Did you make enough this year with your massage business?

Article: Did you make enough this year? (And how do you feel about it?)

How do you feel about the money you earned this year? Is it more than you thought it would be? Is it less then you thought? Do you know?

It’s important to take the time to figure out exactly what you earned this year. If you use accounting software, what is your total revenue? Perhaps you can look back at your deposits and other statements. Maybe you are salaried and you know exactly what you earned. But you simply must be clear on the number.

Once you know your 2007 income total, take a moment and reflect on how you feel about it. Given how much you worked this year, does it feel like a good payoff for all your life energy? Did you get ahead this year or does it feel like you are simply treading water?

Remember that “underearning” is the pattern of earning below your potential. When you look at your 2007 income total, does it feel like underearning or are you earning at your potential? When people underearn, they begin to resent their work. It’s important to get in touch with your “resentment number” —how much money do you need to earn in order to not resent doing your work?

Do you know what “enough” would be for you? Knowing what you need to earn in the first place goes a long ways towards hitting that number! It’s very frustrating to walk around simply saying, “I need to make more money!” How much more? Be exact. Give your creative mind a specific number to work towards.

If you are frustrated with your earnings, take heart. When you take the time to really look at your earnings, it is a huge step. Frankly, many people are unclear as to how much they make. They simply go month to month, doing the best they can. Clarity is the first step. You can’t change what you don’t know.

If you earned less then you thought, or you are unhappy with your earnings, answer this: what is one thing you could do to increase the amount of money you make? Quick! What is the very first thing that came to mind? Is it time to ask for more? Are you in the wrong career? Do you need to raise your fees or start working with a different type of client who will pay more money?

Some of these answers feel harder then others, and that is why people often don’t ask the question to begin with. Sit with this question over the next few weeks. A new year is coming. And with it comes new possibilities. It is possible to earn more money.

© 2007, Mikelann R. Valterra and the Women’s Earning Institute. Empowering women to earn what they’re really worth, www.womenearning.com.

Mikelann Valterra may be available to speak to your group/ organization. As a specialist in earning issues, she speaks and consults widely on how to earn at your potential and overcome self-sabotaging beliefs about money. Mikelann@womenearning.com.

Posted in Building Your Practice, Ethics, Recommended Reading, The Code of the Caretaker, The Wealthy Massage Therapist | No Comments »

Evidence Based Massage

I have been trying to understand what this new call for evidence based massage is all about. There is a research Yahoo Group called the journalclubonline where I am learning about this.

The massage profession is just starting to understand the significance of research - doing research and understanding research. Most massage therapists lack the basic underlying knowledge and are unable to understand research and why it is important to the profession. Because of their focus on touch and the kinesthetic world, research that focuses on the techniques and science seem skewed and unimportant. With the world so focused on knowing more about something before trying it, how can we educate clients as to what massage can really do for them and build their trust in the massage profession?

Funded by big companies and flawed by researchers bias and filled with too many terms we can’t even begin to comprehend, how do we combine our love for the art of massage, the therapeutic relationship and the science of research into an understandable body of knowledge?

Confronted with clients who have herniated discs, muscle spasms, tendon tears and very stressful lives, we need to share what we know about massage and find out what they think is needed to heal their condition and create a plan that supports the client in their healing process.

Evidence Based Medicine uses the results of research to use as a guideline when forming a treatment plan in the medical setting. As more massage research is done we can start to apply it in our everyday practices and also educate the public as to what massage can do. While there are many aspects of massage that are immeasurable such as the relationship of the mind-body connection and healing, we can begin to teach people about the uses and benefits of massage from this totally physical, scientific manner as people usually like to base their first opinions on proof. It can also be of use in building a practice. By providing supporting evidence you may be able to work more with hospitals, corporations and other businesses who need more proof to be spending their money on massage.

From what I understand so far - evidence based massage is being able to provide research that will back up our claims that massage is effective for various conditions. Sean Slovik has created this website -www.massage-therapy-research.com to try to help explain it all.

I have also just read another article in the Massage Therapy Journal called Care With Confidence By Rebecca Birr, MSLIS, AHIP / Kathy Zeblisky, MLS, AHIP that also is helpful in explaining research and why we need it.

So much of what we learn in massage school is not really evidence based. We think it works because it has worked for us and we see it work for others. Our claims that massage and other modalities work seem to be mainly from our personal experiences which is often just that -personal.

From what I have been able to discern from all of this is that we need research if we want to have some credibility in the medial profession. Clients may also even be skeptical of massage and its usefulness for various conditions. People usually need proof that something works. They are skeptical to try things that may me unknown to them without evidence. One of the best methods of building a massage practice depends on getting current clients to refer their friends and family members. That is enough evidence for some people.

The problem is that most massage therapists are not versed in being able to interpret or understand research papers. Ted Nissen author of (anatomyfacts.com ) also working to make massage research more understandable and he says research should have some kind of rating system that can tell us more about the research - is is valid and how did they come to their conclusions.

The things I struggle with are how do we know how research is done. How do we actually measure what really happens in a session? I had a client who had a headache for a year and it went away the day she quit her job. I had a woman who was trying to get pregnant for a few years with no luck and then after 6 weeks of massage for back pain she is pregnant.
What does massage really do? Is it the technique we do? The relationship we develop with the client? The client finally being able to feel themselves more? What is it that happens in a massage session?

Posted in Massage Research, Recommended Reading | 1 Comment »

Understanding Projections for Massage Therapists

My concept of the $100,000 massage practice and the ‘wealthy massage therapist’ continues to bring mixed reactions. A few have emailed me privately saying I am full of crap but they don’t bother to say why or what their feelings are on the topic.

I have learned that when you are reacting to something so strongly and especially being moved to downright rude comments that it seems to have triggered something deeply with in you and it is not usually directly related to the current situation but something from deep in your past.

Projections are basically unowned parts of ourselves that show up in our live in all relationships and aspects of our lives. They are such an important part of our work and the therapeutic relationship which is the basis of building a massage practice and being successful as a massage therapist. Projection in the massage therapy profession is called transference and counter-transference. It is important to learn to start understanding projections where ever they may occur in your life if you are serious about building a massage practice. Projections are a really deep and intense part of our consciousness and it requires a real intention to help discover and work through projections. Projections are unconscious which make them so difficult to see and understand.

Elliot Greene in his book “The Psychology of the Body” defines projection as:

an attribute, impulse, feeling or perception that actually belongs to an individual’s personality, but is not experiences as such by the individual. Instead, it is attributed to objects or persons in the environment, that is, not oneself, and is then experienced as directed toward the individual by those objects or persons.”

Huh?
A.H. Alaamas, in his book “Diamond Heart: Book One. The Elements of the Real in Mans says this about projection:

Projection is one of the main defenses we use to avoid seeing the truth that lies inside us…. It is one of the first defensive mechanisms developed in infantile life…. When you are projecting you are actually acting at the pre-verbal, pre-conscious level.

Defenses are what are needed when you don’t have boundaries. Boundaries are anything that helps to differentiate you from someone else. They tell you where you begin and end. When you start to get mad at or blame others or react rather than respond somewhere your sense of self has been challenged. Your reactions are usually coming from that false self that was created in early childhood to protect yourself. The process of differentiation- of learning to be your true self - is achieved when you can learn to process these feelings from what you think and learning to hold on to those feelings and not react.

While I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, when you can say hmm… that sounds interesting but I think she is wrong and this is why and not get angry - you are feeling informed about something and not reacting - it usually isn’t a projection. If you are reacting and reacting intensely it is most likely a projection - meaning it is really a reaction about something else. This is especially the case when you feel like retreating and not even talking about it but when you prefer to just ‘leave’ or write rude comments or emails.

Being able to understand projections and hold conversations about topics with your professional peers such as this and others like ‘The $100,000 massage practice” can help you in your practice which will be full of projections between you and your client.

Posted in Ethics, Massage Schools/Students, Peer Supervision, Recommended Reading, The Code of the Caretaker, The Wealthy Massage Therapist | 1 Comment »

Massage Therapists Income

What is the average salary for a massage therapist? How much can a massage therapist make?

I have been doing some research on these questions for my ebook that I am writing called “The truth about becoming a massage therapist” and it has also got me thinking…

ABMP reports the following about salaries for massage therapists:

Average massage-related income for massage therapists in 2005 was $18,950, with a median income of $14,500 (2005 ABMP Member Survey).

First-year practice average income was $9,589, reflecting the challenges of establishing a professional-service practice (2005 ABMP Member Survey).

The median price for a one-hour massage is $60 (ABMP 2005 Member Survey, correlated by the same finding in the Harstad Strategic Research 2007 Consumer Survey

AMTA reports slightly higher numbers based on the Bureau of Labor statistics which ABMP claims are inaccurate.

Either way, massage therapists are not making much and are not anywhere close to a $100,000 a year practice. I picked that number because it is usually not associated with a massage therapist and most would say that it isn’t about the money.

After reading Harv Eker’s book ‘The Secret of the Millionaire Mind‘ where he says:

“Let me put it bluntly: anyone who says money isn’t important doesn’t have any! “

We use the excuse that it isn’t about the money to keep ourselves in the low paying professions.

But why is a $100,000 a year salary or income from business sound so unrealistic? The last time I mentioned the idea of “The Wealthy Massage Therapist” I got a few emails saying that they didn’t want to be wealthy. Wealth seems to bring up many things for people. It really shows you your beliefs about money. What do you think of someone who makes that kind of money? That they must be doing something illegal? That making that kind of money is not respectable? That helping people is more important than making money?

To make $100,000 a year a massage therapist would have to do about 21 massages a week and charge $100 a session and work 49 weeks a year. (that’s roughly). But what massage therapist charges $100 for a one hour massage?

I had this sudden realization that the massage profession itself is creating this problem.

Massage schools only talk of how difficult it is to start and build a practice and often tell students not to quit their day job and plan on taking a few years to build a practice. If our thoughts create our reality - what is this doing to the massage profession????

I know you will want to explain the lower than $100 an hour fees with thing like - it is way above the market rate and there are many who can’t afford it and you just want to help everyone and that includes the people who can’t afford massage. It doesn’t have anything to do with being able to afford massage. It is really more about valuing massage. I have had many less fortunate clients who I do know were struggling- single moms, people who could work as much due to their injuries etc. If people were serious enough about getting a massage - they would find a way to save to get one. Then there are those who have all the money in the world and complain when you raise your rates-they too are just not valuing massage.

If what we have inside of us is reflected in what goes on outside of us - what does this say about how we value our own profession and ourselves?

What exactly is a massage worth? What is it that massage actually does for a person? It is like comparing teachers salaries with that of professional athletes? What we have in this country is an mis-representation of our values. What about comparing massage therapist salaries with professional athletes? What price can you put on something like massage?

What if all massage therapists everywhere in the country charged $100 an hour? How does the idea of getting that much make you feel? What would you do differently in a session if anything? What fears come up for you in asking for what you need?

Posted in Massage Schools/Students, Recommended Reading, The Code of the Caretaker, The Wealthy Massage Therapist | 4 Comments »

Fear of building a successful massage practice

Fear is a tricky emotion. It is often disguised under other emotions - anger, frustration, sadness and others. There are really only two emotions - love and fear. If it isn’t love - it is fear.

Your fears of building a successful massage practice of finding a dream massage therapy job are really a great opportunity to learn more about your beliefs.
Whenever our beliefs are threatened we move into fear.

What is underlying our fears is usually the Fear of abandonment, rejection, conflict and engulfment. These fears come from early childhood and the way we were brought up. Fearing rejection or fearing that we are not good enough will leave a massage therapist frozen and unable to step out and do the marketing that is necessary to build a massage practice. People will give up easily saying ‘that didn’t work’ and go on to the next career mainly because they believe their fears are true.

If you remember from massage school and the theories on stress syndromes and the fight or flight reactions, living in a constant state of fear leaves us living in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’ which causes certain physical changes in our bodies:

- Our immune systems, digestive system shut down to allow all energy to go to other systems.
-Our thinking becomes unclear so our brains can just focus on getting out of danger. We don’t have time for deep reflective thought.
- Excess cortisol is produced to combat the inflammation, but overproduction of cortisol leads to a breakdown in tissues often leading to career ending injuries.

Deane Juhan states in his book “Job’s Body” :

Sustained levels of adrenaline and cortisol have other disturbing effects. These include high blood pressure, gastric ulceration, atherosclerosis, suppression of the immune system (which would lower one’s resistance to diseases and infections of all kinds), sterility and significant personality changes”

The way to overcome fear is to take action - take small steps that are achievable and don’t cause much stress. As you build up your self confidence you will be able to take bigger steps.
The other thing to start doing is to look at your thoughts that are creating these fears. Where are they coming from? What beliefs do you have that create these thoughts and feelings of fear? Just recognizing that they are just thoughts and are not real can take away some of the fear so you can start taking the steps.

Posted in Building Your Practice, Ethics, Massage Marketing, Recommended Reading, Starting Your Practice | 2 Comments »