When’s the last time you took a massage business course?

Hey, I get it. I once avoided them like the plague.

For one, I wasn’t so interested in being business-y, especially when I thought being business-y meant that I had to be a jerk.

Two, my brain just didn’t think in terms of “business”. It thought in terms of “massage”. Sorry world, deal with it.

Three, I always needed to improve my massage skills and knowledge. After all, the better I got doing massage, the more clients I would have.

My massage brain ran the show. But guess what?

It didn’t work out so well for me.

Why not?

Money.

As in, I didn’t make enough.

The Case for Taking a Massage Business Course

At some point in massage we all face the money thing. We love massage, but where’s the money?

Believe it or not, it’s out there.

And if you’re not making the money you want to make it’s because you’re not approaching massage from a business perspective.

This is soooo fixable.

Let’s start by examining the massage brain we all possess.

Changing Our Massage Brains

1. First, you don’t have to be a jerk to be business-y.

Uh, remember Enron and Lehman Brothers, Mark?

They were jerks. But you’re not. I’m not. Millions of other businesses aren’t. Jerk-y is a choice. We’ll never be that and no one will ever make us that. Period. End of story.

2. Next, massage brain says I can’t learn this business stuff.

And besides, experts say to focus on what you’re good at—that’s why I stick to massaging clients.

That’s easy to say if you’re not a one person show. But when your livelihood depends on just you, you better learn how to bring in clients.

By the way, learning the business stuff won’t be as bad as you think it will be for this reason: You just need to be competent at the business stuff, not great at it.

I manage our one office in Phoenixville.

Is it my strong suit?

Absolutely not.

Did I learn enough to make it work?

Yes.

Will I hand that managing baton to someone else as we grow so that I can focus on what I’m good at?

Can’t wait for that day:-)

The point is that you may not like a business job, but you can learn to be competent at that job with a little work.

Last massage brain hurdle and it’s a biggie.

3. Massage brain says you have to prioritize improving your skills over everything else.

Staying on your game is really important, BUT it’s a big, fat mistake if improving your skill is your only plan to bring in more clients.

I know this firsthand. When I became certified in neuromuscular massage I thought my office at the gym was going to explode with clients.

Not even a little bang.

The fact is that more knowledge may help you to do a better massage, but it isn’t the key to bringing in clients.

What is?

Marketing.

Time to Get Business-y

I think this article is a really good place to get your feet wet with marketing. Though it’s not a  massage business course, it has very practical advice about marketing for us massage brain people.

Oh, you’re sad.

Don’t be.

We’re not trying to turn you into Warren Buffet here. You just have to get competent with doing business-y things, like bringing in clients.

You can take a massage business course.

You can read my article.

You can read other peoples’ articles.

Just take a step in the business direction. And at some point more clients will start coming in.

Once that happens you’ll never want massage brain running the whole show again because you’ll have more money AND you’ll have the security of knowing that you can bring in clients consistently and forever:-)

Free Getting Your Business Off The Ground Course

If you want a jump start with the business stuff, check out my free Jumpstart course.

And if you want need to take your business to the next level, go here: Accelerator.