August 8th, 2007 Julie Onofrio
Building relationships with clients is an art form. It is really the basis for healing. While your techniques may get people in the door with promises of relief from pain and stress, what heals is your ability to be present with another. This is the therapeutic relationship and I would say that it is a sacred part of being a massage therapist but is the least talked about subject in your massage training.
People can learn massage techniques and use those techniques to help others but the thing is that after working with a variety of people you will find that the same technique does not work for all situations. You can also teach 10 massage therapists the same exact technique in the same class and you will get 11 (not a typo) massage therapists whose work all feel different to the same person and of course that effect multiplies by the number of people who are worked on. Each persons touch will differ because of who they are and their ability to be present with the client. Each client will perceive the touch in a different way depending on who they are and what they are thinking/feeling.
Being present means that you are totally focused on the needs of the client, the healing relationship and not on yourself. Your presence requires attention, interest, acceptance, compassion, empathy and a non-judgmental response. While this may seem like what you are doing or may seem easy - the challenge is to do this but be able to feel whatever is coming up in you without acting on it. When you react to a client, you are acting on the basis of your old patterns and beliefs which has nothing to do with the client. This is countertransference and it happens in all relationships. There are two types of countertransference negative and positive. Negative countertransference is when you are reacting on old issues of your own. Positive countertransference is when you can feel your own feelings but not act on them and stay present with the clients process. This requires that you have a certain degree of individuation -the ability to separate your own feelings from what is happening in the client and the ability to feel your feelings without acting on them. Peer supervision and Psychotherapy can help with the process of individuation.
The book “The Psychology of the Body” by Elliott Greene is a great way to get a better understanding of all of these things related to the therapeutic relationship. He explains some of the components such as transference, countertransference and projection. While this is a much needed start for the massage profession, the book talks about it mainly from the aspect of what the client is going through. What is most important is what the massage therapist goes through and the process of learning to be present with a client in order to be of service to massage clients. It isn’t just something you need to understand from a mental aspect. It is something you need to be able to experience internally. The best way to get that experience is through the process of peer supervision.
The other part of the therapeutic relationship requires that the massage therapist be able to create healthy boundaries for this therapeutic relationship to occur within. This involves setting clear policies and procedures around such things as payment, late fees, cancellation fees, length of treatment session, dual relationships, dating clients, being friends with clients to name a few. The clearer your boundaries are in these simple things the more successful your massage practice will be. People will respect you more when you respect yourself and creating boundaries that serve you will show people that you respect yourself.
Posted in Building Your Practice, Ethics, Peer Supervision, The Code of the Caretaker | 2 Comments »
August 6th, 2007 Julie Onofrio
If you haven’t already found this site it’s about time you were introduced to Ryan Hoyme of www.massagenerd.com
I asked Ryan to write an article for me on male issues in the massage profession when I first started my website. I had created a link to contact him and this is what became of it all. The replies to his article are listed on his site now www.massagenerd.com
I was just researching more on making squidoo lenses and somehow got to an article about Ryan and how he is making money with his massage videos.
His site is also an incredible resource if you are in massage school or starting/building a practice. He doesn’t use google ads but uses other sources of pay per click along with his videos to make money with his website and creations.
Posted in News | No Comments »
August 6th, 2007 Julie Onofrio
One of the most difficult things to figure out is whether your job is classified as a sub-contractor or as an employee.
I am not a lawyer but I have been trying to figure this one out without one. Basically you need one to determine each individual situation.
From what I can gather from some emails from someone researching this on their own and after taking a class from AMTA-WA put on by two local lawyers is:
Subcontractors - set their own hours, need to collect the money from the client, need to pay the employer a flat rate (not a percentage of what they make as that is a kickback). Basically as a subcontractor you are self employed and subject to self employment taxes. They employer is hiring a sub-contractor to do the work they have - same as contractors building a house.
An employee can be paid on commission but needs paid like an employee with benefits, taxes paid by the employer and the employer pays Labor and Industry fees. You can also be paid a hourly wage.
Some employers pay a different wage for when a person is actually doing massage compared to when they don’t have a client scheduled. I imagine it is legal but is just is really not fair. It isn’t the massage therapists fault that they don’t have a client so I don’t think they should have to pay for it.
There are many different arrangements that can be made with employers. Most do not know that it is illegal to charge massage therapists a percentage of the fee that is collected. Most are trying not to pay additional fees for the person being an employee or taking the responsibilities for an employee.
While the local AMTA chapter hired 2 lawyers (Pieck and Coniff) to help figure this out and makes some information available on their website if you are an AMTA member, you still have to pay to figure out your individual situation.
The employer is basically responsible for figuring things out because it is they who ultimately will have to pay the back taxes and L& I fees if they are found to be having employees rather than subcontractors.
Posted in Building Your Practice, Massage Therapy Jobs, Starting Your Practice | No Comments »
August 5th, 2007 Julie Onofrio
One of the challenges with a website is getting the search engines to find you. If you have chosen Site Build It! as your hosting company you have solved half the problem.
The other part has to be done by you and that is building links to your site. Search engines love links to your site. Some ways of doing that are to:
Write some articles for free for directories such as ezinearticles.com
Start a lens on Squidoo - What’s a lens? Take a look at my new one at http://www.squidoo.com/massage-therapy-careers/
- It’s a little hard to get an idea of what to do or what this is doing until you create one yourself. The advertisements are a way to make you more money too. Squidoo splits the income from them with you. It is sort of a blog, website, interactive site all in one and it’s all free.
Use social bookmarking - I haven’t done this one yet but will let you know when I get it figured out.
Start a blog on your site. Starting a blog with one of the free services may get links to your site but actually having one on your actual site will get you traffic because of the rss system. Rss is also included in a Site Build It! Site for free. You can read more about what rss is but basically it send out a message everytime you add a page or a post to the search engines and your subscribers - sort of like an announcement. I use www.ez-web-hosting.com for my non-sbi sites because you can add a wordpress blog with just a few clicks. I also found wordpress the easiest to figure out and use because it has better manuals and guides for setting it up and using it.
Posted in Websites for Massage therapists | No Comments »
August 4th, 2007 Julie Onofrio
More than anything what a massage therapist needs to be successful as a massage therapist is being passionate about what you do…
Does doing massage leave you feeling more alive? or feeling drained?
Does doing massage add more to your life? or does it seem like a chore?
Do you love doing massage enough that you are willing to do whatever it takes to build a successful massage practice? Are you willing to market your practice and work to educate the public about what you do?
I get emails from people saying they have tried everything to build their massage practice - sent flyers, put an ad in the newspaper and did what they thought was everything to get new clients. The thing is that most advertising does not work as people react to sales pitches. What is needed is building trust with a potential client. In order for a potential client to trust you or have anyone trust you, you must trust yourself first.
Just sending one flyer to one group of people is not trying. Sending 20 mailings and changing the mailing each time and sending it until you get the combination that works is trying. And even if that fails - do you have the passion and motivation to keep going? Are you willing to take a part time job in a spa or at massage envy while you follow your dream?
When you are passionate about what you do, it becomes contagious. People will flock to you to find out what it is that you know or have that someone else doesn’t have.
If you are going to massage school because it is ‘easier’ than going through another program that you would really be going through - think again. If you are using massage as a stepping stone to other things it usually will be ok, but your practice may not flourish if you are just doing it half heartedly until your other ship comes in.
Your passion is also what will sustain you through all the trials and tribulations - the steep learning curves of engaging in a new career. Being passionate requires a deep conviction in yourself and what you do. It requires a deep faith in yourself and your abilities. It requires knowing that you deserve everything that you desire.
Do you thing that everything comes easy to people like Steve Jobs or others? This commencement speech that Steve Jobs gave back in 2005 shows that he struggled just like everyone else. The difference is that he kept trying until everything clicked into place.
The book “Unstoppable” also has many stories of triumph over difficulties that were brought about mainly through passion and perseverance.
When you work at something that you feel passionate about - the work will feel more like play. You will be excited to market yourself and learn to get the word out to others. And as I said before - it/you will be contagious and usually have little marketing to do. People will come to you because they can sense the passion for what you do in every word you say or don’t say.
The unstoppable massage therapist sticks with it for years if necessary to bring their dreams to reality. They work on themselves to uncover the beliefs that are causing them to struggle to make ends meet. They have passion for what they do and they love who they are. They have an unshakable sense of themselves and don’t give up easily. They do whatever it takes to fulfill their dream. They plan for their business and their personal lives. They respect themselves enough to charge what they need to make. They value themselves enough that others value them to. Doing massage gives a feeling of aliveness and vitality.
The unstoppable massage therapist…
Share your story of being unstoppable here or on my other site www.massagetherapycareers.com in the stories section.
Posted in Building Your Practice, Changing Your Beliefs, Massage Therapy Jobs, Money issues, Starting Your Practice, The Code of the Caretaker, The Wealthy Massage Therapist | 1 Comment »
