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“And what does that mean, Sarah?” Linda interrupted Alexa and I both, to ask the question with a sweet tone that soothed my nerves. I have a feeling their good cop-bad copping me, but I let it go, for now.
“That means that I’ve written about the most special girls, the ones that really found a connection at the club and moved on. Some are still with me, others have left completely.”
“Is that common, Sarah? For the girls to find connections at the club, that is?” Sarah asked, and I knew the conversation was getting well away from the subject I’d agreed to so tried to steer it back on course.
“Not really no. They’re dancers and all of them get attention from people because of that. I have to keep them all safe, that’s my business after all, and we aren’t all there to find connections. I started off as a dancer and still get on the stage sometimes, but that’s not what I worked so hard for.”
“And how did you become an owner?” Alexa butted in, and I wanted to roll my eyes, but stopped the acerbic reply I wanted to give her. She was getting on my nerves because every sentence out of her mouth since we’d gone live came with a ‘gotcha’ quality to it.
“I realized sex sells, even the kind where sex never happens, Alexa. At 18 I’d run away from my family and had few prospects. I was offered an opportunity that would help me to promote my first novel, and I took it. From there I reinvested money either into my books or into getting my club off the ground. As I said, I had a few backers at the beginning, but I paid those people off as quickly as I could and got on with creating a good business that brings me a steady income, while making a nice little nest egg for myself with my books. It took a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of studying, but I got there, eventually.” I took a deep breath, ready to continue, but Linda jumped in, saving me from more of Alexa’s judgey questions.
“And what made you decide to go into that business? I know you said sex sells, but why a club?” Linda sounded a little judgey too, but there was something about the question that told me she’d be persuaded, with the right answer.
“Listen, I had no qualifications whatsoever. I earned an associate’s degree in business while I danced at night, trying to get those qualifications to run a business. I’d been talking with a friend about the idea that I had for the club, and they agreed to back me. They brough in a couple of others and I turned it into this. I didn’t decide to exploit women, if that’s what you’re both driving at, I did it to give those that don’t have the skills to get a degree or don’t want to, a chance to make some decent money. I know a lot of people look down their noses at women in my industry, especially those of us that operate the clubs or bars, but I run a good, clean club where women can end up in my novels because things happen. Romance can bloom in these scenarios, and when those stories happen, I fall in love with my job all over again. It’s that simple.” I felt deflated now, like I’d just spent hours defending myself and that I’d only beaten my head against a brick wall.
“Care to share your pen name with us, Sarah?” Alexa asked, throwing me off guard.
“Not really, no,” I said with a chuckle, but I really wanted to strangle her and get it over with. “I’d like to keep the two separated if I can.”
“I understand,” Alexa said, finally backing off a little. “They’re both tough industries to be in and people can be very judgmental.”
I guess you’re talking about yourself there, Alexa,I thought but breathed a sigh of relief, my eyes rolling again. If that kept up, they were going to roll right out of my head. “They are very competitive industries, yes, and running the club could be a disaster if anyone in my book world found out about it.”
“We won’t let that happen then.” Linda rushed to say, and I could just imagine her giving Alexa the evils from the forcefulness of her tone. “Any advice for other ladies wanting to get into similar industries?”
“Research. Always do your research. Going into any industry requires research of some kind, whether it’s on business accounting, or how to market your products. I was lucky, I found a backer early in my journey, but if I hadn’t have found them when I did, well, I’d have got there eventually. If you have a dream, follow it. Work your tail off for it and follow it. That’s about it. Research and work, which are both things I still do, to this day.” I knew there was another 15 minutes left in the interview, but I really wished it was over now.
“Always good advice. Now, let me ask you about the business side of it all, do you use an accountant, or have you mastered that side of things?” Linda was letting me off the hook with that question, and I knew it.
Relief washed through me, and I relaxed, finally. This wasn’t going to be so bad, after all.
