Remember when you first started on your massage career journey?

You were going to have a big, fat client book, steady money, and you were always going to be flying high because you were getting good mojo from helping people.

And then what happened?

Well, you developed a following, but you needed 3 or 4 more clients a week to be good. Money was up and down. And some clients drained the life out of you while others hurt your body.

Is that about right?

Be honest.

Honesty hurts. But brutal honest is the place to start if you want to fix your massage career.

So, let’s be brutally honest.

Massage is hard.

But so are most occupations, right?

Plumbers have to crawl into spaces we’d never want to crawl into.

Psychologists have to listen to other peoples’ problems then deal with their own problems.

Executives have to travel and spend time away from their families.

Massage is hard but not harder than most occupations.

Fix Your Massage Career Step #1

So, the first step to fixing your massage career is to simply accept the fact that massage is hard work.

Fix Your Massage Career Step #2

The next step is to accept that “more” is even harder.

More?

As in make more money.

Get more clients.

Find a place that values you as an employee.

Work with a segment of the population that makes you feel fulfilled.

Teach massage.

Start a massage business.

Grow a massage business.

Become the manager of a massage business.

Work as a massage therapist in a resort at your favorite vacation place.

Add a side gig to your massage career.

Become an authority on a particular type of massage.

Write for a massage magazine.

Write a massage book.

Have a massage podcast.

Have a massage blog.

Build a second career from your massage career.

Go away for 3 months and come back to your massage practice.

These massage career goals are in your grasp if you (1) accept that massage is hard, (2) accept that “more” is harder AND accept a third condition: (3) Pressure and discomfort are good things.

Fix Your Massage Career Step #3

Accepting pressure and discomfort as a positive force was my biggest stumbling block to experiencing “more” in my massage career.

Fresh out of massage school I had this notion that a job where I was helping people was going to be easy.

I quickly learned it wasn’t. At the end of a long day my body hurt and the money wasn’t there.

I wanted more.

So I went out on my own.

But I had no money to advertise.

That meant I needed to hustle.

Hustle?

Do demo massages for free.

Do talks and special events for free.

I did that. But then I felt like I was getting used because the free massage I was doing was only netting a few clients. By the way, rent was due.

So what did I do?

I bailed on the massage marketing and I grabbed some personal training clients.

At the end of the day, the pressure was off and the discomfort had temporarily subsided.

But what had I lost out on?

Actualizing the dream of having a massage business that actually met my needs and provided me with other business options down the road.

Later on in my massage career I learned that if I had stuck with my free massage marketing strategy, I would’ve seen a strong return after 2 or 3 months.

Here’s a recent example of how accepting the conditions of (1) massage is hard, (2) more is even harder, are (3) pressure and discomfort are good can work to advance your massage career.

A while back, my wife, Lisa, and I traveled to Seattle, 2,821 miles away, to teach 3 courses during the beginning of this week at Oasis spa.

That distance was a first for us. And it was a major stretch since we had just opened up another massage office 3 weeks prior to the Seattle trip.

Let me tell you, there were tantrums, panic attacks and I pulled my hair out.

Okay, the hair was already long gone.

But we stuck it out because we knew that the discomfort and extreme pressure were temporary conditions.

And if we had stopped short we wouldn’t have known if the pain was worth the experience to be gained.

By the way, it was.

Okay, so as you noticed there wasn’t a lot of cheerleading going on in this piece.

Why?

Because cheerleading alone won’t get you “more”.

You need to accept that…

1. Massage is hard.
2. More is harder.
3. Pressure is good.

Then push on.

Need more help with your massage business?

Get a massage business off the ground with this free course: Jumpstart.

Take your current massage business to the next level with this program: Accelerator.

Join my email group.

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It’s free.

 

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