As a single mum studying part-time making ends meet had become nearly impossible. I tried every home-based job going around — from stuffing envelopes to Internet marketing. I couldn’t afford childcare and my family lived interstate. All my friends were too busy with their own children to mind my twin pre-schoolers, so working outside the home wasn’t an option.
Last year, money became very tight and I was constantly late with the rent. When my landlord threatened to evict us, I broke down in front of my best friend as I told her about my predicament. She suggested I try what she’d been doing for several months — phone sex.
I thought she was joking at first but she was serious. How could I not have noticed that my plain, mousey friend had been living a double life? She told me that when her husband lost his job, they struggled to pay their bills and they would have had to sell the house. They were desperate. Like me.
I immediately dismissed the idea; whispering dirty words to complete strangers seemed too sordid and so unlike me. I’d always been the “good girl”. But my friend assured me it was safe and harmless, and above all, it paid well.
So I decided to give it a go. After all, I could stop at any time. I signed up with her employer and they sent me a training video. It took me another two weeks before I got the courage to watch it. When my landlord served me with a final notice, I realised I had no choice, so I finally set myself up to receive phone calls from “clients”.
After my twins were asleep at night, I sat on the couch and waited for the phone to ring. At first I simply read from a script, using a deep, breathy voice that sounded nothing like me. But my clients wanted more so I ad-libbed, thinking up wild, sexy scenarios on the spot. It amazed me that I was even capable of thinking that way, and amazed me even more when the clients began to ask for me personally.
Soon the money started rolling in. I was able to pay off my debts and even had some left over to invest. If anyone asked me where I got it from, I told them I’d come into a small inheritance.
When I graduated from my law degree, I stopped working the phones, even though the company offered me a higher percentage per call to stay on. But I’d had enough. Although the experience had been a lucrative and somewhat liberating one, it wasn’t a career I could be proud of. And more than anything, I wanted my kids to grow up to be proud of their mum.
Not that they’ll ever find out how I’d earned my money for an entire year before I became a lawyer. It will be a secret that I take to my grave.
Picture posed by model.
