Tina
02-03-2007, 06:04 PM
Having a PLAN, is really the best way of looking at this. I work 6 days on bookings most weeks and full time shifts to boot. When I was in my 20's I worked at least 20 days a month too. I used my money to buy a home and help start a business even though I was in a shitty relationship for some of those years. Relationships go sour as over 1/2 of marriages as we all know end in divorce and that reality forces many of us to start over, I being one of the ones who for my sanity started over with nothing but the clothes on my back.
But I bounced back due to the flexibility of this job and within 3 months had moved to a new state, acquired a new wardrobe and had $3000 in savings.
You can take away a person's money but not the ambition and knowledge it takes to make it back if a person has it.
Goals and a plan go hand in hand. Quite frankly no one can rightfully say what age they will retire from dancing or any other business endeavour. One works as long as is feasible to do so,or until something comes along to replace the money made by dancing, or until one has the passive income so they no longer need to physically work in any job. Why do so many dancers talk of retirement. I think it has to do with wanting to fit into mainstream society, but mainstream society jobs oftentimes have more problems associated with them than stripping jobs.
The reason some but not all older dancers don't live hand to mouth is called life experience. Many college aged girls feel that all mighty degree will give them a much better job than dancing. Once they get that "rat race" job, which locks them into a 50 + hours of work and commuting each week for a check that is spent before they get it, and only being able to take time off when all other "rat race" people have time off, holidays and weekends, they then begin to have discouragement set in.
Because as a dancer we have flexibility in chosing the weeks we work and the vacation time or nights off we take, or the cities we chose to work and live in. A paycheck job doesn't offer that.
I work 40 weeks on the road with 12 weeks off. During those 40 weeks I am focused on work. But I CHOOSE the 12 weeks I have off and the 40 weeks I work, and I do lots of fun stuff when I am off. How many jobs give a person 12 weeks off a year? And if I choose to take another week or 2 off if financially feasible, it is MY choice.
How many of you WANT a large home in an upscale community? How many of you see things you would like to buy when you go shopping, but cannot afford them? How many of you have a late model car versus no car at all? How many of you live in a nice place that is TASTEFULLY furnished? How many of you have the amount of cash saved that your better spending regulars have?
Having the opportunity in your 20's to have things that avarage people may not be able to afford until their 40's SHOULD be a HUGE incentive to make a dancer take this job seriously.
There is plenty of time to have fun. One does not need to go out partying every week, but if one PLANS properly and has GOALS, they can have one hell of a party on their PLANNED weeks off can't they?
If a dancer has a full time day job, I can see them working 2 nights a week. As a college student, 3 nights a week, With no other job, not working 5 nights/days a month with maybe a 4 day week in the mix, or if working out of town bookings maybe 4-6, 6 night weeks in a row followed by 2 weeks off, is surely a sign of a dancer who doesn't have a lot of ambition or desire for financial security.
You can't have fun in life without money, and how fun is it to only go to work when you need something?
Days/weeks off are a reward for hard, well planned, and successful work. Taking more time off than you work especially if you are broke, is a sure sign that something is wrong.
Next time you say to yourself, "I don't feel like going to work today", take a good hard look at how much money you have to your name, where you live, what you drive, if anything, and then ask yourself what you would do if you were sick for the next 2 weeks and couldn't work.
Then take a good hard look at WHY it is so hard for you to go to work. Is the club so saturated with girls that it is hard to sell dances? Is business really slow? Is the payout to high relative to your earnings potential? Are you uncomfortable talking to men and asking for dances? Is it hard for you to be around alcohol and not drink or smoke? Are you afraid to come out of the closet and not hide the fact that you dance? Would you really rather have a mainstream job with a paycheck rather than uncertain earnings each night? Do I really want to have a nice home now, and live better than my friends? Am I ready to eliminate all people from my life who don't accept my dancing and just make friends and build relationships with those who do?
Once addressed, a dancer can then PLAN how she will live her life instead of scuffling to get by.
But I bounced back due to the flexibility of this job and within 3 months had moved to a new state, acquired a new wardrobe and had $3000 in savings.
You can take away a person's money but not the ambition and knowledge it takes to make it back if a person has it.
Goals and a plan go hand in hand. Quite frankly no one can rightfully say what age they will retire from dancing or any other business endeavour. One works as long as is feasible to do so,or until something comes along to replace the money made by dancing, or until one has the passive income so they no longer need to physically work in any job. Why do so many dancers talk of retirement. I think it has to do with wanting to fit into mainstream society, but mainstream society jobs oftentimes have more problems associated with them than stripping jobs.
The reason some but not all older dancers don't live hand to mouth is called life experience. Many college aged girls feel that all mighty degree will give them a much better job than dancing. Once they get that "rat race" job, which locks them into a 50 + hours of work and commuting each week for a check that is spent before they get it, and only being able to take time off when all other "rat race" people have time off, holidays and weekends, they then begin to have discouragement set in.
Because as a dancer we have flexibility in chosing the weeks we work and the vacation time or nights off we take, or the cities we chose to work and live in. A paycheck job doesn't offer that.
I work 40 weeks on the road with 12 weeks off. During those 40 weeks I am focused on work. But I CHOOSE the 12 weeks I have off and the 40 weeks I work, and I do lots of fun stuff when I am off. How many jobs give a person 12 weeks off a year? And if I choose to take another week or 2 off if financially feasible, it is MY choice.
How many of you WANT a large home in an upscale community? How many of you see things you would like to buy when you go shopping, but cannot afford them? How many of you have a late model car versus no car at all? How many of you live in a nice place that is TASTEFULLY furnished? How many of you have the amount of cash saved that your better spending regulars have?
Having the opportunity in your 20's to have things that avarage people may not be able to afford until their 40's SHOULD be a HUGE incentive to make a dancer take this job seriously.
There is plenty of time to have fun. One does not need to go out partying every week, but if one PLANS properly and has GOALS, they can have one hell of a party on their PLANNED weeks off can't they?
If a dancer has a full time day job, I can see them working 2 nights a week. As a college student, 3 nights a week, With no other job, not working 5 nights/days a month with maybe a 4 day week in the mix, or if working out of town bookings maybe 4-6, 6 night weeks in a row followed by 2 weeks off, is surely a sign of a dancer who doesn't have a lot of ambition or desire for financial security.
You can't have fun in life without money, and how fun is it to only go to work when you need something?
Days/weeks off are a reward for hard, well planned, and successful work. Taking more time off than you work especially if you are broke, is a sure sign that something is wrong.
Next time you say to yourself, "I don't feel like going to work today", take a good hard look at how much money you have to your name, where you live, what you drive, if anything, and then ask yourself what you would do if you were sick for the next 2 weeks and couldn't work.
Then take a good hard look at WHY it is so hard for you to go to work. Is the club so saturated with girls that it is hard to sell dances? Is business really slow? Is the payout to high relative to your earnings potential? Are you uncomfortable talking to men and asking for dances? Is it hard for you to be around alcohol and not drink or smoke? Are you afraid to come out of the closet and not hide the fact that you dance? Would you really rather have a mainstream job with a paycheck rather than uncertain earnings each night? Do I really want to have a nice home now, and live better than my friends? Am I ready to eliminate all people from my life who don't accept my dancing and just make friends and build relationships with those who do?
Once addressed, a dancer can then PLAN how she will live her life instead of scuffling to get by.