View Full Version : who's cool w/ $300/shift?
NewMoon
01-26-2008, 04:33 PM
I'm perfectly happy with $300 a shift as long as I didn't have to put up with abusive assholes to get it.
jessica_rabbit
01-26-2008, 04:59 PM
Sun-Wed, $300=good
Thurs-Sat, I need $500 min to be happy
Pretty_Penny
01-26-2008, 05:06 PM
For any girls here that are saying they'd be pissed at a $300 a night average....please tell me where you are so I know where I should travel to next time....
no shit. ESPECIALLY if you work in lower contact clubs/cities.
saphire123456
01-26-2008, 05:12 PM
philly
Melonie
01-26-2008, 05:29 PM
there is a principle called 'opportunity cost' or 'lost opportunity cost'. In this context, it refers to a girl who chooses to work as a dancer having to give up 'opportunities' she could be accruing by working at a 'straight' job. I'm talking about issues like building seniority (job security), building retirement benefits, accumulating pay raises, accumulated paid vacation time, building a marketable resume' etc.
For girls who don't / won't have 4 year+ college degrees, and who are therefore likely to wind up working at an 'unskilled' or 'semi-skilled' straight job when they retire from dancing, to account for 'lost opportunity cost' they incur while dancing for $300 a night and not accruing the higher straight job pay rate, higher paid vacation time, higher retirement benefits etc. that would go along with working at a straight job instead of dancing. If this translates into a 10% lower straight job pay rate for the remaining 30 years of their working lives after they retire from dancing, if this translates into having to work an extra two weeks every year for the remaining 30 years of their working lives versus paid vacation, if this translates into having $50k-$100k less money in their retirement fund when they finally reach retirement age, it all translates into 'lost opportunity cost'.
Now if a dancer is able to earn $500 a night, whereas an unskilled or semi-skilled straight job would pay $100 a day, then the sum total of 'lost opportunity cost' of dancing is definitely covered by the $400 a day earnings differential (and then some). However, as dancer earnings potential drops to $300 a night, the 'lost opportunity cost' becomes something to think about. And when dancer earnings potential drops to $200 a night or less, the 'lost opportunity cost' arguably exceeds the $100 a day earnings differential.
If you're not getting my point, take a minute and calculate what dancing for 10 years plus working a straight job for 30 years, versus working a straight job for 40 years is likely to mean in terms of dollars. From a standpoint of paychecks alone, and assuming only 10% in pay raises over a 10 year period, this represents say $1.20 an hour in lower pay rate for a period of 30 years. This equals $2500 a year for 30 years or $75,000 in lost earnings. Then tack on another say $75,000 in retirement fund benefits that will not be accrued in 30 years versus 40 years. Without even considering working an extra two weeks a year for 30 years, and without even considering the out of pocket cost differential for medical etc. if you take the $150k total 'lost opportunity cost' and spread that over a 10 year dancing career it equals $15k per year or perhaps $100 a night (assuming the dancer is working 3 nights a week which is pretty typical). This is the reason that IMHO any dancers who are earning less than $200 a night on a regular basis are now wasting their time by continuing to dance.
Katrine
01-26-2008, 05:33 PM
This is the reason that IMHO any dancers who are earning less than $200 a night on a regular basis are now wasting their time by continuing to dance.
That makes sense, although I would give some leeway to girls just starting out and getting the hang of it. Stripping was my first real sales job (min. wage and no commission at the Gap didn't count). It took a few months to figure out how to maximize sales and recognize time wasters.
cameron_keys
01-26-2008, 05:36 PM
philly
Damn. I might just have to go vist home more often..
miabella
01-26-2008, 06:12 PM
a more salient question is whether anyone here would take a maximum average of 300/shift 3-6 shifts per week, 5-7 hours per shift if that was all you could max out at regardless of location or contact level.
also, and i think this is kind of interesting as a side deal, 300-500/shift has been 'tolerably decent' or 'pretty ok to make consistently' for about 25 years now, as the dollar's value (in the US anyhow) has plummeted. i don't know how stable other countries' currencies are, or how stripper-earnings were in the last 25 years in those other countries comparatively.
TheSexKitten
01-26-2008, 06:18 PM
philly
seems like Philly, Chicago, Manhattan, and Dallas are pretty ballin. Hmmm. ;D
LittleMissy
01-26-2008, 06:23 PM
I'm perfectly happy with $300 a shift as long as I didn't have to put up with abusive assholes to get it.
I totally agree with new moon. If it's a long night of inconsiderate assholes I wouldn't really leave with a smile on my face.
austinatalie
01-26-2008, 07:18 PM
a more salient question is whether anyone here would take a maximum average of 300/shift 3-6 shifts per week, 5-7 hours per shift if that was all you could max out at regardless of location or contact level.
also, and i think this is kind of interesting as a side deal, 300-500/shift has been 'tolerably decent' or 'pretty ok to make consistently' for about 25 years now, as the dollar's value (in the US anyhow) has plummeted. i don't know how stable other countries' currencies are, or how stripper-earnings were in the last 25 years in those other countries comparatively.
maybe this is because clubs never raise the dance price?
Brendita
01-26-2008, 08:05 PM
As long as I make more than I would have at my last job, I am happy.
(doesnt take much to make me happy)
Depends on the club. If it was the one I worked in in NJ, Id be pissed.
If it was any other, mayyyyybe I would be ok. Depends.
ajbaer
01-26-2008, 08:31 PM
I'm happy with $300/shift. However, I work 3 weekDAYS at 8 hours a shift. This is what I average, and will not leave unless I have it...usually. If I worked nights at my club though I would not be happy with it. I know there is more potential there. But for now I'm happy...especially when 99% of the days I hear the other girls complain about how their not leaving with $100.
Hotredhead_02
01-26-2008, 09:59 PM
I would love a $300 shift we work 11 hour shifts at my cluba and an average night is 150, 200 on a weekend
mollyzmoon
01-27-2008, 07:06 AM
On early week nights, if I'm not working more than five hours. I wouldn't be pleased, but I would be okay with it. On a weekend night or a longer shift, not so much. But I'm *really* not making what I used to two years ago. That could be for any number of reasons though.
NewMoon
01-27-2008, 07:12 AM
On early week nights, if I'm not working more than five hours. I wouldn't be pleased, but I would be okay with it. On a weekend night or a longer shift, not so much. But I'm *really* not making what I used to two years ago. That could be for any number of reasons though.
Just curious what kind of effect the new Ottawa strip club bylaws had on your income?
Lysondra
01-27-2008, 09:19 AM
In all honesty, that is way way less than I normally make even when I'm working the clubs but I wouldn't be unhappy with anything. I make a good life, there's always another day, I'm not burnt out because I have no money and a million bills to pay... so I just don't care. And honestly, I think that's where the money-making attitude comes from in general. If you really don't need the money, you put up with less bullshit and make more money and are generally happier.
I've never had a larger contribution to my mental health than having a savings.
LatinaRose
01-27-2008, 09:28 AM
I'm okay with it for short shifts where I don't work too hard. For longer shifts or harder hustling, I expect more.
Morgan_TX
01-27-2008, 10:48 AM
Are you kidding me? On a slow night (or day), I consider myself lucky to break ONE bill! On a BUSY night (or day), I usually still only make $150-$250.
I've broken $300 ONCE in six months of dancing.
Emily
01-27-2008, 10:57 AM
seems like Philly, Chicago, Manhattan, and Dallas are pretty ballin. Hmmm. ;D
Philly is great, but there are waaaaaay more Philly girls struggling to make 300 versus girls disappointed with that amount.
PhillyDancer1982
01-27-2008, 11:23 AM
there is a principle called 'opportunity cost' or 'lost opportunity cost'. In this context, it refers to a girl who chooses to work as a dancer having to give up 'opportunities' she could be accruing by working at a 'straight' job. I'm talking about issues like building seniority (job security), building retirement benefits, accumulating pay raises, accumulated paid vacation time, building a marketable resume' etc.
For girls who don't / won't have 4 year+ college degrees, and who are therefore likely to wind up working at an 'unskilled' or 'semi-skilled' straight job when they retire from dancing, to account for 'lost opportunity cost' they incur while dancing for $300 a night and not accruing the higher straight job pay rate, higher paid vacation time, higher retirement benefits etc. that would go along with working at a straight job instead of dancing. If this translates into a 10% lower straight job pay rate for the remaining 30 years of their working lives after they retire from dancing, if this translates into having to work an extra two weeks every year for the remaining 30 years of their working lives versus paid vacation, if this translates into having $50k-$100k less money in their retirement fund when they finally reach retirement age, it all translates into 'lost opportunity cost'.
Now if a dancer is able to earn $500 a night, whereas an unskilled or semi-skilled straight job would pay $100 a day, then the sum total of 'lost opportunity cost' of dancing is definitely covered by the $400 a day earnings differential (and then some). However, as dancer earnings potential drops to $300 a night, the 'lost opportunity cost' becomes something to think about. And when dancer earnings potential drops to $200 a night or less, the 'lost opportunity cost' arguably exceeds the $100 a day earnings differential.
If you're not getting my point, take a minute and calculate what dancing for 10 years plus working a straight job for 30 years, versus working a straight job for 40 years is likely to mean in terms of dollars. From a standpoint of paychecks alone, and assuming only 10% in pay raises over a 10 year period, this represents say $1.20 an hour in lower pay rate for a period of 30 years. This equals $2500 a year for 30 years or $75,000 in lost earnings. Then tack on another say $75,000 in retirement fund benefits that will not be accrued in 30 years versus 40 years. Without even considering working an extra two weeks a year for 30 years, and without even considering the out of pocket cost differential for medical etc. if you take the $150k total 'lost opportunity cost' and spread that over a 10 year dancing career it equals $15k per year or perhaps $100 a night (assuming the dancer is working 3 nights a week which is pretty typical). This is the reason that IMHO any dancers who are earning less than $200 a night on a regular basis are now wasting their time by continuing to dance.
Exactly Melonie, and that is part of the reason I stopped dancing! Around the time I walked away from it, the money seemed to drop off for me, so it wasn't even profitable for me anymore...partly due to the bad economy and season, partly due to Philly's smoking ban which was brand new at the time, and partly due to me getting burned out and fed up with it. What's even worse than working a dancing job w/ no benefits(healthcare & retirement/401K), and making less than $200 consistently?...doing all that after you spent all that money on a COLLEGE DEGREE that isn't paying off for you! That's the spot that I was in. If you're going to pay all that money for college and not even get any financial benefits from it, what was the point of even going to college in the first place??...esp if you went to a college that wasn't a "good fit"/fun experience for you?(admittedly college was probably some of the WORST years of my life)
So I agree with you...and those are the reasons I stopped dancing. I'm glad I did, because it gave me more motivation than ever to push ahead with aggressively selling myself at job interviews, which helped me to get that "straight job" that I'd been longing for since before I even started dancing. :)
Dancing is good for some...but not for others. I think it was good for me for a period of time, during the time that I was making good money with it and using it to get established in life(pay off debt, get a nice place, etc), but beyond that it wasn't nearly as useful for me.
PhillyDancer1982
01-27-2008, 11:26 AM
If you really don't need the money, you put up with less bullshit and make more money and are generally happier.
Wow that really sucks for those strippers who are stripping because they're in dire financial distress and are trying to get bills/debt paid up to date(I was one of those people when I started dancing). But ah, I guess that's how it goes. Perhaps that ones that don't really need the money also make more money because they don't have that aura of desperation about them, the way someone who needs money to pay rent by the skin of their teeth might.
Morgan_TX
01-27-2008, 11:46 AM
there is a principle called 'opportunity cost' or 'lost opportunity cost'. In this context, it refers to a girl who chooses to work as a dancer having to give up 'opportunities' she could be accruing by working at a 'straight' job. I'm talking about issues like building seniority (job security), building retirement benefits, accumulating pay raises, accumulated paid vacation time, building a marketable resume' etc.
For girls who don't / won't have 4 year+ college degrees, and who are therefore likely to wind up working at an 'unskilled' or 'semi-skilled' straight job when they retire from dancing, to account for 'lost opportunity cost' they incur while dancing for $300 a night and not accruing the higher straight job pay rate, higher paid vacation time, higher retirement benefits etc. that would go along with working at a straight job instead of dancing. If this translates into a 10% lower straight job pay rate for the remaining 30 years of their working lives after they retire from dancing, if this translates into having to work an extra two weeks every year for the remaining 30 years of their working lives versus paid vacation, if this translates into having $50k-$100k less money in their retirement fund when they finally reach retirement age, it all translates into 'lost opportunity cost'.
Now if a dancer is able to earn $500 a night, whereas an unskilled or semi-skilled straight job would pay $100 a day, then the sum total of 'lost opportunity cost' of dancing is definitely covered by the $400 a day earnings differential (and then some). However, as dancer earnings potential drops to $300 a night, the 'lost opportunity cost' becomes something to think about. And when dancer earnings potential drops to $200 a night or less, the 'lost opportunity cost' arguably exceeds the $100 a day earnings differential.
If you're not getting my point, take a minute and calculate what dancing for 10 years plus working a straight job for 30 years, versus working a straight job for 40 years is likely to mean in terms of dollars. From a standpoint of paychecks alone, and assuming only 10% in pay raises over a 10 year period, this represents say $1.20 an hour in lower pay rate for a period of 30 years. This equals $2500 a year for 30 years or $75,000 in lost earnings. Then tack on another say $75,000 in retirement fund benefits that will not be accrued in 30 years versus 40 years. Without even considering working an extra two weeks a year for 30 years, and without even considering the out of pocket cost differential for medical etc. if you take the $150k total 'lost opportunity cost' and spread that over a 10 year dancing career it equals $15k per year or perhaps $100 a night (assuming the dancer is working 3 nights a week which is pretty typical). This is the reason that IMHO any dancers who are earning less than $200 a night on a regular basis are now wasting their time by continuing to dance.
Here is my problem, and the reason I continue to dance while making around $200 a night (usually): I'm an administrative assistant. In any other city, I could be making around $3000 a month with full benefits (based on my experience, skillset, and offers I've had). Here? I'm lucky to make $1500 with no benefits. The work environment sucks, too. The last "straight" admin job I had, I lost when I admitted that I don't go to church. I don't much appreciate having to lie about my religion to get a job in this hellhole, so I don't even bother.
For me, when I dance at $150/night and work 4-5 nights a week, I'm making $3000+ a month, almost twice what I can make in my own career field. Very few admin jobs around here will even offer benefits, so I'm not any better off with an admin job than dancing.
So for me, the "lost opportunity cost" still tells me to dance, even though I don't make a lot of money at it. I still make more than I could make in a "straight" job.
mollyzmoon
01-27-2008, 12:14 PM
Just curious what kind of effect the new Ottawa strip club bylaws had on your income?
It's made some impact. The money isn't as consistent as it used to be...I think there are fewer guys getting 3+ dances. BUT I'm also not as hot as I used to be, and I don't work consistently enough to maintain regulars anymore. Plus I work much shorter shifts, leave early, etc. It's been nearly a year since I went over $1000, but like I said, there's probably many reasons for that! If I keep up a regular schedule, keep laziness at bay, tan a bit and go back to the gym, then I'd have a better idea if it's just the bylaws/ economy.
BUT I wouldn't change the bylaw/ go back to Quebec. I'll take half the money for twice the comfort level anyday. Grinding always fucked with me. I'm such a baby.
I'm guilty of always coming in late, so my shifts are usually only about 5 hours long... so to me, a guaranteed $300 a shift wouldn't be bad at all. But if I was working 8 hour shifts regularly like a lot of other girls on here mentioned, I don't think I would be too happy.
VeraLynn
01-27-2008, 01:13 PM
I agree with most of you, $300 a night would keep me happy.
daniella_maria
01-27-2008, 01:25 PM
If I work a four hour shift, then I'm okay with three hundred bucks for the night; I'm fine with it if I work an eight hour shift too, but I will be a little dissappointed.
AlexxaHex
01-27-2008, 01:30 PM
I'd definitely be okay with $300 at this point. It's been really dead lately.
Jenny
01-27-2008, 03:00 PM
I think Susan's got it. $300 means different things in different clubs and different cities. If I were working in her conditions (I don't know much about the cost of living in Portland) I might be delighted. Where I am now... I can't say I would be happy at that, unless I was working only for a couple of hours. I work in a high hustle and high contact environment. I actually do love how Scarlett sees conversing and touching as the same thing; I wish I were that badass.
I would actually suggest that anyone making less than that in a major urban centre based on a 5 or longer hour shift should start making a transition; work a day job and supplement through dancing once a week.
PhillyDancer1982
01-27-2008, 03:21 PM
Here is my problem, and the reason I continue to dance while making around $200 a night (usually): I'm an administrative assistant. In any other city, I could be making around $3000 a month with full benefits (based on my experience, skillset, and offers I've had). Here? I'm lucky to make $1500 with no benefits. The work environment sucks, too. The last "straight" admin job I had, I lost when I admitted that I don't go to church. I don't much appreciate having to lie about my religion to get a job in this hellhole, so I don't even bother.
For me, when I dance at $150/night and work 4-5 nights a week, I'm making $3000+ a month, almost twice what I can make in my own career field. Very few admin jobs around here will even offer benefits, so I'm not any better off with an admin job than dancing.
So for me, the "lost opportunity cost" still tells me to dance, even though I don't make a lot of money at it. I still make more than I could make in a "straight" job.
I have an idea: Why don't you relocate to one of the other cities that pays $3000/mo + benefits for an admin job?
I understand that you don't like lying to your admin job about church(or whatever else), but look at it this way...when you work as a stripper, you have to lie at that job too. By pretending to be all gah-gah and interested in a customer(to entice him to spend money on you), you are essentially lying. Ditto for any other lies you might tell to customers, whether those lies are a hustle tactic or whether those lies are to protect you from revealing personal information about yourself to customers whom you do not know. So how is it any worse to tell a lie about church here and there?
You say you make $3000/mo by stripping 5 days/week. If you relocated to another city and lied about going to church(if it's absolutely necessary), you could make the same money at a straight job as you do stripping...but you'd also be getting full benefits + have your nights free. Or if you still want to strip alongside your admin job, you could do it and then you'd be making $3000 + extra spending/saving/investing money. Just an idea.
PhillyDancer1982
01-27-2008, 03:23 PM
I would actually suggest that anyone making less than that in a major urban centre based on a 5 or longer hour shift should start making a transition; work a day job and supplement through dancing once a week.
That's a great idea. :)
roxanna
01-27-2008, 07:13 PM
$300 a shift, if it was consistent 4-5 days a week would be more than enough for me, and I live in Hollywood. That works out (on a 4 week month) to about 6 G's, much more than I need.
Lysondra
01-27-2008, 08:05 PM
Wow that really sucks for those strippers who are stripping because they're in dire financial distress and are trying to get bills/debt paid up to date(I was one of those people when I started dancing). But ah, I guess that's how it goes. Perhaps that ones that don't really need the money also make more money because they don't have that aura of desperation about them, the way someone who needs money to pay rent by the skin of their teeth might.
Yeah it does suck. When I needed the money desperately, I couldn't make it to save my life. Now that I don't need that dollar, I can't seem to stop making ten more of them. I think it's that 'I really don't need you' attitude perhaps that makes men want to spend. Afterall, you don't NEED them, which I guess means you WANT them, which is part of the illusion, in their mind. I'm happier, healthier and more well-adjusted since I got my finances in order. Money doesn't worry me - and now a huge stressor on my life is lifted and I feel freer in almost all aspects of my life. Even free enough to be grateful for $300, which is well below my average. Simply because I didn't need it - so it was just a bonus.
Sophia_Starina
01-27-2008, 08:22 PM
$300 is my minimum.
For me, anything less is just uncivilized.
sunnie
01-27-2008, 11:22 PM
I'm perfectly happy with $300 a shift as long as I didn't have to put up with abusive assholes to get it.
YES!!!
While I am in school, $300 is fine. I just need to be able to take time off for exams AND pay my rent/bills. But dancing is a gig while school is the priority.
Kaylinn
01-28-2008, 12:29 AM
Yeah it does suck. When I needed the money desperately, I couldn't make it to save my life. Now that I don't need that dollar, I can't seem to stop making ten more of them. I think it's that 'I really don't need you' attitude perhaps that makes men want to spend. Afterall, you don't NEED them, which I guess means you WANT them, which is part of the illusion, in their mind. I'm happier, healthier and more well-adjusted since I got my finances in order. Money doesn't worry me - and now a huge stressor on my life is lifted and I feel freer in almost all aspects of my life. Even free enough to be grateful for $300, which is well below my average. Simply because I didn't need it - so it was just a bonus.
Off topic, but...
I really admire how you got your finances in order and are comfortable and on your way to reachign awsome financial goals...Would you mind sharing how you started to get things in order? Just worked more, saved more?
I admire what you've done, and would love to be able to follow in those steps.
Bella21
01-28-2008, 01:15 AM
$300 is basically my level of pain. Anything less than that and I'm pissed. But, I don't complain at $300.
Lysondra
01-28-2008, 04:36 AM
Off topic, but...
I really admire how you got your finances in order and are comfortable and on your way to reachign awsome financial goals...Would you mind sharing how you started to get things in order? Just worked more, saved more?
I admire what you've done, and would love to be able to follow in those steps.
Honestly it all started when I changed to doing what I wanted to do. The club you go to is not always your only option, the way you work is not always what really works for you... you have t adapt the lifestyle to you, not adapt yourself to the lifestyle. I was broke in the beginning of private parties, as well, so I can't say that was the change that turned me around.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped caring what people thought while at the same time making myself more physically attractive (hair, nails, tanning) for MYSELF. I stopped getting offended at insults and would laugh at them instead or dish them right back. I stopped making stripping the end-all be-all of my life. I work 30 hours a week and there's 168. So obviously the majority of my time is not stripping - it's everything else. Focus on the inner happiness, you'll have the outer.
Save every dollar you can when you can at first, as well. Even a dollar here or there will make you feel better at first. At least there's SOME savings. Pay your miminum bills for just a few weeks or months and THEN sart putting the money heavily into it. You won't relax with lower debt and an empty bank, but you will relax with slightly higher debt and a full savings. Then when you have a big night, save a little more... slowly you can start relaxing and relaxing more and more until you don't need it. Until the money is just a bonus. Until work is just work and home is your home life.
I came onto this site two years ago a low-earning gangly stripper with no self-esteem and a drug habit. I was a drama queen, an attention-whore and needy of someone's approval so desperately, I issued a major vibe of desperation. I have grown very much in that time, learned to save, learned to love life, learned to love myself... basically, I learned just to stop judging myself so harshly, laugh at myself, work my ass off because I -want- to and just smile at all the bastards who treat me like crap - because I know, in the end, they are nothing to me and I am EVERYTHING to myself.
Focus on your inner health and the outer wealth will follow.
Yeah I'm a sap.
Thank you SW! :hug:
Alaska
01-28-2008, 05:23 AM
^Awww. A SW success story!
jasmine
01-28-2008, 07:07 AM
$300 when I used to work a full shift 6-3ish would have sucked and at the time I would have bitched.
After I got an office job and had the kids my shifts dropped to about 5 hrs, so yes, I'd be pretty happy with that. But only if I didn't have to put up with shitty $150 nights. I think the reason I always set my goals so high was to keep my nightly average up. My official happy place has always been $500 with $700 my ideal.
Yekhefah
01-28-2008, 07:24 AM
Lysondra, I can't tell you how proud I am to know you. You would be an impressive and amazing woman at any age, but it's incredible that you've grown so much and become so wise so young. Mad kudos.
AlexxaHex
01-28-2008, 07:39 AM
I'm also touched by Lysondra's story. I think it's amazing that someone can come so far in just a short time. SW has helped me a lot too. When I first came here I had a pink mohawk and had NO idea how to hustle. I was doing pills and drinking all the time. I'm not really a top earner but I don't let people talk my ear off all or cross my boundaries anymore. I don't get my feelings hurt as much as I used to either...and I might have one drink now, but I haven't had a vicodin in almost 2 years.
I think the reason $300 would seem substantial to me is because of the depressed economies of the places I've lived in. It's unbelievably hard to make $300 being a clean dancer in LA, or one who isn't overly aggressive or shiesty. I think I take a little pay cut working on day shift here in WNY too. Sometimes there are NO guys in the club. But that's okay with me. I'm willing to sacrifice the extra money for my sanity, and that is how I stay wealthy with self-love and the ability to spend time with my family.
PhillyDancer1982
01-28-2008, 09:32 AM
I like hearing the success stories that Alexxa Hex and Lysondra wrote. Keep up the good work, girls!
I have a few stories of my own, but perhaps someone should make a separate thread about success stories? We could even make one thread concerning financial success stories, and another thread concerning success involving esteem, finding happiness in life, etc. I think I'd have a lot to both share AND learn from, and hopefully others will feel the same way.
stripperMBA
01-28-2008, 03:16 PM
Here is my problem, and the reason I continue to dance while making around $200 a night (usually): I'm an administrative assistant. In any other city, I could be making around $3000 a month with full benefits (based on my experience, skillset, and offers I've had). Here? I'm lucky to make $1500 with no benefits. The work environment sucks, too. The last "straight" admin job I had, I lost when I admitted that I don't go to church. I don't much appreciate having to lie about my religion to get a job in this hellhole, so I don't even bother.
For me, when I dance at $150/night and work 4-5 nights a week, I'm making $3000+ a month, almost twice what I can make in my own career field. Very few admin jobs around here will even offer benefits, so I'm not any better off with an admin job than dancing.
So for me, the "lost opportunity cost" still tells me to dance, even though I don't make a lot of money at it. I still make more than I could make in a "straight" job.
For the cost of living in Texas $3000 dollars goes much further than it would in many other places. I think, as other posters have pointed out, that cost of living should factor into the decision of to dance or not to dance. Here in Texas one can still buy a house for $150,000 - $200,000. There are no state taxes here and that helps as well. Morgan I think it is good that you are working a job that you can put on your resume, and then using your dancing for extra money. I hope you reach all your financial goals. I have worked secretarial jobs in Texas, and can vouch for how very, very few have benefits. Usually only those at universities, or through government jobs have benefits here. Anyway regardless of how much money a dancer makes it is most important how she saves her money.
TheSexKitten
01-28-2008, 05:18 PM
Lysondra and alexxaHex: Thanks for sharing those stories! It's good to get a little inspiration in me. :)
Kaylinn
01-28-2008, 07:49 PM
Thank you for sharing that with me. You are an inspiration and I really admire you.
phairestofthemall
01-29-2008, 04:09 AM
If I put in a full shift and only pull $300, I'm gonna be thinkin hard about what went wrong on my drive home. Maybe it was really dead, or maybe I bet on the wrong horses, or whatever, but I will be pondering on what I could do different to improve if it's within my power to do so. At the same time though, I'm not cryin by any means- I keep in mind $300 is what I'd pull in a week of my normal job after all. I just strive for $500 or better, I hit that, I got'er done!
Lysondra
01-29-2008, 06:43 AM
You guys are really gonna make me cry. I didn't even know how to reply to this thread for a bit because I was so touched. Both by Alexxa's story and the wonderful compliments people have given me on my ability to grow, be admired and *gasp* be an inspiration. Such a far cry from who I was, I never thought I'd inspire a soul. And here, a lovely bunch of beautiful girls who have seen the changed in me are proud of me and happy for me... it just feels so wonderful and..I'm crying. Damnit! I didn't want to reply at first because I felt it was detracting from the thread - but I had to say thank you to everyone on this site who has contributed to my growth and experiences.
I don't think I'd be who I am today without stripperweb to support me and beat me with a rotting fish when I screwed up. You guys were nice, you guys were mean - but it was always because you cared. <3
*aaagghhhSWSAPPYMOMENT*
:hug:
Morgan_TX
01-29-2008, 07:39 AM
I want to clarify a couple of things:
First, as much as I would love to, I can't move right now. I'm still waiting to go to final hearing on my divorce, and I'm engage to be married here in September. Plus, the kids are doing well in school, and I'm scared to move without having adequate savings. Where I'm at now, I pay no rent--only property taxes ($200/mo). And as much as I hate having to ask for help from my parents, until I get some savings, I don't feel comfortable venturing out on my own, ESPECIALLY with as much trouble as I've had making money at dancing here.
Second, I will agree that $3000 a month goes a LONG way here. All of my monthly expenses (and this is NOT living frugally) only come to about $2000 a month.