Shawn Monroe

Still doesn’t have things like hours of availability, and options to put in rates other than 60 mins. 

3 minutes ago, Thelatin said:

We don’t know.  Are there some things you could work on? 

Don’t be that person. Treat that question as if it was rhetorical. 

3 hours ago, Jamie21 said:

I know this is switching it around (as in this is the client’s requirement of the provider) but I have a client who doesn’t want me hygienic; he specifically wants me to not shower beforehand, not wear deodorant and be a bit sweaty (maybe after a gym session) when I meet him. He likes that musty sweaty smell. 

I have some like this too 

1) PARTICIPATE. 

2) know your own body and have an active idea of what you want out of the experience. Or even baseline, what it takes to get YOU off - not just to get us off (if that’s your thing). That’s ultimately what we are for - to make you happy. 

On 5/18/2024 at 7:11 PM, socurious said:

Even if you travel? Because I will be in a less competitive city for this Memorial Day. I expect to book at least one client to help cover part of my expenses. I was just wondering. A lot of folks go on vacation. 

Well two things

1) I started my career in Oklahoma of all places. And the same rules apply there that apply anywhere. 
2) this is why I typically don’t travel for work for holidays - a lot of people are ALSO traveling and it leads to uncertainty. But if you must it might work out. 

11 hours ago, socurious said:

Memorial day is coming and I was wondering if we providers get more busy during that time or not.

I typically see a boost on Memorial Day weekend. Most corporate employees in America get 6 paid holidays. Only 2 of those have a chance of being a 3 day weekend; Memorial Day being one. So many people take advantage and hire. 
 

on the flip side, one year my aunt died and  I had to go home Memorial Day weekend for the funeral. On the drive home I had to turn down about 7 appointments. 

Wow I never answered this. From my end it’s multi-fold.
 

Surely most of you have seen the “Massage Types I Offer” section of rentmasseur with the options “therapeutic” “sensual” and “erotic”. 

I have an idea, but I’m sure most people (outside the forum) don’t know the difference between “sensual” and “erotic”. So most providers will select all 3 so they show up in search results. 

also, sometimes clients aren’t always truthful. Some say they want a massage but they’re chasing you around the room in a few minutes. (This isn’t everyone!) 

ive even tried asking what site they found me on, but some have asked for massages off Rentmen and more off masseurfinder. 

last, as @Lance_Navarroonce said, the two go hand in hand. Many clients do want some of of both; the amount of both they want is a sliding scale. 
 

so as difficult as it can be to determine what someone is offering, it’s also difficult to determine what someone wants. The websites don’t make it easier. 
 

the best to do is ask if someone offers what you want. 

49 minutes ago, MCR said:

Most people who have a boss didn't choose to make $300+ an hour.

If you you made $300+ an hour and you had a boss, would you agree to take a pay cut from your boss if they asked. 

There are ways to get around this - I go to the gym at 6:30 am, so it’s out of the way. That being said, I can’t take appointments after 10pm to be ready for the gym. 
 

either way I’m agreeing with everyone here - routine and boundaries are important. 

When I was still working in office, my hours were set from 12-2 (for a lunch appointment if one came up), then 5-11. 

Once a client reached out and asked if I could meet “on my break time from 2-5” and I had to respond that I’m not just lying on the couch during that time; I was back in the office. 

just saying this to say that sometimes routine is important. Jumping at the chance to take any and every appointment can hinder other parts of your life. 

analogy aside, some do it in a completely tactless way. First message will be “hi Shawn - looking for an appointment. Do you offer discounts?”

What if your boss went to you and said “I know your salary is this, but we are going to pay you less, for no reason. Will you take it?”

He said “lurk this sub” like we aren’t here in broad daylight. I live. 

Yeah it really isn’t hard on both sides. To add to what everyone has said, COMMUNICATE WHAT YOURE LOOKING FOR AND DONT LIE. (Coming off that thread last week).  
 

17 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Some places on the Internet are starting to block certain terms and Facebook will even put you in "jail" for a week for using offensive terms. 

This is because of SESTA/FOSTA. how quick we are to forget. 

This is probably one of those situations where I’ll get talked over and we probably won’t reach a common ground so I’ll see myself out. 

44 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

 

Which is why I always recommend hiring someone for an erotic massage. That's not illegal. If sex is available then that might be discussed IN PRIVATE between two consenting adults.

While true in theory, nothing is more difficult than trying to give a massage, and someone expecting more without talking about it beforehand. 

Or hiring a provider, they offer something you aren’t looking for (or the opposite). 

or not bringing enough money. 

nothing is worse than trying to provide something for someone and they don’t communicate what they want. 

Usually when people are looking to hire providers, they are assuming those that list on that site.
 

It is the premiere site to advertise and hire from. If you’re worried about the validity of the .men domain, you can use the other - Rentmen.eu (or rentmen.com which should redirect to rentmen.eu) but they’re basically the same site. 

My ads were off for a year, because I was going through significant health issues (still going through them but less now).

someone messaged me and said “great ad, but why has it been over a year since you’ve had a review?” 

Besides the health issues, reviews are SIGNIFICANTLY hard to come by unless you literally beg for them. So they’re not the be all end all. 

I can’t find the exact article, but it’s not just our services. Have you ever tried to give a 3 or 4 star review on Uber/lyft/whatever and they say WHY? So you’re pressured into leaving 5 starts so they leave you alone? 
 

anything less than stellar reviews impacts RMs business too, not ours. 

17 hours ago, Jarrod_Uncut said:

People have given advice, like @Shawn Monroe did.

And to be fair, I don’t always 100% agree with you on, but this is a topic I agree with you on. It *does* suck to be rushed out of a room at 11am (especially on a weekend, doubly so after Covid) and the only way I’ve found to deal with it is to book an extra night, spending $x amount of dollars - essentially gambling in the hopes it works out (and sometimes it doesn’t). 

it’s different when it is your livelihood. 

For me, I usually work in the nude, unless the client prefers otherwise. I also say that respectable mutual touch is encouraged.

many times it’s a comfort level. But other times, if you’re working in the nude, some clients can take that as an invitation to try to get YOU off for their entire appointment instead of enjoying their massage. 

I’m at the point where - especially if I’m driving - I’ll book my hotel for an extra day, with the intention of checking out by 2-4. If I go over it gives me peace. 
 

but currently the price of hotels isn’t going down. There’s not much to do right now except build points, and travel to cities in off peak times. 

This Is a hard question to answer, especially openly; most clients don’t want to pay more, and anything said that frames it like that would be seen negatively. 

in my opinion, what was lost with rentboy closing and SESTA/FOSTA passing was the ability to get our profiles seen by more people.

even though rentboy was already closed, when SESTA/FOSTA passed, men4rentnow closed, Craigslist closed down the m4m section, Rentmen started calling providers “pornstars” and all other weird shit happened that made things more difficult.  

i like to use the analogy of visiting a beach town (since I’m from Houston, it would be Galveston). There’s virtually no competition there, but seeing as they used to have a gay bar, there is probably some demand on the island or the mainland. We aren’t really able to run paid search, display, or social media ads, but getting eyes in front of people in smaller cities would be great so the only cities worth traveling to aren’t big metroplexes. 

Speaking from experience, doing this by yourself can be lonely and isolating. At the very least, having someone to travel, eat, and share the experience with can make it less so. 
 

even though he’s no longer available, Jeremy Davis (remember him?) and I did a few trips together (LA, DC, Seattle) he worked atlanta and stayed near me, and we would dovetail some cities; one would get in on the day the other was leaving, and we’d share a meal.