True Independent Escorts and Agency Escorts

[Stephanie]

But all escorts have to pay third parties, for advertising, accommodation etc, is there something different about paying someone to take your calls or arrange accommodation for you, where do you draw the line?

For me personally, the line is at renting my own accommodation and paying for my own advertising.

But by God, sometimes I wish I had a personal shopper and a chef. Serious. I'd pay good money for it too xx

I do not rent premises as an 'escort'. I rent my accommodation as a private person, who happens to entertain .

No third party other than my advert team at EI xx



Someone answering the phone and taking bookings, has certain influence over who these visitors will be.

Accommodation : unless it is me looking at and choosing it, there is undue influence from the third party.

I wouldn't like that. But that's just me. Each to their own.

Sometimes it would be great to have the convenience of someone taking calls, arranging stuff,

but I would NEVER relinquish such control to anyone.

[Patricia]

I'm sorry but I can't agree with you on this one. That would be a definition of an Escort in my mind, but the word 'Independent' before it implies she is self employed and therefore it rules out ladies that work for anyone but themselves.

But it is not that black and white as most agency escorts are self-employed too are they not, just choosing to take on agency work?

[Rachel Divine]

I think as independent you pay only the ads, accommodation etc....

If there is a person arranging all that it's either a secretary (which for me would be welcome as i forget lots of things) but you still have to pay it. Either an agency or pimp ... that asks for a commission. (which is too high considering the only thing they do is going online and pay an add, answer phone calls ... and arranging for you the accommodation)

The only 3 things i would pay for, but i think is not necessary yet, as i can handle it ... is a PA (to remember me the things i have to do and ... also some accounting things) ... a made , and a security guy...

Or 3 in 1 if possible ... hahha

Escorts decide what to charge for their time, as agencies decide their fee, if you think it is too high for those "little" things they do , dont work with them, but please, dont make look like the escorts who choose to work for an agency like they are being taken advantage off.

[Patricia]

For me personally, the line is at renting my own accommodation and paying for my own advertising.

But by God, sometimes I wish I had a personal shopper and a chef. Serious. I'd pay good money for it too xx

I do not rent premises as an 'escort'. I rent my accommodation as a private person, who happens to entertain .

No third party other than my advert team at EI xx



Someone answering the phone and taking bookings, has certain influence over who these visitors will be.

Accommodation : unless it is me looking at and choosing it, there is undue influence from the third party.

I wouldn't like that. But that's just me. Each to their own.

Sometimes it would be great to have the convenience of someone taking calls, arranging stuff,

but I would NEVER relinquish such control to anyone.

Good answer Stephanie, but it's the answer for you I think, not the answer for every lady. Ladies that don't speak English well for example are far more likely to see merit in using telephonist services.

[Curvaceous Kate]

I think closing quote in this article from Laura Lee is very good:

http://local.stv.tv/glasgow/magazine...titution-bill/

"As an industry, we are very self-regulating, so within our own industry there is a code of ethics that exists. If it came to light that there were women in fear or being co-ersed or what not, as an industry we would look to report that because we have standards of business practice and as a community we look out for one another."

But I think here the community has become too quick to judge escorts at times, and if we want a healthy industry where people are not abused, we need to stop assuming agency = trafficked.

In England Agency definitely does not mean trafficked. I know and have socialised with ladies that work for agencies and they all do it of their own free will. They prefer to work for an agency or parlour, because it means they don't have to sort out accomodation, therefore they have no overheads and the men come to them, so they don't have to do their own advertising etc, they are looked after. However, they do often have to work long hours and it is harder for them to discriminate. They have no input into who they see, so generally it is a tougher life, but still many women prefer it for the previous reasons.

It is different to being Independent in many ways. Personally it is not an option that I could take, as I have a fundemental need to be in total control and am 100% responsible for my own actions. It also means there is a lot of trial and error and the job (for me atleast) is made more interesting, because I organise my own advertising, schedules and accomodation. It means I can bring more of myself to the table.

I hope this does not come across as knocking agency girls. I think they work hard and gain less, but if they are happy to do so, then fair play to them, but they are NOT Independent Escorts. They are employed by the agency.

[samlad]

An excellent thread, Rachel.

The concept of 'independent' in the sense of escorting is a grey area in my opinion. Some people think an 'independent' escort should be one that works on her own free will. That is fair enough. Some state that an 'independent' escort should not have to hand over their money to anyone else. This is where is gets blurry for me.

We have all seen the threads about escorts having to fork out for the costs of accommodation (say an average of €100 per night for arguments sake), then flight/travel costs, food, cost of an advertisement (€100 a week on E-I or €70 for three days). So let's say that an escort advertises for a week; that's €700 rent, €100 advertising, let's say €200-€300 for travel costs and about €100-€150 to feed themselves (I'm only guessing a ball-park figure here by the way). That would be up to €1150 in expenses. If an escort sees around an average of three clients a day at €200 an hour, that's €600 a day, right? Some days there may be five 30 min clients, others there may be four or five 1 hour clients; it's not set in stone. So let's say that it's even €400 a day, multiply that by 7 days, there is around €2100 made in the week, minus expenses, an escort is looking at a profit of about €950-€1000 a week (give or take). Again, all hypothetical, so please don't hang me for it. Plus, many escorts pay taxes too

Now look at an agency escort. From what we know, it is standard for an agency worker to pay 50% of their income for services rendered. Travel, accommodation and other expenses taken care of. Many of these escorts don't speak English as a first language, nor do they know Ireland very well or how to get around, or they need someone to create their profiles for them or take bookings for them. If they see the same amount of clients as these 'independent' escorts, aren't they earning more or less the same without the hassle of trying to do all this stuff themselves? What if they are happy to pay for these services? Why should they be condemned for it?

You hear these stories of children in America being brought up by their nannies because their parents are far too busy to look after them. I've read these stories about some of these children only being able to speak Spanish because their nannies are Hispanic and don't speak much English. These American parents think their child has a speech impediment or are deaf, but they speak perfectly, just in another language. The point of this really is that parents have to work so they will hire someone (an agent) to look after their children while they are doing so; if there is nobody to watch the children, the parents cannot work so they don't make any money. It's the same thing.

Why don't agency escorts advertise as agency then? I agree that they should advertise as agency if they are agency, but is it any wonder why they don't? It is common knowledge that MOST 'independent' escorts have at some point worked for an agency themselves, and that is fine, everyone has to start somewhere, right? If an escort works in Ireland under an agency, they are publicly hanged, drawn and quartered by the public and by the media. The issue is this; clients assume that agency = coerced and trafficked. This is NOT always the case, in fact, it is not the case MOST of the time.

This is a problem we see all the time. "She uses fake photos, so she is trafficked/she is pimped/she is agency". It doesn't mean an escort is trafficked! How many cases do we actually know about of any escort that was legitimately trafficked AND forced to work against their will? There are cases of 'trafficking', but this is usually when an escort is caught out working with other escorts and are shipped back home.

So, in my opinion, there is a difference between being 'independent' and 'thinking independently'. An agency escort may make the independent choice of working for an agency. Agency does not always equal trafficked or coerced. Technically, if someone else pays for a ticket for a travelling escort, they are 'trafficking' her. It is a very grey area and the media have a field-day spinning that one. This is the stigma that is being conditioned all the time and it's time that people thought more about it before rhyming off the usual template of common misconception.

[UKHeather]

My choice to speak to potential clients and decide who to see and not to see.

[UB40]

It is good to see people posting openly on this subject as No matter what girls had claimed to be independents here I always wondered whether they were putting on an act to attract the punters that wanted to avoid meeting trafficked or agency girls. Now I believe that there are a lot of independents out there, but what percentage overall I'd guess 15 to 25 % of those who advertise. What would you all say on this ?

[Luna Nueva]

Having a bf to maintain it is equal to a pimp, the only difference it is that you are not forced.
A kid at home it is worse than a pimp..

Working for an agency you do what you want, go where you want, you decide what to do with your money. The only thing is you have to work from x hour to x hour. If you do not want to work for whatever reason, a good agency will not force you to work.
From my experience , I worked with good agencies and what I write here is most from my own experience not what I have heard.

I am influenced all the time on my decisions where to work by many factors.
I think the law is a different in North than in South of Ireland, as it is in Ireland comparing other countries, therefore I must adapt to the country s law...
I rely on others for support and I will give an example, simple, on an hotel availability in order to get a room and be able to work.

May I ask how did you arrived to Ireland and started to work?

If you help a familly member or a b-friend, or a kid... whatever... i think is because you decided so. So IT'S YOUR OWN DECISION. When it comes with a pimp or agency it's a bit different.

I am helping my family since i started working in Ireland, actually that was the reason i came here, as i said in some previous posts.

I did work for agency at the beginning, i would of come alone, independent, but never worked as an escort before so i didn't know how things are working.

I had to give them 25% of my earnings, and they would find accommodation (that we had to pay for). After a while, i understood what an escort means, had enough regular clients, contacts... etc.. and i didn't need them anymore.

I just told them i will be fine alone, and I left. In some other cases they would make you pay for it, or even try to stop you working. But i made them understand there is no way forcing me doing something i don't want. We are living in the XXI century... I knew the laws, my advantages...

Now as independent i work if i want... when i used to work for them i had a schedule, targets to reach. And had to take every client calling me. Now i can do a selection, and meet only the clients I trust/ i like.

And helping the close ones, i don't see it like something that you MUST DO, ts something that you WANT TO do.

For me freedom is on top of everything else, and no body will never take that away from me. Because i am my own master and i decide what i want to do ... with my life and decisions

[Curvaceous Kate]

But it is not that black and white as most agency escorts are self-employed too are they not, just choosing to take on agency work?

Yes it is black and white. When they are working for the agency, they are not Independent and when they work for themselves they are. They in effect have 2 jobs doing the same thing. So when filling out a tax form you would declare your 'self employed' earnings and then your 'employed' earnings. They are not mixed up into one thing.

Talking about advertising as a third party? Very odd indeed. As a self employed business you are paying an advertiser to advertise for you. This is what all businesses do, it's normal practice. You would not normally address an advertiser as a third party, so why here?