You've probably all seen the ads:
Make $90 an hour as a massage therapist!
Join one of the fastest growing profession in America as a massage therapist!
Be your own boss in only 5 months!
If you've been practicing for any length of time, you know these come-ons do not even begin to describe the reality of being a massage therapist. These glossy come-ons (and too many schools) also don't clue you in to the fact that you will most likely be self-employed (even when working in someone else's setting) and that being self-employed is tough (and often not wealth-generating).
There's another....well, I won't call it a lie but I will call it a mis-direct...that our own profession is touting. That everyone can be financially secure strictly through working as a massage therapist. When I look at the "success" stories in the trade pubs I notice something -- while they don't say it outright, they imply that it is perfectly reasonable to make a comfortable living as a massage therapist. Many of us know it's actually much harder than that.
Our dirty little secret is that many of us are "making it" financially because we have partners with better incomes and/or other means of support. I'm one of those that has a partner with a solid steady income that provides us with the all-important health insurance, retirement accounts, savings accounts, etc. There are a lot of co-workers, however, who are doing it "without a net"; that is, entirely on their own. It's a completely different world for them.
Sadly, since so many of us work on our own (and are loathe to tell our financial stories) too many MTs think they're the only one struggling. They think they're making some big mistake because "everyone else" seems to be doing fine. There are people leaving (or not even entering) massage therapy because they can't figure out how to make it on their own.
It's time we started telling each other the truth about how our profession really works. It's time to start telling our financial stories so we know we're not alone. I write a column for the quarterly newsletter of the DC chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association. My next column (January '12, which is closer than you think!) will be all about this. I'll post a link when it's published.
This is so true, Kelly! I always add in the financial realism component when I talk to someone who asks me about MT as a profession. As in: "you need to do the math in more than $/hr.... there's no way you'll make $90/hr for 40 hrs/week and you still need to take into account any business overhead, etc." It's not that I want to disuade anyone who has a genuine interest in helping people with MT, but I want them to do a little planning. This only worked for me because I have a partner with good income stability, for which I am extremely grateful.
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