You’ll never grow your massage business to the size you want until you test your limits.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m the first to admit that limits are important.
If you work 7 days a week, you’ll burn out.
But sometimes a “limit” doesn’t accurately reflect the moment when you should stop something, and sometimes a “limit” changes over time.
That’s when limits are a problem.
If you can’t grow your massage business, here’s a limit that could be stopping you: Your massage max.
Whoa, buddy, hands off my massage max!
I get it.
You’re comfortable with your current massage max. If you stay within the limit, you won’t be in pain.
But, assuming you can bring in clients on demand (I can help you with that here), what’s preventing you from growing your massage business?
It’s the amount of massages you can do in day, week, month, or year.
Increase your massage max and you increase your potential to make more money.
And injury, Mark.
Not necessarily.
Here’s how you can safely challenge your massage max limit and grow your massage business.
Step #1: Think in terms of “massage max for the week”.
Yes, I did say “week” instead of “day”.
Why?
Because, from a practical standpoint, a week makes more sense than a day.
If you did 8 hours of massage one day, but need to rest for four days before you can do more massage, it really doesn’t help you to increase your income and grow your massage business.
Step #2: Take your current, weekly massage max and add 3 to 5 more hours of massage to it.
Adding three to five more massages a week is only a suggestion. It’s how I started testing my weekly max. You may want to start more conservatively with 1 or 2. The point is to test your current limit by exceeding it.
Step #3: Open up as many days of the week as you can for massage.
If you only work 4 days a week now, allow yourself to spill over into the other days of the week.
Don’t panic.
This is a temporary move. It will give your body time to adjust to the increased workload.
Step #4: If you feel bodily discomfort make changes to your massage.
If you feel pain when doing the extra massage, pay attention to your techniques and body mechanics.
Here are some basic things you can do to help yourself out: Mix up your techniques, become ambidextrous, lean to generate pressure and/or combine body parts to deliver pressure.
This article provides more help: How to Eliminate Pain When Massaging: Adaptation.
Step #5: Evaluate
If you’re in pain when testing your max and you can’t eliminate the pain, then your current massage max is correct.
Go back to it. No harm done.
If you’re not in pain when adding in more massages, go to step #6.
Step#6: Take your new, weekly massage max and fit it into your desired work-week cycle.
Let’s say your old, weekly limit was 20 hours in 5 days.
During your massage max testing you added 3 hours per week, but also added another work day. So, you were doing 23 hours in 6 days.
Now, it’s time to fit your 23 hours into 5 days.
Give yourself a month or so to make the transition.
Grow Your Massage Business: “Limit Testing” Bonus
There’s an extra benefit when you test your massage max limit. You begin to create a habit of testing limits. And when you have that testing mindset, your massage business will grow.
Here’s an example of how my business grows through testing limits.
One busy week I was booked to my weekly max early on. When more people called to come in I decided to challenge my massage max rather than schedule them for the following week.
That’s when I found out that I could do more clients in a week than I thought could.
Great! I can see more clients, but my average (limit) for bringing in new clients without paid advertising was 3 to 4 new clients a month.
Hmm…could I bring in more than 3 to 4 new clients a month without paid advertising?
Guess what got tested next?
You got it: My idea (limit) that I could only bring in 3 to 4 new clients a month.
Testing a Limit Pep Talk
Testing a limit is a simple idea. But there are a lot of emotional land mines around the thought of putting yourself in a position of temporary discomfort.
The thing is, the discomfort will go away.
But the rewards will stay:-)
Hey, if you’re looking for more discomfort…I mean info about building a massage practice, making more money and staying out of pain, join my email group.
I’ll send you my latest everything.
Better yet, tell me what you need help with and I’ll send that info your way. My email group is free and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Sign up below:-)
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I commend you for going out of your way to share this information and help others. My practice is still on the launchpad. I’m still trying to work out the kinks. I tend to overthink things. Working on that. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the support, Alethia. And I hear you about over thinking things. That’s my default position by nature which makes it hard to know if I’m trying to be thorough or if I’m just stalling to avoid potential failure. The thing that helps me move faster now is understanding that the real learning and growth begins after I hit the launch button. Let me know how it goes 🙂