Dating is hard. Period. Escorting or not.
I met a guy in this, and he said he was fine that I escorted, but didn't want to hear about it. I easily agreed to this and made sure that I scheduled my days in such a way that I could leave my hobby cell in the car and not think about this the entire time I was with him. (Yes for the times I was hard to get ahold of, this is probably why). Didn't work out, but probably not because of this...
What I promised him was: "if we're ever serious enough that you deserve to have a say in what I do, then if it's a problem, I'll quit and not look back." It leaves the option open, but makes it clear that a committment needs to come from him with it...
To ever have a normal life at some point quitting is probably necessary... Answer reference requests for a while and then shut down your email and delete your website.
The way I found a friend who I could tell about this is that I'd ask "ok, so this has been on my mind lately because one of my friends asked and I couldn't decide. 'Would you ever have sex for money?" It'd give me their opinion on how okay it could be under certain circumstances. Also, I sometimes admit to "dating older men who occasionally give me gifts" to close friends that don't need the whole truth but are curious about the sudden cash flow and phone calls.
I think honesty is a vague word. Telling my friends I "date" older men isn't the truth by any means, but its enough to let them know about my life without giving them the nasty details. It's not the truth, but I can't quite call it lying either. That's my suggestion, find a happy medium that they can accept.
Just my experiences and thoughts...