Stripwalker Blog

State of the Stripwalker Address

January 28, 2010

My fellow Stripwalkers:

The Articles of Organization declares that from time to time, the Stripwalker shall give to the Audience information about the state of the Stripwalking.

For nearly 30 days, I, the Stripwalker, have fulfilled my duty. I've done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility, and also during moments of great strife, great chafing, and great rain.

It's tempting to look back on these moments and assume that progress was inevitable -- that Las Vegas Stripwalker was always destined to succeed.

But when February started to roll around and no more than three days in March had sold, victory was very much in doubt.

Stripwalking, on average, takes about 4 hours including travel time and preparation. Filming and editing videos takes anywhere from 3-6 hours. On an average day then, Stripwalking takes anywhere from 7-10 hours; the equivalent of a full-time job with constant overtime.

While the calendar pricing structure of Stripwalker dictates that the first part of the year would go at fire sale prices, the reward to that risk was that since all days are prepaid, more expensive days later in the year would balance that out. And as such, if all days on the calendar were sold, January 1 wouldn't really have been worked for $1, it would have been worked for around $180. The formula to figure out how much the days are actually worth, then, is to take the value of all days sold and divide it by the number of days sold.

Without getting into boring detail about donated days, marketing expenses and other costs, I am currently Stripwalking for about $40/day, or less than minimum wage.

Besides Stripwalker, I also have other graphics, web and marketing work to do for which I charge my clients $65/hr. I also attend UNLV part-time, am married and have a stinky dog.

Taking all of this into account -- though fun -- Stripwalking full-time for less than minimum wage is obviously not sustainable, and that is why I have decided to make some changes.

Over the last month, I have been approached by two different companies with offers I can't refuse – one of which came as a direct result of my Stripwalker work. One offer is more flexible, time-wise, but the other would require a significant time commitment from me. Both of them require my focus beginning in February, and I have decided to pursue them both.

So where does that leave Stripwalker?

I started Stripwalker back in September 2009, and after looking at what did and didn't work with Stripwalker and what parts of it I did and didn't enjoy, I discussed the situation with my friends and family, as well as my Stripwalker sponsors, and I have decided the following:

Stripwalker isn't about me -- it's about you. Anybody who comes to Vegas and walks the Strip is a Stripwalker, and should be proud to wave that flag. I just happen to be the first person to grab hold of the idea and make it into a brand. The biggest and most pleasant surprise of this whole project was seeing how fast the audience grew, and how much fun I have had entertaining you, and it is my goal to continue to do that, but on a more limited, and focused scale.

That is why I have decided on a 3-point plan to carry Stripwalker forward:

1. Merchandise - With a little help from my friends over at High Roller Clothing, I will be offering for sale Stripwalker-branded T-shirts, shot glasses and beer mugs.


2. I will still Stripwalk and make videos, but only once a week, on Fridays. Instead of selling each day, I will be selling the entire week. Sponsors will gain the benefit of the growing Stripwalker web traffic and social media attention, currently around 10,000 page-views/month and 1100 Facebook fans. I will also enact a "Find the Stripwalker" promotion in which I will give some cash and two tubes of FreshBalls to the first person who comes up to me on the Strip and "finds" me. Winners will be required to take some pictures with me on the Strip.


3. I will open up Stripwalker FOR FREE to anyone who wants to sell their body on the Las Vegas Strip. I will connect you with buyers and you will negotiate the deal on your own. I will not be involved in any way except to provide the website marketplace to help facilitate the deals. You will have the opportunity to sign up, post a photo and a brief description of yourself as well as provide details regarding your availability and social media reach. If a buyer wishes to hire you, they will contact you directly. We are in a recession, and I intend to create jobs. When you're in Vegas, you walk the Strip anyway, right? Why not get paid for it?

The Stripwalker spirit is strong and it lives on. It lives on in the folks from BackYardChickens.com who came out and walked the Strip with me -- one of them in a wheelchair. It lives on in the quasi-anonymous message board poster who said that my WebDNA Lounge Act video was "a cry for help", and it lives on in every person across the land who has ever come to Las Vegas and wandered around the Strip with their 80-oz plastic guitars filled with booze.

That spirit, which has sustained this project for more than five months, lives on in you, the Las Vegas Stripwalkers. We have finished a difficult quarter. We have come through a difficult month. But a new time has come. A new era of Stripwalking stretches before us. We don't quit. I don't quit. Let's seize this moment -- to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our Stripwalking once more.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the Las Vegas Stripwalkers.

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