Feb 08
6
Massage Therapists in a Money Fog
One of the main reasons that people are drawn to the massage profession is that they are seeking a career in which they can help others more and participate in work that is more meaningful. While that is all well and good, there is usually a whole other side to helping that people never dreamed they would have to deal with. When people come to the massage profession only to help, they seem to think that helping others will get them the money that they need to live or they may even go as far to say that they don’t need much money or that it isn’t about the money. Being in such a fog about money is usually what leads to such thinking or should I say they aren’t thinking.
I also get a fair amount of massage therapists emailing me or sharing their stories on various forums about how they are underpaid and not taken seriously by their employers. They initially agreed to specific terms without really knowing what they were getting into and are left feeling resentful when working on clients or dealing with the employers.
Mikelann Valterra in her book “Why women earn less” (which I think really could be called ‘why massage therapists earn less”), she outlines some things to think about to see if you are in a money fog:
Do you regularly balance a check book?
Do you know exactly how much you are making each month?
Do you know where all of your money goes?
Do you know if you are saving enough for emergencies and retirement?
Many high school students today are researching careers and jobs and the first thing they ask me on my site www.massagetherapycareers.com is how much can I make as a massage therapist? The massage schools will tell them that massage therapists are charging $60-$80 per hour and more but fail to leave out the fact that this is not really what you make as a massage therapist. If you are working for yourself you need to deduct expenses or if you are working for someone else you usually get about 20-30% of that which isn’t much after you pay taxes on it all.
It is good that high school students are asking today. I know when I went to college a very long time ago, I never went with the intention of how much money I could make.
Choosing a career based on your need to help others is really also saying something else. Why are you wanting to be a massage therapist? There is usually really an unconscious deeper need being played out which is usually really a need for love, attention or acceptance. Choosing a career without knowing or caring how much you can make could mean that you are in a money fog.
You can best do that by taking a look at what you charge clients for your services as well as what you charge for no shows or last minute cancellations. I read in one of the massage magazines awhile ago a survey that asked how many people charged for no shows and most said they didn’t and always made excuses for the client. I was quite shocked. (I’ll have to find that again.) That’s a great example of money fog.
The way to get out of a money fog is to track just how much you are spending and become more aware of your spending patterns and money blueprints. Also joining or starting a peer supervision group can assist you in becoming more aware of issues like this which is the first step and basically the answer to changing your beliefs about money. I am starting an online peer supervision/mastermind group very soon – hopefully next week and will start taking applications from interested participants so stay tuned for more information.
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