Massage Marketing Mentor

Being your own boss…this is one of the most crucial things you must grasp if you are going to be successful in owning your own business.  I decided to write a post about this important, often overlooked factor in owning your own business after a few similar discussions with fellow massage therapists over the past few weeks.  It’s clear to me that one of the hardest things in owning your own business is often times finding the motivation or dedication to “be your own boss”.  I am realizing that in speaking to many therapists lately, this is a huge missing piece in the success of their businesses.

One of my discussions recently involved a massage therapist who was frustrated that after more than a year, his business still hadn’t brought in more than a few clients a week.  After our discussion it was clear to me that he hadn’t done much in terms of actually creating his business or even marketing.  Of course he had a business name, place of practice and website.  But he had yet to develop his niche, brand, and do more than 1-2 pieces of marketing to his community.  His website didn’t convey who he is as a massage therapist and what problems he can solve.  He also had yet to put up a photo of himself on his website.  The 2 pieces of marketing he had sent out over the last year, he just blindly sent out without target marketing a specific group or advertising that he solved a specific problem.  He just mailed out a few fliers to local businesses advertising himself as a massage therapist, without following up.

It was clear to me that he was lacking motivation to actually put in the hard work it takes in the beginning.  Something I can certainly relate to.  Because he wasn’t taking action and was just fumbling around waiting for people to magically show up I asked him “Would you be interested in being an employee of another business?” Perhaps a spa, chiropractic clinic or medical office would better suit him.  A place where he could go and not worry about marketing, websites, niches or brands.  A place where he could just go and be booked consistently with clients without the hassles of business ownership.  His answer to me was “No, I don’t want to work for anyone else…I don’t want a boss”.

This was my “ah-ha” moment!  You see, no matter what we ALWAYS have to have a boss or manager in our lives when it comes to our jobs or careers.  To be successful in your job or career, whether you are self employed or not, there are tasks that are required to keep your job or business flowing and sustainable.  If he was an employee of a company, and the requirements of his job were to go through the process of creating his own massage therapy practice, he would probably be terminated by now.  What boss or manager is going to be OK with an employee coming to work daily and not taking action towards his job requirements? I realized during that moment that either he hadn’t grasped the concept of this, or he was never actually pointed in the right direction on how to get started.

By no means do I tell this story to put him down or criticize him in any way.  On the contrary, I without a doubt realize this his problem is a very common problem and I wanted to use his story to convey something many massage therapists face when deciding to go into business for themselves, myself included.

Make no mistake, one of the hardest things in being self employed is the getting started and creating a system for yourself part.  It can be hard when you don’t have a boss telling you what to do day in and day out.  But if you are getting into business for yourself because you don’t want a boss, YOU need to become your own boss.  There is no way around it!  You need to create your own website, brand your business, choose a niche to market to, network with other business owners, provide world class customer service,  generate referrals from your existing clients, create and email or mail out newsletters, reactivate clients that you haven’t seen in awhile by contacting them, manage payments, etc.

My intention in writing this post today is to help you find some direction.  While this next sentence may come across as harsh, it just might save you some frustration and wasted time in the long run.  If you aren’t willing to take accountability for your own self, you have no business in owning your own business! I mean that in the most caring of ways.  Not everyone is cut out to be self employed…and that’s OK!  Really it is!  But if you have a dream to own your own business, you MUST take action on a regular basis and stop doing nothing.  You must follow the advice of the leaders in the field of massage therapy who are here to help you.  You must find a mentor in your community and study their actions.  You must begin to educate yourself on the fundamentals of business ownership.  It’s OK that you don’t know anything when you start out.  I certainly didn’t!  But I studied and took action! Really that is all that it takes.  Study and implement the things you are learning.

Make sure you take it one task at a time.  It’s natural to not do anything when you look at the huge, daunting task in front of you.  You must take action each day, even if it’s only for 30 minutes.  Think of how much you will be able to accomplish over the next 6-8 weeks if you take action every day.

If you haven’t yet signed up for the free training I have on my website, make sure you do so.  Many of the questions I get asked on a regular basis, I cover in the training.  It’s over an hour of basic fundamentals to tackle when starting your massage business.  It will help give you a clear start on where to begin if you are unsure.  And if there is anything left out of the training that you need clarification on, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

One last bit of encouragement…Don’t give up on yourself if you feel stuck, lost, confused or overwhelmed.  Each successful person has gone through the exact same emotions.  Reach out to your leaders and mentors.  And remember, you are your own boss.  Enjoy it…it’s a beautiful thing!

To your success,

Ann Ross

P.S. If you are a successful massage therapist and you have any suggestions for people that are struggling with taking action, we’d love to hear your feedback.