Professional Cuddler earns £65per hour?!

Janet Trevino became a part-time cuddler in August last year and now earns up to £1,200 a week after demand for her services went through the roof. Her male clients are aged between 40 and 70 and some of them haven’t touched another person “for decades.”

Sessions can last anywhere from and an hour to EIGHT hours – at £65 an hour – and Janet usually works between 13 and 20 hours a week. Janet, who has a partner called Carlos, found her new career after splitting with her husband.

The 37-year-old, from San Antonio, Texas, USA, explained: “My whole life, I have done this kind of work. When I was 19 or 20, I wanted to be a missionary. I think people really need messages of hope and I wanted to spread that.” But three years ago, she decided she wanted to do more to explore who she is as a person.

She said: “One day it hit me that I wasn’t satisfied with my sexuality. I wasn’t satisfied with who I was as a sexual being.

“I put a lot of pressure on my husband to take care of me, but I realised that the only person that is responsible for my sexuality is me.

“I did some sexuality workshops and I wanted to do more to get people talking about sexuality, so I created a meet-up where we could discuss what sexuality means to us.”

Unfortunately, however, her new found confidence led to the breakdown of her marriage as she decided they wanted different things.

She continued: “It was a really positive break up. I felt like my partner just couldn’t go with me down the path I was going down. He had loved me but I wanted to move on.” At one of her workshops, she met two professional cuddlers who explained what they do and persuaded her to come along to a cuddle party – a non-sexual gathering of “cuddlists”.

Soon Janet was hooked and immediately signed up to online training through a website called cuddlist.com.

This involved guidance on cuddling positions, how to make clients feel comfortable and how to stay safe.

“Once I started, I felt like it all clicked and I thought I was really good at it,” she said. “I am not really a touchy feely person. That’s not me at all but I love it. I feel like cuddling helped me find that missing piece.”

She completed her training in two days and set up a studio in her own home.

She used various different places to cuddle on, starting first with a floor mat, before introducing a sofa and a mattress, as she learned what worked best. Now Janet works as a cuddler full-time and has earned more than £13,500 since she started.

She continued: “I have been really successful. I have lots of people coming back. My typical clients tend to be retired veterans as I live in a military town but I’ve worked with all sorts of people.

“This provides my income now and it takes up a lot of my time.”

Now a seasoned cuddler, Janet has developed a routine to try to make it as comfortable as possible for both her and the client.

She explains: “The way it works all depends on the person. It's not like when you go for a massage.

“I talk to everyone over the phone first and try to find out what their needs are. I just try to make sure that they understand what it's about and we are on the same page and that I am safe.”

Janet provides clients with cuddling guides and asks them to complete homework before they come to her studio.