My Hero!

One of the challenges facing us as small (micro) business owners in a service profession is finding good business role models. It may have become cliched but when you are stumped, it can help to ask WWxD (What Would [insert role model's name here] Do)?

What should you look for in a role model?

They have to do business with values you have or would like to have.

It's fine if they are in the same profession but you can learn a lot from people in different professions as well (though it helps if they are operating in a similar environment to you).

They don't have to be everything you want to be; you can have multiple role models for different aspects of your business.

The better you know them personally, the better a role model they are. Lots of us list Oprah Winfrey as a role model for all the good works she's known for and for her popularity. However, I'm betting that few of you reading this have a good understanding of how her organization works and what it takes for her to do those good works and have that popularity. It's more valuable to have a role model who's more immediate.

I have a few myself.

Kitty Southworth LMT: Kitty is my business partner, friend, and for many years we were each others MTs. I'm impressed by Kitty's natural inclination to work a deal. Her instinct with her business dealings with her clients is "how can we make this work?" and she's as flexible as she can be without losing herself.

Jaime Bernardo LMT: Jaime has a true gift for coming up with new ideas and new endeavors and attracting people to join him. He never seems to sweat the small stuff and seems to walk through his business life with a "hey, it'll all work out" attitude. And it frequently does!

Stephanie Bernardo LAC: Yes, Jaime's wife. She is an acupuncturist with a really solid vision of what she wants to grow, what kind of numbers will help her get there, when she can afford to grow, what kind of people she works best with, etc. Plus, she is a truly gifted acupuncturist.

Margo Bowman, CPA, LMT: First and foremost, Margo is my go-to person for accounting, bookkeeping, and taxes. She is sooooo patient when it comes to teaching MTs about these things because she truly understands how scary it can be for us. She is also beautifully generous with her time and expertise. She is a superb example of the "abundance" mentality.

Adriana DiFranco, copywriter: Adriana is not in the healing arts, she's in advertising. Over the 15 years I've known her, I've seen her throw her creativity into her work and get laid off way too many times because the kind of small companies she likes to work for can be unstable. But every time it happens, she picks herself off, dusts herself (and her resume) off, and keeps on plugging. She's built a pretty good freelance base that has come in handy between gigs. That's resiliance.

Clare Reece-Glore, living-with-dogs coach: Clare owns and operates YAYdog to help people choose well and live well with dogs. This is a second....third...fourth? career for her but dogs have always been a passionate part of her life. I admire her imagination for new business opportunities and her ability to get into the down and dirty of getting her businesses set up, making contacts and building relationships, and seeing connections everywhere she turns. I also am impressed by her ability to recognize an unserved niche -- working with people to integrate dogs into their lives, not just train their dogs to "behave".

These are some of my role models. These are people I go to sometimes and say "help me think this through". Who serves as role models for you as a business owner?

Different Values In Different Rooms?

When I talk about the business of massage, I often talk of a house with two rooms. One room is a massage room. The other is an office. Held together by their common ceiling, floor, and walls they are one house, one home.

And yet.....

We often treat them as two different houses rather than two rooms. We may -- consciously or not -- believe that the standards, values, rules, and priorities we use in one room can't apply to the other room. Many any of us are living with a split personality -- our massage selves and our business selves. This doesn't work very well. Split personalities so rarely do!

What words do you use to describe your values as a massage therapist?

• heart-centered
• well-educated
• wise
• smart
• compassionate
• presence
• intent
• partnership
• more?

What words to you use to describe your values as a business owner?

• tough
• smart
• savvy
• quick
• driven
• focused
• more?

Maybe your two lists line up better than this. If, however, there's not a lot of common terms between the two lists, you've got a problem, you've got a split personality and it will seep into both rooms of your house.

How do you reconcile these two lists? If I said "make the biz list match the massage list", would you think I was crazy? Is that totally impractical?  Can business be done from a heart-centered place? Can it be wise and compassionate? Can it be done with presence and intent? Can it be a partnership with your client?

Not just "yes" but "hell yes!"

If that still seems utterly insane to you, I'm going to ask you to make sure you know exactly what you mean by those words in your "massage" list. Oh, sure, we all know what "heart-centered" means.....don't we? Doesn't it mean being all squishy and warm and easy? Doesn't it mean always putting the client's needs before our own?

If that starts to capture what "heart-centered" means to you, I'm inviting you here and now to write a better, real-world definition of "heart-centered". Be very specific. Ask others to look at it. And do that with all the words in your massage list that you think can never be used on the business owner side.

Do the same thing with the words on your business owner side. Can you be tough in the massage room (I've had to be a few times)? Can I be driven? Is that a good thing? If it isn't, why is it one of your values?

The change of the year is a good time to step back for a moment and re-visit our core values, motivations, and perspectives. Do they still work for us? Is it time to move in a different direction? A time to reconcile things that appear to be in opposition to each other? This is the right time of the year to go in, to go deep, to ruminate.

Want to be part of a conversation about whether the values of these two rooms can be in synch with each other? I'll be giving a free talk (yes, I used an MTs favorite word: free) in January.

Doing Business With A Compassionate Heart

Friday, January 11 2013

PMTI (Washington DC)

6:30 - 8 pm

Share the word. I want to continue this conversation with the healing arts community far and wide.

My Thanks

So, it's Thanksgiving week and we are all encouraged to list our thanks out loud and in a public forum (however did we do this before Facebook?). So, here's mine....

I am grateful that I was dropped into the world of the business of massage. By surprise. And that I didn't land on my head in the process.

About 10 years ago, I was hell-bent to join the teaching staff at my alma mater, the Potomac Massage Training Institute. I kept sending my resume to the Director of Education. She finally called me and said they were looking for someone to teach Business Practices, something I had zero background in.

However, they were desperate (not a lot of other MTs had any background in this either). I thought "well, what the heck, I can learn just about anything if I have to". So she handed me the previous instructor's notes and the COMTA requirements and said "good luck".

I have never worked so hard to learn something so I could teach it, ever. And discovered I enjoyed it immensely. I found it fascinating and challenging and darned useful. I also discovered I have a gift for making the complicated comprehensible and for encouraging people to not be afraid.

Fast forward 10 years....I taught Business Practices for several years. I've developed my own continuing ed in business topics and have even started a company to offer this continuing ed to the larger MT community.

Oh, yeah, and I write a business blog, which forces me to think of something new to say about business at least once a week.

Now that I think about it, I landed in my first profession -- technical writing -- much the same way. I was just out of college with a newly-minted journalism degree. I wanted a writing job. A friend said "I know a company who needs writers to write about computer stuff". I explained that I knew zero about computers. He said the company didn't care, figuring it was easier to teach writers about computers than to teach techies how to write.

I needed a job. I figured this "technical writing" stuff could hold me over for a year or two till I found the job I really wanted. I said "ok". Twenty satisfying years later, I left that field for massage therapy.

Lesson(s)?

The best adventures are often not in the direction you thought you were going.

Be willing to try (which also means being willing to fail).

Trust your ability to make the best of these "detours". They may just end up being your new path.

3 Steps *Before* You Start "Marketing"

Many of us don't feel fully equipped to "market" our practice. We don't know how, we're not sure what will work, everyone has an opinion on what you must do but it all seems like so [bleeping] much work!

Yet, we have to do something. We're a business, we need clients, the answer is this beast called "marketing".

Stop! Picking your marketing methods is actually step #4. Have you done steps #1 - #3? If not, you aren't choosing as wisely as you could.

Step 1:  Understand Yourself

It's so tempting to "hide" behind massage when putting your practice out there. What you're offering is massage, so you talk about massage -- techniques, modalities, education, etc. However, the odds are that your practice is not much different from another MTs practice. There are only so many techniques, modalities, education, etc.

What your (potential) client is buying is ... you. Your outlook, your perspective, your motivation, what inspires you, why you do what you do. Why would you be more attractive to a potential client than the massage therapist down the street (who probably has a similar education and list of modalities)? Take a moment (or week or month) to reflect on you. Think about how you communicate that.

Step 2: Understand Your (potential) Client

When I talk to MTs about their "target market" (a common business-y word), they often say "I'll massage anyone!" That's not a helpful answer. I don't want to know who you'd be willing to massage. I want to know what kind of person really wants to receive massage from you.

Who "fits" you best? What kind of person? Age? Where do they live? Have they had massage before? Why? How do they feel about their body, health, complementary therapies, and massage therapy? How did they find you? What made "massage" pop into their head? What is about them that would make your practice, in particular, attractive to them? Where do they get their information about health and body? Who do they respect? Who do they trust?

When you understand them better, you'll do a better job of reaching out to them (which is all that marketing really is).

Note: This step is a whole lot easier to do when you've been in practice for at least a year or two. You can look back at the clients you've had the best connection with. If you are just starting out, you'll be guessing to a much greater extent. That's OK, running a business always involves guess work.

Step 3:  Understand What You're Selling

Well, this is easy, right? You're selling "massage therapy". Sorry, nope.

People don't buy services, they buy results. Whether it's the pleasure of a clean house, the usefulness of having a working washing machine, or the relief of a shoulder that rotates all the way around, they are more motivated by what they believe they will be/have after their massage.

Will they be better equipped to handle the stressors of the day? Will they experience a better night's sleep? Will they be able move without back pain? Will they be able to run faster? Will they have a few days without the symptoms of their chronic disease? Will they be taller and thinner?? Will they feel better about themselves?

We have to be careful about making promises we can't guarantee. But you are selling an experience and some kind of result is implied. What results are you, specifically, selling?

Step 4: Choose Your Marketing Tools

NOW you're ready to invite the world to your table.

Daunted? Feeling a little helpless? Do these 3 steps look like a giant stone wall between you and the clients you want to attract? I've got a recommendation:  Marketing for Hippies.

Tad Hargrave has some very wise things to say about understanding your self, your product, and your clients. Best of all, he talks in a way we MTs can understand. He uses interesting analogies. He understands that the vast majority of us didn't enter this field for the Big Bucks, we are driven by a passion for the work.

In particular, I found the following articles very helpful in trying to answer these very same questions for myself:

The Results They Crave
Marketing Is Like Making Tea
We Might Be A Fit If...
Island A: The Painful Symptom (more about thinking about "results")
Three Foundations of a Thriving Business

Should You Lower Your Rates?

I recently met a young woman who is starting up her practice and struggling. She asked if I thought she should lower the price of her massage to attract clients.

My advice? No.

It's so tempting. Entice them in with lower rates; become sort of the "Black Friday" massage therapist. I think you should avoid it, though, and here's my thinking:

• You don't want to become the "cheap" massage therapist. You attract more clients who will only stay with you as long as you're the cheap option. Too many will value the $ signs more than the actual benefit. It also severely hampers you -- logistically and emotionally -- when it's time to raise your rates.

• Unless your rates are significantly higher than the going rate for your area, then prices aren't keeping clients away. Other MTs can attract them at full price; you can too (eventually).

• It's also depressing to feel that the only way people want to experience your work is if it's cheap. You know you're worth more, why don't they?

• How low can you go? If you drop your prices 5% and you don't get new clients, will you drop it 10%, 15%, 20%? How low will you go?

• Focusing on prices keeps you from focusing on more productive efforts, like marketing.

Speaking of which, there are some ways to lower your rates and make it productive:

• Lower your rates for a specific population that you want to attract. For example, how about reducing the cost of massage as a pregnant woman moves through her pregnancy? 100% in 1st trimester, 90% in second trimester, and 80% in the 3rd trimester. Or offer a discount for anyone who lives in a certain zip code.

• Offer add-ons rather than discounts. For example, get a 90-minute massage for the price of a one-hour massage.

• Offer discounts for getting more massage. For example, after every 3rd massage they get a 1/2 price massage.

• Consider making special offers and discounts time-restricted. For example, offer a 13% discount for the first 6 weeks of 2013. Get a 90-minute massage for the price of a 60-minute massage for the last 6 weeks of the year. Give a 50% discount to returning veterans for one year after they get back. Think especially about the times when your schedule is historically thin.

If you're going to use price to attract clients, do it strategically and and in a way that boosts key elements of your business.

Who's Making How Much Where (or Location, Location, Location)

The "going price" for a massage varies wildly across the country. Based on a recent post on the Massage Therapists group on Facebook, here's a run-down for your viewing pleasure. Remember that even within a single town, the prices will vary from therapist to therapist.

Bremerton, WA: $50
Port Huron, MI: $50
central Kansas: $50
Seneca, KS: $55

western NC: $60
Rhode Island: $60
Salt Lake City, UT: $60
southern Illinois: $60
Idaho Falls, ID: $60
Tonawanda, NY: $60
Niceville, FL:  $65
Atlanta, GA: $65

South Bend, IN: $70
St. Louis, MO: $70
Flushing, MI:  $70
Bradenton, FL: $70
Lockport, NY: $75
Naperville, IL: $75
Lacey, WA: $75

Phoenixville, PA: $80
Ely, MN:  $80
Washington, DC: $85

Chicago, IL:  $90
south Florida: $90
San Diego, CA:  $90
Wisconsin Dells, WI:  $95

Atlanta, GA:  $100
NY NY:  $100
Key West, FL:  $125

A Little Truth-Telling

I laid in bed Tuesday night having a major pity party. Husband out of town. Hurricane. Hospitalization for appendicitis (with surgery yet to come). A friend who's let me down. Mom doing poorly and I can't help her.

A pathetic massage practice.

It's depressing. I've done everything I can think of and everything I've been advised to do and after more than a year of hard work, it's still an excellent week if I get four (4!) bookings.

If it weren't for my husband (and how many of us would be screwed without a partner with a steady income?), I'd be on welfare. In the past 12 months, I've averaged $1,000 per month. That's enough for food or housing but not both.

And I write a freakin' business blog....

It's hard to write this. It's hard to admit how poorly I'm doing, financially, as a massage therapist. Especially since every week I try to impart some useful wisdom or insights into the business of massage. My husband keeps saying "it's a really tough time to be a small business". It is, of course, complicated by closing my practice for a year so we could live in Australia. I'm, effectively, starting over.

But, wow, it's demoralizing. I often feel like a failure. If I'm doing just a little poorly physically, it's darned hard to convince myself to drive up to the gym where I work two days a week (I work out of my home the rest of the time) just in case someone wants massage (they tend to book same day rather than in advance).

Why am I sharing my tale o' woe here? Because I don't want to deceive you even a little bit. I don't want to give you the impression that I Know Everything and I've Got Everything Under Control. Because, wow, I don't. I will still write about business from the best I've learned but even knowing a lot of great stuff doesn't guarantee financial success.

If you're having a hard time, you are not alone. I'm with you.

Throw A Party

If you don't know, I live in Washington DC. We have been shut down as a city for the last 2 days because of Hurricane Sandy. This, of course, did nothing good for my business!

The worst of the weather was Monday night. By Tuesday, everyone was coming out and assessing the damage (we had none, blessedly). I had a wide open schedule staring me in the face. I decided to throw a party.

Specifically, I threw a "Hurricane Sandy Massage Party". I figured that people who could walk to my home office might be also stuck at home, also needing a little R&R, and might like to learn that there's a massage therapist mere blocks from their house.

I put a notice on the home page of my website and Facebook. I sent notices to neighborhood listserves. The notices said it was for only 1 day (today) and it was Name Your Own Price.

How many responses did I get? Exactly 1. But that's one more than I would have had otherwise and now there are a couple hundred people who've learned there's a massage therapist in their neighborhood.

Cost to me?  $0 and about 3 hours (updating website, sending notices).

Will that client be a regular? No. After our session he complimented me on my work but explained he needed something slightly different from what I can offer. I said I'd email him the names of several MTs I think he should try. He was surprised and pleased by my offer. That email has gone out. He will remember me when someone mentions that they wish there were MTs in our neighborhood.

Is it time for you to throw a party??

Multiple Choice: Who's Really Your Client?

A man calls you. He wants to set up weekly massage appointments for his 85-year-old mother, who lives in a nursing home. The son will be paying you and has strong opinions about the best massage for his mom; specifically, he firmly believes in the value of deep tissue and insists that you do deep tissue on his mother.

Unless his mother is unusually robust for an 85-year-old who lives in a nursing home, deep tissue would be contraindicated. Do you tell the son that? Do you agree with the son and then do what you professionally deem best? Do you ask the mother to explain it to her son?

Who are you responsible to? The mother is receiving the massage but the son has hired you and is paying you. Who is your client? Money or massage? What trumps – the business or the work? 
 

Your client is not the person paying you. It's the person receiving the work. Your professional obligations are always to the body and spirit under your hands.

What do you say to the son and his deep-tissue insistence? Arguing is probably not going to be productive. About all you can say is “I'll give your mom the best care I can and use my best professional judgment.”

And if the son insists? You may engage him in a conversation about why he believes deep tissue is best. Talk a bit about the physiological differences between the average adult and an older adult.

But in the end if the price of working on a client is working outside professional boundaries, the answer has to be “no”, no matter how good the money.

Telling Your Story

I had (another) great conversation with my friend Kitty today. Kitty does a lot of geriatric massage. She was recently telling a robust geriatric client about going to the funeral of an older geriatric client. This led to a conversation about the difference between how Kitty works with these two.

It must be tough, he said. You never get the satisfaction of “making them better”. She explained that “better” is not her goal. “My goal in those 30 minutes is to make that client as connected and happy and as part of the world as he can be. What I want is that he and together would be in the moment.”

He said “you know that’s not my goal, right?” Kitty laughed and said “your goal is to get back on the golf course as quickly as possible and I’m OK with that.”

What a great way to explain her work! Most MTs I know struggle to explain their work in a compelling and compact way, especially if their work is outside the standard image of massage therapy. One friend has been working, diligently, for most of a year to explain her energy work.

Having our “message” about our work is so important. We need to be able to convey the essence of our work succintly, generally in 20-30 seconds, maybe a sentence or 3. That’s quite a communication challenge even for professional communicators.

Don’t be surprised if you can’t do it right away. Don’t be surprised if it actually takes you years to hone that message. Don’t be surprised if it changes and mutates over the length of your career. Kitty has been in practice for almost 13 years. I know that her explanation would not have been that elegant 5 years ago. She would have had a good explanation but I was really impressed with this explanation. It’s compelling. It’s visceral. It’s emotionally real. It’s simple.

It also doesn’t focus on techniques or technical skills (which most non-MTs aren’t all that interested in). It captures the heart of what she does.

Those are all good elements of a “message”. You don’t have to be slick or have a gimmick, though you can if that’s authentic to you. Depending on the audience, when people ask me what I do for a living I say “I rub naked people”. Trust me, people remember and they want to know more! But I also have a more serious message if that’s appropriate. What’s really important is that it sounds natural coming out of your mouth.

Kitty’s message wouldn’t sound right coming out of me. I’m not sure Kitty would ever say “I rub naked people”. They are both accurate for what we do but they don’t reflect our different personalities.

What about being unique? Saying something that no one else would ever think of saying? That’s great if you can do it. However, most of us are doing some variation on the same thing and there are only so many words in the English language so that might be tough. It doesn’t have to be utterly unique but it needs to capture the way you approach massage.

Don’t worry if you are always trying to hone your message. I’m still working on mine after almost 13 years. Keep playing with it. It’s a hugely valuable part of your marketing effort. There’s no better marketing opportunity than when someone, face to face, asks you about what you do. Work on being ready.

 

Maybe If I Dance Just A Little Bit Faster

I'm on mailing lists or Facebook for a number of other business-oriented sites. I get a few emails / FB posts from them each week. Sometimes it's enlightening and engaging. Sometimes it's downright exhausting.

The tone of these messages is often breathless, anxious, or demanding.

You must read this (and this and this and this and this)!

You must study this (and this and this and this and this)!

You should be using this (and this and this and this and this)!

Why aren't you doing this (and this and this and this and this)?!!

I sometimes find myself over-stimulated, anxious, and even depressed by these messages. I feel like I'm being pushed to do more, faster, sooner, quicker! But I'm only one person who has to do everything my practice requires. I resent the push to do more more more!

I have a friend, another MT, who recently said in an email "I'm running on fumes". And she is. She has a tendency to over-commit and to take responsibility for things that really aren't her responsibility. And then she has a terrible time backing down from those commitments and responsibilities.

I'm worred for her because she's done this before and she usually ends up very very sick. She knows that but it's still so hard to ignore the demonic voices in her head saying "if you just worked a little bit harder / longer / faster".

I've said it before in this blog and I'll say it again -- you are the most important asset your practice has. Everything else -- everything (even your clients) -- can be replaced and you'll still have a practice. Take you out of the equation -- through excessive fatigue, illness, or overwork -- and you've got nothing.

It's tough. Our validation as massage therapists comes when someone else is happy, when we've made someone else feel better, made someone else's day.

There's also a lot of people out there saying that a "real" business / practice looks like x, y, or z. Their x, y, or z is often a business quite different from ours -- a doctor's office or a retail operation or even a multi-therapist practice (if you aren't a multi-therapist practice). If you don't look like that, you aren't taking yourself seriously as a business (dammit) and you need to step up! Work faster! Harder! Longer!

Who needs sleep and rest, after all, when you're building a business!!!!

I'm still recovering from the hospitalization for severe appendicitis three weeks ago. It's taking an age for my stamina to re-build so all those faster, faster, faster messages are falling on deaf ears here. It's physically impossible for me. But when I'm healthy......sigh.

When you're tempted to give in to the faster / longer / harder / more more more messages, stop. Sit. Tune in to your center. That center will tell you how much you need and how hard you actually can work. Ignore it at your own peril.

Crap Happens, Day 7

Here's what today should look like for me:

• Wake at a friend's house near Portland OR.
• Help her get ready (last chemo treatment last Thursday) and drive her into a doctor's appointment and lunch with her friend (who will help her get home).
• I'll go on to have lunch with my favorite accountant and get a tour of the Oregon School of Massage
• And then on to a frenzied ecstatic wallet-draining romp through my most favorite bookstore in the world – Powell's World of Books.
• Return home, spent and elated.

Here's what today will look like:

• Met with the medical team doing their rounds (they're so young!) very early. It's Day 7 of my hospitalization for severe appendicitis. They gave me some good news: I will be released from my constant companion IV pole (switching to oral antibiotics). I will be able to go to the full liquid diet (not just the clear liquid diet), and I will likely go home tomorrow.
• Once released from the IV pole, take a full, unencumbered shower.
• Take a walk beyond the loop of this floor.
• Continue to take necessary naps.
  
  
  This also means that, no (whimper) I will not be presenting "Biz Plans Deciphered" that the national AMTA Convention on Thursday as planned either. (sigh)

But I can't even be too wedded to these plans. I'm a human body fighting off a huge infection in a delicate place. My pain continues. My colon is still healing, Things change. Crap happens.

So it goes with our business. If you're the Planning Type, this will drive you nuts. What's your best response? Flexibility and (ironically) planning. It's a different kind of planning though. Plan for what you want and then plan for things you could not have anticipated (like appendicitis). Plan to not have all the resources you need or need all the resources you have. Specifically.....

Plan for how much money you need to make this year and plan for what you'll do if you don't make it.

Plan for how many weeks / days / hours you'll work this year and then plan for what you'll do when they don't come through.

Plan to take time off for training, holidays, and illness. Add 1-3 weeks for other events that will keep you from working that you don't yet know about. 

Let me give some true examples from my own life – in one year: car stolen, parent hospitalized, won a trip to Japan, offered a move to Australia that was later rescinded, moved a very ill friend out of her apartment and into ours (permanently, it turns out), received notice that our rent was going up 35% and began house- and mortgage-hunting, a blizzard, death of a parent, moved remaining grandparent into nursing home.

Ah, 2005....

You have to plan for (or at least make room for) the un-plannable because it's going to happen to you anyways.

I suppose I should call this the Plan B Plan Approach but I'm so found of “crap happens” because, as I'm sure you can tell, that captures the visceral feel so much more accurately.

Confidential to SP (because I know she reads this): sorry I didn't let you know what was going on. I was simply unable to do more than the most basic communication.

5 Myths

I was listening to a webinar today led by Ryan Eliason, founder of The Social Entrepreneur. He and I agree that business and profit can co-exist quite happily with passion, heart, and a higher purpose.

In the webinar today, he identified 5 business myths that hold people (like you and me) back:

Myth 1: You are separate from everything around you.
Truth: We are all one and everything is connected.

Myth 2:  Self-interest conflicts with the collective good.
Truth: Your highest good is aligned with the collective highest good. A win-win-win is possible.

Myth 3: Making money is in conflict with service.
Truth: Ther are no global problems that don't have a profitable solution

Myth 4: Only special people, like Gandhi, can change the world.
Truth: There are as many ways to change the world as there are people on the planet.

Myth 5: There is no road map to success.
Truth: Role models for success already exist.

His explanation of these myths and truths was fascinating and I'm looking forward to his next webinar. They're free if you want to try them out yourself.

I find myself (and many other MTs) really tripping over Myth #3. Not as many as I used to meet but it's still a challenge for many of us.

He suggests that to be a balanced business owner you need to do inside work (developing a mind and passion for business) and outside work (marketing, etc.). Most of us only do one or the other.

What about you? Which of these myths speak to you? Do you believe they're truth? Are you doing inside work and outside work?

Re-thinking Continuing Ed

As a continuing ed provider, I'm talking to Florida's AMTA chapter about bringing me down to teach next year. In the process, I'm learning about how much variety there is among how different states understand continuing ed and "hands on". It's down-right absurd at times.

But it makes me re-consider my views on continuing ed. On the one hand....

Continuing ed does not make someone a better MT.

Just attending a class to meet license renewal requirements isn't going to make someone a better MT. Being motivated to actually absorb the info, practice it outside the class, and spend the time really incorporating it into your practice -- that's what makes a better MT. Curiousity and a personal commitment to being a better MT. On the other hand...

Massage schools aren't teaching us everything we need to know.

Even really great schools with long programs can't teach an MT everything. There are a lot of schools that, frankly, aren't even trying hard. They're pushing students through as fast as they can with little regard to their actual competency. Without continuing ed, the market is full of too many barely competent MTs (and I've received work from some of them!). On the other hand....

State's are so erratic (and often unreasonable) in their continuing ed requirements that they're making it harder to actually get smarter.

Maryland used to require every MT to take courses on HIV every two years (but not on other infectious diseases). Georgia (so I've been told) only gives "hands on" credit for the portion of a class where you're actually rubbing someone. So those hours of lecture associated with the rubbing? They don't count for the "hands on" requirements. I'm sure you all could tell me more. On the other hand....

It's a lot of work to develop continuing ed. We wouldn't have the range of choices we have unless the states required continuing ed.

Yes, it's a way to make money. And, yes, there are courses out there that barely deserve to be called "education". But there are also some amazing courses and new courses being offered all the time. We simply wouldn't have so many if there weren't a robust market for them. Rightly or not, making continuing ed a legal requirement builds that market. On the other hand....

Many MTs find themselves running out of courses they're actually interested in, especially after 15 years of practice. Seasoned MTs are forced to take courses they simply aren't interested in to fufill licensing requirements.

I've heard this from a lot of MTs with 15+ years of experience. They've taken the "big" courses they wanted to take, their practice is solid and where they want it to be. They don't want to add another modality and they hate patching together little courses here and there to meet license renewal requirements. On the other hand....

The world of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, medicine, etc. is always changing. What you learned 10 years ago may no longer be accepted wisdom. Continuing ed provides an avenue for keeping up with these changes.

How to stretch. Fluid intake. Fascia. Muscle movement and strain. Scars. What I learned about these things 13 years ago is not what they're teaching now. Why? Because we've learned new things and had to change our understanding. None of us can rely solely on what we learned in school. Things change. How are you going to keep up? On the other hand....

Well, you get my point. Frankly, I don't know exactly where I stand on the role of continuing ed in our profession. I used to be a full-fledged gung-ho supporter. Ironically, now that I am a continuing ed provider, I'm not so sure.

Who's Making The Decision About Your Continuing Ed?

I've been invited to (maybe) teach a weekend course in Business Practices to a large state AMTA chapter! I'm very excited at the chance to do something I've wanted to do for a long time -- help educate MTs around the country on basic business practices (because soooooo many schools do such a pitiful job of it).

There may be a roadblock, however: this is not "hands on" / modality training. I'm working this week to ascertain whether the state regs literally mean courses must be "hands on" or if they simply mean they need to be "live" (vs. online or CD-based).

In the DC area we ran into a similar problem a few years ago with Maryland. Their state board governing massage therapists wanted to restrict eligible CEs to only those things specifically mentioned in the definition of massage in the state reg. This could have meant that courses in any non-rubbing modalities (such as Reiki or aromatherapy), not to mention business courses, would not meet the CE requirements when a therapist tried to renew his/her license.

The local massage schools and the state's massage therapist community fought them and won.

That myopic worldview isn't exclusive to state licensing boards. We do it to ourselves.

• Do you limit your continuing ed to the number of CEs required to renew your license?
• Do you reject courses that interest you but don't qualify for CEs?
• Do you take the cheapest quickest version of a course to get your CEs with as little effort as possible?

If so, you are also part of the problem.

We have to quit thinking about continuing ed as a burden foisted upon us by an uncaring governmental beauracracy who just wants to take our precious money and time! Every truly excellent MT I've ever met has invested heavily and seriously in continuing ed. And not just the easy stuff. The best ones I know are certified in multiple modalities that can take a few years to get certified in. They know that they don't know enough and they are constantly striving to learn (and become proficient in) more and more and more.

Our regulatory agencies have to quit thinking so myopically about massage continuing ed (and that happens when we stay involved in the local regulatory boards). Worst of all, we have to quit thinking so small about continuing ed.

Continuing ed is a gift (dammit) you give to your head, to your heart, to your hands, and to your clients. Get busy!

Quote of the Week: Bookkeeping (believe it or not)

"When you get your bookkeeping organized right, your taxes practically do themselves!"

-- Monica Maynard CMT (Maryland)

And that, boys and girls, is why it is sooooooooooo worth it to invest time in doing your bookkeeping right.

Quick & Dirty Bookkeeping

March 6 2013 (PMTI, Washington DC) or
March 9, 2013 (location TBD)

2 hours
$40
(2 CEs for MTs)

My Hero!

Who do you have as a mentor or role model for yourself as a business owner?

We healing arts types don't necessarily have a strong sense of ourselves as business owners; this is new territory for so many of us. Who would you choose as a role model? Who do you know – personally, by interaction, or by reputation – that is being the kind of business owner you want to be?

I met a woman this weekend who works for The Container Store. She's an assistant manager at one of their California stores and really loves working for the company. She appreciates the core values and the operating principles the company lives by. She shared some recent examples – like floating credit to established suppliers during this recession – that impressed me too.

That’s a big company operating nationally. What businesses in your community are emulation-worthy? I think about my local independent hardware store, Fragers. They are acutely aware of the needs of their neighbors and carry products for everyone from the apartment dwellers in brand new buildings to neighbors renovating or maintaining 125-year-old historic rowhouses. They are deeply knowledgeable about the specific needs of our neighborhood and I’ve rarely had a question they couldn’t answer.

Best of all, they really take care of you. When they have to send you to another part of their tiny store to talk to someone with specific knowledge, they often will call ahead (they carry walkie-talkies) to let that person / department know you're coming!

They possess a high level of technical expertise and practice an above-average dedication to customer service. I would like my clients to be able to say the same things about me.

Let's drop it down another level. Think about other people / practices in your field. Who's built the kind of business that you long to have? Who's got the reputation? Who do you want to emulate?

I respect the Teal Center's longevity and their reputation (especially among local MTs) for professionalism and organization. Amanda Long is tireless in marketing her practice. Nicole Jefferson embraces her inner business woman with gusto; she's got some rock-solid business practices and has the growing practice to prove it.

You have to choose our business role models carefully. You need to know what it is, specifically, about a business that you like and want to emulate. Remember that being an excellent MT isn’t the same as being a great business owner. Being highly profitable is great if it’s in a way that would also work for the way you work.

Who would you nominate as a business worth emulating and why?

Two: Better Than One?

1.  Like many people, I spent a lot of time watching the Olympics earlier this month. My favorite was women's beach volleyball (though don't get me started on the absurdity of their “uniforms”). I loved to watch Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings play together. What I noticed was that they weren't just awesome volleyball players, they were an awesome team.

Their ball-handling skills are world-class (obviously). What I noticed, though, is that they spent as much energy paying attention to each other as they did to the ball. Where does she need me to put the ball? Can she get to it? Can she put it over? Am I where she needs me to be? There was a palpable feel (even 5 time zones away) of connection between them.

When interviewed, they spoke often of their bond and admitted they'd even gone to couples counseling together (though both are married to other people) between Olympics. And that it had helped!

2.  In my other job – as co-owner and CEO of The Healing Core (a continuing ed company) – I have a partner, Kitty Southworth. And I flat-out could not do what we need me to do without her. She's often convinced that the company is 90% me and maybe 10% her (we jokingly refer to her as the 'eye candy' of our organization) but it truly is a partnership. Neither one of us could do this by ourselves. We don't have the full skill set, we don't have the energy or the motivation to go it solo, we don't have access to the same resources, and we don't have enough imagination.

Mostly what we don't have alone is encouragement and another point of view. That has been so valuable in the last year I can hardly tell you.

And we've been to couples counseling too. And it made a difference.

3.  I had dinner with a girlfriend last week. She's another one-woman shop, coaching a particular segment of the business community in a specific skill set (she asked me not to be too specific; her niche is unique enough that you might know her). She's done phenomenally well these last few years, garnering the kind of national recognition and press that most of us only dream about.

And she's about to radically change her business, from a coaching one-on-one format to a product -oriented business (ebooks, DVDs, etc.).  Why? Because it's become too much for her to do alone. The administration of her business – which she freely admits she hates to deal with – has swamped her and exhausted her.

I asked, of course, if she couldn't hire someone to do the admin side. She said yes but said it would take too long to find them, bring them up to speed with her policies and procedures, and transition the work from her to them. She was too tired. It was too late.

4.  I had a friend visiting from out of state this weekend. She's a newlywed and we talked about the things old married ladies talk about with newlyweds. We talked about family relationships in general, including some grousing about my sisters with whom I'm having a disagreement about plans for the holidays (yes, already). We also talked about the grief of my mother's increasing dementia. And I was quick to say I could never manage to care for my mom the way she deserves if it was just me. I give thanks that I am one of several siblings and don't have to go this road alone.

 

By now, you've caught the theme I'm sure. So many of us work, effectively, alone. We have our private practice or we work for someone else as the only MT in their office. Even if we work in a multi-therapist practice, as independent contractors we are still responsible for our own business. That's certainly my massage practice. It's me and only me every day. And, yes, it gets lonely.

We need friends, partners, associates, companions along the way. We need other MTs especially. They are the only ones out there that can get us all the way. I'm blessed with membership in a small but supportive chapter (Washington DC) of the American Massage Therapy Association. While our quarterly chapter meetings can be quite small, we have a listserve that keeps us all up-to-date and connected. You can put almost any question out there and someone will have something to help you.

I'm also active in two groups on Facebook – one for my school (PMTI) and one for massage therapists in general. The conversations are lively, the posts are interesting, and the information and perspectives shared are worth the time it takes to keep up with them.

I belong to a small study group that's taking a year to work through Lynn Grodzki's “Twelve Months To Your Ideal Practice”. We have study-buddies we talk to every week just to keep each other on track. Love these women!

How alone are you? Where can you find connections and support on your journey as a healing arts practitioner? Nothing good comes from being alone too long!

Work Harder. Or Not.

August is often the slow time for MTs. It certainly is this year for me so I've been taking time out to do the "background" work of business -- bringing my bookkeeping up to date, doing some course development, writing more, developing marketing plans, that sort of thing.

Which keeps me very very busy, ironically.  :)  So my blog posts have slowed down. I've got a backlog of them in my head for you but today I want to share something from a woman I met during my year in Australia. Ingrid Arna is a bubbling soda of joy, enthusiasm, and (her fave term) juiciness. This was today's status update on Facebook and I think it's so good, I'm sharing it here. Lots and lots and lots of wisdom in this for us. (emphases are mine)

When something doesn't flow whether it be business or a relationship, start to appreciate the message, the gift and the sign. What is the message you need to hear?

Instead of seeing it as a negative or a rejection or a loss what is the gain? What is the gift? If you have to push it then it ain't for you.

So why do we push, try to make it happen and work hard? There are many reasons but simply here's two biggies:

1. Fear that another deal, lover or opportunity won't come along = LACK

2. You have been programmed to believe in the work hard motto, the go to any length at all costs motto = LACK and FEAR based thinking.

Practice doing less, focusing on what you want and choosing relationships and business partnerships that are joyous, easy, rich, electric and love based = PURE AFFLUENCE and JUICY ENERGY that creates miracles, that builds fortunes and most importantly makes us feel incredibly alive, supported and healthy! xx

Emotional Bandwidth as a Business Asset

I used to teach business practices at the Potomac Massage Training Institute. I stepped away from it when I felt myself getting kinda stale as an instructor but I've never stopped thinking about the class, contemplating ways to improve it or reorganize it, fantasizing about getting to teach it again. I loved teaching that class.

Recently the school asked me if I'd be interested in teaching it again. I said no.

I was planning to do some major writing today. Got deadlines coming up, I'm thisclose to being ready to look for an agent for a book, really excited to write that last chapter. I didn't do it.

Why? I have no emotional bandwidth left. I've been hit with too many major emotional upheavals in my personal life. A mother with increasing dementia. A dear friend on suicide watch.

But isn't work in a whole 'nother realm? And doesn't it just have to get done? Shouldn't I just "suck it up" (to quote another biz blogger) and get down to business?

No, I shouldn't.

Our work is personal, intimate, and requires a certain amount of our emotional resources. Not just the touching but the related work -- teaching, writing, etc. The best stuff doesn't come just from the mind; it also comes from the heart. And if your heart is depleted or at the edge of what it can process, you have to acknowledge that.

You can't always put your work on pause. Clients are still on the books. Meetings still need to happen. Classes have been paid for.

However, if you want to be a wise business owner, make sure you're checking in on and taking care of your key business assets, including your heart.

Are you really a business owner?

Back in February I wrote about my two favorite business-advice reality shows. I still follow Tabitha Takes Over, in which a very successful hair salon owner helps other small businesses get themselves out of trouble.

Usually about 90% of the problem is weak or misguided management (the rest usually come down to staff and marketing). She often asks owners a few quick question to determine how good a handle they actually have on their business. Can you answer these questions about your business?

• How many people do you have in your client base?
• How many of you clients are "regulars"?
• How many hours of hands-on time do you average in a week and month?
• How do most of your clients find you?
• How much money do you gross in an average week and month?
• What is your net income in the average month?
• How much is your business growing financially?

These questions are an example of the kind of information you need to know about your practice. These questions give you a truer picture of your business than "how full is my schedule?" They are critical questions to tell you how healthy your practice is.

If you do your bookkeeping in Quiken or Quikbooks or a similar program you can answer the last 3 questions pretty quickly. The first 4 questions may require you to do some digging in your appointment book. The 4th question requires you to actually ask your clients, either when they book an appointment or during their first appointment.

If you aren't (currently) able to answer these questions, you need to start tracking the data that will help you answer these questions. You can't really move your practice forward till you know where it really is right now.

Most Interesting Thing I've Read Lately

I read about business pretty regularly, especially for healing arts professionals or microbusinesses. Here's a selection that I found particularly interesting recently. It helped me understand where I am in my business and that it's part of a natural evolution. It also helped me appreciate that the things I'm angst'ing about are also completely normal (and, no, I'm not crazy!).
From:  Twelve Months To Your Ideal Private Practice, a workbook
By:  Lynn Godzki

Certain themes consistently emerge at different stages of small-business development -- concerns about survival and competition, a move toward stability, a drive to expand, a push to affililate, and so on. These themes tend to occur across the board in all businesses and follow a similar progression. As such, they are the evolutionary markers of a business. Although the markers are not strictly linear and don't arise in identical ways, if you are familiar with them and know where to look, it's possible to see the developmental path of any business. You can spot which stage is currently occurring, and if you understand the ramifications of the particular stage, you will know what tasks the business owner [you] needs to attend to in order to master the challenges of that stage. You can predict what will happen next as the business continues to evolve. You have a perspective from which to lubricate instead of obstruct inevitable business changes. You can begin to enjoy the bumpy ride of business a lot more by highlighting the most positive aspects inherent in each stage. Business success becomes easier...


Nature works on change; the world around us is in a state of constant flux. Change in one's business often occurs as a response to a changing environment and small businesses as are expecially reactive to external forces. But even though business evolution is constant and can be reactive, it is not necessarily random. It can be charted...


We naively think that our business success or failure is based primarily on factor that involved our psychology, or skill level, or other personal issues; while this may be true, rarely do we factor the developmental arc of business into the success or failure equation...


The following chart is a very brief representation of [Don] Beck and [Chris] Cowan's color coded spiral dynamics model...

Color	Thinking	Value Systems – Bottom Lines
Beige	Automatic	Basic Survival
Purple	Animistic	Myths, traditions, and rituals
Red	Egocentric	Power, glory, and exploitation
Blue	Absolutist	Authority and stability
Orange	Materialistic	Success and material gain
Green	Humanistic	Equality and humanism
Yellow	Systemic	Choice and change
Turquoise	Holistic	Harmony and holism

 

Being the Wrong Answer

I ran into a recent new client last night. When he came to see me two months ago, he was limping and had been in significant pain for months. The massage helped....for about 5 minutes. As he walked from my front door to his car, I saw his limp return.

Which, in this case, means the massage was a complete success.

Why? Because it showed both of us that massage was not the answer to his problem. It motivated him to do something he'd been hoping to avoid -- going to see his doctor -- where he discovered a more serious problem in his hip that really does require medical intervention. Massage will be able to support him while he goes through those treatments but it was never going to fix the problem.

This is not the first time this has happened for me. People who are in pain but don't want to go to a doctor for some reason will sometimes go see a massage therapist instead. If I can, with professional confidence, say "this is not strictly a muscular problem and I don't think massage can solve it" they are much more likely to then go see a doc.

Our greatest value is not "fixing problems". Our greatest value is listening to a client and their body in a way the often can't (or won't). And then providing a response that might alleviate the problem. Sometimes massage is the answer. Sometimes it isn't. We won't know till we listen.

Making Your Website Work

I don't often simply link you to another blog (have I ever done this?) but this blog post summarizes 5 superb points about making your website work. Four of them are super-easy to understand (the 5th one requires some technical knowledge).

Go. Read. Learn. Make your website better. Attract more clients.

Why Wouldn't It Be (a) hard or (b) easy?

It's been just about a year since I've moved back to DC from Brisbane Australia. It hasn't been an easy move. I still miss Brisbane and still struggle to accept DC again.

The two cities are different in so many ways but the quickest way to sum up their differences?

DC: "well, why shouldn't [it] be hard?"
Brisbane: well, why shouldn't [it] be easy?"

I've been thinking about this divide the last few days in relation to my massage practice. Since re-opening my practice last August I've been working hard to re-build my client base. So very very hard. Sadly, all that hardness is not showing up in my schedule.

So I read the other blogs, I read the websites, I respond to the emails, I read the books, I take the classes and webinars that all purport to show me how to do the hard work necessary to re-build my practice. My to-do list gets longer and longer and longer and I get tireder and tireder and tireder.

And I think that -- having done it the hard way for the last 11 months -- I'm going to try the Brissy way for the next 6 months. I'm going to walk into each day with the "why shouldn't it be easy" attitude. I'm going to do the baseline things I need to do -- keep the website current, write my quarterly newsletter, keep up this blog -- but otherwise I'm going to face each day as though it is and can be easy.

I'm going to do the work with love and joy. I'm going to dial down the "fret" and turn up the trust. I'm a good therapist who enjoys working with people. I will spread the word about my practice and my work in all the easy ways that are available to me.

Easy is not a bad word. And it might even be true.

I'm Not The Only One....

...offering Pay What You Can. There's a taxi driver in Burlington VT doing it and it's so popular he's thinking of hiring some additional drivers!

And he doesn't feel that he's ever been cheated / ripped-off / taken advantage of either.

It absolutely can work. But then, I already know that.

It Ain't Necessarily So

I overheard two MTs talking recently. One mentioned that business was down for her, so she was going to "take some continuing ed" later this year.

My guess is that by "continuing ed" she meant something modality-oriented:  pregnancy massage, craniosacral therapy, lymph drainage, oncology massage, that sort of thing. I've heard some variation on this conversation many times before. The implication always seems to be that by broadening our table-oriented skill set, we can grow our practice.

It ain't necessarily so.

If I break my ulna, I need a cast on my arm. If I cut my hand on broken glass, I need stitches. The cast won't help my cut. The stitches won't help my broken arm. Both are valid medical responses and very effective when used in the right situation but only when used in the right situation.

If you can't get group practices or chiropractors to consider you because you aren't skilled in trigger point therapy, then you should take continuing ed in trigger point therapy.

If you are turning away pregnant clients because you aren't certified in pregnancy massage, then you should take continuing ed in pregnancy massage.

If you're regularly encountering issues on the table that you can't adequately respond to (and your clients are leaving dissatisfied), get training so you can.

If, however, "business is down" because you don't have a website (and everyone else does) or because your marketing is insufficient or you need to reach out to a new population or you need to define your unique value in the face of new competition, then continuing ed in a modality isn't going to help much.

(Because even after you take the modality-based continuing ed, you've still got to find a way to let people know about your hot new skills!)

When business is down, we  are tempted to go with what makes us feel stronger and more competent as massage therapists -- hands-on skills. What we may need, however, is what makes us stronger and more competent as business owners -- business skills.

• Effective use of social media
• A compelling website
• Referrals relationships
• Visibility in the local community
• Outreach to special populations
• Marketing savvy
• Etc. etc. etc.

What are you really short on? Hands-on skills or biz skills? Why, really, are people not filling up your schedule? (If you don't know, the odds are that it's a business skills problem, not a modality problem.)

The AMTA conference in October in Raleigh NC has business courses. As does the World Massage Festival in August in Las Vegas. So do many chapter meetings and regional conferences. My company, The Healing Core, specializes in business courses. (And all of these come with CEUs!)

Get out there and get the training you really need and grow the practice you really want!

p.s.  If marketing is your challenge, seriously consider taking a one-day marketing class with Laura Allen, one of the leading lights in the massage community on business. She'll be in DC in August. You can take the class on Saturday or Sunday. The early-bird discount ends this Friday, JULY 1.

Can You Really Sell A Private Practice? Maybe...

You can spend decades building a thriving practice, with a full schedule and a fat juicy client base. But you can't massage forever and one day you may decide it's time to sell your practice and move on to another career or even into retirement. Why not? It's a very valuable practice.

To you.

As many MTs have discovered, it's incredibly difficult to sell a private practice. Partially that's because other MTs may not have the money to pay what you think your practice is worth. More importantly, there's a lot of disagreement in our profession about (1) the value of a client list and (2) whether it's even ethical to "sell" your clients.

I recently read an explanation of how to sell a private practice. It puts all these concerns in perspective.

The explanation is in "Twelve Months to Your Ideal Practice" by Lynn Grodzki. I'm working through this workbook over the course of a year with a study group being run by local therapist Connie Ridgeway. Here's a summary of Lynn's explanation.

In order for your therapy business to be attractive to buyers, it needs to have multiple transferable assets.

Too often, a therapy business has only one asset, and it's a nontransferable one -- the therapist's relationship to his or her clients...Can your clients be transferred to a buyer? That depends on whether your clients perceive that their main attachment is to you, the practice, or both.

In short, if your clients feel their primary connection is to you (and it so often is) you're going to have a very difficult time selling your practice. There's only one you and your clients know that.

But how does a one-person practice create a client experience that can be transferred to another therapist to our client's satisfaction?

Create tangible value that is transferable. Turn your ideas into programs, document those programs, and establish your methods of therapy into writing and on video. Create as much product as possible. Write, research, and publish to validate your methods. Begin to train others in your methods, so that you have a pool of potential buyers when you are ready to retire.

I think that last idea -- train others in your methods -- is probably the way for most of us. I don't know many MTs who have created truly unique methods. What we do have is the whole combination of:

• the way we approach massage,
• the things we like to focus on,
• how we think about our work,
• the combination of all the methods we've actually mastered, and
• our temperament.

If you could find MTs who are or would like to be like you and formed a partnership, I could see working out a mentor-to-ownership (sorta like rent-to-own) arrangement.

Lynn gets more specific about how to make this sort of thing work:

Here's a list of six tangible assets that can add to the selling price of your practice and how to accomplish each one:

1.  Brand name. If you can name your type of services in a recognizable way as separate from your identity, you have a salable asset...

2.  Direct-mail list. Build a large direct-mail list for your practice of clients and referral sources...

3.  Promotional materials. Develop brand-name recognition via your promotional materials now, with brochures that highlight the method or the program name more than your name...

4.  Measures. Have a system to track your effectiveness over time...

5.  Ancillary products. If your state sanctions selling products to clients under your licensure (some do and some don't; ask your licensing board), you can develop a product line of material to sell--pamphlets, audio- or videotapes, training tapes, books (your own or others), nutritional supplements...

6.  Practice management. If you have created a thriving practice with easy-to-understand administrative systems in place, you have an additional asset...

Lynn goes on to spell out exactly how to do this (it reminds me a bit of what I've heard about the E-Myth). She also says...

What price can you expect to get for your business? While a manufacturing company might be sold for five times its annual earnings because it has a product, plant, staff, and systems in place, a therapy business without these elements in place might sell at one to two times its annual earnings. You can add to this ratio by having as many tangible assets [see above] as possible.

So, yes, you can sell a private practice but if you really want to make a profit, you need to invest a couple of years to create the kind of practice that has something to offer besides a list of names who may or may not want to work with your buyer.


AND A REMINDER....The Healing Core is offering One Year To A Successful Massage Therapy Practice (the secret? marketing) in August here in Washington DC.  The "early bird" discount expires in 10 days (June 30).

You can attend on Saturday, August 11 or Sunday, August 12. Register now to save money on learning how to attract more clients and make more money!

8 CEs for you massage therapist types.

The Conversation No One Wants To Have

If you're a massage therapist, sooner or later you're going to get THAT client -- the one who has misguided ideas about what massage is and what kind of "services" they can get from you. It's usually not grotesque or dramatically overt (though it can be). It's often just a series of comments or body positions that lets you know your client is thinking entirely Wrong Thoughts.

I got that client 2 weeks ago. Twice.

The first time I thought "hmmmmm......his requests and actions are just shy of being inappropriate, I won't say anything." When he did and said the exact same thing during his second appointment I thought "oh, crap, I'm going to have to deal with this."

Step 1:  Describe the session to another female therapist who works there. Get her feedback on it as a peer. About 20 seconds into my description she says "I think I know who you're talking about. He did exactly the same thing with me." OK, it's not just me!

Step 2: Talk to the manager about the situation, documenting the experience, my conversation with the other MT, and my intended response. Ask if the manager has any insights, objections, or suggestions. She says "always trust your gut! If your gut says he's having Wrong Thoughts, then you're right, he is." That's a good manager.

She volunteers to talk to the client for me but, really, this is my job. (Plus, I don't want it to dissolve into he said / she said).

Step 3: is not "call the client". It's "plan what I'm going to say to the client" because there are so many things I could say, need to say, need to avoid saying, need to make sure I'm clear on, etc. I also need to decide exactly what will happen in future sessions and what will happen if he does any of this again. And figure out how to say it calmly and professionally.

Step 4a:  Stare at the phone for a loooooooong time, wishing I didn't have to make this call.

Step 4b:  Sigh deeply and call the client. Follow script. Be very pleasantly surprised when he doesn't argue, protest, break down in tears (admittedly, a long shot), fling counter-accusations, or call me nasty names. He sounds surprised by my objections but agrees to abide by the rules.

Step 5: Drop head on desk in pure relief that it's over. Go home and accept back rubs and snuggles from sympathetic husband.

It sucks but it's something most of us are going to have to do sooner or later if we stay in the biz long enough. Thank you PMTI for an education (and continuing education) that made it possible for me to recognize trouble when it happened and to be able to deal with it as a professional.