*REAL* Gentleman escort service idea...

I was thinking...
and then thought of a business.

Where sophisticated smooth-talking gentleman 'escort' ladies to parties, or be their dance partner, kind of be a stand-in boyfriend, but with nothing to do with sex as the euphemism of escort infers to.

Kind of be a paid 'arm-candy'.

What does anybody think of this? Any comment/thoughts/improvements?

~~Tokidoki

What?

Literally be ESCORTS, in the TRUE SENSE OF THE WORD??

We can't have that! There's no sex, and theres no... well, there's no sex!

Actually, I like the idea of being an escort for the evening, or of being escorted. Trouble is, I don't have a reliable enough schedule to actually DO it, but it's a great idea.


I hate that euphemism: "escorts". Why don't we call them what they really are? Are the words "prostitute", "whore", "hooker", "lady of the evening", or "purveyor of the world's second oldest profession" offensive?

But "escorts"... a real escort is someone who goes with you to some public (or private) event and goes her or his own way at the end of the night. No hanky panky. No "tips". I mean, if a RL woman really did work as an escort, how does she say "no, I don't do sex" in a way that guys would actually believe, since the escort is almost synonomous with prostitute now days.

Oh well. I guess in this PC era, we're not allowed to call things as they really are any more.

;0

Come get some of what I got ;0

I know someone who actually tried running this sort of service, with a handful of friends.

There was no interest whatsoever, so he gave up with it.

I don't know how well it was advertised or anything, but thought I'd mention it.

Lewis

You said gentleman and escort in one line. Reason why it won't work. Do a sex change = more money.

Then again, long time ago the Land Baroness did this with her PG version of escorting. I'm not sure if she made more than 5 dolla.

There was no interest because the unfortunate truth of the matter is that we women are only interested in "male escorts" if they also happen to be Richard Gere....



Chris Rock has a very funny routine along the same route noting that "even old, ugly women get offered dick at least 3 times a day", so women are by nature less inclined to pay for male company since we usually have plenty of offers for free services.

Guilty m'lud

I was one of the organisers of Gentlemen for Hire (GFH) which ran for a few months and achieved possibly the lowest turnover of any business venture in SL (ie zero billion Lindens).

The idea came from a friend, and my wife picked it up and ran with it. I just got the build & script work .

As a post-mortem exercise, we found the following:

1. Quite a few women were interested in using the service
   
2. Advertising was difficult
   
3. It was impossible to make the fees charged and wages expected meet in the middle
   
4. Timeslot allocations were a big problem.
   

To explain the last two points, we had a few ladies who wanted help for a whole day of SL time, e.g. helping to run a large social event. Now that raised two big issues. The hourly fee was too expensive for them to pay, but charging less would have meant very low wages for the gentleman, though the agency was taking only a 10% cut. But perhaps equally problematic was finding someone who could spare a whole day to work like this, and in the right timezone to deliver the service. Most of the guys in SL are holding down jobs and get on for a couple of hours at a stretch, so whole-day bookings are just impossible.

Advertising is also a problem, because there is no obvious place to put such ads. We ran classifieds, had a listed Land entry and so forth. But that doesn't get enough eyeballs. Hiring vendor space in a Popular Place costs a fortune, which is beyond the reach of a start-up without a huge cash injection.

From the outset we thought the idea had at best a 50/50 chance, and it was an interesting learning exercise. But I think the demographic of SL is against such a business succeeding.

Always quite liked the term "negotiable affection". But you are quite right. The true escort is someone employed by a single person to attend social functions where everyone else is a couple. And preferably someone very attractive and personable. We had a lot of really nice guys on the books, so we could afford to be picky.

I think I would be capable of escorting a lady to a ball, complete with old world manners, and just the right amount of devilsh flirtation and flattery. However, my guess is that few of the employees of such a business would be skilled enough to carry off more than just being arm candy-role and sex partner.

It would take something of a more skilled and practiced approach to make it worth the intended lady's time and money. But a nice idea nonetheless.

Hmmm now there's a thought... perhaps I could make some money by offering to accompany ladies to events, and they pay me not to?

Lewis

So as your name refers to as some times you watch tv As you sure you want to start a escort service. maybe your better off watching tv more offen.

It's a commendable concept--folks who have tried it before deserve credit for the attempt, and that fact that those attempts didn't fly as well as they deserved doesn't mean it couldn't work now, possibly with some adaptation.

Just a thought, perhaps one might start in a place like Caledon, where you have a certain level of population that includes quite a few women, who as I recall were complaining about the lack of available gentlemen at the last large social event. Furthermore, you have a number of events taking place there, with substantial lead time that would allow people to work things into their schedules. Of course there is that whole thing about haivng to play the role of a victorian gentleman, which takes a special sort of fellow to carry off. But it might be a place to start on a modest scale and begin buidling a rep.

I'm having a bit of mixed feedback here, but some great constructive feedback nonetheless. And yes, the fact that no sex will be involved would be a huge turn-off for a huge audience.

But I think I might be willing to give it a shot, just start small with couple of friends instead of hiring right away.

Anyhow, I'll keep brainstorming . Any help/ideas should STILL be posted to help me along!

Thank you all so much for your in-depth posts..!

~Tokidoki

OH...and Usagi...

LoL Usagi the "sometimes" I'm speaking of is as in "sometimes" things happens, and fate takes a turn. That kind of sometimes.

I'd pay for that.

You couldn't afford me.

Sounds like a good start for my non-escort service... anyone know what the average rates are?

Maybe my dream of having an island isn't too far off after all.....

Lewis

I'm available. Although until the good part I may only he half-paying attention.

What about calling it something along the lines of " Safe Date". More for those that want to just enjoy a night out ballroom dancing or clubbing but don't want to of course stand the walls alone because we all know its a lot more fun with someone.

I know I have run into a few guys in game that have been more than happy to just hang out, be a friend and not push for the sexual content. Sometimes it is nice to just come in and not have to worry about anything.

See, you found your capitalist niche after all.

I think it sounds like a nice idea! I'm not in any position to start throwing Lindens around yet, but in the future I would consider looking into something like this. I tend to be very outgoing in small groups but completely clam up around larger crowds, so having someone with me at larger events would be comforting, be them friend or companion or escort, anything. Also, in my brief exploration of the world thus far I've run into several escort 'type' services that mostly seemed more XXX-based, so I like the idea of something more tame.

Good luck with everything if you go ahead with this idea!

I work primarily as an assistant Builder and as a photographer's model in SL. I would be perfectly happy to supplement that with work as a gentleman escort, in a strictly family-friendly way, if I just had the free time to do so! I have a good-looking avatar, can dress well, have good manners, can do text roleplay quite well, etc. - so I could fill the role well.

But I do NOT do the 'sex for pay' type of Escort work common in SL, nor would I be interested in that. I rarely have sufficient privacy for such games, and when I do, I have several close associates who happily fill that need for me, without any need for exchanging money.

i LOVE this idea for an escort service!!!!

Along similar lines, I run a "bad boyfriend" service for the ladies.

For a small fee, I'll ignore you while I'm scripting, hang out with my friends rather than you and stay out till all hours. I also will not cut the lawn or help out with any of the housework. And I like my dinner on the table when I get home.

Second tier services involve running around behind your back with your best friend.

Priceless, Luciftias!

One person mentioned that it is tough to find men skilled enough in manners and conversation as well as having enough free time away from their RL jobs. Why not turn the usual SL stereotype on its head and hire women to be gentleman escorts? I'm sure they would do a much better job of it.