Don't Eat The Bunnies

At the beginning of this month I took over a corporate massage contract from a friend who felt it was time for her to move on. It’s at a large government agency in downtown DC. They’ve had a massage therapist here, once a week, for maybe 8 years.

These kind of contracts turn over every few years. They can be popular and lucrative so when an MT is ready to move on, they often hand-pick their successor, inviting an MT from among their acquaintances to take over for them. Being offered a healthy contract is a gift.

And how many clients do I have on my schedule today at this government agency? None. In fact, I’ve had exactly 1.5 hours of work in the 4 weeks I’ve been here.

It would be easy to panic (soooooooo easy.....) but I won’t. I've had this kind of government contract before and learned a valuable lesson -- people hate change; government employees really hate change. It can take as many as 6 months (especially at a government contract) for the employees to accept a new MT and start filling up the schedule again.

I refer to government employees (lovingly, I swear!) as “shy woodland creatures”. That’s probably not the mental image you have of federal workers but when it comes to change, they are. When there’s a change in their world, they metaphorically run back to their burrows and hide until they’re sure that you are not a predator who is going to eat them.

When they decide it’s safe to engage with this “new” thing, they can be some of your most consistent and reliable clients. But they’ve got to respond to the change in their own way and their own time.

I’m committed to showing up every week at this corporate contract through the summer. I will give the “shy woodland creatures” in this government building 6 months to confirm that I will not eat them.

In 12 years I have learned (over and over and over and over) that building a client base is a marathon, not a sprint.  I have to pace myself and be patient. I have to market my practice -- newsletters, emails, a web page, flyers, etc. I also have to be grateful for what I do have. In the weeks where I only have one client, I need to be grateful for that one client rather than resentful about the 9 clients I don’t have. I have to keep my heart pliable.

A marathon is won by endurance as much as it is by speed. So is a successful massage therapy practice.

And if you are in or near Washington DC, The Healing Core is sponsoring a one-day workshop on marketing. 

“One Year To A Successful Massage Therapy Practice”

August 12

Taught by Laura Allen, author of One Year To A Successful Massage Therapy Practice, A Massage Therapist's Guide To Business, and Plain & Simple Guide to Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Examinations.