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Thread: Becoming a traveling stripper

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    Featured Member teeth_of_the_hydra's Avatar
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    Default Becoming a traveling stripper

    Delicious internet pals, I need some guidance. I am finally done with my undergrad education and leaving my current field of study (English/ Liberal Arts) for a grad program that's offered online (Public Health, which I also hope is more vocational). I am bursting with excitement at the prospect of being able to be in school without being chained to a classroom (and thereby a particular city, state, etc.). So I think now is the time to become a traveling stripper, because I've wanted to be a Lena/Bridgette/Tina since I was a newbie, because it just sounds so damn cool. I've spent a long time living on the road and in a tent and stuff, so the traveling part isn't a problem. I am mostly wondering about the following things.

    1. HOW. How do you go about finding clubs, and what is the booking procedure? (I've only danced at three clubs in my career, so this is a an earnest question.) Does one call? Does one show up and audition in person and hope for the best? Does one email, if applicable, and, I don't know, send some pictures of boobies or something? Also, is SCL a reliable database of clubs that are currently open, and does contact information tend to be current?


    2. WHERE/WHEN. Am I correct in my instinct to follow tourism trends, aiming for places that have a fall tourism season when considering trips over the next few months? Offhand, I thought of New England, Colorado, and North Carolina. Am I way off-base, or is the money necessarily where the tourists are?

    3. WHAT do you do with your primary residence? Would you recommend even keeping my home base, or would you recommend subletting my portion of a house in FL and arranging a continuous string of bookings? On one hand, it would be nice to have a place to come back to if something fell through, but on the other hand, I'm not excited to pay empty rent.

    4. WHO can point me in the direction of a resource that will tell me which states/ counties/ what-have-you require licenses to work? What are the benefits/ drawbacks of working in a place that requires a license? I don't even really know how stripper licenses work, so any information would be appreciated.

    And finally...

    5. WHY not throw some advice my way about anything you think I should know? I'd be happy to read anything anyone wanted to tell me re: experiences, recommendations, mistakes made, successes had, etc.

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    Moderator Optimist's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    1. Look on Stripclublist.com for clubs in the area you like. You can also order an international directory from Exotic Dancer Magazine. It gives info on the location size and style of clubs all over the world.
    2. I prefer to follow the tourist money but be sure you know which toursts you want to serve. For instance I go to Myrtle Beach off season for the average tourist. I target the golfers that come in the so-called off season.
    3. Once I found the town, club, and season I liked I gave up my apartment and now live out of my suitcase 9 months a year. The other three I stay rent free with my Mom. You can pick a cool relative to live with for your down-time or you can get a sublet or share for your downtime.
    4. You can call ahead to the clubs at which you'll apply to find out about local liscensing laws.
    5. My advice is DO NOT skimp on your lodging. Pay what you must for a well-lit, well cared for place.
    “What a caterpillar calls the end of the world we call a butterfly.” - ECKHART TOLLE

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    God/dess Susan-Va's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I don't know if I can answer all your questions or not. I'm starting to travel more, I'm only gone for a week maybe two at a time. I travel with a friend of mine who features s the guess work is taken out of what club I'm going to. Use strip club list or TUSCL (and SW) for a reference then contact the club directly to get more detailed info on what is expected/required to work.

    It seems like Optimist pretty much covered all the bases. I definately agree on not skimping on the lodging. Make sure you get a place with microwave and a fridge so you don't have to eat out all the time. All I need is a micro, fridge and a super Wal-mart and I can live on the road for weeks!

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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Since you have read my traveling posts in the past, I would say that tourism isn't necessarily a good indicator of money. Many tourists travel with family and are not able to hit the clubs. A lot of your money will come from getting known at a few clubs, keeping in touch with guys who like you and buy dances, and regularly working at the clubs you are known and liked at. It will take some experimentation to find your niche.

    As long as you have your car, a months worth of clothes, a small microwave and ice chest, an ironing board, your laptop and printer, personal belongings, and enough money to live on for 4-5 weeks, I would just head off to areas you are interested in, and check the clubs out for yourself. Make sure you have a BC and SS card in case you need them for licensing or hiring. You really need to see the places for yourself, and if you need a license, just go get it. It's no big deal.

    Clubs with paid bookings tend to be in the rural Upper Midwestern states in smaller towns. Most requirea 4-6 week advance notice, and once you have booked and worked a club, you can rebook on a regular basis like I do. I book 2 clubs 1 week a month, a year in advance, fill in the other weeks about 2-3 months in advance, and take off 13-14 weeks per year. I only have 2 weeks left to book for the rest of the year, and I already know where I will book. Every week I have somewhere to work, there is no uncertainty. That is why I travel to work. The conditions are more stable. The downside is the towns are small, a 6 day week is required, and the only time I go to a big city is once or twice a month for supplies, but that is why I take three - 3 week blocks of vacation, one 4 week block off at Christmas, and a week off at Thanksgiving each year.

    Find weekly rate extended stay places or motels. The clubs you like you can look into getting hired at. Find out if the clubs have schedules or not, and if they don't you can focus on getting hired at multiple clubs with no schedules in different towns and maybe work each club for let's say 2 weeks and then go on to the next club, and just rotate between the same clubs in different cities whenever you want to. Make sure you put in 5 days a week, so you have enough income to cover expenses and save some money.

    Keep your place for a few months minimum, and if you like the new places you've found you could decide to put your stuff in storage in lieu of paying rent in two places. I keep my stuff in several storage places and we have many things at my mother and laws house, since she is elderly and widowed. We stay there as home when we are not out of town. Traveling with mortgage or rent payments plus utilities AND weekly motel rates can get expensive, especially since the money in this business has gone down. You can just get a mailbox rental for a physical place for bills to go. Then when you go back to your home city, you can, and it's the next best thing to being at home, get an extended stay place on a weekly rate near your storage.

    Trial and error will tell you where you will end up. Once you get out there and work a bit, you will meet new people and find some decent clubs to work at you would have never considered.

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    Featured Member teeth_of_the_hydra's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Wow you guys, so much info. Thank you! I'm glad I asked these questions because I was ready to be impulsive (my head has been echoing with the refrain of STRIPPIN' TRIPPIN' 2007 WOOOOO!!!), but I can see that there is a lot more I have to think about.

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    God/dess Andygirl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Oh how I'd love to take a month and travel around to different clubs. I think that's something a lot of us wish we could do.
    Check out my new eBay auctions.......

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    God/dess holiday's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I think that's something a lot of us wish we could do.
    God, I sure do. This thread makes me supremely jealous. I live vicariously through so many of the girls here - Susan are you reading this?
    I'm confused, but the Chewbacca Truffle Shuffle cleared it up. - Emily

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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Quote Originally Posted by Andygirl View Post
    Oh how I'd love to take a month and travel around to different clubs. I think that's something a lot of us wish we could do.
    Agreed!

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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I have done it and to be honest it really wasn't that much of a good time. Not only do you have a hotel/whatever cost, but ya also have food, costume restrictions for the area, license fees, ect. to worry about......

    Then when ya do find somewhere that you think you can make money at ya have to worry about the place that you are still paying for or the storage cost of keeping your stuff!

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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    IMHO the key to successful road work is COST CONTROL. Grossing $2500 while working a week in a faraway city sounds good on paper. But if you subtract $500 for 'decent' lodging, if you subtract another $200 for restaurant meals, if you subtract another $200 for gas and tolls to get there and back etc., all of a sudden your 'net' earnings don't look any better than if you just continued to dance at a hometown club.

    Tip #1 - try and hook up with another dancer to travel with you. Not only does this cut your hotel/motel bill and gas bill in half, but it also means that somebody will be watching your back. But be sure that the dancer you choose to travel with is the same 'calibre' as you are. If not, you run the risk of arriving at a faraway upscale club and that clubowner deciding that you can work but that the other dancer doesn't 'measure up', forcing both of you to wind up working in a 'shithole' club instead.

    Tip #2 - Invest in a 12 volt cooler with AC adapter, that you can take on the road with you and also take into your motel room. Also, invest in a midget microwave. Not only does this keep you from depending on expensive and fattening restarant food, but it also allows you to stay at lower cost motel chains.

    Tip #3 - stake out a 24 hour cheap-ass place to have breakfast after the club closes i.e a Denny's, IHOP. Not only does this provide a psychological boost (i.e. rewarding yourself for a good night's work - at a very low extra cost), but it also gives you a way to shake off any would-be stalkers trying to follow you from the club's parking lot. Travelling dancers are most vulnerable at 4am, in an empty and dark motel parking lot, with a purse full of cash - so go have breakfast with 100 other customers, and by the time you get to the motel some people should be stirring and it should start to be getting light.

    Tip #4 - don't allow more than $1000 in cash to accumulate in your purse. Doing so creates a potential theft problem. If need be, hit a US post office or a WalMart or whatever to buy money orders every day or two which you can mail home to yourself. Alternatively, if you have an account with a nationwide bank, you can seek out a local branch of that same nationwide bank and make cash deposits every day or two.

    Tip #5 - do some advance research regarding local strip club laws. Keep in mind that, at the out of town club where you'll be working, the dancers may in fact be breaking local strip club laws on a nightly basis. Trust me there is nothing worse than being swept up in a club bust in a different state, because local cops, judges and juries have absolutely no worry about local repurcussions and can 'stick it to' out of state dancers !!!

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    God/dess PleasureVictim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I enjoy travelling, but where I went wrong in the past was only staying for a few nights. The longer you stay, the better the money. From now on when I travel somewhere I'll be staying for 2 weeks. It's not the best, but it's better than just staying a weekend.
    Women of color:
    Shake your ass and preserve your heritage.
    Bang those fucking drums.
    Do it for the present and future generations.
    Have fun and stick it to the man at the same time.
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  13. #12
    cameron_keys
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I used to travel a lot more..1-2 weeks every month. I would never have given up my home though, I needed that home base to be there when traveling made me nuts. I needed to know I had my OWN bed somewhere that I could go back to.
    But thats just me.

    I agree with getting a place with a kitchen..or at least a microwave. Its amazing the differance it makes.

    And the nicer your travel accomodations are, the more pleasent your trip will be..so yeah...dont skmp there.

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    God/dess Lena's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    1. Either you want to go someplace for your own reasons, or you're going there because you've heard about the great money. Either way, check stripclublist and stripperweb reviews and talk to the travelling dancers you know. Usually I just show up and expect to work the same night, but if I were in bigger cities I might call ahead of time. I mostly skip the booking clubs, cause I'm scared of commitment.

    2. Look for fishing tourism, hunting tourism, bike weeks, conventions of rich-male professionals, golf, that kind of thing. Not so much the regular tourism.

    3. I live in a van...

    4. I don't need a liscence to strip. Fuck that, I'll go somewhere else. Unless I've heard about great money there or something. Just check on stripperweb - search in club chat or look up the club in clubs and reviews.

    5. My random advice is to travel to places where you can make a lot of money and work a lot there and then go have fun, rather than going someplace fun where you can't make much money and having to work all the time cause you're making shitty money. Also, network network network.

    Also, PM me. I'm everywhere you wanna be.



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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Quote Originally Posted by holiday View Post
    God, I sure do. This thread makes me supremely jealous. I live vicariously through so many of the girls here - Susan are you reading this?
    Yep, from far, far away

  16. #15
    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I'm staying at a backpackers' hostel on this trip and I recommend that. I have a private room, so I can stay up reading at 3 a.m. when I get home from work, but I also have a full kitchen with pots and pans so I can cook and save money. I also get to spend part of every day lying on the big fluffy sofa on the porch, which you wouldn't get in a hotel. Hostel living has its hassles but it's much cheaper than the hotel thing.

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    Featured Member teeth_of_the_hydra's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    ^^^I do love hosteling. I've had such great times in so many places with all the crazy hostel kids (you know the ones)... man, I miss those days. I worry a little bit about hosteling if I'll be in possession of cash, but a private room is a good idea, although keeping your job on the D/L sounds like it might be tough, if past experience is an indicator, as hostels are always bursting with scandal and drama and nonsense. Always.

    Yek, I'm going to be back in LA soon, for 2 weeks this time! When do you return from Montana? I'ma PM you with details so we can finally do nerdy chick things.

    Thanks for the advice everybody, keep it coming!

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    God/dess PleasureVictim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I can't find a hostel in any of the cities I want to go. :-(
    Women of color:
    Shake your ass and preserve your heritage.
    Bang those fucking drums.
    Do it for the present and future generations.
    Have fun and stick it to the man at the same time.
    (bad-dominicana)

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    Banned LatinaRose's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    All great advice above, just wanted to add that staying in extended stay or weekly motels for awhile can get pretty depressing. And I would almost always bring a friend (it's just safer), but even if she's great, she'll get on your nerves when you don't even have a bedroom door to close and have to go in the bathroom to talk to your boyfriend.

    Anyway, I had the best summer road tripping around, stripping, shopping, partying with my best friend. I did it more for the experiences than saving up cash and working 5 days a week. Hell, I hate working more than 3, but in a new town you are bored, so you go to work more. Whatever your reasons for going, I think most every stripper should give it a try and experience some new places. It gives you a better perspective on dancing and on life.

  20. #19
    Veteran Member vidadiva's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    A lot of great advice here. I'm taking notes

  21. #20
    Gypsy74
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    teeth-of-the-hydra-- MAKE A PIT STOP IN PORTLAND!!!! Your zebra tats would be a hit

    I am jealous of you too.. I want to be a travelin' strippahhh too!!!!! and get a beat-up VW bus to live out of and take tons of crazy pictures and write a couple books along the way too..

    but alas... I have to be "realistic" and get my English degree. ohh I wish I was like 3 years ahead of where I am now..

  22. #21
    Banned LatinaRose's Avatar
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Oh and another thing I hate about traveling - basic cable!

  23. #22
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Quote Originally Posted by Gypsy74 View Post
    but alas... I have to be "realistic" and get my English degree. ohh I wish I was like 3 years ahead of where I am now..
    Oh, no, you don't have to be "realistic." And who gets to define realistic anyways?

    (I mean, unless you want to be realistic.)



  24. #23
    Gypsy74
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    I know I don't have to be realistic, I don't want to be realistic at all... I want to travel the world and write and dance around naked for the rest of my life.. and have lots of love children and sew them clothes and live in the mountains..

    I just got back from an amazing music festival and I'm wondering why I'm even in school

    Lena--- I'm at home on a friday night reading your blog.. and I am so jealous and so inspired, especially your rant on agriculture and the story about Lillith- is that where the name from the Lillith fair came from?? The lillith fair was my first concert ever... at age 10!

  25. #24
    madmaxine
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Lots of great advice on this thread! My contributions:

    1) DO NOT forget car maintainance! Make sure your tires are good, your spare is ready for use (including the jack, tire iron and assorted other breakdown assistance items). Invest in a Triple AAA Membership, cell phone and regular tune-ups. & Don't let your tank get below half-empty....On our last booking I almost ran out of gas between two Midwestern cities...during a thunderstorm. YAH. Sometimes a little oversight can lead to a big headache.

    2) Plan accordingly & use maps. Swipe the phone book from motels you stay at in each booking city so you can have info on where to get what you need (it's OK, motels keep a stack of phone books in the store room). We have a Magellan GPS system for directions but I've heard Tom Tom & others are better. Anyway, you can't afford to waste/lose time during bookings, since you have to break up your day according to shifts and getting to the next destination on time.

    3) Keep a record of your expenditures and see where you can trim expenses. Also, figure out how to live on very little- the more junk you throw in your car, the less mileage efficiency you're getting from your vehicle.

  26. #25
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    Default Re: Becoming a traveling stripper

    Quote Originally Posted by LatinaRose View Post
    All great advice above, just wanted to add that staying in extended stay or weekly motels for awhile can get pretty depressing.
    Quoted for truth. It's the only part of my job that I don't like.

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