Secrets of Setting Up Your Own Massage Practice
As a student of massage therapy, you may find yourself looking to the future and wondering how you will start your new found career.
Let’s break down your choices into three options to make it easier for you to contemplate what may lay in your future and less overwhelming to decide.
These choices will start the ball rolling toward new and promising opportunities.
Giving Your Massage Practice a Direction
Choice Number One: You can decide to become an employee in a wellness setting. For example, you could elect to work in a day spa.
Choice Number Two: You might decide to work in someone else’s massage therapy practice or wellness facility.
Choice Number Three: You could also elect to set up your own massage business.
If you decide you want to work in a day spa or work for someone else, you still will be responsible for building your own clientele and generating a new client base. So let’s examine these three options and how each fits with your ambitions. Then you can take steps to make your desired preference a reality!
Working in a Day Spa
Working for someone else as a massage therapist in a day spa is just like any other job. However, the beauty is now you are working in a job you love.
The pay may not be much different to any other job you’ve had, but you will enjoy it a much more because you are doing work you feel passionate about and helping people, too.
So start by asking questions. Learn about what the job entails. Do you get paid per hour, or per client? Do you get paid for waiting for clients or do you get paid regardless?
Don’t think that just because you are working in a soothing day spa that it will be set up like other job arrangements you have known. You’re now entering new territory, so always ask questions so that you have a clear understanding of what is expected of you. This will also help you determine how to market your skills through the establishment.
Working as a Therapist in a Massage Clinic
So what about working in a specialized massage therapy clinic?
Usually this entails working for another massage therapist. In this case you will want to become very familiar with how the business owner and other therapists in the clinic work individually and as a whole. You will need to learn what is expected of you. Most likely, you will need to fill out a contract, or subcontractor agreements. You will also need to be aware of any marketing materials they have that you can use, and how best to brand yourself to complement the massage clinic as a whole.
Starting Your Own Massage Practice
And here we come to the most difficult, yet most rewarding, option of all: starting your own business.
Your own massage business will be the most challenging thing you may experience in your professional career. When your business builds momentum you will have clients supporting your lifestyle, and this is may be one of the most euphoric benefits you will experience professionally.
You must plan and prepare carefully and vigilantly if you want to go into business for yourself. It’s a big leap. It’s not a hard thing, it just takes careful planning and a committed head sitting straight on your shoulders.
You’ll make more money by setting up your own practice and picking your hours of work, and will be able to keep all the money you make after paying for your overhead. You will also have to pay your own taxes—but then again, you will have some excellent tax deductions as well. You also won’t get paid when you don’t work, so keep that in mind. And remember: you are always responsible for the bodies that come through the door.
A Rewarding Career
It is exciting to enter a new career, especially one that helps people so much. All three options take planning and all have their rewards.
Always seek professional advice from others familiar with the industry first, and don’t forget to focus on your new career with open eyes and a positive approach.
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