If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
As much as I enjoy my job as a dancer, I do get frustrated with a lot of the clubs and think that if I ran a club would do it better! Some people that run clubs seem to have no idea and it seems to be luck that the club makes money.
Here's my list so far of what I'd do:
1. Hire quality over quantity of dancers. A lot of clubs seem to employ just about ANYONE regardless of how they look, behave or dance. It can be embarrassing when you see the state of some of the girls they allow. All the club seems to think about it house fees. The more girls they have the more money they supposedly make. I think this strategy doesn't work, and makes the club look trampy and guys get annoyed because there is just an endless stream of sub-standard girls pestering them for a dance. I would also make sure that ALL dancers can actually speak fluent English (or the native language of whatever the country the club is in), being able to have a good conversation with the customer is vital so I don't understand why language isn't of importance to a lot of clubs.
2. Pay girls commission on drinks. Here in England no club will pay commission on drinks yet they still want you to promote champagne etc. I would be selling a lot more champagne if I was getting a cut of it! Even something like 20% would be an incentive.
3. Charge no house fee. Pay dancers a small amount like £50-100 and then take 50% of all earnings over that amount. This guarantees girls an income even if it is a slow night and also means that you have more control over the dancers. The only thing worse than making zero is making minus money because you have had to pay for the 'privilege' of being there. I worked in a club where they guaranteed you £100 then took 50% of everything on top, this actually made me look forward to work because I knew I would be leaving with minimum £100.
4. If customers are sat around the stage they must be tipping. It isn't customary to tip in England but it drives me mad when customers sit right by the stage ALL night just staring and getting a free show. I would make one of the waitresses walk round selling £1 chips/notes to guys that sit by the stage and encourage them to buy. I would also make sure the dancers were actually making an effort on stage and putting on a show rather than just aimlessly walking round the pole with a vacant look on their face.
5. Give lessons to girls about how to dance, not necessarily pole dance lessons but making sure the dancer is slow, sensual and sexy. Also provide lessons on sales techniques and how to manage customers. And allow the girls to give me feedback about the club any changes they think would make the club better.
I think that's about it for now. Would be great to hear other people's ideas!
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
I'll quote a post I wrote in 2007:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sophia_Starina
A huge club near Union Sq. in NYC. The dancers don't wear gowns unless they want to. The idea is for custies to have fun, be entertained, and have a good time rather than spend a small fortune for a stupid bottle of booze (better to spend it on the dancers). There would be ATM's... No funny money. There would be plenty of security and bouncers.
There would be a variety of girls, all shapes, sizes, races, with tattoos, with purple hair, girls that are tall, girls that are short, pin-up types with pale pale skin, voluptuous girls with curves, tan skinny girls, whatever... as long as they are sexy and personable.
The songs would be 4 minutes max. Floor work would be allowed. Nudity would be allowed. *I understand that legally speaking a club can't serve alcohol if it's a nude club but this is a 'dream club' we are talking about*
Stage tipping would be encouraged.
The number of girls working on a given night would be capped at a reasonable number...
It's a great thread, have a look: https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...scribe-it-here!
I'll add to that now...
- Reasonable House Fees
- There would be a variety of music, but it wouldn't be too loud
- There would be a great locker room for dancers with lots of light and large lockers
- Supportive/helpful staff (housemoms need to be nice, not snarky or bitchy)
- VIP rooms with various prices and customizable digital radio stations in each room
- NO EXTRAS
Other things:
- When a girl arrives at the club, it's posted online (stage name and a picture if the girl wants) that way her customers know that she's working that evening.
- A strong marketing force that gets customers into the club.
- Since I am "running" my own club, I assume I'm an owner or a manager. I would do my best to set the tone of the club. I wouldn't be mean, tough, rude, or threatening. So many managers forget that we are all in this together and that intimidation is an unacceptable approach to take.
Again, this is a fantasy... but a girl can dream.
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
I'd just make sure everyone has teeth!!!!!!
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
Quality control of who enters the club. Dresscode. No ghetto motherfuckers. No greasy, smelly, unwashed motherfuckers. $20 cover charge. 2 drink/ 2 dance minimum. Tip rail tipping mandatory. Kicked out for pimping/ asking for sex/ not spending money on any girls or disrespectful behavior. No touching at all. Period. In lapdances, it's okay if the dancer says so. Strong encouragement to be respectful and ask the ladies if it is okay.
Background check for dancers + an interview to weed out the crazies. A personal health/ hygiene/ beauty class offered and required before starting work. A basic pole/ sensual dance class required before starting work (or an alternate option to audition instead). Partnership with a pole instructor and massage therapist (discount classes/ massage for dancers). A cap on the number of girls working depending on the night, seniority based (the best girls get the best schedule). Flat house fee rate per night, 10% of every dance after $100.
Webcamming as a sales/ promotion device for dancers in the dressing room in 30 minute segments, rotating, paid a flat rate plus tips. Stage cams with the "make it rain"/ tipping encouraged after so many minutes. Membership required to view, one time fee that goes to the club, renewed yearly. Dancers check in at the door, which is posted online. Online marketing, billboards, adverts in magazines and on websites geared towards people who have money and like to party.
Dressing rooms are large, with lots of big lockers. Showers and bathrooms inside DR. Spacious, well-lit area to get ready in. Carpeted floors. Girls clean up after themselves. Cameras in DR. Thieves immediately fired, never to be rehired. Trashcans all over the place. Air freshener readily available. Endless supply of moisturizing baby wipes. Scissors, superglue, a stripper-shoe and outfit vending machine.
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
We need a strip club run by women! Especially ex-strippers.
A waiver that customers have to sign on entry saying "NO EXTRAS-NO ASKING-NO EXCEPTIONS"
Two lapdance minimum.
If you sit by the stage you have to give each girl at least $5 per set.
No house fees.
Spinning poles!
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
i wish there was a way to make the pole either spinning or stationary with a flick of a button. i hate spinning poles, they make you look good but i find them SO much harder to work with.
lower entrance fees, lower drink prices, higher dance prices. stage tipping mandatory. getting at least 3 dances required. 2 and 5 dollar bills passed out as change.
put a cap on the number of girls working a night.
dresses and shoes for sale for the girls.
higher hiring standards. and that doesn't mean only skinny girls can work. i would have all sorts of girls..pale, tan, black, white, latina, thick, and thin. as long as you are in good shape and your body looks tight and you have a pretty face. and good hygiene!
nice dressing rooms and showers, coffee machine and water bubbler.
any manager who is disrespectful, nasty, or abusive to staff, dancers, or customers will immediately get the boot
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
There's no way to legally keep out female customers is there lol? I wish SC's could be designated as a "quarantine zone".
I'd also impose a ban on any rap after 2000 and no Imagine Dragons or Nickelcrap.
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
This is pretty much just turning into a wish list, so I might as well add a few things:
Separate bathrooms for dancers and female customers.
A water cooler and a coffee maker in the dressing room.
Nobody (not even the house mom) can take up valuable counter space in the dressing room to try to sell food, outfits, makeup, or drugs. We are there to make money, not spend it.
Zero tolerance for creepy/grabby/disrespectful bouncers, floor men, barbacks, etc.
A decent selection of whiskeys and beers. I work at a place with at least a dozen kinds of vodka but only two bourbons.
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
azaleanola
This is pretty much just turning into a wish list, so I might as well add a few things:
Separate bathrooms for dancers and female customers.
A water cooler and a coffee maker in the dressing room.
Nobody (not even the house mom) can take up valuable counter space in the dressing room to try to sell food, outfits, makeup, or drugs. We are there to make money, not spend it.
Zero tolerance for creepy/grabby/disrespectful bouncers, floor men, barbacks, etc.
A decent selection of whiskeys and beers. I work at a place with at least a dozen kinds of vodka but only two bourbons.
My club already does all these things. Except the coffee maker is in the waitress station, right next to the dressing room.
I really do love my club. Management/ bouncers are trained to think of the dancers as their little sisters and to act accordingly. Creepiness is not tolerated by the owners (who are men, by the way).
My only complaint is that the shifts are too long. I'm happy working a 5-6 hour shift, but my club's shortest shift is 7 hours. I work very hard when I'm there, and we are required to take the stage if we are not in VIP. If there aren't very many girls on shift, a dancer could end up in stage every 15 minutes throughout her entire shift. We rotate between 4 stages after 7pm and 2-3 stages on day shift. That's a lot of physical activity over 8-10 hours!
On the other hand, if a customer is wasting my time, I know it is only a few minutes until I have to take the stage again and I've got a way to speed up closing a VIP sale. I just get so tired by the end of my shift that I can hardly walk my dog after work. I guess I can't have it both ways.
Re: If you ran your own club, what would you do differently?
In keeping w/ the 'wishlist' attitude of this thread:
1) Stage setups: multiple poles, some spinning but some static. That would seem to me like a happy medium. 'Tip rail' would be literal in that there would actually be a railing or even short wall around the edges of stages to protect the dancer. It would also be literal in that if you're not tipping, you don't get to stay there. While I am on this tipping tangent, guys who do not start tipping w/in 30 min get tossed. Customers need to be retrained that dancers are there to make a living. I would not start the rotation when there is only a handful of customers, but girls can certainly pick a song & get onstage if they want. Skipping as an option if injured or doing dances, maybe a $10 fee per skip. Otherwise get up there. Climbing to the top of the pole & sitting there for the duration of your set will not be frowned upon when the room is cheap.
2) Agree w/ Simone re: higher hiring standards, & capping the number of girls per nite. Maybe have a scheduling option, but certainly not a requirement as that would fall into those 'gray areas' that most mgmt takes advantage of between IC/employee status :mad:
3) As far as drinks, agree w/ Azeleanola's suggestion of a well-rounded bar. Commission drinks for dancers, both alcoholic & virgin options. Absolutely NO mandatory alcoholic consumption by dancers. I kinda like the thought of free water/juice for dancers.
4) No tile-like material on stage surfaces. The stages at my last club were not just full of cracks, sm of the tiles had been shattered by girls thumping their platforms, then glued poorly back into place instead of being repaired properly. Tripping + skinning hazard.
5) Zero tolerance for lotions/body oils being applied at work. I don't care how ashy you think you get, put that shit on at home or not at all.
6) Likewise, zero tolerance for extras. I guess I would ideally like to run a mid-contact club, depending on local laws of course, but customers asking would get tossed, customers trying to force would be arrested & girls offering/accommodating would be fired. Records kept of girls caught to keep from being hired back. Bouncers/floor guys taking bribes to allow extras likewise would find themselves freshly jobless.
7) No rap.
8) Housefee starts at $5 for beginning of shift, both day & nite, & goes up by $5 every hr. I am thinking of the two systems I liked best for determining how much to take from dances, & kinda playing w/ numbers as I type, trying to combine the best from both: I would have dances tracked. Customer pays one-time $5 wristband for VIP & it's good for the whole nite. Dancer keeps all $$ from first three (or maybe five, still working this part out) dances, then pays out $3 from each dance thereafter. Believe me, I have nvr appreciated forking over my hard-earned dance $$, but I figure that specifically, the $$ taken from dances would be set aside primarily for promotion expenses & secondarily for club-running expenses. Thus the club gets a little $$ toward those essentials, but it is a small enough amt per dance that it does not hurt the dancer too much & is also small enough that she may be able to sweet-talk the customer into covering sm or all of that $3 takeout-per-dance. DJ tipout starts at a flat $10 w/ bigger amt of course optional.
9) DJ/dancer conflicts should be brought to mgmt as I hated seeing one side or the other get screwed over b/c sm1 was a fking diva. Don't think I would have a housemom; I have worked at clubs that did & did not, & generally preferred not having one. Maybe a costume/supplies vendor come in a couple times a wk.