True Independent Escorts and Agency Escorts

[Luna Nueva]

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, don't make look like the escorts who choose to work for an agency like they are being taken advantage off.

I didn't. Don't talk on behalf me. I only said i would not pay just for accommodation/ answering phones/ etc

I agree there are girls that might need help from an agency.... but that means they are not truly independent, and that's what we are talking about on this thread. The one answering the phone decides which clients are going to visit the escort... am i right? So where is the independence?

[Stephanie]

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.

I wholly agree.

But I would hesitate to call an escort independent if someone else is making the decision as to whom she will see [ie. 'telephonist'].

An agency in itself may not be a bad thing, and in fact could be an excellent launching platform for 'new kids on the block'

-- girls with little English etc.

I think the problem lies in 1. Agencies being illegal, 2. it is so much more difficult to judge the 'willingness' of the provider if 'handled' .

Benevolent agencies I think can benefit certain providers, but it is just too easy for the not-so-nice 'agents' to blend in.

..

[Curvaceous Kate]

I'm sorry, but some of the arguments being presented are laughable. Anyone who is self employed in business will have to outlay costs. No business does not generate costs and that is all those expenses are. You have to take your expenses off your earnings to find your profit margin. If you are not doing this, then you are not Independent, because someone is employing you. That is WHY some girls go to Agencies, because they don't want the headache of having to keep books and fork out the money up front.

Seriously you would think some people had no idea about how business works *scratches head*.

[funlover12]

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.

well said sam, pretty much my thoughts exactly, I mean look as escort england, there are TONS more escorts advertising as agency escorts!

for some reason it is completely the opposite here now why is that?

agencies are like people, there are good ones and bad ones but most girls in ireland and I mean by a long way are actually agency, agencies dont give out free accomodation and advertising for nothing, so the agency expects the girls to work to set times.

there really need to be a breakdown of the stigma and the joining together of agency = trafficked and forced to work

[Patricia]

Is the law re agencies not much the same in UK and Ireland?
I don't think this is about law so much as discrimination towards agencies here.

[Clyde]

I had a conversation with an indi lady last week who used to work for an agency. She had a really bad 2 months with no cash left over every week, she said she wished she worked for the agency again no adds no rent etc. She said when times are bad in the business its better to work for the agency ....... interesting point I think.

[Patricia]

I'm sorry, but some of the arguments being presented are laughable. Anyone who is self employed in business will have to outlay costs. No business does not generate costs and that is all those expenses are. You have to take your expenses off your earnings to find your profit margin. If you are not doing this, then you are not Independent, because someone is employing you. That is WHY some girls go to Agencies, because they don't want the headache of having to keep books and fork out the money up front.

Seriously you would think some people had no idea about how business works *scratches head*.

In the UK is it not the case that most agencies do not employ escorts? The escorts are self-employed. Many escorts there work for multiple agencies, plus independently at times, they are not employees of the agency, they are just taking work from an agency as a self-employed person.

[Curvaceous Kate]

I personally think 50% is very high and much higher than the percentage taken in England. Working a 12 hour shift for an Agency I think it would be fair to say they would see at least 6 clients in a day? Say that is approx 800e (likely to be much more) that is 400e for the day. The accomodation may cost them 100e, although likely cheaper if they rent it monthly themselves. Then someone on the phone, say 50e contribution, although I'm sure she would be answering the phone for more than one person during the day, which leaves them with 250e

I'm sure she would likely be working a lot more than that and earning more too, so that is a very lean day and they get at least 250e per day, per lady minimum after expenses. She however still has to pay rent or motgage where she lives and all the other day to day expenses.

Do Agencies over here pay for the photo shoot and advertising or does the lady have to pay that too? In England this would all be covered by the Agency.

[Luna Nueva]

I had a conversation with an indi lady last week who used to work for an agency. She had a really bad 2 months with no cash left over every week, she said she wished she worked for the agency again no adds no rent etc. She said when times are bad in the business its better to work for the agency ....... interesting point I think.

I think it depends on escorts capacity of managing her income. Also the money she is spending.

It depends on personality as well... if the escort likes others to control, while she just does a minimum effort. Or the escorts likes to control everything, and she does it better than being with an agency.

Having a good background, a good reputation, some regular clients, helps you survive independent and be able to pay adds/rents/etc... and makes things easier.

Language is an obstacle for many girls. Communication is a plus in any job. I think that is the main reason for many to keep working with agencies.

In other countries, like Netherlands, most of the escorts are working with agencies, because they are legal. They work better together. But in Ireland the idea of agency is the equivalent with pimping and trafficking.

Actually in other countries the agencies are making a casting for the escorts working for them, but they also offer a good quality of clients. And they are promoting the girls in a real way.

[Patricia]

I personally think 50% is very high and much higher than the percentage taken in England. Working a 12 hour shift for an Agency I think it would be fair to say they would see at least 6 clients in a day? Say that is approx 800e (likely to be much more) that is 400e for the day. The accomodation may cost them 100e, although likely cheaper if they rent it monthly themselves. Then someone on the phone, say 50e contribution, although I'm sure she would be answering the phone for more than one person during the day, which leaves them with 250e

I'm sure she would likely be working a lot more than that and earning more too, so that is a very lean day and they get at least 250e per day, per lady minimum after expenses. She however still has to pay rent or motgage where she lives and all the other day to day expenses.

Do Agencies over here pay for the photo shoot and advertising or does the lady have to pay that too? In England this would all be covered by the Agency.

I don't know the answers to these questions. I think agencies are underground here and thus we don't know.