Choosing a club
Where you work decides half of what you make.
A big club means more wallets and more competition; a small room means fewer customers and a better chance to be remembered. Pick by your edge, then test both.
Day shift often has no house fee, fewer dancers and sober regulars; night shift has the fee, the crowd and the big nights. Pick by close rate and lifestyle.
A return is a first audition with an edge: call ahead, give two weeks to stamina and your look, take day shift if offered, and text your regulars first.
Format sets the bar, the customers' age, how late you work and what dances cost. Fully nude often pays more per dance; topless with a bar draws a bigger crowd.
Pick a city with an event on your side, sort permits before you book, treat the first two shifts as research, find your room by midweek, and never leave broke.
Many cities require a police-issued entertainer card to work. It costs $35 in Spokane to about $350 in Houston and can take days, so check before you book.
The manager will quote the house fee. Only the dancers will tell you about fines, tip-out pressure, the DJ, the cash-out count and whether security shows up.
Unwritten fines, fees that rise mid-shift, back rent, quotas you pay the shortfall on, keys held at the door and a room cut over a third: all reasons to walk.
Before you audition, pay the cover twice, once on a day shift and once on a weekend night, and watch who is dancing, who is spending and how staff treat both.
Call ahead, go early on day shift or 8 to 10pm, bring an easy-off outfit and street clothes, dance one song you know, and keep the rest of the day free.
Leave when contact expectations pass your line, when management plays favorites or won't back you, when security is fake, or when a month of numbers says so.