I just submitted an application to teach a workshop at the 2012 AMTA convention. "The Business Plan Demystified". I've spent the last month reading a lot about standard business plans and thinking about how to adapt that to the reality of massage therapists.
The application wasn't long but I often find "official" educational applications in the massage industry to be a real headache. Part of the headache is the detail they ask for (did they really expect me to include a copy of my college degree?) and some of it is that I know massage and I understand business (from a massage therapist's point of view) but I'm less knowledgeable about the requirements of education -- learning outcomes, how the classroom set-up relates to learning outcomes, etc.
The AMTA and NCBTMB (the biggies in this field) are upholding high standards, this is true. But they're upholding them against a population that isn't trained to meet those standards. We know massage and we have a wealth of information to share with each other. But if we aren't trained in educational standards and lingo, we're at a loss. It's a huge roadblock to many of us.
The AMTA and NCBTMB aren't offering us that education either. Where are we going to get it? It's in the profession's best interest to teach us how to teach. But it's not being done. I'd love to sponsor that kind of training but first I'd have to find someone who knows how to teach it and is willing to teach it to MTs. Haven't found that person yet.
I belong to a profession that is in a massive period of growth and change. Some days, that feels like a great birthing. Some days it feels like a mighty menstrual cramp (sorry menfolk but that's just the image I'm stuck with!).
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
The Sweetness of Time
As Jeff and I approach the end of our time here in Brisbane (41 days left) we've been reflecting on what you can and can't do in the course of a year. We haven't established the friendships we expected to. We didn't get engaged in the community to the level we expected to. We didn't "master" Australian culture and we sure as hell didn't pick up the accent!
Some things just take time, often more time than we expect. Adaptation -- especially at a deep level -- operates less on "mind time" and more on "heart time". When we want to change who we are in some ways, we have to operate on heart time.
I learned this in massage school. Learning to do massage can be pretty quick. A couple of months, maybe even a couple of weeks. To learn to be a massage therapist, though, takes at least a year (and that just starts the process). To learn to approach humanity, vulnerability, responsibility, and healing differently than you probably ever have before simply takes as long as it takes. It takes heart time.
In the last year I have managed to loosen the way I think about myself and my professional life. I have managed to find the room to truly imagine where I need to go next. When I left DC a year ago, I thought I could be an author and an educator. Now I know that I already am both of those things. A year ago I casually wondered whether Kitty Southworth and I might want to work more closely with each other. Now we have concrete plans to form a partnership and pull our professional lives in even closer parallel.
The trick is to respect the flow of time, to respect that some things take as long as they take. Time is a gift available to each of us. We work best with it when we ride with it instead of fighting it, trying to bottle it, control it, or "manage" it. Time is a better partner than a master or a servant.
Some things just take time, often more time than we expect. Adaptation -- especially at a deep level -- operates less on "mind time" and more on "heart time". When we want to change who we are in some ways, we have to operate on heart time.
I learned this in massage school. Learning to do massage can be pretty quick. A couple of months, maybe even a couple of weeks. To learn to be a massage therapist, though, takes at least a year (and that just starts the process). To learn to approach humanity, vulnerability, responsibility, and healing differently than you probably ever have before simply takes as long as it takes. It takes heart time.
In the last year I have managed to loosen the way I think about myself and my professional life. I have managed to find the room to truly imagine where I need to go next. When I left DC a year ago, I thought I could be an author and an educator. Now I know that I already am both of those things. A year ago I casually wondered whether Kitty Southworth and I might want to work more closely with each other. Now we have concrete plans to form a partnership and pull our professional lives in even closer parallel.
The trick is to respect the flow of time, to respect that some things take as long as they take. Time is a gift available to each of us. We work best with it when we ride with it instead of fighting it, trying to bottle it, control it, or "manage" it. Time is a better partner than a master or a servant.
Monday, June 6, 2011
They Don't Have To Be Scary
"An MT-Friendly Business Plan"
If you saw that as the title of a workshop, what would you expect from the workshop? What information would it convey? What questions would it answer?
The vast majority of us do not have a business plan for our businesses. From my experience, there's a couple of reasons for that:
* We don't understand the terms and sections of the standard biz plan.
* We're scared silly of them.
* They seem much too complicated for a modest business, like ours often are.
* We don't know what we'd do with it once we had one.
* They look like they take way too much work.
I think these are all valid reasons not to do a business plan and I think they are all correctable.
I've had a business plan for 7 or 8 years now in my practice. I use it to get clear on what my mission and vision are for my practice. Once I had done that, I could figure out how to get where I want to go. It's been very useful.
And mine is a whopping one-page long and only uses language that I understand.
I want to present a workshop on MT-friendly business plans at the 2012 AMTA convention in NC. I'm working on the proposal today and I'm coming up against some writer's block about how to organize this workshop. What would you want to see in a workshop with this title?
If you saw that as the title of a workshop, what would you expect from the workshop? What information would it convey? What questions would it answer?
The vast majority of us do not have a business plan for our businesses. From my experience, there's a couple of reasons for that:
* We don't understand the terms and sections of the standard biz plan.
* We're scared silly of them.
* They seem much too complicated for a modest business, like ours often are.
* We don't know what we'd do with it once we had one.
* They look like they take way too much work.
I think these are all valid reasons not to do a business plan and I think they are all correctable.
I've had a business plan for 7 or 8 years now in my practice. I use it to get clear on what my mission and vision are for my practice. Once I had done that, I could figure out how to get where I want to go. It's been very useful.And mine is a whopping one-page long and only uses language that I understand.
I want to present a workshop on MT-friendly business plans at the 2012 AMTA convention in NC. I'm working on the proposal today and I'm coming up against some writer's block about how to organize this workshop. What would you want to see in a workshop with this title?
Sunday, June 5, 2011
An Encouraging Word
I'm 8 weeks away from returning to the US and 10 weeks away from re-opening my massage practice (back at PMTI, exact schedule still TBD). My clients are starting to contact me to see when I'll be back! How excellent is that?
Apparently I will still have a practice when I get back. (phew)
Apparently I will still have a practice when I get back. (phew)
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