Well I actually think we need more men in the profession who are willing to take a risk in their marketing of massage.

First off I have heard so many men ask “Do you want a female massage therapist” when someone calls for a massage appointment (right foot wounded!).  If a male or female is calling and they are feeling uncomfortable the best thing is to address the issue right up front.  Ask the person questions about why they are seeking massage.  Get them talking about the pain they are in or the stress they are in and talk to them about it.  Talk to them about what you know about the condition and talk about the solutions.   Let them know you are an authority on the issue.   Tell them you have an opening -whenever it is- and just be straight forward about it.  Being hesitant makes the potential client hesitant.

So men seeking massage may be fearful about getting a massage from a man for many reasons.  They don’t want people to think that they are gay.  Gay men might go for other reasons thinking it will be more of a sensual experience.   Women may be fearful about getting massage from men because of past abuse issues or issues with their own fathers or male role models.  Being touched by men will bring up many deep psychological issues for men so it is important that you work out your own issues or be working on them so you can keep your boundaries clear.  It is in that itself that I think male massage therapists have a case for promoting themselves – to help men heal their issues around touch and around their own sexuality.  Getting regular massage and building a relationship with a nurturing male can help sooth the inner fears of both men and women.

The reason why all centers around the therapeutic relationship and how many people when they receive massage often have conscious and unconscious patterns that resemble early relationships with caregivers/parents.   Touch in infancy is how we learn about who we are and where we begin and others end. It is how we get a sense of ourselves.

Eyal Lederman in his book The Science & Practice of Manual Therapy: Physiology, Neurology and Psychology,
has a great section on the psychological and psychophysiological processes in manual therapy.  He uses the latest research to explain how massage can help people in learning to self-regulate in the emotional and psychophysiological dimensions.   Touch is an instinctive need as demonstrated by Harlow and his research on monkeys.  In humans it is found to be the same.  We use touch or contact with something to sooth.  We have all seen the many studies at the Touch Research Institute on touch in premature infants and how they grow faster and are healthier overall. We also have a lot of research that shows that massage is best for treating anxiety and depression.   Lederman also says:

Even in more complex psychological conditions where women had experiences of ‘negative touch’ through sexual or physical abuse, and would therefore find any touch difficult, positive touch in the form of massage therapy has been shown to reduce aversion to touch and decrease anxiety and depression. (See the study : Effects of Sexual Abuse lessened by Massage Therapy.  See also article on Massage Therapy Canada)

Pamala Fitch, a massage therapist in Canada, says this about what happens between clients and massage therapists (from an article called “ Nurturance, Intimacy and Attachment“:

During a massage therapy session, a client is encouraged to lie still while her soft tissue is moved, kneaded and stroked. She is also encouraged to breathe and let go, allowing her muscles and connective tissue to soften at the behest of the therapist’s ministrations. This letting go and letting another “do” to one is an essential element of massage therapy and may, at times, be reminiscent of parental care for an infant.

As infants we develop our abilities to sooth ourselves (or not!) in the face of fear and stress.  The way we learn is through becoming securely attached to our caregivers.  When infants do not learn to securely attach, they have little trust in getting their needs met and feeling safe.  As an adult people with insecure attachments will need more help in learning to soothe themselves.   This can be learned within the safe container of a massage room and getting massage from massage therapists that they learn to trust over time and getting massage sessions that are nurturing from the opposite or same sex.

Fitch goes on to say in her article that:

This experience of deep release in the presence of a trusted therapist has the potential for great healing. Some clients have suggested that these releases can be deeply intimate, powerful and life changing….

Massage therapy is always more than just a physical manipulation because it invokes implicit memory.

Working with clients in this way will require that you always have the client’s best interest in mind.  This whole process can happen without any acknowledgment of it even going on.  It requires that male massage therapists (and any female massage therapists too!) understand their role in the helping process and set clear boundaries in all aspects of the massage relationship.  This will include even taking payments, cancellation policies and such.  Even though they may seem so frivolous in some ways -it is these exact boundaries that can allow a person to feel safe and know where you are at.

When a therapist reflects outwardly what she feel inwardly, her behaviour may be described as congruent. If the congruent behaviour reflects honesty, integrity, respect and compassion, then the therapist will not harm her clients and her clients will sense that she is safe and can be trusted.

It is behaving congruently that creates trust!  The way to build trust starts with your website.  Huh?  I bet you didn’t expect that!  But, Yes building trust with potential clients begins with your website.   That requires that you start writing articles or stories on various topics around massage- what it does, how it works, you philosophy on massage and healing. You can start with the physical effects to keep it safer. Write about how massage helps pain and various injuries like muscle strains, knots, carpal tunnel and all of the things you have worked with or are interested in working with.  Write about fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety.  Write about 20-30 articles or more.  The most important thing though is not to get hung up on the idea that you can’t write.  Heck I can’t write!  I just write down everything I would be saying to a client and to you here.   It is more about finding your own unique voice and putting your words down on paper -well uhm the computer.   Write about how touch can be healing for issues around men.  Read as much as you can on the topic before writing.  I have resources throughout this article and at the end.  Just read and try to put it all together into your own words.  Tell stories from what you have seen happen in your practice with clients – of course not using names due to privacy issues.  You can even get clients to write testimonials for you and they can write their own story.   Starting this from your website will make it easy.   People will get a sense of who you are and will think that you know what you are talking about.  One of the biggest questions people have in their head when looking for a massage therapist is will this person be able to help me with whatever condition or issue I have that I really need a solution for.

So guys I think have an amazing opportunity to present people with this opportunity to heal old relationships with father figures.  While I don’t think you would actually want to say that outright to people because it can also conjure up so many other things, providing a safe place for people to start getting in touch with themselves can happen on the massage table.

One way to actually approach this all is from a strictly therapeutic/medial approach.  Learning medical massage or any of the orthopedic methods or other things that focus on the obvious physical aspect of our work can be a good way to lead into getting regular clients.   Promoting yourself in this way can get people on your table to give them a chance to experience the male massage therapists touch and energy.  While it starts as mainly a method of healing physical injuries such as strains and sprains and things like which start out having an end in mind – pain relief and return to normal activity, clients will often find themselves not wanting to end treatment.  While I am sure that won’t happen with everyone, just taking one person at a time is one of those giant leaps for the massage profession!

I also have been to many spas where men are working as massage therapists.  This is also a good way to get people more aware of the issues.  Most front desk people are hopefully trained in how to deal with this and just give the first available appointments even if it is with a male.  The key really is in getting the front desk people to know how to overcome objections of women or men who are not wanting to get a massage by a man.  (Of course, I don’t want someone who was just raped or beat up by a man to have to get a massage from a male if they don’t want to.) I have had many nurturing massages by men at spas!

I also think that part of being successful as a male massage therapist is also about your own beliefs of what is possible for men in this profession.  I have so many questions through my website on massage careers just asking “Will I be able to make it as a male massage therapist?”  The simple answer is yes if you think you will.

What do you think guys?  Am I crazy?  What challenges do you have as a male?

Touch and Emotion in Manual Therapy

The Psychology of the Body (LWW Massage Therapy and Bodywork Educational Series)

The Ethics of Touch: The Hands-on Practitioner’s Guide to Creating a Professional, Safe and Enduring Practice

Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions – Corey and Corey.  Geared toward psychologists but very insightful for massage therapists

Becoming a Helper Corey and Corey.  Geared toward psychologists but very insightful for massage therapists

A short article on male massage therapists by Ryan Hoyme – aka massagenerd.com  I asked Ryan to write this early on in the creation of my site.

Resources on other male massage therapists in the profession on my site www.thebodyworker.com

10.   Be late for your appointment

9.   Don’t call people back within a few hours

8.  Say “thank god it is Friday” to your last client on Friday

7.  Talk the whole massage

6.   Work on their back and neck extensively when they said it was their hip that was in pain.

5.  Answer the phone without your appointment book in front of you.

4.  Answer your phone while talking to someone else or doing something else.

3.  Say “Don’t we all” when someone says they have a knot in the muscle in their upper back

2.  Say “when do you want to come in” and then say – it would be better for me at a different time so I can clean my massage room for you

1….Tell someone who calls that you don’t like getting massage yourself.

Every client you work on has the potential to refer many people to you.  They will go back to their offices exclaiming that they just had a massage or that they finally are getting rid of that nagging back pain.  They will go home to their families exclaiming how good they feel after your great massage.  In most cases people are very willing to refer to you if they like your work and the results they are getting.  In fact that is one quality of an “Ideal Massage Client” that you might want to put on your list.  The first step is just letting clients know that you are looking for clients and would love to have a referral from them.  You don’t even really need to give them incentive for the referral -like offering an extra massage session when they refer so many people.  What you do need is a solid system to get the referral.

When people leave your office and go and talk to their friends and family about their massage they will often say “Why don’t you go for that nagging foot pain you have been having” or “you should try it to help relieve some of that stress”.  So they give people your name and maybe even your phone number but for the most part people are not going to be motivated to call and make the appointment.  It isn’t that they don’t need a massage or trust their friend or whoever is telling them.

People don’t have time.  They don’t have time to figure out if you will work for whatever thing is ailing them.  They don’t know your schedule or if it will work out with theirs.  They don’t know where you are located and it might be too far away taking more time.  They aren’t certain whether or not you will answer the phone and will have time to talk to them.  They don’t know if they leave a message if you will call them back at a time when they will be able to talk.  People procrastinate when it comes to their health until they can’t take it anymore.  That could be months away.  The list goes on and on.

Your website can answer most of these questions and help people feel more comfortable with you.  Your website is where you provide many articles on massage and what you do and build trust with clients.  What people want to know is if you will be able to handle their condition or problem.  With massage that can be many different things- stress, fibromyalgia, foot pain, back pain, neck pain, hip pain, a sport injury, a weekend of too much gardening or hiking, dealing with life at work and at home, grief, anxiety, depression – all of these things and many more of course.  So what do you do?  Yes – Write about them all!   It is just doing the same thing as if they had called and asked you the same questions- Do you work with fibromyalgia?  Have you worked with someone with foot pain?  What do you say on the phone?  What do you say to people when you are working with them on the table and they ask about muscle knots or say ‘is that a knot?’ or my all time favorite is ” Is that a bone? (when you are on a muscle that is so hard that it feels like a bone).

You website will be available 24/7 and should give them all of the answers to any of the questions that they may have.   Once you get them to your website, they still might not be calling but the next best thing is to get them to give you their email and sign up for your email newsletter.  You can also offer them a free report on something like back pain or tips for working on the computer or something like that .  Just giving them incentive to sign up for your newsletter will help them add their email address to your list.

The other missing piece to this could be that there isn’t a clear way for your client to give their friends your name.  I often have people even say – so and so at my office could really use you.  When they do I tell them to send them to my website or call me and I will talk to them on the phone for 20 minutes to see if I can help with their condition.   Tell clients how you would like to receive referrals so that they know what to do!

Action Steps:

1. Tell client you are building your business and are taking new clients
2. Tell them how to send referrals to you
3. Have your website set up with many articles on the things you talk about most with clients and more info on the types of massage you do and what massage does
4. If you aren’t getting referrals consider setting up a referral system with rewards.  Beware of clients who only come for the rewards or bonuses.

• Doctors – OBGyn, Orthopedic doctors, Osteopaths, Chiropractors, General practitioners
• Acupuncturists
• Physical therapists
• Dentists

One of first things you want to do though is to actually take the time to find out something about the doctor/provider that you are looking for referrals from.  You may not want everyone to refer to you.  I once had a chiropractor that used less than ideal billing practices that clients were unhappy with.  It is difficult to actually find out things like that right from the beginning.  I actually have gone in as a client to a few different chiropractors and got treatments from them to learn what type of work they were doing and see what their offices were like.  You can also do something like just drop into an area office and ask for a brochure or business card and say you are looking for that type of provider to refer your massage clients to.   Once you get some info and decide you would like to work with these professionals you can then begin a campaign to create relationships with them

Sometimes just starting out as a client of theirs can be enough.  But you of course can’t go to everyone out there.  Another idea is to go to places where they might be like classes or workshops or health fairs and talk to them.  There are sometimes buildings in downtown Seattle that offer small health fairs for people to go and meet practitioners.

If you are starting out blindly with a letter campaign I would suggest writing letters with the intent of referring to them first and ask about their business etc and tell them how you might need to use their services.  You can tell them what kind of clients you work with a lot.  For example a sports medicine doctor may be needed if you work with athletes.   You can tell them what your athletes do and what kind of issues they may need help with of course without naming names due to privacy issues.  Ask if they can handle that sort of patient.  Also if you are writing letters just randomly to doctors/others in your area, don’t be discouraged if they don’t reply or if nothing happens for awhile.  Send a few letters spaced out a few months apart or as you can.  Send different materials such as research studies or more proof of how massage works or case studies you have had.  If you are sending out mailings the best thing you can do really is develop a section on your website for doctors/health care providers and provide research or other insights into how massage works and what it can do.  You can make it password protected to make it seem special or just have it available for clients to read too.  You will have to be sure to write so that both can understand.

You can also take the approach a step farther and ask the practitioner/doctor if they would write a short article for your website or find out if they have something on their website that you can use.  Some websites such as Site Build it! or WordPress will allow people to post articles and then they can put a link back to their website.  You can also ask the provider for a link to your website and maybe offer an article that they can put on their website.  Trading links is part of search engine optimization.  Search engines look for how many other sites link to your site and rank your site accordingly.  It isn’t just about the possibility that someone will click through the link and you can get a direct client or at least visitor to your website – it is creating a network of sites that link to your website.

I personally have not sent any letters to physicians to try to start the networking.  I always seem to meet them in person or through someone directly.  If you were going to write a letter be sure to start it out by asking about them.  Keep it short and to the point and tell them to visit your website for more info or to call or email with questions.

After you get a referral from a doctor/health care provider the most important thing is to follow up and send a progress report even if they don’t ask for one.  More are asking for them these days from what I have experienced.  It is a great way to show them what is working for clients.  When the clients go back into their office and report back the success that is also good for marketing.  Be sure to write chart notes to follow their progress.  The best source for learning about charting is a book called Hands Heal: Communication, Documentation, and Insurance Billing for Manual Therapists
by Diana Thompson

If you have a good letter that you have used to successfully contact doctors/health care providers please share in the comments!  Or if you have any other tips and tricks for networking with health care providers.

What search engines and people like is information – that is the driving force of the internet.  That means the more content you can create for your website the better for both the search engines and your visitors.  Search engines jobs are to find the best content that will match the keywords that people will use to find things.  You visitors (potential clients) will like to see more info than other basic calling card types of website so that they can learn more about you and see if you are a match for their needs.  Creating content (pages or articles) is how it is done.  It builds trust with your potential clients so that they are more willing to make the call for the appointment.

There are many things that you will have to do with your website in order to get the traffic you need to get clients.  Not every visitor will become a client.  Actually very few will because many people will start finding your website articles from across the country and even around the world.

It begins with doing some research to find out what the best keywords are for your website pages.  Everything online is about keywords.  They match the information to what people are searching for.  The main keyword that you will want to get found for is something like “massage, your city” or “massage, your area of town”.  Those words should first be put into your domain name for starters and also be in the metatags of your homepage.  Here is more info on domain names and choosing the best domain name for your massage business website. The metatags are the hidden parts of a page that only the search engines see.  You can also see them if you go to your browser and click on “Page” in IE 8 and then “view source” or something like that.  That will show you the code that is used in any webpage/website you are on.  Here is some more info on using metatags.

So writing content is what it is all about and writing content about keywords that apply to your business are also important.  You can research keywords by using this free keyword tool.  It will tell you what words are being used by people when they do search for something.  Put your main keywords – massage, your city  – into the Google Keyword Tool.  I prefer to use the link called “Previous Interface ” in the top right hand corner.  (If you are using Site Build it! you won’t have to do this- you will be using the software included with it called Brainstormit and will be getting more assistance in finding the right keywords to be using for your website.)

When you find some keywords that you would like to write about you then just start creating pages.  You can also do the reverse and think about what pages you want to create info on and then see what keywords people are using in relation to that topic that will be a better pick.  The thing about using the Google Keyword tool though is that you have to do more deciphering.  The best keyword may not be the first word with the highest results.  If you just put in the word massage – there are too many searches being done and too many pages that are listed in the results section of a search.  You won’t be able to get top listings for that keyword unless you write a thousand pages and get about 5000 other sites to link to you.  Even then you don’t have much of a chance.  See also the page on website content for more info.

After you plan or choose your keywords you have to know how to use them strategically in your pages.  Every page has metatags that I mentioned before.  You use them in the metatags in the way I previously wrote about.   So the other thing is that you also need to have an xml sitemap installed on your website.  This is a special file created in a special way that allows search engines to further see what is on your website.  You also submit that sitemap to the search engines.  Everytime you add a new page it needs to be updated.  Site Build it! will automatically do that for you and so will WordPress when you set it up correctly.  That is why I prefer using those two things for creating websites.

So all it really is doing is connecting your content to the search engines!  In the meantime – your readers will be loving it!

The next part of getting traffic to your massage website is about getting other sites to link to you.  For some strange reason search engines rank your website by how many other sites link to you and rate them accordingly.  If you go online and go to some of the websites that show up first on the SE for your keywords you will be able to see how many other sites are linked to them.  You can do that by doing a search on Yahoo! for     linksdomain:and then put the url     .  You can do that for any site and it will show you the links that are on various websites that link to that site.   Try it now!

So if the site that comes up first for your keyword has 300 links going to it – your goal will be to get more links to your website in order to give it a better chance of beating out that top listing.  It isn’t iron clad though but if you do all of the other things you have the best chance of making it so!

The best ways to get other sites to link to you are:

1. To submit your website to free directories.
2. Write and submit articles that have links to your website to article directories such as www.ezinearticles.com, www.selfgrowth.com, www.goarticles.com
3. Use tools like squidoo.com or hubpages.com
4. Give answers on Yahoo! answers and write your link
5. Ask other businesses in your area to link to you.
6. Ask doctors or other health care professionals to link to you
7. Write articles on other health care providers websites with a link to your website.

That is the basic formula – Write Content – Get Traffic- and get as many clients as you can handle.

And here is the real key with all this linking strategy – Use the keywords that you want to get found for in the actual text of the link.   For example:  If I want to get found for the keyword massage website I will use those words as I just did and make them into the link to a page on massage websites.

The therapeutic relationship is talked about by many authors in the massage profession.

Cidalia Paiva, PhD in her book “Keeping the Professional Promise” says this:

In the therapeutic relationship we are not simply serving the interests of persons: we are specifically serving the health care interests of vulnerable persons….

She goes on to say: The therapeutic relationship’s primary function is to facilitate the health and well-being of our patients, ensuring that we bring our full presence and commitment to this experience.  In order to be fully present in the therapeutic relationship, it is critical for the therapist to be self aware and personally responsible…. Therapeutic progress can be blocked when therapists use their patients, perhaps unconsciously, to fulfill their own needs: to caretake others, to boost weak self esteem and to feel capable and/or powerful.

Nina McIntosh in her book “The Educated Heart” says that “boundaries are like protective circles surrounding the professional relationship.  Rather than being barriers that separate us from our clients, boundaries safe guard both practitioner and client.”  The therapeutic relationship is focused on the well being of the massage client.

The dynamics of the client-practitioner relationship are complex and often subtle.  Our clients automatically give us more power than they would for instance if they met us on the street.  They are often looking for us to alleviate their physical, or emotional distress or discomfort which puts them in a vulnerable and dependent position…Our task is to meet our clients’ vulnerabilities with respect and kindness and we do that by maintaining secure boundaries.

Cherie Sohnen-Moe in her book “The Ethics of Touch”  claims that ” practitioners must have a thorough understanding of the meaning of the therapeutic relationship; power differential, transference ;  countertransference; projection; repression; and denial.”

Much of what is written for the massage profession does not do justice to the extent of the therapeutic relationship and how it can actually influence the success or failure of a massage business.  It is also one of the hardest things to learn about just from a book or from massage school.   Supervision is really the best forum for discussing the client-therapist interactions that you have with YOUR clients.

The therapeutic relationship begins the moment a potential client begins thinking that they want to find a massage therapist.  The potential client is already thinking about seeking assistance for whatever issues they may be having – stress, physical pain or relaxation.  They actually may or may not even know about you.  They might just be looking online or just thinking about it at their desk or sitting on the sidelines of their soccer game.  The act of seeking help often brings up past relationship dynamics with others of power in their lives such as parents, caretakers, teachers and religious educators.  To put it simply and directly – people will often unconsciously think of you as their parent (person of power) and the dynamics of the relationship between client – massage therapist will be challenged by them (transference).  Unresolved needs and feelings and issues are ‘transferred’ onto the person of power – in this case the massage therapist.  The massage therapist will also have their own issues arise during the course of a massage which requires attention (countertransference).  In real life regular friendships and romantic relationships also start in transference.

Transference is normal and will happen whether you are aware of it or not or whether you want it or not.  It isn’t a bad thing like many massage therapists may start to think because of the small amount of time that is given to the topic in massage school.  Massage clients also have special vulnerabilities because of the fact that they also end up on the massage table in some state of undress and are not feeling well or are injured.  There are many signs of transference but often you will not really know if it is a case of transference.  Creating boundaries for yourself as a massage therapist is what allows someone who is in a state of transference to have a chance to see their own issues and is a major part of the healing process.

As a massage therapist, you will also have your own issues that come up when working so closely with people.  Countertransferrence is when your own unmet needs, feelings and issues come into the client/therapist relationship.  It is basically unconsciously thinking that the client resembles a parent figure and we look to them to get our needs for recognition, appreciation and to be heard.  Since it is an unconscious process most of the time, it is important to work with a Supervisor to get your needs met outside of the client/massage therapist relationship.

The more you know your own values, needs and feelings and the clearer your boundaries are for yourself – the greater the chances of you attracting your “Ideal Massage Client” to your massage business.  Some examples of simple boundaries you can create are those around things like cancellation policies and fees, hours of operation, creating dual relationships with clients (becoming friends with them or even dating clients), giving advice and sharing personal information.  The clearer your boundaries , the easier you will be able to make decisions that will support your massage business.  The more you let your boundaries slip like allowing clients to get away with not paying for missed appointments the higher your risk of Burnout and also failing in your career/business.

That last sentence above took me about 15 years to really understand and the process of creating and defining my boundaries took another 5 years or so and is actually an ongoing process.   The more that I could stand strong in my vision of working with mainly my “Ideal Clients”, the more clients I got that respected my time and were willing to pay higher rates for my services.   The clearer my values and boundaries, the more successful I became as a massage therapist.

For the most part from what I understand whenever you are a subcontractor it is best to be paid a flat rate for each massage that you do.  When you are paid a percentage of each massage the relationship with the employer becomes confusing to say the least.

The employer is responsible for knowing how to hire you as an independent contractor.  If they are trying to pay you a percentage you might want to bring the laws to their attention.  There are many reasons why an employer would try to pay you a percentage with the main reason usually about making money for themselves.  While an employer deserves to be paid for the use of the room and providing clients there should also be a limit.  It will also depend on what is provided by the employer.

Be sure to read as many articles and resources as you can about determining your status.  Here is a collection of them that I have found to provide solid information but again I am not an attorney!

IRS Website – Employee vs Contractor

Form SS8 of the IRS to have them determine your status fill out this form.  Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding

Independent contractor vs employee (PDF) – from Pieck and Conniff Attorneys for the AMTA- WA

Independent contractor status – Futurelmt.com -To assist your understanding of this vital topic, we are providing the following information (adapted with permission) from IRS Publication 937, Business Reporting

In general, you can just create a very simple business plan for yourself.   I have a complete section on it on my other site  Massage Career Guides that you can refer to for more information.  The basic formula will be something like this:

The basic steps for creating a massage business plan are:
1. General Overview: Vision/Mission/Purpose and Values Statement . A vision statement is a few sentences that sums up what you see is possible in your business. It pulls you forward when the going gets tough and keeps you on track.

A purpose statement will talk about the things you will need to learn or become in order to fulfill your vision. You might need to take classes in marketing, website design, public speaking, massage techniques or whatever.

The mission statement will outline the specific steps you need to take to fulfill the vision and purpose. (Think about the phrase – ‘on a mission’)
2. Who Will Your Clients Be? Who is Your Ideal Client? What does your Ideal Massage Business Look like? It is not only about demographics but what your client values.
3. How will You Get Clients? Marketing, advertising and work of mouth is how you will get clients. Creating a marketing plan that is in tune with your vision and mission statements will allow you to make better decisions about your business and clients.
4. Financial Projections – what will your expenses be and how much do you plan to make?

5. Marketing Analysis. Doing a Marketing Analysis will help you understand what people want or if they even do want massage services. You can start by actually going door to door in your neighborhood and asking people for their feedback on specifically designed questions about massage. You can also do market research by using some keyword search tools and find out how many people are looking for massage online in your area.

You can also find more help in a few books -Business Mastery by Cherie Sohnen-Moe is highly recommended.

Once you have a vision of your ideal massage client which will be based on your own personal and professional values you will then be able to make clear business decisions that will support you in creating a long term massage client and massage business.   You will set your policies and procedures up in a way that supports you and your values.   When you start compromising those values you increase the risk of burnout.

Developing relationships with your clients means that you understand your role as a massage therapist and are able to set boundaries to support yourself.  Boundaries are often thought of as being something that keeps people or things out of your life.  Boundaries are actually what help you in valuing yourself and developing your self esteem.  It is a process though and doesn’t happen overnight.  It will be ongoing throughout your career.  You can get support for yourself through working with a supervisor or creating your own peer group.

Learning to listen to clients is really one of the hardest things to do.  Most massage therapists also are challenged by their helping complex and find themselves wanting to be giving advice to clients.   Becoming more aware of how helping is actually hurting more and learning to just listen can help clients in their healing process.  It is a part of setting boundaries to protect and preserve the therapeutic relationship that occurs between a massage therapist and the massage client.

Some of the challenges will be things like:

• becoming friends with clients
• charging what you need to make a good living
• setting cancellation fees that support you in making a living
• setting your hours and services
• dating clients
• caring more about clients that you forget to take care of yourself

You will also be faced with many different types of ethical dilemmas that you will need to sort out one by one.  Ethical dilemmas occur when people challenge your boundaries as in should you come in at a special time for a client in pain.  Each situation will be different and can have a different answer.

Because massage clients come to massage therapists in a vulnerable state being in pain or under stress and also because they are in some state of undress under sheets lying on your massage table it creates a special dynamic called the therapeutic relationship.   To really simplify the concept – it is when clients basically unconsciously or consciously think that you resemble a parent or early caretaker and act in ways that are based on that.   It arises because people feel an imbalance of power and look up to you as a massage therapist to help them.  It creates a sort of victim mentality and can interfere with healing or getting better.  The way to healing is actually by creating boundaries that can help clients learn about themselves.

Learning about the process of transference and counter-transference will be an ongoing part of your massage business.  It is helpful to get support in the form of supervision to help you in your career choices.

If you aren’t familiar with supervision, it is quite simply just all about you.  It isn’t someone telling you to do something or someone telling you are doing something wrong (or right even!)  Supervision is the process of working with a more experienced massage therapist for the purpose of getting the support you need so that you will be able to take the steps you need in creating your ideal massage business.  It is about whatever you have going on at the moment in your business from learning to talk to clients in a way that they feel compelled to make an appointment with you and to dealing with the many feelings and thoughts that come up for you when you are working with people.   It isn’t psychology or counseling.  Most basically it is just listening and being a support system for YOU!

I found supervision back in about 2002 – or rather it found me.  I was burned out from giving too much and not making enough money.   I was involved in setting up workshops for a teacher that I was studying with and the training in itself was more draining than positive.  As a result I found myself literally spinning around and going nowhere.   I got a very serve case of vertigo that would come and go leaving me unable to work much.  I was always canceling on clients because I was too sick to work.

I started reading a series of articles by Jack Blackburn on “Caretaking” that really hit home.   I attended a 3 hour workshop with him at a convention and was then hooked on supervision.

In one of his articles he says this about supervision:

In all helping professions it is necessary to discern whose needs are being met; the practitioner or the client… this is a major reason for supervision.

I asked a few friends to join me.  At first we all thought that it would be more like him telling us what to do.   That was not it at all.  The hardest part was learning not to give advice to each other and it still is a challenge today although we are much better and more aware of the underlying need to fix and give advice.

I have to say though that the more deeply I looked at my reasons for helping and some of the issues that lead me to burnout I can see how much my sessions used to be filled with ‘caretaking’ and not ‘caregiving’.

Supervision is the process of working with a more experienced massage therapist for the purpose of getting support in whatever stage you are at in building your massage career.