Re: What did you do when you thought about stripping?
I think the reason why most women don't treat stripping as a serious career in their 1st year is because most of us see it as a temporary job or extremely short term when we first begin. It is hard to wrap your brain about investing time and money into something that you don't expect to have a future with. I think it takes at least 6 months before women really address the job as a more long term endeavor.
Re: What did you do when you thought about stripping?
I literally called the daytime manager at the club I got hired at the night before (no stage audition required, just filling out the application and a 2minute conversation), if he could explain all the "rules" to me about dancing since I had never done it before because I didn't wanna break any rules or offend anyone, that the night manager didn't explain these things to me, where to buy dancer shoes/clothes before that night, etc etc.
Looking back, that conversation makes me LOL. But, it was the best thing I could've done. He asked if I could come in early before my first shift that night and he'd be more than happy to explain things to me. And he did. Mind you this was a very small club, so he had the ability to really give me undivided attention. He also let me work the last 2 hours of dayshift just to get acclimated before the hurricane of a nightshift started. He could obviously tell at the time I was inexperienced and nervous, but everything he told me prepared me for 90% of what dancing entails (mentally, physically and emotionally). This guy was the best manager a girl could have. Always looked out for our best interests, on our side and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed. He genuinely was a good guy. Even in those 2 hours of his shift I worked, my first stage set he gave all of the dancers $$ to go tip me while onstage, and he bought a very nice daytime regular of the club a dance from me...and all of the other girls on dayshift! This way they could show me moves, make me feel more comfortable doing dances, etc.
Needless to say, I'm very thankful as to how I got broken into the industry. I was given valuable information, but was eased into it very gently. With the exception if his conversation that day, I knew almost nothing about dancing, strip clubs, anything sex industry related.
I wish more managers like him existed. We were friends for a long time, but unfortunately lost touch with one another as I've traveled around/moved.
Re: What did you do when you thought about stripping?
Before I was a dancer I worked at a fabric store. (Talk about career changes). I had no hope in hell of saving enough on my own to put myself through my next year of university at this job (my dad had lost his job at a big tech company that went under in Recession '09 a few months ago and it was made clear to me that the new job did not include a budget for fancy university degrees). So I thought "fuck it" and decided to try dancing that summer. I had just completed my first year at my dream school in my dream program and I wasn't about to just lay down and give that up over something as trivial as funds. When I started dancing I was the last person you would have guessed to be a dancer. The experience really made me come out of my shell, personality wise, and also forced me to learn to take care of my body better, which resulted in my pre and post dancing physical appearance being vastly difference. Sometimes being young and naive and ignorant works in your favour! I did not have a "dancer body" or anything close to it when I started, but I still jumped right in, about a year or so after having the initial thought and doing my first google search, and I still made good money because I love business and marketing, those have always been my strong points. I took some money from my first night and bought myself a pole class to learn a few tricks. After that I just practiced late at night on suburban street signs until I saved up enough to buy my first home pole :)
I think stripping is really best learnt on the job. No amount of reading or practicing will prepare you fully, but it is to your advantage to at least do some research (like SW for example), in order to learn what can be expected.
Re: What did you do when you thought about stripping?
After high school I went to stay with my dad in Daytona.
I took myself down to the Winn Dixie to get a job. They sent me for a drug test and I came back positive for marijuana. I didn't get hired obviously.
I then went to the newspaper where I saw the "Dancers Wanted" ad. I said "I'll bet those dancer chicks don't have a drug test."
The rest is history. I went right to it. And I was plain terrible in the beginning. But I was 18 so I don't recall being in a great deal of pain.
Honestly, the worst thing I ever did was try to live a "straight life" and have a "normal job". I ended up hating every non stripping job I've ever tried. And I've tried my hand at a variety of them. The scheduling, the lousy pay, being told when to eat...
As a licensed massage therapist I experienced much more blatant disrespect from men than I ever did as a stripper.
You tell someone you're a dancer and often they ask if you make a lot of money and if you can do pole tricks. Tell them you're a massage therapist and their ready to pull their dicks out. It's disgusting. Seriously, I had a guy pull out his junk while I was working on him at a CHIROPRACTOR'S office.
So after years (10) of trying to be normal, I'm preparing to go back to it. If I had it to do over, I would have just continued being a dancer straight through and I'd possibly be retired by now, had I been smart.
Instead, I listened to my mother and friends, telling me that I should get a "real" job.
At 38, I now know that dancing is a real job and there is no shame whatsoever.
Re: What did you do when you thought about stripping?
I needed a summer job while my TA day job was out of school for the summer session. My friend had the idea of applying to cocktail waitress cause a coworker of hers/dancer told her she could make good money doing that. So we went to a couple of places to apply together, she chickened out, I didn't, and I got a job cocktailing. I have to admit about as soon as I started waitressing I was looking for an opening to start dancing. I knew when I started back to school I'd need a job with flexible hours so I could work it around my school schedule. So I fulfilled the "two week rule" and started stripping pretty quickly thereafter.
Really most of the preparing I did was more on the research end--reading articles and books about stripping, watching documentaries, watching the girls in the club to get moves, having them give me lap dances to study their technique, etc. I was/am fortunate enough to already have a banging bod without working much at it. I thought about taking pole classes first but decided against it because I found the cost prohibitive, and I'm so glad I didn't do that because I soon found out while pole tricks are fun (and super impressive to me) and pole dancing is a great hobby, it doesn't actually seem to make much difference even in the money you make on stage and certainly not in your ability to sell dances and VIPs. I did spend some time trying to learn how to do my eye makeup right (I'm terrible with eyeshadow but my friend can make me look absolutely gorgeous with the stuff) but gave up on that and just stick to wing-tip eyeliner and bright red lipstick for now haha.
If I had it to do over again, there isn't much I would change, except maybe being less chatty with customers at first. I definitely gave away some personal information I would have preferred kept private when I didn't know any better (as well as wasted too much time talking to cheapskates when I could've been selling dances to paying customers). And I still need to get a work phone separate from my personal phone, which I really should have done much before now. I don't regret starting out as a waitress, since it let me get more comfortable with strip clubs and gave me a good way to study professional dancers at work, so that when I did start I was much less awkward and nervous than I would have been otherwise. Plus, it was nice to be friends with some of the girls before I started, since they were very supportive and helpful to me during my first few shifts.
I'm still only a few months in right now, though, so maybe I'll think differently about all this stuff later down the line, but at the moment I'm thrilled with how things are going and so glad I decided to start dancing. It's a great way to make up for the terrible pay I get at my day job--and I'm even considering dropping the day job and making dancing my primary source of income while I finish school.
Re: What did you do when you thought about stripping?
I became a stripper honestly because I needed a job that would hire me that day and pay me that night... and it needed to be a lot of money, because I've never been so broke, I was working a shitty minimum wage job that was coming to an end because I didn't get work study for the summer, and I knew I was about to become homeless as my mum and I were not getting along and she wanted me out. I figured there was money in SCs and becoming a waitress sounded less scary, but I knew that it would take time to get hired and get my first paycheck so I decided on stripping. I did a lot of research online and found SW. This site was a godsend or me, I never would have been able to get the courage and get myself together enough for an audition without it.
I was 19 and I was terrified about being naked in front of people, so I wanted to work in a bikini club-- but in CA you have to be 21 to work in a bikini or topless club. I didn't know that it was a state law at the time so I kept calling places asking if I could work if I was 19 and getting turned down but no one really explaining it was against the law... this manager at a club I called in the OC finally took pity on me and explained it to me and so I made a list of nude clubs in LA to try, based off reviews on SW.
I remember I spent my last $40 buying cheap heels (not actual stripper heels, didn't have time to go to Hollywood or enough $ for those), a lingerie set that matched from Ross, and a tube top that I could wear as a skirt ::) it was a god awful outfit but I only had a couple hours to shop and I couldn't afford VS or anything like that and wasn't into lingerie so had nothing that matched completely. I was in amazing shape at the time, my body was awesome, was much better than it is now so even though my outfit looked like crap, they were willing to let it go cause I looked damn sexy back then!
The club that I ended up working at was brand new, it was the first club I auditioned at. It actually at the bottom of my list of places, but being so nervous I ended up getting lost on the freeway and it was the closest one to my house, so I knew if I wanted to work that day I would have to go there. And it ended up being a really good thing that that happened because since they were new they were open to hiring a brand new dancer who knew NOTHING, was SO SHY, TERRIBLE on the pole... and the girls were nice there and helped me out a lot, giving me lap dances, helping me talk to customers, showing me what to do on stage... stuff girls would never do at a more established club. I worked there for a while and the first coupe months were a learning curve and rough, but by the end of the summer I had my own apartment and regulars and I was completely stable financially-- this is three months after spending many nights sleeping in my car! When I got better they let me move to their sister club which was much more upscale and a great place that I worked at for years and years and is still my favorite club.
I think everything happens for a reason when you start out in this industry... I read a lot of stories on here about girls who wanted to become strippers and I really just became one because I was desperate for money, and it was really hard for me in the beginning and I remember crying a lot, but it has really helped me grow as a person and become more comfortable with myself and my sexuality, more confident, more outgoing, and has allowed me to do things in my life that wouldn't have been possible without it, for one thing moving across the world at the age of 24 all by myself....so I can honestly say even though I didn't feel very empowered going into it, in the long run it has made me feel SO empowered... and there's not a day I regret it.