One of the interesting things in the massage profession is that doing massage is actually really hard both physically and mentally. Somehow, somewhere along the lines it started to become more of the norm that massage therapists don’t work longer than 20-25 maybe 30 massages a week tops. Of course everyone has to determine how much they need to work for financial reasons and also for physical/mental/emotional/spiritual self care.
But I was thinking awhile ago about how the clients that I see who are under stress and coming in with all of these back and arm and neck things from sitting at the computer all day and they work 40-60 hours a week. A friend of mine’s husband works construction on big office buildings and that is extremely physically and emotionally/mentally stressful. They don’t say – Oh I can’t do that – well I guess some probably do.
With so many options for self care – getting regular massage, knowing about eating right, exercising, stretching, taking vacations I wonder if people could actually be doing more massages and not get burned out or hurt. How many massage therapists do you know who get worked on once a week, eat right and exercise?
Because massage therapists don’t work as much they should also be able to charge more for their sessions. Taking time in between sessions is often done for the health of the massage therapist but is not taken into consideration when setting your fees. An hour massage is really an hour and 15 minutes or an hour and a half. Clients don’t really know that for the most part.
Now everyone has their own reasons for working as much or as little as they want and everyone has to decide for themselves. I just thought it to be an interesting phenomenon that could be one of the reasons why massage therapists struggle to make a $100,000 a year or more even. (That would work out to 33 massages a week at $60 a massage which is the average) so it’s possible without charging more. Of course charging more would mean you could do less massages.
Just something to think about. What would you do to make more money? I am sure there will be those who also say that they don’t want to make that much and that is a whole other topic of discussion!
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I am writing as a RMT in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I am 32 years old and have been in the profession for a little over 4 years now. I work only from my apartment in downtown Ottawa, which I share with my boyfriend. I charge $75/hour in my home studio and $30 travel fee for outcalls (which I really don’t do very much as it is such a hassle with traffic). My professional membership recommends an hourly fee of $85/hour + GST (currently 4%). The cost of my education was approximately $9000/year for a two year, 2500 program. Basically, we are trained in a similar manner to physiotherapists, but our tools are our hands, not Ultrasound and tens machines.
Can I live on this wage? Definitely. Can I buy a house? I’m looking forward to that happening quite soon. Am I subsidized by my partner? No more than normally happens when 2 people live together. Since I work out of home, I get to claim all business related expenses and I don’t have to give 25 or 30 or 40% of my gross income to my employer. I enjoy reading this blog and see many relevant issues here, although much of the details apply to the US and not the 4 provinces in Canada that have regulated the profession.
Thanks for writing. I would actually like to know more about what it is like to practice in Ottawa with the gov. health care plans there. Can you bill insurance? What is it like in general working as a massage therapist? Is it accepted there by people? Is there still alot of people confusing it with prostitution as it is here in some places?
I think I need to start a post on that.
Julie
I have been an asian body therapist and massage therapist for 12 years now…sometimes I’ve worked with Chiropractors, and private practice…for psst 5 years I’ve been exclusively in private practice, receiving referrals from psychologists. I’ve developed good relationships with many of my clients, some long term(8-10 yrs), but my best referrals come from current base of clients…slow week is 12 clients, good week is 15, and great for me is 20+
I don’t own a house, but then that is not my only criteria for success…I go to work everyday loving what I do…it’s about people and working with them whether it is for relaxation, or needing help feeling cared for thru some trauma or loss. Tim’s comment got my attention about balance and an accountant, both of which I am now working on, because I am bad at business.
This business can be tough, but it can also be fruitful, but needs creativity to keep going.
I’ve taught at workshops, and stress that you need to know why you want to work in this field in the first place. I actually had a student ask me how I felt touching people and didn’t I worry about whether they were clean enough…..”If you build it, they will come”, but you have to want to build it, and you have to want the company that you will treat.
I am the sole bread winner and have been for 12 years, I also continue my education and am currently adding cert. as personal fitness trainer. I think we can have great opportunities, but I do worry about our business being stifled by too much regulation…I have many friends in this field and feelings are mixed about that…enjoyed reading your comments and sharing mine…first time ever blogging…my son would be proud
Julie, Jody, Diana and Tim, thanks for the frank peek into your practices. Julie, you do raise the most interesting questions and issues!
I am new to the profession, 3 and a half years in. I switched from a 20+ year career as a writer and fund-raiser, mostly in higher education. Julie, like you, I have no desire to do more than 15 sessions per week. Thus, I am currently one of those people who is being subsidized by her spouse. As someone who has always earned enough to support herself, that is difficult for me.
At this point, massage doesn’t seem like a viable stand-alone profession to me. I mean, it works OK for me because it is a second career and I already have the financial benefit of that (already own my own house, etc.). And, it provides me a lot of scheduling flexibility, which is great because I still have a kid at home. And of course, there are lots and lots of intangible benefits.
But for someone young, just starting out, I don’t see how the field of massage as it currently stands could ever yield enough money for what I would consider basic financial security–owning own home, having health care, dependable car, etc.
So Julie, I really applaud your efforts to bring these issues to light and to discussion, and to try to jog us out of our mind-sets about what we as massage therapists can earn. That’s really, really important, BUT, I don’t think just changing our personal mind-sets will be enough to make the changes necessary. I really do think some major structural reforms to our profession are necessary. Not sure what that would look like. Does anyone know how it is for Canadian MTs? Do their much-higher educational requirements translate into much-higher income?
Until those reforms happen, it does seem that having a second income stream is a key to making it all work.
(BTW, Julie, I came to SBI through you; not earning any money yet, but sure am learning a lot and enjoying the ride!)
Interesting thoughts.
I am a Personal Trainer First and massage Therapist Second. I do around 35 Personal Training Sessions a week and around 20 massages a week as well.
Have a House and also just got an investment property.
I will be able to keep massaging and training for many years to come due to balance and a good accountant.
It all comes down to your hourly rate and the time you put in. I work hard – but also holiday 8 weeks a year as well.
I attended a workshop in Seattle this weekend that brought out an interesting point — that most massage therapists, mainly female, could not stay in this line of work if they were not subsidized, either by a spouse’s income, other income streams, or another part- or full-time job. Interesting. On a personal note, I’ve been a massage therapist since 1990. Sometimes it’s my only income, sometimes it’s been in addition to other work, but I’ve never been able to buy a house or feel financially secure until I started receiving pension payments from a previous work experience. As was pointed out at the workshop, this situation means that spas, clinics and lots of other massage workspaces are being subsidized indirectly because the therapists that work for them are being subsidized.
I am curious as to who said that…
I have had it as my main source of income for most of my career and supplemented it with writing about massage and creating websites for the last 5 years and no I don’t own my own house either. This is one of the things that I hope will be changing soon as we become more organized as a profession and also require more schooling.
Julie
After 20 years in practice, I’ve found that performing 15-20 sessions per week is my maximum. About three years ago I had a month where I did over 20 per week and it killed me. I have a very busy life and there’s so much more to massage than the sessions-self-care, marketing, laundry, cleaning, file upkeep, CEUs,website optimizations, etc. It’s always interesting when someone asks what I do and thinks that it’s as simple as just “rubbing lotion on people.” The best thing that I focus on is trying to earn the most $ when I’m working-what I call “being at the top of the food chain.” This includes charging the max for outcalls, chair massage, etc.
I think it’s easy to forget that MTs have a shelf life, one can’t do massage forever.