1. Being self employed. Up until I went full time 3 yrs ago, I had only ever been an employee. I was fairly senior in my job, had many direct reports and was on track for promotion. But it's so soul destroying to give your absolute everything to a job, go the extra mile, unpaid hours, and earn exactly the same as a colleague who was doing the bare minimum. Plus - the atmosphere at the company was becoming more and more corporate. We didn't employ people any more, just "resources". When you start referring to someone who works part time as "Half an FTE" then it's time to go.

2. I enjoy the job, mostly. As I'm in the "mature" bracket I tend to mainly see guys who are over 40. (Oldest guy I've seen was 92!) I work 6am-7pm so rarely have to deal with drunk/high idiots.

3. I now feel I have the power to say "I'm not comfortable with that" rather than being a people pleaser. And that applies to every area of my life, not just sex work.

4. ^they have lots of control as they pay and call the shots^ - Noooo they do not call the shots. Forum twats are probably 1% of your business. YOU set the boundaries.

Clearing £40,000 of credit card debt with 2 years of whoring I consider both empowering and liberating...

I can well relate to Ms Millie.
Candid post by Mirror.
Empowerment.  I like this site because it has a strong campaigning aspect and it understands these problems we face, connects us to other support and help if needed.

I'm several decades older than you, besides the huge size difference.  However. . . It is easy to see these problems, clearly. 

You/WGs decline services as a result of the degrading/derogatory tone of his voice or the inconsiderate/indiscreet messages from men i.e. demanding hotel names without a booking; generally, no respect towards WGs and disregarding WG's "right" to privacy.  XW5 is right but they are like parasites that "infest" in this industry. 

It's essentially "self-care" that drives WGs to decline to meet these indiscreet men and stop contact.  These sad men might go onto launch some hate campaign as a result. "you have regretted you hadn't seen me, you 'FAT ugly whore'!".  "errrrmmm, NO."

The trouble is these can give rise to depression, anxiety, PTSD etc, at least a massive dose of stress, that ruines your health. When I was outed, this led to all kinds of major health problems, ended up with a triple bypass (took 9 months to recover from) and my Dad died of profound grief and shame when I was outed. Mother refused to speak since.   

It may be useful if more adult sites start providing an "Etiquette" page for both new and seasoned decent service users. It might make things easier to navigate and show exactly basic etiquette/manners would be.  We all need to have some basic rules to function, don't we?   If they have no idea, that's not a good start.   

...mega gutted starting that wonderful thing at 26, should’ve come to my senses and started earlier...

Snap!
I started at 39 (nearly 4 years ago) and immediately wished that I had started 20 years before then!  I believe that I would be far wealthier and have enjoyed my life a LOT more if I had.  (FYI, I was a teacher for 13 years, a drop-out for 2 years - which led to my credit card debt - and then, out of financial desperation, became a prostitute.  What I regret about whoring, though, is not having engaged with it AGES before I did, as I say  ).