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Thread: How goal setting effects hustling

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    Featured Member Tourdefranzia's Avatar
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    Default How goal setting effects hustling

    I started thinking about this when reading the Hustle Mistakes thread. I was going to post this in that thread, but thought it's kind of its own topic.

    How do you feel that setting financial goals effects your hustle?

    For instance, I work at a club with an open schedule. I set my financial goal at $XXX per shift. I'll stay on for 8 hours or until I hit my goal. Sometimes I hit my goal really fast, in like 1-2 hours, other days I'm there for 10-12 hours just hanging in there hoping I won't go home in the negative. I find having a financial goal will motivate me to stay longer if I'm not hitting my numbers.

    However, a "per-day" financial goal is harmful to my hustle because I feel like I can just leave once I hit that goal. BUT...If I don't have a per day financial goal, I tend to give up quickly on the slow nights. I've hung in often enough to know that you can still bank even if the club is about to close and you've made next to nothing all night.

    A potential solution:

    So I guess the hustle mistake that I continually make is to leave before I've taken the opportunity to make as much money as possible. Maybe I should have a "push-goal" for every shift as well as a realistic goal. If I hit the realistic goal, then I go for the push-goal. The push goal has to be possible, though. I mean, there's no way I can earn $10,000 in a single shift (or at least highly, highly unlikely. Like one in a million shifts) but $1,500 is definitely possible, as I've done it before at this club, but numbers like that in Portland are very rare.

    Has anyone tried to hack their own psyche this way? I can't work at a club that insists on a schedule (which would be the ideal situation here) because I need the schedule flexibility for my real estate business. I'm just wondering if there is something I'm not doing to motivate myself more.

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    Moderator charlie61's Avatar
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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    Goal setting always works against me. It stresses me out and sets me up for burnout. I always go into work with the mentality that I'll go with the flow and make the best of whatever the night throws at me (we have little control over how many customers will walk through the door on any given night).

    Goal setting also gets complicated because of how dance prices and tipouts are set up in my club. I can do my best to sell dances to every customer, but their buying decisions drastically alter my takehome. I might have one customer buy two regular dances, or two VIP dances, or one half hour. All of those are 'successes', but all land me with different takehome amounts and time commitments. So I could hustle my ass off and just happen to have a night where everyone buys regular dances, or have a night where everyone buys VIP dances, and one would be a $400+ night and the other an $800+ night. Does that make sense? Only so much is in my control, and setting a goal feels like an unnecessary additional level of stress.

    The last thing that's out of my control is my shift time. I work a 4-5 hour shift, and it's the late shift, so I have a limited amount of time to make my money. Again, a goal amount would add pressure for me to come in earlier and start working longer shifts, which wouldn't be healthy for me long-term.

    I know some women are very motivated by goals. But for my longevity in this industry, it's healthiest if I go with the flow and save what I make for slower times.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    Goal setting fucks with my mental state, I used to set goals per night and it made me so anxious I couldn't function. Now I just go in with a positive mindset and do whatever I can to make as much as possible, if I have a bad night I don't beat myself up and feel like a failure. I do try to do at least 1 VIP a night though or LD's or TD's to the equivalent of. I completely agree with charlie61's last sentence, me also.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    My theory: there are a wide spectrum of dancer attitudes in this industry, ranging between two extremes. One is the "I don't give a shit, let's get drunk" attitude. At the other end, we have the "I've only made XXX dollars so far tonight and I need to make YYY dollars every night if I want to work 4 nights a week and save up enough money to buy a house" attitude.

    The middle is the sweet spot, as usual, but everyone tends towards one negative side or the other. For girls who tend towards the slacker end of the spectrum, I think goals make sense. For uptight bitches like myself who often find themselves on the worrywart side, goals are destructive. I've always done better when I don't obsess over how much money I need to make tonight.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I only set goals I can control, as in number of days I go to the club, number of hours per shift, time spent on personal development and learning/applying sales tactics, etc.

    If I set $$$$ amount goals it stresses me out and makes things worse. I can't control how many paying customers come in or how much I make in a day. When I do that, I feel bipolar and it's like money controls me. Not good.
    “Cook for him like a housewife, fuck him good like a nympho….pay the rent and the car note, he invests in me like crypto”

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    The trick for me is my frame of mind ( go-getter confident me does better w goal than depressed shy me)
    And setting SMALL goals..like " 5 more dances, just 5 more!" And then when I accomplish that I'll try and do 5 more, etc. or saying I'll make 200 and when that happen go for 100 more etc..setting low manageable goals is way less intimidating and more motivating! Walking into a slow club with 700 dollar goal is depressing

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    Same here, Simone.

    I often set a goal of the minimum I can usually expect to walk away with that I (mostly) know I can reach, just for a quick and dirty feeling of accomplishment. At my current club, it's more or less guaranteed I'll walk with 200. Some nights are really slow where I work hard for every dance I get, and on those nights, being able to look forward to 200 as my goal to hit before I leave gives me something concrete to strive for while also giving me a light at the end of the tunnel. Once I hit it, it's a breath of relief and then anything I earn additional before the end of my shift is a happy bonus.

    Otherwise, I just look at my shift length. Like, "I only have X number of hours to make as much money as I can." That's when I get into "just X more dance(s)" mode and stay there.
    Last edited by Candycups; 01-30-2016 at 05:21 PM.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I prefer to set high weekly/monthly goals, but extremely low nightly goals. For example, I know that I can make $1,500 working 2/3 shifts per week, but if I ever walk into the club thinking "I'm going to make $750 tonight!" I will 100% of the time flip the fuck out worrying about how I'm going to make that much money. Instead, I walk in thinking, "I will be grateful to make $200 tonight."

    The worst case scenario is that I will only actually take home $200, but since I've decided in advance to be happy about that amount, I don't feel too terrible about it. Since I generally make a higher amount, I just feel better and better as the night goes on about how "extra" I've made, even though it's still an average amount.

    I think this depends on how your club's fees are set up, though. My club takes 50% ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽ ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽ ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽ so I'm constantly halving my gross income to calculate my take-home. It's extremely demotivating. However, within this system, the fact that it's fairly easy to take home $200 is encouraging because it's such an easy goal to meet.

    Brains are so weird.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    Since dancing is my only job, I have to set some sort of overall goal and do have pressure to meet it. Like I do the math on how much my bills and how much the things I'm trying to save for (school tuition, getting a better place, vacations, debts I need to pay off, that Michael Kors bag I've been eyeballing, etc.) are going to cost me per month so I know I need to make that per month.

    Then I play with that number to see how much I would need to make per shift and/0r how many shifts it would take to reach that to figure how many days to work.

    But even with those numbers in mind, I just try to make my goal during each shift to stay focused on what it is I am there to do and maximize the night. So my clubs have set minimums on how many hours you have to stay once you get there, so I tell myself I have to at least maximize that time. By that I mean if the club is packed, I visualize my big overall goal and try to get into super stripper mode. If the club is slow, I try to still make money, but I don't beat myself up for not reaching a higher number. For example, a recent slow night I worked I did a couple dances, made barely any money on stage, but did sell a 30 minute VIP, so I still felt good about it. Like someone else said we can't really control how many people come in the club.

    But, I'll also add that something that burns me out is when I'm at the club too much, working too many days in a row, or trying to stay for a really long time in hopes that I'll bank at the last minute. When I see the crowd isn't changing or spending money anymore and I've already been there the amount of hours I need to stay, I usually leave because I just do damage to myself putting up with asshole customers, or pressuring myself to make more money and tolerating behavior I wouldn't normally tolerate. I'd rather save my mood and energy for a better night, even if that means adding in another shift to make up for this one. I just find staying at the club for forever while its slow so draining.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    Setting a goal is pretty good for me . I always reach it or earn a little more/ a little less . The thing is, when I set a goal for myself, I push & challenge myself . It puts me in my "soft & sensual" persona which sets me apart from the awkward person that I really am . & I never want to be in between hundreds so I'll push myself to have zeros at the end before having to leave... so if I am at $750, I need to be at $800 before I leave . Or if I am at $420, I'll push myself to be at $500 before I leave . I also set achievable goals & won't fret if I made a little less than desired... the purpose for me is to set a goal to push myself to reach or come close to my goal or waaaayyyy past my goal . This puts me in a great mind frame & also a confident one .

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I think everyone has a different attitude towards goal setting. Some may get more anxious, some may get more determined. But what I have noticed is this constant trend: if it's good stay and if it's bad leave! Work those extra hours or a double shift if you're making $$$$$$. If you aren't making much, it's probably best to leave. Don't leave if you made your "goal" in one or two hours, probably best to ride the gravy train. If it's taking foreverrrrrr to make your "goal" probably best to just cut your loses and come in another day.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    Quote Originally Posted by littlelizard View Post
    I think everyone has a different attitude towards goal setting. Some may get more anxious, some may get more determined. But what I have noticed is this constant trend: if it's good stay and if it's bad leave! Work those extra hours or a double shift if you're making $$$$$$. If you aren't making much, it's probably best to leave. Don't leave if you made your "goal" in one or two hours, probably best to ride the gravy train. If it's taking foreverrrrrr to make your "goal" probably best to just cut your loses and come in another day.
    You and I are very different! If I let myself leave work, I set up a pattern where I start allowing myself to leave whenever the night starts slowly. I always forced myself to stay for the full shift (unless I was sick or something really bad happened). I always left with more money than I would've thought by how the night started. 80% of the time, terribly slow-starting nights ended up being good nights.

    Then again, I was always a "work 1-2 nights/week for 4-5 hrs/shift" dancer, not a part-or-full-time dancer. So I was determined to make my time there count since I wouldn't come back in for extra shifts depending on how much I earned.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I have monthly goals and I am trying to also hold to a certain number of shifts/month.

    Nightly goals depend on the season. 8 months of the year, I have $xxx minimum and I expect to make it in 5 hours; rarely, I may need to stay a bit longer, but knowing I will go home with that much eases a lot of my worrying about the unpredictability of the business. I never leave before the 5 hours, so if i make the goal in 2, I keep working and walk with 2x as much sometimes. If I'm having fun at work, I may stay even longer.

    May-August, I focus more on the monthly number. I will work x hours but if I made crap, I just go home. I sometimes have to push and stay longer at the end of the month to hit the monthly goals, but that's ok as long as I've been cutting myself enough slack the rest of the month that I'm not burned out by the poor money.
    "People jack off with the left hand and point with the right."

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

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    Last edited by Oceans; 07-27-2016 at 05:41 AM.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I can't goal-set too much. It messes with my head. I do like to aim for a reasonable 1000$ a week. I know that's low but that would be all I need for my bills plus some. So, any more than that is like a bonus. If I think of things on a weekly basis, it helps, but daily gets me worked up.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I actually like setting goals. I'm someone who has a hard time getting motivated to go to work, so setting monetary goals for shifts does help to motivate me to make my goal. I don't always give myself a goal but I've noticed that doing so gives me reason to go to work and hustle.

    I very rarely will leave work once I've reached my goal. I usually don't even count my money till I get home or at least leave the club and get in the car. Plus, I'm the type of person who would want to keep stacking even more on top of my goal if I knew I made it. And on nights when I don't reach my goal, I at least make something, so I can be happy that I at least got up and went.
    "Rather have my feet hurting than my pockets."

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    ^Excellent point! I never count my money at work it just gets me amped up and I lose focus.

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    Featured Member Bootsie's Avatar
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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I cam, so it's a bit different, but since camming/PSO/clips is my sole income, I have a monthly goal. I know roughly how much I need to make per work day (I try to only work 5 days per week, but it sometimes creeps to 6 depending on what things are like), and I keep track at a few points during the day. If it's a rough day and the money isn't there, I shrug and figure it will all even out. At the end of every week I add up and figure out what to do to be "on track" for my monthly goal. Only having a monthly hard goal makes it a lot less stressful on those days where I can't shake a damned dime loose to save my life.

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    Default Re: How goal setting effects hustling

    I've recently started setting goals for myself, but only on friday and saturday nights. I go to work thinking "tonight, I will do my best to make 1k". I rarely go home without 900$ because of that. It's like setting the bar high gives me the drive I need to work hard. I get there early though, so I work almost 8 hour per night; it's a lot more manageable that way.

    I also set small goals for myself all through the night. I try to make at least 200$ before 11 o'clock, and then I push for 200$ per hour after that until 3 o'clock.

    I guess it works for me, because goal setting has doubled my weekend money! GL

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