I was a dominatrix for short time, but I found that being a pro-Domme was actually exhausting because all of what I did actually WAS for the sub's pleasure. Because serving me was what brought him pleasure. And I couldn't just have whatever I wanted, it was rather that I played a role in a scene that was crafted specifically for the sub's pleasure.

I had to order him to do things a specific way, and only certain things would be arousing to him, and I had to keep the stern commanding energy up continually to keep him in the zone, and it wasn't really about my pleasure at all.

But I was providing a service, for money, and that's what emotional labour is.

I'm curious how you got a different experience from it. Didn't you find that your job was to provide the sub pleasure by acting a dominant role in a fantasy for them? Like I found the fantasy had to have boundaries according to what the sub needed, and it had limits and specific things I couldn't ask for, and specific things the sub was looking to get out of the relationship, and that's what I sought to provide.