Make the Most of Massage

Category: Accelerate Massage Business (30K – 60K+)

  • Massage Technique Course Versus Massage Business Course

    Massage Technique Course Versus Massage Business Course

    When’s the last time you took a massage business course?

    Hey, I get it. I once avoided them like the plague.

    For one, I wasn’t so interested in being business-y, especially when I thought being business-y meant that I had to be a jerk.

    Two, my brain just didn’t think in terms of “business”. It thought in terms of “massage”. Sorry world, deal with it.

    Three, I always needed to improve my massage skills and knowledge. After all, the better I got doing massage, the more clients I would have.

    My massage brain ran the show. But guess what?

    It didn’t work out so well for me.

    Why not?

    Money.

    As in, I didn’t make enough.

    The Case for Taking a Massage Business Course

    At some point in massage we all face the money thing. We love massage, but where’s the money?

    Believe it or not, it’s out there.

    And if you’re not making the money you want to make it’s because you’re not approaching massage from a business perspective.

    This is soooo fixable.

    Let’s start by examining the massage brain we all possess.

    Changing Our Massage Brains

    1. First, you don’t have to be a jerk to be business-y.

    Uh, remember Enron and Lehman Brothers, Mark?

    They were jerks. But you’re not. I’m not. Millions of other businesses aren’t. Jerk-y is a choice. We’ll never be that and no one will ever make us that. Period. End of story.

    2. Next, massage brain says I can’t learn this business stuff.

    And besides, experts say to focus on what you’re good at—that’s why I stick to massaging clients.

    That’s easy to say if you’re not a one person show. But when your livelihood depends on just you, you better learn how to bring in clients.

    By the way, learning the business stuff won’t be as bad as you think it will be for this reason: You just need to be competent at the business stuff, not great at it.

    I manage our one office in Phoenixville.

    Is it my strong suit?

    Absolutely not.

    Did I learn enough to make it work?

    Yes.

    Will I hand that managing baton to someone else as we grow so that I can focus on what I’m good at?

    Can’t wait for that day:-)

    The point is that you may not like a business job, but you can learn to be competent at that job with a little work.

    Last massage brain hurdle and it’s a biggie.

    3. Massage brain says you have to prioritize improving your skills over everything else.

    Staying on your game is really important, BUT it’s a big, fat mistake if improving your skill is your only plan to bring in more clients.

    I know this firsthand. When I became certified in neuromuscular massage I thought my office at the gym was going to explode with clients.

    Not even a little bang.

    The fact is that more knowledge may help you to do a better massage, but it isn’t the key to bringing in clients.

    What is?

    Marketing.

    Time to Get Business-y

    I think this article is a really good place to get your feet wet with marketing. Though it’s not a  massage business course, it has very practical advice about marketing for us massage brain people.

    Oh, you’re sad.

    Don’t be.

    We’re not trying to turn you into Warren Buffet here. You just have to get competent with doing business-y things, like bringing in clients.

    You can take a massage business course.

    You can read my article.

    You can read other peoples’ articles.

    Just take a step in the business direction. And at some point more clients will start coming in.

    Once that happens you’ll never want massage brain running the whole show again because you’ll have more money AND you’ll have the security of knowing that you can bring in clients consistently and forever:-)

    Free Getting Your Business Off The Ground Course

    If you want a jump start with the business stuff, check out my free Jumpstart course.

    And if you want need to take your business to the next level, go here: Accelerator.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Massage Business 201: How to Work For Yourself

    Massage Business 201: How to Work For Yourself

    I’m free! That’s what you said after you quit your massage job and started working for yourself.

    But let me guess what happened next. You thought more people from where you’d worked would’ve followed you to your own place. Of the followers, only a few sent you referrals. Rent was a little higher than you had anticipated. And there are 10 massage businesses within a 5 mile radius of you.

    At the end of the day you are now making less money than you were making at your old massage job. And the stress from making less money is almost worse than working a job you don’t like.

    Freedom feels freakin’ scary, right?

    BUT freedom doesn’t have to be scary. In fact, it can be everything you dreamed it to be—once you understand what you have to do to make your practice run.

    Here’s what you have to do: Take 100% responsibility for bringing in clients.

    100% Responsible

    Here’s what I used to think taking 100% responsibility looked like: I put up a sign in front of my office. I hung out in my office in case gym members had questions about my massage. I did the best job I could possibly do on each client.

    Those were important things to do, but not nearly everything I needed to do to bring in clients.

    Being 100% responsible means you accept the reality of what you need to do to sustain your freedom.

    And for me, that happened only when I put numbers to my work.

    Power of Numbers

    Say you want to net $50,000 a year doing massage.  For easy math, we’ll say your expenses are $5,000. You want two weeks off, so that means you have to make $55,000 in 50 weeks.

    Divide $55,000 by 50 weeks and you get the weekly average you need to meet your goal: $1100 per week. Let’s say you charge $70/hr. That means you need to do a little less than 16 hours of massage a week to meet your goal.

    Oh, crap, how I can generate 16 clients every week? Maybe I shouldn’t have quit my massage job.

    Maybe you shouldn’t have BUT don’t bail yet.

    Why not? I’m a massage therapist not a marketer!

    You don’t have to be a marketer to get new clients. You just have to do more than what you’re doing now.

    Like what?

    If you’re just starting to build your massage business, do this: Jumpstart.

    If you can’t get over the 30K a year hurdle working for yourself, go here: Accelerator.

    If you want my latest article, sign up below It’s free.

     

  • My Plan to Bring in the Ideal Massage Client

    My Plan to Bring in the Ideal Massage Client

    Quick question: Who’s your ideal massage client?

    I’m not talking about who you see the most.

    I’m talking about who you want to see the most.

    This is an important distinction.

    Why?

    So that you know where to put your time, energy and money.

    Ideal Massage Client Darkness

    Not so long, my wife, Lisa, and I had a meeting with a PT group.

    Sherry, the managing PT, asked us to describe the people who came to see us.

    (BTW, when was the last time a PT asked you that? Never, right? But times are changing. Change with them: How to Get Your Massage Into Mainstream Medicine.)

    We had a couple of answers.

    We see clients who have pain and stress issues.

    We see clients who have injured themselves and want to try massage as an adjunctive treatment to their regular treatment.

    The Unasked Question

    Then Sherry asked us one more question. She asked: Who’s your ideal client?

    This question was a little different.

    Ideal didn’t necessarily mean who walked in our office the most.

    It meant who did we want to see walk in our office the most.

    From a business standpoint, it was clients with disposable income who were concerned about and motivated to improve their health/wellness.

    Hmm…was that where I spent most of my marketing effort?

    Not really.

    My Client History

    Though I did have a niche market of runners and they fit into the health/wellness profile (people with disposable income who want to improve their health/wellness), I had no game plan in place for attracting wellness clients.

    And when I looked at my history of clients, I had to admit that most of my wellness clients came to me by chance.

    So, I’m changing that right now.

    Here’s what I’m going to do.

    My Ideal Massage Client Plan

    First I’m going to…

    1. Let other health practitioners know who my ideal client is.

    Hear ye, hear ye! My ideal massage client is…

    Not quite like that.

    I’ll start a conversation with a health-practitioner buddy about ideal clients and just see where it goes.

    2. Market people already sold on the idea of wellness.

    This will be a two pronged approach.

    One prong will be through existing clients who fit the bill of my ideal client.

    Say a current ideal client, Tara, belongs to a country club. She’s my potential in to ideal clients at her country club.

    So I’ll talk to her about how I could offer something of value to get a foot in the door at her club.

    For instance, a long time ago, I hooked up with a personal trainer and we offered stretching and massage before a golfing event at a country club.

    That was a homer.

    The other prong will be some form of paid Internet advertising targeting people who spend money on wellness (e.g., yoga and personal training).

    3. Go after Massage Envy clients.

    Massage spas have a lot of ideal massage clients—and I want some!

    (Imagine copyright-protected picture of Montgomery Burns here.)

    How am I going to grab these ideal massage clients from big massage spas?

    This one is a secret for now.

    Not trying to be coy. I’m just not sure I can pull it off in a reasonable amount of time (or at all).

    But if/when I do, I’ll let you know.

    Well, geez, enough about me already. What about you?

    Who is your ideal massage client?

    And what are you going to do to bring that ideal massage client in?

    If you need to bounce ideas, I’m here:-)

    And if you want my latest info about making more money, building a massage practice and staying out of pain sign up for my email group below.

    It’s free.

  • Why Can’t I Get More Massage Clients?

    Why Can’t I Get More Massage Clients?

    No massage clients today?

    I’m thinking your inner dialogue might sound like this:

    I stink.

    I better take another corrective massage seminar STAT!

    But wait, my clients love me.

    Well, then they should come back more often, damn it.

    I should tell them to come back more often…or force them to and make them buy a membership.

    Yuck.

    Okay, I guess there just aren’t enough massage clients out there.

    But Massage Envy is killing it…

    Right, BUT they don’t do Exoskeletal Bilateral Symmetry Massage. And if I get that certification, clients will be beating down my door!

    Do yourself a favor: Put your Mastercard away.

    There’s only one thing you need to do to get more massage clients.

    You need to market.

    The problem is you don’t want to market.

    I get it.

    I avoided marketing for long time.

    I believed in build it and they will come. In other words, do a good job and your business will grow.

    To some extent that’s true, but if you want predictable income and don’t ever market, it will be more like build it and they will come in dribs and drabs as you look for a second job.

    More Than Just Building It

    You have to market.

    But you don’t have to sell your soul.

    Will you be uncomfortable at times?

    Probably.

    But your soul stays with you.

    And you won’t have to go into debt.

    Okay, so what’s the catch, Mark?                                       

    No catch.

    Just work.

    The work is to get people talking about you.

    If people know you and are talking about you, you’re going to build a healthy business.

    My Triple Referral

    A while back I got a call from a competitive triathlete.

    Interestingly, she didn’t call me after talking to her running coach friend who told her to go see me.

    She also didn’t pick up the phone when another friend sang my praises.

    Do you know when she called me?

    After her chiropractor gave her my card.

    Omg, Mark, you must have every certification in the world to have that many people referring to you!

    I don’t.

    I’m just a decent massage therapist—like you.

    I get referrals because I know how to get my name out there.

    How to Get Your Name Out There

    Getting known takes some time.

    You can speed up the process by doing these 3 things.

    1. Follow up with each client.

    Nothing says you care more than checking up on clients, especially new clients. Caring is not only the right thing to do, it’s the bitcoin of relationship currency.

    Put your time into strong relationships with your clients and the dividends will be plenty of referrals.

    2. Follow up with the client’s health practitioner.

    If your client is coming to you for a particular issue and is seeing or has seen other health practitioners for the same issue, contact the other health practitioners so that you can coordinate efforts.

    Connecting with other health practitioners leads to massive name spreading. Here’s how I do that.

    3. Market your hands-on massage.

    I’ve said it a bazillion times, now a bazillion and one: Advertise with your hands.

    It’s free and simple.

    The person gets on your table (or chair). You make him feel better. You hand him your card. Bam!

    Let the name spreading begin. (Only good name spreading.)

    So, what do you think?

    Marketing is not that scary when you keep it about what you do day in and day out—massaging people.

    Massage Clients Fast Track

    Just (1) follow up with your clients, (2) talk to their PTs and doctors, and (3) get your hands on people so that they can experience your work.

    Need More Help Getting Clients?

    If you’re just starting your business and/or making less than 30K a year, go here: Jumpstart.

    If you need to take a paying-the-bills massage business to a making-the-money-you-want massage business, go here: Accelerator.

    Want to get my latest article?

    Join my email group. I’ll send you my latest stuff about making more money, building a massage practice and staying out of pain.

    It’s free.

    Sign up below:-)