Want to experience life as an awesome bodyworker, helping people and changing lives? Here are my top 4 steps to achieve this goal. Enjoy!
Find your niche
An incredibly important part of your massage business is to specialize in a more exclusive corner of the market. Clients will naturally gravitate to massage therapists with unique specialties and you set yourself apart by having skills only shared by a few.
You may find that there are clients who you won’t be able to serve due to lacking the knowledge of every specialization, but that’s perfectly fine. You don’t need to know everything for every client that passes, instead, focus on attracting the right clients who will pick you for being awesome in your niche.
Trade often
The best way to improve at massage is to practice and experiment, however I wouldn’t recommend practicing brand new techniques on your clients. The greatest way to get this practice in is to constantly find yourself new bodyworkers to trade with!
Constantly cultivating several massage-trade contacts serves as not only beneficial practice for you, but also gives your finger on the pulse of what the best parts of massage are. By receiving bodywork, you remind yourself of why you do what you do and maintain motivation to help others feel the same way.
Work smarter, not harder
Don’t run your fingers to the bone! It is completely fine to raise your prices a bit, as long as it is within reason for the service provided. Charging your clients a price that reflects the value you are providing them serves as an equal exchange of energy which will leave both parties satisfied and the universe in balance.
In fact, an easy way to know if you are charging too little for your work is to research local prices. If you are the cheapest massage therapist in your area, that’s not a great sign. You want to be Apple, not Walmart. When you charge the cheapest price, your prospective clients will assume that you are providing the cheapest experience. You’ll find that they treat you accordingly and unsurprisingly, it affects your perception of your work as well.
Find someone who is ahead of you
Every day, you will face hundreds of thousands of negative sources trying to force their way into your ears and eyes, doing their damnedest to discourage and demoralize you from following your dreams. At times like these, it’s always good to have someone at your back to provide advice, encouragement, and knowledge.
Finding a good mentor or business coach is one of the best things you can do to help with your growing massage business. Investing in extra support from an expert who is familiar with the challenges you are currently facing will vastly improve your business and your results will definitely experience a quantum-leap forward!
That’s why I started Deegear Coaching and my Massage Success program, where we take these principles and apply them to the unique challenges you face in your practice. If you are interested in how I can help you avoid burnout, achieve happiness and success in your own business, you can reach me at [email protected] or join our Facebook group.
Afterward
You can be a badass therapist too! I hope you’ll take some time today to look at what you are doing now and where it is leading you. Ask yourself where you want to go and who you want to be, so you can make that course correction necessary for achieving a happy & successful career.
This originally appeared on the MassagEric.com blog.
About Eric:
Eric has been a Licensed Massage Therapist since 2010. He is an expert healer with an alternative approach, and he is dedicated to helping my clients move through a wide range of physical, emotional, and spiritual transitions in the most efficient and transformative way possible. Now he coaches bodyworkers and health solopreneurs in their journey to fulfillment. Join expert therapists and experience massage community with his Facebook group: The Happy, Successful Massage Therapist.