Re:Stripping as a Profession
For anyone who does decide to be a stripper as a profession, the key is to treat it as a 'real' job. Thats the mistake I've made most of my dancing career. I started as a college freshman, did the school full time, danced 2 nights a week. I could never figure out what I wanted to major in, or what I wanted to do when I "grow up." So I'd take a year off school here and there, and still worked 2 nights a week cause thats all it takes to live comfortably on. Well 7 years later theres been no magical moment where it struck me--I'm going to be a ______! I still don't know and I still go to school on and off. Had I known from the beginning that I was going to be a career stripper all this time I would have planned ahead and done what Mel advised. Whatever you decide, put yourself in it 100%, don't just assume that you'll figure it all out one day. If you are a career stripper, work 5 days a week and save, save,save --you'll need it later when you can't dance anymore and have to hit the job market with no experience. Trust me, I'm kicking myself now.
Re:Stripping as a Profession
i'm late on this subject - call it the internet transatlantic jet-leg.
but nontheless i want to throw in the: "don't quit school!"
i don't have to say why because so many other who speak up with much more experience than me have done so.
I am going to classes also and i don't like them sometimes and think, hey, what about becoming a star and eary $$$$... this isn't going to happen.
even if you don't know now what to do in say, 5 ys, anything will help you more then quitting school now. the school diploma will be somthing that is with you for lifetime and when you quit, there might be no way in getting it back. screw McD or whoever. think about the day after tomorrow and you will see that this is the way.
stripping is a great way to earn you something while doing what you like, dancing. look at it this way and have a blast. school and dancing will go together :)
btw: this is one of the most amazing threads i read so far. you all are such a bunch of great gals and guys :) out there! i love this :)
Re:Stripping as a Profession
I am a full time student and work several nights a week stripping, however I don't have a child so I can't even imagine how hard it is. My advise is to keep going to school, even if you only take two classes a semester. Stripping may be good money now, but you never know how long its going to be there. Unexpected injuries and age could catch up to you and you'll have nothing else to fall back on. So, continue in school and drop the "cover" job. If family or friends ask, just say you got great student loans or grants and don't need to work.
Re:Stripping as a Profession
some thought on this one....
i recently graduated from a well renowned university with a business degree. i ended up working for a 'good' corporation and absolutely hated it. so much so that i quit, giving up a decent salary with no replacement job. and i'm really not alone on this.... i know so many ppl working in corporate america that aren't happy. that's what school prepares you for. and that's IF you get a decent job. so, you really need to think about what you really want. go to school if you know it's going to help you in the long run; if it's necessary for what you really want to do with your life. but you may be better waiting. you could in fact invest some of your dancing money for the future as well. you'll have to decide for yourself. i realize i may be an exception, but i love dancing and couldn't be happier. and i didn't even start dancing until after i graduated...lol. i only wish i'd have started sooner. everyone is different, and i definitely don't believe school if for everyone.
Re:Stripping as a Profession
I also want to offer a slightly contrary opinion here. I was one of the "good girls" who DID finish school (I was not stripping at that time), and I actually regret it. I went to school because everyone expected me to (I'm intelligent and hardworking), but I had no real understanding of what supporting myself vocationally in the "real world" was going to involve. Getting a degree does NOT guarantee a well-paying, fulfilling job anymore. I studied what I loved (the arts), was admired by my teachers, and realized after graduation that noone was going to hire me for being a good person. I had a great education, but no job skills. I think we push young people WAY too much into going to school before they have an understanding of economic realities. I started dancing at 26, and wish now that I had started earlier so I could have had the youthful edge, and just socked away money like crazy. Education is wonderful, I plan to keep learning my whole life, but academia is not the only way to get an education. If you go to school formally be sure you have a clear goal and not just hoping a job will hit you in the head when you're done.
Re:Stripping as a Profession
Well, that was my experience as well. In fact I didn't start dancing at all until after I had completed my college degree and after I had worked for several years in my chosen field (Respiratory Therapy). It was then that I had a long hard deliberation about the true nature of my chosen field - being paid about $15 an hour (before taxes) to save people's lives, plus the luxury of being required to work weekends and holidays, being exposed to patients' diseases on a daily basis including TB, pneumonia, AIDS etc. Although I loved being a Respiratory Therapist, after I was divorced and needed to support both myself and my son on a hospital paycheck, it didn't take long for the financial reality to hit me that at the rate I was being paid my son would never be able to afford college no matter how many extra hospital shifts I worked.
It's unfortunate that there is actually very little correlation between the "value" placed on certain careers by society and the average paycheck which can be earned by someone pursuing those careers. Here I'm talking about health care professionals other than doctors, teachers other than college prof's, a wide range of I.T. jobs etc. Even when preparing for such careers at state colleges with tuitions in the under $10,000 a year range, it still boils down to investing several years of your life as a student for the privelege of working at a well respected job but with a paycheck which will be too small to provide properly for your family's future.
Deciding to consciously forego a potential $100,000 per year income potential by insisting on completing college studies during your "prime years" as an exotic dancer (i.e. age 19-23) simply makes the "value" versus paycheck imbalance more outrageous. On the other hand, by dancing for several years and saving up a nest egg of investments that is going to generate $10,000 or $20,000 a year in investment income year after year, it then makes a high school teaching job or a respiratory therapist job or an I.T. job that pays maybe $40,000 per year in salary a bit more palatable.
Re:Stripping as a Profession
DO NOT QUIT SCHOOL. i agree with what everyone else is saying, even though i am not a dancer yet i would say that there would probably come a time when the money is not as good as it used to be and also you are going to burn yourself out if you keep juggling all your time like you are. when you study what u learn stays with you forever and your child is with you forever quit the fast food job, make your money stripping , then when you hav finished school you hav the option of "a profession" that may last longer for you than stripping..
i also agree with Lexi...work study.....what a great idea!!!!
anyway all the best and good luck
also....look after yourself don't burn, that would be bad
Re:Stripping as a Profession
go for the community college. :) I'm a community college girl, making 11 out of the 30 girls at my club attending the same community college. we've a few full time dancers, I don't think we have too many university students. We had a girl that was still in high school, but isn't working there anymore and I don't know if there are anymore.
anyway, I'd been going to college part time during highschool, then graduated and quit the college deal for a year. Everyone told me that I'd never be able to go back. Wellp, they were wrong. Going back was a relatively smooth transition. Right now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed because I goofed off the first few weeks and now am working and cramming and being ill and dealing with boys. Silly girl.
Re:Stripping as a Profession
I got my MBA in August and have been stripping on and off during the course of both of my degrees.
There aren't many jobs available right now, at least not doing what I want to do. Even with an MBA, they want 15 year experience 80 hour workweek, and compensation-based pay, which means I get no income unless I sell their shit....
Stripping is the same...except you need no experience and can do very well working less than 40 hours a week.....
I finished undergrad with 0 debt thanks to stripping. After grad school, I still have loans, but an education is an investment like a car or a house, and loan repayment interest is very low, plus lenders are really willing to work with you...
Stay in school..do your prereqs in community college, but complete your specialization courses in a reputable university...you will save money and get the best of both worlds...
I worked at the university as well. (Work study or internship recommendation!)
It will cut down on your tuition
Give you free training
Convenient location, you are already at school
You will have access to better labs with no wait, and better computer equipment
Not likely to work overtime
Bosses will work with you on deadlines since they know you have class
Good hours
Get to work with other students, more fun than corpo dopes.
No one will see you at work, so you can do work-study for 10 hours a week and tell everyone you do it full time while you strip....
GOOD LUCK!
Re:Stripping as a Profession
I agree with what everybody else has said - the stay in school people and the quit school and dance people both.
I know way too many strippers who dropped out when they started dancing and now don't go back because they're too old, too unmotivated, too out of it, whatever. You can say that you'll go back to school, but chances are you won't if you take more than a year or two off. So stay in school.
On the other hand, if you don't know what you really want to do with your life, what's the point of working so hard for a degree. Especially if you don't know anything about the feild your going into.
I've always known what I wanted to do, but it took me several years to figure out how I wanted to do it and what letters I needed after my name. In the meantime I discovered another career that I love and make good money at without having gone to school (dog training). So now, I have a dog training business, I dance one or two nights a week, and I go to school. I'm really busy, but I'm really driven cause I know where I want to be.
So I think you should take two or three classes at a time and spend some time learning about the careers and things that interest you. Then when you know exactly what you want to do, you'll just be a couple semesters of hard work away from graduation. Starting pay sucks in most feilds, so you will most likely still dance a night or two a week until you move up in your chosen feild.
Lena