The Massage Pundit

My staff members are all independent contractors. I get a lot of calls from others who are working as ICs, and from people who are utilizing IC labor in their business, and I’m sometimes appalled at the things I hear.

Independent contractors put up with a lot, most of the time because they need the job and they’re afraid they’ll be replaced.  I have heard from many that they are expected to be at their place of employment X number of hours per day, even though they may have no clients scheduled, and that while they’re there, management expects them to do everything from cleaning the building, pulling weeds in the front lawn, doing laundry for the ones who are busy, and so forth, and they’re not compensated.  That’s not being an independent contractor; that’s slave labor. 

I’ve been told by a business consultant that my business model is crazy, because my therapists keep 70% of what they make.  My mission has been to attract the very best therapists I could get, with the intent that if I help them make money, they’ll help me make money.  I don’t have any turnover in my staff. In the past four and a half years, I have fired one person who had a really negative attitude; and I hired one couple who was upfront about the fact that they wanted to work for a year to save enough money to move to the beach.  Other than that, I have never lost a staff member.  My independent contractors are expected to do massage, and keep their personal work area clean and neat, and that’s it.  I don’t force anyone to mop the floor or scrub the toilet, or sit there when they don’t have clients.  They all throw in a load of laundry when it’s needed, or empty a trash can when it needs it, voluntarily, not because I have asked them to, and I think that’s because they’re treated well and not taken advantage of.

If you are utilizing independent contractors in your business, and you haven’t taken a good look at the law lately, you ought to.  Independent contractors are not hourly employees, and they shouldn’t be treated like the maid, the gardener, or otherwise free labor.  If you are working as an independent contractor, you ought to read the law, too.  It’s posted on the IRS website at www.irs.gov

If your business has a lot of staff turnover, ask yourself why.  A spa owner told me just last night that she has 18-20 staff members, but that she has so much turnover she usually ends up doing over a hundred 1099s at the end of the year.  That’s the whole staff turning over five times in a year.  I suggested she take a good look at the situation and figure out exactly why that is the case.  Her split is the opposite of mine; her staff members get to keep 30% of what they make. 

A happy staff is a productive staff.  A happy staff gives great service, and they attract repeat business.  I’m just the ringleader in my office; it’s my great staff members who keep our customers coming in the door, and the reason that 97% of our clients come in from word of mouth referrals.  I wouldn’t be successful without them, and I want to give credit where credit is due.  So here’s to Carla, Heather, Tracey, Kelly, Jack, Ezra, Marilyn, Deany, Rachel, Jennifer, Mary and Ramona–the people who make my business what it is.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I am seeing a disturbing trend in the past few years, and that is the children whose little bodies are such  stressed-out wrecks full of taut muscles and knots.  I’m not a parent, so this isn’t something I’ve dealt with personally on a daily basis (or been the cause of, thankfully).  But there are a few enlightened parents out there who bring their children in for massage, and it’s terrible to me to touch an 8-year old who feels like he has the stressed-out shoulders of a stockbroker on crash day.

One factor is certainly the heavy book bags kids carry.  Why does a first-grader need to carry twenty-five pounds on his back?  I urge parents to get a rolling suitcase instead. 

Sometimes, sports-related or other injuries are the reasons parents bring children in.  I often wonder how many injuries it takes to get it through to a parent that enough is enough.  One mother told me her daughter, whom she truly considered to be a future Olympian, had decided to give up gymnastics when she realized at the age of ten that she was having her thirteenth MRI.  In defense of the mother, she had supported, but never forced, her little girl’s desire to be a gymnast, but I have seen some children where that wasn’t the case.

Early in my career I had three sisters as clients, who when they started with me were 8, 12, and 16.  They were all competitive swimmers–because their father, a swim coach, insisted that they be.  They all hated it.  One of them wanted to take piano lessons; one wanted to be a cheerleader, and the other wanted to be in the local theatre group, but they were all forbidden outside activities that would interfere with their training time and their swim meets.  That was a lot of years ago.  I’ve thought about them from time to time and wondered if the resentment I could feel them carrying in their shoulders is still there.  I hope not. 

If you’re still a new therapist and haven’t yet had the opportunity to work with children, it’s good to have some guidelines to go by.  In my clinic, for anyone from infants through the age of twelve, we want the parent to be in the room during the massage.  The intake is very thorough, for no other reason than we want to take a little extra conversation time to make the child feel comfortable about a stranger touching them.  We insist that children leave their underwear on.  We don’t touch the gluts or any other potentially sensitive areas unless it’s really necessary to the treatment, we explain to the parent and child what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and the parent is sitting right there.  We ascertain at the time the appointment is being made if the parent prefers a therapist of the same sex.  For very young children, we might limit the massage to thirty minutes; it’s sometimes hard to get them to lay still longer than that, and they don’t have as much terrain to cover as an adult.

Children have stress too, and they need positive touch.It’s a privilege to provide it to them. 

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

This weekend the change over to daylight savings time is a sure sign that spring is on the way.  We had a little strange weather here in the NC mountains this weekend with a weird ice storm one moment, and five minutes later the sun coming out.  I’m glad to say it doesn’t look like the ice harmed the numerous daffodils that are already in full bloom here.

Spring is a great time of renewal all around, so why not look at it as a great time to renew your business and marketing strategies and do a little spring cleaning?  The other day I was watching Suze Orman, the financial advisor and author on television, and she talked about how clutter in our homes and offices is also a sign of clutter in our financial lives.  It struck me as being right on the money, so to speak, so I jumped up and started my spring cleaning right after the show! 

A fresh coat of paint in the office, bringing in a bouquet of some beautiful spring flowers, and implementing some fresh new advertising can help you get over the winter doldrums and revitalize and refresh you and your practice.  Spring break is just around the corner.  One promotion I’ve successfully done in the past was to advertise a mother/daughter day during spring break, with specials on hot stone massage or salt scrubs.  Lots of moms have taken advantage of it to treat their daughters that come home from college for the week.  It’s a little bonding time for them and a business boon for you.

You can hear a few more of my marketing strategies next Monday, March 17, 11:30 Eastern daylight time, by tuning into the free seminar  I am doing with Felicia Brown, owner of Spalutions! Felicia is a very successful massage therapist, a great instructor and is very in-demand as a business consultant to spas and massage therapists.  She offers an ongoing roster of teleseminars and webinars for people in our industry.  If you can’t listen to the live broadcast, it will be available for two weeks after the event, so you can still listen to it.  I’ve never done a live seminar on the web before so it’ll be exciting.  Please tune in if you can.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I was fortunate enough yesterday to host Nina McIntosh, author of The Educated Heart, at my continuing ed facility for a class on ethics.  The Educated Heart was the first ethics book specifically written for those in our profession.  It came out in 1999, went through 8 printings, and in 2005 LWW acquired it and published the second edition.  

Nina is one of the grandmothers of massage.  After starting a career in psychiatric social work, she became a massage therapist in 1978 and later became a Rolfer, maintaining a practice for almost 30 years.  Her years of practicing bodywork have given her a wellspring of knowledge and experience to draw on that certainly benefitted everyone in the class.  One of the focuses of Nina’s class was boundaries–not the client’s boundaries, but our own.  We did some great role-playing that was not only enlightening, but fun, too. 

The class was a mixture of brand-new therapists attending their first continuing ed class, a school owner, and people who have been practicing for years.  We all got something new out of it.  One of the role-playing exercises was in dealing with difficult clients in a manner that was wishy-washy, then being judgmental, and then finally, acting like the professionals we are supposed to be.  I found out I’m not very good at being wishy-washy, but I’m pretty good at being judgmental!  Since that’s not a quality I want to maintain, it was definitely a useful exercise. 

We’re all faced with clients from time to time who want us to be more than we are.  We’re here to be massage therapists and bodyworkers.  We’re not here to be anyone’s savior, or to take on anyone’s personal issues, and yet, it’s easy to get caught up in that.  We sometimes get those clients who seem to be emotionally “needy”, and due to the personal nature of our therapeutic relationship with them, they choose us to be their lifeline.  You know the ones I mean; when they’ve left it feels like they sucked the oxygen out of the room and took it with them, leaving us feeling drained in their wake.

The newbies in the class both had the same comment about this type of client; they’re just starting out as massage therapists, still trying to build a clientele, and not exactly comfortable with the idea of dismissing a client who hasn’t really committed a tangible offense like doing something sexual.  But now they also recognize that at the beginning of their careers is the time to learn the tools for dealing with such clients, rather than waiting until they have a roster full of people who are trying to suck them dry.

Whether you’re just starting out, or an old hand, so to speak, Nina’s book is a great resource.  And if you ever get the opportunity to take a class from this great lady, don’t pass it up.  You can visit her website at www.educatedheart.com

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen