I am a software programmer, building online booking systems.

From what I understand, many workers work alone, making it inconvenient to take calls.

Taking calls during a session should be a no-no.

So obviously there is a need for a booking solution - that is safe and simple, and secure.

Now - we realize that the data (the orders, phone number of client, etc) is delicate,
so the ideal solution would be to run the booking system from your own laptop,
connected to the internet.

That way you always carry with you the complete database, and can delete it all with a click,
or encrypt it using a password.

Taking payment in bitcoin - yeah! That is the safe way to go as an alternative to cash,
and it is nice to have an alternative to cash ready, when the need comes. It will come.

I deliver booking systems to regular businesses, and it is a critical part of their business.

Likewise sex workers should have good business solutions, freeing up your time to
take business calls during off-hours. With my systems several workers may pool
together and share the administration etc.

Link to month view: https://postimg.org/image/3kqyf8do3/

What do you think? Are you using a booking system already? Please share your thoughts.

Chico

It's not necessarily a bad idea in terms of helping us to stay organised, but most of use Adultwork which has an inbuilt bookings system and has the extra plus of allowing you to see feedback the customer has received from other sex workers.

Also many of us (probably the majority) like to speak to clients on the phone before accepting a booking, so we can screen out dodgy characters.

Thank you for your replies, and all those concerns must be met - of course.

Now there are two groups of customers:

1. Old customers
2. New customers

I assume we trust the old customers, so if they can order online, we can get a lot of relief.

The ideal business has no new customers, but only sell to old ones, who are all nice.

But this is not an ideal world, so there will be some new influx in the customer base - for various reasons.

So any concerns are basically only about the new customers.

I've been thinking, and I realize that they should be able to order from an online server.

BUT - their phone no is NOT saved online, but sent by SMS to you.

They only state a username, age and city online.

So get an SMS linking the username and the phone no, for each new appointment.

And you can log in yourself online and check your schedule.

All booking systems run on a single server, and any feedback on a user is visible to all other business owners.

New profiles on users can be set up, with info from other systems, flagging a user and his phone no - in effect banning him.

A central phone no black book, that you can all access.

I am all for security, and non-traceable information. We can use encryption, whatever.


And of course you take that first call, and do whatever to make sure you are not getting a psycho.

Your address is not online, only whatever you want to be there.

You can plan vacations, you can set up when to start and end, you can have automatic new appointments
being set up, with SMS reminders...Google Maps to show the way, to trusted customers.

This is very much about helping to get order in life, and I believe systems and routines may help
to a certain extent. Planning the day, the week, the month...creates perspectives, and when
we get all this visualized - well, it may be the thing for some. Of course not for all, I get that.


But if were in this game, I'd like to give all my attention to the customer, and I'm not sure
I could do that if half my brain was expecting a phone call any minute, and I knew that
was my only line out to the customer base. I would be stressed up, somewhere, somehow,
I think. If I could put the phone on silent, and just have an automatic SMS being sent if
someone called, directing them to my online booking, I could have an new appointment
at the same time I finished this one - all set up. A new sms confirmation waiting.

Now of course - it is not necessarily a good thing to be so efficient. It depends on the
amount of romance vs. business that you prefer. Some like things more planned, while
others like it more on the spot. Anyway, I think a long term business needs some
level of predictability, at least when it comes to the cash flow. And you are in the
booking business, making appointments, setting up meetings. It's all about when,
and where, and who. A very social business model.

We can set up an online testing page for new customers, take them through
some psychological profiling. Like the http://www.colorquiz.com which is quite
scientific, and we can integrate that and other stuff in the same category.

It is like a sifting process, you catch some by this and some by that, and
at the end of the line hopefully all the idiots are gone - I am taking about
the new customers now of course.

Reducing new customers by increasing old customer return rate will reduce
risk. Old customer return rate depends on customer satisfaction, which depends
on your level of relaxation, which impacts blood flow and stress levels etc.
The more planned and predictable your business is, the more you will relax.

The more you relax, the more money you will make, and the more satisfying
life will be. Probably. What do you think?

You haven't done much sex work, have you son?

You beat me to it VC.

Yet another who knows nothing about SW wanting to make money out of us.

What do I think? In short Independents are Independent for a reason, because we don't want unnecessary/costly/unhelpful third party involvement when we manage extremely well ourselves.

Tl;dr

+1

What the shimmering fuck? Kudos to anybody who read it all, though

+1

What the shimmering fuck? Kudos to anybody who read it all, though

Oh Amy dont.... I nearly did until .............................  guess your as patient as me

I have a diary, pen to paper so it's there for me to glance at,add to,amend. clients as a majority will not want to pay by bitcoin, most of my bookings are short notice and don't have to time to fanny about with that. Cash is anonymous and can't be traced/pulled back by their bank. It's also a paper trail which isn't discrete. I don't have time nor do I care about 'profiling' my clients, they can fill it in but people lie on the internet (shock). When I take a call all i care about is if they don't sound like a serial killer/14 year old/drunk and so on. Taking a booking should take 30 seconds to a minute and most of us have a system already for in place for it. I'm also sure bitcoin has a conversion rate that changes weekly which is also confusing to keep up with