Massage Business Basics

Starting Simply – Share office space

March 24, 2020 By Julie Onofrio Leave a Comment

Starting a massage business on a shoestring budget is usually a good way to go when you are just starting your massage business. You don’t really have to find your own office space and take on all of the expenses of overhead. It is much easier to just find an office space that you can share with already established massage therapists or other health care providers. That way you can share the expense which should be much less than renting an empty office space on your own.

Searching for your space

To start with think about what type of office space you would like to be working in. Are you more clinically minded or more of a spa type of massage therapist? What do you envision your space to look like and what will the people be like that you work with? This is really important in finding a good match. Sometimes you don’t know though right off the bat and you may need to try different situations so that you can find out what you don’t want.

Think about the area of town that you want to be in. Do you want to work in a downtown area with a high population density or in the suburbs where the population density is less? The biggest thing to look at would be accessibility and client safety. Would people feel safe coming and going at night in the dark? Consider your travel time and efforts needed to get to the office since you will be going frequently. How far away from home do you want to be?

Once you narrow down an area of town start looking at different offices of massage therapists already there. Next look at other alternative professionals – Naturopaths, Acupuncturists and Chiropractors. Chiropractors are one of the most obvious places as they usually are very open to massage. Many often hire massage therapists to work there as an employee or subcontractor. They might be open to just letting you rent space from them if you can show them how it would help their business.

Interview the Person you are thinking of renting from

It is also important to really interview someone you are considering renting space from. You might want to go in first as a client and receive their work and see if you like what they are doing. Take a look at things like:

What are their hours of operation and how it might affect you and your available time?
What is the size of the room available – make sure it is big enough to put the massage table in and have enough room around you to work.
What are the other practitioners’ policies and procedures are on things like late fees, no shows and such to see if they are compatible with yours since you might be sharing clients.
What is their philosophy on healing and providing care?
How do they treat clients?
What office furniture and equipment can you share? Fax machines, phone, answering service, receptionist, copiers, computer, billing software.
Will they promote your business? Will you be able to promote their business?
Can you share in marketing projects, health fairs, chamber of commerce memberships, phone book and online advertising?
Can you share a website or do you need to get your own?

While you can’t always know all of the details and how it will be the main thing to figure out is can you work with this person (or people) around?

Some places to consider looking at:

Other Massage Offices
Hair Salons
Massage Franchises/Spas- they might actually rent you a room if they are slow
Acupuncturists
Chiropractors
Dentists
Physical Therapy Offices
Naturopaths
Doctors Office
Psychologist’s office

Figure out what you will need in an office space:

Website – shared or your own? Your website needs to work.
Large enough room to work comfortably
Parking for clients and you
A mentor to work with
Who will supply the massage table?
What will you pay in rent and when will you pay rent?
How long will your lease be for?
What other expenses will there be – laundry, utilities?

Summary:

Create a vision for your ideal office space including location, people to work with and your potential client base.
Start visiting various places that fit the vision. Go in as a client first if you can to see how they work.
Ask if they have office space for rent.
Draw up a rental agreement/contract that outlines everything specifically as to who is responsible for what. Don’t overlook this even if you are friends!
Get the support that you need in the form of a mentor and supervisor.

The gift of selling massage gift certificates

November 16, 2018 By Julie Onofrio 1 Comment

Selling massage gift certificates can help to get you new clients as well as providing a influx of cash especially though holidays like Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

There are some things that you need to know about selling gift certificates that can help you take advantage of the holidays to help build your massage business.

The first thing you need to know about selling gift certificates is that you have to know what the gift certificate laws are in your state from the National State Legislators. The thing you need to figure out is what expiration date can you have and what happens to the gift certificate when no one claims them. There are a few state laws that said the GC became the property of the state after a certain time. That is why you need to keep up on the laws regarding Gift Certificates and Gift Cards. If you have any questions, be sure to contact your state Attorney General’s office.

After you have figured out your legal obligations, the next thing is to get a GC printed or find a company to buy them from. ABMP has some free ones available in the members only section. (Not sure about AMTA but they might too.) You will also want to have your GC available for people to purchase online. You can add them to your own website or use one of the many services to sell them for you. There are a few companies that will also promote your gift certificates to stores that they are associated with like www.spaboom.com, www.thegiftcardcafe.com and www.spafinder.com. Be sure to have all of your contact information on your GC and have a space for the recipients name and givers name and the service they are buying. Have your website address.

You will also need some kind of system to track the sales of GC to make sure people don’t try to use them twice or do something like that. (I have never had a problem.) You will also need to figure out how to keep your income balanced when you sell a lot of GC at one time like Christmas. You will be getting quite a bit of money coming in and you will be having to do the massages during the next year which means you won’t get income then. Putting the GC funds in an account where you can then pay yourself (or employee) when the Gift is actually used can help. It will also take time away from your schedule later when the gifts are used so you have to take that into consideration.

Some of the other things you will need to do is figure out how to promote and sell gift certificates to your clients. Here are some ideas:

Have a display set up in your office in the massage room or lobby.
Have signs up in other local businesses near you or in health clubs or health food stores.
Ask clients when they get a massage if they have family members who might like a massage gift certificate.
Be talking to your current clients about the gift certificates.
If you can’t have an expiration date on the gift certificate/card, consider using terminology that helps recipients remember to use them like for best results use before July 4 or something like that.
Try different promotions like buy 2 get 1/2 hour free or something like that. Be careful with discounts and BYGO offers! You may be overwhelmed with them in the new year! (if you bill insurance and are offering clients a discount, you have to offer it to the insurance companies too.)
Create an OFFER on Facebook.
Set a goal for how many you would like to sell for a specific holiday and work to achieve that.
Find other health care providers that may be interested in selling your gift certificates offering them a fee to do so.
Have an affiliate program set up on your website so that others can link to and promote your GC and get paid a referral fee for a sale.
Use Google Adwords to advertise your business and Gift Certificates
Use your Google Local or Yahoo Local listing to offer coupons for buying gift certificates
Make it easy for people to buy and receive the GC. You can do that through your website or GC service and mail them directly or have them be able to print out a GC on their own to give at the last minute
Give regular clients a stack of GC to use and give to people when they want and just send them a bill when the GC is redeemed.
Try selling smaller time frames like the 1/2 hour massage to make it more affordable.
Give a very special discounted rate to your current clients and set up rules like they discounted gift can be only used by first time clients.
Sell Gift packages like buy 5 or 10 and get one free or save a significant amount.
Send letters to doctors offices, lawyers that you work with or other businesses that you work with as they might be interested in buying them for their office. (I once had an office of lawyers who offered their employees a choice of gifts and I got myself on the list of options. I also had a few business owners just buy a series for everyone in their office = Big $$$)
Send letters out to your mailing list or email list to tell them about buying GC and try different offers. Send more than once! Send until you get the results you want testing various offers. (But don’t make them sick of you!)
Tell all your regular clients about GC when they come in. They usually love to refer people to you and will like to give them to their friends as gifts.
Create a special offer for people but for order for them to get it they have to give you their email address or sign up on your Facebook Fan Page (or something like that.)
Use Facebook and Twitter to promote Gift Certificates
Try all of these things again. That is one of the biggest things with MT – they think that just because they tried it once and it didn’t get any clients that it won’t work. Just change the offer or change the wording a little until it does work.
Create a couples massage class and sell them through gift certificates.
Run a groupon offer.

Another thing to remember is that many or even most gift certificates are not redeemed leaving you with the cash. That can be good because you have the cash but it can also be detrimental because you lost the chance of getting a new regular client. It may also be a problem if the law in your state says that you have to turn the GC over to the state after a certain period of time. Create a follow up plan to contact the people who got the gift certificates. You will need to track who is getting them from whom. Sometimes whoever bought them might ask you if so and so came in and used their gift certificate. You can’t give out that information because of HIPAA and other privacy laws.

Also be careful about contacting the recipient and not letting the person who bought them know that the person did or didn’t come in. It is important to protect people’s privacy even though they may be the one who bought the gift in the first place. You will have to decide when and how it is best to contact people.

When the gift certificates start being redeemed make sure you have a system to educate clients and work with them during the session to help them see the results of massage to turn them into a regular massage client. Your website is one way to do that by writing about what solutions you provide. Many people do not realize that massage can be helpful for things like carpal tunnel or back pain or injuries. Have a plan to convert GC clients into regular clients. Keep track of who is buying the certificates and if you can who will be receiving them so you can call or send reminder cards for them to come in and get their massage.

To set up your website to sell gifts you can just use Paypal. You will need a business account so that you can create a buy now button. They take you through the steps of creating the button and you can select custom directions so people can leave their address so that you can mail them out. If you want to be able to have the printed out directly I recommend that you use www.thegiftcardcafe.com. They are easy to use and implement into your website. Just sign up and follow the step by step directions. You only pay when someone orders a GC.

Another idea is to honor other people’s gift certificates especially when/if they are expired because you can convert them into a repeat client. Have a plan to create a repeat client out of every gift certificate redeemer. There are many ways to do that like getting a new client packet of info together and giving it to them. You could put articles about massage or your most recent newsletter in it. You can also buy little gifts like a small aromatherapy oil, soap or even just plain massage lotion. Follow up every appointment with a call, email or card and recap their session saying what areas you found were tight and what areas still need work. Talk about what solution you provide. Tell them what other conditions or diseases you work with. It also helps to have your intake skills down and ask the right questions so that you can get the client engaged in their massage as well as work with them to show them the results of the massage. Ask them about pain levels and restrictions of movement. Show them afterward how things have improved or ask them to show you.

Many people also buy gifts for other people when they really need the massage. You can do something like add an expiration date on the GC and then say if the person they give it to doesn’t redeem it by then, it will go back to the person who bought it.

Creating Regular Clients from Gift Certificate Sales

After the gift certificate is redeemed, you now also have the opportunity to get a regular client out of the offer. The way to do that is just the same really as working with any other client. Start with doing a thorough intake and understand their needs. Make sure you explain what you do and how it can help them. Find out if the ever get regular massage so you know what you are working with. If they have gotten regular massage, ask them if they are now and if they aren’t – why have they stopped. You can use this information to plan your session and follow up. Work with them during the massage to help them get a new awareness of just how the stress and tightness are affecting them in daily life.

The Downside of Selling Gift Certificates

Personally, I am not pushing Gift Certificates much at all these days. I have been listed on a large law firms Gift List that got me hundreds of gift certificate sales many years ago. I have sold gift certificates to owners of small law firms for them to give to all their employees. I have sold many over the last 30 years but frankly I am done with them.

So often the people buying the gift is really the person who wants the massage. That means a slew of unhappy people getting a massage when they would rather have the money or something else. So many gift certificates go unused because of that. Yes, you get to keep the money, but the client never comes in for the massage – I just don’t feel right about that. I know it is just the way business is done etc, but it just doesn’t sit well with me. I wait all year for the client to come in and they usually scramble to get in at the last minute before the gift certificate expires and then are frustrated when they can’t.

It is also hard to keep the money paid for the certificates in a separate account so it feels like I am doing a massage for free when they actually come in later. I know that may seem silly, but that’s just me of course.

I have had so many unhappy people on the massage table through the years also because of people giving the wrong gifts. These people also hardly ever become regular clients which is another reason for wanting to sell gift certificates.

It must just be me . Bahh humbug me.

**Buy these simple gift certificates through www.amazon.com**

Here are some other articles on selling massage gift certificates:

There are literally tons of opportunities for selling and promoting gift certificates especially for Christmas. What is your goal? How will you get there? What have you done that you have found works? Share your comments!

(originally posted in 2010 – updated 11/21/2016, updated 11/10/2018)

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The Value of Massage

August 30, 2018 By Julie Onofrio 2 Comments

It is no secret… the Value of Massage has been on a constant decline with the many massage franchises who keep lowering the price of massage creating the never ending price wars. $59.00 massages at Massage Envy, now $29 massages at Green Spa. $19 an hour at the Rub Club.

When will it ever end?

There will always be someone, somewhere who will go lower than that. Is the $1 massage on its’ way? (I seriously hope not!)

Who will win? No one actually. The business who is willing to go the lowest will usually prevail but it is usually the lower quality service. There are no winners.

Cutting prices also means you decrease the perceived value of a service. Customers will think “oh they are really low prices but what is wrong with them that they have to do that?”

When businesses keep dropping prices, they also have to cut their expenses and overhead. The first to go is usually the employee salaries and also cutting back on the time of the session to allow for more sessions to be done in one day. It is just basic business principles.

The low prices attract people who only care about the low price. They are loyal to the price, not necessarily to the place. They may not really understand the true value of massage. The massage that they often receive at a low cost massage place, is also compromised by the fact that the employee is paid less and there is less time allotted for the massage session and changing over the room for the next massage. A low paid employee is more likely to be unhappy as they can’t make a living and are worried about their families and income.

Separate Yourself from the Low Priced massage places

With the franchises and other places bashing each other around based on prices, the best thing is really to stay out of it all and focus on what you do best – providing the BEST massage experience that money can buy.

You will have to set yourself apart from others by showing that you are different. You can do that in a few different ways:

Find a specialized niche like a specific type of massage that is unique and very effective.
Add extra services like aromatherapy or special therapies that do not cost much to provide but will set you apart from others.
Make sure you provide a GREAT experience for your clients from start to finish – have a very professional website that people can easily find you through, have a direct and easy way to make and appointment or contact you to make an appointment, follow up with questions and appointments in a timely and professional manner, be on time for your appointments, give the most amazing massage ever, give the full hour and a few minutes extra if you can or want to, allow time in between clients to change to the next client, follow up with clients after the massage and ask them to rebook or ask them to send their friends and family members.
Your website is often the first point of contact for people so it really needs to be effective. It needs to be on the first page of Google so that people can find you easily. It needs to show them that you are the expert on massage in your area and that you are different from all of the low cost places out there. You do that by writing articles on massage. Here is a list of suggested ideas for website content.
Understand that your target market is different from the low cost places. Yes you have to target people who can afford you. It is about money.
Be committed to getting the word out about your business. Tell the world what you do and be proud to do so!

To all the franchise employees who are happily working there and doing your best to provide the BEST massage ever, this is not about YOU. I do challenge you to seek a higher paying job and see what it is like to work there and see if it changes what you do or how you give a massage.

Setting Your Massage Fees

May 31, 2018 By Julie Onofrio 3 Comments

Setting your massage fees is one of the most basic things yet the most complicated. You want to set your fees low enough so that you will get a steady stream of clients but not too high that you are not affordable by most people. You also want to be able to make a living, pay your bills and stay in business.

Setting fees brings up so many unconscious beliefs and thoughts because of all of the things that we have been taught about money. Money is the one place in the world where we project all of our beliefs about our self worth and value. Money is the one thing that everyone in the world has to deal with.

I was talking to a friend of mine who asked me if I knew any cheap massage therapists. She had been going to someone who was charging about $40-$50 an hour. That person apparently went out of business and had to go back into the corporate world to make a living. So was charging less than the national average of $65 a wise thing to do?

Many think that charging less will get them more clients. They start out charging less for their services because they think that they are right out of massage school and not very good so they need to charge less and attract more clients. While they may not be as experienced the value of massage is really relative to each clients perspective and may not have anything to do with how good of a massage therapist you are.

Charging less in the beginning may be a good incentive for people to come in. I recommend that as soon as your schedule is full to start charging more. Yes you may loose clients but the bottom line is that you need to be making enough to support yourself and your family. As you get busier you can be choosier about who you work on taking clients who pay you more.

Some areas of the country where the cost of living is less may have lower fees for massage therapy services.

One of the common things I hear massage therapists say is that they want to make their massage available to everyone so they set their rates really low thinking that is what will happen. It is scary to charge what you think is a lot especially in the beginning. Being available to everyone is a nice thought but sorry to say it just doesn’t work that way. If you are independently wealthy, don’t need to make a living, don’t care about having money for retirement, nice vacations and such things then you probably can charge low fees. I also realize that just saying low fees is not very exact because everyone has their own idea of low fees. By low fees I am meaning less than the going rate in your area just for purposes of this article.

Your massage fees will reflect how you value yourself and your time. It is really the time that you are getting paid for. The caring that you give is actually Free and just comes with the massage. Massage therapists can get this confused easily thinking that they should not charge much because the work is so caring. Your time is what matters. It is time away from your family and life. Yes massage isn’t such an awful thing to be doing as far as work goes and being away from your family and rest of your life. I think the problem often becomes when you think that massage is your life that charging for your time becomes more difficult.

The thing is that there is no right or wrong massage fee. It is only a matter of figuring out what is right for you right now in this time in your life. Here are some things to consider when setting your massage fees:

Call as many other massage therapists as you can or research online what other massage therapists are charging in your area.
Create a list of all of your business expenses.
Create a list of all of your personal needs that need to be covered as part of your salary or draw from your business.
Create a list of your dreams like vacations, travel, houses, cars. This isn’t about being material. It is OK to have desires for things. It is when they become more important than everything else that you get into difficulties.
Figure out how many clients you need at week at what rate to get what you need to make.

If you are just starting out setting your fees below the average will not necessarily get you the clients that you need. It has much more to do with than just price. What people want is the best massage ever. What people want is a solution to their problem (whatever that really is).

You can create special introductory offers for a limited time to get people in the door to try your massage services. After that you will need to have an effective follow up in place and also have created trust with your intake and your massage so that people will want to come back in and send in all of their friends.

When I first started out, I took over a practice in a health club from a guy who was charging a ridiculously low rate – something like $35 for an hour and even for 1989, that was unreasonably low. I immediately raised it to $45 and worked to get new clients. Each time I got to a place where my schedule was pretty full, I would raise the rates again. My accountant even advised me not to raise my rates because he thought I would lose too many people. The thing is that every time I raised my rates, I would lose a few people but I would also get new clients paying the higher rates making my income gradually increase each time!

When you charge more than the average there is also another concept going on. People will perceive you to be a better massage therapist!

People who are only looking for the cheapest massage are looking for just that. They may not have ever had a massage that really makes a difference. you would also be surprised at the number of people who do have a lot of money who look for deals and cheaper services.

I have outlined some things to consider when setting your fees:

You will only be able to do a certain number of massages a day/week physically, mentally and emotionally. Most massage therapists do about 20 hours of massage a week. Some are able to do more. Since you are only able to do so many massages, you need to charge more to make a decent living.
What is the value of a massage? What does it mean to people to be able to come in and get relief for their pain or problem? What is the value of providing regular weekly massage to someone and helping them heal their attachment, security and self-esteem issues? People will only pay you what they think you/massage is worth. The most difficult challenge in this business is teaching and showing the value of this work.
What amount do you need to charge so that you do not feel resentful of the massage client? I have heard many stories of massage therapists feeling resentful and yes even to the extent that the person wanted to apply more pressure to the massage client than they could stand. While this is not a usual thing for a massage therapist it may arise when you feel resentful.
Charge enough so that you are not expecting a tip. Some people will tip, some won’t. Depending on tips for income is not very helpful financially. If someone does tip think of it as a bonus not an essential part of your income.

So how are you going to set your fees? If you have set your fees already, how did you come to what you are charging? After reading this it are you re-evaluating what you do charge?

Also after setting your fees there is the next part of setting your cancellation and no show policies AND enforcing them!

Nina McIntosh in her book The The Educated Heart: Professional Boundaries for Massage Therapists, Bodyworkers, and Movement Teach ers (LWW In Touch Series) says this about setting fees:

Your rates affect what both clients and colleagues will think of you. If you charge more than the norm, some clients may be put off, while others may think you must be offering something special for the extra charge. If you charge less than the going rate, some clients will be attracted to the bargain but may not value the work as much….

The amount you charge also affects how you feel about your work. Make sure that your fees are fair to you and that they take into account all of your expenses. Charge enough so that you won’t resent your clients. Also, make sure you don’t feel as if you are overcharging. If you are not comfortable with your fees, clients will sense it and feel uncomfortable too.

Resources for getting over issues with money:

The Meaning of Money

Climbing out of the Money Fog

The Caring Business – How to make money and still care

This really could be called: Why Massage Therapists Earn Less. This is the book that started me on my path of healing my issues around money. It isn’t about creating a budget – it is about figuring out what you NEED to make to live comfortably and then figure out how to start making this. This book explains our love/hate relationship with money and why many choose to live in what Mikelann Valterra calls “Noble Poverty”. It changes the motivation to make money to focusing on making more rather than living with a budget which is restrictive and comes from a place of lack.

Karen McCall is Mikelann Valterra’s Mentor and now partner in business, developing proprietary software for tracking money in a way that shows you how your money can really work for you and how to get a better handle on your income and expenses so you have money left at the end. It is not about budgeting, but about planning and figuring out how to make what you need and end the noble poverty.

Success: What does it take?

July 31, 2017 By Julie Onofrio Leave a Comment

Every massage therapist wants to create a successful massage business – one that has enough clients so that they can make a decent living, take vacations, save for retirement and maybe even one day retire.

So what does it take to get there? With so many books, resources, websites, business coaches and help – why do so many massage therapist still struggle to get clients and keep clients?

You may find yourself struggling and blaming it on the economy. You may find yourself struggling and may think that there is just something wrong with you that you can’t do this (critical mind). You may just be one of those who think that because massage therapy is so wonderful, people will just magically show up and get massages and that you don’t have to do anything but think about what you want (positive thinking).

Here’s the facts people:

No matter what the economy is doing in your area, your personal economy does not have to follow and in fact it can be very different. You just have to find a way to find your niche and do what you need to do to get the clients you need.

There isn’t anything wrong with you. That is just the old tape that runs in your head. Get some therapy – seriously. You can have critical thoughts and still take positive action towards your goal of having a massage business. Buying into all the change your mindset babble and only have positive thoughts path is a dead end one for sure.

Your thoughts do not attract what you are thinking…. I would have had a million winning lotto tickets by now. It is just a way to make you think less of yourself and think you need these classes/books/products to get rid of your so called ‘negative’ thinking.

What does it take?

Commitment: Until there is commitment, there is hesitancy. When you are committed, you will do what you need to do to get the clients you need. You will set up a website or hire someone to do it for you. You will learn social media tools. You will learn how to network. You will try and keep trying until it works.
Keep Trying: There is no one right way. Some people have success with websites, creating a referral network, Facebook ads/social media, Google ads…. Just because you try something once and fail does not mean it did not work. Learn from every step you take and make adjustments as you go. Try something.
It isn’t magic. It is hard work. Show up every day for 8 hours a day at your office even if you don’t have clients. Stop waiting for clients to magically appear. Stop ‘thinking’ about how many clients you want and create a plan on how you are going to get them.
Keep looking for a marketing method that works for you. I went with websites because I am an introvert, shy and don’t like talking to people in groups or otherwise. It works best for me. Here is how: Massage therapy Websites
Use your common sense. If you want to work with the elderly, how about contacting a nursing home/assisted living and volunteer to see how they are run and see how to get connected. If you want to work with athletes, figure out how to connect with them. If you want to get referrals from doctors, figure it out. Write letters to them. Go to where doctors go – CE classes/conventions etc. What works for everyone else may not work for you. You have to figure out what works best for you, for your personality, your schedule and what you want out of your massage business. There is not any one way that is right and that is guaranteed to work. Try something.
Get the support you need. Ask as many questions as you can in my online Facebook Group. Create your own local meetup.com group and get together with your peers for help. Start your own peer supervision group.
Keep it moving. Keep doing something every day, every hour you can.

KISS

March 11, 2017 By Julie Onofrio Leave a Comment

How much can you really make as a self-employed, sole-proprietor as a massage therapists?

Do the Math, but also keep your business simple and make it efficient! You will have an overhead and business expenses, but you might be paying too much and it will take giving more massages to make the money you need to stay ahead.

I keep my massage business simple.

I rent from another massage therapist. I have never had the overhead of a big space. I never wanted to deal with leases and managing a big space. I have always just worked for myself and never had any employees. My first few years I tried subleasing space to another massage therapist, but that just didn’t work out.

I do take health insurance but most everything is done online – confirming benefits, billing, explanation of benefits, direct deposits. (I don’t even have to go to the bank!)

Everything I do is automated – my online scheduling, billing insurance companies, tracking insurance payments. I use FullSlate for online appointments. It took me awhile to move to that. I was afraid it wouldn’t work right and appointments would get confused. I didn’t trust it at first. I also liked having people call and me talking to them before they came in. I could ease their apprehension and overcome the ‘how much do you charge’ resistance. Since moving to online scheduling, I hardly talk to anyone. No phone calls to return. Once a month maybe someone calls asking about their insurance or rarely can’t figure out the appointment software.

I bill health insurance and use systems like www.officeally.com to directly bill the insurance companies. I am cutting back on those cases. I bill every 2 weeks and it maybe takes me 30 minutes. I occasionally have to do a prior-authorization through an online system that takes about 5-10 minutes per request. I get direct deposits into my checking accounts. I get reports through www.availity.com or through the other insurance companies onehealthport.com accounts.

I see clients in my office and do the charting in between clients. I keep it simple. A simple bodychart to make marks on and write a few comments. I don’t list every muscle I work on and just list outcomes. KISS.

My bookkeeping is a simple excel spread sheet where I record income and expenses monthly. It adds up the columns so I am ready at tax time to fill in tax forms. Once a month it takes me about 30 minutes.

I do laundry in between clients. I rent space from another massage therapist and between the two of us, we just keep the laundry going each day.

I book people as close together as I can within reason, so that I am not sitting around during the day.

Marketing etc

In the beginning I worked on my website, learning Search engine Optimization and wrote about 50 pages of content. I built my website using SBI! which used to be called SiteBuildit! but is now SoloBuildit! It taught me everything about creating a website that works and I use that for my massage business and one of my new websites –www.solowebpreneur.com where I am working on explaining the system to you and helping more people use it. It works.! It gets me most of my clients without doing much more. I have a Facebook page but don’t use it. I don’t do any advertising. I don’t do much of anything else. I was never big on networking.

What I do focus on is giving the best massage that I can each time and build a relationship with each person. That is what brings people back.

Benefits of self-employment

The thing they don’t talk about is how rewarding owning your own business can be and the value of being able set your own hours and create the business that YOU want as compared to working for someone who has their own ideas on how things should be run. You don’t have to answer to anyone but the person in the mirror.