In a recent post on the Newbie board, (“A Unique Insight into a Provider's Mind”) a gentleman wrote of how much time a provider friend devoted each day to such tasks as answering email, providing reciprocal verifications and other such mundane activities related to the hobby. I’ve seen this first hand as I gotten to know the ladies during my time at TER. I’ve met ladies who recognize the importance of this behind the scenes activity and I’ve met ladies who tend to blow it off. The former struggle to make time for this necessary activity. When the latter get complaints about not responding to emails or phone calls, they often fall back on a convenient excuse such as “My computer crashed and I lost a bunch of email,” “My phone wasn’t working,” or my personal favorite excuse, “I have a stalker. He’s filling my voicemail so I stopped answering my phone!”

This raises some interesting questions. Feel free to answer any or all of them.

1. How many hours per day/week do you spend reading/answering email?
2. How much of this email is nuisance email (ranging from inappropriate questions to chit chat from people who have no intention of meeting you)?
3. How much of your time is devoted to the verification process (exchanging email with other providers or making phone calls)?
4. Do you read the boards everyday?
5. Do you just post your schedule on the boards or do you attempt to get involved in the board community? (Do you recognize that posting more often is a valuable tool to drive more traffic to your website?)
6. How often do you add content to or update your website?
7. Do you do all this behind the scenes work by yourself or do you employ somebody to help you?
8. If you have a helper(s), do you use the helper as extra security by calling the helper to check in when you begin and end an appointment?

Thanks in advance for your input.

thirsty

-- Modified on 3/21/2004 10:46:40 AM

1. I read my emails constantly. I try to chisel away at them all day, otherwise it gets too overwhelming, and I get comatose. As soon as I open one, I email back. Then I know its dealt with. I also dump emails completely and destroy records, and erase phone numbers from my phone. I have good memory and I use it.

2. I get fan mail, and strange questions that have to do very little with the biz, such as if I am a mensa member or not. I really despise talking on phones, just because I have had an aversion to it for years, and I am so grateful that I took my phone number off the profile.
Inappropriate questions? I love them. It make the whole selection process quick and painless.

3. Verification: my routine is a bit off kilter, and I ask psych questions now, so it can take days, weeks.

4-5. I read them all the friggen time. I don't watch TV, so, its my little vice.

6. I am updating webbie as we speak. I have someone do it for me, but I have artistic control, and I compensate well for my influence.
Which is needling.

7-8. Nope just me. No security check. My hands are manicured but have 13+ years of martial arts training. I prefer to do the dirty work myself.

Whether a lady is a high profile Internet provider or a below the radar flyer be assured that a huge amount of time and effort is spent on the more "mundane" if she wishes to be truly successful.

  FR.

1. How many hours per day/week do you spend reading/answering email?
up to 2 hours once in the morning & later in the evening.

2. How much of this email is nuisance email (ranging from inappropriate questions to chit chat from people who have no intention of meeting you)?
About 2% of the e-mail is useless, ranging from new websites who want our business to webmarketing and webdesign.

3. How much of your time is devoted to the verification process (exchanging email with other providers or making phone calls)?
I don't spend any time at all exchanging e-mail with other providers since most will usually call you. Most of the time,I answer my own phone without the need to make so many calls unless I am in the process of verification.

4. Do you read the boards everyday?
About every other day and sometimes a week or so will go by until I read a board.

5. Do you just post your schedule on the boards or do you attempt to get involved in the board community? (Do you recognize that posting more often is a valuable tool to drive more traffic to your website?)Unless I find a topic that I can relate to, I won't post too often. I don't advertise that much on the boards. The PC can take away allot of your time if you're not careful. Yes, the involvement is important.

6. How often do you add content to or update your website?
About every month.

7. Do you do all this behind the scenes work by yourself or do you employ somebody to help you?
All myself, if it gets too hectic, I pass the reference to other ladies who would appreciate it.

8. If you have a helper(s), do you use the helper as extra security by calling the helper to check in when you begin and end an appointment?
Absolutely.

Thanks in advance for your input.
You are very welcomed!

V~

For question #2, I would have guessed that at least 25% of the email would fall into the nuisance category.

For question #6, I congratulate you. It seems that most providers put up a website and forget about it. For the ladies who have to pay a webmaster/designer every time the site is updated, I can almost understand this. However, it surprises me that more ladies just "don't get it!" Your website is your best marketing tool. I once convinced a provider that, instead of adding 6-12 pictures to her site at once, she should add one picture a week. Every week when she posted her schedule she was also able to post, "Check out the new picture on my website!" If you send people back to your website often enough, they will eventually pick up the phone regardless of what service you are providing!

thirsty

Hi and thanks for the congrats.
I recently invested in a new website.
Amazing what it did for me.
Wow!
You are soo right.
The website is like a store front. If it is not attractive or the storefront has nothing tat you like and you've never been inside, you keep on walking.
Just like a receptionist is to an office.
I truly feel and know that websites make or break your success online. At some point or another, we spend a considerable amount of time online,on research, website and search engine marketing.
It applies to someone who walks by a beautiful store and just has to go inside. Men are very visual, so it is essential to feed them some eye candy often.
xoxo

V~

Answers to the above questions.

1. Depends on how busy I am. Maybe 2 hours a day?
2. 10% is annoying email.
3. Verifying takes the longest time. Hard to put a timeframe on it.
4. Yes
5. I post and try and get involved to some extent.
6. Rarely
7. I am a one woman show, so I do all the work.
8. Doesn't apply see 7's answer.

xoxo. Jill

1.  Approx. 1-2 hours per day e-mail

2.  Very little nuisance email (thanks to my screening form).  Some do not like this tool.  With the proper security focus, I have found it to be invaluable in my time-management, and it dramatically reduces the # of back-and-forth e-mails needed to coordinate an appointment.

Also, my time on the phone is minimal (as it should be, I do not work at a desk!) since I use that as a tool for confirmations and directions only.

3.  The verification process is included in my e-mail time.

4.  I try to "keep up with" the boards every day, but cannot find time to read them all, much less participate... this is maybe another hour each day.

5.  I am selective - some boards I only post schedule info, some I only converse on, some I only read.  Yes, the boards are valuable, but even more so are the local events and face-to-face opportunities that our lovely Seattle community has.

6.  I constantly tinker with my sites (yes, plural), and give them a make-over as I get bored with them... but mainly I use my sites as a communication tool, and do not use them to get "return views".  

7.  If I employed someone to help me, my answers and efforts in the above would certainly increase!  The potential problems with an assistant:  you begin to lose the reins on how/where information is handled (security), there can be a lack of creative control and that personal touch, and you now have additional overhead.  Financially, it makes sense... But no, I have no assistant.

8.  Yes, I have a security-buddy.

Your question did not touch on an over-all ratio of billable to non... housekeeping, personal maintenance, general research and market trend following, plus the above.  I guess-timate that I spend three hours working for each one hour appointment.

Maybe this topic will help us all to keep rates in perspective?  Yes, entertainment is a large-ticket item, and the ladies should never underestimate or take advantage of what a gentleman is bringing to the table.  It is an honor and a high compliment when interest is expressed, and even more so when an appointment is scheduled.

On the other end, the reality for many ladies - based on non vs. billable time, lack of benies, inconsistant revenue stream, overhead if in-call is offered, etc. - is that this is not the most profitible profession (I say this from personal experience in the Fortune 500 business world).   It is also a very difficult profession.  It also is one that offers unsurpassed opportunity for enjoyment, work-schedule convenience, and the ability to set our own terms!

: )


xoxo,
Sola

Dear Thirsty, are we an MBA, making a business case for a career as a Pimp!!!??? Just kidding!

Good ? Thirsty!!!!!

#1---It usually takes at least during the week about 3-4hrs total a day to do e-mails.

#2--I find about 10-20% a nuisance they come in at the same day usually so I know when I see a couple in a row to "GET OFF THE COMPUTER" sort of like a full moon! lol

#3--Verification process--used to be before January when I hired some help--It took me when at home at least 2 hrs-4hrs a day.

#4--I post and read and find the boards informative to what areas I want to visitand which ones I want to wait til later due to different activity.

#5--I try to get online and be a part of the community when I can but with my other life I have to spend time at home when I can.

#6--I update the website every 2-3 mos.  My pics are from July of last yr so I need to reupdate those--but tour schedules are updated more frequently,

#7--Until January I did it all by myself and was extremely stressed with the screening process and feeling guilty as a mom as I did not have enough time to spend with the kids.  January I hired someone to assist me with the screening and booking process.  I was leary at first but after knowing this person and him representing alot of top girls--I decided to trust (which is hard for me to do.  Now I have more time at home with the kids!!!! And am unstressed when I am to meet someone.

#8--Yes--I believe it is imperative to have someone you can check in and out with for your safety.  I used to not but now do--a lot of weird things happen and it is better to be safe.


Also figure in how much time is involved in research on where to go and where is the safest places to stay---I believe that is at least 2 hrs- 4hrs a week just in that.  Some places Downtown is good and some it is totally unsafe and dangerous so definite research needs to be done.

Thanks alot,
Gemini Starr

Memo from the big head to the little head, definitely don't want to mess around with this one, AND, cum on que.

I used to spend about 2+ hours a day answering email (trying to give a nice personal touch per email), and I still couldn't keep up. I didn't have a published phone number, since I didn't want strangers calling and asking me inappropriate questions.

Not long ago, I looked at my mail server. It showed approximately 1200 email messages on the server over the past few months--and only about half had been read. Ye gods! My bad!!

Since then I have hired my wonderfully efficient and courteous assistant and now I now have a life again. She answers the email, does the screening (promptly and discreetly) and is a tremendous asset--well worth the money. There is even a published phone number that she answers throughout the day.(No inappropriate questions are ever asked since she's not the provider.)

She has a cute NY accent and is so friendly that some of the clients wonder if she is "available" (sorry, guys, not at present, LOL).

I also check in with her after each appointment for security reasons.

For the providers who feel overwhelmed with email, I strongly recommend hiring someone to be an assistant. Of course, you need to get the right person--trustworthy, friendly, discreet--but it's definitely worth it!

1. How many hours per day/week do you spend reading/answering email?
Everytime i sit in front of my laptop


2. How much of this email is nuisance email (ranging from inappropriate questions to chit chat from people who have no intention of meeting you)?


3. How much of your time is devoted to the verification process (exchanging email with other providers or making phone calls)?

not much time, I callreference or check their IP and number.

4. Do you read the boards everyday?
no, I'm new to the board.

5. Do you just post your schedule on the boards or do you attempt to get involved in the board community? (Do you recognize that posting more often is a valuable tool to drive more traffic to your website?)
no.

6. How often do you add content to or update your website?
Whenever something changes, I make my own web page, so i can update it myself.


7. Do you do all this behind the scenes work by yourself or do you employ somebody to help you?
Being Independent, I do all the work myself.


8. If you have a helper(s), do you use the helper as extra security by calling the helper to check in when you begin and end an appointment?
Yes, i had a help before. It's safe for me, but I'm not comfortable.

Ha ha!

I just had a picture of her sitting at the desk in the room while you are going at it with the hobbyist....

Just to complete the fantasy I have a vision of her playing with herself as she reads aloud the things he wants to do to her boss on their next visit......

Hmmm.  There's a great scenario for a threesome..... High Class provider and her "assistant".  You could work in that whole Xena-Gabrielle "Mistress and Apprentice" angle.....