$100,000 a year as a massage therapist?
April 22, 2009 by Julie Onofrio
Filed under The Wealthy Massage Therapist
Everyone thinks I am crazy when I say that you can make $100,000 a year as a massage therapist. Now I am not the only one saying it. Others are too.
My way is about charging what you need to make that while working a reasonable number of hours doing so. It can also involve using your website to make an additional stream of income and also to create an online business on something related to massage (or not!). Some ideas are a website for a local continuing education calendar, a website on a specific technique or method you use, a blog on how you built your practice or a site on something totally unrelated – another hobby or pasttime, an activity or sport, a specialized area of knowledge or interest you have – hiking, cycling, knitting, cooking, a specific disease or condition that you are an expert at dealing with or that you have yourself and are struggling with. Whatever it is you can make $100,000 a year and more if you clear out all of the limiting beliefs you have about yourself that keeps telling you that you can’t charge $85 or more a session. It is getting clear about what you do desire and why. It is about becoming more conscious of what holds you back – your unconscious thoughts and beliefs. We all have them. But most just don’t know it.
In one of my previous posts I mentioned some other massage therapists who were talking about this possibility. I also have been talking about this on the job forums at indeed.com. The people there are so skeptical but also so broke that they are shut down to opportunities and changing their realities. But that is OK too. We all have our blind spots including me!
A recent book just released at amazon.com is offering another way to do just that. The Magic Touch: How to make $100,000 per year as a Massage Therapist
My challenge to people who don’t believe it start with something smaller that they do believe – like $50,000. The key to all of this is paying attention to your feelings and judgements that come up when you think of a massage therapist (or anyone else fo that matte) who is making $50,000 or even $100,000 a year as a massage therapist. If you are feeling angry, disheartened, discouraged or anything else but love/joy you can know that you are buying into an unconscious belief about your own self worth and value. It is your money making blueprint that was created at an early age that needs to be changed. The way to change it is to become aware of it andd start making baby steps towards always feeling better even if you are broke and can’t pay the bills. If you focus on being in debt and broke it is really asking for more of the same because it feels so heavy and draining.
Change to focusing on the solution which can just bring the slightest relief in the feeling and keep coming back to the solution when that heavy feeling comes back in! It isn’t easy sometimes when you are feeling bad! Sometimes you just have to let yourself feel bad for a while until you just get sick of feeling bad or you get sick even!
So what ways can you think of to start making more as a massage therapist?
- Teaching classes on massage to couples
- Offering to lead church groups in learning massage
- Setting up a continuing education calendar in your area
- learning to make money with affiliate programs through your website
- Charging more so that you don’t feel resentful of doing massage. (That can change the feeling big time!)
- Charge for no shows or last minute cancellations so you are not wasting your time (and enforce the policy!)
Stop defeating yourself by saying it can’t be done and humor me and just let yourself think for one minute that it can be done!
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Thanks for the article. Too many of us don’t understand what our work is worth. It took me 3 years to have the courage to fully strike out on my own. We need to build up that risk-taking instinct where we can confidently invest that $5000 or $10 000 to start things up properly and develop that image, appearance and customer experience. Until we are willing to take that risk and believe in ourselves we will always get stuck paying 40% or 50% rent to the clinics. And I think I would still be in a profit sharing arrangement if carpal tunnel syndrome hadn’t finally convinced me that I needed to work less for more in order to survive in this industry. I’ll say it again, believe in yourself, understand your worth, reap the rewards!!!
I believe you can make as much money as you’re willing to work as a therapist. If you have available times on your books, go to http://www.LastMinuteMassage.com and fill out a profile. It’s free and we can help your business. We try to help fill those empty spots in your day!
Dream BIG!
Tiffany
Last Minute Massage
Thanks Julie!
Whatever our individual approaches are to moving this conversation forward, I appreciate every professional that is doing so. It is true that Massage Therapists can earn more, in terms of money, vitality and professional respect. It will happen much faster if those of us who believe it work together. It is this type of cooperation that is missing from much of the profession, and ultimately what holds the profession back from it’s full potential.
Here’s to working together. The world’s wealth can be in the hands of the healers!
~Meagan Holub
Author of The Magic Touch: How to make $100,000 per year as a Massage Therapist
Julie, thank you for years of support for the massage industry and helping MT’s to grow their options and education. You and I have been swimming in the same pool (so to speak) for some time.
Years of researching/seeking six figure incomes for MT’s has driven home techniques that to me, are simple to understand but worthless unless implemented.
Here’s five steps to wealth:
1) Save (Pay yourself first)
2) Plan (Have a budget & follow it!)
3) Invest (Budget for investing, which is additional to & separate from saving)
4) Adjust (Notice where the plan isn’t working and adjust it to reflect reality. Then go back at to working the plan.)
5) Give Back (Wealthy people know that giving to others – from what is extra – brings many returns.)
This same advice could benefit anyone, however, massage therapists have a history of giving away foundational income, (services, time, product) first, from a healing mindset, when a wealth mindset would indicate giving back AFTER financial foundation is built and systematized. In other words, giving from the leveraged profits produced through services, time and product sales, not before.
This takes action, patience, & time yet offers more return for the same work you’re already doing.
Julie mentions some additional income resources and I agree that leveraging current knowledge and business themes is a good way to add income streams. Get creative and continue to educate yourself, particularly improving mind set, and business principles.
Attitude is everything, whether you get rich or not.
Best of success to all of you!
~ B ~
rebelmassage@yahoo.com
http://www.massagemsoi.com
http://massagetrends.blogspot.com
Yes Thanks Barbara for your continued support!!
I appreciate the work you do and taking the time to comment here!
Julie
i just to say thanks to everyone of you for your comments and opinions its make me stronger and more serious to take this carrier that im looking forward to join soon …..i will take your experiences and advice to enrich my knowledge and have a better look of it
I agree that a lot of it is about attitude but I’m not so sure that suggesting people set up hobby websites is going to do that much for their business. I think the important step to making good money is to value yourself and fit the part of a successful therapist. This involves attitude, appearance, quality equipment, a strict cancellation policy (as mentioned by Jody), etc. I do agree that teaching classes and local outreach are great ways to build your business.
Setting up a ‘hobby’ site won’t help their massage business but will help their income so that they have multiple streams of income and don’t have to depend on getting clients. That’s what I do anyways…
I think it’s great to value oneself as a professional. I have found that treating my massage practice like a business for the last nine years has helped me thrive. Working on belief systems is very important, too. Feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness are from the past. The more I stay in the present, the more I can realize the potential to succeed. By the way, I have been enforcing my cancellation policy for years-some clients try to get out of it and I hold their feet to fire. My best years have been since I’ve valued myself.
Here’s to success in our profession.
Cheers,
jh