Going Stag: Your Guide to Going Out By Yourself
Hey guys –
It’s been almost a year since I started working with my good friend Chase (wow, time flies) – and it has been an incredibly busy year. And while I’ve dropped about 150,000 words of 10 years’ experience in picking up women on the blog, I haven’t always had time to get back to everyone who wrote in with questions or comments.
It’s time to remedy that… I really appreciate all your feedback, it lets me know how we can bring more value to you and it’s also great to know that our work is really helping people out – so thanks for all the comments, even and especially the ones who just stopped by to let us know how much this blog has helped them out. That’s fantastic and part of what makes this work so incredibly gratifying.
Now, I just went back over all the comments you have left on my posts, and I am going to get all the questions answered that I think every reader will be able to benefit from. That means I won’t be answering questions about “this one special girl,” unless my advice in the situation is broadly applicable and will be useful to other readers as well. But there have been a lot of very smart questions that I thought were very interesting and worth having a closer look at for everyone.
We’re starting off the series with a follow-up to the post on going out alone, with more on going stag and going out by yourself. This is one
of the best ways to meet
new women, but it’s also a scary and unusual one for most newer guys -
it’s a worthy place to kick off this new series, in other words.

Furthermore, I will be answering comments on this series – either directly, or if the questions are very involved, in future blog posts – so now is the time to let me know what you’re struggling with. Of course I won’t be able to go into the same depth as we do in our phone coaching program, but if we can get some of the more pressing problems solved for ya and take your dating life to the next level right here and right now, then I’ll say we’ll have achieved our goal! So feel free to hit reply and post your question.
Onwards!
Going Out By Yourself
In the original post on going out by yourself, Jay posted the following comment:
“Hey Ricardus, your posts have been a useful addition to an already excellent site and this is another good one. A couple of questions though. I have tried going out alone a couple of times and staying out after my mates have left a few times too. When I've been questioned by girls as to why I'm out alone I've always come up with a lie like 'I was meeting my mate but he just text to say he can't make it because' then some more lies, or in a club that I've lost my mate, is this what you recommend doing or just be honest?”
Great question… I actually still remember the day I first started researching this topic myself.
Here’s the thing… I had noticed a pattern: All the guys who got really, really good at meeting and dating women would go stag when they went out… some of them even preferred it to being out with a friend, because it forced them to approach, and it gave them more opportunities to meet people. Every minute that you’re chatting with your buddies, you’re not approaching… and every time you fear the approach, you have an excuse not to go: you’re in a conversation already.
Some of my friends who are the best with women I’ve ever seen would go out seven nights a week… and as you can imagine, on four or five of these nights, there was simply nobody around to join them. It really paid off for them though, as they got very good very quickly… faster than anybody who wasn’t in the habit of going stag from time to time, including me.
And so I decided to create that habit myself as well – and it was one of the hardest parts of getting good with women. I wrote about my first few times on the town alone before, and described how much of a struggle it was for me… I wasn’t even able to ask women for the time because I had psyched myself out so much. I finally solved that problem once and for all though, and in that article I also discuss the two most important strategies you can use to overcome this fear.
Security Blanket…?
The biggest problem is that it’s a
lot more difficult to stay in state
when you’re out alone than if you have someone to chat with to
keep
your own social momentum going… and there are two ways to solve this
problem. The first one is to develop state independence, and the second
is to develop state control (see: “How to Pick Up Girls: The Success Factor”).
There is, however, another problem that guys face when they start leaving the “security blanket” of a wingman behind… it can feel a little bit weird to be the guy who came to the club alone. Most people are there with friends after all, and when you’re new to going out by yourself it feels for all the world like everyone at the club knows that YOU are the dork who came alone… and they’re all watching you, wondering why you don’t have any friends to go out with…?
Well, the truth is that this is not something you need to worry about at all... and here is why:
-
First of all, nobody is observing you. People are WAY too caught up in their own conversations and their own night out to even notice, leave alone observe anybody else. Here’s a little exercise you can do the next time you’re out alone: Just stand in a corner for a while, or sit down on a sofa and step out of the matrix for a couple of minutes. You be the one to watch… and you will realize that you are pretty much invisible to everyone else.
You might even learn a thing or two about what NOT to do from watching the chaos of neediness going on around you… or you might spot a real player whose game you can model.
-
The second point is that even if people *were* observing you, which they are not, they still don’t have any reason to assume that you’re alone. People walk around a club alone all the time, as they’re going to get drinks for their group, or while they’re on the way to the bathroom. And if day game is your thing, then being out alone is definitely common… guys don’t usually go shopping in groups like girls often do.
-
Finally, even if people knew you were alone, it’s still no big deal. Why do you think everybody goes out in groups? It’s because almost everybody has the same fear about being out alone that we’re talking about here. Sure, they are out with their friends because they want to spend an evening with them, that’s a factor… but if they had the social skills and the confidence to go to a club alone, make a bunch of new friends and go home with a hot girl that night… they’d probably prefer that.
In other words, people actually really admire the courage it takes to go out alone, and especially to chat up groups of strangers alone… so long as your approach is solid, of course. But we’ve got you covered there with this site and these programs.
Girls Are Not the KGB!
Another thing that strikes me in Jay’s comment is the wording… he
has “been
questioned” by girls. A lot of newer guys get an emotion when this
happens that is similar to when a cop questions them, or even a judge,
or
some superior or authority figure. I’d suggest you reframe this as
“girls asked me,” rather
than “questioned me.” Small detail, but a bunch of small details
together make up big deals.
If you interpret a girl’s question as her interrogating you, your response will automatically be different than if you interpret it as her merely being curious, or if you even interpret it as her trying to make conversation with you because she’s so much into you that she wants to keep the ball rolling. No matter which of the two was her actual intention, if you respond as if it was the latter, you will always get better results.
As for specific things to say in answer to this question - there are all kinds of clever answers you can give a girl if she asks you why you’re out alone. Remember my friend who’s amazing at making girls laugh? When women ask him why he’s out alone, he’ll say something like… “Well, I went out with a friend, but he fell in a hole.” Girls always crack up, but if you’ve read the article, you also remember that he doesn’t usually get a lot of love with this act. Forget clever.
If you have strong frame control, you can simply tell her the truth:
“My friends already left, but I wasn’t ready for my evening to be over yet.”

Or, if you went out alone from the get go, you might say something like: “My buddy and I decided to split up tonight because we already know all of each other’s stories… and so we’d rather make some new friends tonight and hear some new stories.” Notice the friendship frame – it’s a nice little gambit to keep her guessing.
Bottom line – just tell the truth; it’s only a big deal if you think it’s a big deal.
If you present it right, many girls will merely think: “Wow, I wish I had the confidence and self-sufficiency to go out alone.” – They, too, get stuck at home with soap opera reruns when their friends are being lame and don’t want to leave the house!
Get Her Alone!
“ Secondly a problem I keep coming up against is when you get chatting to two girls how do you get the one you like away from her mate? So many times I've had girls say 'I'd like to stay with you but I'm staying at my friends' or 'I've got to make sure my friend gets home ok' etc. etc. I get their number but end up going home alone, have you got any advice on what I can do here so the friend goes home alone instead?!”
Yeah, this one is tricky – you need to be alone with a girl if you want to make something happen, and the constellation of two girls is often the most difficult one to break up. This will depend on a couple of factors though:
-
Older girls (say, in their late 20s) often go out specifically to get laid. They have a lot of experience under their belt, they’ve already had a couple of relationships behind them and aren’t naïve about dating anymore, and oftentimes they know exactly what they want and don’t feel bad about going for it, the same way a guy would. The only reason they take a female friend along is to keep them company until they find a guy to go home with – in this case, cockblocking won’t be much of a problem.
-
If the girls are a lot younger or less experienced, however, they often don’t realize that they’re shooting themselves in the foot by making it hard on guys to make something happen. Same goes for girls who go out with their guy friends hoping to meet someone, never realizing that most guys are too shy to approach mixed groups. These girls usually go home disappointed and wondering what’s wrong with them and why no guys came up to approach them – which should encourage you to approach mixed groups by the way, they’re actually easier.
-
It’s also cultural – Caucasian girls often cockblock each other, whereas I’ve often seen Latinas help each other get laid. It’s a quite interesting phenomenon. Cockblocking is almost always a sign of jealousy by the way, not protectiveness.
Sometimes you can solve the problem by getting your girl herself to deal with the situation… if she’s into you and you can frame the situation right, she may handle her friend – whereas other times, her objection is nothing but an excuse and she will only tell you that she has to stay with her friend as an easy way of rejecting you.
Her body language will tell you which of the two it is more than her words will.
Final words of advice: either do bring a “wingman” with you who can occupy your girl’s friend, or simply steer clear of difficult situations – chances are there is another girl just as attractive who has better logistics that night.
If you want to make sure you’ll get laid TONIGHT, you should approach about five or six girls you like over the course of your evening, have a 15-20 minute conversation with each of them and then determine which one is most responsive and has the best logistics for going home together that evening.
Then go back to that one and drive the ball across the finish line.
Going Stag: Just Do It
In summation, going out by yourself really isn’t a big deal, and it’s mostly a psychological challenge.
-
Practice your state independence
-
Practice your state control
-
Take baby steps, just go out to observe other people and get comfortable being out alone
-
Realize that nobody’s watching you, nobody knows you’re out alone… and if they did know, they’d be jealous of the courage it takes
-
Don’t feel that you owe anyone an explanation – but if you must explain it, the truth works fine, so long as you come from a confident frame
-
Talk to several different groups over the course of the night (or day) to find out which one has the best logistics
Remember, going out alone is the best way for you to learn how to pick up a girl fast, and the best way to get results once you know what you’re doing, period.
So don’t worry if it’s a little scary - that scary side of it is all in your head!
Onward and upward,
Ricardus
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Comments
Well written!
Nice article, Ricardus!
I felt like this article was very clearly written, and all of the points were laid out nicely and in a straightforward manner. I believe what's even more important than the actual content of these blogs is their clarity -- if the reader can't grasp all of the points in a way that is clear and understandable, it doesn't matter how good the suggestions are! Well done.
As far as the article: I've also noticed the trend difference between younger women and older women. Younger women unfortunately do not know how to put themselves in a position to be approached, which can sometimes be a headache when I'm using pre-opening (which might just be my FAVORITE technique on this website, by the way) to determine whether or not a girl is interested in talking to me. Usually the younger girls will make eye contact repeatedly, but they continue to stay with their group. Most of these girls do not realize that by not attempting to isolate themselves in and of itself sends a mixed signal. I usually take notice right away when a girl who I've been making steady, sexual eye contact with attempts to break away from her group (even slightly) so that she can be approached. I've gotten pretty damn good at recognizing and acting upon this.
What's even more of a challenge for me is that I am indeed primarily attracted to Caucasian women... so I am very familiar with being cock-blocked, haha. The best thing you can do with white girls is to move them away from their friends as QUICKLY as possible; I know it sounds bad, but it's like you said... the friends are usually just jealous that THEY aren't the ones being approached by the mysterious, sexy guy! If you can isolate her and get her to like you before she runs into her friends, she will usually help "defend" against the cock-block when she eventually does encounter them again. Then you make strides to get her out of there! ;)
Looking forward to more articles, Ricardus! Keep up the good work!
- Franco
Thanks Franco, I appreciate
Thanks Franco, I appreciate it... and you are right, it depends a lot on the girl's social savvy. We like to think that we're working on our game and they have all this additional female social intuition, but once you start making a lot of close female friends, you figure out that many girls are just as lost as guys... and for them too, these skills come with practice and with experience.
Here's something else you can do to prevent cock-blocking: Approach the girl you would like to meet directly first, in a way where her friends can't hear that it's a cold approach. Then have her introduce you to her friends, who are now more likely not to interfere with your approach because from their perspective, it looks like you knew the girl before. Now you can spend a minute or two warming the friends up... this is actually a really good place to be funny, which I don't recommend to overdo on the girls you want to hook up with. Once they love you, turn back to your girl and you're totally in with everybody.
Hope that helps!
Ricardus
Question for Ricardus!
Hey Ricardus, once again excellent article! Both you and Chase have really opened my eyes and have provided me with the motivation to go out and meet girls. Lately I've developed somewhat of an abundance mentality, not absolute abundance though, still working on that one lol. What I wanted to ask you though is, when you are texting a girl, do you only respond when she says something you care to respond to? Because now when I text, I make sure I do it with purpose and to either get her out with me or to get to know her better beforehand. If I persist and try to get her out with me or flirt and she isn't very responsive, should I just drop it and move on? Does ignoring her make her more interested? I understand at first you have to play the game a bit first then be authentic, I was just curious to see how you felt about some of these things and what the most appropriate ways to handling these situations could be.
Thanks, and looking forward to hearing from you!
Garrett
Hey Garrett, Thanks for the
Hey Garrett,
Thanks for the comment - Yes, I'm a huge proponent of minimalist text game. If she wants to text a lot back and forth, I cut it short and tell her I'm too busy to text now (which is the truth). And yes, the purpose of text messages is to get a meetup. Read this article for more info:
http://www.girlschase.com/content/what-text-girls-get-dates
If she doesn't want to meet up with you, you can try once more or if you really like her, twice more... but after that, yes - drop it. Texting her less might not make her want you more, but texting her more is likely to make her want you less.
If you don't want to delete these numbers yet, put them all in a list of no-go digits. Once you have 100 of those, ping them all with a simple text to see what happens. You might convert one or two of them... but don't invest a lot of effort. Review the article about marketing, and especially the bit about "emptying the funnel":
http://www.girlschase.com/content/how-make-her-want-you-lessons-marketing
Hope that helps Garrett, and good luck!
Ricardus
if there's one thing I'm taking away from this...
...it's the 'jealousy cock-block'. Fuck! The number of times I've been on the receiving end of this and somehow got the idea that I wasn't welcome at the table... and it's almost ALWAYS been from white British chicks. Male cock-blocking is always easy to spot, the female version is way more subtle!
That is true indeed. Your
That is true indeed. Your best bet in these situations is to let her (the girl you want) handle it. You subtly bring up the possibility that this might happen... you can even frame her as the kind of girl who makes up her own mind about things, no matter what her friends think.
http://www.girlschase.com/content/sexual-framing-more-using-get-girls
Hope that helps!!
Ricardus
Question for Ricardus: Desperate Vibe
Hi Ricardus, I really enjoy the articles you contribute to this awesome website, they makes it even better. It's really rare nowadays to find no bullshit dating advice like Chase's and yours. So a big THANK YOU to both of you for giving away so much valuable information for free.
My question is about giving off an desperate vibe. I approached girls in the last years consistently (did about 600-800 approaches in two years, both daygame and nightgame, 80% of the time direct) and my blowout rate was enormous. In this time I've got about twenty numbers, three dates, a few makeouts, but nothing more.
It's really frustrating, because I'm a normal looking guy, fit, well-dressed with great friends, cool hobbies and an interesting life in general. I put in the effort and worked a lot on my self-esteem and confidence as well and other big inner game topics, but I still don't get the results I want.
A friend of mine told me one reason why I fail consistently is the desperate vibe I give off due to my inexperience with girls. (I'm a virgin at the age of twenty-one)
So my question for you is this one: How can I get rid of my desperate vibe once and for all and how do I get results fast?
He told me to lower my standards and fuck some homely or fat girls to get some experience, but what's your opinion on that?
Thanks in advance
Martin
Hey Martin, I strongly advise
Hey Martin,
I strongly advise against that plan of your friends. I can honestly say that I've never hooked up with homely or fat girls in my life... if you're not genuinely attracted to her, there's really not much point in being with her.
Here's the problem: Gaming unattractive girls is a completely different skill set from gaming hot girls. Not because the girls respond differently... in some cases, beautiful girls are a lot more friendly and receptive than girls who have a hard time finding men to date, because the latter can have a chip on their shoulder about men. The real difference is in your *emotional response* to the interaction. You might not get nervous talking to a girl that you're not attracted to, so it doesn't help your ability to deal with that nervousness.
What's worse - if you do start sleeping with girls who are not your type just for the sake of practice, you start to (at least unconsciously) build an identity around being the guy who doesn't get hot girls. That one's going to be a bitch to get out of. Don't even go down that road one yard. When it comes to women, you always want to work your way down, not up.
If you come across as desperate or needy, that is triggered by the emotions you feel because of the dating scarcity in your life. The real fix is to become more successful with girls - but in the mean time, I strongly recommend you review my five-part series about "The Success Factor":
http://www.girlschase.com/content/how-pick-girls-success-factor-part-i
Also review my article about "The First Impression" so that you won't come across as too eager.
http://www.girlschase.com/content/good-first-impression-making-one-every...
Good luck and keep us posted how it goes!
Ricardus
Applicable questions that could help others!
Hey Ricardus, thanks for the great advice! I have a few more questions I'd like to ask you...
For an online profile picture, what's the best type of picture to use?
I see some guys taking pictures of their abs, and I although I have a good physique, I see it as insecure and trying too hard, maybe even relating to the concept of the law of least effort, but at the same time, these guys do get attention from girls and according to a few websites, such as http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-profile-pictures/, it's found to be more attractive. I ask because I want to do anything I can to improve myself and my results (I'm a fixer like you and Chase)
Another question, if you made a decent first impression, but you made the mistake of texting the girl too much after the meet, is it too late to change things up a bit? What I mean by that is, I may have slotted myself into boyfriend territory by doing that, is there a way to reverse the effects? Attraction apparently peaks shortly after the meet, so did I blow it or can I turn things around? I know you don't like answering about particular girls, but to sum it up, the girl seemed into me, but I may have increased my value too much by talking to her too much shortly after meeting her...
Thanks, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
Garrett
Hey Garrett, Yeah, that thing
Hey Garrett,
Yeah, that thing about not showing your abs online is a myth... it's not true that it hurts you. Girls dig it. It will attract a different type of girl though, but if you're looking to hook up, then that's a good thing. Just look at the myspace profile of a guy who's showing off his abs and see how many comments from girls he gets... girls dream of hooking up with guys like that. They're just as superficial as we are, they're just not allowed to show it so much. But online, and anonymous? Yeah... total win for you if you're in shape.
You've been texting a lot... well, avoid that in the future, but for now just push for a meetup ASAP and stop texting. If the sexual frame is broken because you did that, you will find out and it may take you a bit longer to sleep with her, but unless weeks have passed, that doesn't mean that you're in the "friend zone". Rather, if you're too high value, you're running the risk of being in the "boy-friend zone", which is also bad if you just want to hook up, but not a serious problem. There is a simple way to remedy that... read this article:
http://www.girlschase.com/content/how-get-laid-every-time-part-i
Cheers man, keep me posted how it goes!
Ricardus
Hey Ricardus, thanks again
Hey Ricardus, thanks again for your invaluable posts. This is perfect timing as I was doing this all weekend. I managed to go out to my town's party strip, by myself. I only succeeding in sitting by myself, people watching and getting a buzz on though, but even that was hard to bring myself to do.
Since you're answering questions, maybe you could help me! And I'm sure others with my problem. I'm wondering if you have any experience with or advice on dating women with boyfriends. This has happened to me twice since I've been reading your stuff, and I don't find out until I'm in pretty deep, about three dates in, when it comes out seemingly inadvertently. Anything you have to say on this would be huge!
Thanks again.
Thanks Don... Three dates in,
Thanks Don... Three dates in, are you sleeping with them at that point or still just hanging out?
Embarrassingly, I hadn't
Embarrassingly, I hadn't slept with either of them by date three. I'm still very new to this, barely off the cusp of being able to talk to women I don't know. That said, things seem to be going extremely well with the one I'm still seeing, I can tell she likes me in all the right ways, and besides the absence of actual sex, there is a ton of sexual tension and play. It seems perfectly paced.
Well, if a girl who has a
Well, if a girl who has a boy-friend doesn't sleep with you by the third date, then in her mind, it's not a date... you're a friend. That's why I was asking, my answer is very different depending on whether or not you're sleeping with her. After three dates and no intimacy, I would move on even if she was single.
On the other hand, if girls you are sleeping with suddenly tell you that they have a boy-friend (they usually do this before sex, just to alleviate their conscience), that's nothing to worry about - she just wants you to know so that you won't later complain about it... but she clearly made a decision to be with you. From there it would depend on whether or not you want to take your relationship with her beyond the physical.
Hope that helps mate,
Ricardus
Update for Ricardus!
Hey Ricardus! I wanted to update you on how things went! So I took the girl back to my place, and we madeout, and it was great, you and Chase were right, and I thank you so much for that! What I want to know now is, have I eliminated myself as a 'boyfriend'? Do I act more authentic now? Basically, I want to know, after you make your move, and move the girl with you, and things work out, what's the NEXT step? The next time I'm with her I want to move things more forward, because I could have done more with her but I had plans later that night, so I had to cut things short.
Your insight would be greatly appreciated, I wouldn't mind a relationship with her, but what I want to know is, what are you supposed to do in between making your move, and actually being with her? I ask because there is only so much deep diving and moving things forward that you can do until things become more serious, and the idea of a relationship comes into play. Do you wait for her to mention the idea of being together in a relationship? If you disagree with what I've said or have any opinions I would really value your input and guidance!
Thanks again for helping me, and you guys are amazing!
Garrett
Spot on
This site is perfect. Im 19 and recently have gotten tired of my current life and decided to forgo the life long process of bettering myself. I found this site soon after i made my decision and the material y'all (im from the dirty south) cover has tremendously motivated and put me in the right direction to success. I thought it was funny how some people have trouble telling girls why the're stag, idk if this may help anyone but i tell girls either "I didn't want to bring anyone to get between us" or the truthful answer "My friends are losers i didn't want you to judge me." Moving on i think some of the most motivating material y'all cover is your own past experiences of anxiety and overall suckiness at talking to women. It's super easy to relate to and lets us know we are all on the right track as long as we persist through it! Keep keeping it Real.
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