of meeting you once at a Meet n Greet. Not sure if you remember. I thought you were beautiful, sweet and FUNNY. So, I hope you see that you are certainly not ill equipped. The Pandemic has been weird for a lot of ladies as I have heard. You and I have a few friends in common and they speak HIGHLY of your professionalism and sweet attitude.

I once found myself in a precarious situation...I had 4 arrangements all at once and I was pulling in several $K a month from these 4 gentlemen friends. I was doing so well, I stopped advertising. Then BAM, ALL IN ONE MONTH...1 moved to Florida, 1 lost his job, 1 had a heart attack and 1 had an SO and she found out. Not only was I SO SAD for all the gentlemen, but I lost all my sugar daddys at once. I had stopped advertising and therefore had lost touch with many regulars. I told myself then that I would never stop advertising again.

I have to say I rarely see you advertising. If it were me, if you enjoy doing this, I would advertise MORE. Just my two cents. For me, it is a lifestyle that I enjoy and love. I have a friend who is 63 and still here. I hope to be like her one day! Lol...I once asked her how old was her oldest gentleman friend. She said "91"!!!! That gave me hope.

I sincerely hope things improve for you!

MUAH, GT

You are Gorgeous Ms. Silk

To the contrary,  I wouldn't take the impact on business as any type of indictment on your looks, age, or anything of that sort.  There are a lot of other factors going on these days.  I think Ginger hit some of the key points.  Things are just very different since the pandemic and all businesses have had to look at different ways and things to do in order to thrive again.   I would say this business / service is no different.  Just have to look at what you can do to stay consistent with your regulars while attracting new clients.  Don't give up, continue to be creative.  you'll find a way.  I remember meeting you too at one of the M&G's,  you are a lovely lady.

Thanks to both of you for your kind words. Ginger you're iconic in the ATL and you've done an amazing job building your brand and marketing. I've tried to keep up my ads but I can't even afford them. I'm running solely on free ads rn. PD is stupid expensive. S.... barely yields results. Same for T.... At any given moment there are 500 solid providers available and I get little in the way of inquiries. My credit cards have balances from paying for my ads since June. I've been slowly going in the hole since. I don't have the time or resources to tour, mostly because I have civilian engagements several days per month I have to be present for and I don't always know when I have to be there.

I'm just wondering if the universe has other plans at this point. I love the people I've met, the places I've been. I've seen and done some amazing shit. I definitely don't want to be done.

Because I just checked out your website and I promise I didn't see anything that wasn't extremely appealing.  You're beautiful.

The cost of living in Georgia went up 4 percent in 2022 and is already over 5 percent this year. Mean salary increases over that same period  is only approx 3.5 percent. Since people are being forced to spend a greater percentage of their paycheck on necessities, that leaves less money for vacations, fancy dinners and other luxury items. Sadly-not-sadly, you ladies are the virtual definition of a luxury item.

First and foremost, ma'am... have you looked at you?! You're gorgeous. You can compete! And do you realize how MANY clients actually prefer women over 30? And you look like you do?!

 
As we all know, partaking in this realm is a luxury, not a necessity. And during challenging economic times that couldn't be more true. I've been having some interesting conversations with friends in various service industries lately ranging from beauty, chauffeur/private driver, fitness, journalists, etc.) and we all agree that unofficial recessionary behavior started to become apparent by Q4 in 2022 and really showed its face starting in Q2 of 2023. And yet, there seems to be this mentality at the highest levels that if we don't address it, if we don't just name what's happening in our economy,  it must not really be happening. Take into account the economy and conversations I've seen on Twitter (or X or whatever), and I genuinely believe it's not you.

 
Today, a tweet from a well regarded provider indicated that from their conversations with peers, cancellations and NCNS have been on the rise over the last 3 quarters. From what I've gleaned, clients book believing they will be in a good financial space come time of the appointment (& most are providing a deposit). However, when the time comes, it's actually cheaper to cancel and pay the cancellation fee OR forfeit the deposit than proceed with the appointment. If they work for themselves, their clients are behind on payments OR if they work for someone, the salary isn't high enough to match the cost of living. Life is feast or famine and frankly, given the economy, I encourage everyone to either have civi gig or a part-time hustle.  

 
With respect to our businesses, the average small businesses has a 25% attrition rate year to year. And most successful providers are doing well because of a small group of people. But like Ginger stated above, that can disappear at any time. We're always having to promote because of this. Now is the time to try new marketing since you have that other job. Try A/B testing with ad copy. Take some new photos and they don't have to be professional - I think almost everyone's selfies do better than their pro photos. Try 30 days of advertising and see which platforms generate leads. Find some time to dedicate to reviewing the back end of your business/ business model and start planning for 2024. Where do you want to be? Who is your ideal client/what is your ideal clientele base and how do you shift to start appealing to them?  

 
Slow times are the worst not necessarily because of the finances but more so the toll it can take on one's health, especially mentally and emotionally. Find things that bring you joy, cultivate hobbies, get out in nature... because it's right when we're getting comfortable with the new "normal" that the email inbox starts blowing up again.

-- Modified on 10/19/2023 12:07:11 AM

A lot of women have raised their rates 50-100% over where they were in say 2017. Higher-end providers are currently charging rates comparable to what I was paying well-known porn stars 5 years ago.  

Also it seems like a lot of the newer, younger, more attractive women who’ve entered the business in just the past few years  have a lot more limitations than what I was accustomed to. For example there’s a girl here in Atlanta in her early 20s with a really amazing face and body and when I reached out to her she told me the following:

“Don’t kiss on lips  
Don’t get eaten out  
Everything protected”

I don’t care how hot she is, I’m not paying $600 or $700 an hour for that kind of service.  

And the number of women requiring full names/employment info/ID’s has increased a lot too.  

When things in the overall industry shifted in directions I didn’t like, I decided that I was better off meeting strippers in the club  or hitting up IG/OF models and making arrangements with them. In the current climate that strategy works better for me.

I looked at your site and trust me the problem is not you.  

Here are actual article titles from today on CNBC.
"Net worth surged 37% in pandemic era for the typical family, Fed finds — the most on record"  
The net worth that gave people a feeling of financial security is disappearing really fast with higher interest, gas, and inflation.

"September home sales drop to the lowest level since the foreclosure crisis"
Most people walk away with a nice profit when they sell their homes and homes are not selling right now.

"The 30-year fixed mortgage rate just hit 8% for the first time since 2000 as Treasury yields soar"
If anybody does buy a home they have to pay more every month like an extra $1,000k every month on a $400k home compared to just two years ago.

I personally planned on playing in Atlanta when I was there for business but decided to skip cause my company already did two rounds of layoffs this year which has me paranoid they might do one more round that might include me.

Sadly I never had the privilege of spending time with you but I think it may come down to simple economics today  
Now that I’m retired I have 1) cut down on how often I hobby and 2) have a cap on what I’m willing to donate for 60 or 90 minutes

And I doubt that’s limited to retirees like myself. Even a working stiff (see what I did there?) has less disposable income available, what with the cost if everything having skyrocketed in the past few years (elections have consequences)  

A previous respondent alluded to “rate structure”
Could be food for thought  
I’ll admit.  It’s a double  edged sword  
I wish you well

OH,,,,,,, and if the portfolio on your website is relatively accurate you have ZERO to worry about in the physical attractiveness area
ZERO

,,,,,,I have ZERO knowledge on the cost of ads for you ladies anywhere BUT maybe if you start regularly posting/ responding to posts on this forum (Atlanta message board) it would at least keep your name in out eyes  
Out of sight  
Out of mind  

And it’s free!!

Ms. Silk, believe what most of us are affirming here, Definitely it's NOT you. You look gorgeous. Been following you on IG, Twitter.
I agree with what the guys already said here: it's the economy; inflation has made a lot of the hobbyists to rethink their mongering spending habit. Let's say, instead of booking 2 dates per month with $600 providers, It's now down to 1 date per month. Or they keep the 2 dates per month, but have moved on to $300-500 providers. Maybe this is also the reason why K-gencies' businesses are thriving nowadays.
Anyways, this is just my two and one-third cents (inflation adjusted).

Hi Cassandra

I have seen your profile and you are very attractive, for me you are just north of my indulgence budget. I am sure you are comfortable with your rates. I just look for company in the 300-400 range. There are a lot of choices in that range. So that is why I have not approached you. I wish you luck and hope you do well enough to enjoy this and make it worth while.

MAB

In addition to rising hourly costs, my favorite agency, which had been in operation for at least a decade, was shut down. I dropped my current agency, because of the continuing mismatch between their site photos and the real person.  As I've have gotten older, my ability to use the full hour has significantly decreased, so I end up paying for time I can't use - that's my fault, not hers. P411 raised their rates, and since I was getting a poor hit rate with them anyway, I let my subscription expire. I've used a couple of the K-agencies, since their prices are still affordable, and they offer less than one hour appointments and are reliable. Maybe that's why so many TER reviews are showing up for them. Their shortcomings are the photos are not of the actual models, the sessions are typically scripted, and there's the language barrier. I like good agencies since only one verification is needed to see a variety of models, and I do favor the ones which offer 30/45 minute appointments. Indies usually require references from other indies, which can be a hassle to obtain, and most of them don't offer sub-hour appointments in their business model. Since I'm retired, I have no work references. These issues are what has led to my reduced participation. On the positive side, I did find one real-deal East European indie, who tours when she's in-country, but she won't be back until next year. FYI, I don't have a TER VIP account, so I can't see any DMs. Thanks.

-- Modified on 10/22/2023 9:34:52 AM

You're a very attractive woman, no question, but the prices in Atlanta are extremely high right now and a lot of my friends who hobby have been priced out of the market. When I entered it in the 90's, $200-$300 was the going rate and you could still find some very attractive women for $100. Now, I know a lot of time has passed since then, but when I think about what I can buy for $600... I hesitate... it's a lot of money.  

So I ask myself, do I want to have fun for an hour, or would I rather buy a top-shelf bottle pr two of whisky, go to dinner with a date, pay some bills, and fill my gas tank?  

If my economics teacher were here, he would tell you to drop your prices to $400 an hour to increase demand to the point where you will more than make up any lost revenues from the price drop. At $400 an hour, you would open yourself up to a much larger market, as the $600 an hour guys are typically the top 1% in income earners, and that isn't a terribly large pool to pull from. At $400 an hour, you'll be open to the top 5%+, which is a 5X larger market... solving your problem.

Agree with everyone here who says that you are beautiful and agree with the guys who mention your rate. Nobody else can tell you how to set your prices, but I bet if your hourly rate was $400, you'd be able to quit your second job because you'd have more volume.

Cassandra, you and I have spent time together, so from first person experience I know just how feminine and beautiful you are. So it’s not your personality or looks. It’s what other responses have spoken to. There’s lots of good business advice in this thread of discussion. Digest it and decide what works best for you. But know you are beautiful.

I am appreciative of everyone's compliments and advice. I've certainly learned some things. While I won't be making any decisions about my rates right now, I am going to wait and see if things stabilize now that I have another job. My availability will be a little more limited but I do encourage anyone who wants to see me to contact me and see if we can make an arrangement. I prefer outcalls so maybe guys who are easy to verify and convenient to meet..... I am sure some of you would work out.  

I've always considered myself low volume, 3 or 4 appointments in a week at most but lately averaging less than 1 per week is scary.