Published: 15 December 2014 11:30
Update: 15 December 2014 11:47
"Slightly embarrassed I admitted at the Chamber of Commerce that the main activity of our company would be 'exploitation of an escortservice'. It was official, from now on I would be the director of an escortservice. The chance of having this on my cv and getting a job as a consultant went down immediately " Marike van der Velden is owner of Society Service, the largest high class escortservice in The Netherlands. Together with journalist Romke Spierdijk, she offers a peek into the premier league of seduction in the book Escort Bijbel. A For publication.

By the end of my second internship I met a young lady from Rotterdam who was in the newspapers about her idea to start her own high class escortservice, which I found very interesting and exciting. I decided to send her an email with the request to meet. As a Business Administration student, I was more than capable to help her with all of her plans. Until then I hadn't yet thought about starting my own company, but soon after meeting we decided we would be the Queens of the escort industry. We made a plan, which developed further during the following weeks.

Founding Society Service

How exactly we would create the best escortservice of The Netherlands wasn't clear yet, but it was clear that it was going to happen. We would email on a daily basis and I made a businessplan for our company. I would do most of the business and administrative tasks and my new business partner would do the recruitment and promotion. This is how on March 17th of 2006 high class escortservice Society Service was founded. My business partner acted very casual but it was very exciting for me. It was official. As from now I would be the director of an escortservice.

Founding an escortservice was a rather unexpected turn in my life. I had zero experience with entrepreneurship and didn't even knew if I would like it or be any good at it at all. And then there was the industry; prostitution. An high class escortservice might sound more up class but at the end it's still prostitution. Chances of me ever working as a consultant slimmed down immediately. The solution was easy; I would just keep it a secret. My business partner would do all promotion after all. I finished my studies but I must say that it helped that a new master raised that year: Entrepreneurship and new business venturing. A master on entrepreneurship, my cup of tea.

I told my parents and promised then to finish my master degree, no matter what, while deciding to continue in this industry or not. Of course they had questions, which I tried to answer. Their main confers where regarding what others would think and the consequences for my future career, which is why I would keep it a secret and was set on finishing my masters. A little over a year later I finished my masters and did indeed keep my work a secret. But after I finished my studies I knew I had to make a choice. I loved being an entrepreneur and all was going well, especially for a startup company. From the start we where making some revenue. Not much, but from the first year our income was higher then our expenses. We didn't need a lot. A website, phone and laptop where enough to keep our escortservice in business. With our university backgrounds we could do most ourselves, or at least creatively outsource things.

We got a lot of media attention, which lead to lots of applications from ladies who wanted to work as an high class escort, as well as potential clients. We where a golden team with tasks that complemented each other. Founding the Virgin Experience in 2007 helped a lot, where the enormous media attention placed us on the map permanently. The Virgin Experience is a special service for gentlemen of 21 years and older with little to no sexual experience. The idea was created in just a few hours and barely developed when we appeared in the newspaper. All newspapers really, it was almost world news.

The Virgin Experience

Because the Virgin Experience wasn't more then just an idea, we needed to gain some time. We did so by telling interested clients that there was a waiting list, allowing us to develop the Virgin Experience. We made a deal with the owner of a local sexshop for some amazing goody bags included with every booking as well as a local trendy hotel where it would all take place and we where good to go. The Virgin Experience was, and still is, very popular. Clients enjoyed their experience with us so much they would often become repeat clients of our "regular" escortservice. However, the cooperation between me and my business partner was not going that well. Our vision on how to run the company became more and more conflicting. A long period of negotiation followed, during which we tried to decide who would continue with high class escortservice Society Service.

Buyout of business partner

The negotiations took for ever but finally resulted in my doing a buyout of my business partner. I suddenly became the sole owner of Society Service, a very exciting moment. Until now I could have just quit and become a consultant, but this made that impossible. The choice however was easy. I loved my job, the industry intrigued me and I really liked entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur I felt like a child in a sandbox who prefers to build her own castle in stead of playing with one built by an other kid. I was convinced this would enable me to pay for my living expenses and decided to go for it. I informed my environment about my choice.

In the train

At that time I was still using public transportation a lot and would answer my phone anywhere, including when in a train. At first I felt a bit ashamed about the conversations with clients and was worried about what people might think of me. That all went away. Society Service is opened daily from the late morning until midnight and I can't just sit around at home all day, waiting for calls. It is inevitable that I answer calls when in the supermarket, a restaurant and so on. I don't care anymore what others might think, but don't talk about it that much. If I tell people, that's all I will be talking about for the rest of the evening, plus I don't want to use my work to provoke and shock others. The more I cooperated with articles and television shows, the easier it became to tell others, up to the point where I felt no more shame. With pride I would show others the articles that would appear in newspapers and magazines, after which I would publish them on the Society Service website. Hundreds of articles are on there, form The Netherlands but also abroad.

The current situation

It's been almost ten years since I entered the world of high class escort and since then Society Service grew out to be the largest high class escortservice of The Netherlands. Despite the enormous amount of interviews that I have already done, the media requests keep on coming in. And at every party where I do talk about my work, people cannot get enough of the subject. Unfortunately only two sides are shown in the media. On the one hand you have the negative image of prostitution due to human trafficking and the association with criminal activities. And right on the other hand you have the mysterious and glamorous world of high class escort. I am an entrepreneur and not just a madam. I happen to do business in the sex industry but could just as well have sold cakes or socks. It makes no difference to me. Entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship.

This vision lies on the basis of the decisions I make for Society Service and I believe it's also why I'm so successful, combined with a big dose of persistence, ambition and just plain hard work. Contrary to what most people think, I don't get rich while sleeping. I believe that you will not get rich in this industry at all, but with the right attitude it will allow you to make enough for a comfortable life.

Luckily, getting rich is not my main goal. I don't need a gigantic car and a closed filled with designer clothing to be happy. Being happy is in the little things of live and sharing those with the people I love. Sounds like a cliche but no less true though. In this industry I am known to be a tough businesswoman. There's gossip everywhere, also in this industry which consists of very few players. I hear about these gossips and don't mind. I made the choice to run a professional company, which in my opinion calls for a professional approach with clear rules which count for everybody. This creates transparency for both clients and escorts, which most of them like. There will always be people who like a more soft and emotional approach but in my opinion this will go at the expenses of the service. A sexy approach is not good. The escorts should be sexy and not me. When talking to a client my goal is to be friendly and correct, building a relation of trust. It is not my goal to arouse and excite him with chit chat. There are many other sexlines for that purpose.

The Escort Bijbel