I'm including a few notes below to clarify some common questions. I track my data every shift in a spreadsheet and I made the visualization with Numbers and Photoshop.
**How does one read the chart?**... The green bars are my net earnings per shift (left axis). I can choose how much to work, so each shift is a different length of time. The grey line shows my hourly rate for each shift (right axis). As an example, the first shift (7/28/23) had net earnings of $312 and I worked just over four hours so the hourly rate was $74. I generally try to work about five hours per shift but sometimes I leave early if I have somewhere to be or if I'm not in the right mindset to work effectively.
**Why are there only 37 shifts?**... I have posted here before showing [my stripper earnings over a four-year period](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/10jo0b2/oc_my_stripper_earnings_per_shift_over_four_years/) spanning various clubs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Then I took a little hiatus (COVID) and came out of retirement last July in a new small city at a club I'd never worked at before. Since then I have been generally working one shift per week, always on Fridays (Thanksgiving week the exception in the chart). This chart shows post-unretirement only. My per-shift earnings are generally lower than what I was making right before COVID (which was averaging over $500 per shift). I think it is mostly because I'm in a new city and I have not yet built up a stable of solid regular customers. This city also does not get as many business travelers, who are a good source of income.
**What does "net" earnings mean?**... "Net" is my take-home cash after club fees and tip outs, but before taxes. I pay a house fee to work every shift, ranging from $5 to $35 depending on what time I start my shift. For each $25 lap dance I pay the house a $5 fee. For each $275 VIP room 30-minute session I pay the house a $75 fee. I am entitled to keep all tips. There is a "mandatory" staff tip-out of $2 per lapdance and $20 per 30-minute VIP session, plus I generally tip out a little extra.
**What are the averages?**... I didn't include these on the chart as it looked too busy but my all-time average per shift at this club is $354, and my average hourly rate is $67.
**Why is there so much variability?**... Sometimes the club is having an overall lucrative day but my high-earning shifts are usually when I have large spending from a single outlier customer (not the same one each time).
**Aren't you worried the IRS will see this post?**... I pay taxes. Taxes are not withheld, but I pre-pay quarterly and use back-of-the-envelope math to reserve enough for each quarter.
**How do these earnings compare to other strippers?**... Almost impossible to know. There isn't reliable information from sources like the IRS. Social media accounts of earnings are biased towards those who make a lot of money. There are tons of dancers who don't do very well and then quit or don't talk about it.
**Do you have another job?**... Yes, I have a few sources of income currently, which is why I only dance once per week at the strip club. When I was stripping as my sole income I usually worked four shifts per week, which would be pretty taxing on my now 45-year-old knees.
**Why do people keep posting this stripper/OnlyFans garbage on DataIsBeautiful?**... As far as I can tell, I'm the only one, so if you just block my username you won't have to see any of it.
If you have other questions, comments, or ideas for ways to present the data, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for the data. It's interesting to see how money is spent as, oddly enough, wages are a great indicator of the health of an economy (both local and national). Especially wages driven by disposable income. Now I'm curious to see how Vegas wages would map against SP500 or how your wages would map against average salary of the local manufacturing plant with holiday bonuses. The simple speculation seems that increase at plant = increase in local stripper wage; but the devil is in the details and that may be wrong.
Things like dining out, movies, entertainment are often talked about as early economic indicators. I would think that strippers and sex workers would be a great and very early indicator. I would imagine it's one of the earliest expenses cut during an economic downturn. Good precursor to see consumer sentiment.
I agree. It maps against Maslow's Hierarchy. Though people part with their money for odd reasons. I also wonder if this maps against faith based charities; where the income would be very similar. In both cases, the donation plate is lighter when times are lean.....which might explain for the abject vitriol for some churches as stippers would cut into their profit margin.
It’s actually common to see a spike in “vice” spending in recessionary times.
The joke I grew up hearing was the food prices jump but the block stays cheap lol
I would expect to see some relationship to the absolute derivative of income; sudden windfall and people celebrate by partying, sudden loss and people cope by partying, so I would expect to see people who work on commission or who are in volatile sectors being more inclined to be involved with vices than those who have a constant income in jobs not particularly subject to economic conditions.
There is one public strip club (Rick's- RCI Hospitality officially - ticker RICK) that you can see info going back several years. They are primarily in Texas and SE but have places in NY, etc. They had great #s in 2021 and 2022 when everyone had COVID cash but has struggled and have blamed it on the economy.
Yeah that's interesting, if you go back a decade there's a massive difference in terms of post-2020 and pre-2019 performance. It's still one and a half times their pre covid peak, though perhaps if they expanded more that may still hurt them.
Thanks for the thoughts! There might be some interesting relations but I would guess they would be stronger at the club/industry level rather than at an individual level like what I show here. For instance, some of my high wage days are ones when my club was overall slow but I got lucky with one wealthy customer who spent a lot of money (unrelated to his own wages/bonuses).
Et current job requires a security clearance. On the form she put that she stripped from 18-22 and put me down as reference…lol
She got the clearance and nobody ever contacted me. Turns out being a stripper is not illegal. They just want to know so you won’t be blackmailed
If you write it i plan language on your SF86, they can be pretty confident nobody is going to blackmail you for it. Trying to creatively relabel it probably would have resulted in a lot more interest by the reviewer.
This data is really interesting and also show why data analysts need to the people who the data is about to see why the numbers are the way they are.
So are the especially long day that also have the higher hourly average due to you effectively hitting the jack pot with a high spender, and you staying at work longer to make the most of them?
None of my days in this data set are very long. Max is just over seven hours (for a $303 day when I was struggling) and the average is 5 hours 20 min. I wanted to include hours in the chart but couldn't figure out a way to do it without being too busy. But in cases when there is a spike in dollar earnings it's because my hourly rate is high (because of a big spender usually).
There is definitely inferences that can be drawn from this data. Pay days definitely stand out. I would expand the data set with equally diligent workers across geographies and look to resell the data to economists- additional revenue stream. Then sell it to clubs, make them collect data for you, to help select contractors, staffing levels and club profitability.
Lmao this isn't garbage this is great info! I was curious about the high paying days because the dates didn't seem significant to me, but I forget it's a very "whale" based industry. Didn't even think about the tax aspect. Thanks for sharing! I've been working on transcribing historic documents and it's always fascinating what's lost and what's preserved. I think you're very right that it's impossible to know, things in the area of sex work are kept so clandestine it's difficult to piece together information. I wonder if someday in the future someone will find this post and laugh about the insane dollar amount compared to future currency.
>**What does "net" earnings mean?**... "Net" is my take-home cash after club fees and tip outs, but before taxes. I pay a house fee to work every shift, ranging from $5 to $35 depending on what time I start my shift. For each $25 lap dance I pay the house a $5 fee. For each $275 VIP room 30-minute session I pay the house a $75 fee. I am entitled to keep all tips. There is a "mandatory" staff tip-out of $2 per lapdance and $20 per 30-minute VIP session, plus I generally tip out a little extra.
That's called gross profit. since you are basically an independent worker with business expenses, you should look at it this way. Net income is after expenses AND taxes.
Fair -- so the total dollars earned would be "gross revenue," then after the club fees and tip outs it's "gross profit" then after taxes it's "net." But then again, there are other business expenses that I'm not including here, so "gross profit" seems a bit misleading for the numbers I'm showing here. My point is just to show my take-home cash after club fees but before taxes.
> But then again, there are other business expenses that I'm not including here, so "gross profit" seems a bit misleading for the numbers I'm showing here. My point is just to show my take-home cash after club fees but before taxes.
it would be interesting to see a chart showing gross revenue with the various expenses (the club fees and tip outs you mention) along with other business expenses you are not including (presumably things you have to spend money on away from the club to be a successful stripper).
I think These posts are interesting. If you only dance once per week and have another job, do you do just do it mainly for fun now? (Is stripping tip based overseas?)
I knew a woman who worked at a club and eventually became a banker after finishing college. Even while she was a banker she would still go dance on amateur nights because the money was really good, and she really enjoyed doing it. Keep in mind this is far more than typical because it was in Vegas, but she would regularly make 2500-4000 bucks on an amateur night once a week and dancing for 4-5 hours.
I definitely enjoy it! I made more money working a corporate job. I think my experience is a little different than most having started stripping later in life.
Do you happen to have a link to an old post or AMA that discusses your old corporate life, transition to new dancing career, thought process on this, etc?
Apologies in advance if that seems creepy or overly personal. Just thought you probably have some cool stories to tell.
Thanks for taking an interest! I've never done an AMA but if you feel like slogging through all the comments in my various posts in this subreddit over the years you'll find a lot. Search "author:nerdydancing" in this subreddit and you'll find all of them.
Ah, too bad. I think an AMA would be a hit! Thanks for the suggestion. I gave up after the first 25 posts and also checked your OF for some kind of paid option.
Never did that before, lol
Anyway, best of luck with your future career goals!
This may be an imposing task but it would be interesting to break down the earnings by specific task. Say a night had 10 lap dances and 2 VIP rooms and $40 from loose tips or something along those lines. Since you mentioned the best nights are from non regular outlier customers understanding the breakdown of a bad night versus an average night versus a good night. And how the hourly earnings are broken down from there would be interesting.
I have all that data, although in note form (I keep contemporaneous notes about all transactions during the shift but don't end up transcribing those details to my spreadsheet). Could be interesting to do for just this small data set. Thanks for the idea!
I would be very curious what a big night looks like versus average or slow. Like do big spenders have a pattern of progressively increasing their spending or steady high levels? What does a regular spend in comparison to a whale, and it would be interesting to know what is a better use of time from an hourly wage angle. Pushing for a few VIP rooms or a bunch of lap dances based on success rate in a given time frame.
Not sure exactly how to approach this. Sometimes a high-earning shift happens because I was having a regular shift and then a high-roller comes in and buys a one-hour VIP so that bumps my total way up. Or sometimes I choose to ignore all other customers to spend several hours with a whale who buys six $25 lapdances at a time, then takes a break, then buys six more, etc.
See I think that’s really cool data insight. I would love to see how frequently each of those happen and if one is noticeably more common than the other. In all businesses I am always interested in their structure and the pathways to success. I often find the competition between (excuse the sports metaphor) hitting a bunch of singles and doubles versus always trying to hit a home run interesting. Thanks for sharing this data and discussion. I will look forward to seeing more if you decide to break it down further.
Might be more interesting in a huge Las Vegas club when there are hundreds of customers and you can "choose" your strategy more. At my small club where I work the early shift, a lot of time I have talked to literally every customer in the building and there are no doubles or home runs to be had.
This is great. Thank you. I tended bar for about two years at Rick’s in New Orleans and was absolutely fascinated by the economics of strip clubs. Stay safe.
Now the nerd in me want to see the "Stripper Sankey" diagram of say a typical night. How much income from the stage, dances, vip, outflows to house, tip-outs etc...
I have all that data so if I ever transcribe it to spreadsheet form I could do an "average night" or even the sum total of dollars over all my shifts. Thanks for the idea!
Ha well thank you and I've had numerous careers so I'm open to anything. But also, my simple spreadsheet work doesn't really qualify me to do the kind of advanced stuff a data scientist would. :)
You would be very surprised, maybe not data scientist but in finance your ability to work with data and spreadsheet is pretty valuable.
No one will ever admit it, but the most used application in finance is excel. And it continued to exist because the spreadsheets been around for decades
If you’re ever serious about a different career, you’ll do pretty well in finance
> ... But also, my simple spreadsheet work doesn't really qualify me to do the kind of advanced stuff a data scientist would. :)
Ooh - you should work this in to your act.
Instead of stripping on a pole or smth, you should put up a powerpoint analyzing your earnings and strip while giving a data science lesson analyzing it.
[would probably only work in Silicon Valley or SF]
Great data. I'm always curious about strippers who have a day job. You don't have to answer for yourself, maybe for strippers generally: What kind of day job do most strippers have? Do you think most employers really care?
For me my main job is Only Fans, so I'm my own boss. A few ladies I know work at places like bars or bakeries or own their own business such as pet grooming. I don't know of anyone who has an office job or works at a hospital or something like that.
Have you considered quitting and taking up a full-time job as a "data analyst" or something like that? It would require some coursework, of course. But could be easier on the knees.... :-D
Thank you for paying your taxes.
Far too many people (in many lines of work, not just yours) view taxes as "optional" when it's cash and they have high confidence that they won't have any issues with the IRS.
I have a friend who has a business that does a lot of cash transactions because he deals mainly with Chinese immigrants and apparently they really like cash. He doesn't report a shit ton of income and it really pisses me off because 1) he's NOT poor and 2) literally every penny of income I have is reported and I do everything by the book. He said he understood my frustration but also said, "why should [he] play by the rules when most people don't".
So thank you for being decent.
Genuinely curious and I don't mean to sound like an asshole... I know you shouldn't ask a woman her age ... but what age is considered retirement in this industry?
Great data. That’s some great money. One of the times when I think I’m in the wrong line of work, but then I look in the mirror and reality slaps me across the face. 😢🤷🤣
Ha thanks. And in all seriousness, success at the strip club is much more about smarts and hustle than looks. BUT of course even the "least attractive" strippers at the club are usually conventionally attractive in a certain sense (able bodied, no facial differences, etc) and I acknowledge that there are certain pre-requisites for the job that are just luck/genetics.
I completely agree. As with so much in business and life, it’s all about marketing.
Slightly overweight and middle-aged dad-bod is definitely not the common theme when you go to the club. Kudos to you for making what you got work for you! 🍻
Maybe some dancers use that as a tactic but I don't. For me, I continuously walk around the club and introduce myself to customers instead of sitting and looking at my phone and assuming a customer of a certain type isn't worth it. Then when I'm talking to a customer I assess what my chances are of making money allot my time efficiently. A lot of the customers who spend money on me are ones who appreciate intelligent conversation more than anything else, so that's a skill that's important.
OP, the approach you've described is exactly what I'm looking for when I visit a club. It is absolutely shocking how many younger dancers don't work the room. Maybe if you're a certified 10 you can get guys lining up, but I feel like most of us want to be "pursued." A strip club is an alternate universe, after all.
Glad to hear that. I think with some dancers it is an issue of confidence or energy if they're not working a room. But sometimes just false assumptions that X kind of guy will not spend money on you.
I’m always fascinated by house fees and tip-outs. It’s something that not a lot of people realize happens. Has many pros and cons.
Apples and oranges comparison, but I worked as a “shot boy” at a popular gay bar for a few years and we went through three different systems:
1) no “wage”- we would buy the plate of drinks and then sell them at a price determined by the club. Based on the type of drinks these prices would change but it would usually be a 100% markup. Like, I would buy the tray of ten shots for $1 a piece and then sell them for $2 a piece. I would keep the $10 profit and I could do this as many or as few times during the shift as I wanted. In hindsight this was probably my favorite system. Tipping out was optional but important to maintain good relationship with bartenders. I was blessed that we had amazing bartenders while I worked there. They made the job fun and I was happy to tip them.
2) new owner introduced a “bidding” system. Still no wage- but now I and the other shot boys would “bid” on drink trays that we would pay out to the bartenders. So I could say I would buy a tray for $10, but then person B would buy a tray for $15 and person B would be locked in for the night and I would get nothing. THEN you could sell drinks for whatever you wanted. This system was a NIGHTMARE. Unnecessarily competitive. The bartenders hated it because it caused drama. We hated it because it was confusing. Shady boys would sell drinks to their friends for cheap and then up the cost of the drink immediately if they saw someone super drunk they could take advantage of. Same tipping out bartenders as before and now more important than ever. This owner did not last long (for other bad business reasons).
3) new owner swings the pendulum back too far in the wrong direction (in my opinion). Now we got paid an hourly wage, and no longer had to buy the drinks ourselves. We were expected to sell a certain quota every night that could affect you getting future shifts. This was honestly more stable and a little less stressful, but I made a lot less money. I would consistently make “x” dollars a shift show it was less of a gamble but I never had the chance for the huge surges like in option 1 and 2. Also- tipping bartenders was not allowed on our end because of the issues it had cause in “option 2”. The bar shut down soon after this was all implemented. Owner from “2” really ran it into the ground :(
In all three scenarios you could keep tips but honestly I hardly ever got tipped. Which is fair. I wasn’t making the drinks.
Again, apples and oranges but thank you for your post! I wish I would’ve kept track of my wages the way you did. This is very smart. I’d love to have known definitively what the best “system” was.
—-
Edited “option 1” because someone taught me about percentages since I was calculating incorrectly haha
Thanks for this info, very interesting! #1 is similar to how my club currently works (with the exception of me also needing to pay a house fee to start my shift). I keep a "commission" of each lapdance I sell. #2 does indeed sound like a nightmare and is similar to a club I worked at where you could set your own VIP prices. #3 is similar to how California clubs currently work. You get minimum wage for your time there and you have a quota you have to hit of dance/VIP sales. After you hit your quota you make a commission on further sales.
Buddy, I literally wrote this huge post about how I made a living primarily off of walking around in my underwear and selling drinks. You should not be shocked that I don’t understand how percentages work!
(This is all in jest. I appreciate you pointing this out and I will edit my post. Thank you!)
I had an accounting student who tracked her income from waiting tables versus bartending on Excel much like this. She could tell which days she would make more money bartending versus waiting tables and was able to identify when the restaurant messed up her paycheck several times. A CPA snapped her up. This is great work!
Compared to a lot of other jobs the hourly rate is good. That said, there is not much stability unless you are fairly skilled at the job and it's harder than it may seem. There are plenty of other downsides too (assault, harassment, etc.) but overall I am happy with my work and grateful for the opportunity.
No idea on average. I've been in the industry since 2016 but not at the same club. When you stick around for a few years you see there are some dancers who have been there for years (the successful ones) and then there are a TON who start and then disappear either because they are transient in the area, they quit the industry, or they come and go while doing other kinds of work. So the "average" is probably quite low when you factor in all the people who might have very short stints. If you ask around at a club, a good number of dancers are the successful ones who have been sticking around for a while. If that makes sense. I'm 45 and I am the oldest one at my club but I think if you're good at the job you won't necessarily age out just based on the age you look.
One of my lab partners in college was a stripper. She drove a red Corvette and got a better grade on the final than I did. She seemed very aware that she had a limited "shelf life" and was determined to make the most of it.
Fun fact! About 5% more male babies are born every year. The ratio then levels out around age 36 and starts flipping to more women than men more and more from there
Oh definitely! A pole dancing guy like you could probably make a shit ton of money in the right establishment. Or you could try drag - it’s very fun but only pays as well when you make a name of yourself in your local scene. You sound a bit like you’re underselling yourself- there is always someone out there who thinks you’re hot, sometimes we just have to find the right community. :)
You're making me think of a Bert Kreischer type dude going all out on the stripper pole and somehow....being fucking amazing at it then it becoming like this 'thing' at the local club. Not even fully nude...I mean he'd be dressed skimpy but just pole dances like a boss with dudes in the crowd high-fiving.
HA yeah the job is not without its dangers and annoyances but thankfully after being in this industry since 2016 I have learned to avoid a large amount of that.
That’s good. Part of me thought that higher paying people would be creapy because they “earned the bonuses” by paying so well then I remembered that my uncle exists and their are a lot of people like him so now I’m not sure what to think.
I’m so sorry to be living in the wrong part of the world.
Nothing would make my Friday night better than talking economics, stats, and data visualization with a smart and pretty topless lady.
You mentioned the single outlying customer can have a large impact on the data. Might be interesting to keep a count of unique customers per shift. Or if that’s too much to track maybe just note the shifts that had an outlier so they can be removed from the “normal” days.
I note the amount that every customer spends (with the exception of stage tips which are hard to track). So I have the data. I don't think it would make sense to remove them because those "outliers" are a regular part of your income. My point is just that it's not like a business such as a McDonald's in which you'd expect that Cashier 1 and Cashier 2 have predictable sales for the day. Cashier 1 is faster, so she generally has more, but if it's a busy day with 1,000 customers, both cashiers will be up high. And if it's a slow day with only 400 customers, both cashiers will be low. At the strip club there might be 1,000 customers throughout the day but I only make money from eight of them. So if I get lucky or smart and one is a big spender, that greatly affects my income. But on any given average or low day, there are usually only a handful of customers.
A study from 2007 stated that strippers in average gain more/more tips during ovulating periodes.
Can you relate ?
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/6yu8w0m3Ig
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513807000694
Ha I should have mentioned this in my initial comment because this question comes up every time. I don't ovulate or menstruate so I have no personal experience on this. I can imagine there being some relation to earnings. It might not actually be a function of "pheromones" and such but just the mood/energy that some women have at different points in their cycle. For instance, some women feel tired, in pain, or not very sexy when they are menstruating, so it wouldn't be surprising that they earn less at that time in a job that requires energy and confidence.
> Eighteen dancers recorded their menstrual periods, work shifts, and tip earnings for 60 days on a study web site.
That sample size is scantier than the strippers’ work attire.
Edit:
[Here](https://youtu.be/31e0RcImReY) is an in-depth analysis of the often misogynist field of evolutionary psychology.
Nothing to add other than kudos to keeping yourself in good shape at 45. I know you’ve said you “look young” but that does not discount the work and dedication that goes into your body at that age.
Yeah a few people have pointed this out. It's kind of between Gross and net. Gross would be much higher. The green bars show my dollars *after* I pay house fees and tip outs.
PS. You have an aptitude for data visualization! If you ever want to dig into it a little more and develop these skills, shoot me a message and I would be happy to connect you with some resources.
It's probably somewhere in there, but I keep missing it. Tip OUT is what you're paying to the house and bouncers, right? Does this net include the tips you keep? Or is your take home ENTIRELY tips? Is there no standard wage? Is that different in unionized clubs? How does the government go about taxing tips for you? I'm imagining that is not some kind of fixed percentage or hourly rate like wait staff. Is it all self reporting?
How frequently do strippers get out-of-the-blue audited? I work in the film industry and know that we get a suspiciously higher than average number of audits every year
No idea on audit rate. Money coming in to me is 1) VIP sales, 2) Lapdance sales, 3) Tips. Money going out is: 1) House entry fee 2) VIP room fees ($75 per half hour), 3) Lapdance fees ($5 per dance) and 4) Tip out. The term "tip out" is used in various workplaces like bars or restaurants. For instance, you the customer probably give tips only to the main server or bartender but never tips to the busser or barback. So at the end of the night those secondary players receive a tip out from the people who got the main tips. In my club the amount is regimented -- dancers need to tip out $20 per each 30-minute VIP room sold and $2 per each lapdance sold and that money gets pooled and split among the bouncers, DJs, etc. Personally I also then hand some extra cash to the DJ and the bouncer who walks me to my car.
You are obviously academically smart. Then why strippers profession? Not trying to look down upon or anything but it's definitely much more demanding physically and dangerous than most office jobs.
I live in a small town \~1600 people. One of my neighbors in my apartment building recently became a stripper at the local club. I think this is harder in a small town, as you will dance for many people who know you outside of work. I've thought that must be uncomfortable for her.
As a dancer, did you ever get customers that you knew?
I have no experience living in a town that small working as a stripper or otherwise -- definitely sounds tough! I have on multiple occasions seen people who I know. Sometimes it's a little awkward but luckily I have never had a major issue.
It's nice to see an analysis like this. I always wondered (as a retired person with his own corp) what the savings/investment potential would be for a stripper/adult entertainment worker. There is such a massive difference in income (high) versus living needs (low) that if someone were to be incorporated (at least in Canada), you could sock away a lot of cash and pay minimal taxes (corp tax in Canada is <15%) and invest the rest in eligible dividends. You could be done soon. I did the same but with consulting (not as lucrative!). With minimal effort, running a business like this through a corp would be hugely profitable and lead to early retirement, if that's what was desired.
This is amazingly well done. We use a lot of data analysis in my classes, and I wish I could use this as a real world example of a quality graph. Somehow I don’t think my administration would approve.
Good for you! You have a sharper mind than most Fortune CEOs today. I'm sure you're already in a great place in life but I'm also sure you're going to do even better, sort of a "renaissance stripper", if you will! ☺️
Few Questions:
Do you have data on working other days of the week? Curious what the "Big day" is like your Daytona 500 would be?
Is their pull through of other services (IE Upsell) that occurs that have a benefit or could?
Lastly, whats the consensus amongst those that also strip in terms of trends, cashflow, the industry as a whole or has it pretty much gone unchanged?
Fair. It's somewhere in between gross and net. I'm just trying to highlight that the dollars shown are *after* I pay my house fee, dance fees, and tip outs.
I have been doing Only Fans for over three years and have posted about my earnings on that here as well. Both jobs have pros and cons and right now I am happy doing both. I worked a corporate career up until 37.
Sure! If you search "author:nerdydancing" in this subreddit you'll find all my posts. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/search/?q=author%3Anerdydancing
I love what you've done - decent visuals, solid explanations.
You should check out Tableau - its a nice viz software that has a free / public version. It is a fun program, you might enjoy it :)
May be too personal, but a few friends and I used to notice an uptick in our tips during ovulation. If you have that data to incorporate into this, I imagine it’d be interesting. It made enough of a difference to us that we started to schedule our shifts more heavily around our OWs when we picked up on the pattern.
In any case, thanks for sharing!
So you avg about $50-$60 an hour working only what I assume is a choice shift of Friday nights and you look the way you do. Ya that's crazy to me seems crazy low. I do hope you generally enjoy the work.
If you read my initial comment I mention that my average hourly rate is $67. I actually work Friday mornings/afternoons which may not be the "choice shift" you think it is, but it works for my schedule so that's why I do it. And I enjoy it!
I actually did read your comment and ya I forgot the actual average but I was just generally seeing where the rate line generally and discounting outliers days.
Did you mention you work morning afternoon? If so I completely missed it. But that does make me feel better for the other strippers out there.
But I love the data and love your post generally. I am a big fan
How much time do you spend in related work activities that your aren't paid for? Ex. In the back getting ready, going to get hair done earlier that day etc?
The $40-120 per hour sounds impressive, but how does that work out when you include time that's not spent dancing in the club?
I can't say the same for other strippers but I'm pretty low maintenance. That's how I am in my regular life and I don't think it hurts me business-wise. I never go to get my hair or nails done. I'm lucky to have wash-and-go hair. It doesn't look great, but I don't think customers notice. I can do my make-up and get dressed for a shift in about 20 minutes total, which is the same as what I'd spend if I was going to any other kind of job site. I spend about 10-15 minutes after my shift counting my money and logging everything in my spreadsheet so I'd say that's the only un-paid time.
At my club the VIP rooms are just more private/spacious areas where you can get the same kind of lap dance as you'd get for the $25-per-song ones. That's what *I* do in the VIP rooms. Certainly there may be other things going on with some dancers or in some clubs. But a customer who wants to get a lot of dances would be better off paying for the 30-minute room where it is more comfortable and you don't have the mental burden of counting out 10 or 12 songs.
I live in a country where strip clubs are not as common as in the US (Not do to religion, the concept just never cought on), so have a couple of questions not related to your graph.
45? Isn't that old in your line of work?
And wasn't aware that you could have regulars as a stipper. So they come in and specifically ask you for a dance, or are the just generous with the tip at your stage performance?
Haha yes 45 is old -- I am the oldest one in my club (along with another lady who is also 45 and very successful). Luckily I look young but I also tend to do well with older customers who appreciate being able to converse with someone closer to their age than the typical 20-somethings at the club.
And yes, some customers will come in and wait until their favorite dancers are free to buy lap dances from them instead of other dancers who might approach them. As with any sales job, a big part is relationship building.
I started in 2016 so I can't speak to what things were like 15 years ago but the industry definitely does not grow linearly over time, and depends a lot on what city you are in.
I'm including a few notes below to clarify some common questions. I track my data every shift in a spreadsheet and I made the visualization with Numbers and Photoshop. **How does one read the chart?**... The green bars are my net earnings per shift (left axis). I can choose how much to work, so each shift is a different length of time. The grey line shows my hourly rate for each shift (right axis). As an example, the first shift (7/28/23) had net earnings of $312 and I worked just over four hours so the hourly rate was $74. I generally try to work about five hours per shift but sometimes I leave early if I have somewhere to be or if I'm not in the right mindset to work effectively. **Why are there only 37 shifts?**... I have posted here before showing [my stripper earnings over a four-year period](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/10jo0b2/oc_my_stripper_earnings_per_shift_over_four_years/) spanning various clubs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Then I took a little hiatus (COVID) and came out of retirement last July in a new small city at a club I'd never worked at before. Since then I have been generally working one shift per week, always on Fridays (Thanksgiving week the exception in the chart). This chart shows post-unretirement only. My per-shift earnings are generally lower than what I was making right before COVID (which was averaging over $500 per shift). I think it is mostly because I'm in a new city and I have not yet built up a stable of solid regular customers. This city also does not get as many business travelers, who are a good source of income. **What does "net" earnings mean?**... "Net" is my take-home cash after club fees and tip outs, but before taxes. I pay a house fee to work every shift, ranging from $5 to $35 depending on what time I start my shift. For each $25 lap dance I pay the house a $5 fee. For each $275 VIP room 30-minute session I pay the house a $75 fee. I am entitled to keep all tips. There is a "mandatory" staff tip-out of $2 per lapdance and $20 per 30-minute VIP session, plus I generally tip out a little extra. **What are the averages?**... I didn't include these on the chart as it looked too busy but my all-time average per shift at this club is $354, and my average hourly rate is $67. **Why is there so much variability?**... Sometimes the club is having an overall lucrative day but my high-earning shifts are usually when I have large spending from a single outlier customer (not the same one each time). **Aren't you worried the IRS will see this post?**... I pay taxes. Taxes are not withheld, but I pre-pay quarterly and use back-of-the-envelope math to reserve enough for each quarter. **How do these earnings compare to other strippers?**... Almost impossible to know. There isn't reliable information from sources like the IRS. Social media accounts of earnings are biased towards those who make a lot of money. There are tons of dancers who don't do very well and then quit or don't talk about it. **Do you have another job?**... Yes, I have a few sources of income currently, which is why I only dance once per week at the strip club. When I was stripping as my sole income I usually worked four shifts per week, which would be pretty taxing on my now 45-year-old knees. **Why do people keep posting this stripper/OnlyFans garbage on DataIsBeautiful?**... As far as I can tell, I'm the only one, so if you just block my username you won't have to see any of it. If you have other questions, comments, or ideas for ways to present the data, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for the data. It's interesting to see how money is spent as, oddly enough, wages are a great indicator of the health of an economy (both local and national). Especially wages driven by disposable income. Now I'm curious to see how Vegas wages would map against SP500 or how your wages would map against average salary of the local manufacturing plant with holiday bonuses. The simple speculation seems that increase at plant = increase in local stripper wage; but the devil is in the details and that may be wrong.
Things like dining out, movies, entertainment are often talked about as early economic indicators. I would think that strippers and sex workers would be a great and very early indicator. I would imagine it's one of the earliest expenses cut during an economic downturn. Good precursor to see consumer sentiment.
I agree. It maps against Maslow's Hierarchy. Though people part with their money for odd reasons. I also wonder if this maps against faith based charities; where the income would be very similar. In both cases, the donation plate is lighter when times are lean.....which might explain for the abject vitriol for some churches as stippers would cut into their profit margin.
It’s actually common to see a spike in “vice” spending in recessionary times. The joke I grew up hearing was the food prices jump but the block stays cheap lol
I would expect to see some relationship to the absolute derivative of income; sudden windfall and people celebrate by partying, sudden loss and people cope by partying, so I would expect to see people who work on commission or who are in volatile sectors being more inclined to be involved with vices than those who have a constant income in jobs not particularly subject to economic conditions.
There is one public strip club (Rick's- RCI Hospitality officially - ticker RICK) that you can see info going back several years. They are primarily in Texas and SE but have places in NY, etc. They had great #s in 2021 and 2022 when everyone had COVID cash but has struggled and have blamed it on the economy.
Yeah that's interesting, if you go back a decade there's a massive difference in terms of post-2020 and pre-2019 performance. It's still one and a half times their pre covid peak, though perhaps if they expanded more that may still hurt them.
Can confirm (at least for the '08 recession.)
Thanks for the thoughts! There might be some interesting relations but I would guess they would be stronger at the club/industry level rather than at an individual level like what I show here. For instance, some of my high wage days are ones when my club was overall slow but I got lucky with one wealthy customer who spent a lot of money (unrelated to his own wages/bonuses).
It all starts somewhere. This is someone's PHD thesis right here.
My sugar baby did her thesis on the different subcultures she observed at the strip clubs she danced while in school
That. Is. Awesome. And terrifying.
Et current job requires a security clearance. On the form she put that she stripped from 18-22 and put me down as reference…lol She got the clearance and nobody ever contacted me. Turns out being a stripper is not illegal. They just want to know so you won’t be blackmailed
If you write it i plan language on your SF86, they can be pretty confident nobody is going to blackmail you for it. Trying to creatively relabel it probably would have resulted in a lot more interest by the reviewer.
Hence the terrifying part.
This data is really interesting and also show why data analysts need to the people who the data is about to see why the numbers are the way they are. So are the especially long day that also have the higher hourly average due to you effectively hitting the jack pot with a high spender, and you staying at work longer to make the most of them?
None of my days in this data set are very long. Max is just over seven hours (for a $303 day when I was struggling) and the average is 5 hours 20 min. I wanted to include hours in the chart but couldn't figure out a way to do it without being too busy. But in cases when there is a spike in dollar earnings it's because my hourly rate is high (because of a big spender usually).
Trading is hard enough...now I gotta factor in stripper fundamentals? Aight but your explaining this to my accountant.
There is definitely inferences that can be drawn from this data. Pay days definitely stand out. I would expand the data set with equally diligent workers across geographies and look to resell the data to economists- additional revenue stream. Then sell it to clubs, make them collect data for you, to help select contractors, staffing levels and club profitability.
Lmao this isn't garbage this is great info! I was curious about the high paying days because the dates didn't seem significant to me, but I forget it's a very "whale" based industry. Didn't even think about the tax aspect. Thanks for sharing! I've been working on transcribing historic documents and it's always fascinating what's lost and what's preserved. I think you're very right that it's impossible to know, things in the area of sex work are kept so clandestine it's difficult to piece together information. I wonder if someday in the future someone will find this post and laugh about the insane dollar amount compared to future currency.
Thanks for reading and hopefully future readers will also laugh about how sex work was in fact so clandestine at this time!
>**What does "net" earnings mean?**... "Net" is my take-home cash after club fees and tip outs, but before taxes. I pay a house fee to work every shift, ranging from $5 to $35 depending on what time I start my shift. For each $25 lap dance I pay the house a $5 fee. For each $275 VIP room 30-minute session I pay the house a $75 fee. I am entitled to keep all tips. There is a "mandatory" staff tip-out of $2 per lapdance and $20 per 30-minute VIP session, plus I generally tip out a little extra. That's called gross profit. since you are basically an independent worker with business expenses, you should look at it this way. Net income is after expenses AND taxes.
Fair -- so the total dollars earned would be "gross revenue," then after the club fees and tip outs it's "gross profit" then after taxes it's "net." But then again, there are other business expenses that I'm not including here, so "gross profit" seems a bit misleading for the numbers I'm showing here. My point is just to show my take-home cash after club fees but before taxes.
> But then again, there are other business expenses that I'm not including here, so "gross profit" seems a bit misleading for the numbers I'm showing here. My point is just to show my take-home cash after club fees but before taxes. it would be interesting to see a chart showing gross revenue with the various expenses (the club fees and tip outs you mention) along with other business expenses you are not including (presumably things you have to spend money on away from the club to be a successful stripper).
Good idea for a future post, thanks!
Kudos for still stripping at 45!
I think These posts are interesting. If you only dance once per week and have another job, do you do just do it mainly for fun now? (Is stripping tip based overseas?)
No idea about overseas. And I do enjoy the job but stripping is an essential part of my income.
I knew a woman who worked at a club and eventually became a banker after finishing college. Even while she was a banker she would still go dance on amateur nights because the money was really good, and she really enjoyed doing it. Keep in mind this is far more than typical because it was in Vegas, but she would regularly make 2500-4000 bucks on an amateur night once a week and dancing for 4-5 hours.
Do you enjoy it or is it strictly for money?
I definitely enjoy it! I made more money working a corporate job. I think my experience is a little different than most having started stripping later in life.
Do you happen to have a link to an old post or AMA that discusses your old corporate life, transition to new dancing career, thought process on this, etc? Apologies in advance if that seems creepy or overly personal. Just thought you probably have some cool stories to tell.
Thanks for taking an interest! I've never done an AMA but if you feel like slogging through all the comments in my various posts in this subreddit over the years you'll find a lot. Search "author:nerdydancing" in this subreddit and you'll find all of them.
Ah, too bad. I think an AMA would be a hit! Thanks for the suggestion. I gave up after the first 25 posts and also checked your OF for some kind of paid option. Never did that before, lol Anyway, best of luck with your future career goals!
So thats how strip clubs make money.
My club is relatively reasonable in the house entry fees and the cut of sales they take. Some take much more.
Fantastic explanation of the data. This proactively answered all my questions (particularly the variability).
Thanks so much and I appreciate you reading!
This may be an imposing task but it would be interesting to break down the earnings by specific task. Say a night had 10 lap dances and 2 VIP rooms and $40 from loose tips or something along those lines. Since you mentioned the best nights are from non regular outlier customers understanding the breakdown of a bad night versus an average night versus a good night. And how the hourly earnings are broken down from there would be interesting.
I have all that data, although in note form (I keep contemporaneous notes about all transactions during the shift but don't end up transcribing those details to my spreadsheet). Could be interesting to do for just this small data set. Thanks for the idea!
I would be very curious what a big night looks like versus average or slow. Like do big spenders have a pattern of progressively increasing their spending or steady high levels? What does a regular spend in comparison to a whale, and it would be interesting to know what is a better use of time from an hourly wage angle. Pushing for a few VIP rooms or a bunch of lap dances based on success rate in a given time frame.
Not sure exactly how to approach this. Sometimes a high-earning shift happens because I was having a regular shift and then a high-roller comes in and buys a one-hour VIP so that bumps my total way up. Or sometimes I choose to ignore all other customers to spend several hours with a whale who buys six $25 lapdances at a time, then takes a break, then buys six more, etc.
See I think that’s really cool data insight. I would love to see how frequently each of those happen and if one is noticeably more common than the other. In all businesses I am always interested in their structure and the pathways to success. I often find the competition between (excuse the sports metaphor) hitting a bunch of singles and doubles versus always trying to hit a home run interesting. Thanks for sharing this data and discussion. I will look forward to seeing more if you decide to break it down further.
Might be more interesting in a huge Las Vegas club when there are hundreds of customers and you can "choose" your strategy more. At my small club where I work the early shift, a lot of time I have talked to literally every customer in the building and there are no doubles or home runs to be had.
Good point. The sample may be too small. It also would be more convincing if you had the same data from multiple performers.
This is great. Thank you. I tended bar for about two years at Rick’s in New Orleans and was absolutely fascinated by the economics of strip clubs. Stay safe.
Now the nerd in me want to see the "Stripper Sankey" diagram of say a typical night. How much income from the stage, dances, vip, outflows to house, tip-outs etc...
I have all that data so if I ever transcribe it to spreadsheet form I could do an "average night" or even the sum total of dollars over all my shifts. Thanks for the idea!
You should be a Data scientist.... but we don't pay science professionals enough. Continue on doing God's work, bless those beautiful breast.
Ha well thank you and I've had numerous careers so I'm open to anything. But also, my simple spreadsheet work doesn't really qualify me to do the kind of advanced stuff a data scientist would. :)
You would be very surprised, maybe not data scientist but in finance your ability to work with data and spreadsheet is pretty valuable. No one will ever admit it, but the most used application in finance is excel. And it continued to exist because the spreadsheets been around for decades If you’re ever serious about a different career, you’ll do pretty well in finance
> ... But also, my simple spreadsheet work doesn't really qualify me to do the kind of advanced stuff a data scientist would. :) Ooh - you should work this in to your act. Instead of stripping on a pole or smth, you should put up a powerpoint analyzing your earnings and strip while giving a data science lesson analyzing it. [would probably only work in Silicon Valley or SF]
Haha I would love to do something like that!
Great data. I'm always curious about strippers who have a day job. You don't have to answer for yourself, maybe for strippers generally: What kind of day job do most strippers have? Do you think most employers really care?
For me my main job is Only Fans, so I'm my own boss. A few ladies I know work at places like bars or bakeries or own their own business such as pet grooming. I don't know of anyone who has an office job or works at a hospital or something like that.
Interesting you refer to them as a stable. That's pimp talk.
Have you considered quitting and taking up a full-time job as a "data analyst" or something like that? It would require some coursework, of course. But could be easier on the knees.... :-D
Why do you strip when OF would be safer and could potentially meet more clients?
You’re 45!?!?
Thank you for paying your taxes. Far too many people (in many lines of work, not just yours) view taxes as "optional" when it's cash and they have high confidence that they won't have any issues with the IRS. I have a friend who has a business that does a lot of cash transactions because he deals mainly with Chinese immigrants and apparently they really like cash. He doesn't report a shit ton of income and it really pisses me off because 1) he's NOT poor and 2) literally every penny of income I have is reported and I do everything by the book. He said he understood my frustration but also said, "why should [he] play by the rules when most people don't". So thank you for being decent.
Genuinely curious and I don't mean to sound like an asshole... I know you shouldn't ask a woman her age ... but what age is considered retirement in this industry?
How much would you say you make in a year on average? From stripping alone?
Great data. That’s some great money. One of the times when I think I’m in the wrong line of work, but then I look in the mirror and reality slaps me across the face. 😢🤷🤣
Ha thanks. And in all seriousness, success at the strip club is much more about smarts and hustle than looks. BUT of course even the "least attractive" strippers at the club are usually conventionally attractive in a certain sense (able bodied, no facial differences, etc) and I acknowledge that there are certain pre-requisites for the job that are just luck/genetics.
I completely agree. As with so much in business and life, it’s all about marketing. Slightly overweight and middle-aged dad-bod is definitely not the common theme when you go to the club. Kudos to you for making what you got work for you! 🍻
Not being rude but is ‘smarts and hustle’ just about getting a guy as horny/delusional as possible
Maybe some dancers use that as a tactic but I don't. For me, I continuously walk around the club and introduce myself to customers instead of sitting and looking at my phone and assuming a customer of a certain type isn't worth it. Then when I'm talking to a customer I assess what my chances are of making money allot my time efficiently. A lot of the customers who spend money on me are ones who appreciate intelligent conversation more than anything else, so that's a skill that's important.
OP, the approach you've described is exactly what I'm looking for when I visit a club. It is absolutely shocking how many younger dancers don't work the room. Maybe if you're a certified 10 you can get guys lining up, but I feel like most of us want to be "pursued." A strip club is an alternate universe, after all.
Glad to hear that. I think with some dancers it is an issue of confidence or energy if they're not working a room. But sometimes just false assumptions that X kind of guy will not spend money on you.
I appreciate using “allot” and “a lot” so close to each other.
I’d show my dick so hard if I thought I’d make this much per night doing it
Maybe the problem is you haven’t been showing it hard? Dunno, not in the fanbase so just speculation
I’m always fascinated by house fees and tip-outs. It’s something that not a lot of people realize happens. Has many pros and cons. Apples and oranges comparison, but I worked as a “shot boy” at a popular gay bar for a few years and we went through three different systems: 1) no “wage”- we would buy the plate of drinks and then sell them at a price determined by the club. Based on the type of drinks these prices would change but it would usually be a 100% markup. Like, I would buy the tray of ten shots for $1 a piece and then sell them for $2 a piece. I would keep the $10 profit and I could do this as many or as few times during the shift as I wanted. In hindsight this was probably my favorite system. Tipping out was optional but important to maintain good relationship with bartenders. I was blessed that we had amazing bartenders while I worked there. They made the job fun and I was happy to tip them. 2) new owner introduced a “bidding” system. Still no wage- but now I and the other shot boys would “bid” on drink trays that we would pay out to the bartenders. So I could say I would buy a tray for $10, but then person B would buy a tray for $15 and person B would be locked in for the night and I would get nothing. THEN you could sell drinks for whatever you wanted. This system was a NIGHTMARE. Unnecessarily competitive. The bartenders hated it because it caused drama. We hated it because it was confusing. Shady boys would sell drinks to their friends for cheap and then up the cost of the drink immediately if they saw someone super drunk they could take advantage of. Same tipping out bartenders as before and now more important than ever. This owner did not last long (for other bad business reasons). 3) new owner swings the pendulum back too far in the wrong direction (in my opinion). Now we got paid an hourly wage, and no longer had to buy the drinks ourselves. We were expected to sell a certain quota every night that could affect you getting future shifts. This was honestly more stable and a little less stressful, but I made a lot less money. I would consistently make “x” dollars a shift show it was less of a gamble but I never had the chance for the huge surges like in option 1 and 2. Also- tipping bartenders was not allowed on our end because of the issues it had cause in “option 2”. The bar shut down soon after this was all implemented. Owner from “2” really ran it into the ground :( In all three scenarios you could keep tips but honestly I hardly ever got tipped. Which is fair. I wasn’t making the drinks. Again, apples and oranges but thank you for your post! I wish I would’ve kept track of my wages the way you did. This is very smart. I’d love to have known definitively what the best “system” was. —- Edited “option 1” because someone taught me about percentages since I was calculating incorrectly haha
Thanks for this info, very interesting! #1 is similar to how my club currently works (with the exception of me also needing to pay a house fee to start my shift). I keep a "commission" of each lapdance I sell. #2 does indeed sound like a nightmare and is similar to a club I worked at where you could set your own VIP prices. #3 is similar to how California clubs currently work. You get minimum wage for your time there and you have a quota you have to hit of dance/VIP sales. After you hit your quota you make a commission on further sales.
Thank you for your reply!
Isn't buying for 1 and selling for 2 a 100% markup?
Buddy, I literally wrote this huge post about how I made a living primarily off of walking around in my underwear and selling drinks. You should not be shocked that I don’t understand how percentages work! (This is all in jest. I appreciate you pointing this out and I will edit my post. Thank you!)
Thats pretty low in the liquor side of the house. Buying a bottle of wine when you go out to a restaurant is like 300% markup.
the point is just that it's 100% not 50%
Interesting and unique data that's well-presented. Hats off to you taking your clothes off!
What happened to "you can leave your hat on"??
Haha thank you!
I had an accounting student who tracked her income from waiting tables versus bartending on Excel much like this. She could tell which days she would make more money bartending versus waiting tables and was able to identify when the restaurant messed up her paycheck several times. A CPA snapped her up. This is great work!
Thank you and you better believe when I have paycheck income I am *always* double-checking it against my own records! :)
I should have been a stripper 😭
Compared to a lot of other jobs the hourly rate is good. That said, there is not much stability unless you are fairly skilled at the job and it's harder than it may seem. There are plenty of other downsides too (assault, harassment, etc.) but overall I am happy with my work and grateful for the opportunity.
How long does an average career lasts?
No idea on average. I've been in the industry since 2016 but not at the same club. When you stick around for a few years you see there are some dancers who have been there for years (the successful ones) and then there are a TON who start and then disappear either because they are transient in the area, they quit the industry, or they come and go while doing other kinds of work. So the "average" is probably quite low when you factor in all the people who might have very short stints. If you ask around at a club, a good number of dancers are the successful ones who have been sticking around for a while. If that makes sense. I'm 45 and I am the oldest one at my club but I think if you're good at the job you won't necessarily age out just based on the age you look.
One of my lab partners in college was a stripper. She drove a red Corvette and got a better grade on the final than I did. She seemed very aware that she had a limited "shelf life" and was determined to make the most of it.
In my next life I will be born with breasts.
You've got about a 50% chance. What you do from there is not as easy.
Fun fact! About 5% more male babies are born every year. The ratio then levels out around age 36 and starts flipping to more women than men more and more from there
Less chance of boobs than I thought!
Manboobs. Chance is still good.
Good point, my wife would agree.
You can just get some bro
I need to find a pair that goes well with a beer gut.
Like, I’m serious! You can buy silicone breast plates (that’s what drag queens use) on Amazon… in many sizes as well! 🍒
Surely somebody would find an old balding gray haired beer gutted dude sexy. I guess I could get a wig. I must sign up for pole dancing lessons.
Oh definitely! A pole dancing guy like you could probably make a shit ton of money in the right establishment. Or you could try drag - it’s very fun but only pays as well when you make a name of yourself in your local scene. You sound a bit like you’re underselling yourself- there is always someone out there who thinks you’re hot, sometimes we just have to find the right community. :)
You're making me think of a Bert Kreischer type dude going all out on the stripper pole and somehow....being fucking amazing at it then it becoming like this 'thing' at the local club. Not even fully nude...I mean he'd be dressed skimpy but just pole dances like a boss with dudes in the crowd high-fiving.
I mean... ~~The dark side of the force~~ modern science is the pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Would love to see another axis with “times needed to call the bouncer over because this guy is being creepy?”
HA yeah the job is not without its dangers and annoyances but thankfully after being in this industry since 2016 I have learned to avoid a large amount of that.
That’s good. Part of me thought that higher paying people would be creapy because they “earned the bonuses” by paying so well then I remembered that my uncle exists and their are a lot of people like him so now I’m not sure what to think.
I’m so sorry to be living in the wrong part of the world. Nothing would make my Friday night better than talking economics, stats, and data visualization with a smart and pretty topless lady.
Thank you for the compliment and I wish there were more customers who would talk nerdy with me!
Guess I found my new pick up line at the strip club “Power BI or Tableau?….oh excel? Kinky”
It will work on a small subset of strippers :)
VLOOKUP takes on a whole new meaning
You mentioned the single outlying customer can have a large impact on the data. Might be interesting to keep a count of unique customers per shift. Or if that’s too much to track maybe just note the shifts that had an outlier so they can be removed from the “normal” days.
I note the amount that every customer spends (with the exception of stage tips which are hard to track). So I have the data. I don't think it would make sense to remove them because those "outliers" are a regular part of your income. My point is just that it's not like a business such as a McDonald's in which you'd expect that Cashier 1 and Cashier 2 have predictable sales for the day. Cashier 1 is faster, so she generally has more, but if it's a busy day with 1,000 customers, both cashiers will be up high. And if it's a slow day with only 400 customers, both cashiers will be low. At the strip club there might be 1,000 customers throughout the day but I only make money from eight of them. So if I get lucky or smart and one is a big spender, that greatly affects my income. But on any given average or low day, there are usually only a handful of customers.
A study from 2007 stated that strippers in average gain more/more tips during ovulating periodes. Can you relate ? https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/6yu8w0m3Ig https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513807000694
Ha I should have mentioned this in my initial comment because this question comes up every time. I don't ovulate or menstruate so I have no personal experience on this. I can imagine there being some relation to earnings. It might not actually be a function of "pheromones" and such but just the mood/energy that some women have at different points in their cycle. For instance, some women feel tired, in pain, or not very sexy when they are menstruating, so it wouldn't be surprising that they earn less at that time in a job that requires energy and confidence.
> Eighteen dancers recorded their menstrual periods, work shifts, and tip earnings for 60 days on a study web site. That sample size is scantier than the strippers’ work attire. Edit: [Here](https://youtu.be/31e0RcImReY) is an in-depth analysis of the often misogynist field of evolutionary psychology.
Nothing to add other than kudos to keeping yourself in good shape at 45. I know you’ve said you “look young” but that does not discount the work and dedication that goes into your body at that age.
Thank you! I do work hard with working out, nutrition, staying out of the sun, etc. But of course a large part of things is just luck and genetics.
"Nobody puts nerdydancing in the corner" - Patrick Swayze
Haha thank you for getting the reference!
make hay while the sun shines comes to mind
That is crazy. Even on the worst days you still earn a nurses hourly wage.
I also sell my body and time to those with more money than my self - a joke 🥲 - me 2024
You look great for 44 keep at it save for retirement
Was your new years resolution to strip more consistently?
Who would knew that the stripper, that I'm constantly throwing 20s at, knows how to make a data sheet in Excel
If you're throwing 20s at the good ones :)
There's not much a stripper needs to do for me to consider her a good one. 80085
Not sure why I’m surprised but strippers make bank! If only I wasn’t a chubby man I’d be riding that gravy train
I wish the gravy train was more equal opportunity! :)
"net earnings before taxes" I think you mean gross earnings no?
Yeah a few people have pointed this out. It's kind of between Gross and net. Gross would be much higher. The green bars show my dollars *after* I pay house fees and tip outs.
Haha, data is beautiful. Get it?
Most creative OF promotion
Damn... I should be a stripper
PER SHIFT? UPD: lol didn’t see the profession at first, thought it is some smart IT dude, been hoping to ask which profession exactly..
As a former stripper and current data analyst: fuck yes
PS. You have an aptitude for data visualization! If you ever want to dig into it a little more and develop these skills, shoot me a message and I would be happy to connect you with some resources.
U/rambo_ronnie_87 career change?
It would be interesting to see if you could earn the same or more as an E-girl on Twitch/OnlyFans.
Keep it up! That is better than most family practice doctors I know 😂
It's probably somewhere in there, but I keep missing it. Tip OUT is what you're paying to the house and bouncers, right? Does this net include the tips you keep? Or is your take home ENTIRELY tips? Is there no standard wage? Is that different in unionized clubs? How does the government go about taxing tips for you? I'm imagining that is not some kind of fixed percentage or hourly rate like wait staff. Is it all self reporting? How frequently do strippers get out-of-the-blue audited? I work in the film industry and know that we get a suspiciously higher than average number of audits every year
No idea on audit rate. Money coming in to me is 1) VIP sales, 2) Lapdance sales, 3) Tips. Money going out is: 1) House entry fee 2) VIP room fees ($75 per half hour), 3) Lapdance fees ($5 per dance) and 4) Tip out. The term "tip out" is used in various workplaces like bars or restaurants. For instance, you the customer probably give tips only to the main server or bartender but never tips to the busser or barback. So at the end of the night those secondary players receive a tip out from the people who got the main tips. In my club the amount is regimented -- dancers need to tip out $20 per each 30-minute VIP room sold and $2 per each lapdance sold and that money gets pooled and split among the bouncers, DJs, etc. Personally I also then hand some extra cash to the DJ and the bouncer who walks me to my car.
Interesting! I might recommend adding a cumulative earnings trend too, might be useful to visualize.
Super interesting data presentation. It’s well done and informative. Exotic dancer and skilled data analyst. Good on you!
Thank you!
Impressive, how about onlyfans or whichever online forum you sell spice on?
Thanks! If you search author:nerdydancing in this subreddit you'll see posts I've done about OF too.
I prefer searching your profile actually 😉 Wow, you are super organized and thanks for the fascinating peak into your revenue trends!
You are obviously academically smart. Then why strippers profession? Not trying to look down upon or anything but it's definitely much more demanding physically and dangerous than most office jobs.
Very clean and easy to read thank you!
Good anthropology right here.
I live in a small town \~1600 people. One of my neighbors in my apartment building recently became a stripper at the local club. I think this is harder in a small town, as you will dance for many people who know you outside of work. I've thought that must be uncomfortable for her. As a dancer, did you ever get customers that you knew?
I have no experience living in a town that small working as a stripper or otherwise -- definitely sounds tough! I have on multiple occasions seen people who I know. Sometimes it's a little awkward but luckily I have never had a major issue.
It's nice to see an analysis like this. I always wondered (as a retired person with his own corp) what the savings/investment potential would be for a stripper/adult entertainment worker. There is such a massive difference in income (high) versus living needs (low) that if someone were to be incorporated (at least in Canada), you could sock away a lot of cash and pay minimal taxes (corp tax in Canada is <15%) and invest the rest in eligible dividends. You could be done soon. I did the same but with consulting (not as lucrative!). With minimal effort, running a business like this through a corp would be hugely profitable and lead to early retirement, if that's what was desired.
This is amazingly well done. We use a lot of data analysis in my classes, and I wish I could use this as a real world example of a quality graph. Somehow I don’t think my administration would approve.
I make more stripping...copper
I am stupid and read this as "hourly rate as a stripper in a city mall" and I was VERY confused.
I hope you paid the irs man that cash
I wish there was a bigger market for male strippers
Good for you! You have a sharper mind than most Fortune CEOs today. I'm sure you're already in a great place in life but I'm also sure you're going to do even better, sort of a "renaissance stripper", if you will! ☺️
Few Questions: Do you have data on working other days of the week? Curious what the "Big day" is like your Daytona 500 would be? Is their pull through of other services (IE Upsell) that occurs that have a benefit or could? Lastly, whats the consensus amongst those that also strip in terms of trends, cashflow, the industry as a whole or has it pretty much gone unchanged?
….I’m quitting both of my jobs.
You should work more shifts
This stripper is wicked smart
seems like fridays are your days, but 11/1/23, do you call that "Big Wednesday"?
Wow!! You’re in great shape for your age
Thanks, I'm trying! :)
Net earnings before taxes is NOT net earnings
Fair. It's somewhere in between gross and net. I'm just trying to highlight that the dollars shown are *after* I pay my house fee, dance fees, and tip outs.
I have no questions but just wanted to say this is a fascinating thread. Thanks for all the responses OP.
Thanks for reading!
Why did you start at 37? Do you think you could make more (or have better job satisfaction, whatever that means to you) doing OnlyFans?
I have been doing Only Fans for over three years and have posted about my earnings on that here as well. Both jobs have pros and cons and right now I am happy doing both. I worked a corporate career up until 37.
Do you happen to have a link to the onlyfans earning post? I’m curious but you have quite a lot of posts and I couldn’t find it. Thanks!
Sure! If you search "author:nerdydancing" in this subreddit you'll find all my posts. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/search/?q=author%3Anerdydancing
Thank you!
I love what you've done - decent visuals, solid explanations. You should check out Tableau - its a nice viz software that has a free / public version. It is a fun program, you might enjoy it :)
Thank you!
May be too personal, but a few friends and I used to notice an uptick in our tips during ovulation. If you have that data to incorporate into this, I imagine it’d be interesting. It made enough of a difference to us that we started to schedule our shifts more heavily around our OWs when we picked up on the pattern. In any case, thanks for sharing!
You're the first person I've ever heard corroborate that old study that still floats around. I don't ovulate or menstruate so it's irrelevant for me.
So you avg about $50-$60 an hour working only what I assume is a choice shift of Friday nights and you look the way you do. Ya that's crazy to me seems crazy low. I do hope you generally enjoy the work.
If you read my initial comment I mention that my average hourly rate is $67. I actually work Friday mornings/afternoons which may not be the "choice shift" you think it is, but it works for my schedule so that's why I do it. And I enjoy it!
I actually did read your comment and ya I forgot the actual average but I was just generally seeing where the rate line generally and discounting outliers days. Did you mention you work morning afternoon? If so I completely missed it. But that does make me feel better for the other strippers out there. But I love the data and love your post generally. I am a big fan
Glad to hear that, thanks!
How much time do you spend in related work activities that your aren't paid for? Ex. In the back getting ready, going to get hair done earlier that day etc? The $40-120 per hour sounds impressive, but how does that work out when you include time that's not spent dancing in the club?
I can't say the same for other strippers but I'm pretty low maintenance. That's how I am in my regular life and I don't think it hurts me business-wise. I never go to get my hair or nails done. I'm lucky to have wash-and-go hair. It doesn't look great, but I don't think customers notice. I can do my make-up and get dressed for a shift in about 20 minutes total, which is the same as what I'd spend if I was going to any other kind of job site. I spend about 10-15 minutes after my shift counting my money and logging everything in my spreadsheet so I'd say that's the only un-paid time.
It would be interesting to map this against how the economy is performing
This is the most Reddit thing I have ever seen
HA I'll take that as a compliment.
What happens in a 30 min VIP room? Pardon my ignorance, but I’m assuming sex, except that would only be legal in Nevada
There is no sex in the champagne room - Chris Rock
At my club the VIP rooms are just more private/spacious areas where you can get the same kind of lap dance as you'd get for the $25-per-song ones. That's what *I* do in the VIP rooms. Certainly there may be other things going on with some dancers or in some clubs. But a customer who wants to get a lot of dances would be better off paying for the 30-minute room where it is more comfortable and you don't have the mental burden of counting out 10 or 12 songs.
I live in a country where strip clubs are not as common as in the US (Not do to religion, the concept just never cought on), so have a couple of questions not related to your graph. 45? Isn't that old in your line of work? And wasn't aware that you could have regulars as a stipper. So they come in and specifically ask you for a dance, or are the just generous with the tip at your stage performance?
Haha yes 45 is old -- I am the oldest one in my club (along with another lady who is also 45 and very successful). Luckily I look young but I also tend to do well with older customers who appreciate being able to converse with someone closer to their age than the typical 20-somethings at the club. And yes, some customers will come in and wait until their favorite dancers are free to buy lap dances from them instead of other dancers who might approach them. As with any sales job, a big part is relationship building.
Damn, wish I were a stripper.
My friend was a stripper. These numbers reflect what she told she made *and* how often she worked. But this was like, fifteen years ago?
I started in 2016 so I can't speak to what things were like 15 years ago but the industry definitely does not grow linearly over time, and depends a lot on what city you are in.
The earnings after fees and tip outs but before tax is gross earnings, not net earnings