Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2014; Samantha Hess’s rate of $60 an hour, her workload of about five sessions a day, six days a week, and her income of around $7,200 a month are figures from that time, and her business may have changed since.
In 2012, Samantha Hess noticed a man in a very busy area holding a sign offering hugs for 2 dollars. And some people were paying those 2 dollars for that moment of affection.
At the time, she had just come out of a 13-year relationship. She wasn’t ready to start another relationship, but she did need affection and to feel loved and accepted, so a light bulb went on and she decided to meet people’s need for affection with a rather unusual business idea.
Today Samantha’s business is a “professional cuddling” service for which she charges 60 dollars an hour, and whose slogan is “Cuddle up to me.” The service she offers is simple to explain.
She gets a call from someone. They can meet in a park, a restaurant, a cinema or even at the client’s home, where the client can stay in Samantha’s arms, either on the sofa or in bed.
She makes it very clear on her website that her service has nothing to do with sex. Nor is it a substitute for it.
Her service is about letting anyone have that moment of affection, regardless of their looks or circumstances.
Sadly, for some people, hugging someone with no ulterior motive is a luxury they haven’t been able to afford for a long time. In 2013, a local newspaper featured her business idea in its “Best of Portland” section, and her website took off.
Today professional cuddling is Samantha’s main job and business, and she says she’s making much more money than in any other job she’s had. She says she does around five sessions a day and works six days a week, so on average she makes about 7,200 dollars a month.
See also: The “Yogulado”
90% of her clients are men between 20 and 75, some of them with traumatic illnesses or disabilities that keep them from having human contact with others, and some even with adjustment problems, so being able to stay in someone’s arms and feel that affection is a luxury for them.
What makes this service so great?
Samantha says she loves each of her clients with her “human grace” and tries to make them feel loved and accepted just as they are. She doesn’t judge them, she simply accepts them, treating them as if they were her own family, no matter who they are.
It’s what she calls a “mental massage,” since it’s a session of pampering. Many of her clients ask her to wear a certain colour of clothing or a specific hairstyle.
Of course, the service isn’t without its challenges. Some clients become intensely attached. She says one of them even fell in love with her, and although it was very sweet, she had to remind him what the service she offers is.
“In our culture, the only experience anyone has had of this kind of contact has been romantic or sexual. It isn’t easy to change people’s brains in that respect,” Samantha says.
She makes it very clear that the hugs and cuddles can be intense, and that it’s only appropriate to touch her where it would be fine to touch a child, making it very clear that anyone looking for a substitute for something more intimate won’t be happy with her service.
That said, she admits the work can also be very draining, because many of these people come with a heavy emotional load they want to talk to her about. In the end, the service has become a form of therapy, and the thank-you messages she receives from her clients are what encourage her to keep going with the project.
An original service, no doubt.
Further reading
- The 33 businesses of the future and the industries that will create jobs
- Probably the 9 most profitable businesses we’ll see in the short term
- 10 business ideas related to children
Featured image: stoicshot, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
