Calculating the Split

"The Split" is often a source of consternation and confusion for massage therapists. "What's normal" or "what's right" or "what's legal" are often bandied about by MTs who don't fully understand the Split.

Here's what most of us don't grasp: the portion of a massage session payment that the establishment owner keeps is payment for specific goods and services they provide for you. It's not (or it shouldn't be) a random number based on what any of us think we are "worth". It's a payment for goods or services.

No two business owners and no two massage therapists are exactly alike. Which is why you need to negotiate this as part of your contract and why it needs to be spelled out in your independent contract.

Ask yourself this:

• What would I pay the establishment owner for at the end of every session if I had to pay as I went along?
• What goods or services do I receive that make my work possible?
• What goods and services are easier for me to have them provide than to have me provide?
• What would cost me time and money if I had to provide them for myself?

And here's your bottom-line question: What goods and services have actual financial value to me?

Make a list. Don't list everything you get by working in someone else's space. List those things that have measurable financial value to you. Those things that would cost you a noticeable amount of money if you had to provide them yourself. Here's my list of what I'd pay someone for:

• Doing the kind of marketing that gives me a reasonably full schedule
• [OR If I'm a tenant in a medical office, referrals of their clients to me]
• A massage-appropriate room (with table!)
• Doing the laundry
• Handling the scheduling (and doing it well)
• Massage supplies (lubricant, linens, music)
• Processing payments for me

Assign a percentage value to each one. How much out of each massage would you be willing to pay for that good or service? Since my personal philosophy is to never pay more than 50% of my earnings in goods and services, my percentages look like this. These percentages are based on real quantifiable economic value to me; they're the things that help me make money (which is why you don't see "office decorations", for example). I know what it costs to provide these things for myself:

Marketing / full schedule = 15% [OR referrals (in a chiro / medical office) =  15%]
Room = 10%
Laundry = 5%
Payment processing = 5%
Scheduling = 5%
Supplies = 5%

I'll negotiate these numbers to a certain extent, of course but if, in effect, I can walk in, do my work, and walk out I will pay up to but never more than 50% of what I make. The more I've got to do, the less I pay them.

We need to think about The Split in a business way:

1. They are paying us 100% ($70 / $80 / $90 / $whatever) to provide a professional massage to their clients.
2. We pay a certain percentage of that back to them for any goods and services they provide that make it easier for us to provide professional massage to their clients.

In practical terms, how do we pay them for the goods and services they provide? Through a portion of each massage. We could also agree to pay them a flat fee per month. Or a monthly fee for the actual cost of these goods and services. In our industry The Split has become the most convenient way to do this.

Quit thinking "they're only paying me $$ for each massage!" Start thinking "They want me to pay them $$ for the goods and services they provide. Are these goods and services worth this kind of money to me?"

If you don't know what your Split is paying for, you need to get clear with the business owner about that. If your Split keeps changing based on the owner's whims, you need to get clear with them about this. If the business establishment is adding on little fees on the fly, you need to sit down with the owner and specify, between you, what you pay for and nothing else.

You don't do this because you're mean or venal or greedy or aggressive. You do it because you are a smart business owner yourself and you know that getting clear on this leads to fewer problems in the business relationship down the road. It's what real business owners do.

Lots of business owners don't realize this is actually the thinking that is underneath The Split. They may rant and rave about "I need to make $$ from massage or I can't survive!" Possibly true, but not your responsibility as a contractor. You are in business with this person for your mutual benefit. You can like each other and hope for the very best for each other and strive to make each of you successful. But your relationship is still a business relationship and needs to be conducted like one.

What happens if the business owner won't do this? You are dealing with someone who is less professional than you are and, I promise you, that will come back to bite you in the piriformis at some point. How long are you willing to wait for the Munch On Your Backside to happen (because it will happen)? Plan accordingly.