Listings Rework

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Phone Sex Blog Superlative

A cry for help.
How can you refuse?

I like to think that I have a blog that's interesting to read, and I would love to make it easier for people to find it. I don't even make it to the Google search for "phone sex blog" on any page. Sad.

So I'm thinking of re-doing my tag line, from "Chance It: The Blogged Life of Galiana Chance, phone sex operator with a fetish for variety" to "Chance It: The Most _________ Phone Sex Blog in the World"

But... what to put in that superlative spot? Obviously, any qualitative claim I could put in that blank would be ridiculous, narcissistic, over-the-top, and impossible to quantify. Perfect.

The most honest? The most real? The realest (is that word)? The most varied?

Or should I go for something closer to what I have now, like "The Phone Sex Blog of Galiana Chance, a phone girl with a fetish for variety"? Or should I change my qualitative description to something like "a genius (by some definitions) and a helluva gal"? I need slugs, people. Slug me.

Help me, Obi Wan Blog Reader. You're my only hope.

1K Visitors! (Again. Sort of.)

I just hit 1,000 unique visitors in a month! (Again. Sort of.)

My Inner Data Analyst was so happy to see a lovely round number that she is getting her own blog post today. It's been a while since she got to come out and play.

Here's what made her happy: Google Analytics showed 1,000 unique visitors in a month time span.



Confession time: I checked in the middle of the day - it was serendipitous to hit the exact number when I did, but that wasn't the final number in the day. The final number for that month-span was 1,010, but I was so happy to see the exact 1,000 that I screen-captured it.

Now Data Girl gets to have her nerdy moments in the sun:

AGAIN: Truth is, I hit about 1,100 unique visitors in January when I only had one blog location, before I moved over to self-hosting, and before I dramatically dropped off my blogging volume and talked about a bunch of un-sexy life issues (Feb - Jun).

SORT OF: Since I split the blogs, there is no way to know the *exact* number of unique visitors across sites, because the old blog location is still up and running, and for a while, there were legacy links that led back and forth between them. So one human being could show up as a "unique visitor" for both sites. When I add them up and factor in cross-over, I've probably had 1,200 - ish unique visitors in the past 30 days across sites, but it's impossible to determine a precise number.

STATES: Ooooo I've now had visitors from all 50 states! Yay! For a while there were holdouts in Hawaii and North Dakota. Aloha Hawaii! Welcome aboard North Dakota! I don't know if you know this or not, but the phone sex connection is amazing between where you and Texas.

BOUNCE RATE / NEW VISITS: Back in January, when I was doing zero advertising and only driving traffic from my NiteFlirt listing, I had a bounce rate of about 16% (bounce rate = how many visitors only visit one page, lower is better) and a new visits rate of about 50% (new visits = first-time blog readers). My bounce rate and new visits rate have gone up since I started doing $3 / day of Google advertising (don't go too nuts with the spending there, Chance).

I have had a few lovely new callers from the advertising... probably not quite $100 / month worth yet, but I think it's one of those things that adds up over time. I will continue to play with small amounts of advertising to see how it goes.

OVERALL: So my traffic volume is nowhere near enough to approach a publisher about a book deal just yet (oh noes, my sooper seekrit long-term plan is out!), but it's great to know that I can rebuild if I need to!

Switches Get It...

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Two Roads Diverged in a Wood

I am diverging my web presence between those which are NiteFlirt-compliant and those which are not as of... now.

The blog I've been linking to, GalianaChance.com, and my new Twitter account (@GalianaNF) will remain compliant with NiteFlirt rules, which means that I can link to it from my listings, and it will not link to any NiteFlirt competitors.

But everything else will not be NF-compliant, and may contain links to other places. So my new blog location, GalianaChance.net, which I am essentially launching right now (/partyhorn /streamers), and my original blog location, GalianaChance.blogspot.com, will have more a complete "contacts and links" page than the compliant blog.

I spent the better part of two days scrubbing GC.com completely free of all links to my twitter, blogspot, facebook, fetlife, formspring, OKCupid, tumblr, ... basically, it is now only has links to itself and the @GalianaNF twitter account.

Everywhere else will have me posting links like the link whore I intend to become (for example, the previous paragraph... oh, and this paragraph too). Those will include my kinkbomb studio, clips4sale store, images4sale store, TalkSugar listing, and MyPhoneSite listing.

IMPORTANT FOR OTHER PSOs: If you link to my blog from a NF-compliant blog, PLEASE MAKE SURE you are linking to GalianaChance.com! The main reason that I left that one as NF-compliant is because everyone links to it already. When I launched it, I asked everyone to switch references. Even though I have not gotten one referral to the old blogspot address in over three months, this week, I still spent a few hours double-checked any PSO site who had ever linked to me that I could tell, and they were all good. So I feel good that everybody is already pointing to the right place.

Screwing over other PSOs? Do not want that kind of karma. /shudder So I have been very very very careful to scrub it all shiny clean and double-check with Play Fair.

For what it's worth, I'm happy to follow traffic leak rules, even though it means more work; every business has a right to protect itself. Also, if you're a customer, NiteFlirt is still the least expensive way to call me and buy my stuff, and will remain so for the foreseeable future -- out of loyalty, and because they have amazing traffic.

Welcome to my new path. It's linktastic, isn't it?

(P.S. Dear Inner Poetry Snob: I understand that the poem reference by my blog titled described choosing between two paths, not continuously traveling two paths at once, but it was the title that stuck in my head, so get over yourself. Love, Galiana)

Thoughts on Rates

I did not follow one of the best pieces of advice I ever got when I was first starting out: you're new, so you can afford to play with your rates, so keep raising them by $0.10/min every two weeks or so until you find your sweet spot.

Instead, after a month at $0.99/min ($0.55/min to me) to build feedback, I jumped to $1.49/min ($0.90/min to me). It was a smashing success. The 63% raise more than compensated for the callers who quit me. I felt justified at having bypassed the slow, painful rate creep.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, I lost many of my very short callers (under-10-minute average), fewer people insisted that I send them free minutes before they'd try me out, and I found more callers willing to talk for longer. It was fantastic. I was on cloud nine.

And then, a month after that, I disastrously tried to raise my rates again to $1.99/min ($1.25/min to me), at the same time as I was traveling, and also while setting up an invite-only VIP line that stayed at $1.49/min. I confused my callers, knocked my listings out of their top-page spots, and lost the momentum I had with people leaving me feedback. It was a horrible, terrible mess.

So I tucked my tail between my legs, salvaged the points I had made on my VIP line by switching it to an open line, rolled back all my prices to $1.49/min, and promised not to jack with my rates again for at least three months. That was 10 months ago, and the rates on Smart Fun Galiana haven't budged since then.

In the meantime, I created Ms Galiana and Hypno Galiana and toyed with their rates a bit, but I gave up on them when I realized I was unhappy with the way the listings were written. Unfortunately, that was also about the time we had to move, so they got lost in the shuffle for a while. But they're climbing back. They'll find their own ways in the world, I feel sure of it.

(pssst... I'll let you in on a secret: for a brief time, I also opened a purposefully mysterious listing with no pictures of my face, and I had a British accent and I charged $2.99/min. But when the few people who called that line insisted on knowing more about me personally, I hated the pressure of having to choose between lying to them or continuing to play bad cop and say no. Plus, it was nerve-wracking to switch personas like that in the space of 10 seconds as Madge told me which character was getting the call. But I'm not gonna lie, the British accent was super fun. Don't tell anybody, okay?)

My motivation for reconsidering my rates is that many callers have told me I am selling myself short because of my intelligence and creativity. I am acutely aware of my shortcomings, which makes me want to leave my rates low, but also aware that I may be leaving money on the table, which is silly.

Also, now that I am under a bit less financial pressure than I was, a few weeks of "oops well that didn't go as I'd hoped" is more acceptable now than it used to be. Don't get me wrong, the cash I'm making now is going toward non-luxuries like car insurance and vet bills, and my Amazon gift cards replenish my dog treats more often than they provide lipsticks or lingerie, but I am responsible for a smaller percentage of our overall spending.

Ugh, I need to take a break from explaining my financials for a while, and yet I keep feeling the need to do so. Here, this should help: We're nowhere near rich, we have too much debt, we have no savings yet (although we're working on it now), and I still need to work to pay some bills. There. I said it. Now then... Dear whatever part of me needed to keep explaining my finances: Please hush now, for at least a month, okay? Oooooookay.

Back to rates: I have set the rates on my Ms Galiana listings at $2.25/min ($1.44/min to me), which I expect to attract a few callers over time. And after I re-write my Hypno Galiana listings, those will be set at $1.95/min($1.23/min to me). Those rates reflect the relative expenditures of my energy to do those types of calls, in general. Obviously, some submissive calls are draining and some domme calls are refreshing, but in general, I expend more energy leading than I do following.

When Ms Galiana and/or Hypno Galiana take off enough for me to start feeling resentful of taking calls on Smart Fun Galiana, I will start raising those rates by $0.05 / minute every two or three weeks until it feels like the three accounts are balancing themselves out properly.

I will also be logging in to other sites to take calls, and starting those at a minimum of $2/min (announcements forthcoming soon about where else I am listed).

My uninformed guess is that it will take 3 months before I start raising Smart Fun Galiana rates, and I will end up with: Ms Galiana $2.25 - Hypno Galiana $1.95 - Smart Fun Galiana $1.75.

For the sake of gratitude and nostalgia, I will keep a wandering $1.49 line, and I'll keep the blog updated to let you know which one it is. The idea is: there will always be at least one listing where I could use more points or good feedback or a better ranking, so I can direct fiscally savvy blog readers to call me there for a lower rate, and everyone is theoretically happy.

Plus, let's be honest: if you're reading the blog, I like you better, and you deserve it.

So the first step in all this very-slow-moving process was to open Ms Galiana at $2.25/min. Done.

The second step is to raise the rate on my Smart Fun Galiana listings under the Mistresses and Femme Dommes categories. Also done.

The third step is to finish my Hypno Galiana re-write. Mmmmm.... not so much with the done on that yet. But at least I'm mulling it. That's a start, right?

A Year and A Fortnight

Galiana A Year and A Fortnight ago

I started taking phone sex calls July 15, 2010, a few days after my husband took this picture of me in our kitchen to test the camera on his new phone. I hadn't yet started writing my first version of my listing, because I didn't yet know about NiteFlirt, but I had applied with a couple of dispatch phone sex services.

I wrote blog posts about my quarter anniversary and my six-month anniversary. Then on July 15, 2011, I completely forgot to write about my 1-year anniversary. When I realized it, two very socially busy days later, I figured I'd wait until my blog anniversary (8/15) and do something then.

On July 24, 2011, I got an email, with the subject line, "No?" and content of, "No big, one-year anniversary blog post?"

I felt so loved. When I saw the email on my phone, I was having lunch with my mom, casually checking to see if anything time-sensitive had happened in the past hour, and she immediately said, "Well, THAT got a reaction, what was that?" I got choked up while explaining it to her. Although she certainly wishes I were physically able to do other types of work, her response was a very supportive, "Awwww. That's very sweet. I like him."

So much has shifted since I started being a phone sex operator.

A year ago, both my husband and I were working from home in Austin, where he could be in charge of letting the dogs in and out of our quarter-acre back yard. The big yard also meant that ensuring they had enough exercise was as simple as taking a 15-minute break to play fetch, or rile them up via tug-of-war until they chased each other along the well-worn path around the perimeter.

My husband also took care of all the shopping for groceries and necessities. So I was free to lounge in the Fuckatorium for 10-12 hours a day, waiting for the phone to ring, writing blog posts, and hanging out on IM chat in case I could entice someone that way. We had friends in Austin, but I rarely went out socially more than twice per week, so most of my time was free to feel sexy and take calls.

Since then, we've moved to Houston, where I am more social, because my family is close by, which is awesome and emotionally nourishing, but puts a strain on me vertigo-wise. My husband got a fantastic job which requires a lot of travel, so I have much less financial pressure, but more responsibilities: chores, groceries, dog parks.

I started taking horse tranquilizers, which has obliterated my capacity to multi-task (thus the death of my casual IM chatting), but has helped ease my vertigo symptoms drastically, allowing me to go from about 30-40% pre-vertigo capacity to 50-60% pre-vertigo capacity. My increased ability to get stuff done means I regularly overshoot my medicines and wear myself out like the overachiever dork I am. Silly Galiana.

So these days, I'm logged on for phone sex less often. Although there still are bills relying on my income (including the extremely motivating category of "my spending money"), the reality is that I'm not a full-time phone girl anymore.

I think one reason I missed my anniversary is because I couldn't figure out what to put here. It seems anti-climactic to say I've gone from full-time to part-time. I still can't tell which story needs to be told. So I'm making this up as I write, feeling my way along, hoping it turns into something coherent here soon. (We can tell, it shows)(Oh hush, there's no need to be rude to yourself)(Ummmm, too late for that).

Plus, I wanted to have something special to offer, or announce, like a commemorative picture set or a "if you do this then I'll send you free minutes" kind of a thing, but nothing stood out to me as The Perfect Celebratory Offer.

In fact, I meant for this blog post to end a few paragraphs back until I figured out The Perfect Celebratory Offer, but now my Inner Therapist and Inner Writer have conspired, and have momentum, and well, who am I to stop them on the principle of posting an anniversary blog post on an actual anniversary date? Pffff. Details. So on we go.

Of course, there are numbers I could share, because I'm a data girl:

* Callers I've blocked (which means they can no longer contact me): 4 - I am happy that number is so low.

* Customers: 781 - although people who delete their accounts don't show up, so it's actually a tad higher than that.

* Most times someone has called me: 57 - I am supremely confident in my ability to get him aroused and leave him satisfied.

* Highest amount I've made from one customer after NiteFlirt's percentage: $2707 - and it is a different guy than my 57-calls customer, and about a quarter of that amount is from pay-to-views and tributes. Not bad for a girl who doesn't advertise for financial domination, right? And if you're wondering if it's you, then no, it's not you, because he knows his financial totals with me, because the money is part of his fetish.

* Verification of the 80/20 rule (80-ish% of my revenue comes from 20-ish% of my customers): yep, almost exactly.

* Overall Revenue from non-calls: about 5% - pretty good considering I don't do nearly as much to advertise my pics and videos as I could, and I never ask for tributes unless I'm doing something custom.

* Times I have rewritten my main listing: 18. Well. That's just embarrassing.

* Calls: 1840, which technically averages out to a little less than 5 per day, but I've taken off a lot of days (Slacker)(Shut up)(No, you shut up)(No, you shut up yer shuttin' up)(/giggle), so really it's a bit higher than 5. (And yes, these parentheticals are real conversations I have with myself)(Psycho)(No YOU!)

Although numbers can sometimes tell a story, in this case, they don't do justice. Not by a long shot.

A year and a fortnight ago, I thought I was more submissive sexually than dominant. After repeated exposure to the raw, powerful lust I can inspire by bringing my leadership and management skills into the bedroom, I now find the thought of a man kneeling before me, offering his mind and body as my plaything... distractingly, exquisitely, deeply arousing.

A year and a fortnight ago, I thought I would never find sexual stimulation in humiliating another person, and even if I did, I wouldn't be very good at it. After making someone come twice in ten minutes from scathingly deriding his lack of sexual adequacy, leading to an adrenaline-fueled big fat POW of an orgasm for me while I told him he could never get me off that well, I concluded I had been mistaken.

A year and a fortnight ago, I thought I was pretty savvy about kinks. After weekly exposure to new fetishes and the fetishists who crave them, I am no longer surprised when I am surprised.

A year and a fortnight ago, I wondered if my size XL body would keep me in such a small niche in the market that it would not be worth the effort to be a phone sex operator. After being begged to get on cam, produce photos, and shoot videos, I have found even more to appreciate about my body.

A year and a fortnight ago, I didn't know if I would ever be able to financially provide for myself in case of an emergency. After I knew I could, the relief and sense of empowerment has been profound.

A year and a fortnight ago, after a year of not working and not being able to go out in crowded public spaces very often, my circles of social and professional connections had contracted, and I missed the feeling of meeting new people. After developing at least a dozen crushes on callers, and at least a dozen mutually supportive co-worker relationships, and making so many connections that I have to turn off chat because I can't multi-task enough to keep up with the barrage of friendly interaction requests, my social meters are pleasantly full any time I wish.

A year and a fortnight ago, I deeply missed feeling useful. I can't explain how frustrating that was for me, and how much energy I spent trying not to feel useless.

Now, after a year and a fortnight of listening to confessions, playing catch with complex balls of emotional and sexual energy, gaining proficiency in dozens of kinks, and - most importantly - helping hundreds of callers make the transition from "I'm so horny I can't fall asleep, but I'm too distracted by thoughts of my crappy day to finish myself off alone" into the far more pleasant "Oh, wow, that felt good and /yawn and /stretch and /whew, finally I can sleep! Thank you, I needed that", now I feel extraordinarily useful as a buddy, a confessor, an outlet, a supporter, and very clearly, as a sleep aid.

(Oh, no, really, this blog post does not need the Galiana Sleep Aid commercial now playing in my head. Please turn that off. Seriously.)

You, and you, and you, and you, and especially you, you all made my first year and a fortnight as a phone sex operator possible, and fun, and exciting, and enriching, and sexy as fucking hell. Thank you.

(So what's the special offer gonna be?)(Oh, for fuck's sake, I just wrote a lovely little ending. Can we leave it at that until I figure out a worthy offer later?)(Sure thing... ya slacker.)(NO, YOU!)

Ms Galiana Reborn

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Secrets and Exposure

Here's the deal, blog readers, I tell you a lot. I mean, a ton. I tell you so much that some would argue I probably turn some of you off because I spill my guts all the time.

We've grown to trust each other, right? I mean, you get me. You understand my compulsively narcissistic need to have callers whisper in my ear references to my blog posts, don't you? Because that is seriously, blindingly, searingly hot when that happens. The other day... oh, no, wait, stay on topic.

So, um, I... I have a confession to make. I have to keep a secret from you. It's not that I don't trust you, because I totally do. But there are these annoying things called traffic leaks ... If I link to a competing site on this blog, my NiteFlirt listing could get pulled, because I link to the blog from my listing. It makes sense, doesn't it?

So the truth, as much as I can tell you, is: I've been wandering a bit, trying out other spots, uploading pictures and videos to other venues. But in general, other places don't pay as high a percentage as NiteFlirt, they don't pay as often as NiteFlirt, they don't generate the same kind of traffic as NiteFlirt ... so I'm not interested in jeopardizing my NF relationship in any way.

Plus, you're better off calling me and buy my pay-to-view items via NF, anyway, because my rates are higher elsewhere to make up for the hassle of having to keep track of multiple logins. The pattern for taking calls elsewhere seems to be that I try it for a few days, get annoyed again, and go back to only logging in to NF as usual.

So far, it's just been more work, with little additional income, but I'm going to keep at it for a while, and do some follow-up marketing-ish activities, at least with the pay-to-views, in case it brings new exposure. In the meantime, it has the benefit of helping me feel like I'm getting a few long-standing organizational tasks knocked off my to-do list, and that part feels great.

Plus, I've learned the fine art of making animated gifs!

This one is my favorite, the gif for the Galiana-bot Demo 01 (and here's the link to buy it if you're interested and haven't bought it already):

It does a much better job of capturing the best moments of the video than the auto-generated animated gifs. Plus, animated gif "previews" are way way way way way way easier to make than video trailers, but I feel like it's an acceptable enough substitute to be willing to settle for it, so yay.

Oh, dear, I'm sorry... is the flashing images of me unzipping my body suit and grabbing for balance mid-orgasm is distracting for you? /grin (Okay, so, totally, I'm not sorry about that at all)

So that is what I've been up to for a few days' worth of between-call time now: learning how to make animated gifs, setting up storefronts, and uploading stuff. Now you know... mostly. I feel better now that we've cleared the air with that, don't you?

What Do You Do For a Living?

Dear Other PSOs,

What do you say when someone in public innocuously asks what you do for a living? Like the bank guy seeing my direct deposit dribble in with small daily payments...

I usually break eye contact immediately, do a dismissive wave of my hand, become as distant and stiff and formal as I can muster, and say "I do personal consulting". Then I look back at them with one eyebrow slightly arched and no hint of a smile on my face. Nobody has ever asked for clarification.

I understand fully: that response could just be drawing attention to myself. Thankfully, since I report all my revenue and gifts on my taxes, and I'm not breaking any laws, I have nothing to hide if someone chooses to snoop. I mostly just think it's funny to go all alpha bitch suddenly with no warning and watch the response.

Request for Listing Input

I used to think that I did things in weird ways until I worked with dozens of programmers. Then I learned that most people do things in their own unique fashion, and that if you give them room to do things their way, often it will be most efficient for them.

When I have a big, complicated project looming -- like, for example, rewriting all my listings -- I need to ponder it a while before I actually start making changes.

I am currently in my mulling phase, which means I'm pleasantly distracting myself by importing my transaction detail into an Access database , and automating the process to parse customer name and transaction type.

Inner Data Analyst: It's about frikkin' time! The Excel process was killing me. Literally killing me dead, every frikkin' day. DEAD, I tell you! ...

Inner Data Analyst takes a while to calm down once she gets on a rant, so we'll let her unwind while we continue.

I have a request of you, Dear Reader, which is: Please let me know what you think I should keep and/or change about my current listing(s).

GENERAL LISTINGS:

For my general listings, I currently have three listings with a mishmash of ideas presented in them:

* http://www.niteflirt.com/listings/show/9463253 - Sex listing

* http://www.niteflirt.com/listings/show/9503597 - Role Play listing

* http://www.niteflirt.com/listings/show/9507267 - Cam listing

I want to stress that I'm smart, fun, playful, sex-positive, versatile / variety fetish, have a theater background, I care about the people who call me, and I consider myself more of a "lover" than a "girlfriend". Some of that is in there now, and some of it isn't.

HYPNO LISTINGS:

For my hypno listings, I currently have one listing template:

* http://www.niteflirt.com/listings/show/9498705

I completely need to change it. Right now it makes me look sad. Or serious. Or boring. Or something. But definitely something that I am not.

I actually want to stress more of the same things I stress in my general listings: I'm smart, fun, playful, sex-positive, etc.

But I also need to emphasize that I really truly enjoy erotic hypnosis. I do. It's sexy as hell.

And that I'm willing to do hypno role plays, but if you're calling my hypno line, I am assuming that you want actual hypnosis.

And that I am a hypnotist, not a mind reader, and there are dozens of choices to be made, and that I need you to tell me what you like and what you want for you to get the most out of it. I'm okay with putting you under and asking you to tell me then, but if you can answer before I trance you, that would be ideal.

MISTRESS GALIANA LISTINGS (changing to Lady Galiana):

For my mistress listings, I currently have one listing template:

* http://www.niteflirt.com/listings/show/9498763

I also need to completely change it. First, I'm changing the name to "Lady Galiana", which I think is a better reflection of my topping style than "Mistress" or "Goddess" or "Princess".

I know, it sounds a bit like "Lady Gaga", but I like her fierceness, open sexuality, and unapologetic support of the LGBTQ community, so I'm okay if a comparison is made, jokingly in passing. I'm comfortable that I am my own person enough to wipe out that image quickly.

Next, the pictures and the language I'm currently using there are too formal and serious for me. When I'm in charge, I'm still smart, fun, playful, etc, and the listing currently doesn't convey that very well.

And I need to emphasize that I really truly enjoy dominating sexually. It's a huge power rush and a turn on for me.

And that I love sex, so I could very well choose to get off while I'm dominating or using you (I don't want my listings to be focused on what I am not, but I think there is a popular conception that mistresses don't allow submissives to make them come because then they lose control. Maybe that's true in some dominant relationships, but I'd rather have orgasms, thank you very much).

I like the stuff that's in there now about being cooperative, but lately, I've been thinking about my flavor of domination in terms of being a "service top" -- I enjoy playing a dominating role for the many of the same reasons I enjoy playing a submissive role: I love knowing my partners is getting exactly what s/he's been craving, and more. Giving control and taking control are both means -- for me, the end is ensuring an intensely delicious experience for both of us.

IN ALL THREE:

For all three of my logins / "characters" / personas, the common theme is: I love hearing my lover all grateful, satisfied, and happy after we're done.

Help me out gang. Give me phrases, themes, ideas for layouts, suggestions for pictures you think would work well, thoughts I'm missing, anything you can think of to help my next round of listings be exponentially more appealing than the current ones.

Thanks!

NiteFlirt Down!

The NiteFlirt site just went down, but as a friendly reminder: you can call me at 1-800-863-5478 ext 94-63-25.

And I'm definitely in the mood for calls today - I feel like I'm at full energy, with a mind full of naughty ideas, and NO desire to keep working on other things, so please, interrupt me!

Follow-Up Mea Culpa

I'm over a month behind on my follow-up notes, because I was already behind when I started the process of moving, and once I got moved and rested enough, I chose to finish up some even-more-overdue picture sets.

Sorry they're so late. I'll do my best to make them worth the wait this round.

For new clients, let me explain my follow-up notes: they contain at least one large picture of me, and sometimes more. Often I send an additional extra-naughty picture for people who have left me official feedback.

And my follow-up notes include your name and a personalized thought, so you know it's not bulk mail (unless I don't know your name and you bought something from me without us talking, in which case, I don't know enough about you to personalize the follow-up).

So if you're in the mood to get a special Galiana note then next time I send them (next week, hopefully - fingers crossed...), then call me or send me a Tribute, or buy something (there are currently 37 things to choose from here) if you haven't done so for the past month.

And if you have a special request about what kind of picture you'd like to see in your thank-you note, let me know, and I'll do my best to accommodate!

Cam Launch Sunday!

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What I Did On My Day "Off"

I took a 36-hour break from being logged in to NiteFlirt. In theory, it was my first day off in over a month. In reality, Thursday was a true night off, where I did nothing "productive" while I watched a Mythbusters episode and chatted with friends.

But on Friday, ... 

I registered galianachance.com (hosted by a company who is fine with adult content, and who offers WHOIS privacy - nice). The host hasn't enabled it, and there's nothing on it yet, but it's mine!

I took the first steps to research blogging, e-commerce, and content management packages for when my site is set up. Those are long-term projects, but it was interesting to look into, and much less intimidating to think about now that I've learned a few things. For example, if I had my own e-commerce package, I could potentially set up a pay-for-text-chat system, which is not offered through NiteFlirt.

I posted the "Gentle Fun" mp3 for sale and blogged about its release here.

I cleaned my computer of a particularly nasty virus, which was posing as anti-virus software. I also took the time while doing that to delete unused programs, change boot settings for crap I didn't need to launch every time I logged in, and do a comprehensive disk scan (virus & corruption/defrag). My little laptop purrs like a kitten now.

I drafted 4 awesome blog entries - a new series - which are ready to hit "publish" on rainy days when I have nothing else in mind. Keeping secrets is not my natural state... will I be able to withhold them? Ohhhhh the suspense...

I set up a Google AdWords account, which I will eventually use to advertise the blog. If it brings in readers who turn into callers (or Kindle blog subscribers), it would be worth a small daily investment. It will be relatively easy to track, since I usually ask new callers why they chose to talk with me, and people who come in from channels other than NiteFlirt (my blog / Twitter) tend to say so. 

I did the horrible, tedious, repugnant, soul-sucking, skin-crawling task of recording my voice greetings for phone callers for ALL 14 Mistress Galiana listings, ALL 14 Hypno Galiana listings, and my new Role Playing Smart Fun Galiana listing. (No me gusta la repetición. That's right. Mmmhmmm. I dislike repetition so much that I couldn't even say the word in English. Repetition, you totally just got served.)

... Thankfully, I used the last of my Godiva chocolates and some amusing texts from a friend to cheer me on while I expressed my desire to bash my head against the wall to motivate my way through it. I heard those voice prompts twenty... nine... times... (Did I mention that I'm not a big fan of repetitive tasks? If you say that I'm repeating myself, I will punch you in the shmoo. Don't think I won't.)

... But seriously, I'm very proud of myself to have knocked that out. It is not my favorite type of task, so it was hard for me to do, but it is in my best long-term interests to have it done. And it's not something I could do while being logged in, so it was perfect.

I figured out how to spend a few recent Amazon gift cards - I had been trying to use up all my random bath and body products before buying anything new, and I am finally at the exciting place to buy new stuff. I haven't figured out the complete shopping cart yet, but I'm looking forward to feeling pampered!

Measured stuff in the Fuckatorium to get it ready to reorganize. Again. Of course. This time, it's to set it up for camera / video... Or at least, "cam/video set up version 1", since I'm sure I'll change my mind a bazillion times. I didn't actually start moving stuff because my husband was also having a surge of energy to knock old items off his to-do list, and I had no desire to interrupt that, since some of those benefit me greatly as well. I'll have him help me when the camera actually arrives, and he's out of good ideas for himself.

I guess the rare snow day in Austin must be inherently domestically productive, because we were both on fire with getting stuff done. If you can't leave the house, you might as well shorten your to-do list, right? Right!

So now, naturally, my to-do list is... ummm.... wait... longer?!? What the hell, Chance...

Why is it that when I get stuff done, I always think of more to do?

Meeting In Person

Because I am non-monogamous, I've had callers ask if I would ever consider meeting them in person. For a platonic lunch? Sure. For hours on end of rambunctious sex? That's tricky.

A favorite caller of mine is going to be in town this summer, and asked me to write out my realistic caveats and expectations for meeting in person. I've been musing about the topic since I became a phone sex operator, so it's about damn time I put together a blog post already.

The trickiness boils down to this: because of the combination of (a) my mysterious neurological vertigo and (b) my dependence on phone sex to pay the bills, I protect my time and energy very carefully to ensure that I am available to work as often as possible.

So I limit my activities in life, including regularly missing out-of-town events which I would eagerly attend if I did not have that unfortunate combination. Don't get me wrong: I love my life, my life is worth living even if I have to miss a few celebrations, and I love that sometimes I can say yes and join in.

And I love being with a new lover for the first time - I love that a lot. And I love the idea of meeting a new lover by having them be a phone sex caller first -- the chance to get to know how we turn each other on that way is pretty damn sexy. And I'm comfortable with my ability to discern who I would be compatible with meeting in person -- remember, I was a slut before I was a phone whore, and I've hooked up from the internet after writing/chatting/talking on the phone plenty of times, before I got vertigo. My experience suggests that the longer I know a lover before we meet in person, the better the sex is.

Warning: this blog post is ludicrously long, and chock full of unsexy, fantasy-draining unpleasantries and logistics. Your boner is seriously at risk.

VERTIGO
The uncomfortable truth is: there is no way for us to meet in person and have sex without it making me dizzy.

I've written about some of the issues with my vertigo (in this early blog post, and then also more recently), but here's a summary: I feel drunk all the time. Many things make me feel more drunk, including motion, concentration on complex mental tasks, and being in crowds. The only thing that makes me feel less drunk is spending time being still.

The basic theory behind my vertigo is that my neurons in a few parts of my brain aren’t recharging fast enough, so once they fire, they need more time than normal to be available to fire again. So when I do activities with certain types of stimulation, those neurons wear themselves out and need to recharge. As neurological impulses are re-routed to pathways which are not designed to handle those processes, chaos ensues, which manifests as me feeling progressively dizzier.

What I haven't yet mentioned on the blog is that, out of the 32 medicines I have tried so far, there are two medicines which allow me to be relatively dizzy-free for several hours a time, helpful enough to take now and then, but they have side effects and drawbacks.

The big drawback is rebound: As a drug wears off, I almost inevitably have a rebound effect, which is different for each medicine. The most common rebound experience is approximately like having a sugar crash, after eating ten times more ice cream than you should, on a day when you were already desperately hung over, from taking tequila shots until you puked. So it's not fun. My head feels woozy, my tummy is upset, I'm confused, I'm light-sensitive, and I'm cranky about it.

At its most severe, it feels like someone is holding my skull like a snow globe and shaking my brain inside it. And just like settling a snow globe, the only way to calm back down is to be completely still.

During a rebound crash, I need to be totally alone in a dark, quiet room. No, you can't lie on the bed next to me, because if you so much as move a muscle, I will want to kill you, so for the protection of our relationship, you can't be there when I'm rebounding.

Remember: you were warned about the non-sexy in this blog post. And there's more coming. Sorry.

Ritalin:
Neurological stimulants seem to reduce my dizziness by speeding up the recharge rate to allow my neurons to fire again. I've tried a few uppers, and Ritalin has the most tolerable combination of side effects for the amount of anti-dizzy time I get. But, like most stimulants, the effects degrade with repeated use.

Behaviorally, I am irrationally talkative on Ritalin, and I'm convinced all my funny stories are hilarious.

Assuming I'm well-rested and haven't taken Ritalin in at least a week, so I have a nice, fresh brain, here's what happens:

* 1st day: I'm euphoric and comparatively dizzy-free for 6-8 hours; I can do almost anything (including sustained vigorous fucking); the rebound crash lasts about 1.5 hours.

* 2nd day: I'm euphoric and comparatively dizzy-free for 4-6 hours; I can do almost anything (including sustained vigorous fucking); the rebound crash lasts about 3 hours.

* 3rd day: I'm comparatively dizzy-free for 2-3 hours if I'm lucky, but jittery feelings drown out euphoria; I can do most things, but fucking would have to be gentle; the rebound crash lasts for 4 hours; my blood pressure rises to unhealthy levels.

* 4th day: The entire experience is basically one big rebound crash for hours on end, and my blood pressure rises to get-to-an-emergency-room-right-fucking-now levels. Not good.

* the day after: even if I just take Ritalin for 1 day, the day after I take it, I feel hung over most of the day: I have low energy, I am easily confused, and I am less interested in social interactions.

I love taking Ritalin for things I would not otherwise be able to participate in very easily (like Christmas morning with wiggly children, or my friend's wedding last October), and it is worth the rebound + hangover for such events. Better than not having those memories.

Xanax:
Neurological anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax seem to reduce my dizziness by relieving my mind of the background process of anxieties and worries, leaving more neural networks free to focus on the task at hand. Plus they block dizzy signals from the inner ear (which are clearly scrambled in my case), which is why they are often used for motion sickness.

The effects of Xanax degrade less than with Ritalin, but the side effect of making me lethargic and sleepy progressively strengthens.

Behaviorally, while I'm on Xanax, I act sleepy, giggly, stupid, and stoned; I have very little impulse control, so I say insane things, and should not be out in public for fear I'll take off my bra and toss it at someone like I'm a groupie at a Tom Jones concert in the 1970s. Therefore, I have to trust someone a lot to take Xanax with them, because my judgment is clouded, and I won't do heavy BDSM or bondage play on Xanax.

Also, when I'm on Xanax, I need a constant influx of caffeine just to stay awake. By "constant influx" I mean I need to drink significant caffeine every 15-20 minutes. This results in frequent potty breaks, so suspension shibari would be out of the question anyway.

(side note: I'm uncommonly sensitive to drugs... these effects are from the lowest possible doses, and I split pills in half)

Assuming I'm well-rested and haven't taken Xanax in at least a week, so I have a nice, fresh brain, here's what happens:

* 1st day: I'm delightedly stoned and comparatively dizzy-free for 5-6 hours; I can do almost anything (including sustained vigorous fucking); the rebound crash lasts about 1 hour.

* 2nd day: I'm delightedly stoned and comparatively dizzy-free for 4-5 hours; I can do almost anything (including sustained vigorous fucking); the rebound crash lasts about 2 hours.

* 3rd day: I'm comparatively dizzy-free for 3-4 hours, but the urge to sleep is increasingly difficult to overcome; I can do almost anything (including sustained vigorous fucking); the rebound crash lasts about 3 hours.

* 4th day: The entire experience is basically one muddled and unmotivated rebound crash until I go to sleep.

* the day after: no matter how many days in a row I've taken Xanax, the day after I take it, I feel sluggish and unresponsive, easily confused, and I am less interested in social interactions.

Ritalin and Xanax combined:
Doesn't help. I tried. All the side effects, none of the benefits. Rats.

With my daily medicine:
After I first wrote this post, I discovered a daily medicine, phenobarbital, which I affectionately refer to as my "horse tranquilizer" because it is more often used as a veterinary medicine these days, which allows me to do more on a daily basis, with less dizziness, with the side effect that it makes me groggy.

If I'm fully settled, I can do dizzy-inducing activities for a while, but then I need to rest, and the ratio of activity-to-rest keeps degrading. If I don't rest in time, the degradation speeds up exponentially, as if my vertigo were rolling downhill and picking up speed. So having sex off meds looks about like this, even if none of it is overly vigorous:

* fuck for about 90-120 minutes then rest for about 60 minutes
* fuck for about 45-60 minutes then rest for about 90 minutes
* fuck for about 30-45 minutes then rest for about 120 minutes
* fuck for about 15 minutes and then I'm done for the day

The day after I did that full of a pattern, I'd feel dizzier than usual, and less social than usual.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: THOUGHTS
When I feel anti-social, easily confused, or have problems completing sentences, it has a profound effect on my ability to earn money. There is no vacation pay as a PSO - either you're being paid to be on the phone or you're not. So when a day goes by and I'm not logged in, I forever lose the income potential of that day.

I would only take a new lover if I were attracted to them, no matter how much money was involved. Really, if someone I was not attracted to took me to the Bunny Ranch, registered me as a legal prostitute, and offered me $25,000, I would say no.

But assuming there is enough attraction for me to consider enjoying you as an in-person lover, romping with you in the flesh will knock me off the phones for a day or two.

It's complicated, right? Because if I'm attracted to you and want you to be my lover, then in some ways, that's like any other life-thing, and I shouldn't be compensated for it.

However, I am extraordinarily picky about how I spend my off-phone, social time. Honestly, I'm pickier about that than I am about who I would theoretically have sex with. There are lots of people I would love to fuck if I had all the time and money and non-dizzy energy in the world, and yet, I've only chosen to have two in-person lovers other than my husband since I got vertigo.

Another factor: while I'm not morally opposed to prostitution, I am opposed to breaking the law, so I won't take money for sex unless we're in a legal brothel and I'm registered as a legal prostitute.

However, money does make it possible for me to be away from my job as a phone sex operator.

I realized that if I had all the money in the world, and I had a friend in the same situation, and I wanted to visit with my friend, I would happily give her a gift of a few days' earning potential to spend one day with her wearing her out doing something she loved, so she wouldn't have to worry about the financial impact of her time off.

Once I realized that, I accepted that, although I won't take money for sex, I would take a gift which allows me to take worry-free time off work.

Sex would not be guaranteed, just as sex would not be guaranteed for anyone I would be meeting in person for the first time - chemistry would have to align, I'd have to feel safe, and I'd have to feel non-dizzy enough. Those caveats not only keep me legal, they are just plain true.

For safety and sanity, as with any potential partner I haven't yet met in person, we'd meet in public and share a nice meal first to mutually decide whether or not to become lovers.

Just in case we do mutually decide to become lovers, we'd both bring recent STD test results showing we're free of anything unpleasantly contagious, we'd both bring condoms to show our commitment to remaining STD-free, and if we became lovers, we'd use condoms during penetrative sex.

If several days in a row were an option, here's what I think would work best for my vertigo, but this theory is untested, so the degradation of my vertigo may be more severe than this:

* Day 1: Ritalin - 6-8 hours together
* Day 2: Xanax - 5-6 hours together
* Day 3: Ritalin: 5-6 hours together

I would not be willing to try more than 3 days in a row, mostly because I can't spend that much alone time with anyone without going a little bonkers, and unfortunately, we can't break up the time with museums or movies or concerts, because those are just as non-restful for me as having sex.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: THE NUMBERS

So, what is "a gift which allows me to take worry-free time off work"?

* My highest 24-hour take (my portion) was $356.

* My lowest 24-hour take where I was available full-time (at least 12 hours) was around $100.

* My goal on a normal full-time day is $150.

* I make my goal, or more, about 90% of the time when I'm available for 12 hours.

* Realistically, it would take $250 for me to feel totally stress-free about taking a day off work.

Bunny Trail:

Here's some info about my overall earnings, in case you're curious, because I don't mind sharing:

- Although I get $54 / hour at my current rate when I'm talking, I am logged in and waiting for the next call for approx 3-4 hours for each hour spent talking - if you count all my logged in time as "working", I average about $15 / hour.

- If I were available full-time every day (I'm not), and hitting my goal all the time (I don't), I'd be available about 80 hours / week, and make about $1,000 / week.

- Other operators (based on people I trust revealing their earnings, and some extrapolation from hints): My earning potential is lower than Mistresses who require regular Tributes, and lower than operators who produce a lot of content which sells well (pictures and videos and recordings), but higher than many other phone-only women who don't seem to attract as many repeat customers or long conversations as I do. I'm probably smack dab in the middle.

- My guess is that most people who work 60+ hours / week at phone sex average between $750 and $1,200 a week (before taxes, with no benefits, and with wild unpredictable fluctuations week-to-week). I'm sure established high-end Dommes can average $2,000 / week. I imagine outliers make more, but the odds of making $5,000 / week doing phone sex are about the same as the odds of getting a multi-million-dollar contract in pro basketball.

* Realistically, I would need a "set up" before meeting a new lover in person: one day off before we meet to rest and prep (which would include getting a manicure-pedicure to help me feel relaxed and pretty, but that would be included in my day of rest), and one day off after we meet to recover.

* Realistically, on day(s) we meet, I would need to board my dogs ($75 / night).

FINANCIAL AND VERTIGO CONSIDERATIONS: CONCLUSIONS

MEETING LOCALLY

It's simpler to meet on my turf in Houston, of course.

* You pay your way to get to Houston. You get a car for yourself. You get a hotel room for yourself.

* My set up: (day of pampering and rest before, day of rest after): $500

* 1 day together ($500 set up + $250 for the day off for me + $75 to board the dogs): $825

* 2 days together ($500 set up + $500 for 2 days off for me + $150 to board the dogs): $1150

* 3 days together: ($500 set up + $750 for 3 days off for me + $225 to board the dogs): $1475

(Math you don't have to do: 3 days is the best per-day rate at $491/ day. You're welcome.)

TRAVELING

Traveling is more complicated, because I need to take off the day I travel, plus the day after to recover- traveling is by far my most dizzying activity (which is a heart breaker because I love to see new places!).

So, for example, if you wanted to meet Friday-Saturday-Sunday in Vegas, I would need to travel on Wednesday, recover on Thursday, play Fri-Sat-Sun, travel back on Monday, and recover Tuesday. Even though it's only 3 days of play, I would be off work for 7 days, and boarding my dogs for 6 nights.

So if you wanted to meet me somewhere other than Houston, and you wanted me to have no anxiety about taking plenty of time off work, you would need to give me a gift of:

* You pay my airfare, and you pay for a hotel room for me - if you also are in a hotel in town, I need my own hotel room, or at least my own bedroom, to ensure I can be completely alone when I'm recovering.

* My set up: ($1000 for four days off - day of travel before, day of rest before, day of travel after, day of rest after + $225 to board my dogs on travel days): $1225

* 1 day together ($1225 set up + $250 for the day off for me + $75 to board the dogs): $1550

* 2 days together ($1225 set up + $500 for 2 days off for me + $150 to board the dogs): $1875

* 3 days together: ($1225 set up + $750 for 3 days off for me + $225 to board the dogs): $2200

(Math you don't have to do: 3 days is the best per-day rate at $733/ day. You're welcome.)



CAVEATS
As with anyone with an unpredictable physiological condition, if we meet in person, I reserve the right at any point to bow out of any activity and take care of myself physically at any time in any way I see fit.

Since dollar amounts are simply gifts to allow me to take anxiety-free time off work, and no specific activities are guaranteed, there would never be refunds.

Ugh, I worked as a consultant too long... I can think of a bazillion other caveats, but I think I'll stop now before I get my lawyer ex-co-worker friends involved.

CONCLUSION
This topic is mind-bogglingly complicated for me when I try to make the leap from fantasy to reality. Hopefully this blog post has explained why.

But emotionally, in the world of fantasy, I love the idea of getting to know a caller on the phone, recognizing our mutual attraction and comfort, and meeting in person to become in-the-flesh lovers. What a great way to find potential partners!

Plus, the phone sex after meeting in person would be that much hotter, wouldn't it? Soooooo fun to think about...

Chance It for Kindle!

My blog is available on the Kindle!

The way blog subscriptions work on the Kindle is that someone signs up for a 14-day trial, after which, if the subscription is not canceled, the subscriber is charged a monthly subscription fee. The fee is set by Amazon, and I get 30% of what Amazon collects (which I am delighted by - something is better than nothing).

So now, on the right side of the web version of this blog, you can see a little button directing you to learn more about a Kindle subscription. That button takes you here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LGSC6S where you will see a real live product by Galiana Chance available on Amazon.
This. Is. Awesome.

Even if the subscriptions never take off, I am still irrationally thrilled at (a) being listed as an Author on Amazon, and (b) the possibility that the blog might generate a little cash.

I'm celebrating by turning up "Any Way You Want It" and rocking out for a few moments... pardon me... Okay, back now. Thanks.

Many many many thanks to the darling dearest caller who suggested this (you know who you are /blowkiss). I'm so pleased!

New Feedback Page

I have published a new page with some of my favorite feedback comments:
http://galianachance.blogspot.com/p/feedback.html

So far it has very few comments. I kept getting interrupted last night / early this morning by having awesome calls (nice problem to have!), so I didn't get far. But I wanted to go ahead and publish it so I could knock something off my to-do list, because I have too many to-do items rattling around in my brain again.

My "plan" is to add comments sporadically, whenever I need the insecurity-eliminating boost of confidence I get by sorting through nice things people have said about me. How often do I need that kind of encouragement? Would it be bad to admit: almost every day?

I've added little comments about the feedback. Because I can't help myself. Seriously, I would get so many more packages of pictures published for sale if I didn't want to add little running commentaries. But hey, words are my thing, right?

Anyway, aside from my peccadilloes...

Please let me know if you want a specific feedback of yours included, or if you do not want your feedback ever to show up on that page, or if you want me to attribute to your username on the page (by default I'm only specifying the date and the listing).

This feels like one of those bizarre activities that is intelligent marketing mixed with extraordinary narcissism. Am I doing this for callers? Or for me? Am I trying to encourage callers to leave me articulate and specific feedback because it's good for business, or my ego? Such an odd job.

New Page: Stuff To Buy

I am very happy to announce: I put up a page on this blog with all of my items to buy on it ! Please feel free to browse the oh-so-un-subtly named: Stuff To Buy page.

(side note: Whew! Yay me! It feels like I have crossed something major off my to-do list which I've wanted to do for a long time. It's a drag that I had the time today because the phones were pretty slow all day, but yay that it's done!)


Each item has a picture, and that picture is the link to buy the thing.

All items are payable through NiteFlirt, so you need a NiteFlirt account to buy them (NiteFlirt is secure and confidential, takes less of a percentage cut than many adult pay-to-view payment processors, and new customers get 3 minutes free on sign-up).

Even though all my items are also listed at MyFlirtStore.com, I find myself frustrated at the inability to re-sort the items so they appear in the order that makes sense to me.

Also, on a completely practical note, my next big undertaking is to personalize my listings with targeted pay-to-views where possible, so I wanted to gather all the pay-to-view code in one place, instead of having to scrounge through offerings and build the HTML listing-by-listing.

I feel like this is one step in a season of infrastructure-building in my fledgling adult career. It feels like maybe I have sat back and observed enough, and I am now ready to roll out the pieces which make sense for me... all at once... all bazillion of them...

Which is probably why my blog has recently felt like a series of posts alternating between "Hey, look what I did!" followed by "Zoikes! There are so many things I want to do!" I think it's because I have a sense of where to go from here, but I'm trying to pace myself and be satisfied with doing just one or two things each day.

Wish me luck: pacing myself has never been my strong suit.

Enjoy the new page!

Follow-Up to Follow-Ups

After writing this Openly Manipulative blog post about how I use follow-up notes to entice callers, I finally managed to get through them yesterday.

Last night, I got a late-night call from a role-play enthusiast who normally sets up "Oh gosh, we shouldn't but... maybe... just this once..." kinds of fantasies with me. A little raunchy, a little rough, and always fun.

No set-up last night. He had been to a stag party, and had been drinking heavily. When he came home, he saw I'd sent him a follow-up email and went to check it. In his words:

"I had whiskey dick in the worst way until I saw your gorgeous self, your head leaning back off the bed, with that dildo about to slide into your mouth, and now I'm rock-fucking-hard and had to call you."

Oh. Really. [begin Alabama accent] Well, my stars and garters! [fan myself] [end Alabama accent]

Sure, professionally I'm motivated to send up follow-up notes in hopes that it increases customer loyalty and causes a few extra calls now and then.

But if I'm being honest, I'm more personally motivated by the thrill of hearing that kind of lust in someone who turns me on, and knowing that I inspired it. He didn't come to NiteFlirt already horny, knowing he was going to call someone and happen to choose me; he went from not-horny to ready-to-go in seconds from a picture. From a picture of me.

Hell of a rush.