In this episode, one woman explains what her life and finances look like after taking up sex work to pay the bills. Want to see more Making It Work? Click here to find out what one woman learned from joining an MLM to make extra money:
Confession time i got fired from my nine-to-five office job and went into sex work to pay the bills in place of my non-existent emergency fund i had revolving credit card debt to the tune of six thousand canadian dollars and not so great credit score and bills to pay i spent the week after i got fired applying for every job i found i didn’t even get calls for
Interviews i vaguely remembered that an acquaintance of mine used to work at an adult massage studio in town it seemed like a decent way for me to be able to get some cash to put food on the table and pay my rent here’s how it actually goes down it’s totally different in every studio but i really like the way we do it we were a cash-only and we always take the
Money up front we also have very strict pricing the pricing is stated on our websites the clients know how much we charge we’re a high-end studio so the prices range from 120 to 260 canadian about 90 to 200 us depending on what they want and how long they’re staying these are just for the massage extras are more my boss always make sure the girls know their worth
In fact she has a saying about it don’t go on sale the strict pricing keeps one attendant from underselling themselves to steal clients from other attendants and it makes sure that we’re getting a standard minimum for our time necessary disclaimer in canada where i live it’s legal to sell sex but the purposefully confusing laws make it difficult to do so safely
Every studio is different and there’s no standard across the board for how many clients we’ll get in a week or how payment works i of course don’t support human traffickers and my colleagues and i are independent contractors who are not forced to work at any time we can refuse a client for any reason anyone getting a bad vibe from a studio or being forced to work
Without appropriate pay should seek legal help immediately the client comes in and one lady opens the door and welcomes him our front door is always kept locked and we have a 24/7 security system so we can see who comes in before we open the door everyone working introduces themselves then goes back to the employee lounge we don’t have clients pick in front of
A lineup personally i find that demeaning and it also puts the client on this he says who he wants to see and then he’s shown to a room they have their session and when they’re done the attendant leaves and gives the client a couple of minutes to get dressed before seeing him out when it comes to work-life balance i only work three times a week to weeknights and
One weekend shift normally sunday’s i have additional streams of income including cleaning and writing i also have total freedom when i’m working as long as i’m not leaving a co-worker alone with a client i can run and get some takeout or coffee as i please i spend a lot of my time when i’m not with clients either catching up on netflix or doing something creative
It’s hard to keep this work for my family and close friends though i wish i could tell my family but i’m not ready for that i don’t think i ever will be my mom and i are really close which makes it even harder the studio i work in is super low-key we send the shifts we can work and our manager schedules us i take cash home every night instead of getting a paycheck
After we pay our room fees about 40% of the house i take home 109 on a slow night or four to 500 canadian on a good night i’ve seen other girls take home more than that keep in mind sometimes we have really slow nights and i don’t take home a penny but the good nights tend to be more frequent which makes a time worth it and when we’re not seeing clients the girls
Just hang out watch the client list on netflix but should not our boyfriends and snacks honestly it reminds me of a middle-school sleepover but everyone goes home at midnight i’ll stop doing this work when it interferes with either my real life or sex life if i ever go home and not want to have sex with my romantic partner i’ll know it’s a sign to leave i never
Wanted to take a toll in my real life or i’ll stop when i stop making money i’ve got a couple weeks at a time making nothing which sucked but my city is in a depression so every industry is slow but it’s been gradually picking up again saving for emergencies is easier now for a couple of reasons it’s a very good turnaround for a side hustle so the up and income is
A big part of it i also need to make sure i’m saving for and investing in my future self mostly i’ve had a huge change in mindset about my credit card before it was a just for armored card the thing is you’ll convince yourself new shoes are an emergency and then before you know it you’ve maxed out the card now i put as many bills on their credit card as i can so
I can earn cash back then pay it off as quickly as possible i’m happy to say i’m almost paid off all my debt in the future there will always be more emergencies but i want to make sure that i can take care of them from a liquid account and not a credit card i actually love this work right now i love the clients and i love my colleagues and i like being able to
Take control of my body and my financial decisions sure it’s not my dream job or something i want to do for the rest of my life but it gets the bills paid now and leaves me a lot of time to pursue my passions
Transcribed from video
A Financial Breakdown Of My Life As A Sex Worker By The Financial Diet
