Massage therapy has become one of the fastest growing areas today, increasing from 24,000 to 100,000 massage therapists. If you are thinking of establishing a successful business in massage therapy, you will first need to evaluate a few things. Massage therapy can be demanding physically and involves sharing or giving energy to your clients. You will need to decide if you are a people person as well. In today’s demanding world people lead hectic and stress-filled lives and often require the services of massage therapists to aid them in relaxation. There is a need for sports massage as sports players are in need of relaxation before and after games. Some people may even require a holistic form of therapy to successfully cope with certain illnesses.
Establishing your private practice
Many people usually establish their own practices after receiving certification and working in a spa setting for a period of time. It is wise to establish a client base before seeking your own practice. In many cases, clients will return a number of times after a professional trusting relationship have been built with their massage therapist. People tend to feel comfortable when dealing with a certain person for a period of time.
Usually, long-term clients will begin to ask when you plan to start your practice. There are many benefits to owning a private practice that a spa setting doesn’t offer. Benefits for clients include a professional quiet atmosphere in a home or office setting. Benefits to the massage therapist include setting your own hours and not having to rent space and splitting your pay with an establishment.
When establishing your practice, you must first bring in more than enough clients to succeed in your venture; this will be your foundation. There are many other tasks you will need to take into consideration upon establishing your business, such as bookkeeping, sales, promotions and public relations. You will need to learn how to successfully market your business in order to obtain new clients. Every successful business has a website generating weekly or bi-weekly newsletters to potential clients. It is wise to always provide information regarding your products or services; capturing readers’ attention and interests.
Writing your business plan
If you aren’t prepared or focused when establishing your practice, you could very well be in for quite an experience. Many subjects are involved when writing business plans such as business name, entity, location, when you plan to launch your business, what you plan to charge for your massages, how many sessions per day or week, how much of a salary you require, and if you plan to sell products.
- Business Name, Entity, Location
- When you plan to launch your business
- What you plan to charge
- How many sessions per day or week
- Your salary requirements
- If you plan to sell products
Advertising your practice
You will gain many prospects via word of mouth or referrals and recommendations, but it is very important to promote your business to those who aren’t yet familiar with you. The first thing you should do is to build or have a massage therapy website built with essential search engine optimization, keyword phrases and meta tags inserted properly into your pages.
Flyers, business cards, brochures and refrigerator magnets are a most memorable way for obtaining new clientele. These items can conveniently be posted at health food and vitamin stores, supermarkets, libraries and many other general public areas.
Online marketing is a wonderful way, but let us not overlook the power of the Yellow Pages or weekly Pennysaver ads. Yellow Pages charge $25-$30 a month with only your name and telephone number. A block ad with your basic information listed is usually $60 per month. Remember to keep your budget in mind when advertising.
Massage insurance - a necessity
If you are a practicing massage on a daily basis and have assets you wish to keep, obtaining and maintaining massage insurance is in your best interest. You and other parties on the policy are protected in case a client suffers partial or full injury upon receiving a massage from you.
You will have to defend yourself in court if you didn’t obtain insurance. Legal bills can exceed thousands of dollars and if you should happen to lose, you’ll have to pay thousands more in damages. This ultimately will ruin your business and financial ruin.
Ensure you investigate and obtain a business liability insurance policy with a $250,000 limit that will pay all of your legal fees and damages associated with a law suit. The more assets you have to protect, the more coverage needed.
Enjoying your private massage practice
There really are no words to express how a person feels once successfully building and establishing their private practice. The rewards are indeed phenomenal when it comes to creating and maintaining a profession and career you enjoy doing.
