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.