This has nothing to do with massage or even natural health, but I want to share it anyway. I have just started to promote solar hot water.
Why?
We all know about global warming, peak oil and the reduction of habitat through excessive human use. I want to make a difference. Solar Hot Water, because it is a highly efficient, low cost, green technology that not only saves 3,000kg of CO2 each year, it also pays its way within a few years and then provides free hot water.
At the moment, I can only help you if you live on the Sunshine Coast, Australia, but we will expand into the rest of Australia over time.
What can you do?
If you are on the Sunshine Coast (between North Brisbane and Gympie actually), go to SolarPay.com.au and find the ideal system for your property, line up all the government rebates that are currently available and reduce your carbon footprint.
If you do not live on the Sunshine Coast, let your friends know about it. Or start going through the quoting process and leave your contact details. It will help to get into other areas more quickly.
I got such a great email, I just have to share it with you:
“Sorry for the delay in replying, I have had a flood of patients….really!! 8 new patients in the last 3 weeks and now I am so behind on the Passionate Training because I haven’t had time to commit to it!!
I will though for sure, I think it’s fabulous!!
For me the flood gates opened when I reminded myself, through your prompting via the course, why I actually set out to be an alternative health practitioner in the first place. I realized it was as a consequence of a trip to Sierra Leone, when I returned I knew I needed to make a difference in the world, no matter how small… and so I trained to become a Homeopath. A course that quite literally transformed my life.
The passion returned, and I became less worried about the money and more enthusiastic about the difference I could make and hey presto, 8 new patients!! May I add, after months of having no new clients whatsoever. Your course is a little miracle worker!!
So, please do I still get access to the stuff on your site or does it run out after a certain time? Only I’m behind, but for all the right reasons!!”
Thank you so much for that email Paulla. It makes my heart sing and I hope that you continue to attract many more people who benefit from your help.
In answer to the questions: There is no time limit whatsoever for doing the Passionate Training. It is a self paced course, so you set the time. I suggest doing it in 5 weeks to gain momentum and get into the habit of doing something each day. But you make the decision of how to actually do it.
We’ve all had them. You can’t please them; they are always late then have the audacity to complain about your massage room, the oils, the curtains, your music, or whatever they can think about that doesn’t meet their standards of perfection. They’re never come for their appointment on time, they leave their money ‘at home’, they never refer anybody to you….the list goes on.
I had a client once who was always clinging on to her Asthma for an excuse for everything. After 20 minutes into the appointment she arrived late (couldn’t find her puffer), doesn’t apologise (why should she, she was an asthmatic) and still expected her hour treatment (because Asthmatics need a full hour) and then criticised me for not using X,Y,Z technique, after all her last massage therapist did it (she die of asthma if I didn’t and it would be my fault)….I wanted to strangle her. But I didn’t because I wanted her business.
Then one day she forgot her purse at home (her puffers made her do it) and said “I’ll be back in ten minutes with the money.” I didn’t see her again. By this time I was so sick of it that I wrote her a letter. I was polite yet assertive. In a nutshell I was sick of being walked on and treated without respect. After all her breathing had never been better like when she was seeing me…I don’t mean to big note myself but it was just a fact. I deserved better.
About a week later I wrote her a letter explaining that I felt disappointed and hurt that she didn’t pay me because it was like she did not value me or the good work I was doing and to please pay within 7 days of getting this letter otherwise I shall seek legal action. As any normal business person would.
Well you can imagine what her reaction was. Because I’d spoken to her in an assertive way she was very angry after all she could have had an Asthma attack and died. She accused me of being unfair and didn’t want to see me again. Phew! I was so glad. She sent me a cheque pretty quickly though. And that was all she had to do. Frankly I didn’t want her back. And I was not being aggressive, I was being assertive. (There is a huge difference.)
Question: What went wrong? Why did this person give me grief?
Answer: because I let them.
I just wanted to make my massage business to work and I thought I had to accept new clients just because they gave me business. I thought that a big part of making my massage business work was accepting clients that came my way…ANY clients.
But I learnt something very different (and extremely valuable) from that experience. That was to value myself as a person and a massage therapist. So I made the decision to never let another client treat me like that again. I would recognise the signs of a “difficult” client and nip it in the bud, so to speak and stop it from getting stressful. (After all the difficult client doesn’t feel stress; YOU DO!)
I devised a mental formula to prepare me to terminate difficult relationships without delay. As soon as a new client displayed any of the signs of being a difficult client, they were referred to someone else instantly. I had a mental checklist and used it actively. Since then I was able to recognise difficult clients and make the conscious choice of self value and my life would be so much better. After all who needs it for $70?
If you have had an experience like this then you know the headache they can cause you. So the first thing to bringing fabulous, regular, appreciative clients into your life and get rid of the difficult ones, or disconnect them from your life. To do this you need to recognise the signs of a difficult client.
Checklist to avoid:
A ridiculously late arrival for the treatment without any apology or acknowledgment that they have inconvenienced you.
Forgets their money or doesn’t have enough at the end of the massage treatment (let you get the whole massage through and then tells you they don’t have enough money on them).
Criticizes you in some very subtle way (this is called ‘invalidation’ such as “are you still using that cheap massage oil?”)
Always compares you to their other massage therapist out loud in conversation with you, implying they were better and they are just seeing you because the other person went out of business, town etc, etc
Tells you that they would like to make an appointment but suggests that you give them half price because eventually they will tell people about you, which somehow qualifies them for a huge discount. (This really means they do not value you.)
Rings five minutes before the appointment to cancel then gets annoyed because they can’t have an appointment on a time you don’t work (like 10pm Friday night.)
Believe it or not their behavior is not personal. These people are like this because they don’t like themselves and have a difficult time with self value and respect. This manifests into insecurity and a difficulty in relating to other people in an honest and respectable way. They have not learnt to show others respect. They are like this to everyone, you just have the unfortunate situation dealing with them right now.
If a client displays ANY of these things you can handle it effectively for yourself by making the decision to be assertive. My advice to you is that they are just not worth the stress or headache. You are a valuable person and a very important massage therapist who deserves the very best that clients can give you and should not take any less, consider yourself to accept anything less. You are here now, doing something incredibly good for humanity so value yourself for it.
And think of this; if you charge $70 per massage treatment then you are putting up with all of this for $70. Is it your happiness more to you than $70? If it is, tell these people to see someone else. You are worth more.
You just graduated from massage school and are ready to go out into the world and find that wonderful job in massage that you were told about. You send out a few applications, go for interviews and you take the first job that you are offered only to find out later that it is the massage job from #^&*@! You are working long hours without breaks between sessions, the chiropractor is billing $120 an hour and you are only making $20 an hour, your massage office doesn’t have a real door but only a curtain dividing you from the hair salon, you can’t get a key to the office because of problems with past employees. These are actually stories that I have heard from massage therapists.
Finding a job in the massage profession that pays really well and can support you on your path to being a massage therapist is really about first creating an image of your Ideal Job in Massage.
What is your philosophy on healing and health?
What type of environment would you like to work in? With doctors, other medical professionals, at a spa, on a cruise ship?
How much would you like to get paid? What benefits do you want?
What hours do you want to work?
What incentives are there for you to get clients to come back or even bring in new clients?
Do you have complete control over the session or will someone be instructing you what to do and how to do it?
Once you get a list of places that you think you would like to work at and that would fit your idea of your ideal massage job, start doing some company research. Go and get a dozen massages there and see how you like the service and environment. Ask the massage therapist there what it is like to work there. Find out what the management and service is like first hand. Then you can decide if you want to be part of such an environment. You don’t have to take the first job that is offered to you. If you are desperate for a job and need to do that do it knowing that it will be a learning experience. It will be a stepping stone to finding out what you do want in a massage job. Sometimes when you are first out of school, you won’t really care. Expect to change jobs until you find your ideal job or have the patience to participate in whatever job you do take. While you may think that getting a job means that you don’t have to do much and that clients will just be directed to you - you will be much more successful if you treat it as if it were your own practice. Learn to work with clients and communicate and educate them as to what getting regular massage can do. Having repeat clients will show the management that you are good at what you do. It will give you leverage in asking for what you want.
To find out more about how to find or create your ideal massage job visit the job center at www.thebodyworker.com
All three have years of experience not only as people supporting massage and other natural health practitioners, but also practicing themselves.
Amy has had many successes in advertising and will share her wealth of advertising tips and tricks. Julie has her strongest passion in the collaboration between natural health practitioners and will share a lot about supervision and networking and Catherine is a webmaster who supports clients to set up successful websites.
Catherine’s first post will be published this Monday, Julie will follow up on Wednesdays and Amy on Fridays.
For me it is fantastic to see the collaboration between the four of us and I look forward to seeing what grows out of it. Looking forward to your questions and thoughts.
I received an email today from one of my students and wanted to share that with you.
“To be honest, this has been a lot of hard work. I am just starting out, do not have a client base to work from so much of what you are advising, I have not been able to really complete 100%.
I have nonetheless really gotten a lot out of the exercises, by creatively applying those segments that pertain to self representation. For example, since I don’t have past clients to use, I have been working on those parts of your manual that help with communicating my speciality and how to design my vouchers and business cards.
I work full time at a job that pays the bills so in reality, your course is helping to instill good habits before I get busy and mess up. Thank you for creating this course.”
It gives me such joy to read an email like this, because I can see how someone benefited from it. I also really appreciate the honesty that it has been hard work. Maybe I have to take out the “Effortlessly” from the title.
But then I wonder how this hard work compares to learning to become a massage therapist. I am sure this is easier or at least less time consuming.
Just Starting Out
I have had that question a few times: “I am just starting out and have not got any clients yet. Can I still do the training?”
Yes, because it will give you a much smoother start to opening you practice.
A lot of the exercises are designed for you to get clarity around your clients and what you are offering them. For that you do not need past clients.
Some parts of the training integrate building your relationship with past clients.
That part is just to get someone up to speed to be able to implement the really important follow-up systems for the future.
I am certain that everyone who is a natural health practitioner has worked on other people. It does not matter whether it was paying clients, family, friends or even other students. They can give you great input.
So yes, the training is great when you are just starting out. And it might feel like hard work while you do it, but it pays off really well when the clients start coming.
More Advanced Marketing Training
I have started to review some other marketing trainings that are available. Some of them are fantastic once you have build the foundations and you want to build your practice. I will share my reviews soon.
Thanks so much to all of you who have contributed great questions in the last 6 weeks. It was fun and challenging to answer them.
At the beginning I said that the best question would win a Passionate Training. Little did I know that it would be very hard to decide which one was “the best” question. Lucky for me, technology keeps track of a how many people read a specific post.
I am therefore defining the best question as the one that most people were interested in.
Congratulations Gizelle. Your training is on the way and I hope you get a lot out of it. I will be really interested in hearing how it works for you in your small town in South Africa.
Any other questions, just post a comment … There is no training to win, but sharing and collaborating, we all win new insights.
We plan to move out of the city into a rural area in the next 6 months, is it worth trying to build up my practice before that, and learn some skills (not to mention, building my confidence) that will make it easier for me to build my practice again once we move? by Catherine
A common problem is smoothing out the peaks and troughs where one week is very busy followed by a very quiet week. What do you suggest for achieving or a more consistent workflow? by Krishna
I’m about to take on my first staff member - how can I best ensure their loyalty to me, as well as maximise client loyalty to my business, rather than the new therapist (and any other therapists that follow!)? by Paula
New practice - unsure of repeat biz as yet. by Rodney
If you’ve got anything to add, ask away in the comments (or send me an email). I will answer your question and you have the chance to win a Passionate Training.
Here is something for you, if you live on the Sunshine Coast, Australia.
As you might know, I have stopped running the training seminars face to face a while back. Luckily someone has stepped up to it now. Krishna Everson from Vitality Options is offering a half-day workshop on 4 March and a full-day on 17 March.
She has 20 years experience in advertising and health marketing. In the last few years she has build a thriving mobile massage service with her husband.
For all those that are not on the Sunshine Coast, I will start a review of the different online trainings that are available over the next few weeks. There are so many out there, all at different costs and with a different focus that I think it is good to compare what they have to offer, so you can make a choice what is best for you.
If you’ve had any good or bad experience with a program, please let me know. Or if you have produced a training and would like me to review it for our readers, just get in touch.
It does not just have to be on massage marketing, it can also be spa marketing or marketing for any natural health modality. Just enter a comment with your question and I’ll answer it (and you get the chance to win one of the massage marketing trainings).
On a different note, I want to share with you something from another project I am working on: a website for freelance writers. Why am I sharing that now? Because I have just entered a competition with a short piece of writing. Nothing fancy, just to be part of it. Here it is:
Here is something for you, if you live on the Sunshine Coast, Australia.
