By Shayla Savannah

In my last post, I talked about how changing your name can change your personality. Why would you need to do this? Aren’t you good enough as you are?

Well, sometimes. I know that whenever a yellow walks in the door, I can hustle him as myself, no Shayla needed. In this case, acting isn’t needed. I am a Yellow on the inside, our cores connect without needed help.

But what if who you are would turn off a customer? The other night, I was trying to hustle a Blue person-clean cut, spiky hair, trendy jewelry, loud and bordering on obnoxious, younger. I am definitely NOT a Blue and would probably turn this loud fun-loving Blue away from me, but Shayla can be a Blue, and so she was. She sat on his lap, laughed loudly, spoke louder and faster, told jokes-in short, all the things I cannot do without the help of acting.

Shayla is a character in the strip club, sometimes many characters in one night. This is where the acting skills come in. In order to hustle the best you can, you need to learn to BE who the customer is looking for. If he is a loner, looking shy in the corner, you would probably scare him away if you came up and sat on his lap and started speaking loud and fast and acting like a dominatrix.

If you don’t want to do this, don’t want to morph into another person, then don’t. One girl, T, is like this. She has a very dominant personality and speaks with a lot of slang. Honestly, she kind of scares me a bit-she’s very forceful. She also refuses to change how she acts. I think this is just hindering her hustle, but she says she is fine and perfectly happy with the money she makes. My stance is to think about how much money she COULD be making if she just tried and learned a little bit more.

Where do you fall?

The other night, as I was walking into my club to work my shift,I saw three customers. One was at the bar, hanging out with the waitresses-a patron of the club, not the dancers. Another guy was sitting on the floor, but a girl was chatting him up. The last customer is the tip rail.

Have you ever been stuck in a scenario like this one? I see this more often than I would like, normally at the beginning of my shift.

Do you immediately deflate and start getting caught into a negative feedback loop, or do you size up the 3 guys and start your plan of attack?

I hope, fellow SuperStrippers, you chose the latter option. If not, you need to go back and review DancerVictory (and don’t worry, I do that on a daily basis sometimes).

One of the problems presented in my scenario is that one of the guys is at the tip rail. So for some dancers, that immediately means he is off-limits. This is the train of thought that can get you in trouble. Just because the customer is the tip rail does mean he or she cannot be approached for a dance. Yes, I am saying it is okay to hustle the tip rail.

There are some caveats though. First, look at the customer. Is he asleep? Believe it or not, I have seen this happen. Is he leaning forward, looking engaged with the dancer? Is he leaning back, hands crossed over his chest? His body language will cue you in as to whether or not you should approach him, and if so, how you should do so.

Look at how he is dressed? Is he a Red, or a Blue? Better figure it out so you can approach this customer correctly. You only get one chance to make a first impression. If he is a Blue, I will definitely be thinking to myself “I am a fun-loving girl, here to entertain and have a good time. I may play banter-games with him”. This is unnatural to me-I am not a Blue personality, but since stripping is one-half acting, I put on my Blue mask and away I go. If he is a Red, I will approach him more seriously than I would a blue, respecting his authority and space. The Color Personality System is just of the things I learned in DancerWealth.

Either way, you need to know the rules of your club. In most, if a club is next-to-dead, it is okay to approach the tip rail for your hustle. However, if you do and the customer is open to your presence, make sure the girl gets tipped. This is helpful towards building social capital. And of course, don’t spend the whole night there! I can’t tell you often this happens, and it interrupts the stage dancers’ hustle.

DancerWealth will help you figure to size up your customers and how to hustle them better. At least once a week, you used to catch me before work looking at my DancerWealth Workbook and since I brought it to work now, you may still occasionally see me consulting it during a break if I have encountered a particularly hard crowd. This has become less often as time has gone on. But regardless of time, The DancerWeatlh Workbook has become, for me, a locker staple.

To end: Don’t be afraid of the tip rail. Just be considerate, remember your social capital, and enjoy your new customers!

Til next time,

Shayla Savannah

April 26

Confidence Makes the Man

What makes a man sexy?  Is it his eyes, his hair, his clothes?  Maybe for the young and impressionable.  Or is it his nice car, nice house,  nice bank account? Nope.  Confidence is the single most sexy trait in a man.

It amazes me how many handsome, educated, charming men lack confidence with women.  I meet them everyday.  I listen to them pour their souls out to me over a drink or two (or ten) at work.  I just don’t get it. 

A few people specifically comes to mind. First is Dale*,  Dale* is a very HOT firefighter.  The kind of dreamy guy that women have steamy midafternoon fantasies about: blonde, tan, muscular, 6 pack abs.  On the outside, he looks like the kind of guy that could have any girl he wanted.  But Dale lacks the confidence to approach women.  “I’m not a party guy,” he tells me “I work with all men, most of whom are married.  It’s been a disaster when they set me up.  I don’t know how to approach an attractive woman and talk to her without her thinking I’m a wack-o” 

Where to go to meet quality women?  Hmmmm how about ANYWHERE!  The grocery store, Starbucks, the gym, the library, the gas station.  We are everywhere.  You just have to step outside your comfort zone and talk to us!

Honestly, it’s flattering.  As women, we have been taught to be demure, to let men approach us.  As teenagers and young adults, alcohol consumption is the only way we get over our shyness to approach men.  As we get into our late 20s and 30s we don’t want to be wasted in order to meet the opposite sex either! 

So guys…..it’s up to YOU!  Bite the bullet.  Be a man.  The worst she can say is “No” (provided of course you do it tactfully without any characteristics of stalking)  You will know in an instant if she’s into you, or if she thinks you’re a wack-o.  If it’s the latter, who really cares.  What is the chance you will run into this person again?

Confidence….fake it ’til ya make it.

*All Names have been changed to protect the innocent