So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, good night

I've had probably 6-10 corporate massage clients over the course of the last 12 years. The most recent was a govenment agency that I started at in January.

Last week I ended it. There just wasn't enough life in the contract to make it worth showing up every day. I've made a whopping $510 in 5 months of work. I was averaging 1-3 clients a month (and they were 30-minute sessions).

I was at the client every Tuesday for 6 hours. I had 6 massage slots available every Tuesday. I had the capacity for 25 clients a month.

I showed up even when no one was on the schedule and stayed all the way through the end of my shift (it's where most of these blog posts have been written in the last 5 months because I had to do something with my time!).

Why didn't it work? Based on my experience with other corporate contracts, there were two key reasons:

It was in a very low-traffic area. It was in the health unit, which was in a little side hallway. I put signs up outside the office but no one was going to see them unless they were coming to the health unit. And on any given Tuesday, no more than 3-4 people came into the health unit while I was there.

There was no one on the inside who "owned" the contract. This government agency has had massage therapy onsite for years. Each time an MT had to leave, they found their own replacement. Over time, it meant that whoever (in the agency) had been motivated to make massage happen there had either left or lost that feeling of responsibility for the massage work.

That second piece -- ownership on the inside -- is the thing that I've seen kill corporate contracts most often. If there isn't someone on the inside who feels a sense of ownership and personally wants to see it succeed, it won't succeed. I don't care how much of your heart, soul, and time you, the MT, pour into the work. If there's not someone carrying the flame when you aren't there, it won't last.

Your inside person doesn't have to be prowling the halls every day drumming up business for you. They do, however, have to have massage in their consciousness -- even if it's off to the side -- to notice opportunities to tell people that massage is available onsite.

Your inside person can be the receptionist (and that's always a great person to have on your side!), someone in HR, or just someone who wants massage for themselves. If there isn't some energy around massage even when you're not there, you may have a tough time keeping your schedule full.

The other thing I've seen is places where someone in management is worried about "pushing" massage on people. They're OK with you coming in but they don't want to remind people weekly that you're coming (too pushy) or they don't want to send messages out about massage except to people who've explicitly expressed an interest in massage (too pushy) or they don't want to let you put signs up that "the MT is IN" on the days you're there (too pushy).

Those contracts struggle as well.

It made me sad to say good-bye to this contract. I was excited about it in January. I was motivated to help it grow. I brought in things to make the massage room (yes, I had a dedicated massage room!) more attractive and friendly. I did special things to reach out to the employees of the agency.

None of it worked. When I gave my notice, no one blinked. They could barely rouse themselves to say good-bye when I walked out the door for the last time. That contract was dead.

I was tempted to try just a little harder....just one more thing....maybe offer a summer discount.....but the numbers told the story. It was dead.

It's tough to let these kind of relationships go. We want to believe that by dint of our own efforts or force of our personality we can Make. It. Work!  That's a trap you don't want to fall into. It's like dating -- if the other person isn't interested enough in you to show up, why are you still in the relationship?

So I left. It was time.

Woops!

This past weekend I attended the "Taxes & Bookkeeping for the Healing Arts Professional" workshop. For the 4th time. I should have this stuff down cold by now, right?
 

Wrong. It's taxes. It's bookkeeping. It's constantly changing. I haven't mastered it. Not by a long shot.

 

IN FACT, some of the things I've told you about in this blog I've been wrong about. Yowza, that stings! But let's see if I can't set the record straight on a few things.

 

Per diems: yes, they are still a fully legal way to take a deduction for business travel. The per diem rates still have two primary parts: meals and lodging. Everyone has the option of taking the per diem for food. However, only those therapists who are incorporated as an S Corp or a C Corp can use the lodging per diem. That means if you are a sole practitioner or an LLC (and those two probably account for 98% of the MTs I know), you can't take advantage of the per diem for lodging; you have to use the actual costs.

Serious bummer for me!

 

Cell Phone: if you assign percentages for use (personal vs. business) and apply that to your bill, you can deduct your cell phone (at the percentage you've decided is business). You don't need to account for every call but you also can't deduct it at 100%.

 

Home Office / Home Use: you can take a deduction whether you rent or own. As long as you can show the area you are calling your "home office" is used exclusively for business, it's a home office. You do not have to practice massage there. It can be as small as a corner of your living room.

 

1099s:  if you pay more than $600 in a year to a person or organization for business purposes and you plan to take that expense as a deduction, you need to provide that person / organization a 1099. If the person/organization is a corporation (other than LLC) or a non-profit, you don't have to send them one. Use the W9 form to collect the information you need for the 1099. You have to mail out 1099s by the end of January for the previous year.

Gift Certificates: cannot have expiration dates, though you are allowed to collect additional money if you have raised your rates since they GC was purchased. You need to keep track of GCs separately in your books in case you sell your practice (they are considered outstanding obligations and the purchaser needs to know about them).

I Quit!!

How hard do you have to work to make it work?

Since I moved back to DC from Australia in August, I have been re-building my practice. Creating a new website. Re-connecting with my client base. Arranging a location to practice. This blog. New business cards. New bank account. Re-connecting with referral sources. New marketing material.

It's all takes time and energy. And then some more time. And then some more energy. And some more and some more and some more.....so much, in fact, that I wonder sometimes what my job actually is -- massaging people or managing a practice of massaging people!

I have to admit that after 9 months of trying to build a thriving practice I'm tired of the time and the energy. When you're building a thing you're carrying it on your shoulders. When the practice becomes regular it will help carry me. Till then....

But I'm also wondering if there's such a thing as trying too hard.

Most of us in the healing arts have heard (and talked about) putting "it" out to the Universe. "It" is often our highest desire -- a healthy practice, new clients, a solid income stream, etc. As I've told many students: that's fine as long as it's not the only thing you do to build a healthy massage practice (and, yes, I've known someone who honestly thought he should only have to "put it out to the Universe" and clients would come streaming to him).

I've decided it may be time to give myself a break. For the next month, I'm just going to do the massages and not worry so much about the attracting-people-to-be-massaged part. If there is wisdom to "putting it out to the Universe" I wonder if I've left enough time and energy to respond if the Universe does want to send something my way.

30 days of less "doing" of marketing etc. and 30 days of just "doing" massage. Heaven knows I need the break! What about you? Is the "doing" of building a practice robbing you of the joy of "doing" massage?

Vacation as Business Deduction?

I just got back from a week in Amsterdam. Believe it or not, it was a business trip and I was able to take almost $4,000 in deductions though I actually spent less than that on the trip.

Legal? Yes.

Ethical? Yes.

Sensible? Yes.

Did I get to have any fun, see the sights, ogle the tulips, enjoy the cafes? Yes.

 

I once joked with my-sister-the-accountant that every time I take a dollar out of my wallet I pause and ask myself "is there any way this can be a business deduction?". She laughed and said "now you're thinking like a business person!" As self-employed people who tend not to make a lot of money, we need to be conscious of ways to keep as much of that money in our pockets as we can. Since taxes are a major expense, we need to be conscious of keeping that expense within reason.

Before I go any further, let me be clear about something: I do not resent paying taxes. It does not make me angry. I don't rail at the government for "taking" my money. I consider my taxes a totally appropriate way to contribute to the running of this country and I consider paying them honestly to be a very patriotic act, regardless of the party in power.

Having said that, I still don't want to pay more than I have to!

So, when and how can a vacation also be a business trip? The key is a word I've heard often as a massage therapist -- intent.

Believe it or not, the IRS does take into account what your primary intent was when you planned your trip. Was your primary or initial intent business or pleasure? And how do you prove that to them if they ask?

In my case:

• I initially planned this trip to be able to meet up with my Australian co-author Ben Risby-Jones. He was going to Amsterdam to teach a class. Amsterdam is easier to get to than Australia.
• In addition, several of the reviewers of our book were going to be in Amsterdam for that class and I wanted to meet them in person.
• Finally, I provide editorial support to Kitty Southworth, who is the US representative for a product Ben sells. Our European counterparts were also going to be at this class and we both wanted to meet them.

Did I also want to see tulips and windmills and eat cheese and see the Dutch Masters? You bet! But first I took care of the parts of the trip related to business.

• I emailed Ben to confirm the date and location of the class (and the emails are my "documentation" if I'm ever audited).
• I also confirmed his travel plans and made arrangements to meet and talk about our book while I was in Amsterdam (again, emails as documentation).

And only then did I plan the "fun" part of the trip: researching sites to visit and train schedules for day trips, etc. etc.  Because, yes, the IRS can check to see what I did first -- make arrangements for a day trip to see the tulips or make arrangements to work with Ben.
 

But $4,000? And that's more than I actually spent??

When you travel, you have two options for how you account for your expenses:

• you can take the actual expenses (lodging, airfare, meals, etc.) or
• you can take a per diem.

Per diem rates are set by either the IRS (for domestic travel) or by the State Department (for international travel). A per diem is a flat rate you can claim for each day of business if you'd rather do that than take actual expenses. And yes, it is legal to choose the higher of the two! You just have to use a single method for a single trip (you can't take the per diem one day and the actual expenses the next day).

I looked the rates up online and the per diem for Amsterdam is currently $424 per day. And that is much more than I actually spent so I opted for the per diem.

I couldn't take per diems for every day of the trip. But I could take it for the days that I travelled (since the primary purpose of the trip was business) and for each day I engaged in business, which in my case meant each day I met with Ben or my reviewers or my European counterparts and talked about business. That was every day but one on this trip.

• Sunday:  flew out of DC ($424)
• Monday: arrived in Amsterdam ($424)
• Tuesday: met with Ben to discuss book ($424)
• Wednesday: went to Keukenhof to view the tulips ($0)
• Thursday: met with whole group and discussed business plans and webinars ($424)
• Friday: formal planning meeting with whole group ($424)
• Saturday: dinner meeting with whole group, discussed future goals for organization ($424)
• Sunday: another dinner meeting to discuss future plans ($424)
• Monday: met with executive committee (which includes me now) to finalize what we're doing in the next 6 months ($424)
• Tuesday: flew home ($424)

 Total per diems for this trip:  $3,816

 

Now, before I did my happy dance about this, I confirmed with my accountant that I was doing this correctly. I wanted to be sure I was reading the per diem charts correctly and applying them correctly. Never take my word as the last word on accounting issues! Never.

 

In 2002 I decided to go to the AMTA conference in Portland Oregon. I've often fantasized about driving across the US and back. Since we had a relatively new car, I decided this was my chance. I worked out that I could afford to spend a month driving out to Portland and back (which, it turns out, was not a luxury -- it's a big damned country and I was driving by myself. I needed the whole month!). Given that my intent  was to attend a professional conference and that my route to and from was within reason (even when I managed to squeeze in some visits with friends along the way), I was able to take a months' worth of travel expenses as a business deduction, even though the conference was only 4 days long.

If I had known about per diems then I would have had an even bigger deduction!

 

There are so many decisions we make every day that affect our business and our tax responsibility.  We need to be thinking about it every day, not just April 15. You weren't born knowing all of this and the odds are good you didn't get a solid grounding in it in school. It's worth your time and effort (not to mention your money) to educate yourself as a business owner (because your accountant is only as good as the information you give them!).

If you want to be a smarter business owner (and keep more money in your pocket), I recommend you attend the Taxes & Bookkeeping forthe Healing Arts Professional workshop in two weeks in Rockville MD. I promise you will come out of that workshop with something that will save you money and aggravation.

 

And next time you're pondering a vacation, first ponder whether there's a way to also make it a business trip. Visit a local massage school. Take a massage course. Get a massage in a setting or modality that is new to you. (And remember to schedule those first.) You may not be able to take the whole trip as a deduction but you may be able to save yourself at least a little money along the way.

Questions to Ask to Get What You Want

Interviewing – whether for an article, a job, or a family history – is a skill. Some people were born with the gift. Most of us weren’t.

We most often engage in interviewing when we’re looking for a job. As I wrote in response to a poster on this blog: too many MTs interview like sad puppies hoping for a treat. They act as though the power is all on one side of the desk (and it’s not theirs) and their only goal is to please the interviewer.

They are wrong.

There are two interviews going on in “an interview”. You need to interview the company as much as they need to interview you.

You may be scoffing. You may be rolling your eyes. Maybe you’ve heard this advice before but you’re saying “yeah, sure but they have a job and I need a job, so the power is all with them since I’m the one with the need.”

Really?? Why would they be interviewing you if they didn’t have a need also -- the need for a reliable, experience, talented massage therapist? Managers and owners don’t interview for fun. Most of them don’t enjoy it any more than you do. They do it because they have to, because they have a need. And they are hoping hoping hoping that you can fill their need.

I’ve been on both sides of the desk. It’s tedious to review resumes and schedule appointments and ask the same questions over and over and over. It’s time-consuming and it’s frustrating. Frankly, it's depressing to look across the desk at timid, desperate, trying-to-say-whatever-they-think-I-want-to-hear-so-I’ll-hire-them people.

The only time interviewing candidates was fun was when I had someone who really engaged in the process and brought something unique to the conversation. You need to be that person. And you need to do it not just to impress the interviewer but to take care of yourself. Nothing sucks like realizing, 2 weeks after you get there, that this is the wrong place for you.

How do you do that?

First of all, decide what you are looking for in a place of work.

Ÿ  A full schedule?

Ÿ  Comraderie?

Ÿ  A chance to use that specialized training you got?

Ÿ  Scheduling flexibility?

Ÿ  A minimum take-home pay (and make sure you know what that number is).

Ÿ  Co-workers you can learn things from?

Ÿ  To quit worrying about marketing and let someone else do it?

Ÿ  A place where you can have a say in how it's run?

Ÿ  Stability -- somewhere you can expect to be for years?

Ÿ  Excitement? Serenity?

Also think about the "personality" of the kind of place you'd like to work. High-energy? Casual? Sharply professional? Laid back? More medical or more woo-woo? Steady-as-she-goes or always trying a new thing? Spa-like? Slick or down-home?

Maybe you're saying "I want all those things!". Yeah, and I want everything on the Dairy Queen menu but I can't have everything if I don't want to burst out of my pants!

So, get clear with yourself about what you want and prioritize the list. You can rank your needs (#1 - #10) or you can group them (A-level, B-level, C-level). Whatever works for you.

Then figure out the questions to ask that will help you determine if this place really meets your needs. That's probably the trickiest part.

You can't just ask, for example, "is this a stable place where I can expect to work for years?" because what interviewer is going to say "no"? Think, instead, of the hallmarks of, say, a stable practice and ask that question.

If I were looking for a place that's stable and good to its therapists, I'd ask how long have each of the MTs currently on staff been there (if it's a multi-therapist practice). Lots of turnover or (worse) lots of recent turnover suggests there's something not working for the MTs. Beware.

Here's some of my favorite questions to ask when I'm considering joining a practice:

Do you have a business plan? What are your biggest goals as a practice in the next 1-5 years? Tells me that they plan, both short-term and long-term. Compare their goals with your own.

What are your most effective marketing techniques? Tells me whether they understand their business or if they're floundering around. It also lets met know if they're keeping up with social media or if they're relying too heavily on cut-rate coupon deals. If they know what marketing works best, it suggests they have some idea of how to get clients in the door and fill your schedule!

What are your busiest and your slowest days? On average, how many client-hours does an MT see on [day of the week you expect to be there]? A decent business owner should be able to answer this question without even looking at the schedule.

What type of work do your clients request most often? What would you like to be able to offer that you can't currently offer? A good business owner will know what people like and have some idea of what new offerings would make a difference. This means they know their client base. It also gives you some idea if what they'd like to offer in the future matches up with what you'd like to study.

What are the traits of the MTs that thrive here? Apart from technical skills, what makes one MT a better fit for you than another? Look for answers that are more useful than "they're professional and on time" because everyone thinks they're "professional and on time". If you get that kind of vague answer, ask them to get specific. What are the hallmarks of a "professional"? Do you have a lot of problems with MTs arriving late for their shifts or do you have a problem with them running behind schedule? Why do you think that is?

Have you ever fired a therapist? What are the most common conflicts you have with MTs? No practice is a perfect fit for everyone and no one does such a perfect job of hiring that they never have someone leave. Pay attention to how comfortable they are answering this question. Be honest with yourself if they kind of problems they identify are going to be problems for you.

(multi-therapist practice) How long have your current MTs been here, on average?

(solo therapist practice) How long was your most recent MT here?
How long have you worked here?

As I said earlier, if they have trouble keeping MTs more than 6 months, there's a problem either in their hiring practices or in their operations. Also, interviewing with someone who hasn't been there very long (or isn't the owner) means they may simply not know enough to give you a truly solid picture of the place.

 

(multi-therapist practice) May I meet with one of your MTs? This could be a real "tell". Is the interviewer willing to let you meet with another MT one-on-one? If so, ask the MT questions about their most favorite and least favorite aspects of working here. Ask them what they think are the traits of an MT who can thrive there.

 

What is about me -- apart from my technical skills -- that makes you think I would be a good fit here? This forces the interviewer to look at you beyond "check the box" (licensed: yes, pregnancy massage: yes, available on Fridays and Saturdays: yes) and really think about you as more than just another interviewee. Be careful, though, a smart interviewer may turn the question right back to you!

  

This is not an exhaustive list but it gives you a flavor for how to ask questions that help you meet your needs and how to get the most out of an interview.

Earning, and Working for Two...Rooms

In my last post, I mentioned that when you are self-employed you need to earn enough to support two:  you and your business. Roughly speaking, half your earnings go to you and half go to your business.

Continuing the "2" theme: if you think of your business as a house, it's a house with two rooms -- the first room is your practice room. The second room is your office. You need to spend time, energy, and money in both rooms.

 

In the practice room, you spend your time, energy, and money on being the best massage therapist you can be. In your office, you spend time, energy, and money being the best business owner you can be.

 

How are your energies currently being divided between these two rooms? If I were to guess, a lot of MTs probably split their time 95 / 5:  95% of their time, energy, and money are devoted to being a good massage therapist; 5% are spent on being a good business owner.

 

In my experience, a more useful split would be 80 / 20. If you're just starting out, it might be more like 60 / 40, maybe even 50 / 50.  You may be able get away with 90 / 10 if you have a mature practice full of repeat clients who never leave you. But it's never going to be 100 / 0 (or even 95 / 5) if you want to be truly proficient in both sides of the house.

 

What does it mean to devote 20% of your time, energy, and money to your business?

 

In a 40-hour week, spend about 8 hours on your business. That includes doing your bookkeeping, updating a website, writing a newsletter, doing the laundry (sigh), buying supplies, reading trade pubs, etc.

 

If you spend, say, $1,000 a year on continuing education, set aside at least $200 for business-related workshops.

 

When you dream about your ideal practice, remember to imagine what the business side looks like too!

 

If you go to a conference offering workshops, take at least one business-related workshop (if they're offered). If you organize those conferences, make sure you offer business courses.

 

Spend at least one weekend a year on a business retreat. What would you do there? Close out your books for the year and get them ready for filing taxes. Update your business plan for the coming year. Begin writing a business plan! Evaluate how you did meeting your goals for last year. Decide what continuing ed you'll take in the coming year. Catch up on your massage magazines. Finish reading that massage book you bought at your last conference. Get a massage. That sort of thing.

 

See how I'm thinking about this? Running your business happens every day. Making time, energy, and money available to become a better business person needs to be part of your regular schedule as well.

Now on to a more self-serving note....

If you find taxes, bookkeeping, or marketing (important business-owner kind of activities) baffling, The Healing Core is offering two workshops to help you:

Taxes & Bookkeeping for The Healing Arts Professional (early bird discount ends in a week)

One Year To A Successful Massage Therapy Practice (which is all about marketing)

Both are taught for massage therapists by massage therapists. Signing up for either can be a first step in getting your 80 / 20 lined up properly.

Did You Hear About Massage Envy.....?

Our clients often presume we are the Masters of Mellow. But then, most of them have never seen us get into a conversation with each other about Massage Envy. In case you have somehow missed the buzz, Massage Envy is a national corporation that sells franchises. These franchises offer mostly massage therapy but sometimes they will also offer some spa services.

Massage Envy -- at least in the DC area -- prices their massages at $65 (which is 20-25% below what most individual practitioners charge). They also offer "memberships" through which clients can get even better price breaks, especially if they book massages more often than once a month. They advertise broadly and are active in the massage industry at the regional and national level.

So, what makes your average self-employed MT get so nutty when we talk about them? It comes down to two things, based on my conversations with MTs:

• Rumors about how they treat their MTs
• Fears that their size and influence will put the rest of us (solo practitioners) out of business.

I'd heard all the stories and I've had a mostly disdainful view of Massage Envy for years. Then I learned that a massage school classmate, who I respect, was working for a local Massage Envy franchise and was their new massage therapist manager. Well, damn.....

I had two choices: think less of my classmate, Carla Lawson, or learn more about Massage Envy. I called Carla and asked if I could come out to talk to her and get the lowdown on Massage Envy. I warned her that I specifically was hoping to write a blog post based on our conversation.

She agreed. I met with her and the franchise manager for about an hour. I also ran into an MT buddy I haven't seen in a while and she talked to me about her experience working there.

Let me go ahead and lay bare my conclusions before I get to the details:  Massage Envy is not the spawn of Satan. I don't believe they intentionally plan on driving the rest of us out of business but they do have an aggressive corporate plan for growth. They represent a distinct sea change in the business of massage. I am probably not a good candidate to work at a Massage Envy because of some core personality traits but it can be a good deal for the right therapist.

So, let's take a look at some facts about Massage Envy. In fact, let's start with the one that horrifies most of us the most.

Rumor: Massage Envy only pays an MT $15 - $20 per massage!

Fact: True but.....

Let's start with a crucial difference between an MT working at Massage Envy and an MT working for, say, the local group practice -- Massage Envy has employees; the local group practice has independent contractors. You cannot compare the two directly because they are fundamentally different.

As an independent contractor I have to support both myself and my massage practice. In addition to paying my home mortgage and buying groceries and dropping a little something in the offering plate on Sunday, I need to buy sheets and tables and linens and oils, and possibly my own health and disability insurance. I need to pay 100% of my social security contribution and pay for web hosting and business cards, flyers, and brochures, etc. I am supporting two on my massage income: Kelly Bowers and Kelly Bowers' massage practice.

An employee gets to take almost everything they make home for themselves (I don't think Massage Envy picks up the tab for license renewals; a given franchise may offer some assistance with continuing education). Plus, of course, the employee is only paying 50% of their social security contribution.

In my previous life as a tech writer, there was a rule-of-thumb for calculating how much you needed to charge as a contractor to match what you made as an employee:  twice as much. If I made $60,000 as an employee (about $29 / hour), I needed to charge at least $58 / hour as a contractor to come out roughly even.

I did some number-crunching on my own earnings and profits as a massage therapist for about 5 years and I'd say that's still a decent rule of thumb – about half of my businesses income goes to support the business so my “salary” is actually about half what my practice brings in.

If my solo practitioner/independent contractor massage practice makes $45,000 a year, I could make $23,000 a year as an employee and still be in roughly the same financial shape at the end of the day / week / month / year (it's tough to do an actual head-to-head comparison; hence the roughly).

And, of course, an employee doesn't need to spend the time and energy doing the bookkeeping, marketing, quarterly tax filings, scheduling, etc. etc. etc. that eats up so much of our weeks.

Interesting factoid: individual franchise owners have a lot of leeway about how they balance pay and benefits to MTs. Rumor has it the Massage Envy franchise in Bethesda pays up to $40 per massage! I'm curious if they offer the same or fewer benefits than the Herndon franchise.

Interesting factoid: the full-time MT employees (at least in Herndon) are offered medical benefits and paid leave. You have to work 32 hours a week to be considered full-time and eligible for the benefits. According to my classmate, most of the 30 MTs at the Herndon franchise are considered full-time.

Interesting factoid: Massage Envy actively encourages customers to tip. According to my classmate, she receives tips for virtually all of her sessions and they can easily be as much as she makes in wages. MTs keep 100% of their tips. Which makes her actual "per massage" rate more like $30 - $40.

Interesting factoid: you still get paid the same amount when a client cancels at the last minute or is a no-show.

Rumor: Massage Envy makes you "push product".

Fact: Maybe, depending on the franchise

Here's an important thing to know about Massage Envy -- because they are franchises, the individual franchise/location owner has a lot of leeway in how they run their franchise. Massage-only or massage + spa services?  Big benefits or big pay?  (One thing is always true: Massage Envy does not offer energy work and they are not interested in offering energy work)  If you're in a franchise that also has a significant spa services side, you may or may not be expected to support that side of the house too.

It really does depend on the franchise owner. The Herndon franchise has a great reputation, even among other local Massage Envy franchises, and regularly has MTs leaving other Massage Envy franchises to sign on with Herndon.

While the customer may have a fairly consistent experience from one franchise to another, the working reality is going to depend heavily on the franchise owner (and, of course, the on-site managers).

Rumor: Massage Envy is full of new MTs with little experience (who don't know any better).

Fact: Depends on the franchise

Of the 30 or so MTs at the Herndon franchise, at least 1/3 of them have been in practice 10 years or more, including Carla and the MT buddy I ran into on my way out. Fewer than 10% of their MTs have been practicing 2 years or less.

Rumor: Once an MT gets good, they leave Massage Envy. If you find an MT you like, they won't be there in a year.

Fact: Depends on the franchise.

Carla has been at the Herndon franchise for several years. She started as an MT and moved up into management, which is something you can do if you have such aspirations. "Part of what drew me to the company was that there were places to go beyond practicing massage. Let's fact it, I'm not getting any younger and one day the hands are going to want out."

Some of the other things that attracted Carla to Massage Envy was the stability of the operation and the price of the massages. She was uncomfortable working in places where the price of the massage was so high she, as a massage therapist, wouldn't have been able to afford it! "Somebody like me could afford to come here," she said.

Rumor: You have to do 50-minute sessions and see clients on the hour.

Fact: True

Yes, they do "50 minute" hours and you have 10 minutes between clients. The front office staff takes care of the health history form and answers any initial questions the clients may have but you’ve still only got 50 minutes with them. Carla says that takes some MTs some time to get used to because it's not negotiable.

Frankly, that would drive me nuts but I am the Queen of the Long Intake.

Rumor: You have to work long hours without a break

Fact:  False

Most MTs, at least at Herndon, take a break after 2 or 3 clients. They can also take more or fewer breaks if they want to.

Rumor: MTs are expected to see an absurd number of clients in a day.

Fact: False

Carla says (again, at least at Herndon) they have an on-going challenge with new hires who insist they can "power through" 6, 7, 8, or 9 clients a day. They actively discourage MTs from doing that because they know it won't work. But because the employees have a certain freedom to fill up their schedule as much as they can, management will sometimes say "OK, give it a try" but they usually find the MT themselves backs off for their own health and welfare.

As Carla showed me around the facility after our conversation, I ran into an MT buddy I haven't seen in a few years. She walked out with me and we talked on the sidewalk for another 15 minutes afterwards.

She graduated from PMTI in the early 90s and had a private practice (combo of home, corporate, and a yoga studio) for years. About 5 years ago she decided to step away from massage for a while. She started going to the Herndon Massage Envy to get bodywork for herself and enjoyed it. She found herself on the table one day thinking "Gosh, I miss doing massage..." and at the end of her session talked to the manager about coming to work there. She's been there for 2 years and loves it.

She says she works 3 days a week, which makes her part-time, and makes $32,000 per year, which is the average for a full-time massage therapist in the DC region according to the American Massage Therapy Association.

Best of all, after more than 15 years of self-employment, she is intensely grateful for the chance to do what she loves and still have the time and energy for the rest of her life. She is keenly aware of all the behind-the-scenes work it takes to run a healthy practice (the stuff our clients rarely see) and she's happy to no long have to do that.

I appreciate her viewpoint and I'm envious of her ability to just go in, do her work, and go home. I know, however, that I would be a bad fit for a Massage Envy. First of all, the 50-minute hour would drive me bananas. Then there's my fundamental temperament....

The Spring 2012 issue of the AMTA Journal carried an article by Jean Bailey, "The Separate Selves". In this article Jean explored the 3 aspects of our personalities that we need to run a massage practice:

• Entrepreneur (the part of us with ideas! and visions! and a desire to build something! and create things!)

• Technician (the part of ourselves who wants to be better and better at what we do and wishes we could just ignore the rest of it)

• Manager (the part of ourselves that deals with all the behind-the-scenes stuff and enjoys organizing, scheduling, analyzing, etc.)

We are usually strongest in one area but it's important, if we're self-employed, to be at least competent in all three.

It strikes me that the Technician could really thrive in a well-run Massage Envy franchise. They can expend their energy on honing their craft and ignore the rest of it. Me, I'm all Entrepreneur and that wouldn’t be a good fit for a Massage Envy.

In fact, Carla says that the ideal MT for them is someone who cares deeply about clients, has a strong sense of professional identity, and isn't in it just for the money (the Technician). Their biggest challenge is MTs who have trouble being on time and sticking to the schedule (weak as Manager).

I'll say it again:  Massage Envy isn't for everyone. It's not for me. But for some MTs, it could be a good thing.