Make the Most of Massage

Category: New Massage Therapists

  • How to Stop Feeling Like an Impostor

    How to Stop Feeling Like an Impostor

    Do you need massage confidence? Then do this:

    1. Get reliable feedback about your massage.

    2. Then tweak your massage if you need to.

    That will give you confidence 80% of the time. For the other 20% of the time…

    3. Do a high-power pose.

    High-power?

    Yeah, think Wonder Woman pose. (Believe it or not, there’s science to this.) 

    Seriously, Dude?

    I know this seems way too simple, but here’s how all this looks in real life.

    You have some solid confidence because you got good feedback and tweaked your massage.

    Then one day during a massage you press a couple of spots that make your client squirm.

    Ruh-roh.

    You start thinking: Is my pressure off?

    Next thing you notice is that your client’s breathing is shallow.

    So you slow your stroke down, anticipating your client will start breathing deeper, but instead you get a head adjustment.

    Is she hating on my massage!?

    Then you lift her arm to put it under the sheet, but she won’t let it go and does all the work.

    OMG, I suck!

    Your fingers now feel like wooden sticks. Your strokes are awkward. And you can’t get out of your head.

    And that’s precisely when a high-power pose can snap you back into that “doing not thinking” mindset.

    But before we get into high-power poses, let’s talk about steps 1 and 2: Evaluating your massage and tweaking it if necessary.

     A Massage Confidence Struggle

    Jim was in his late 40’s when he graduated from massage school. He was a hard worker but his massage needed improvement and he knew it.

    In fact, he thought he was so bad that he felt like an impostor.

    I put together a plan and we started working on his massage issues. Soon his massage started to get better, but Jim still had that little voice in his head telling him that he was an impostor.

    Looking for Massage Confidence

    Here’s some more background about Jim: He wasn’t so good at relationships.

    Don’t get me wrong, Jim was a kind person and everyone liked him. His issue was staying engaged with and connected to people.

    In some ways, I saw massage as a way that Jim could connect with people through helping them, and it could serve as a template for deepening his personal relationships.

    And I had a feeling that Jim sensed this, too.

    So, to me this was not only a massage mission, it was also a life mission.

    Reliable Plan and Feedback

    That’s when I brought in reinforcements–fellow MTs who could give Jim reliable feedback.

    After a few sessions, Jim knew he was getting better because his colleagues were giving him good reviews.

    Even so, Jim refused to work on a paying customer.

    Quite frankly, the little voice in his head just wouldn’t shut the f*** up.

    Fighting the Little Voice

    I tried countering that voice by reminding Jim that he had graduated from massage school.

    I also reminded him that though he wasn’t the massage therapist he wanted to be at the moment, he was on track to being that therapist.

    He agreed with me, but still wouldn’t budge.

    So, I pulled out the guilt card. In a nice way I let him know that I’d put a lot of time in with him and that our goal wasn’t to just massage MTs. It was to massage a paying customer.

    That’s when I asked him to do me a favor and work on a paying customer even though he felt like an impostor.

    Unknowingly at the time, I was asking Jim to fake it (pretend he wasn’t an impostor) till he made it (felt like he was a massage therapist).

    Jim hated me at that moment, but agreed.

    Fake It Till You Make It

    Faking it, pretending to be something that you’re not feeling, will actually create physiological changes in your body.

    For example, if you hold a pen in your mouth (which forces you to smile) it can make you feel happy.

    Researcher Amy Cuddy, in her moving and powerful TedTalk (a game-changing must see video), explains that pretending to be powerful can actually make you feel powerful.

    In her experiment participants were asked to hold a high-power pose (e.g., Wonder Woman stance) or low-power pose (e.g., arms drawn in) for two minutes. Participants’ testosterone and cortisol levels were measured before and after they posed.

    Powerful and effective leaders have high testosterone (which means they’re assertive, confident and optimistic ) and low cortisol (which means they don’t freak out in stressful situations).

    High-power poses produced a rise in testosterone and a lowering in cortisol, the hormonal characteristics of powerful leaders!

    Cuddy concludes: “Our bodies change our minds, and our minds change our behavior, and our behavior changes our outcomes.”

    In terms of massage, assuming your massage is on solid footing, if you fake it, pretend you’re a competent massage therapist even though you don’t feel like it at the moment, you can do more than make it—you become what you’re pretending to be.

    Dude, are you telling me to do a Wonder Woman pose when I’m working on a client?

    Not Wonder Woman.

    Find your own.

    For me, a high-power pose happens when I get vertical and can raise an arm in the air.

    That arm raising is not only a good stretch, it also feels strong and empowering to me.

    I typically hit a high-power pose 5 to 15 times during a full body massage.

    It’s such a habit for me that it feels unnatural not to do it.

    Jim Nearly Snapped My Shoulder

    Oh, about Jim, well, he “faked it” and the client loved the massage:-)

    A few weeks later, he nearly dislocated my shoulder when we high-fived to celebrate his first repeat client.

    As Jim accumulated more wins, his confidence grew and that little voice was put in it’s place:-)

    Here’s the recap.

    3 Steps to Massage Confidence

    (1) Find someone objective in the field of massage who will act in your best interest and give you reliable feedback about your massage, like a fellow MT, a friend (who gets massaged regularly), a teacher or a coach.

    (2) If you need to tweak your massage, go ahead, but make sure you have confidence in the tweaking plan and continue to massage as many people as you can.

    (3) If you feel an impostor moment coming on hit a high-power pose.

    It’s not rocket science.

    It’s body language science.

    Now that you’re confident with massage, let’s make sure you get confident with bringing in the business.

    Get my how to build a massage business course right here: Jumpstart. 

  • 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.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • 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:-)

  • How NOT to be a Massage Expert (and be Very Successful)

    How NOT to be a Massage Expert (and be Very Successful)

    True or false: You have to be a massage expert to be successful in massage?

    My guess is that you said false.

    But does your answer match what you’re actually doing in your work life right now?

    In other words, have you stalled with starting a business, growing your business or adding an extra stream of income because you don’t know enough, because you’re not an expert?

    If so, waiting to become an expert could actually be a way to avoid moving forward with something.

    I get it.

    I was an expert at avoiding the next uncomfortable step to increasing my income.

    I can’t open my own neuromuscular massage business until I’m as good as Paul St. John.

    I can’t teach CE courses until I command the classroom like Professor John Keating in Dead Poets Society.

    I can’t become a writer until I win the Hemingway Award.

    And the list goes on…

    Granted, you need some knowledge and skills to deliver a good service or to create a decent product. But you don’t need to be an expert.

    You simply need to be competent.

    Massage Competent Versus Massage Expert

    Competence is the ability to do something successfully or efficiently.

    Having expertise means you have a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge/skill in a particular area.

    Immediately you can see an advantage of competence over expertise: time. You can become competent faster than you can become an expert.

    Competence has a huge psychological advantage, too.

    When I say “expert” what do you think?

    I think: How will I know when I’m an expert? That makes becoming an expert seems like a never-ending deal.

    Now what do you think when you hear the word “competence”?

    I think: Oh, hells yeah, I’m going to get me some competence and then some!

    Fortunately for me, I had a friend who helped me understand the value of approaching business (and life) from a competency perspective.

    Tigers, Stripes and Behavior Change

    My friend Bill Hass was a corporate psychologist. He and his team utilized emotional competence as a strategy in their business coaching program.

    Here’s a piece of research they did: Tigers, Stripes and Behavior Change.

    My favorite tiger.

    Whenever Bill and I had lunch together, we’d talk about emotional competence. One day, I decided to apply what we talked about to my personal life.

    My Emotional Competence Experiment

    So I worked towards emotional competence in my marriage, and here are 3 things that I noticed:

    1. There was no barrier to entry.

    Becoming competent was not an intimidating proposition. In fact, it made me want to get on it right away because I couldn’t stand the thought of being incompetent!

    1. When I screwed up, I didn’t want to quit because the goal—to become emotional competent—still seemed reachable. I just needed to make an adjustment or two.
    2. Once I got a quick win, I became confident that I could get more wins quickly.

    Massage Expert Challenge

    Next, I applied the competence model to my massage life. Interestingly, when I did, I not only gained competency in certain areas, I also started to recognize when I was already massage competent in something but was holding back because I wasn’t a massage expert.

    For instance, a while back I wanted to develop a niche market with runners, but the core of my massage work over the years had been backs and necks.

    Damn, I thought, I need to become a massage expert with running injuries.

    But wait, I was already competent with working on legs. I had worked on tons of runners, cyclists and triathletes over the years.

    Being an expert was an excuse. So I went out into the running world, drummed up business and refined my knowledge base as I went along.

    Competent to Start a Business

    If you’re thinking about opening a massage business and are wondering if you’re actually a competent massage therapist, ask yourself these questions:

    1. Do I have repeat business?
    2. Do my current clients refer to me?
    3. Do I convert some first-time customers into regular clients?

    If you answered yes to all the questions, congrats. Move onto this step: How to Get Massage Clients: Referrals.

    If you need to tweak some things about your massage read this: How to Stand Out From the Crowd.

    Competent to Grow Your Business

    If you’re floundering with growing your business because you’re not a massage expert, ask yourself these questions:

    1. Can I make a client feel relaxed?
    2. In general, are most clients in less pain after I work on them?

    If you answered yes to both questions, get out there and start marketing! This will help: Two Tips (Not 10) To Get More Clients.

    If you need to work on competence, check out this article: How to Get Good at Pain Relief Massage.

    Get Competent

    Ready to get competent?!

    Not a great rallying call, I know.

    But here’s the deal: You’re going to sit and rot in your chair if you’re waiting to become a massage expert before you make a move.

    If you’re not competent, get competent.

    Then market your competency.

    And refine your skills and grow your knowledge base as you go along.

    Email Group

    If you haven’t heard, I have an email group. It’s free (and you can unsubscribe anytime). Sign up below and I’ll direct you to the information that you’ll need to get you moving in the right direction:-)

    Get It Done Online, CEU Courses

    If you’re ready to start a massage business or take a meh massage business to the next level, then I have two courses  that can help you out.

    If you’re starting a massage business, this course will give you everything you need to know to launch and take your massage business to 30K: Jumpstart. (And it’s free.)

    If you need to take a meh massage business to beyond paying the bills, then this course will finish the job for you: Accelerator.