Getting started, step by step

The order below is the order the steps usually arrive in. None of it is fast: from a first serious enquiry to a first booking is commonly six to twelve weeks, most of which is spent waiting for a profile to be found.

1. Decide which market is being enteredWomen and couples, or male clients. The platforms differ, the rates differ and the profile is written differently. Trying to serve both from one listing tends to produce a vague profile that appeals to neither.
2. Sort out photographs firstThis is the step men skip and then regret. Nothing else in the process affects the number of enquiries as much. Six to ten recent, unfiltered, well-lit photographs of face and body, clothed, without sunglasses, headwear or other people in the frame. The photographs and profile text page covers what works.
3. Choose where to advertiseAgency, open directory or an independent site. Each has a different cost structure and a different amount of work left to the escort. Set out on choosing where to advertise.
4. Apply and sit the intake interviewFifteen to twenty minutes, usually by telephone, covering appearance, availability, motivation, boundaries and rate. Most operations give a decision on the call. It is also the applicant's opportunity to establish how the operation handles complaints, refunds and problem clients.
5. Set a rateTypical UK bands run from around £75 to £150 an hour, with travel charged separately. A lower rate produces more enquiries and a higher one produces fewer but better-paid bookings. The rate can be changed later. See what male escorts earn.
6. Set up the working identityA working name, a separate mobile number, a separate email address and a bank arrangement that keeps business income visible for tax without exposing the working name to friends and family. Covered on discretion and privacy.
7. Get tested and keep testingA full screen before starting, then every three months. Free at NHS sexual health clinics. Hepatitis B vaccination is recommended for anyone in this work.
8. Register with HMRCRequired once income passes the £1,000 trading allowance in a tax year. Registration deadline is 5 October following the end of that tax year. See tax and self-employment.
9. Agree a check-in arrangement before the first bookingSomeone who knows where the escort is and when he is due to be finished. This is arranged before it is needed, not after. See screening and personal safety.
10. WaitNew profiles are slow. Clients look for weeks before making contact, and the first month or two after a listing goes live is usually quiet. This is normal and is the main reason listing subscriptions run in six- and twelve-month terms rather than monthly.

What the first month actually looks like

Quiet, mostly. A handful of enquiries, several of which go nowhere, and one or two that turn into bookings. Time-wasters are a constant feature of the first weeks and are worth recognising early: long conversations that never move towards a date, requests for photographs that are not on the profile, and questions about services rather than availability.

The profile improves with use. After a dozen enquiries it becomes obvious which parts of the listing are attracting the wrong sort of contact and which sentences are doing the work. Most escorts rewrite their profile text within the first three months, and most of them improve it considerably.