So, I just finished a cruise, and I was expecting to have at least 3 or 4 YouTube videos to show you about the life of a massage therapist on a cruise ship, but I have nothing.
Why?
Because I’m dumb.
I thought that I would get on the cruise ship, walk up to the spa and talk to a massage therapist.
Boom.
But, alas, I walked away boom-less.
It didn’t dawn on me that my idea of interviewing a massage therapist on a cruise ship was like thinking I’d be able to interview Goofy at Disney World with no clearance from the corporate gods above.
Hey there, Goofy, glad to meet you. What’s that? Minnie Mouse is fooling around with Donald Duck, and Pluto showed up trashed at the parade. Can you speak louder into the mic?
Uh, that ain’t happening.
Disney has a brand to protect.
They can’t have an AWOL Goofy bad mouthing their shebang.
And a cruise line is not going to risk having a disgruntled massage therapist airing out her frustrations on my YouTube channel, even though I promised to ask nice questions.
So, the spa manager on the cruise ship basically “lost my paperwork” by saying she would check with corporate and that they’d get back to me if it was a go.
Surprise, surprise, they never got back to me.
By the way, if the interview had happened it would have been so watered down that it wouldn’t have been worth it–which brings me to this: If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m not a corporate kind of guy.
Are You a Work for Yourself-er?
I understand where they’re coming from. They have a lot of legal and image things to worry about.
My objection about working for a big business comes from my gut, from who I am.
I don’t want to wear a company shirt unless it’s my company shirt.
I don’t want to park in an employee space unless it’s my company’s designated space.
And I’m not going tell Sally that she has to pay extra for a deep pressure massage because for one, that’s an arbitrary distinction, and two, Sally’s deep pressure happened to equal my light pressure. (Not saying that happened when I was working for a massage spa.)
The bottom-line is that I’m basically un-hirable.
That means I better be ready to fend for myself.
Fending for Yourself in Stages
I’m not going to sugarcoat things, fending for yourself is scary. But I can make it less scary.
How?
By giving you this tip: Fend for yourself in stages.
In other words, don’t go completely out on your own all at once. Do it in stages.
Here’s what I did. First, I worked for a chiropractor. Then I saw some clients on the side in my apartment as I continued to work for the chiropractor. About a year or so later I went out on my own and had my first office in a fitness center.
Feeling a little better about where you’re at now?
You’re not stuck; you’re in a stage.
You’re not procrastinating; you’re being circumspective (and procrastinating a little…lol).
When you work into “being on your own” in stages you have a chance to build solid referral sources which will keep your business cranking.
By the way, here’s how you build referral sources: How to Build Referral Machines.
Do More Than Just Massage
Along with staging your way into working for yourself, here’s something else to consider: You don’t only have to be doing massage to be on your own.
Once I was doing 70% “massage on my own” and 30% “personal training on my own”.
Another time in my life I was doing 60% “massage on my own” and 40% “business development for a business that wasn’t mine”.
The feeling I had in both situations was a feeling of independence–that I was calling the shots. In the 60/40 scenario, I knew that if the part-time business development gig didn’t work out, I’d simply have to get more clients or find another part-time job.
Are you getting jacked?
Then you’re probably not built to work for the man/woman.
Are you jacked and nervous?
Then you’re probably going to be a successful working-for-yourself-er as long as you accept that working for yourself comes in many flavors and is not always a straight line.
Here’s one more thing you’ll need: A plan.
