Using same phone number for personal and professional life?

[bobchitown]

I sometimes google an escorts posted phone number since it is a great quick way to pull up all his various listings.

 

About 10% of the time I also pull up random listings from other parts of his life. Right now there is a visiting guy in Chicago who's phone number calls up an ad for him as a contractor. There's a guy in the NE who's phone number pulls up a completely normal life as a salesman - including links to pictures of him with children at charity events. These links often reveal actual names, home addresses, etc.

 

Isn't getting a separate phone number the most obvious first thing to do when getting into the biz?

[josephga]

I use the same number for my massage business and personal life. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have. most even know my last name another mistake

[Romann]

Personal and professional kept separate.

 

Thanks to the HUGE advancements in meta-data mining, many search engines such as Google and a host of other companies are pulling information from all over the Internet which once recorded, it will always be somewhere on some far off server just waiting to be found.

 

Having said that, I would highly recommend that you maintain a personal mobile number and a professional number unless of course you don't mind if people will be able to search your number and see what it is attached to.

 

I sometimes google an escorts posted phone number since it is a great quick way to pull up all his various listings.

 

About 10% of the time I also pull up random listings from other parts of his life. Right now there is a visiting guy in Chicago who's phone number calls up an ad for him as a contractor. There's a guy in the NE who's phone number pulls up a completely normal life as a salesman - including links to pictures of him with children at charity events. These links often reveal actual names, home addresses, etc.

 

Isn't getting a separate phone number the most obvious first thing to do when getting into the biz?

[seaboy4hire]

The same can be said for emails. Recently I had a not very nice person email me so I Googled his email addy. He was very active in a kids sporting league. Now had I been a complete asshole like some think I am I could have forwarded his emails to me to the head person. But I am not and let it rest. Now as for phone numbers I don't want to be toting along two different phones. Besides most everyone I know knows what I do so if anyone tired to "out" me my folk would be like yeah so no biggie, we already knew was a big ol' hoe. And for those that don't know I could careless if they knew or not really.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[Romann]

And there you have it.

 

For myself personally, I like having the separation but I do completely agree with you on the pain of having to carry two phones which does get old after a little while.

 

Though... I also had to consider that I wasn't the only part of the total equation and instead, I had family which needed to be considered as well. By using one line for both personal and professional, there was the very strong possibility that a family member or family friend may find something they didn't want to know. Such knowledge risked putting too much strain on my family and because of that, I determined it was the best course of action for all parties involved - directly or indirectly.

 

I commend those who are able to be completely open and honest about their escorting profession (highly respectable) and in many ways envy them! I can see how that bit of truth would be very beneficial but like many things, it's not so black and white or at least it wasn't for me.

 

I have been saying for a couple years now that I'm surprised that someone hasn't come up with a phone that is equipped with two different SIM Cards enabling it to have multiple numbers on one device. While I'm sure that it's much more complicated than that and much R&D would and probably has gone into the idea, humanity also put people on the moon in 10 years. It would be a great idea that I think many would jump off buildings to buy - I know that I would! Two phone numbers for one device eliminating the need for multiple phones.

 

 

The same can be said for emails. Recently I had a not very nice person email me so I Googled his email addy. He was very active in a kids sporting league. Now had I been a complete asshole like some think I am I could have forwarded his emails to me to the head person. But I am not and let it rest. Now as for phone numbers I don't want to be toting along two different phones. Besides most everyone I know knows what I do so if anyone tired to "out" me my folk would be like yeah so no biggie, we already knew was a big ol' hoe. And for those that don't know I could careless if they knew or not really.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[KMEM]

One solution might be to call forward a land line or another cell phone to your primary cell phone. You would have to rely upon the caller ID feature to know who might be calling. Most folks just answer the phone by saying hello and then see what develops thereafter. I suppose a few might answer Joe's chicken ranch or whatever the name of the business might be but that might be fairly rare.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[Romann]

Good idea!

 

That's another good suggestion too. I had thought of that and tried it for a few weeks, had my mobile used for escorting forwarded to my personal phone till I found one thing that I didn't like. Once the call is forwarded to my personal mobile and I don't pick up or push the call to voicemail for whatever reason, the message is sent to my personal voicemail instead of pushing to call back to the other mobile (my escorting line) in which my personal has a very different message compared to my escorting mobile.

 

It's really a personal call I guess or that is how it was for me.

 

One solution might be to call forward a land line or another cell phone to your primary cell phone. You would have to rely upon the caller ID feature to know who might be calling. Most folks just answer the phone by saying hello and then see what develops thereafter. I suppose a few might answer Joe's chicken ranch or whatever the name of the business might be but that might be fairly rare.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[Guest RianB]

Now had I been a complete asshole like some think I am I could have forwarded his emails to me to the head person. But I am not and let it rest.

 

I sometimes google an escorts posted phone number. These links often reveal actual names, home addresses, etc.

 

Isn't getting a separate phone number the most obvious first thing to do when getting into the biz?

 

Thats why some of us prefer a cheapo prepaid phone for this...its discreet and doesnt give out unnecessary information. And to even have all of that information available in the hands of the wrong person like Greg! would just be...that'd just be bad.

 

and I dont think its so obvious to everyone. When I first started I had no idea I'd still be interested in doing it a year later! so one phone seemed like enough

[+ David-SF]

add a line

 

most phone companies offer to add a line for 10 bucks

and you can forward one number to the other and carry one phone

its 20 cents a minute for calls forwarded but if you use the line that gets less calls then its about 50 bucks a month extra I did it worked great

 

the only problem was that when i returned the call my personal number was exposed to the client and caused a little confusion

so i would get "so should i call you on this number or the other number "

i said either one is fine

[devonhunter]

i want to thank you all for having this discussion. seeing this thread prompted me to google my phone number, and it was obvious that i needed to get a separate number (which i had not done as an exotic dancer). so... thanks for reminding me of the obvious!! i appreciate it! LOL i feel like such a blundering novice sometimes... you guys are so helpful. thank you xoxo

[raulgmanzo]

dual sim phones DO exist

 

Dual SIM cell phones have been around for a while. And there are adapters for sale to retrofit various models with an extra slot for a second SIM. This is sometimes done by replacing the SIM with a small cable that connects to a switch and two SIM slots or sometimes having to cut and modify the sim card, sometimes a slightly varied battery and new back cover. But the phones designed to hold two SIM card from the start are of course best because many of them will allow you to have both lines "in service" at the same time.

Just search for dual sim. If you haven't heard of them it is because the typical cell phone dealer doesn't tend to stock them. But they are more common in other countries.

 

I have been saying for a couple years now that I'm surprised that someone hasn't come up with a phone that is equipped with two different SIM Cards enabling it to have multiple numbers on one device.

[jasoncarter_dfw]

There are Chinese knockoffs that are dual sim all over Ebay.

[Guest redheaderic]

Google Voice!

 

I use a Google Voice number, which rings my regular mobile. It provides a separate voicemail box, and I was able to configure it so my caller ID lets me know if which number a call is coming in on.

Keeps me from having to carry a second phone, but still allows me two numbers, and thus some distance between my personal and professional lives.