Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
Some girls I know have a "nightly minimum" -- that is, they won't leave the club on a given night until they reach a certain monetary goal. Once their goal is met, they'll go home.
I'm going to show you why that's a terrible idea.
To take a simple numerical example, let's say my goal is to make $500 per night, and I'll leave the club whenever I've made that amount. (I don't know anybody who is that rigid about it, but nevermind that; I just want to demonstrate the principle.) On Saturday night, I can average $100/hr, so I'll leave the club after five hours. On Sunday night, I can average only $60/hr, so I'll end up staying at the club for 8.33 hours.
To make my $1000 for those two nights, I therefore have to spend 13.33 hours in the club.
But that's a terribly inefficient use of my time. To understand why, let's see what happens when I reverse my Saturday and Sunday hours. In those same 13.33 total hours, how much money would I have made?
8.33 hours on Saturday night at $100/hr = $833, plus 5 hours on Sunday night at $60/hr = $300. That's a total of $1133 -- for the exact same number of total hours in the club.
Or if I really just want to make $1000 total, let's see if I can do it in fewer hours. If I work 8 hours on Saturday night and only 3.33 hours on Sunday night, that's 8 * $100 + 3.33 * $60 = $1000. And it only took 11.33 total hours.
By working more hours when business is good and fewer hours when business is bad -- exactly the opposite of the "nightly minimum" mentality -- I can either make more money in the same amount of time, or I can make the same amount of money in less time.
So don't stick to a nightly monetary goal. If you want to make $500 in a night, but it's going really slowly on some particular night -- go home a couple hours early and rest up; you'll more than make up for it by staying an extra couple of hours on a good night. Likewise, if you reach your $500 target a couple hours earlier than you had hoped to, don't go home yet! That's when you should be staying for an extra couple of hours. You can make it up to yourself by taking off early on a bad night.
The "nightly minimum" strategy of dancing however long it takes you to make $500 (or any other fixed amount) causes you to work more hours and make less money than any other strategy since it causes you to work more hours when business is bad, and fewer hours when business is good. That's the exact opposite of what you should be doing.
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
What about this... what if you are "rostered" to work 4 nights a week with each shift lasting from 7.30pm until 5am... ???
In this case, it doesn't matter whether business is slow or great... I have to be at the club until close regardless. I can't go home early unless I want to "make up" a shift which means working one extra shift that week (say I went hom around midnight one of those shifts hence I've already worked 5.5 hours and it was a slow night)....
Unfortunately, at my club... I wish I could reward myself for making my min. and so much more by going home early and not working so much the next shift.
I just wanted to post this to say that sometimes some of us, due to club rules (etc), can't exactly have the same flexibility.
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
I also have a schedule, I left at midnight, recently, because of personal reasons, I had already been there 4 hours, but because I left 2 hours early, I have to go in on Friday day shift and make up for it by working an additional 6 hours.
Profitable or not, to leave early is only a bigger thorn in my side.
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
I also reward myself with days off.
I have a schedule and I work until closing, so I can't stay longer, even if I wanted to. But what I will do is a weekly minimum. If I reach it, I take Sundays off.
I think minimums/quotas are bad to have in general because it's too easy to slow down once you reach it. Treat each hour like you have nothing in your garter (easier said than done for me.)
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
I have a weekly goal to meet. I work 4 or 5 days a week, 2 to 3 shifts each day (we have 5 three hour shifts a day). I usually work my weekly schedule even if I've meet my goal, sometimes I'll try to cut out early if another girl wants my shift, I'll still have to pay my house fee and tip out if I don't have it covered.
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
I have a nightly minimum, but it's different depending on which night I'm working. I know which nights are slow, and so I'll aim for say $250 on a Tuesday, and $600 on a Saturday.
The clubs I worked for in Arizona you can pretty much leave whenever you feel like it, so my minimum was to keep me from leaving too early if I was in a bad mood. But if I was making good money and in a good mood, I'd stay until the end of the night regardless of how much money I was making.
The clubs here in Iowa that I've worked at have a shift that you're required to be there for (430 or 730 until 130a). My nightly minimum there keeps me hustling, even if I'm in a bad mood. Otherwise I've been one of those girls known to disappear into the dressing room and lose out on potential money.
kali
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
I have a nightly minimum, but it's different depending on which night I'm working. I know which nights are slow, and so I'll aim for say $250 on a Tuesday, and $600 on a Saturday.
The clubs I worked for in Arizona you can pretty much leave whenever you feel like it, so my minimum was to keep me from leaving too early if I was in a bad mood. But if I was making good money and in a good mood, I'd stay until the end of the night regardless of how much money I was making.
The clubs here in Iowa that I've worked at have a shift that you're required to be there for (430 or 730 until 130a). My nightly minimum there keeps me hustling, even if I'm in a bad mood. Otherwise I've been one of those girls known to disappear into the dressing room and lose out on potential money.
kali
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
I have a nightly minimum, but it's different depending on which night I'm working. I know which nights are slow, and so I'll aim for say $250 on a Tuesday, and $600 on a Saturday.
The clubs I worked for in Arizona you can pretty much leave whenever you feel like it, so my minimum was to keep me from leaving too early if I was in a bad mood. But if I was making good money and in a good mood, I'd stay until the end of the night regardless of how much money I was making.
The clubs here in Iowa that I've worked at have a shift that you're required to be there for (430 or 730 until 130a). My nightly minimum there keeps me hustling, even if I'm in a bad mood. Otherwise I've been one of those girls known to disappear into the dressing room and lose out on potential money.
kali
Re:Nightly minimum: a misguided notion
That is an excellent post Susan! For all of us who have flexible or no schedules, it makes total sense to work more on better days than on slower days. Work smarter not harder. I have never understood why so many girls would leave in the middle of a slam-packed Saturday night when the money is so good, only to have to come in on Sunday to make back the money they spent at the clubs after work the night before, and work doubly hard at that! But then, when they do that they're just leaving more money for me, so I guess I don't mind :biggrin: