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Will Tampa Bay Dancer be the next Tampa Bay Modeling?
Article Index

01. Dancers are the new model
02. The mis perception of dancing in Tampa Bay
03. The dancer in my soul, and the tragedy which became an inspiration for Tampa Bay Dancer
04. She wanted to be a part of my career, as well as the princess in my life
05. Fallen Angel - Accepting what was not to be as a dancer loses her dream
06. A hot modeling shoot, and the beginning of the end of us
07. Compromise - Believing what you want to as my ex asks me to DJ her wedding! Also, why I came to hate con artists and scams.
08. Tampa Bay Dancer - How the past inspires the future

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Dancers are the new model

NOTE: This was originally written for Tampa Bay Modeling. Once completed, we decided to publish it on Tampa Bay Dancer, which at the time of publication had not officially launched. This article is referenced from the main Tampa Bay modeling index.

I’ve had a saying for a few years now, since writing an editorial for one of my web sites stating it. The saying is “Dancers are the new model”.
I believe that, too, and the future will fulfill that as a self-fulfilling prophesy.
That’s not to say that my modeling resources and my work with models will become less important, though, as that’s hardly the case. As a photographer alone, modeling photography, both testing and modeling portfolios, will easily be at least half of my business in the next three to five years. How and why, I’m not saying, especially online, but let’s just say that I have a proven business plan that, when supported by my experience, will prove to be profitable, effective, legitimate, and one of the best business models (pun intended) in the world (and owning the top modeling resource sites in the world certainly helps). No modeling school, photographer, workshop, modeling scam, model placement business, model management business, modeling and talent agency, model, models, portfolio networking site, book, web site, or anything else trying to compete with what I have going on will be able to touch it, let alone approach it. This is important in more ways than just making money, too, because I have concluded that the best way to combat modeling scams in the Tampa Bay area is to directly compete with them with a legitimate business which has them outdone in every possible way. For starters, I don’t have to lie, cheat, and steal to get business, and even if my business plan was flawed to the point where I would have to do that in order to make it work, I still would not do it (it can be said that the true character of a person is revealed when they are down and out, and their back is against the wall, and that is how you will know their integrity, or lack thereof. Anyone can be a good person in good times. I have suffered for my principles, and what I believe in, and I would do it all over again without hesitation). In the end, I have to be able to respect myself and what I do, and frankly, I hate scams and people who take short-cuts. I hate people who take advantage of people. They simply do not have my respect, and never will. Sure, I’ve been scammed before, when I was younger and less experienced, but it never happened more than once, and I learned my lessons well. I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of a scam, too, and I would never be able to do that to anyone or hurt someone. I also wouldn’t feel right about it; I have a strong conscience, and I do have to live with myself. Actually, I feel rather strongly about scams, too, and am highly motivated to help people avoid scams and help them fight back. The story that I’m about to tell you will help you understand why, as I was caught up in something that was hard to get out of because I was emotionally involved. It was the greatest and most dangerous scam of all time, and it all had to do with a twisted, pseudo relationship which never officially existed. Some scams involve money, but scams can be for anything of perceived value, and what makes it a scam is deception, as well as the person on the receiving end being hurt. In my case, being emotionally involved opened me up to becoming a victim of a blatant scam which should have been easy to avoid and deal with. Sometimes, though, you’re deep in, know what it is, know that you are being taken advantage of, but emotion makes it difficult to escape. It was the scam of the heart, and I did not deserve it. It also has something to do with professional dancing, and became the inspiration for Tampa Bay Dancer all of these years later.
As smart as I am supposed to be, this should have never happened. Of course, when you’re young, you are also more prone to compromise, and trying to justify whatever it is that you are trying to do. Although it is far behind me, I use it as a reminder that I am still human, that I’m not perfect, and that I sometimes make mistakes. I’m not proud of what happened, but I am proud that I learned from the experience, and that what I’ve learned can be used to help a lot of people. I am the sum of my experiences, as well as what I do. I also have a purpose, which is the backbone of the multifaceted person that I am today, and who I will be tomorrow. I have evolved, substantially, since all of this started in 1988, and I am now ready for what I was meant to do. I’ve also spent years working on support infrastructure, such as web sites.
Of course, I also get scammed, in a sense, when people who aspire to compete with me steal things from my web sites and try to use them to enhance their business. How do you think I feel when I go on a photographer’s web site and see words, words which were written by me and published on Independent Modeling, and they have the words, in their entirety, on that web site, without citing the source, and trying to pass it off as if it were advice written by them?
Regardless of the ethical issues, the legal liability that they assume, the fact that most people are not dumb, know the true source, and realize that if they try to rip me off, then that will do it to them, too, and the fact that those who steal from me can’t make the stolen concepts work like I can because they didn’t create it and they do not comprehend the mechanics which actually make it work, this is more annoying than it is a threat to my business interests. What these people need to realize is that people don’t want a cheap third-rate counterfeit knock-off, they want the real deal. They are no threat to me because I am genuine, I don’t have to fake anything, and I am the true source of many of the concepts floating around the modeling industry today.
Of course, most of the models know this, too, and this is why those who steal from me discover that their scheme backfires when it destroys their credibility.
At any rate, no, models will always be important to me, and that’s why I now own and operate four modeling resource sites, two of those being the best in the world, and the other two will also share that distinction in the coming months.
The bottom line, though, is that a dancer who can model is worth more in the industry than just a model. Get used to it. Triple-threat and polyprofessional models will be the trend. As for myself, I’m mainly interested in models who have more talent than just modeling. This is why dancers will become important to me, too, and it is why I will be putting a lot of work into Tampa Bay Dancer.

PREVIOUS: Tampa Bay Dancer. How the Past inspires the future - Dancers are the new model - NEXT: The mis perception of dancing in Tampa Bay

PUBLISHED 05/03/11

UPDATED 05/03/11

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