One of the first steps in creating your marketing plan for your massage business is figuring out why you do massage? For what purpose?
In the book “The Answer” by John Assaraf and Murray Smith they ask the following questions:
What does success look like to me?
What is it I love to do that lies at the heart of my dream business/job?
What feelings do I want to experience as a result of my dream business? Because of my dream business I get to feel _____________________
Because of my dream business, I arrive at the end of the day feeling________________________
Why did you become a massage therapist? Some come into the field wanting to help others because massage has helped them in some way. Or people want to help others because it feels good to help others. Some may be drawn to massage because it is a much more meaningful type of work. Whatever your reasons for becoming a massage therapist - there are always deeper reasons for becoming a massage therapist that you may or may not be conscious of. Some may come to the field just for the prospect of making a lot of money.
Helping in particular is one of those things that usually has a much deeper reason for wanting to help others. Knowing your motivations and needs can be helpful in creating your marketing plan as well as helping you to be a more effective massage therapist.
In “Becoming a Helper” by Gerald Corey there is a long list of possible reasons why people may think they want to help. Some of those are:
the need to make an impact- wanting to make the world a better place, may want to know that they are important.
the need to care for others - When people are busy caring for others they don’t have anyone attending to their needs and they never learn to ask for what they do need.
the need to be needed - it becomes rewarding to have clients say they feel better because of the help you have given them. It isn’t wrong to be needed but when you must feel needed by your clients it can influence your work negatively.
the need to provide answers - to be looked up to as an expert and know the answers to people’s problems
While having these needs is normal and a part of being human, knowing more about what feeling you are wanting to create to fulfill these needs can help you make business decisions and personal life decisions based on those needs.
So back to the question asked in the book “The Answer” - What feelings do you want to experience as a result of being in business or working as a massage therapist?
What meaning does doing massage have for you? What do you want to get out of it? What will it provide for you?
What most people want is of course some form of love, attention and appreciation.
Another of the things is of course a nice living. We do need money to live on. It can provide security and money for you to pursue your dreams.
When you know that and honor that need the relief you can get from knowing that can free up more energy to help you create that exact thing for yourself. It can also help to show you just what your limited beliefs are that keep you from having what you do want.
Why are you in business? Why are you doing what you are doing?
One of the common questions I get is ‘How much should I charge for a massage”? The question really should be ‘How much do I need to make each week/each session to run a profitable business.
I was talking to a friend of mine who asked me if I knew any cheap massage therapists. She had been going to someone who was charging about $40-$50 an hour. That person apparently went out of business and had to go back into the corporate world to make a living. So was charging less than the national average of $60 a wise thing to do?
Many think that charging less will get them more clients. They start out charging less for their services because they think that they are right out of massage school and not very good so they need to charge less and attract more clients. While they may not be as experienced the value of massage is really relative to each clients perspective and may not have anything to do with how good of a massage therapist you are.
Charging less in the beginning may be a good incentive for people to come in. I recommend that as soon as your schedule is full to start charging more. Yes you may loose clients but the bottom line is that you need to be making enough to support yourself and your family. As you get busier you can be choosier about who you work on taking clients who pay you more.
Paul Ingram of www.vancouvermassage.ca has done just that. Now that he can’t take any more clients he even started charging people double to get in immediately. The interesting thing he discovered with that is that people then began to expect more from their sessions and became too difficult to work with. I would guess these are people who are looking to fix 20 years of back pain in one session.
Some areas of the country where the cost of living is less may have lower fees for massage therapy services.
I have outlined some things to consider when setting your fees at www.thebodyworker.com and am adding a few other things to think about.
You will only be able to do a certain number of massages a day/week physically, mentally and emotionally. Most massage therapists do about 20 hours of massage a week. Some are able to do more. Since you are only able to do so many massages, you need to charge more to make a decent living.
What is the value of a massage? What does it mean to people to be able to come in and get relief for their pain or problem? What is the value of providing regular weekly massage to someone and helping them heal their attachment, security and self-esteem issues?
What amount do you need to charge so that you do not feel resentful of the massage client? I have heard many stories of massage therapists feeling resentful and yes even to the extent that the person wanted to apply more pressure to the massage client than they could stand. While this is not a usual thing for a massage therapist it may arise when you feel resentful.
Charge enough so that you are not expecting a tip. Some people will tip, some won’t. Depending on tips for income is not very helpful financially. If someone does tip think of it as a bonus not an essential part of your income.
Your rates affect what both clients and colleges will think of you. If you charge more than the norm, some clients may be put off, while others may think you must be offering something special for the extra charge. If you charge less than the going rate, some clients will be attracted to the bargain but may not value the work as much….
The amount you charge also affects how you feel about your work. Make sure that your fees are fair to you and that they take into account all of your expenses. Charge enough so that you won’t resent your clients. Also, make sure you don’t feel as if you are overcharging. If you are not comfortable with your fees, clients will sense it and feel uncomfortable too.
Setting your fees for when you bill an insurance company is a whole other ballgame. Many massage therapists charge more when they bill an insurance company saying things like -they have to wait longer to get paid and they have to do more work to get paid. There is a big discrepancy over this issue that I have only just recently found a legal answer for. When I went to a workshop last year put on by two local Seattle area attorneys they made it really clear that those extra things that go into insurance billing are just a part of doing business and they can not be charged extra for. You can charge the extra amount that you pay or would pay a billing person to submit each bill and for the work you/they have to do to get paid. Otherwise charging more to an insurance company than you do your cash clients for the same service is considered insurance fraud and that can be punishable by a $5000 fine and 5 years in prison. What about the fact that you are doing medical massage? I for one do not do anything different when someone comes in for a regular massage and pay cash for it compared to someone who I am able to bill their insurance company for the services. If you could prove in a court of law that you do treat the client differently and that you use different skills and knowledge than you may be OK.
There is also something called the Usual and customary fee schedule for insurance companies that set rates for insurance companies. I think the last time I checked for Seattle area it was about $132 a hour. The thing is that we don’t really know how they are getting that number. If you bill for auto accidents, those insurance companies will usually pay whatever you charge so if massage therapists (or others) are charging more than their regular cash clients to insurance companies and that is the number being used to determine the UCR - is that really factual, ethical and legal?
This actually is one of the things that I think our massage associations should be doing more work on for us -figuring out for each state what are the legal implications of setting different fees for massage therapy sessions.
The other thing to know is that professionally you can ask others what they make but if you ‘collude with others in setting your fees’ it could be seen as price fixing. ( I am not of course a lawyer but that is what I was told by the workshop I mentioned above.)
Setting fees that support you and your business is just good self care and it is just business. It does not mean you care less about others who can not afford your services. When you are making what you need to make, you are able to give more money or use your money to set up services for disadvantaged people to get affordable massage or even free massages.
So what do you need to charge so that you will be a successful massage therapist?
Have ever wished you had invested in Microsoft 1979? or wished that you bought $500 worth of Wal-Mart Shares in 1970?
How about a recent example?
If you bought Google stock at $85/share during it’s IPO in 2004 you would have made an 800% profit in just three years!
Google is just getting started. They pay their publishers billions of dollars each month.
I just read those interesting questions and facts on joelcomm.com. He is one of the big Adsense gurus and I read his Adsense secrets last fall and immediately doubled my click through rate on my Google Adsense Ads on my sites. His latest version just came out and I could resist buying it especially since it was only $9.95. I highly recommend it if you are serious about developing a business online to make you residual income. At that price it is well worth it.
Of course he got me by then taking me to a page offering his full program for only a mere $500. Well I am sure it is good information and there is a lot of it - Cd’s and Manuals and such. I took a look at some of the content and it really didn’t look much better than what SiteBuild it! already offers through their webhosting program which includes the website and all of the tools that is needed to get your site found.
If you don’t know about Google adsense and Site Build it! yet, you might want to get serious about it so you are not kicking yourself for not getting into it now like I am about those shares in Microsoft that I never bought!
Google Adsense is what pays me more than half of my income and it is the majority of my income from my websites. The way it all works is I can put Googles ads on my sites. These ads come from Google’s adwords program which is how advertisers set up ads to be put on Google. Well you can put those same ads on your website - but it can’t just be any website. It has to be on a topic that is in demand - one that people want to know about or have. Finding that out is what Site Build it! is all about. Their Brainstorm it! software that comes with their package will help you research a site concept along with ways to make money.
Now most of you who are reading this are massage therapists - what would you create a site on? Anything that interests you and that you know a lot about. There are many massage related topics that I have talked about before on here . I also have a list of ebook ideas which can be turned into a site concept to promote which are listed on my website www.workless-playmore.com
This isn’t a get rich scheme. You will have to work about 6 hours a week for about a year and even more if you want to make more.
Google adsense is what has made the difference between me being a struggling massage therapist and being a successful one. I now get to write about massage and help educate the public about massage and help move the profession ahead.
If you don’t have time to start and make a site, you can also hire webmasters directly from SiteBuildit! to help you brainstorm and create your site. It will cost you about $1500 and about $50 a month from and that includes creating the first 10 pages. You can hire them to keep creating pages for I think it is $100 a page. When you are hiring a SBI! webmaster, you are getting someone who has taken a test and has proven themselves to be proficient using SBI! Most of them have created about 10 sites for themselves and many for others.
Or you can hire me for about half the price. I am not as skilled as those certified webmasters, but I have been around enough and done enough sites of my own and for others that I can give you a good running start. I personally have 4 SBI sites one of them being www.massagetherapycareers.com which is on the first page of Google for the keywords ‘massage therapy’ and ‘massage therapist’ - no small feat to do! When you hire me, you will also get to join my exclusive online mentoring group ( a $50 a month value) where I will help you learn SBI! yourself so you can continue creating pages. An adsense monetized site takes lots of pages (500) and lots of traffic (at least 500 people a day and preferably a few thousand like I get on my site www.thebodyworker.com) The prices that I have mentioned here are for when you purchase an SBI! site through one of my affiliate links so it includes your affiliate fee (yes you can do that too and make money reselling SBI! websites.)
As a massage therapist, creating a solid framework for you business is like creating a solid foundation for a building. The clearer and deeper you go, the taller and larger the building you can build.
So many massage therapists avoid creating policies like cancellation policies, late fees, no show policies and when they do they have a difficult time enforcing them.
By creating these policies it will let your client become more informed about who you are and what you do. They can then decide if you are a good match for them to work with. It also gives you the opportunity to choose who you want to work with and create your ideal massage practice. I struggled with these things too for years as a massage therapist thinking it was what I needed to do to get and keep clients. I thought that by not charging for missed appointments or working longer on people when they are late for an appointment that I was making an extra effort for them to like me and keep coming as a client. I thought I needed to take everyone as a client regardless of whether or not they fit in with my ideal client. In doing that for more than 15 years, I can now see that it was part of the causes for my burnout in the mid 90’s. Giving away your time, money and energy is just downright draining. Period. You may think it is doing the client a favor and helping them more.
I wrote about this previously and mentioned a readers poll done by Massage Magazine last year about their cancellation policies and the ways they enforce their cancellation policies. There is of course such a wide variety of ways and answers.
The thing is to find out what works best for you in supporting you as a business owner and as a person. On one hand you need to make money to pay the bills. Since the number of clients that you can see in one day is limited and having just one client not show up or cancel at the last minute can effect your income significantly. Enforcing the policy sometimes and not on others can be confusing to the clients. As Dr Phil says - “We teach people how to treat us.
While things do happen to people - getting stuck in traffic, sick kids, sick themselves, issues at work - who is responsible for the clients actions? Them or you?
Setting strict cancellation policies may end the relationship. The question is do you really want someone as a client who does not respect you or your time?
Creating well thought out policies can help you create a stronger massage practice.
-What is your policy for when someone cancels with less than 24 or even 48 hours?
- What is your policy for working on someone who arrives late to their appointment? Do you work longer if you have the time? Or do you stay to the alloted time frame?
-What do you do when someone just does not show up period. They just forgot for whatever reason. Then when you call them, they are not apologetic but blame you for not calling to remind them or say they don’t want to pay for something that they aren’t receiving?
- Do you have a cancellation policy that is clearly written and placed on your website and intake form? Do you verbally state your cancellation policy?
There are a variety of ways to handle these situations:
Charge a minimum fee like $35 or half your session fee for a no show.
Charge your whole session fee for a missed appointment.
Choose to work on someone who is late for the full appointment time if you have the time.
Give people one session to forget and then remind them of the policy and charge them for any further missed appointments.
Don’t charge anything or say anything and you just eat the cost for the lost time and energy. (How does that one feel?!)
Allow for extra-ordinary circumstances such as sickness, deaths in the family, real emergencies.
I also just did a quick search for ‘massage cancellation policies and found a variety of ways that people are communicating their policies some of which are very interesting with one person even apologizing for having to enforce the policy.
Here are some examples that I just copied off some websites ( I know- don’t get upset.)
Everyone’s time is valuable, that’s why we have to follow a few simple rules.
In today’s hectic world unplanned issues come up for all of us. We recognize this fact, but we respectfully request that you cancel your scheduled appointment by phone or e-mail a minimum of 24 hours in advance. That way the open slot can be filled with someone needing an appointment.
Failing two scheduled appointments in a row or three appointments within six months will result in a scheduling hold for Massage Appointments being placed on your account. This means you will not be able to schedule appointments with the Massage Therapy department.
You can also just do a search yourself and use some of the examples you find to create your own policy. The most important thing to think about is what you need to create a solid massage business.
I guess I am always amazed when people think they won’t have to pay for a missed appointment or have any obligation what so ever for their commitment (which just happened to me only for the second time in 20 years which is why I am writing about this again!) I think that people do feel bad for missing appointments but it may just be too hard to admit that they do. The feeling will overwhelm them and move them into a defense mode - blaming you, blaming traffic, blaming their boss rather than accepting responsibility. Most doctors have cancellation policies. If you book a flight and miss the flight you have to pay a large fee usually. If you get tickets to a symphony and miss it or are late, you don’t get reimbursed.
While creating these polices will be a very personal thing and enforcing them another just keep in mind that what you do is also affecting the massage profession as a whole. Letting people get away with no shows, late cancellations and late arrivals is teaching people how to treat us (massage therapists) as a whole. What policy do you need in place to create a successful and rewarding massage practice and profession?
Peer Supervision is really a confusing term to understand. For the longest time I fought using the words and tried to call it everything but peer supervision - mastermind groups, mentoring, support groups.
The thing is that the best way to really understand what peer supervision is about is to experience it first hand. Once I participated and understood then I said - yes it is peer supervision.
Of course in my opinion every massage therapist needs to participate in peer supervision groups and I have been thinking about what needs to be done to get it included in legal requirements of becoming a massage therapist - it is that important.
A massage therapist needs peer supervision if they want to become the best massage therapist that they can be. I wrote up some information on my website about who needs peer supervision.
While I think that people who have survived the 5 years in business mark as a massage therapist are drawn to peer supervision more, it can be really helpful for a massage therapist who is still in school or just starting out to get the assistance that they need in setting up and learning to run a massage business. Most people starting out are too focused on things like money and getting clients and think that they don’t need peer supervision. They also don’t really understand articles like “In the Service of Life” or books like “how can I help by Ram Dass. I know I didn’t when I was first starting out and there was no way that anyone could tell me that that was me in the article and book. It isn’t until one has struggled long enough or starts to feel burned out that the seek out peer supervision when it is the exact thing that can help prevent it and help a massage practice flourish.
So I am starting an online peer supervision group that you can read more about at my website - www.massagepracticebuilder.com. It won’t be quite the same as meeting in person because you get so much from hearing people’s voices and seeing people’s physical reaction, but it will be a way that we can start learning and sharing from each other in a much deeper way to help protect the future of the massage profession.
says this about setting fees: