The Strip Club is the best school I ever attended.

Trust me, this isn’t click bait.

When I became a Stripper in the Autumn of 2007; I was relatively clueless as to what I was getting myself into. All I knew was I’d be dancing naked for money. Which at the time, I felt was all I really needed to know.

I won’t go into too much detail as to how I got into dancing, that article will come out soon. But a long story short; I was a starving artist in London looking to pay my rent with a job that allowed me to continue my art undisturbed.

So I felt like I had my head screwed on enough and that I was focused on a particular goal so much so, that would keep me from being swallowed by the nasty machine of the underground world. I had heard many horror stories about not being able to get out of that lifestyle once you're in it or how you're forever changed by it. Phrases like that rung around my head because I really didn't have anyone else in that world to tell me otherwise, all my information came from the internet and was probably written by anti strip club communities.

The first club I worked at was in Green Park, central London. It looked like a rustic, classy hotel. And not what I had imagined. In the UK our idea of strip clubs comes mainly from US outputs. What we see in films and music videos. So on my first shift I was a little disappointed. Which was surprise to me; I didn’t know that I was looking forward to the multiple poles, money flying in the air and girls wearing next to nothing.

I wasn’t expecting a cabaret style floor with only one pole for the entire club and a few private rooms. The sleepy, low lit, extremely organised floor lay out was reminiscent of a small jazz bar from the 50s. I was often reminded that this wasn’t a strip club but a Gentlemen's club.

The Gentlemen’s theme was echoed by the types of people they let in there, sharp looking, white business men, who often came in to seal a deal or to look impressive in front of their new or potential clients. This also informed the way us dancers dressed. Not in slinky barely there lingerie but instead sexy cut out gowns that reached over our knees or ankle.

The men that came in were often arrogant, ignorant and boisterous no matter how hard they tried to conceal it. Some more than others but still one in the same.

I could tell they underestimated all the dancers the way these talked to us and shooed us away at will. I mean I didn't expect much because this was the one place where that behavior could be pardoned

I often enjoyed the straight forwardness of men in these settings. And even more so the abruptness I could end or reject an interaction.

But the one thing men used to do that made me realize they thought very low of us dancers was over talking .

Especially in the VIP rooms.

Once I had earned my stripes and defined my sales pitch the number of VIP dances I'd get in a night increased.

Privacy was very important to some of these number pushing, account managing , CEO men and I used that to my advantage, why stay out on the main floor, when you can be catered too without everyone's eyes on you.

Once we'd get into the VIP and have our champagne fun, they'd want to hang out for a little bit after. Becoming accustom to the special treatment of the VIP rooms. And when I say hang out I mean, they'd like to finish their business meetings and close deals.

But usually us the dancers would stay in the rooms with them finishing our champagne and eating leftover strawberries and catching our breath.

This is when I'd do my best ease dropping. Not thinking much of us, these gentlemen would divulge sensitive information about deals and sometimes break the confidentiality code by naming names.

It was through these ease dropping sessions that I learned about how to make filing my taxes as a self employed/ independent contractor work best for me, what an ISA was. How to invest my money and where to invest it, what companies were exciting with the most potential of growth.

It was the first time I heard the phrase 'Making your money work for you' and not the other way round. It blew my mind, how small I had been thinking and my life was dictated by the amount of hours I had to work and if I wasn't in an establishment or selling goods I wasn't making money.

It took months to soak up all this information, it soon became a ritual for me to get home count my money, put it in my piggy bank and write down the new things I'd learned. Then the next day, surf the internet and take out books on those specific areas.

Once I felt confident with the knowledge I recently obtained and felt comfortable enough to talk about it so that it sounded like I was at least slightly rooted in that world. I started approaching customers that were beneficial.

It was rather easy to find out whether a customer was beneficial or not within the first five minutes of small talk, finding out what they did for a living and their interests and whether or not they were a high weight in their industry. Many men were just glad to be in the building of Goldman Sacks or Investment Banking. Others and these were the ones I was interested in, were hungry to make money, spend it and make it back ten fold.

We'd start talking innocently and then I'd slip in a term about foreign exchange and how you should have multiple international bank accounts to save you from upcoming crisis and their ears would prick up like dogs before a hunt. Now they were intrigued to get to know me instead of me begging for their attention. And then I'd pitch without them even knowing, my art, theatre, my poetry, my business models etc.

I now had one hour uninterrupted one to one time with the CEOs of major business, which I was being paid for.

It took a further year for me to ever get a business idea funded by an investor I found at the club. Stay tuned for that! But needless to say, the strip club was the best school I ever attended. And now I'm no longer working at a club but I live comfortably creating the things that I love.

Hazel xx