One of the things that seems very clear to me that I wish I had done in my early years as a massage therapist was to just charge what I needed to make rather than always making excuses for raising my rates or just doing a 50 minute massage and not taking a break in between clients.
The massage profession seems to attract people who are willing to give up themselves by taking a reduced fee for massage therapy services.
I think we basically have our values all wrong anyways in this contry. We pay movie stars and actresses millions of dollars and massage therapist can barely get by and get paid usually less than $100 per hour – and most way less.
Massage therapy is one of the most healing, nurturing, connecting, awareness creating, healing things one can do for oneself. But people are not willing to pay to take care of themselves. Could you imagine getting paid what we are really worth? How much would a session be? $500 ?? $1,000??
It is all a part of the beliefs we bring to the profession and the level of self esteem we hold. Other professions have it too – teachers, nurses and how about day care workers/teachers who care for the children? What is that really worth to know that you kid is safe?
Ok – I have gotten a little off track.
What would you need to do to be able to charge what you are really worth?
What are you really worth?
What beliefs do you have about making money and what you are worth? Just take a look at what you have in your life and you can begin to see what it is that you believe about yourself.
Related posts:
- Charging for massage services One of the main things that I see massage therapists...
The trick here is to charge what the massage market will bear, and not confuse that with what YOU are worth. Quite frankly, no one could ever pay me my worth.
Interestingly, massage is so powerful and personal that it triggers self-value issues when the service value is better translated by cost of delivery practicalities.
What is the value of brick and mortar delivery, tools and supplies, transportation, insurance, licensure, education, medical coverage, professional advisors, marketing, advertising, employees, salary, time invested etc?
How often do you see a Doctor equivocate a clients refusal to pay as a hit to their self esteem? How about plumbers, car salespersons, computer technicians, or attorneys? You pay them their fee, or you get no service . . . and they don’t sit around and haggle about self-value. This approach is sadly missing in the massage trade.
More often than not massage therapists forget that they operate a massage business and need to direct that course with good business sense. You may have an excellent product . . . but if you can’t cover the cost of delivering that product, your business will fail. And, that’s true for ALL businesses.
Truth be told, a good business requires a good investment of time, money, planning confidence and action.
I say charge top dollar and take nothing less.
You’ll feel better about yourself immediately . . . and you be surprised how attractive that makes you as a professional.
My experience has been:
* When I take my business seriously, so do clients.
* When I wiggle on price, I devalue my work and service
* Equating myself with the product is a garunteed heart-ache
* Whether clients think I’m the greatest, or not, has nothing to do with the cost of business
* Financial and legal advisors are my best business partners
* Competion is my best friend even if it makes me work harder
* Other peoples agendas are not good business strategy
* I charge the same fee whether I feel good about myself or not.
* The clearer my boundaries, the easier my work
This topic deserves a great deal more discussion and thought. Thanks Julie for bringing it to light.
~ B ~
rebelmassage@yahoo.com
http://www.massagemsoi.com
http://www.drink-juice.com