Archive for Start Your Massage Business

Business Plans – Writing Your Mission/Purpose Statement

November 11, 2006 Julie Onofrio Build Your Massage Business, Start Your Massage Business, The Wealthy Massage Therapist

A massage business is about creating relationships. Relationships really allow you to become more self aware and learn about yourself.

Writing your mission statement is one of the first steps in creating a business plan. It really is a process of discovering who you are and where you are at so that you can create a plan to get you where you want to go.
The process of writing a mission statement requires some introspection and awareness of yourself. Your mission statement will easily guide you in making decisions about your business – everything from where to set up your business, how much to charge and what clients to work on. (I often see massage therapists making the mistake of thinking that they need to work on everyone and end up working on clients that are not nourishing to their business which leaves massage therapists drained or resentful or in other words on the way to burnout!)
A mission statement based on your values will help you to attract your “Ideal Client” which is a person who matches your mission statement (and values).

Cherie Sohnen-Moe in her book “Business Mastery” says that a purpose is a general direction that you want to take in a business. You can have a purpose for various parts of your life – your business and your personal life.

A mission/purpose statement is based on Your Needs – so becoming aware of what it is that you need is part of the process.

The book “Attracting Perfect Customers” by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez aks:

“Does working with this customer make you feel needed, appreciated, respected and understood? Does he or she reconnect you with the passion and purpose that puts joy in your work?”

The focus of the book is to learn to attract clients who have the same values or mission statement as you do so that you can feel good about what you do. I know I find when I work on insurance clients in which the company pays me less than my hourly wage, I end up feeling slighly resentful and I have to admit, I may not work as hard as I would if someone were paying me full price. I also find that working with people who are constantly trashing their bodies and not respecting them is difficult to work with – but it sometimes pays the bills because they have to come in so often. Long term these people often become boring to work with to me as they always come in with the same issues. While this isn’t good or bad – it just is.

My favorite clients come in wanting more from their sessions. They want to have a better understanding of their bodies and new ways of taking care of themselves. They want to get more in touch with themselves through their body and particpate in the sessions by staying present. (This is also affected by how much I am able to stay present and I know what things take me away from that- things like people complaining and never doing anything about it or people who want me to fix them and not take responsibility for their pain and health issues.)

One thing that I see often in the massage profession is thinking that you have to or even want to work on every client that calls out of fear that they will go to other therapists or that you won’t have enough income. Knowing who your ideal client is will keep you working longer and feeling more fulfilled and successful. But it is a process of finding out who works and who doesn’t work for you so you have to start somewhere. Creating a mission statement that defines your ideal client will help you to decide who to work on.

“Attracting Perfect Customers refers to this as the light house affect – can you stand firmly on the shore doing what you are supposed to be doing and not running up and down the beach trying to get everyone to see you . There might be boats out there that have their own navigation systems and don’t need you for some other reasons. You can read more on their website…www.perfectcustomers.com

For more on mission statements;

Blog entry

Stephen Covey’s online Mission Statement Builder

Clarifying Your Values on www.massagepracticebuilder.com

Microsoft Small Business Plan Template

Share your mission statements with others so you can learn more about yourself and others can learn from you…

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Charging for massage services

October 31, 2006 Julie Onofrio Start Your Massage Business, The Wealthy Massage Therapist

One of the main things that I see massage therapists doing is undervaluing and underpricing their massage sessions.

While we want massage to be affordable to many – what is affordable? What are people willing to pay for their health and the service of massage?

It also depends on what you need to be able to make a nice living – so that you aren’t constantly struggling to get by. Figuring out your cost per client and figuring out what you need to charge can help you get clearer about what you need charge. It is a business after all and you need to be able to run it on sound financial principles.

Everyone should charge something different based on their needs. The massage profession also tends to attract people who don’t have many “need” or wants. While this may seem noble and all serving, it also creates an image that seems to say – we aren’t deserving.

There is such a fine line between wanting things for material purposes and wanting things because they will bring joy or peace to your life.

What we do is more powerful than what any doctor does. We spend so much more time with people exploring their health issues with them. What should we be paid for that? What is that worth?

How can we best serve people? Mainly by taking care of ourselves and having the money we need to do that.

Mikeann Valterra talks about noble poverty and other issues that we are faced with in her book “Why Women Earn Less“. I think it could be called “Why massage therapists earn less” The book really hit home in so many ways and I see the issues so prevalent in the massage profession.

In it she says:

“Underearning happens when you repeatedly (and consistently) make less than you need or than would be helpful to you , usually despite your desire to make more money. Put another way, An underearner is someone who doesn’t get paid as much as might be expected, given her experience, education and training.”

Some of the common “excuses” massage therapist use for not making the money they need are things like:

  • it isn’t about the money — It is about the money. You need to make money to live comfortably and save for retirement. You deserve it. Money is what it takes to help relieve poverty, hunger and other social issues are world is faced with
  • I don’t need much. –There is a fine line between not having needs and not feeling self confident enough to ask for what you need. Not needing much, people think that they are “noble” and think that to have money it is somehow wrong.
  • Not being able to ask for what one needs is what I call “The code of the caretaker” – We do for others what we wish that they would do for us. It shows up in a massage practice in various ways. One of them is undercharging for our services. Thinking things like “who would pay so much for me to work on them” is loaded with inner beliefs that just aren’t true.

The other thing is the fact that there are people in poverty that could use massage and it is just not affordable. Places like Massage Envy are making it possible for everyone to get a massage. (Although I think there is a whole other side to companies like this in the way they treat massage therapists by only paying them $15 per hour. Who can live on that?

Feeling like you have to underprice your services to be available to such populations is a personal choice. When you have to work for less, you have to work more hours to pay the bills. As a massage therapist, the number of hours that you can do massage in one week are limited first by the number of hours and then your physical and emotional strength to do massage. The length of one’s career is greatly affected by how much you undercharge for your services even in the beginning. If you are having to work long hours the fact is that it does take it’s toll on you.

(I for one am the shining example. I have been doing massage for 17 years and I took over a practice where the guy was only charging like $25 per massage. I felt like I couldn’t raise it too much to start with or I would lose all his clients and prospects. So I worked more. After 17 years I can say I should have charged more in the beginning. One of the reasons why I started my website projects was because I was burned out! I couldn’t physically or mentally take dealing with clients and my health started suffering. While part is due to just plain aging – most of it is because I neglected to charge what I needed to live. I was always struggling to get by and always giving too much to others thinking it would get me more in some way. What it got me was burned out.)

So what is a realistic amount for massage therapists to charge for their services.

Charge what you need to make so that you don’t feel resentful about the work was the advice of Mikelann Valterra. I totally agree. I have been working for some insurance companies who pay me less than my $75 per hour fee and I am starting to feel resentful. I am hoping to move away from taking insurance and get back to my cash practice.

What do you need to charge?

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Creating Your Vision

October 29, 2006 Julie Onofrio Start Your Massage Business, The Wealthy Massage Therapist

One of the first steps in building a practice involves getting clear about what you desire.

In “The Science of Geting Rich” (the free ebook offered by Rebecca Fine and available through her website -www.scienceofgettingrich.net) was originally written by Wallace Wattles the 1910 author who was way ahead of his time calls it creating a ‘clear mental image’. He says:

“You must know what you want and be specific and definite. You can never get rich or start the creative power into action by sending our uniformed longings and vague desires”

Creating your vision of your Ideal massage practice (or job) will help you get clear about what it is that you want so that you can figure out what steps you want to take in getting it. It is kinda the same as cooking dinner. You start with what you want to cook and then work backwards – you know what you want to make, you get the ingredients and you read the recipe and put them all together and soon you have dinner.

Without having a clear focus of where you are going, you won’t be able to get there.

Who is your ideal client?

What do they value? They value their health enough that they are willing to do whatever it takes to help them feel better.

I have some more information on my website on creating a vision for your practice.

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Selling Retail Products in your massage business

October 25, 2006 Julie Onofrio Ethics, Peer Supervision, Start Your Massage Business

Selling retail products in a massage practice is very controversial. There is no right or wrong answer to this issue- only what is right for you. Each situation requires different policies and procedures to protect the client/therapist relationship. The main thing to keep in mind is what you choose for your practice will have an influence on the profession as a whole.
While the supposed intention is to create additional income for the massage therapist, there is also a risk involved. The risk is the possibility of jeopardizing the therapeutic relationship that happens between a client and the massage therapist.

Selling products can be seen as a form of manipulation. You may think that selling a product may show that you just want to be helpful and that you are concerned about their welfare. In certain situations, it may be seen as manipulative in the way that it is really more about you- the person selling the items.

When you start suggesting products to clients when they are on the table, you are taking away time from the session. Giving a massage is about the client on the table. When you are 100% present, your presence works to build a therapeutic relationship – one where that client feels safe enough to experience whatever they need to at the time. When a massage therapist starts talking about a product, they risk violating that trust by giving your advice about a particular product ( or any advice for that matter). When you are busy giving advice and promoting products you are not present.

Nina McIntosh addresses the issue in her book “Educated Heart” :

” The main ethical issue isn’t whether it may benefit the client to use the product that you sell, it’s whether you are unfairly using the power of the therapeutic relationship. Is the client really free to refuse, ow would she make a purchase mainly to please you?”

She goes on to say:

Another issues is that selling anything to a client other than the professional services you have contracted for creates a dual relationship, which is inherently problematic because is complicates the interaction between you and the client.”

Cherie Sohnen Moe also addresses the issue in her book “The Ethics of Touch“:

“Clients assume you are an authority and may feel influenced to purchase products to please you or because they think you know everything”.

“The major issue here is:are you influenced in some way by the money the product sales generate, or are you selling products to clients simply because they need or want them?”

Part of the problem is that when selling such products it creates a dual relationship which always is confusing no matter how well it is handled.

The issue may be further compounded when the product is a nutritional supplement which is outside of the scope of practice of a massage therapist.
I also think that the amount of money you can make from selling a few products to the maybe 5-7 clients you see a day doesn’t seem worth the risk.

While therapists always seem to need to make more money, there are much better ways to do that like charging more for your service, selling affiliate products through a website (which would make the product available to everyone reading) that may or may not be massage related and doing what you need to do to take care of yourself financially. The constant financial struggles for massage therapist is the underlying motivator for selling products. It had more to do with the beliefs one has about what value they have and selling products just interferes with the clients right to have your attention. They are paying you to hold the space for them.
There are various levels of client/therapist interactions and each case can determine if there is a risk in violating the therapeutic relationship. For instance, a spa where people don’t come for regular weekly massages but is catering to people on vacation who are just visiting the spa once will have a reduced risk of violating the therapeutic boundary as the client is only there once and it is not an ongoing relationship – but it still is a therapeutic relationship even though the person only comes in once.
This is especially important at this current point in time as massage is becoming more popular and we are taking more responsibility by doing things such as medical massage and wanting the public to accept massage as a legitimate profession.

For other articles and info:

Massage Magazine

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How to Host a Massage Party

October 2, 2006 Julie Onofrio Start Your Massage Business

By Angie Berberich L.M.T, NCTMB
Columbia Missouri

http://www.handsofhealingtouch.zoomshare.com/

I do massage parties and here is how I work them. I will offer a
free massage to the host or a friend of the host if they have 8 or
more people. I usually all ways offer a half hour table massage due
to the amount of time aloted. Chair massage just doesn’t pay well if
you offer a 15 min. Why short yourself to 15 min chair when you can
pull in a half hour. Many women want the table anyways. They like
that spa atmosphere. I tell them they have to have room for at least
two tables depending on the size of the party. I charge $35 for a
half hour you can raise that depending on your market. I usually
always give the host a gift of a free hour or a bottle of wine for
hosting the party. That is depending on how many people they pull in
and if it is the first party booked. I have many people do parties
once a month all fall and winter months. Summer is kind of slow for
parties. If it is a small party offer to up grade to an hour for
like $50. Some times on small parties I will offer a foot soak,
scrub and a foot massage and then let them take turns getting a
massage. You can charge more for this, but I usually do not as I
normally only do that if the party is at my place. Time matters.
Expect less people to show up than who r.s.v.p’s. Always something
happening to where a few people don’t make it. So don’t schedule too
many therapist unless you want to make very little$. I even take 15%
of my theripist earnings for arranging the parties. You can take
more or less. I do encourage them to pull in a party and vise versa
on the cut. This will help keep your party bus. in gear. You can go
about parties in many other directions. I am just starting out, so I
don’t have decorations for themes or anything like that. Nor a
building to have them in except for my home. Depending on what you
put in to your buisness changes all. People love the parties and it
allows most people to experience it with their friends for the first
time. I am sure I left many things out that I do, but if you have
any other questions feel free to contact me.

I seldom do them in my home. I mostly do them in other peoples
houses.Most people just take turns going in while others are just
hanging out talking, eating, and at times drinking a glass of wine.
It is thier party so they can drink what they want. I just suggest
them drink water after the massage. Let them know the risk in volved
when drinking during a massage as well.

I usually bring another L.M.T with me to work the parties. So I
usually have two or three L.M.T’s with me. Depending on the size of
the party. If it’s 4 or under I try to do them my self. Depending on
time.

When the host has her (first party) I give her a GC for a half hour
or hour depending on the size of party for her to use in my office.
I also give a free half hour at the party if she has 8 or more
people including herself. Plus I may give a small gift as well. I
usually get the host to book with me quite often when planing
parties for them. So like when they are not having parties they will
book with you at your office. Most people plan the parties in the
fall winter and spring. Summer I hadn’t had any luck. I think it
depends on your area.

Many of the party guest will book individual appointments with you
as well. Always bring with you an appointment book, G/C, intake
forms, bus. cards, brochures, ink pens, Clock, calculator, wipes,
sheets, lotion, and etc. (music just in case)

The host will usually keep people entertained while they all take
turns. Some times the host will do a massage first or last
depending on the crowd.

It has been the best thing I have done to start out with my
practice. It really makes up for those slow days in the office.
Always plan ahead with these parties. Prep yourself the day before
if you have time. Make sure before you commit to a party, that you
have another helper to work the party with you. Be sure to remind
your helper of the dates. You don’t want to be stuck doing 10 people
by yourself!

Hope that helps you all. Have fun with them! It’s seems to be pretty
popular since I have offered them. People love to talk to other
people about how much fun they have had. It’s great word of mouth!

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