How do you succeed as a massage therapist?
At the core it’s pretty basic. You…
(1) do a good massage
(2) stay out of pain, and
(3) get your name out there.
Do a Good Massage
Doing a good massage is obvious, right?
Do meh-massage and you won’t be able to build a business or keep a massage job.
Number two–stay out of pain–is less obvious.
Stay Out of Pain
In fact, it often sneaks up on us, MTs.
The right thumbs starts to ache a little.
You ignore it the first week.
The second week you can’t.
Week three you get grumpy.
And by week four you’re wondering if this is your new status quo.
If pain and doing a good massage don’t trip you up to succeeding as a massage therapist, then getting your name out there probably will.
Get Your Name Out There
You know, on second thought, Mark, let’s go back to talking about doing a good massage—
Wait!
That’s exactly what I’m talking about.
When you’re not making enough money to make ends meet, you automatically go back to taking more courses on techniques and modalities, thinking more knowledge and skill will translate into more clients.
Has it?
My guess is that the answer is more meh. You got a few more clients, but you probably need a ton more.
Falling back on honing your craft is safe and easy.
Getting your name out there makes you pee your pants.
We’ll take care of you peeing your pants in a minute.
But let’s not jump the gun. Let’s figure out what you need to work on first so that you can succeed as a massage therapist.
How to Succeed as Massage Therapist Checklist
So, how is your massage?
Do you feel confident with your work?
If not, go here: How to Take My Clients.
Next, are you in pain when doing massage?
If so, it’s probably stopping you from taking on more clients.
Try this for starters: Table Height is Everything.
If your massage is good and you’re not in pain or worried about being in pain then it’s time to tackle the toughest thing for most MTs to do: Get your name out there.
Are you hyperventilating?
Go ahead, get a paper bag to breathe into…I’ll wait…
Better?
Good.
Because I have something interesting to show you.
This is a rough bar graph of the percentage of my potential income achieved from doing massage over my 25+ year career.
The obvious striking aspect of this chart is the spike of income that happened in a couple years, between 20 and 25 years .
Why did it take me so long to actualize my full earning potential doing massage?
Well, it took me a few years to get confident with my massage.
Then around year 5 the pain crept in.
But in a relatively short period of time I figured out what I needed to do to deal with most of my pain issues.
So then why did I stay at the same income for the next 15-ish years?
Here’s why: I wasn’t good at getting my name out there.
Once I figured that out I experienced the biggest growth in my massage income over the shortest period of time in my massage career.
Succeed as a Massage Therapist Formula
So, what’s the secret sauce to getting your name out there?
Accepting the fact that you’re a runner.
Whenever you need to bring in more clients you’re gonna run to the CE course catalog.
When you do please do yourself a favor and pause.
Think about my graph.
Can you afford to wait 20 years before you start kicking some serious ass?
Work on getting your name out there right now.
It doesn’t have to be cheesy.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
You just have to stick with it.
Here’s how I got my name out there: Jumpstart. It’s a free course.
Let’s do this How to Succeed as a Massage Therapist thing one more time.
How to Succeed as a Massage Therapist Recap
You can realize your maximum earning potential when you…
(1) Do a good massage.
(2) Stay out of pain.
(3) Pee yourself…I mean get your name out there.
And if you need some guidance (pushing), go here.
