There are so many Male Strippers out there but if you intend to be one of the few successful and popular male performers then be sure to take note of these Golden Rules. We have asked the Best Strippers in the Business for their most important tips. If you follow this list you will succeed and find yourself 'in-demand' from agents, repeat clients and referrals. Ignore this list for the quick buck and find yourself scrounging for work at the bottom of the pile!

Here are the 12 Top Tips, Golden Rules, Stripper Secrets - call them what you will...

1. Great Pictures

   Probably the single most important thing for a Male Stripper are his excellent photos. If your photos are cheap and nasty or just snap shots, unless you look like Channing Tatum of better, nothing else will matter because you simply will not get chosen! Get some decent promo shots taken by a professional photographer and you will reap the rewards. Just a few hundred dollars will get you several good shots and that’s all you need. Just make sure that your photos reflect what you actually look like today – airbrushing should be minimal. If you turn up to a job 18 months after a pic was taken and you now have a beer gut, it’s not going to go down well with the ladies is it? Keep your pictures current to the way you actually look.

   If you really don’t have any budget at all for paying a photographer don’t lose heart! It is possible to make some decent pictures yourself with a reasonable camera, a friend to take the pictures, a couple of hours and a bit of trial and error, and here is how…

   • have a look at the Hen’s Knights pages that contain the images of the guys such as the Male Strippers in Sydney page, choose some pictures that you like the look of and simply try to replicate them.

   • You probably won’t have lighting equipment so the best thing to do is to go outside on a nice day and have your friend reel off 30 or 40 pics of you in various poses and outfits – you are bound to get a 3 or 4 good ones out of that session. Don't be tempted to do it indoors without proper lighting equipment otherwise the pictures will be rubbish!

   • Have your photo session either just after sunrise or just before sunset because that will give you the best lighting and choose a location such as a beach, blue sky or blank wall for a good background.

   • Make sure you smile in some of the pics as the girls generally pick a friendly face!

   Absolute Golden Rule: Invest in good images! All the best, most regularly booked Male Strippers have great pictures and they update them at least once per year especially if they have changed their look in any way.

   Check out some of the most popular Male Strippers in Sydney with fantastic images at Hen’s Knights!

2. A Great Strip Routine!

   A great strip show always revolves around a great routine – this may sound obvious but many Male Strippers fail to understand what makes a great routine and what doesn’t. Simply grinding on a girl for 10 minutes to the song ‘Pony’ is NOT a strip show. There is no one size fits all approach because every Stripper, or would-be Male Strippers, have different personalities that must be taken into consideration when designing their routines. You must play to your strengths. Some strippers are funny, some are acrobatic, some are super naughty, and some are incredibly seductive but not everyone can pull each of those things off. If you are good at making girls laugh, make sure your routine reflects that. If you are not the sexiest dancer in the world, avoid it or you’ll certainly be making them laugh, but for all the wrong reasons!

   At Hens Knights we often get asked by new guys that want to start stripping if their routine has to be a ‘dance routine’, and the answer is no! Unless you happen to be a well trained dancer you do not need to worry yourself with coming up with some intricately choreographed dance routine.

   A routine with a little bit of everything such as playfulness, sexiness and teasing plus a bit of humour thrown in is what girls want, it doesn’t need to be a super polished routine but if it contains all of those elements to some extent you can’t go wrong. But as mentioned above, fill more of the routine with what you are best at.

   For ideas to create your show with, watch as many Male Strip routines and strip shows as you can on You Tube and Instagram – there are heaps of Male Performers posting their performances on-line. Watch the Magic Mike films! When you watch other strippers’ shows, pick out the bits where you think ‘I could do that segment’, and simply string them together! Some of the best routines come from our Male Strippers in Melbourne.

   Absolute Golden Rule: Your routine itself must last an absolute minimum of 12/13 minutes, and this time does NOT include the time it takes for you to be greeted by the host, get changed/ready, set up your music, have a few pictures or packup and say your goodbye’s! The most successful Male Strippers will under-promise and over-deliver – they will often incorporate a lapdance and some bodyshots over and above their 12/13 minutes and no matter how busy they are they will NEVER EVER cut their routine short to be somewhere else.

   (A note on acrobatics: Some strippers do include acrobatics in their routines and this is great if you are an exceptional acrobat however we would not recommend including anything where you could accidentally injure someone or break things in confined spaces. If you hurt someone or break something, it could be costly! Keep it simple.)

3. Remain Friendly and Courteous No Matter What!

   Remember, you will be providing a service, often to girls that have had a fair amount to drink. If you are someone that is offended easily, can’t take a joke, cannot remain calm when someone isn’t happy, gets upset or angry if interrupted or if things don’t go exactly to plan then Stripping is not for you! You must be flexible and roll with the punches. In this game nothing happens as standard!

   Girls expect a lot and drunk girls expect even more. Always try your hardest to roll with whatever they throw at you – some will try to grab you, some will try to take your discarded costume items, some will be upset if you are late, some will expect you to go further than just a strip, some will heckle you, some will be down right rude – it’s all about how you deal with those situations. If a girl tries to grab you, you can either get angry or sharp with her or you can lightly brush her away with a laugh and smile.

   You cannot please everyone all the time and now and again you will come across a group that are impossible to get going or to please, but do not let it get to you – just perform your best and remain as nice as you can. Always exude positivity no matter how obnoxious or rude someone is. These situations don’t happen often but they do happen to everyone once in a while and generally they are out of your control – so just control what you can, your temperament! Some of the friendliest most bubbly Male Strippers come from Perth and as a result they earn a lot of money because they are asked for time and time again.

   Absolute Golden Rule: Never lose your cool! The most successful Male Performers always wear a smile, are always easy going and can deal with any situation in a polite and positive manner. Don’t rise to a rude girl's bait!

4. Be Well Groomed and Stay in Shape!

   You may be thinking, ‘does this really need to be said?’ – well you’d be amazed at how some Strippers don’t feel the need to keep things neat and tidy! Girls are neat and tidy and they appreciate and expect such a trait in their stripper! Wax it, trim it, clipper it, shave it, pluck it, Nair it – just do what you need to do to make it more appealing down there!

   That goes for other areas too – if you have reeaaally hairy legs, arms, back etc – you don’t need to wax but just use a clipper to trim them back a bit. If the girls are after a naked hairy beast we will send them to the Zoo!

   Do you have a bit of Scottish blood in you? Does it take you a week to go from blue to white in the sun, let alone brown? Then get yourself a spray tan but please don’t turn up to a strip show looking like Casper – the girls will expect you to have a bit of a tan and preferably without tan lines! White and pasty is not a good look for the Stripping industry otherwise you’ll only get booked by Twilight fans!

   Stay in shape all year round if you are going to be a successful Male Stripper! It’s no good shredding down for a competition or photoshoot only to pack on the pounds again straight after. If you are a body builder that is chubby most of the year because you are ‘bulking’ then stripping is not a good idea for you unless your promo photos reflect that! Learn from the best - Male Strippers on The Gold Coast and in Sydney seem to keep themselves in the best shape of all!

   Absolute Golden Rule: keep your bits trimmed, your body tanned and take pride in your appearance. The Male Strippers most at the head of the game take pride in their appearance for each and every performance and stay in good shape all year round.

5. At Least One Great Costume!

   Jeans and a shirt with buttons you can pop open is NOT a costume, unless your costume is as a Cowboy and is accompanied by Cowboy Boots, a Neckerchief and a 10 Gallon Hat! Nor is it advisable to have one of those very shitty online one-size-fits-all costumes! Try to make it look like an authentic outfit!

   You may think to yourself, ‘I know, I’ll create a costume that no-one else has to be a bit different!’. The answer to that is... don’t bother! Nearly every single person organising a Hens Party, Birthday Party or Special Occasion asks Hen’s Knights for a Fireman or Policeman/Cop. If you are going to have just one costume – make it one of those!

   Another costume that is regularly asked for is Tradie/Construction Worker but even this is not asked for anywhere near as much as the other two. You will give yourself far more chance at being chosen for a job if you have one of those two costumes in your bag rather than something else, no-matter how cool it may sound! Once you have those popular stripper costumes feel free to put together some other more obscure ones – one of our Sydney Male Strippers Darren V, has just about every Male Stripper costume you can think of from Harry Potter to Dracula, but still he would be asked for Fireman, Cop or Tradie the most!

   Absolute Golden Rule: whether you strip down to a G-String or Undies before you get nude…make sure they are clean and virtually new - NO SHABBY UNDIES!!!! Girls will notice this kind of thing – don’t risk it!!! The most successful Male Striptease Artists take care of their costumes, have at least a Fireman or Cop costume and wear clean underwear!

6. Full Monty means Full Monty!

   Ok, so this is a point of much debate among Strippers lol but if you are a little bit shy at all about showing your privates to a group of girls then have a look on ‘Seek.com.au’ and type in to the search filter ‘show all jobs without the word stripper’, and you will find just about every other job in the known universe that you will be happy to do – just don’t become a Male Stripper! You must be comfortable naked!

   Full Monty means Full Monty, it does not mean just a quick flash to the bride when you are sitting on her lap with a towel around you when she isn’t looking! Make sure you give the Bride and the crowd a good look! You don’t have to stand there for 5 minutes doing helicopters (although, if you can do a helicopter – it’s a real crowd pleaser haha!), but a good 5 seconds will give them something to remember.

   Absolute Golden Rule: if you have been booked for a Full Monty Show be damn sure you go all the way! The best, most consistently booked Male Strippers go The Full Monty full nude and then some!

7. Be Punctual!

   Of course you want to make as much money as possible on a Saturday night but don’t squeeze so many bookings together that it’s impossible to be on time! Not only will you be late but you’ll also appear rushed to the girls and they will not be happy (remember: 20 unhappy girls will tell at least 20 other girls never to book you again!). Don’t let your poor time planning be the reason for lateness because it will cost you reputation and money.

   Sometimes however, things happen such that even if you have taken all the precautions in the world you are still late. As long as you keep the client informed about what is happening they will rarely be upset with you but you must communicate! Never ever turn up late and then explain, ‘oh, I couldn’t find parking’, ‘traffic was bad’, ‘my last job ran overtime’ etc because then they are unhappy before you’ve even started. If you call them before you were scheduled to arrive they will, 99.5% of the time, be fine with a little lateness. One other thing – when you do call them don’t tell them you’ll be there in 5 minutes when you know it’ll be 20 – tell the truth about when you think you will definitely get there!

   Absolute Golden Rule: Do not be late but if you are running late for whatever reason…CALL THE CLIENT BEFORE THE SCHEDULED ARRIVAL TIME! The most prosperous Male Strippers ALWAYS call their client if they are running even just a few minutes late and they are always honest about their expected arrival time.

8. Never Seem in a Rush!

   When it’s busy, all popular Male Strippers are rushing around the city like blue-arsed flies BUT, what separates the good strippers from the bad is their ability to provide an unhurried performance no matter how pressed for time they might be. Every single strip show booking you have must be treated with equal respect and attention whether it’s the first of the night or the last. You should know exactly how long you need for each booking from arrival to packing up so there is no excuse for hurrying the client along. It is definitely better to provide a great unhurried performance and then be late to the next appointment PROVIDED, yes you guessed it…you call the next client and let them know you’ll be late!

   The only time it is acceptable to cut a show short is if you are late, the client has to be somewhere else AND you give them a discount on the standard male strip show price.

   Absolute Golden Rule: Never rush a booking, always be with the girls for the full time that they are expecting. The most popular Male Strippers ALWAYS give each group the time that was promised to them in an unhurried, unrushed manner.

9. Lots of Enthusiastic Interaction – Never Standoffish or Aloof!

   When you arrive, always be bubbly and in good spirits – try to interact with as many girls at the party as possible and always take the time after the show to have lots of pictures with the group – do everything with enthusiasm, never begrudgingly. The absolute last thing Hens or Birthday Girls want is an arrogant guy who thinks he is above them. If you give them this impression for one second they will bad mouth you to the ends of the earth. It must not matter if you walk in to a bunch of super hot girls, big girls, old ladies or bogans – treat them all in the same bubbly positive manner and be absolutely damn sure not to focus only on any hot girls in the room as you will alienate all the others and they will think you are an utter w****r! You are there to make money, NOT to pick up – spread the love evenly. In fact the less physically attractive girls usually feel super special if you give them the attention in equal doses and will sing your praises for weeks – whereas the hot ones usually expect it and won’t sing much for your cause. If you are there to pick up you won’t make much money in the long run and you’ll be pegged as a sleazy stripper which virtually no group wants. So, if you want to pick up, do your strip shows for money and then put your fancy new pictures on Tinder for dates!

   Don’t be one of the many Male Strippers out there who think ‘well, I’m never going to see any of them again so who cares’ – we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - repeat business and word of mouth is what makes the most successful strippers successful.

   Absolute Golden Rule: The most successful Male Strippers arrive in great spirits no matter how they feel, no matter how the traffic was, no matter how the last show was, no matter what is going on in their lives – they interact and engage with the crowd during their performance and they spread the love around the hot, the not, the old, the young - they take time at the end for group photos and they NEVER act aloof or as though they are better than anyone. Be down to earth!

10. Strip Show Music and your Mobile Phone

    Do not have the music for your show on your normal mobile phone – have it on a separate phone, ipod or mp3 player. Why? Because when you get a call or a text half way through your routine and the music cuts out, your performance is ruined – we’ve seen it happen and trust us on this one, most girls do not see the funny side! It totally shatters the experience.

    Also, make sure you always carry a docking station or wireless speaker with you! This is sooo important! Never assume they will have a sound system to play your music on! Plus, even if they do you may not be able to connect to it for one reason or another and if you don’t have a backup it will be a disaster. Any Male Stripper that does not have a backup speaker is an absolute muppet. Don’t be a muppet!

    Absolute Golden Rule: Separate your music from your normal phone and invest in a speaker to play your music on! The most sought after Men Strippers have their music separate to their phones and they ALWAYS carry a speaker of some sort as a back up.

11. Never Substitute Yourself with another Stripper without Informing the Client

    Never ever send any other stripper in your place without calling the client and explaining why you are indisposed. If you don’t give them the option to agree to having a substitute or a refund of their deposit or simply to cancel, they will be seriously annoyed no matter how good your replacement is and may refuse to pay him. This becomes a nightmare for the guy you send because the client is pissed before he even says hello plus the client and all her friends will never book you again. A quick and simple call can nip that in the bud so easily – don’t risk not making that call! If you have been booked by an agency, the same applies – never risk sending someone else without asking the agency if it’s ok. You won’t be forced to do the job, it simply gives everyone options. If you send someone else without telling anyone it’s a nightmare for all involved and you will not get booked again. What’s it all about again? Oh yes, that’s right…WORD OF MOUTH REPUTATION & REPEAT BUSINESS!

    When booking anything, people hate surprises – they want what they booked, plain and simple.

    Absolute Golden Rule: Never replace yourself on a booking without asking the agency or client first. The top Male Strippers always keep their clients informed ahead of time and always give them the choice of a replacement rather than having it sprung on them last minute when the replacement turns up on their doorstep.

12. Always Credit the agency that sent you.

    If you are sent by an agency, always let the girls at the party know which agency sent you. It’s a huge temptation BUT never ever be tempted to leave your own business cards or that of a different agent. If you do, the agent that sent you will eventually find out and they will drop you like a hot potato, plus they will tell other agents to be wary of you. It’s a relatively small industry and this practice will ruin you, fast. If you do the right thing and tell the girls who sent you it works far more in your favour in the long run because the agency will want to give you more work. Honesty is the best policy!

    Absolute Golden Rule: Be clear about who sent you! The Male Strippers that make the most money don’t wait to be asked who sent them, they even hand out the agency’s business cards to each girl at each party they perform at. And, they never give out their own cards because it’s the quickest way to kill their potential business – remember, these agents are spending money on websites, marketing and advertising etc to promote you…would you rather be spending that money yourself? Don’t think so! Give the credit where it is due and reap the rewards.

Some Male Strippers do make serious money, but the ones that do treat it as a real business – they are professional and follow all the Golden Rules mentioned above.

Hen’s Knights is always looking for motivated, reliable lads that keep themselves in great shape and don’t sweat the small stuff. If that is how you see yourself then check out how to get more work as a Male Stripper on our ‘Work with Us’ page!