Make the Most of Massage

Category: Uncategorized

  • How to Use “Care” to Build a Massage Business

    How to Use “Care” to Build a Massage Business

    This is how I thought years ago when I didn’t have enough clients coming in: I’m a massage therapist with zero massage marketing skills. 

    No biggie, I’ll hire Ashira to do my marketing.

    Oh, wait, she charges more than d0-it-for-free.

    So, I was left with two choices: Hide my table from the repo man or start to market myself.

    I decided to dip my toe into marketing and after a while I discovered something pretty cool: I didn’t have to be a marketer to market.

    I just needed to take my massage skills and turn them into massage marketing skills.

    So, I clicked my heels together three times and said “There’s no place like home”.

    I know, turning massage skills into marketing skills sounds like something that only happens in Hollywood, not real life.

    But it does happen in real life.

    In fact, we’re going to take one of your massage skills and turn it into one of your massage marketing skills right now.

    Ready?

    I bet you care about your clients.

    I’ll go one further. I bet you care about your clients a whole lot.

    You show that care through fantastic therapeutic rapport and by doing a kick-butt massage every time.

    You see where I’m going here.

    Caring for your client is one of your massage skills.

    And it can be turned into one of your massage marketing skills by simply up-ing the care.

    Here’s how you can up your care:

    1. After the massage explain your findings.

    In other words, let clients know what you did and what you found.

    Your levator scapulae was tight. Your lower-back required less pressure than y0ur upper-back. Your traps felt good.

    Clients will appreciate that you’re going the extra mile to help them.

    2. Call new clients 2 days after the massage to see how their doing.

    Not only is this a good PR strategy, it’s a good way of gauging whether what you did was helpful.

    Did you feel relaxed? Are you in less pain? Do you move better?

    If there answer is yes, then they’re probably coming back to you.

    If no, decide if a different massage approach would be worth a try. If so, explain what you’d do differently next time.

    3. Be available.

    Who has my cell number?

    Everybody.

    Clients.

    Potential clients.

    Running coaches.

    Store owners.

    Physical therapists.

    Chiropractors.

    Personal trainers.

    Straight from the pages of “7 Habits of Highly IN-effective People”, right?

    But here’s my counter.

    No one abuses having access to me.

    Clients only text when they want a massage. And being accessible to other business owners, managers and sports coaches has allowed me to build an array of referral sources.

    Can granting more access get difficult to manage?

    Sometimes.

    But I’d rather be challenged with managing interactions that keep a healthy business going rather than in a position where the only person calling my cell is my mom.

    4. Care about other businesses and their clients/customers.

    Nothing says caring than giving your business buds something to give their customers/clients.

    Here’s what I give the customers of my business buds: limited, free massage.  Here’s how I do that: How to Grow Your Business With $0.

    5. Find businesses that share your core value of caring.

    This sounds like fluff, but it’s 100% not.

    When you align yourself with other businesses that share your core value of caring for clients and customers, you get solid and steady referrals forever.

    Why?

    Because those business allies know that you’re going to take care of their customers/clients/patients as well as they do.

    And there’s more…

    When you hook up with businesses that share your value of caring for the client you get connected with their business allies who share the same value. And your  network of businesses who provide extraordinary customer care grows. As it grows you’ll have more opportunities to do business in an environment where you thrive.

    You Have Massage Marketing Skills

    Don’t fight it.

    You care.

    And you can’t turn it off.

    So why not just turn that spigot wide open and grow your business by caring even more?

    Talk to your clients after the massage. Tell them what you’ve found. Make recommendations.

    Call them a couple days after the massage to see how they feel.

    Give your cell phone number to random strangers. (Just seeing if you were paying attention.)

    Make yourself accessible.

    Care about other businesses’ customers by doing something of value for them, like demo massages.

    Align yourself with other businesses who go out of their way to care for their customers and jump on the opportunities that arise from these relationships.

    Fired up?

    I am.

    Building a business that is authentic to my way of being makes me seriously do this:-)

    Need more help?

    If you’re just launching your massage business or thinking about launching your massage business, this free course will help you get the job done: Jumpstart.

    If you have a meh business that’s making 30K or less, this program will take your business to the next level: Accelerator.

    Want my latest info?

    Join my email group.

    You get my weekly info.

    It’s free:-)

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  • If you heard me on a podcast…

    If you heard me on a podcast talking about massaging pain-free, you might want to check out my other website: www.PainFreeMassageTherapist.com!

  • Emotional Self-Care: Asking for Help with Dr. Robyn Gobin

    Emotional Self-Care: Asking for Help with Dr. Robyn Gobin

    Krista and I did an interview/workshop with Dr. Robyn Gobin about emotional self-care. You will be able to see the interview/workshop with Dr. Gobin at the virtual Take Care of You School Event happening April 9, 2022.

    Emotional self-care might just be the key to the castle of self-care for me. If I’m committed to being my own best friend, I’m more likely to allow self-care to enter other parts of my life. And I’m starting to see it play out it my life. I feel less guilty for taking time out of a busy day to workout or meditate.

    Dr. Gobin has a very clear way of communicating the importance of and strategies for self-care. Recently I watched this video where Dr. Gobin talks about asking for help and not going it alone. It really spoke to me. I often think that I’m the only one on the playing field. I have to bat, pitch and catch and then I have to clean the stadium after the game is over because there’s no one around to help me. Okay, maybe there are some people around, but they don’t want to help me…and I might owe them something if they do help…and they probably won’t help the way I want them to help…

    In the video Dr. Gobin address our challenges with asking for help and she takes it a step further. She explains that if we actually did ask for some help, we could delegate some of our tasks, and then have more time for self-care. You can check out the video here:

    This promo code PainFree25 will get you 25% off the ticket price at the virtual Take Care of You School Event.

  • Self-Care is Not for Sissies

    What do you think when you hear the term “self-care”?

    Bubble baths and facials, right? That’s what I used to think. Other descriptors that came to my mind were pampered, selfish and indulgent. I even thought that self-care was a sign of weakness or, at the very least, could make me weak. But I was disabused of these notions as I prepared for the virtual self-care event that Krista Dicks (RadicalRMT) and I are hosting on April 9th, 2022. What I learned in my preparation for the event was that self-care is more than feeling good. When self-care is done with a plan in mind, it’s recharging, rebalancing and sometimes life-changing.

    Not a Self-Care Hater

    Okay, so why is someone who is not so big on self-care co-hosting a self-care event? First, I’m not anti-self-care. I’ve always seen the value of self care in certain situations. In fact, I have spent a significant portion of my massage career helping massage therapists take care of themselves inside the massage room so that they can massage pain-free.

    The challenge with self-care for me was when I stepped outside the massage room. Outside the massage room, self-care was less important because I didn’t see the benefits. But then over the course of a year as I prepared for this self-care event, two things happened that have forever changed my view of self-care. First, Dr. Ken Martz showed me how to meditate.

    Meditation Changed Me

    Meditation was always something that I wanted to try, but there was a big intimidation factor here. One, I thought I had to be the Dali Lama to meditate, and, two, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to quiet my mind at all. But Dr. Ken, who not only knows everything there is to know about meditation, also, knows how to teach it. He made it so simple for me and framed it in such a way that I couldn’t fail. And I didn’t.

    When I consistently practice meditation I feel less frazzled, more focused and happier. The happier part to me is intriguing, and I think it has to do with the fact that when I meditate, I’m less reactionary in life. Here’s an example of how that looks: Rocky, our rescue Siamese, chases Sofie, our rescue white and grey. My reaction is red—kill Rocky. When I don’t meditate, I yell at Rocky. When I meditate, there’s a split second where I see how I’m about to react, which provides me the opportunity to decide how I want to react. This element of control allows me to be the person I want to be instead of the person who is just reacting all the time. That makes me happy—and Rocky, too. By the way, Dr. Ken is going to be teaching this “easy way to meditate” at the event.

    The Self-Care Prescription

    The second thing that changed my mind about self-care happened when I was reading Dr. Robyn Gobin’s book, The Self-Care Prescription. There was a line in that book that stopped me dead in my tracks. She said that self-care doesn’t always feel fun or relaxing. Wow. I thought about all the times I saw clients over and above my normal workload because I felt bad that they were waiting to get in. And I thought about all the times I said yes to something that I didn’t want to do because I didn’t want to disappoint people. What if I had said no? What if I had stuck up for myself and had my own back, or as Dr. Robyn says “be my own best friend”? I started to imagine how my daily life could be different and right then I realized that self care is not fluff. It can be hard, challenging and confrontational, but at the end of the day, it has the potential to make me a kinder, more productive and happier human being. By the way, Dr. Robyn will be presenting “How to Be Your Own Best Friend” at the event.

    So that’s my self-care journey to date. Admittedly, it’s not so pretty, but it’s moving in the right direction, and I’m committed to growing and learning and sharing. To that end, I invite you to be with Krista and me at the 1st International Take Care of You Event for Massage Therapists.

    This is our website: MTRevolution

    The Event page is here.

    You get an additional 25% off the regular ticket price if you use this promo code PainFree25.

    Regular price is $97.

    Early-bird ticket is $72.75 (through March 31).

    Early-bird and PainFree25 promo code is $48.02.

    Hope to see you there!