How to Make A Beautiful Massage Room Not So Beautiful

I've spent months buying all my supplies and outfitting a beautiful treatment space! I throw open the doors next week! I just need someone to tell me how to get clients....

It's fun to create a beautiful massage rooms. Lighting, colors, furniture, maybe a towel warmer, etc. A lot of fun. Such a personal expression of our passion and personality.

It's not, however, where you start.

First, you need to figure out how you are going to attract clients to that beautiful massage room. Hint: they don't show up just because you've opened for business. Even if you've already spent a lot of time and money on supplies and your work space.

What if you bought your wedding outfit, booked the ceremony space, booked the reception space, chose the caterer, hired the DJ, worked out the invitation list, created your gift registry, planned your honeymoon, and designed the invitation and THEN started looking for a spouse?

Right.

FIRST. Find your clients.

FIRST.

Which means first, figure out your business.

• What is your mission and vision?
• Who are your ideal clients?
• Where do you find them?
• What, specifically, are you offering them (hint: it needs to be more specific and nuanced than "massage therapy").
• What are your policies and procedures?
• How much do you need to make?
• What discounts will you offer (strategically!)?
• And more. So much more.

The odds are you don't really know the answers to these questions. That's OK, a lot of us don't, especially when we're getting started. So you need to do your research, read, and learn. Maybe you need to spend money on a business coach rather than on that towel warmer. If it's builds your practice quickly, you'll be able to afford that towel warmer in no time!

But if you don't know the answers to these questions, you are not ready to spend money / incur debt buying your supplies and getting your beautiful room ready. You just aren't.

You are not ready to open your business until you know (1) who your customers are, (2) how to reach them, and (3) what they want. And you have to be very very specific in how you answer these questions. The more vague your answers, the more vague your growth will be.

If you don't have at least a marketing plan -- and have already started to implement it -- you aren't ready to open your doors. Because you haven't laid the groundwork to get clients.

You can plan your massage room while you are building your marketing plans but you can't put the room before the clients (cart before horse, etc.)

We don't want to think about that. We'd rather think about lighting and color schemes and what we'll put on the walls. But a beautiful room that is empty becomes a not-so-beautiful room quickly.

p.s. yes, it would be wonderful if we learned this in school. But most of us didn't because, frankly, our instructors didn't necessarily know this either. Which is why people like me (and Allissa Haines and Jodi Scholes and all the rest of us massage-business-warriors) exist and keep banging our drums.