the Gaze report which shows the majority of escorts in the UK are earning what would be considered a lower end "graduate wage".
In terms of honing skills outside the workplace, I read up on different ways to do things, I watched recommended porn (and then discard 3/4's of it as nonsense), I'm starting to learn how to provide new services. I do think some things, like the ability to converse with all manner of people, of being able to market effectively, of being able to manage timekeeping and keep appointments, are probably skills I learned through previous work...which maybe some coming into the profession young probably haven't had the benefit of.
I've probably been too candid here and believe me, I know how great my job is, otherwise I wouldn't do it, I am getting paid to get laid and a lot of the time play make believe in roleplays (and I was told I would never use that drama A-Level!) but I think a lot of what that article is on about is probably right in terms of labour involved.
