Making it an independent escort Part 1

I have decided to write this entry because one of the most common questions that I receive from readers is asking whether they should go with an agency vs being independent.

And here is my response:

Before you think about becoming an escort, I would think about entering into a mutually beneficial arrangement with someone. For the first timer, I believe this is the safest option, if you are after big money you can branch out to a few sugar daddies who you see on a regular basis. This is getting your training wheels for the big time. If you are intent on being an escort after this, start by doing some serious research. Examine what the market is like your area, what sites do escorts use to advertise? What are the costs to advertise? Look into local rates that escorts are charging…a first time escort needs to start herself off on the low end and work herself up.

For example if the cheapest escorts are charging $100 for an hour and the most expensive escorts are charging $600-$1000 where you live, you might want to start yourself off at $200-300. One of the main reasons why escorts charge so much on the higher end is that they have gained a reputation in the industry, and have garnered many reviews that clearly show they are of quality.

There are really two ways an escort can charge more in this field

I started off an as independent escort with no reviews, my first client showed me TheEroticreview.com, I garnered a few reviews, but found I didn’t really like the system. Instead of collecting reviews, I collected a loyal following of clients. I branded myself as girl next door, the honest escort, I offered clients the ultimate Girl Friend Experience. I built up a small group of clients that were willing to pay me $400-500, not because of the reviews I had earned, but because of how I advertised, how I spoke to them on the phone and the girl that they saw: a very petite young woman with girl next door looks who looked like she just came from a law office where she was working an internship. The clients returned not because of reviews, but because I was the girl next door they could talk to, they could share secrets with, I could make them laugh and put them at ease. We could talk about a variety of topics, everything from current events, history, fashion or cars. If you become a good escort, you will find out that very little attraction between escort and client has to do with sex. Many men that hire escorts are looking for a woman who can not only spark their passion, but spark their mind and spirit as well. Men often tell me that beauty and brains are a rare pair!

Though there is nothing bad about reviews. Most escorts that have many reviews and charge very high rates are not just up there because they are very beautiful, most of them have possess not only great beautiful but wit, charm, intelligence and down to earth approachability, most of these of these ladies have a real passion for escorting and most know how to put even the most nervous of clients at ease and make him feel like he is their entire world in the moment they share together.

Any woman can have sex, but not every woman can offer men the entire package they seek.

Have you been scammed or treated badly by an agency or client?

I have heard so many horror stories in talking to other escorts about their experiences interviewing with agencies or having been stood up by clients.

As part of my webpage I am going to include an anonymous place where escorts and potential escorts can make reports about bogus, abusive and agencies who mislead female applicants or scam potential customers.

I also am in the process of creating another section.

There are several websites doing this, but two require you to give extensive information about yourself before viewing or posting. These postings will be completely anonymous.

If you would like to report a abusive agency or client please contact me at IsabellaBella15@yahoo.com,with the name or names of the agency and the agency’s employees or the name of the client and any phone numbers you can give so others know not to contact them.
You need not give your name or contact info. You can also leave information about the agency or client as a comment, they will not be posted, just for me to see.

Stay safe, Isabella.

Questions for Isabella?

Do you have questions for me? I will do my best to respond to all questions from potential escorts or potential clients interested in learning more. To ask me a question, please leave it in the comments or e-mail me at IsabellaBella15@yahoo.com.

Cancer scientist reveals secret life as prostitute

Cancer scientist reveals secret life as prostitute
By Barry Neild, CNN
November 17, 2009 — Updated 1634 GMT (0034 HKT)

The erotic blogger wrote that she preferred being a prostitute to working as a computer programmer.

Cancer specialist unmasks herself as woman behind online diary of prostitute
Brooke Magnanti says she became call girl to help fund her studies

34-year-old says she went public to answer her critics
London, England (CNN) — An erotic blogger whose double life as a prostitute became a hit TV series has ended years of fevered speculation by revealing her most intimate secret — her true identity.

Brooke Magnanti, a cancer specialist at a university in western England, unmasked herself in a British newspaper as the woman behind “Belle de Jour,” the salacious online diary of a high class call girl.

“It feels so much better on this side. Not to have to tell lies, hide things from the people I care about,” the 34-year-old wrote on her blog after the Sunday Times published its interview with her.

Magnanti’s frank and sometimes funny accounts of working as a call girl earned her a huge following, a lucrative book deal and legions of critics who variously accused her of glamorizing the sex industry, making it up — and of being a man.

The 34-year-old said she became a call girl in 2003 to support herself in London while completing her doctoral thesis after realizing she had no qualms about being paid for sex.

She contacted an agency, working as a prostitute until late 2004, describing it as “so much more enjoyable” than an earlier job as a computer programmer.

Her online chronicle of her experiences attracted a huge following, prompting the publication of a bestselling book which was serialized on UK prime time television in 2007’s “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” starring actress of Billie Piper.

The success led to wild speculation among Britain’s literary community over her true identity — with several well-known authors wrongly accused.

Meanwhile Magnanti had put her call girl career behind her and was quietly working as a cancer and developmental neurotoxicologist at the University of Bristol.
She said she finally broke her silence to answer her critics, including senior Church of England clergy, and because she feared an ex-boyfriend was poised to go public.

“I don’t want this massive secret over me any more,” she told the Sunday Times.
Last month John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, said on his Web site that “fiction” like “Belle de Jour” created a “myth” that sex workers were “independent women, empowered by the hold they have over men.”

Magnanti said she was most upset by the accusation she wrote fiction.

“You can’t say I’m not real, and that my experience isn’t real, because here I am,” she said, adding that while some sex workers have “terrible experiences” she was “unbelievably fortunate.”

Magnanti, who has declined to give further interviews, also told the Sunday Times that her colleagues, all female, had been “amazingly kind and supportive” when she revealed her past.

Barry Taylor, director of communication and marketing at the University of Bristol said the revelations would not affect her employment.

“This aspect of Dr Magnanti’s past is not relevant to her current role at the university,” he said.

While Magnanti’s admission, and indeed her years of blogging, contained many eyebrow-raising insights, according to her final blog entry most people were more interested in distinctly unsexy details.

“Also, so much curiosity about my tax situation! Yes, I did pay taxes on sex work earnings,” she wrote.

10 things you should know about agencies

Let me start off by saying, I have nothing against agencies personally, I can say I have never been a part of one, but I know plenty of escorts who are drawn to them, I have also know a couple of madams.

This is my view of agencies and why I think an escort should steer clear of them.

1. An agency whether good or bad is selling a product, that product is you.

2. Because you are a product, they want to get as much use out of your and make as much money as they can.

3. Because they are business people, they want to maximize on their profits and cut their costs, this means, they want to take as much of a percentage as they can get away with and minimize their costs ( i.e.) what you earn.

4. Because you are their product, agencies will take measures to see that you are protected and that the men that see you are fully screened ( hopefully).

5. Some agencies use head hunters and pay them a bounty for each escort they bring in. How do I know this? I had a madam once try to employ me to be one of these. She said I would get a couple hundred bucks for each girl I brought in…

6. Agencies will supply you with a driver.

7. With an agency you can’t be choosey about who becomes your client, you need to see who ever you are sent to.

8. If you get caught by law enforcement, the agency does not take the blame, you do. (A good agency has a good lawyer or at least good legal advice)

9. When going with an agency, its better to go with one that is female owned.

10. There is no such thing as a “companionship” agency. That is, there is not agency that is just going to hire you to spend time with men with no sexual activity. A lot of agencies (unless it is a dating or matchmaking agency which does not pay you) like to say their clients are just looking for a date for a function or event just to get girls in the door. I have never known an escort agency that does not want their girls to have sex with the clients.

Do not put your number on Craigslist.

I ALWAYS recommend using another number for your escorting business this will help protect you identity, but if you are not able to for financial or other reasons, NEVER EVER put your phone number on Craigslist or any other site. Why? Because Craigslist ads sometimes stay in the memory of search engines of Google, Yahoo! and other search engines long after they have expired, if you ever have someone not part of your escorting world, like your mother, employer or friend google your phone number, your escorting ad might just come up.

If you need to get in touch with clients through your phone number, try doing it this format instead. instead of 555-230-2232, write five five five two three zero two two three zero.

Being an escort while married, Part 2, reader question.

Here is a question that was posed to be that I felt as if I should respond to:

Is it impossible to have a supportive significant other that accepts this as a job? You have experience, what are your thoughts?

Is it impossible? No. Would I recommend it? Not really.

I have never been married, but I did have a boyfriend for part of the time I was an escort. Being attached to someone while you are an escort to me is not a good idea for a couple of reasons. One, if you are married you are supposed to be monogamous, that is really the whole point of getting married. So if you want to be an escort for financial or other reasons, you might not want to get married.

Even if you just have a boyfriend, escorting can impact the relationship in a bad way. If you are not honest with your boyfriend about what you do, you will be lying to him, plus you might be putting him in danger to contract certain STD’s. I don’t see the point of having a boyfriend if you are going to become an escort. I did it, but I retired when things started to get very serious with us and I really began to fall in love.

Escorting is best for single women or women that date casually. If you are going to be in a relationship respect your partner and respect your vow of monogamy.

Screening calls: a response to a reader question.

This question was e-mailed to me this morning and brings up a good point about screening calls.

Hi.
I first wanted to say that it was very helpful that you posted your blog, its hard to get good, solid, truthful info on escorting
I feel dumb for asking, because I have no one to teach me
How do you screen calls? and how do you screen in person?
Ive heard of ways but it involves of me having them take off their clothes to make sure they arnt wired.
Thank you

I have never heard of people being wired, I am not sure that law enforcement with all the crime these days would bother to wire an officer. I do know that police officers occasionally participate in stings, but this is not usually done with wires. To steer clear of any kind of sting, its best to avoid outcalls at motels/hotels, this is where the police will usually set up shop. Usually the bigger the city, the less likely the police are going to set up a sting, in a city like NY, SF or LA, they police have bigger things to worry about then escorts, but it still occasionally happens, so be careful.

Here are a couple of steps to screening calls:

I am not sure where you are advertising, but I am assuming it is Craigslist, so I will just go with that:

1. The best way to screen a call is make sure the person is calling from an unblocked number.

2. When the person calls in, save the number in you contacts with the name the person is using, that way if you got a bad feeling about them, you can avoid calls from this person in the future.

3. If this is a new caller, one of the best ways to screen someone is listening to your gut feeling. Is this person polite? Do they follow regular escort phone etiquette i.e., do they refrain from using very graphic terms over the phone? Most “hobbyists” know that you never discuss the actual sex act over the phone. Do they haggle with the price? What’s their voice tone like?

4. While on the call, you might want to google their number and or e-mail addy, if its been reported to the National Blacklist, it is going to pop up and you might not want to see the person.

5. When they arrive, you might want to go meet them outside of your house or apartment to make sure they are who they say there are, If going to an outcall location, make sure you feel safe about the area before going in.

6. If you should experience anything negative, report the client ASAP to the National Blacklist.

A little FAQ about me

Here’s a little about me, my views and my former life as an escort.

How old are you?

I am 25 years old.

Where do you reside?

Beverly Hills, California.

Do you still work as an escort?

I retired about a year ago, I am now currently in a stable long term relationship, though I still feel connected to escorting and feel as if I need to do something to protect escort’s rights and making the world safe for both clients and escorts.

Did you ever work for an agency?

No, I was always independent from the day I started.

How old where you when you first went into escorting?

22 years old.

Why did you go into escorting?

The good money to be made ( sorry but that’s the truth) and because I like sex.

How many men would you normally see a day

I limited the number to 3 or 4 a week.

What was your hourly rate?

$400-500

Do your parents or family know what you did?

Absolutely not, although a few friends did.

Did you ever have any horrible experiences with clients?

Not that I could say, no.

Where did you advertise?

Craigslist for the most part, SF redbook and Eros, although I was not to impressed with their services and high prices for their VIP escorts section.

Some tips on how to be safe as an escort.

For women, escorting can be a potentially dangerous job, but if you follow some simple tips it can help you protect yourself.

1. The most obvious option is to join an agency, this has some perks, but it also has a lot of drawbacks. When you work for an agency you are expected to see many clients and get lower pay then an independent escort might. Some of the perks of an agency are that they will do screening for you and sometimes they will provide you with a driver. An agency can not protect you against getting caught by the police nor can it protect you against getting harmed, robbed or raped, but their screening can really go a long way to separate the good clients from the riff-raff.

I will include more on joining an agency in a later post.

2. Partner with a friend or friends. If you and your friends can rent out an apartment or hotel suite where you can host clients, this is another option. Having multiple people in one place in a turn off to some would be rapists or thieves. It is not, although, a turn off to the police.

3. Do not go to an outcall at a hotel. This is where most police officers set up stings.

4. Ask the potential client for character testimonial from other providers. Before you see him ask him for the number of two providers he has seen in the past, call them up and ask them about their experience.

5. Join the The Escort Blacklist, at Nationalblacklist.com, the provide reports from other escorts who have run into trouble with clients or potential clients, or visit my site when it is up for the same type of service exclusive to california.

6. Learn self defense.

7. Carry mace and or pepperspray.

8. Do not conduct appointments in your home, instead rent a hotel room, or if you are comfortable, go to the client’s home (but not hotel room)

9. Frequent upscale, high class neighborhoods.

10. Its better to cancel an appointment, if you feel unsafe in any way.