Make the Most of Massage

Author: Mark Liskey

  • How to Cure Best Massage Therapist Syndrome

    How to Cure Best Massage Therapist Syndrome

    Guess what? I’m not the best massage therapist out there.

    And I’m not greatest massage therapist that ever lived.

    Now your turn.

    Say it with me: “I’m not the best massage therapist out there. And I’m not greatest massage therapist that ever lived.”

    How do you feel?

    Like a loser?

    Or do you feel a little lighter? A little liberated?

    I’m in the liberated camp.

    In my experience, “greatest” and “best” are ideas that can stop you from taking the next business step or stop you from starting a business at all.

    Many years ago I decided I wanted to create and teach massage CE courses. It didn’t take me long to develop a course and get it accredited.

    But ask me how long it took me to start teaching it?

    Years.

    Why?

    Because I had no real teaching experience besides coaching the MTs who worked for us.

    Well, I guess a better wait until I’m a great teacher…

    Yeah, I know, not so logical. You can’t get better at something by not doing it.

    Bye-bye personal growth, time and money.

    Twenty years ago, I did the same thing with my massage business—I waited a couple of extra years to go out on my own because I had Best Massage Therapist Syndrome.

    Here’s how I handle that now.

    Best Massage Therapist Syndrome Treatment

    I remind myself that…

    1. Being the best is an imaginary state of being.

    You’re one of a bazillion massage therapists. How could you possibly know who is the best?

    And even if there was a World Massage-Off, how would you decide who won when the experience of massage itself is subjective?

    You can’t know.

    The best MT doesn’t exist. Don’t fall for the trap.

    2. “Being the best” is probably “fear of failure”.

    Did this ever happen to you? You’re jacked about finishing your website. You do a Google search and find a MT, Maggie, who has 20 years experience and is doing massage a street down from you.

    Hmm…maybe I should get a part-time job in a daycare center?

    Wait, how do you know Maggie is a good MT? Twenty years of experience doesn’t mean she’s the best MT around.

    If you fall for “the best” trap, you’ll always find someone “better” than you each and every time you’re about to put yourself out there.

    Why finish my website because Maggie’s going to get all the business?

    Why advertise as an orthopedic massage therapist because Darby’s brochure sure looks like she knows more than I do about orthopedic massage?

    And the list goes on…

    One more thing about Best Massage Therapist Syndrome:

    3. Clients don’t pick according to “the best”. They pick according to getting their needs met.

    If you don’t believe me, think about your auto mechanic. How did you pick that person?

    You probably did a Google search or got some recommendations. You may even have tried a few out before you settled on one.

    But was your goal to pick the best auto mechanic?

    No.

    You picked the mechanic who met your needs (like proximity, turn-around time, workmanship, and price).

    And once you found the mechanic that was a good fit, did you have any desire to find a better one, possibly the best one?

    Probably not.

    You’re happy with your current one. Why put the time in looking for one who might be a little better?

    The same is true with massage clients.

    Clients want a good fit. They’re not on a search for the best massage therapist in the county, country or world.

    Work to be Your Best

    So, if you reject “being the best” thinking, what should you be?

    Somewhere between subpar and mediocre.

    Joking.

    You should be the best you can be.

    And you can only be that by getting reps in.

    I got teaching reps in by having my wife, Lisa, assist me with larger classes the first year.

    They’re falling asleep. Do something different.

    As time went on, with Lisa’s help, I got better.

    Best Massage Therapist Quick-Fix

    So, do you think you have a case of Best Massage Therapist Syndrome?

    If so, remember that “the best” is an imaginary state of being.

    It could also be an excuse because you’re afraid to fail.

    And definitely don’t forget that clients pick MTs based on needs being met, not greatness.

    To move forward with your massage business, you only have to be your best.

    You do that by getting reps in.

    If you need help, get a Lisa for feedback and guidance.

    If you don’t have anyone, I’ll be happy to be your Lisa.

    Shoot me an email and let me know what’s going on.

    I’d also recommend joining my email group. It’s free and I’ll send you my latest everything to keep you moving in the right direction.

    Sign up below:-)

  • Where Do You Get Your Clients?

    Do you know how you’re getting your clients?

    It’s a simple but important question.

    I wasn’t quite sure where to put our marketing efforts because I didn’t know how our new clients heard about us. So I asked our lead therapist/manager to track that information.

    She tracked it by looking at the new client intakes to see if they filled out how they heard about us. For those that responded, she would record and report the tally to me at the end of the month.

    And boy was it an important thing to do.

    We found out that most of our new clients were coming from two sources: Google and the pharmacy where our office is in.

    Now we know where to spend our time and money, and it has paid off because I stopped spending money on the advertising that wasn’t producing for us, like Nextdoor, and I focused on the advertising that was working.

    Currently we are adding new ways to be seen in the pharmacy, like having small signs at the checkout counters and more signage throughout the store in general. We are also continuing to build our relationship with the pharmacy by doing special things for them like free chair massage events for customers and employees.

    It’s paying off. The pharmacy employees are talking us up and providing us with even more referrals. The other day, a pharmacy employee went out of her way to bring a potential customer into our office and sat with the person until I had a minute to talk to him.

    Next we expand our marketing effort with Google.

    By the way, if you don’t have enough new clients coming in to get decent tally, survey your old clients. Incentivize them by offering to put their name into a raffle for a free massage if they answer the survey. Survey Monkey has a free, online survey-template that you can use.

    Easy-peasy.

    I’ll keep you posted about our Google push.

    Have a question? Email me: mark@makethemostofmassage.com

     

  • How Not to Drown in Your TO DO List

    How Not to Drown in Your TO DO List

    Lisa and I went away to the shore to unplug. We walked on the beach and stared at the sunrise over the ocean and the sunset over the bay. Overall, the unplugging worked. I felt restored and was less caught up in thinking and more interested in watching myself think. A recurrent topic that came up when I was watching myself think was “lists”.

    I’m a big list maker. On my list are goals and then under the goals are the tasks needed to accomplish the goals. The goals and the tasks have boxes next to them—and I get to check the boxes when I complete a task or accomplish a goal. I have to say that at the end of the day I have a lot of boxes checked. However, not many goals are accomplished.

    A perfect example is my goal to hire more LMTs for our massage business. We can’t fulfill all our massage requests, especially for the weekend. Every morning, I attack my list, but we still don’t have more massage therapists for the weekend. Why? It took the 4 sunrises and 4 sunsets and one article to figure that out.

    Here’s why I have not found more therapists for our business: I have more than the “hiring more therapists” goal on my list. I have marketing and other operational goals on the list, too. So, when a “hire a massage therapist” task is difficult, I often jump to an easier task under a different goal. In my brain, I’m working my butt off and getting boxes checked, but when I dig deeper, I’m checking off boxes in business areas that are less important than the “getting more therapists” goal.

    I don’t think my behavior is uncommon. We do what we like doing and avoid the uncomfortable or less desirable stuff, right?

    However, my reaction is preventing us from taking our business to the next level. And that’s a problem.

    Here’s how I corrected my behavior: First, I prioritized my goals on my list. The business goal that needs my attention the most is growing our massage business. To accomplish that goal, we need to hire more therapists.

    Next, I prioritized my tasks of the day that will help me find more therapists. So, I don’t allow myself to switch to other goals until all the tasks for the day for finding more therapists are checked off. Once that is done, I reward myself by letting myself accomplish other tasks in my “preferred but not priority” goals column.

    Here’s the thing: I’m sneaky. If I don’t watch myself carefully, I’m suddenly working in my goal column of selling and writing articles. When I catch myself I hear: But look at all the boxes I just checked off!

    Yes, but none of those boxes are in your “growing your massage business” column.

    This corralling of my desire is not easy. If I worked for someone else, it would be. I would have a job to do, and no matter if there was something else I wanted to do, I would have to do the tasks for my job or I would get fired. But when you work for yourself, you are the boss. And boss says: Party on, Garth. Do what makes you feel good.

    The rewarding of myself for staying on track with checking off boxes in highest priority goal is important because it keeps me engaged so that I get the goodie at the end. That said, if I have too many tasks that I don’t like doing and never get to the reward, I’ll cheat and go to the reward way too early and get lost in what I want to do.

    Here’s a reward formula that works for me: If I have time to accomplish 5 tasks for the day, I choose 4 tasks from the highest priority goal and 1 task (that I like doing) from a less important goal. That way, I know I’m going to get my reward once I get through the hard stuff.

    This following article was really helpful with helping me figure out what I needed to do to stay on course for accomplishing high priority goals that are difficult, unpleasant or just not my favorite thing to do: Forbes article. There’s not a lot of research in this article, but the advice was spot on for me.

    Lastly, throwing in a couple sunrises and sunsets to help clear your head from the inner-chatter couldn’t hurt with helping you accomplish your most important goal of the day, week, month and/or year.

    If you haven’t signed up for my email group, you can below. It’s free and hassle-free.

  • How to Get Out of a Massage Rut

    How to Get Out of a Massage Rut

    I’m going to get pretty serious on you: Are you happy doing massage? Be honest. No clients are looking.

    There’s some grey here, I know. You may like some things about massage, but not other things.

    The Range

    I’ve found that when I ask MTs if they’re happy doing massage, their answers fall within a range. On one end is “I like doing massage, but…”, and on the other end is “I hate it”.

    Just so you know, I’m not trying to get you to love massage.

    My goal is to help you identify what it is that you want from massage, and then help you get it.

    To do this, we’re gonna look at the like-buts, the hate-its and everything in between.

    Almost Happy Doing Massage

    Let’s start with the like-buts:

    1. I like massage, but I need more money.

    Before we get into the strategies about making more money, I need to ask you another question: Do you want to make more money doing more massage?

    Make More Money Doing More Massage

    If you said yes, and you have a business or clients on the side, read this: How to Grow Your Business with Zero $.

    If you said yes, and most if not all your money is made as a massage employee, check out this article: No Leverage = No Power to Change Things.

    Now, what if you want to make more money, but you don’t want to make it by actually doing massage?

    Enter multiple streams of income.

    Make More Money Not Doing Massage

    I thrive on having multiple streams of income. For one, it’s like having a diversified portfolio. If one thing goes south, I don’t lose the whole portfolio.

    Plus, my brain gets bored with doing the same thing all the time.

    Here are some options for making more money without having to rub.

    Write

    If you have a writing bent, you can make money writing for massage and health magazines. Here’s what you’ll need to know to get started: How to Make Money Writing.

    CE Courses

    Writing and developing CE courses go hand-in-hand. You can use the articles you sell to create CE courses.

    If you’re nervous about actually teaching the course, make your first teaching gig a small (and warm) audience. You can also make the course an e-learning course and that can  take you out of being in front of the classroom.

    Personal Training

    Personal training is a great dovetail business with massage. It made up a good chunk of my overall income when one of my offices was in a fitness center.

    It will cost you some money to get certified, but you can make that up quickly because some of your massage clients will want to be your training clients.

    Massage Teacher

    Another massage-related income would be to become a teacher at a massage school. There are basically two types of massage schools out there.

    One is a school owned by an owner or owners. The other is a school owned by a corporation.

    They each have different work cultures. If you haven’t worked for a corporation (like me), then a corporate owned school may not be the best fit for you (like me).

    Think Outside the Massage Box

    Your additional stream of income doesn’t need to be connected to massage. I was once a new business consultant for a small company that managed corporate fitness centers. I landed the gig through a friend who had owned a fitness center.

    When you’re looking for a part-time job outside the massage box, start with the people in your social and work network. A friend or work colleague may no someone who knows someone, and suddenly you have an in.

    2. I like massage but I’m burnt out.

    I hear ya. Too much of anything will eventually make you turn and walk (run, sprint) the other way. I went through some burnout spells with massage myself.

    If you’re suffering from burnout, I think this may help: How to Get the Passion Back.

    If it’s not burnout and you’re 100% not happy doing massage, then let’s look at the next category.

    3. I hate massage.

    First, we have to check to see if the hate is situational. The two biggies for temporarily hating massage are money and pain.

    I talked about making more money in the I Like Massage But Need More Money section.

    Here’s what you can do about eliminating body pain when doing massage: Minimal Effort Massage: More Massages, Less Pain.

    Pretty Sure I Hate Massage

    Nope, Mark, I went through the checklist, and I just want out of massage.

    Okay, but then the question becomes out of massage into what?

    If you know, great. Go for it. I have a MT friend who got of massage to be a PTA. Another became an OT.  A massage client who was a massage therapist has a longstanding career in IT.

    If massage turned out to be a mistake for you or was only supposed to be temporary until you could start or create your dream job, my advice would be to find a new, marketable skill while still doing massage.

    After you acquire that new, marketable skill, you can then start to transition out of massage without losing income.

    This article will help you out with that: How to Follow a Dream: Massage Bridge Business.

    Happy Doing Massage Recap

    Okay, there’s a lot to think about here. The important thing is to have an honest discussion with yourself. Allow yourself to feel whatever it is you feel. Then get clear on what you want out of massage.

    If you’re not happy doing massage or just need to tweak what you’re doing, read my suggested articles for ideas.

    One more thing:

    Once you’re clear, don’t wait.

    Life is short.

    P.S. Here’s a way to stay motivated so that you get things done. Join my email group. I’ll let you know when new articles, videos and tutorials are out. It’s free and you can unsubscribe whenever you want:-)

    Keep it rollin’:-)

    Mark