By Sexquire (originally posted on FearlessPress.com)

Whenever I tell someone about my business Sexquire, I am often asked “well what does that mean?” I describe the business as a “sex-positive business services company”, so I can see how a person might think “What? Sex positive business services? Do you hand out condoms with tax returns? Screen porn in the lobby?” The answer to both of those is no, but I’m going to take this first column to explain what this does mean to me and what type of clients we work with.

I am now and have always been a business attorney, working primarily with small and medium sized businesses. I handle all sorts of matters for my clients, from setting up their companies to reviewing contracts to trademarking names and logos to negotiating them out of all manner of places they don’t want to be. I’m sort of a jack-of-all-trades business adviser, and love nothing more than helping a small business owner or independent contractor take their business and themselves places they never thought possible. Along the way, I was fortunate enough to pick up some sex-positive businesses and individuals as clients. And let me tell you, when your daily work involves manufacturing companies whose work boils down to “bending metal into other things,” finally getting to work with businesses you believe in that do amazing sexy work? That’s a gift.

As I took on more and more work for these businesses (and as they grew in size) I found myself often dealing with an interesting phenomenon. The business owner or individual would call me and ask if I knew any “fill in the blank” professionals (accountants, marketing folks, graphic designers, printers, etc.). I generally did, and would pass on the names/contact info for folks that I knew and trusted. However, unlike most referrals, these didn’t always succeed. More often than not, my client would call back and explain how they didn’t seem to hit it off with the referral, or how all was going well until they asked what exactly it was they did.

It became increasingly clear to me that many, if not most, of my fellow business professionals, had a BIG problem with sex-related and sex-positive businesses, and that if I wanted to be of the most service to my clients, I was going to need to seek out the exceptions. I knew there had to be some – sex positive folks exist everywhere. So I set out to ask some very pointed questions to all the professionals who contacted me to “see how we could be of use to each other’s clients.” It was refreshing and eye-opening to ask accountant whether they worked with all types of businesses, and then follow up with “even if the inventory includes dildos? How about butt plugs? Did you know sex workers can write off the toys they use for work? Do you think they have to restrict them to JUST work use or can they write off a portion if they also use it a bit personally?”

And so on, and so on. Many courageous conversations with uneasy professionals to find those that shared my affinity for these amazing businesses and the people running them. So this is how Sexquire came to be, and what I mean by “sex positive business services.” No one that works with our company is simply “okay” with sex work or sex positivity, they must also be sex positive themselves. It’s been a lot of work to find the right people, and we’re always looking for more folks to help us round out our services, but it’s been amazing so far. In coming columns you’ll hear from different Sexquire service providers on topics as wide-ranging as issues particular to online sex businesses to how exactly one does write off sex toys. Let us know if there’s anything in particular you want to hear about. After all, we’re service-oriented!