Day 1: To Be or Not to Be (A Digital Content Creator)
Deciding whether, and how much, I want to show my goodies on the internet.
Alright, so I can be butt-ass naked in front of hundreds of strangers.
Have been doing it for years – it’s practically a way of life by now.
I don’t mind talking dirty, dancing provocatively, or wearing only my heels.
But hundreds of strangers has always felt like…well, as many as I’d like.
I’ve always been that dancer that takes your phone if you take a picture in the club. The one that has three fake names, and that 99/100 doesn’t meet regulars outside.
I like the clear line.
Once I walk in, I’m working.
Once I walk out, I’m done.
Until Racks to Riches, I didn’t have social media, wasn’t easy to find, and very much liked it that way.
That has changed a lot.
With the growth of RtR, I made the call to become public – like, really public—and haven’t really looked back since. But my version of public is really, really far from digital sex work.
For one, you can go through Racks to Riches right now—there are maybe five thirst traps on there.
No links to explicit content.
Zero free images (to my knowledge) of me, nude, on the internet.
Now, full disclosure – about two months ago I started an Onlyfans.
It was a flop.
I just felt too conflicted about the consequences, and not educated enough on the process.
Do I have to post nude?
Do I have to post penetration?
Do I need a partner to film with?
What happens if someone reposts this without my permission?
What happens if someone is mean and disrespectful? I can’t get them kicked off the internet!
On top of that – not gonna lie- dancing was making me more than enough money.
It didn’t feel pressing.
It actually felt like a poor use of my time.
A tradeoff from time I could spend at the club, implementing my (until now) solid strategy – earn, save, invest, repeat.
Instead I’d have to figure out the ins and outs of a new marketplace, while dealing with the kinds of things that I chose dancing specifically to avoid.
Why I've Avoided Going Digital:
- A public, and easily viewable record of my explicit work (it’s one thing to make it – everyone has nudes on their phone nowadays- it’s another for a potential future business partner or investor to be able to easily google my most lewd scene ten minutes before our meeting).
- Endless non-paid interactions with dudes: like, why??? Timewasters? Late night DMs? Dick pics? Scammers? In person, my BS radar is 11/10. Digitally? I'm not sure what my BS radar is. No thanks.
- Starting from scratch: I’ve been dancing for almost 8 years. Stick me in any club, I can make it work. I’ve had social media for two years – and am beffudled by it every day. Using it as the primary income source in my life sounds...confusing.
- No shift-end: when it comes to my bag I’m somewhat (read: very) obsessive. If the club is open 16 hours, I want to be there for all of them. If it opens 7 days a week, I have to talk myself out of shifts. If the internet is open 24/7, 365, when does it end? When is the stopping point? Do I limit my hours? Does work just blend in with my day-to-day?
- The massive-ness of it all: there are BILLIONS of people on the internet. In the club, I feel like I’m choosing customers. Online, algorithms are choosing where my content is featured, who sees it, and for how long. Does that mean I have to be boxed in? Does it have to look and feel the same as all other content?
So, there. Those were my reasons for holding back from digital.
If you haven't gone digital yet, you probably have your own.
For me, it helped a lot to write them down. It made them feel less abstract/emotional, and more like problems that I have to solve if I want to get into the digital space.
These have been my stopping points for a while. For someone else, they might seem trivial (“get over it, I can’t believe that’s a big deal to you”). For another, they may seem like the tip of the iceberg (“worried about having a clip online as a stripper? I work in a daycare! Try that for worried!”)
Neither are wrong. Those are their lives and their considerations. These are mine.
For me, the equation didn’t make digital work make sense.
The equation has changed.
Sometimes, sh*t happens. Circumstances change. And the current international COVID-19 crisis is a BIG change.
Clubs are closed. This thing has just started, but it looks like we’ve got some big changes ahead.
All I know, is that at least for the short run there’s nothing going into the “save” part of my bucket.
And that if this lasts for a long time, it may mean that nothing is going into my “rent” or “insurance” buckets.
For me, this changes the equation.
For me, it’s time to get digital.
Which brings me to…How Can I?
How can I? is hands-down my favorite question when facing a new problem.
It makes me move away from “I can’t,” “It’s not possible,” “maybe later,” and towards:
YES, HERE, AND NOW.
So, here’s how that looks like for me in real time:
How can I manage a public, and easily viewable record of my explicit work?
- Moderate what I share (and don’t). While some content leaking seems almost inevitable in the digital world (and while marketing is, in part, showing your own content), I can be smart about how I start and where I go from there. Outlining, planning shoots, and getting great at the digital marketing side means I can keep the most explicit content behind a paywall – and from even a cursory view of digital content, there are plenty of creators who are doing softcore, bikini content, and creative takes on explicit content.
- Make it worthwhile. If I think about it, I’ve already been through a version of this decision. When I started dancing, I decided that if someone found out it would be worth it to me, because of what I was making in the club. It was a lot. It changed my life a lot. Since then, what I think “a lot” is has changed. But I’ve changed too. If I do this the right way, and hit the “a lot” point digitally, it could be life changing in a positive way. If my income could grow by 2X or 3X, would it be worth losing some potential business in the future (from someone who is judgy enough to avoid doing business over my work history?)
- Make it about my values and priorities. Inevitably, I will meet people who judge me for putting content online. I will have people who mock me, try to make me feel small, or even try to use my content as an excuse to treat me like I'm less. I know that, because I already meet those people dancing. Their criticism has never stopped me from living the life I want. This is no different.
How do I manage endless non-paid interactions with dudes?
- I already do it every night. Every pitch doesn’t lead to a sale – rejection, frustrating interactions, stallers…I’ve seen them all. I can sell most of them on something – the ones I don’t have taught me efficiency, to always ask for something, and the importance of valuing my time.
- Automation Station. More than that, I can’t automate anything in person! If timewasters are a problem, going digital might be the best solution. I can’t outsource, automate, or default to scripts in person – all tools that may make going digital way more fun!
How do I manage starting from scratch?
- Bi ch. You are not starting from scratch. You’re a badass dancer. You make easy work out of walking into a room full of strangers, and getting them from “no” to “yes, run the card again.” That’s literally your entire skillset. At the bottom of all digital is a real human being on the other side of the screen looking for the same things they get at the club. You can offer excitement, fun, intimacy, and your own niche in a digital space.
- You know what else you are? Someone who is surrounded by an incredible community of sex workers. You know a place full of digital geniuses- the internet – and have a platform to not only hear from them, but help others get information and resources from these great content creators.
How do I manage no shift-ends?
Wow, wouldn’t it just suck if you could make money 24/7, 365? Now, there are no ends to shifts, but there can be endings to your response times and time commitments. This can also be a great opportunity to work on time boundaries in other areas. Having a daily schedule, other planned activities, and finding people to take on some of the more menial parts of work once this income stream grows enough to be self-sustaining could mean far more $$$ with equal or even less work.
How do I manage how big the internet is?
Well, it’s big whether or not I’m not it. Time to flip the equation. They’re not picking me – I can pick from billions of people who get to be my customers – and be just as exclusive of who gets to play with me…as long as my presentation, approach, rapport, and follow-up are on point.
I may not know much about the ins and outs of digital sales (yet), but there’s some stuff I do know:
1. First comes mindset: if I’m not committed, focused, and action-oriented, this will not work. Once I've started, my consideration has to stop being "what if someone sees this?" and become "what if someone sees this...and isn't compelled to buy?" Just like at the club, I can't afford to be shy with my marketing, my pitches, and my persistence. Just like at the club, I need to set clear boundaries and excel within them. Just like at the club, I need to build a presentation that closes sales for me.
2. Specific goals go the furthest: just saying "I'm going to post on Onlyfans" isn't a target. Sharing a few pictures and videos is not a business model. To build a digital business that works will take specific targets, a set work schedule, and the same self-discipline and motivation that I bring into the club.
I've always said, at the club you're not just competing with your co-workers. You're competing with everyone else on the marketplace that wants money from your customers. The same is true online, in an even more immediate way.
At the club, if he wants a new set of entertainers he'll have to close the tab, walk out the door, get in a cab, pay another cover, and start over again. Online? Click, scroll, click. It's that easy to move on, and to forget. Being remembered, wanted, and paid, means setting targets that create consistency, quality, and a unique take that he can't easily get on the next click.
3. Trial and error is not the way (for me): why is it that people love to hate on those who have knowledge to give them?
I've heard so many variations of this at the club. "You can't learn finesse." "You have it or you don't." "I had to learn on the floor, and it didn't hurt me."
I call bullshit.
We had to learn on our own because there weren't teachers easily available with quality content.
If you couldn't learn finesse, then no one would be good at it. Just because it wasn't in a classroom, doesn't mean there wasn't teaching.
I don't know it all.
When it comes to digital, I know very very little.
It doesn't make me a worse person to not know.
How I respond to that does say a lot about me though.
Am I an efficient person, or someone that wants to take the scenic road, making every mistake along the way?
Am I a humble person, or someone so overconfident that I'll create extra work and frustration for myself just to say "I did it on my own?"
For me, getting education on the process is crucial.
Both self-education, and the knowledge and feedback of field experts- people who are succeeding at a top level on these platforms.
So, my next step is to actually come up with a list of what I want to learn and what I want to accomplish.
Because digital is a big space - it's like saying "I want to study science." Science is not a discipline - biology is.
And while the same principles may work across platforms, as a newbie I don't want to figure out all the platforms at once. I want to find the spots where I can make the biggest gains quickly, that are the easiest to set up, and that will give me the feedback I need to get better faster.
In the next section, I'll be breaking down the platforms I want to try, the financial goals I'm setting, and how (and who) I'll be approaching to consult with about my digital business.