NCBTMB-approved?

Kitty Southworth and I have (finally) submitted the application to be NCBTMB-approved providers! (translation: we can offer CEs for our workshops) We figure they'll have to kick the application back to us at least once for clarification / correction / improvement but I see no reason we won't be (eventually) approved. It took us about 3 weeks of work to get it done. It's not quite as horrific as I feared but it's no walk in the park either. You've got to really want it....and we do. :) Trust us, we'll let everyone know when we get it!

Getting Smarter, Together

In a recent post I mentioned the idea of being a promoter of massage workshops. That idea has so engaged my imagination that I've actually started contacting people to see if I can really make this happen. And it looks like the answer is.....yes. Here's my question to you: what business topics would you like to attend a 1-2 day workshop on? Here's my ideas so far:

• Using social media to grow your practice


• Taxes & bookkeeping (in MT-friendly language!)


• Creating a massage therapist-friendly business plan


• Using financial reports to evaluate the health of your practice


• Marketing your massage practice to success


• Business ethics


• Sensible insurance choices for a massage practice


• Understanding independent contracting


• How to develop your own workshops


• Becoming an approved provider with NCBTMB

What else would you like to see?

Your Mission (should you choose to accept it)...

More biz talk with my cleaning lady, Kelli of Kelli's Cleaning Angels....

We got to talking about business plans today. She's been having a very hard time with her corporate clients after the January floods. They've all been pushing their cleaning services to drop their prices. She's ended up letting go of all her corporate clients because she can only meet their price demands by seriously dropping the quality of the work she's doing.

When she was struggling with that decision, she went back to her mission. Her mission includes doing extraordinary cleaning work. She couldn't drop her quality. She let the clients go.

We talked about how important the mission statement is in a business plan. A good mission statement captures the essence of what keeps us going as businesses. Money is virutally never enough of a motivation to keep you going for the long haul. A good mission statement captures what excites you about the work you do.

She brought up something else I hadn't thought of -- a good mission statement also contains an element of challenge. It should capture a standard that is something of a reach for you, something that's not a cakewalk. Your mission statement needs to inspire you and stretch you. Not impossibly so but reasonably so. I'm not sure I ever told my students that but if I teach business plans again, I will.

Massage Dreaming....

Today, I fantasize about being a promoter. That is, organzing and sponsoring workshops, particularly on the business of massage.

Margo Bowman on taxes and bookkeeping.

Laura Allen on marketing.

Randall Craig on social media.

Somebody (maybe me?) on business plans.

Ferreting out the people who are offering good business courses that can talk in the language of massage therapists. Creating some workshops of my own. I've already done this once or twice with Margo Bowman, so I know what it takes.

I have a fantasy today of organizing 2 years worth of business workshops, maybe one every quarter. Really promoting the heck out of them in the mid-Atlantic region. Hosting them with PMTI (or on my own since Kitty Southworth and I have submitted the application to be a NCBTMB-approved provider!).

And if I can pull together 8 workshops/offerings over 2 years, then turning that into a bonafide The Business of Massage conference! I already actually have a business plan for just such a thing, which helped me realize I can't do it on my own, so I've laid it aside for the moment.

That's my massage therapy fantasy today.

A whole new woo-woo thing: the Saturn Bubbler

Right after I arrived in Brisbane I was directed to The Lightworkers Cottage. Originally, I went for the massage (still excellent!) but the are also an energy healing center as well, so it was bonus: a place to get my woo-woo on. :)

They've recently rented a workshop space and are doing "opening" kind of events. Last week, it was the installation of a Saturn Bubbler. The group doing the installation is called the Hermes Far Eastern Shining, based in Australia.

For those of you not in the know (like me), it's a construction of tubes and balls of water that has been invested/aligned/energized to a specific purpose -- providing healing energy to a specific geography. In this case, it's mission is to help heal the state of Queensland (no small feat since Queensland is the size of Alaska). As part of the installation, they actually inserted a map of Queensland into the structure.

The installation ceremony was engaging and audience-participatory. As each ball was added to the structure, one of the attendees was invited to hold the ball before the group as its purpose and design was explained. I was chosen for one.

It's a beautiful structure and it was a powerful experience to be part of a large group sharing such as this (there were 40 or so people present for this). All participants, including small children, were engaged in the energetics of the event and the room had quite the buzz to it. I spoke to one of the organizers and she said they'd had a lead on installing one in DC a year or two ago but it didn't happen. Heaven knows DC could use a little healing energy! :)

Part way through the ceremony, with 3 of the balls installed.

One member of the installation group explaining the structure. They all had names like Clover and Peaches. I didn't ask...

Peaches getting ready to hand one of the balls to an audience member to install.

Nicholas (my massage therapist) holding one of the balls just before he places it in the structure.

You are encouraged to hold a glass of water over the structure to energize the water before you drink it as a way of taking in the energy of the installation.

Show Me The Money

A former student, Sandi Kissane (of Norman OK), just announced a new fee structure for her massage practice. I'll let her explain it:

I've been considering alternative fee structures with the primary goal of making massage therapy more affordable to more people. Most people recognize the many health benefits of massage therapy but most also acknowledge that the current market value of a one-hour massage (60.00 or more) is cost prohibitive and does not allow them to utilize massage on a regular basis. Massage is often relegated to a luxury item that rarely makes it into the budget.

So here, I am introducing my new fee schedule which I think you'll find very simple and affordable. Fees are based solely on what you decide best fits into your budget. There is no tipping although if you decide you would like to tip, I'd prefer a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in lieu of (find their link on my Links page).

60 minute massage -- 30$ minimum/50$maximum
90 minute massage -- 45$minimum/50$maximum
Hot Stones may be added for 10$ more

That's it...simple and straightforward pricing!

Sessions are by appointment so call for availability.

Rest assured, you will receive the best massage I offer, each and every time regardless of your fee!

Sandi says she's been getting some flack/teasing from other MTs in her area about this announcement. I did too, when I announced my Pay What You Can pay structure.

Many of us struggle to accept ourselves as business people and to be comfortable asking for what our work is worth. Because we struggle, we often have a very strong connection in our head between what we're paid and how seriously we're taken.

Becoming a business person -- and setting our fee schedules -- turns out to be a very personal journey. What we do reflects the nuances of our professional identity deep within ourselves. When we are working on taking ourselves seriously financially, it's incredibly important to set a market-value price and stand behind it.

Not everyone is in that same place. I've got other challenges in my self-understanding as a business person so I can offer a Pay What You Can fee schedule. Sandi can offer a minimum/maximum fee schedule.

Should we all offer a variable fee schedule? No. Each of our businesses are different, even if they look the same to the outside observer. What is important is that you be honest with yourself about what you need from your business, what your challenges are, and how your business policies and fees can reflect that.

I hope the massage-consuming public in Norman OK understands this and gets a chance to experience Sandi's work and generosity.

The Ultimate Narcissism?

It occurs to me that writing a book is, at its core, a supreme act of narcissism.

Here I sit, nobody in particular, devoting time and energy to creating something that's all about...me. My ideas, my philosophies, my experiences, my observations.

Then I'm going to put it out there in the world -- in print and electronically -- and tell you that you should give me some money for it. That my ideas, philosophies, experiences, and observations are going to be so valuable to you that you'll be happy to give me money for it.

Doesn't that sound like narcissism?

It's what all writing is, fiction and non-fiction. It's a quest fueled from deep within by a drive to share the stuff that floats around in writers head. Some of it is self-defense (I have got to get this stuff out of my head!) and some of it is supreme self-confidence (and it's so valuable that you'll be glad I did!).

I started writing stories when I was a kid. I got my BA in journalism. I spent 20 years as a technical writer and I still write newsletters and this blog. I can't stop myself!

Apparently my writerly narcissism is too well-established to ever be able to break free. :)