What was my biggest mistake in my massage career?
Wait, just one…I’ve got 4 screaming Pick me! Pick me!
Okay, just one.
Here’s my pick: Mission creep.
Specifically, I didn’t stay focused on building a massage business.
I kept chasing other business ideas instead.
Why did I chase other business ideas?
Because I wanted to be more than Mark massage.
I wanted to be Mark writer.
Mark audio history business owner.
Mark Renaissance person.
But there’s more to my mission creep than me just not wanting to be boxed in.
Though I wanted the independence of working for myself, being 100% responsible for bringing in the business scared the pee out of me.
That’s why a chunk of my massage career was punctuated with side jobs, like new business fitness center consultant and personal trainer.
Don’t get me wrong, having a job outside of massage is not a bad thing at all.
But a potential trap of adding another job is that you may be bailing on your massage career/business.
The Insidious Bail
The thing about bailing is that it’s sometimes hard to know when you’re actually doing it.
In my work life bailing wasn’t: I’m out of here!
It was more like: I can make a few extra bucks doing this.
The “this” paid some bills. And so I did more of “this”.
Meanwhile, the more I did “this”, the less time I had to get massage clients.
You see where this is going.
It’s a slow bail with an inevitable outcome—your massage door slowly closes.
Talk about a catch-22, right?
The additional job is paying bills and provides emotional security. But the additional job starts to pull you away from your massage career. And the next thing you know, you’re thinking about getting out of massage altogether because it’s not making you enough money.
At this point, it’s easy to jump to this question: So, how long should I try before I give up on the idea of having a successful massage business/career?
My answer: I have no idea.
Sure, you can set an arbitrary timeline around the question, but I don’t think that is going to put you anywhere closer to success.
There’s a better question to ask and it’s this: How hard should I try before I give up?
I have an answer for that one: Harder than you’ve ever tried.
Market and do massage until it hurts and then do it some more.
The Way “Hurt” Has Worked for Me
When I went all in with massage, I was forced to figure out the “bringing in more clients” thing.
And I did.
Here’s what I did.
Then when I had so many client that my arm went numb and my elbow wanted me out of command central, I was forced to figure out the body thing.
And I did.
Here’s how I did that. (Btw, another solution would be to hire people to work for you. We did that, too.)
The point is that you don’t get to be a successful parent unless you stay the course and work harder than you’ve ever thought you could so that you have the opportunity to figure out the challenges of parenting.
And you don’t get to have a successful massage business/career unless you work your butt off bringing in and working on clients.
The Price to Pay
Does avoiding mission creep, being focused on your massage business/career, mean you have to give up your free time?
Yes, but only for a very short period of time in the grand scheme of things.
Once you get your massage business/career to where you want it to be, you then have the freedom to create other revenue sources or use your time elsewhere.
Ask my massage therapist friend, Bobbi. She goes away 3 months of the year and returns to her massage business as if she had never left.
Is it Mission Creep or Time to Add an Additional Job?
So how do you tell the difference between mission creep and a legitimate need to add another job?
Well, first you need to ask yourself what part of your income do you want massage to represent? 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100%?
If it’s a 50% or below then obviously you need another job, too.
And if you’re hovering around the 75% plus range and you’re current massage income isn’t enough to pay the bills, then, yes, get that 2nd job.
But beware of mission creep because this is what’s going to happen next.
You’ll be dead tired from working that extra job and you’ll feel like you’re working hard enough to bring in clients, but the truth is you won’t be.
Accept the pain.
Do more.
By doing you’ll create the perfect environment for figuring out how to build a massage business/career that works for you.
Need more help bringing in clients?
If you’re starting your business or have a business that is making less than 30K, go here: Jumpstart.
If you have a business that is paying the bills, but you want to take it to the next level, go here: Accelerator.
