opinion

Working From Home Opens Up New Talent Pool for Adult Retailers

Working From Home Opens Up New Talent Pool for Adult Retailers

I recently heard someone bemoaning the fact that retail stores were never going to be the same after the pandemic, and I just took that as a challenge to become better than ever. There is no doubt that the last 18 months have created a seismic shift in the retail business and regular life. While business has been great and adult retailers are selling more than ever, success brings its own stressors.

Finding good, loyal employees with the educational background and social skills to talk to the wide variety of customers that adult stores bring in has always been a challenge (especially in Mississippi, where educational standards are abysmal). Additionally, some employees don’t even reveal to close family where they work because of the shame factor. Even though I offer a competitive wage for the area and use a payroll company to offer benefits, it is still not considered white-collar work.

Because virtual employees are able to maintain their privacy, issues with working for an adult business are almost non-existent.

I will say, once I get someone in and trained and integrated into the crew, they do tend to last with me a long time. Nevertheless, it is a challenge to find the right mix of introverts that will sweat the details, and extroverts that will wow the customers with great customer service.

Like many of you, I have found the pandemic to be a high-water mark for our sort of retail because people are nesting and spending a lot of time alone together. Who knows when or if this trend will change? While I have increased our crew level on weekend shifts, who knows if the bottom will drop out when the vaccinations reach critical levels and we all get to go outside and play again?

To take some of the stress off of me, I have dipped my toe in the virtual work-from-home world and find a lot of things to love about it. I have gone through a personal assistant talent agency and actually have different assistants for different tasks. Someone in Oklahoma is helping me create website content and proofreads my work before it goes live, while another assistant who’s based in Florida helps me receive inventory into my system properly. And an honorable mention goes to my online reputation management company, who slay internet trolls for me even while I am on vacation. One thing I love about virtual workers is that once I show them my system, they don’t require as much oversight as my employees in the store. They each have their own business that they run from home and have an entrepreneurial mindset. They encourage me to be creative because it generates more billable hours for them. Time is as precious to them as it is to me. The more efficiently they can do a task, the more money they make.

I have tried multiple times to teach in-store employees to import spreadsheets using our POS system’s software, but most do not have the education to support that level of complexity. Formulas are a foreign language, and invoicing can take days at the store; however, my virtual assistant does it in hours. Because virtual employees are able to maintain their privacy, issues with working for an adult business are almost non-existent. As long as you are mature enough to be comfortable with grammar-checking adult content, you can just say that you are a remote proofreader and you work from home so you can keep an eye on the kids. The social stigma is taken out of the equation.

At the end of the day, we are in the people business and adult stores will always need local talent, but the freedom to outsource some specific repetitive tasks can be a game-changer for productivity and the potential for growth.

Hopefully it will also free up more time for focusing on customers and ensuring that they have a great experience every time they walk through your store’s door.

I encourage you to think differently about how you can use the changing economy to help your business run better. The only thing in life that is constant is change; we may as well embrace it.

Tami Rose is a sexpert and the owner of Mississippi-based adult retailer Romantic Adventures.

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

How to Advise Beginners on Shopping 'Animal Play' Toys

An important aspect of sex that doesn’t get talked about enough is exercising our imaginations. Letting our minds run wild gives us the chance to try new positions, play with new parts of the body, add toys and accessories, or even create a completely made-up fantasy world where we can pretend to be an entirely different species.

Rebecca Weinberg ·
opinion

Strategies for Navigating Content Restrictions on Social Media

Welcome to the “seggsual” wellness industry, also known as the “s//xual wellness industry” or “s-eggs-ual” wellness industry. Why so many aliases? Because mentioning what we actually do can torpedo our marketing efforts on social media platforms.

Scarlett Ward ·
trends

A Look at the Global Trends Shaping the Pleasure Products Industry

Multiple factors are shaping the pleasure landscape, including technological advancements, innovations in product design and sustainability, the impact of digital marketing and ecommerce, and the varying degrees of openness toward sexual wellness the industry encounters across different territories.

profile

WIA Profile: Kate McGregor

Ask Kate McGregor’s colleagues and co-workers, and they will likely tell you that she was always destined to do great things, wherever she landed — but that they are glad McGregor’s path led her to the colorful world of vibrators and butt plugs.

Women In Adult ·
profile

Electric Novelties Execs Reflect on Company Origins, Mission

When Zach Goode first crossed paths with Electric Novelties over 20 years ago, both he and the company were deeply entrenched in the apparel world. Goode was handling sales for a friend’s novelty T-shirt company, Sik World, while Electric specialized in sexy lingerie and clubwear.

Ariana Rodriguez ·
profile

Sensual Distributors Ltd. Blends Real-Life Love Story, Passion for Pleasure Biz

This local brick-and-mortar is a “mom and mom” operation led by co-owners Alana Thompson and Angini Singh, a lesbian couple who overcame their country’s strict, religious culture to create a sexual wellness boutique that serves their unique community.

Colleen Godin ·
opinion

How History Drives Marketing Strategies Today

Thanks to the efforts of activists, sex educators and members of marginalized communities, products like sex toys, lubricants and adult films have become much less stigmatized, and much more visible and accepted in the public sphere today.

Hail Groo ·
opinion

BAFTA Nominations Highlights Importance of Gender-Neutrality

While the Brit Awards have paved the way for gender inclusivity by introducing gender-neutral award categories, it has recently been confirmed that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards will not follow suit.

Scarlett Ward ·
opinion

How to Explain Wax Play to Shoppers

When it comes to candles in the bedroom, most folks think of them as a great way to create a sexy ambiance. For folks who enjoy wax play, however, candles are also a kinky way to heat things up. While it may sound daunting to the uninitiated — because, you know, fire and hot dripping wax — wax play can be a fun and accessible sensation-play option, as well as an excellent intro to BDSM.

Rebecca Weinberg ·
trends

An Inside Look at the Decision-Making Process of Expert Merchandisers

Buyers in the sexual wellness industry bear a weighty responsibility. They must strike the perfect balance between meeting customers’ demonstrated needs with tried-and-true products, and staying on top of the latest trends — and that is only scratching the surface.

Show More