Making Money On The Road

[TAMPAMUSCLEDAD]

This is geared towards escorts and massage therapists. I was wondering if any of you gentlemen could shed some light on becoming a traveler with the business. I want to go on the road but I find that by the time you pay for an airline ticket or gas in the car, hotel rooms or even not expensive hotel rooms, food, Etc how to turn a profit. I've been on the road for a couple of weeks and by the time I'm done I've only barely broke even because of the cost associated with travel. I'm new to this forum so if I have posted this incorrectly I apologize. This is the only place that I can talk to other people within the industry. Also I should mention that I am only doing massage at this time and not escorting Thank you

[Zimby]

it seems to me that there are 3 types of travelers:

1) Already has an existing client base in a 2nd city or is on vacation and the goal is to cover costs of the trip

2) Scammers that cant keep existing clients and just run from town to town using doctored pics to drum up business

3) Those that have another source of income (OF for example) and the added benefit of more eyes on your account helps build all your sources of income

There are those few that have a stellar reputation, high demand and $$ pricing that means they can do what they want but I would imagine that it takes time to get to that level.  There are also those that travel with a partner to help defray the cost of traveling

[+ Jamie21]

I’ve looked at the model and I couldn’t make it work. The job is fairly precarious anyway so to make it more random by constantly moving makes it even more precarious: your costs go up and you need to always find new clients. 

I’m lucky, I’m based in the middle of the biggest city in Europe. I don’t travel and get enough business because it’s London. However I still have a second income (Onlyfans etc) and other non sex industry work to reduce the variability of massage work and not rely completely on it.

I think the only way you can make the model work on the road is to have a second job that requires travel and you do the massage or escort work whilst travelling. Only fans type work can be possible with that because you can do collaborations with guys when you visit their city. Lots of guys just travel around the world filming for their platforms, and they see clients off the back of that.

However if the only reason you’re travelling is to do the massage or escort work then I think it’s too precarious (unless of course you’re in the top 0.1%). 
 

[BuffaloKyle]

Someone can fill you in on this as I don't have one but you definitely wanna have a nice travel rewards credit card.

[Thelatin]

I’m not exactly sure how it works.  But one of my regular providers basically flew for free?  His boyfriend or some such was a flight attendant etc.  Had a hookup that way, but was always had to wait for an open seat. 
 

And then if you have friends you can crash with in larger cities.  Maybe a travel companion etc.  

Edited October 17, 2024 by Thelatin

[Wanderoz]

The East Euro-Russo blueballer scammers & Asian Roulette guys are often sharing,  two to four in one room!  They divide hours amongst themselves for room use for clients.  

[TallMuscl37]

10 hours ago, TAMPAMUSCLEDAD said:

This is geared towards escorts and massage therapists. I was wondering if any of you gentlemen could shed some light on becoming a traveler with the business. I want to go on the road but I find that by the time you pay for an airline ticket or gas in the car, hotel rooms or even not expensive hotel rooms, food, Etc how to turn a profit. I've been on the road for a couple of weeks and by the time I'm done I've only barely broke even because of the cost associated with travel. I'm new to this forum so if I have posted this incorrectly I apologize. This is the only place that I can talk to other people within the industry. Also I should mention that I am only doing massage at this time and not escorting Thank you

 

Hey, former Tampa resident here myself 👋🏽 Also I’m a seasoned traveler who’s been doing it since when it was more lucrative than it is now: however RentMen/Masseur have made it easier by not having to constantly pay extra for travel ads like the old school RentBoy, Craigslist, and Backpage ads used to do  

I know the first thing you said was airfare: I try to eliminate any dealings with airports/flying when I’m traveling for bookings. #1 it’s too expensive and #2 you have to book too far in advance, to find the good deals. I also never liked the idea of being forced to go to a city that I may need to cancel if biz isn’t ready by the time the flight is booked.

I will say it’s become harder to turn profit simply because hotels are higher and there’s more guys than ever on the sites. But what I try to do, and have had guys agree as well: I try to only book a couple days room at a time. If things are going great I’ll add to it, but 3-4 days in a city is usually enough 

Also: I’ve traveled so much that I now have friends/clients in various cities and states that I post up with in between bookings. So I can base with them, and then switch to hotels when I need to host. It’s not always convenient though and I do require deposits since people can flake out and leave you stuck with a hotel bill for the day. I would HIGHLY suggest doing deposits if you want to protect your time and schedule. 

 

7 hours ago, Zimby said:

it seems to me that there are 3 types of travelers:

1) Already has an existing client base in a 2nd city or is on vacation and the goal is to cover costs of the trip

2) Scammers that cant keep existing clients and just run from town to town using doctored pics to drum up business

3) Those that have another source of income (OF for example) and the added benefit of more eyes on your account helps build all your sources of income

There are those few that have a stellar reputation, high demand and $$ pricing that means they can do what they want but I would imagine that it takes time to get to that level.  There are also those that travel with a partner to help defray the cost of traveling

You forgot the 4th: guys who simply don’t want to be tied to one city, especially the city they live: which may be economically disadvantageous, racist, or homophobic, or unfriendly towards gay escorts. 
 

For me, I’m not in any of the 3 brackets you mentioned: but I travel because there’s opportunity on the road, new guys to meet, new scenery and even better weather, better shopping (can’t always find the same clothes in Florida, that you would find in Denver, etc). 
 

Also: not keeping existing clients isn’t always indicative of someone being a scammer. There are some cities where it’s just hard to keep regulars. A lot of cities are over saturated with providers, and there’s only a handful of clients who are serious about paying for one, and paying the RIGHT rates (someone today offered me $60 to meet up). It’s not like Grindr where having lots of options is okay. The more options clients have, the harder it is to hang on and keep them.
 

Many clients just naturally want to wander about and try new guys. Not a bad thing for a traveling escort, but can be a counterproductive thing for a local escort depending on regular business.

[LukePhx]

I book at least a week when I travel to help spread our flight costs. Buddy passes are great! Also wya? I'm sure there are cities close to you that are drivable. 

For place to stay, hit up other escorts in your desired city, many that host will be cool with sharing their space and would appreciate the $ vs giving it to hotel. Like me in Phoenix.

Ask clients too in exchange for free massage. I work so much in DC that I have a table stored away there, client in Dupont circle.

If nothing else check Airbnb!

[+ Just Chuck]

If there's a cluster of cities relatively close to each other, I think I've seen some providers make a circuit of them.  Here in Texas, I see providers move frequently between Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston.  Maybe add an occasional extension to Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Albuquerque onto that.  If you own a car that might be a lot more workable than flying.

[TallMuscl37]

23 hours ago, Just Chuck said:

If there's a cluster of cities relatively close to each other, I think I've seen some providers make a circuit of them.  Here in Texas, I see providers move frequently between Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston.  Maybe add an occasional extension to Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Albuquerque onto that.  If you own a car that might be a lot more workable than flying.

I should mention too: even though I commute myself mostly, Amtrak can be a fun way to get between close knit cities. I was able to do to STL to Chicago once on business class for decent price. Plus, Amtrak is much more baggage friendly. No weighing bags, squeezing into cupboards, and the aisles are bigger. 
 

I’ll say though: I may be retiring the travel circuit and just finding a decent city that’s close to a couple good areas. Like I’ve mentioned in earlier post: it’s just so many escorts in cities where it didn’t used to. The cities you mentioned, I’ve been to or lived in all. They used to only have a handful, now there’s dozens in the big cities and a dozen in the smaller towns. Many of these cities don’t have enough gay paying clientele to support all at once. 

I’ve seen places like Nashville, Denver, Phoenix, Tulsa, Washington DC: All places I used to do so well in: Only producing 1 or 2 clients per visit. Sometimes non when you subtract regulars. 

I’ve been on tour since late September. I’ve been thru 7 cities: but only 4 of those were places that I was able to get booked. Meaning 3 cities, tanked. Not great. We need a revival for certain. Everybody did not grow up on onlyfans or have the savvy to grow subscribers. Good old fashioned in person meets used to bring in a lot of coin. Now: it’s wishy washy.

[ICTJOCK]

I don't go on the road often,  but do occasionally depending on the allowances with my  "day job".    I spend a little time on RM in that area and try and determine measures of interest before I get there.   If I can see it looks very promising,   I have no problem with giving the investment of time and money to see if  it pays off.     Most of the time it does.   I've never walked away empty handed.     Always know in advance the balance of travel,  hotel and what I'm losing by leaving home  and the potential gain.     Life is about opportunities, a prudent evaluation always makes sense.

[marylander1940]

On 10/16/2024 at 12:01 PM, TAMPAMUSCLEDAD said:

This is geared towards escorts and massage therapists. I was wondering if any of you gentlemen could shed some light on becoming a traveler with the business. I want to go on the road but I find that by the time you pay for an airline ticket or gas in the car, hotel rooms or even not expensive hotel rooms, food, Etc how to turn a profit. I've been on the road for a couple of weeks and by the time I'm done I've only barely broke even because of the cost associated with travel. I'm new to this forum so if I have posted this incorrectly I apologize. This is the only place that I can talk to other people within the industry. Also I should mention that I am only doing massage at this time and not escorting Thank you

It's very simple:

1. Pick a city and run an ad there to "canvass" for potential clients.
2. Collect numbers/emails of folks who live there and would like to see you.
3. Check hotel rates and airfare to pick a day to travel.
4. Travel there and hopefully you'll triple the investment (airfare + hotel). 

You can also hope for a client to fly you to X city and stay there on your own afterwards seeing other clients. That's called having an "anchor client". 

If you're not escorting and only doing  massage.... you might have to think whether bringing a massage table is absolutely necessary and travelling by car would be the best choice. 

Edited October 18, 2024 by marylander1940

[+ JamesB]

42 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

It's very simple:

1. Pick a city and run an ad there to "canvass" for potential clients.
2. Collect numbers/emails of folks who live there and would like to see you.
3. Check hotel rates and airfare to pick a day to travel.
4. Travel there and hopefully you'll triple the investment (airfare + hotel). 

You can also hope for a client to fly you to X city and stay there on your own afterwards seeing other clients. That's called having an "anchor client". 

If you're not escorting and only doing  massage.... you might have to think whether bringing a massage table is absolutely necessary and travelling by car would be the best choice. 

 

This might not work as well as one may think. Personally, I don't reach out to traveling providers until they’re actually in my city. I’ve learned not to waste time on “traveling” providers who don’t end up making the trip. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does it this way.

[marylander1940]

9 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

This might not work as well as one may think. Personally, I don't reach out to traveling providers until they’re actually in my city. I’ve learned not to waste time on “traveling” providers who don’t end up making the trip. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does it this way.

You're not alone, many guys only contact them when they're in town, but others show interest before they arrive.

Airlines nowadays allow a traveler to cancel his trip and keep the money as a voucher for a future trip. I know escorts who make up their minds about a trip the day before. 

Besides many times clients just can't read date in RM and contact them thinking they are already in town... Easier to go to a place having a list of names and phone numbers saved instead of going there out of the blue. 

 

Edited October 18, 2024 by marylander1940

[Simon Suraci]

@TAMPAMUSCLEDAD I’m a masseur (and escort) based in San Diego. I travel to other US cities about 1/3 of the year, over the course of a few trips lasting 3-6 weeks each, sometimes a week or a few days for nearby cities in the southwest and west coast.

You’re a masseur only. That means you need to travel with a table. No self respecting masseur will offer bed-only massages. It makes for a poor client experience and it’s tough on your body, not to mention it screams unprofessionalism.

So, that means air travel is out. Any standard table will not fit the dimension limitations for checking a bag, and if the airline will take it, it’s pricey to check. Nevermind any other equipment or supplies such as a towel warmer or large quantities of oil, or all the linens you need. Oh and by the way your regular travel bag with clothes, toiletries and essentials.

Then there’s ground transportation. Rideshares, shuttles, and taxis are expensive. Public transportation is incredibly inconvenient, slow, and unpleasant in most places (if available at all).

Frankly, to do the traveling masseur correctly and profitably, air travel is simply impractical. You have to drive. Having a car saves you time, money, gives you space, convenience, flexibility, and reliability. Shop for groceries using your car whenever you need them rather than paying a premium to eat out. Spend money on cheap gas in many parts of the country. For me, almost anywhere is less expensive than my home city in CA. Airfare is not only more expensive, it takes loads of time getting to/from the airport, security, and buffer time, lines, waiting, and not to mention air traffic delays. At that point, you would have already made it to your destination just driving.

Select your travel cities wisely. Determine these on several factors like overall metro area population, amount of relative competition / market saturation, demand for your skills and looks, geography, distance from your home city and/or distance from other cities on your circuit, time of year, special events, holidays, etc. and last but not least, existing client base in those cities.

There is always some risk in visiting a new city. Even cities you’ve done well in before can be less profitable if you visit at the wrong time. For Austin, that’s roughly June-August but March-May is great. For Buffalo, the bad times are roughly October-April. Every city is different and it takes some trial and error. Canvassing cannot predict what you will make. It only frustrates clients and those who book ahead cancel and change plans last minute anyway. You can’t avoid the need to take educated, calculated risks. Boots on the ground, accommodations costs paid. Miles driven. There is no other way. 

Space your city dates to give yourself enough time to make decent money, but not too much time to run out of work. Clients lose interest if you’re there for too long. When you’re slow, spend less time in that city or skip it next time. I find a week is a good sweet spot; it gives clients a variety of day/time options to fit with their availability. Give yourself a full day between cities for driving. It’s not uncommon to drive for 4-8 hrs between cities. I shoot for around 6 hours assuming a 9am checkout and a 3pm check in, disregarding any time zone changes. Don’t take clients on your travel day. You need the rest. It gives you an opportunity to get groceries after you arrive, and a good couple of hours to set up, unrushed. Then unwind and get to be early for a good night of sleep. Any traffic delays or road closures will not matter because you’re not trying to rush into town to make an unrealistic 4:00pm client appointment on your first night. Don’t do that to yourself or your clients. Take the rest so you will be ready to start fresh the next morning, no stress, no rushing, no overpromising, or under delivering.

Advertise travel prior to your arrival, but not too soon. A month is too much, in my experience. You spend way too much time fielding inquiries for times that you are not advertising for (because clients don’t read the ad or travel dates). Or they see you around for weeks and take you for granted or get bored and move on to the next new face. Or overthink booking you and never book. Or they can’t plan that far ahead. Or their plans change and they more frequently need to cancel or change their appointment with you. So many reasons why too much notice is a bad thing.

Advertising only a day ahead is too little. Few people will see and respond to your ad that quickly. By that point you don’t have your first couple days booked up yet and you don’t want to waste precious work time (for which you’re spending a lot of overhead) sitting around waiting for clients to text. 1-2 weeks is the sweet spot IMHO. It’s enough time for your clients to see you before you arrive and waffle about reaching out, and they have enough notice to plan around their lives. Then there are the people who will not reach out until after you are in town, no matter how open or flexible their schedules are. They are jaded by canvassing masseurs flaking on them because the masseur decided not to make the trip. Also some clients have good old fashioned poor planning skills, impulsivity, or only find a time pop up short notice that he couldn’t have planned for if he wanted to based on his family or jobs or whatever. This is why you have to actually GO to a city, not just attempt to gauge interest from afar.

Accommodations are tricky. You need to have the right combination of convenient location, [perceived] safe location, free/convenient parking, and level of quality to attract the clients you’re going for. Motel 6 on the outskirts of town won’t cut it. Neither will the Ritz in the center of downtown. That’s why I rent short term units, usually houses, sometimes other types. I can find the right balance of cost, convenience, and quality that way. Also: private dedicated laundry! Which you need if you’re soiling six clients worth of linens per day. Find what works for you. If it’s too expensive, skip that area or that city. Let the economics of the thing drive your decisions. At the end of the day, you need to make money. If you’re spending a dollar to make only a dollar back, that’s free labor you’re offering.

You’re right. Overhead is high. It’s difficult to make a profit traveling. I make a profit by doing high volume, often 5-6 clients a day. I escort too, so that boosts my income and makes it more realistic. I might do 0-2 escort appointments per day, and 4-6 massages a day. That’s a LOT of work, typically spanning over 13-16 hrs a day. You can’t make this model work taking only a couple massage clients per day. Volume is where it’s at. Select the right cities, the right times, the right accommodations, and your clients will line up to see you. Trial and error. See what sticks.

Do your research. Ask around. Book. Then hit the road!

 

[+ Pensant]

14 hours ago, Simon Suraci said:

Also: private dedicated laundry! Which you need if you’re soiling six clients worth of linens per day

What have you found to be the best process for removing oil and lube stains from linens?

[Simon Suraci]

3 hours ago, Pensant said:

What have you found to be the best process for removing oil and lube stains from linens?

Regular laundry detergent works fine. I use coconut oil for massage, water based lube for toys, and silicone lube for sex (or coconut oil for sex). None of these stain. It comes right out in a normal wash cycle. People stain from other things like their hair and skin products. Think: spray tan, hair color, etc. Or from sex. All of these stains come out with a pre-wash bleach treatment.

[BuffaloKyle]

On 10/18/2024 at 9:56 AM, JamesB said:

This might not work as well as one may think. Personally, I don't reach out to traveling providers until they’re actually in my city. I’ve learned not to waste time on “traveling” providers who don’t end up making the trip. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does it this way.

If I'm interested in a provider posting a future travel date in my city I'll go ahead and reach out to them just to let them know I'm interested. I would hate to say I'll wait until they're here and find instead one day that they cancelled the trip due to lack of interest. I won't set up a session too far in advance but will simply message hey I saw you'll be in my area in a couple weeks and I'm interested in meeting up. Once your arrival date gets closer I'll reach back out and we can set something up. Just a simple message to let them know there is interest.

[TallMuscl37]

On 10/18/2024 at 1:45 PM, Simon Suraci said:

@TAMPAMUSCLEDAD I’m a masseur (and escort) based in San Diego. I travel to other US cities about 1/3 of the year, over the course of a few trips lasting 3-6 weeks each, sometimes a week or a few days for nearby cities in the southwest and west coast.

You’re a masseur only. That means you need to travel with a table. No self respecting masseur will offer bed-only massages. It makes for a poor client experience and it’s tough on your body, not to mention it screams unprofessionalism.

So, that means air travel is out. Any standard table will not fit the dimension limitations for checking a bag, and if the airline will take it, it’s pricey to check. Nevermind any other equipment or supplies such as a towel warmer or large quantities of oil, or all the linens you need. Oh and by the way your regular travel bag with clothes, toiletries and essentials.

Then there’s ground transportation. Rideshares, shuttles, and taxis are expensive. Public transportation is incredibly inconvenient, slow, and unpleasant in most places (if available at all).

Frankly, to do the traveling masseur correctly and profitably, air travel is simply impractical. You have to drive. Having a car saves you time, money, gives you space, convenience, flexibility, and reliability. Shop for groceries using your car whenever you need them rather than paying a premium to eat out. Spend money on cheap gas in many parts of the country. For me, almost anywhere is less expensive than my home city in CA. Airfare is not only more expensive, it takes loads of time getting to/from the airport, security, and buffer time, lines, waiting, and not to mention air traffic delays. At that point, you would have already made it to your destination just driving.

Select your travel cities wisely. Determine these on several factors like overall metro area population, amount of relative competition / market saturation, demand for your skills and looks, geography, distance from your home city and/or distance from other cities on your circuit, time of year, special events, holidays, etc. and last but not least, existing client base in those cities.

There is always some risk in visiting a new city. Even cities you’ve done well in before can be less profitable if you visit at the wrong time. For Austin, that’s roughly June-August but March-May is great. For Buffalo, the bad times are roughly October-April. Every city is different and it takes some trial and error. Canvassing cannot predict what you will make. It only frustrates clients and those who book ahead cancel and change plans last minute anyway. You can’t avoid the need to take educated, calculated risks. Boots on the ground, accommodations costs paid. Miles driven. There is no other way. 

Space your city dates to give yourself enough time to make decent money, but not too much time to run out of work. Clients lose interest if you’re there for too long. When you’re slow, spend less time in that city or skip it next time. I find a week is a good sweet spot; it gives clients a variety of day/time options to fit with their availability. Give yourself a full day between cities for driving. It’s not uncommon to drive for 4-8 hrs between cities. I shoot for around 6 hours assuming a 9am checkout and a 3pm check in, disregarding any time zone changes. Don’t take clients on your travel day. You need the rest. It gives you an opportunity to get groceries after you arrive, and a good couple of hours to set up, unrushed. Then unwind and get to be early for a good night of sleep. Any traffic delays or road closures will not matter because you’re not trying to rush into town to make an unrealistic 4:00pm client appointment on your first night. Don’t do that to yourself or your clients. Take the rest so you will be ready to start fresh the next morning, no stress, no rushing, no overpromising, or under delivering.

Advertise travel prior to your arrival, but not too soon. A month is too much, in my experience. You spend way too much time fielding inquiries for times that you are not advertising for (because clients don’t read the ad or travel dates). Or they see you around for weeks and take you for granted or get bored and move on to the next new face. Or overthink booking you and never book. Or they can’t plan that far ahead. Or their plans change and they more frequently need to cancel or change their appointment with you. So many reasons why too much notice is a bad thing.

Advertising only a day ahead is too little. Few people will see and respond to your ad that quickly. By that point you don’t have your first couple days booked up yet and you don’t want to waste precious work time (for which you’re spending a lot of overhead) sitting around waiting for clients to text. 1-2 weeks is the sweet spot IMHO. It’s enough time for your clients to see you before you arrive and waffle about reaching out, and they have enough notice to plan around their lives. Then there are the people who will not reach out until after you are in town, no matter how open or flexible their schedules are. They are jaded by canvassing masseurs flaking on them because the masseur decided not to make the trip. Also some clients have good old fashioned poor planning skills, impulsivity, or only find a time pop up short notice that he couldn’t have planned for if he wanted to based on his family or jobs or whatever. This is why you have to actually GO to a city, not just attempt to gauge interest from afar.

Accommodations are tricky. You need to have the right combination of convenient location, [perceived] safe location, free/convenient parking, and level of quality to attract the clients you’re going for. Motel 6 on the outskirts of town won’t cut it. Neither will the Ritz in the center of downtown. That’s why I rent short term units, usually houses, sometimes other types. I can find the right balance of cost, convenience, and quality that way. Also: private dedicated laundry! Which you need if you’re soiling six clients worth of linens per day. Find what works for you. If it’s too expensive, skip that area or that city. Let the economics of the thing drive your decisions. At the end of the day, you need to make money. If you’re spending a dollar to make only a dollar back, that’s free labor you’re offering.

You’re right. Overhead is high. It’s difficult to make a profit traveling. I make a profit by doing high volume, often 5-6 clients a day. I escort too, so that boosts my income and makes it more realistic. I might do 0-2 escort appointments per day, and 4-6 massages a day. That’s a LOT of work, typically spanning over 13-16 hrs a day. You can’t make this model work taking only a couple massage clients per day. Volume is where it’s at. Select the right cities, the right times, the right accommodations, and your clients will line up to see you. Trial and error. See what sticks.

Do your research. Ask around. Book. Then hit the road!

 

Bravo, bravo…good points made.

I’ll also add: before anyone reads this and automatically thinks car travel is best, just be sure to have your mind and other shit in the right place and be aware of the risks.

Also, be wary of speeding and overzealous cops: Certain state’s license plates are NOTORIOUS for being suspect and pulled over in new states. If you have anything “suspect”, don’t bring it on the road trip. I had a friend gave me a souvenir of “enhancement products”. As I started to walk out the door, I said: “actually: I won’t be able take it. I can’t risk getting stopped”. 

Add to: there can be some shitty drivers out there and each state has their “style”. I’m an experienced and schooled driver myself, but I still find myself caving into speeding and “spirited” driving every so often. Add to the fact some of these “potential” clients can push your buttons when you’re trying to travel: for example, I told a client who waited 5 DAYS to return my last text asking if he wanted to schedule while I’m in town:

I NEED YOU TO CONFIRM WITHIN 30 MINUTES BEFORE I PASS THE NEXT EXIT (after that, I would have been on my way to the next destination)

What does he do? Drags his feet, bullshits, keeps asking stupid questions, not following the directions I’m giving him, etc. He finally 4 hours later says: “okay I’m ready to send the deposit now, where are you?” I’d already left town. I told him what to do within the period of time I needed it. Now he’s been added to the shit list for being unnecessarily difficult🤦🏾‍♂️ 

I mainly drive because I naturally love to drive anyway. I’ve done trips using flight and in comparison, flying still feels like the least convenient option. Too expensive, too much interactions with people and security, anxiety from missing flights and baggage loss. Not great when your biz requires bringing a lot of things and being on the road a long time. But if someone doesn’t have the patience and know how, driving can be more hassle than it’s worth.

Edited October 22, 2024 by Jarrod_Uncut

[TallMuscl37]

On 10/18/2024 at 1:45 PM, Simon Suraci said:

Clients lose interest if you’re there for too long. Or they see you around for weeks and take you for granted or get bored and move on to the next new face. Or overthink booking you and never book. Or they can’t plan that far ahead. Or their plans change and they more frequently need to cancel or change their appointment with you.

Also some clients have good old fashioned poor planning skills, impulsivity, or only find a time pop up short notice that he couldn’t have planned for if he wanted to based on his family or jobs or whatever.
 

This is why you have to actually GO to a city, not just attempt to gauge interest from afar.

 

I wanted to add also: I understand the general gist of this however, I think some of the things mentioned aren’t the escort’s issue. A client losing “interest” because a provider is in an area too long, seems unreasonable considering: it’s an online ad. The client is free to look or not look however they choose.
 

A client who gets bored that an escort is visiting a town for 2 weeks, or decides to do an extended stay in an area: is someone who needs to find other hobbies other than cruising escort ads hoping a guy “goes away” after a few days. People should feel comfortable they can advertise in a town however long they feel. I know for me, sometimes I have to stay in a town a bit longer than just a 2-3 day or week due to things I’m aspiring to do outside of the biz.

I also wouldn’t particularly recommend ALL PEOPLE to visit a city without sure clients in the chamber. I agree GOING to a city is the only real way to know what is possible, but I’ve been burned before (words clients often use themselves) going to cities with half assed responses and “inquiries” only to arrive and only 1 or 2 guys follow thru. This is why I’ve had to stick to deposits in my dealings. Taking people’s “word” or going somewhere that I had lots of inquiries: has lost me money and time unnecessarily.

I’ll never forget the “Great Indianapolis blunder” and the “Las Vegas bomb”: in my earlier days. I did 1st trips to both cities, after advertising a few days ahead and getting a handful of inquiries. Instead, I arrived and nobody showed up in either. Since then, I’ve had better trips in both locations, but I’ll never go to either again, without clients pre-booked.

The trip I’m currently on: It hasn’t been fully bombs and blunders, but it’s been a obscene number of clients who I communicated with before planning this trip: who either flaked or lied about booking me, or maybe had organic reasons to not be able to meet. I was expecting better but, I guess the economy and politics really are shit. Plus like I said earlier, there’s far too many guys on the sites in some of these bigger cities. I’m overwhelmed myself looking thru the listings. I’m going to have to get outta California soon because it’s far too inundated with other sex workers. 

Even a regular client I know in a medium sized Midwest city has told me on 2-3 occasions, “I went on RentMen the other day and couldn’t BELIEVE how many ads in town there were. I couldn’t believe it”. 
 

And re: canvassing cities, that’s why I feel deposits benefit BOTH client and provider because once a legitimate provider has the money in hand, they’re more confident to go forward with the trip. If however, all a person hears is some half ass text about “when are you in (insert city)” followed by “maybe, I’ll possibly let you know”: that provider is probably more likely to cancel the trip.

 

And it’s not just escorts and masseurs either: couple years I did a calendar shoot for a company. There was 12 models involved. We had 3 events in different states to attend to. Each event: only like 3-4 guys of the 12 showed up. The company covered parts of the accommodations, but getting there was our responsibility. The other guys weren’t willing to spend their money upfront to travel to the other cities.

Edited October 22, 2024 by Jarrod_Uncut

[BaronArtz]

On 10/18/2024 at 4:45 PM, Simon Suraci said:

@TAMPAMUSCLEDAD I’m a masseur (and escort) based in San Diego. I travel to other US cities about 1/3 of the year, over the course of a few trips lasting 3-6 weeks each, sometimes a week or a few days for nearby cities in the southwest and west coast.

You’re a masseur only. That means you need to travel with a table. No self respecting masseur will offer bed-only massages. It makes for a poor client experience and it’s tough on your body, not to mention it screams unprofessionalism.

So, that means air travel is out. Any standard table will not fit the dimension limitations for checking a bag, and if the airline will take it, it’s pricey to check. Nevermind any other equipment or supplies such as a towel warmer or large quantities of oil, or all the linens you need. Oh and by the way your regular travel bag with clothes, toiletries and essentials.

Then there’s ground transportation. Rideshares, shuttles, and taxis are expensive. Public transportation is incredibly inconvenient, slow, and unpleasant in most places (if available at all).

Frankly, to do the traveling masseur correctly and profitably, air travel is simply impractical. You have to drive. Having a car saves you time, money, gives you space, convenience, flexibility, and reliability. Shop for groceries using your car whenever you need them rather than paying a premium to eat out. Spend money on cheap gas in many parts of the country. For me, almost anywhere is less expensive than my home city in CA. Airfare is not only more expensive, it takes loads of time getting to/from the airport, security, and buffer time, lines, waiting, and not to mention air traffic delays. At that point, you would have already made it to your destination just driving.

Select your travel cities wisely. Determine these on several factors like overall metro area population, amount of relative competition / market saturation, demand for your skills and looks, geography, distance from your home city and/or distance from other cities on your circuit, time of year, special events, holidays, etc. and last but not least, existing client base in those cities.

There is always some risk in visiting a new city. Even cities you’ve done well in before can be less profitable if you visit at the wrong time. For Austin, that’s roughly June-August but March-May is great. For Buffalo, the bad times are roughly October-April. Every city is different and it takes some trial and error. Canvassing cannot predict what you will make. It only frustrates clients and those who book ahead cancel and change plans last minute anyway. You can’t avoid the need to take educated, calculated risks. Boots on the ground, accommodations costs paid. Miles driven. There is no other way. 

Space your city dates to give yourself enough time to make decent money, but not too much time to run out of work. Clients lose interest if you’re there for too long. When you’re slow, spend less time in that city or skip it next time. I find a week is a good sweet spot; it gives clients a variety of day/time options to fit with their availability. Give yourself a full day between cities for driving. It’s not uncommon to drive for 4-8 hrs between cities. I shoot for around 6 hours assuming a 9am checkout and a 3pm check in, disregarding any time zone changes. Don’t take clients on your travel day. You need the rest. It gives you an opportunity to get groceries after you arrive, and a good couple of hours to set up, unrushed. Then unwind and get to be early for a good night of sleep. Any traffic delays or road closures will not matter because you’re not trying to rush into town to make an unrealistic 4:00pm client appointment on your first night. Don’t do that to yourself or your clients. Take the rest so you will be ready to start fresh the next morning, no stress, no rushing, no overpromising, or under delivering.

Advertise travel prior to your arrival, but not too soon. A month is too much, in my experience. You spend way too much time fielding inquiries for times that you are not advertising for (because clients don’t read the ad or travel dates). Or they see you around for weeks and take you for granted or get bored and move on to the next new face. Or overthink booking you and never book. Or they can’t plan that far ahead. Or their plans change and they more frequently need to cancel or change their appointment with you. So many reasons why too much notice is a bad thing.

Advertising only a day ahead is too little. Few people will see and respond to your ad that quickly. By that point you don’t have your first couple days booked up yet and you don’t want to waste precious work time (for which you’re spending a lot of overhead) sitting around waiting for clients to text. 1-2 weeks is the sweet spot IMHO. It’s enough time for your clients to see you before you arrive and waffle about reaching out, and they have enough notice to plan around their lives. Then there are the people who will not reach out until after you are in town, no matter how open or flexible their schedules are. They are jaded by canvassing masseurs flaking on them because the masseur decided not to make the trip. Also some clients have good old fashioned poor planning skills, impulsivity, or only find a time pop up short notice that he couldn’t have planned for if he wanted to based on his family or jobs or whatever. This is why you have to actually GO to a city, not just attempt to gauge interest from afar.

Accommodations are tricky. You need to have the right combination of convenient location, [perceived] safe location, free/convenient parking, and level of quality to attract the clients you’re going for. Motel 6 on the outskirts of town won’t cut it. Neither will the Ritz in the center of downtown. That’s why I rent short term units, usually houses, sometimes other types. I can find the right balance of cost, convenience, and quality that way. Also: private dedicated laundry! Which you need if you’re soiling six clients worth of linens per day. Find what works for you. If it’s too expensive, skip that area or that city. Let the economics of the thing drive your decisions. At the end of the day, you need to make money. If you’re spending a dollar to make only a dollar back, that’s free labor you’re offering.

You’re right. Overhead is high. It’s difficult to make a profit traveling. I make a profit by doing high volume, often 5-6 clients a day. I escort too, so that boosts my income and makes it more realistic. I might do 0-2 escort appointments per day, and 4-6 massages a day. That’s a LOT of work, typically spanning over 13-16 hrs a day. You can’t make this model work taking only a couple massage clients per day. Volume is where it’s at. Select the right cities, the right times, the right accommodations, and your clients will line up to see you. Trial and error. See what sticks.

Do your research. Ask around. Book. Then hit the road!

 

Congratulations, you are somebody who clearly puts some serious thought in your business and worked out a viable plan.

Since you travel by car, I guess I will never see you in NYC (where I live).  Regardless, I enjoy reading your posts here.  Maybe it will work out one day for us.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2024 by BaronArtz

[+ keroscenefire]

I think in some cities, air travel is probably better than driving. Denver is a good example. We're 500+ miles from any other large city. The closest is probably Albuquerque and that is still a 6 hour plus drive. But DIA is one of the world's busiest airports and there is a lot of competition on routes. I just got tickets to San Diego in December for only $150 round trip. I rarely pay over $300 domestic. If an escort has a good frequent flier program and/or hotel program, I think that would probably be the way to go if you're a Denver escort wanting to travel. But people out east with lots of cities close by, definitely driving would be a better option. 

[Simon Suraci]

4 hours ago, BaronArtz said:

Congratulations, you are somebody who clearly puts some serious thought in your business and worked out a viable plan.

Since you travel by car, I guess I will never see you in NYC (where I live).  Regardless, I enjoy reading your posts here.  Maybe it will work out one day for us.

Thanks. I do put a lot of thought into business, and it’s served me well. I’ve learned to pivot too. When something isn’t working, I change.

I would love to visit NYC, along with a few other larger east coast cities, for example Boston-NYC-Philadelphia-DC and then circle on back using my midsize city model; Raleigh, and back on through Tennessee to more of my usual places. Clients in NYC want to see me there, including some forum members. I haven’t worked out a viable approach just yet. I’ll post a separate topic for that discussion.

[Simon Suraci]

5 minutes ago, keroscenefire said:

Denver

Denver is on my list. It’s not too far for me. I’m looking at: Las Vegas-Salt Lake City-Colorado Springs-Albuquerque-Tucson and then back to San Diego. The biggest stretch is SLC to Colorado Springs, pushing my limits for driving all in one day. But then again I have family in CS, so I would probably take an extra day out of my schedule to rest and hang out there anyway.

I considered Denver because of geography and city size, but my analysis tells me the market is more saturated there. I think I would do better in Colorado Springs, in what appears to be a relatively underserved market per capita compared to Denver. Who knows, I may do ok in Denver, but I tend to do my best business in underserved markets.

Anyone really wanting to see me in Denver, PM me.

[+ keroscenefire]

6 minutes ago, Simon Suraci said:

Denver is on my list. It’s not too far for me. I’m looking at: Las Vegas-Salt Lake City-Colorado Springs-Albuquerque-Tucson and then back to San Diego. The biggest stretch is SLC to Colorado Springs, pushing my limits for driving all in one day. But then again I have family in CS, so I would probably take an extra day out of my schedule to rest and hang out there anyway.

I considered Denver because of geography and city size, but my analysis tells me the market is more saturated there. I think I would do better in Colorado Springs, in what appears to be a relatively underserved market per capita compared to Denver. Who knows, I may do ok in Denver, but I tend to do my best business in underserved markets.

Anyone really wanting to see me in Denver, PM me.

Yeah I think you might be right about staying in Colorado Springs. Suprisingly a lot of Denver escorts don't cross list to Colorado Springs even though it's only an hour away. I think the fact that you're a masseur will help too. Denver has a lot of escorts (mostly a lot of recent Latino immigrants) but actually not as many masseurs.  Currently there are If you 89 escorts on RM but only 16 on Rentmasseur in Denver. There used to be more but maybe when Rentmasseur upgraded a lot fell through. My go to also moved to San Diego so I think some just left town too.

 

I think if you stayed in Colorado Springs, it woudln't be hard to drive to Denver for a client or two. As long as the weather is okay which in winter can be somewhat hit and miss.  Good luck on your trip!