Every single massage therapist, no matter what the stage in their career has the opportunity to become a mentor to others in the profession or those considering careers in massage. If you are in massage school, you can take the lead in your class and help others and also share the process of going to massage school with others by blogging, creating a group at your school that gets together regularly to talk/study and go through the process together. If you are just graduating from massage school, you have the opportunity to help others who are just considering a career in massage and considering what school to choose by sharing your experience through blogging or in person consultations with others considering a career in massage or thinking about choosing the school you went to.
If you have just graduated and are looking for your first job, you can find others who are in the same situation and also share your experiences with others by blogging or writing articles in online websites. If you are just a year or two into a job, you can also be sharing what you learn with others.
If you are just starting out creating your own business or you have been in business for 10 years, it is important to be helping others and sharing your process.
In doing so, it is helping the profession create better massage therapists and helping the profession to grow.
The reason for sharing is that when you share and build connections and community and help others, you will also be helping yourself. You will also find others that can help you along the way. With so many ways to share now adays with Facebook, Google Plus hangouts and Skype, staying in touch can be what you need and based on what you are able to give. Going to the many conventions and massage festivals and conferences can also really be great for breaking the isolation of being a massage therapist. Connecting faces with real people can deepen your bonds and the support you get. When you share with others your struggles, concerns and successes, the process of becoming a successful massage therapist will get easier and easier for you and the many others you are connected to. The more support you get for yourself, the more you can help your clients! The more clients you can help!
Being a mentor is also a great way to add residual income to your career by creating a content rich website/blog for other massage therapists. You can get paid sponsors or sell affiliate products like books through amazon.com, Ebooks like the Couples Massage Training Course from Tiffany and Gary Blackden, and technical manuals on back pain and myofacsial pain like those from Paul Ingram.
The more you write you will also be developing your writing skills and thought processes that will eventually make enough for an Ebook. Anyone can publish a book these days through companies like Createspace.com which is print on demand publishing. ( Publish your book with CreateSpace: get high royalties, low book prices, and expanded distribution.) You can upload your files and get your book (s) listed on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com and when someone orders a book, it will be printed immediately. You don’t have to self publish and have 1000 books printed. They print them only when they are ordered! You can also put them for sale in a Kindle format and widen your reach.
When I first started out in the massage profession in 1987, there were not any resources, books, websites or much of anything on building a business, getting a job or how to do much of anything! I learned by sharing with friends and working in massage offices with other massage therapists. We learned by trial and error and often more with errors! We had to call each other on the phone back then – can you imagine? No internet, email, texting, cell phones…nothing! I did much alone! without any help or support. It took years to learn how to bill insurance and get paid. Now you can learn in a few months (See Insurance Billing 101 for Massage Therapists) or less and connect with others to get your questions answered. You can even re-sell that book and my other books on your website through Clickbank.com.