I’m blessed with the opportunity to meet therapists from all over, who work and conduct their businesses in a variety of ways.  Yesterday in a class I was teaching, one self-employed therapist brought up the subject of fair competition.  In her area where massage normally goes for around 60.00-65.00 an hour, another therapist recently opened a business down the street from hers and is advertising massage for 20.00 an hour.  Another therapist I know from that town had recently called me about the same thing, concerned that it was really going to hurt her business.

I have an opinion about pricing services: If you’re charging way more or way less than the going rate in your area, there ought to be a good reason for that. Therapists who work from home, for instance, don’t have the same overhead I do; that doesn’t mean their actual time or skill is worth any less than mine, but I don’t have any resentment if they charge a little less than I do.  If you’re in service to the poor, or you’ve decided to focus your practice on elderly people with a fixed income, then go ahead and charge 20.00 and ignore any naysayers.  But if your reasoning is that by charging 20.00 you’ll steal all the clients of the other therapists in the area who are charging 60.00, shame on you.

Yes, this is the land of free enterprise, and you have the right to charge anything you want for your services, if you’re self-employed.  But I think such a business tactic as the one above just serves to alienate you from the other therapists in your area, and that’s a shame.  I’d prefer to know that the other therapists working in my community respect me and have the opinion that I conduct my business with integrity, and I enjoy feeling the same way about them.  When my office is busy, I gladly give out the phone numbers of other therapists in town to people who are trying to get an appointment in a hurry.  I wouldn’t give out the number of someone who was charging 20.00 in an attempt to undercut other therapists.  In fact, I might conclude that the person doing that doesn’t have any self-worth or confidence in their own ability to attract clients at the fair going rate.

Practicing cooperative competition is taking the high road.  Trying to run other therapists out of business is taking a very rocky path to success. 

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

The massage school I attended had a nice bookstore and whenever I had extra money, I would spend it on books.  I’m still expanding my massage library a decade later, so I want to recommend a few that I consider to be essential to a massage practice:

A Massage Therapist’s Guide to Pathology, by Ruth Werner, is now in its 4th edition (LWW, 2008).  I’ve got the first one and the new one.  Ruth’s book is filled with great pictures of the pathological conditions we’re apt to see on people, especially skin conditions.  This book has been the tipping factor many times when I was deciding whether or not it was okay to work on someone or whether I needed to mention something to them I’ve seen on their body.

Drug Handbook for Massage Therapists by Jean Wible (LWW, 2008) is another one that’s invaluable.  Pharmacology wasn’t even mentioned when I went to massage school.  In my big collection of massage school catalogs, I don’t see any mention of it in the curriculums of other schools, either.  This is an overlooked area that’s very important.  Sometimes a client may have a condition that is not a contraindication in itself, but the drug they are taking for it may be.  Our intake form asks people to list their medications, and the first therapist to see them in our office will write on the inside of their folder if there is a contraindication due to medication.  It’s a good practice.

Healing Ancient Wounds: The Renegade’s Wisdom, by my fellow blogger John Barnes, is the definitive book on Myofascial Release.  I still have my old copy I bought when I was a student.  I’m sure it’s been through numerous printings since then.  It’s available on John’s website at www.myofascialrelease.com

Muscles: Testing and Function (Kendall, McCreary et al, 5th ed, LWW, 2005) is the ultimate guide to assessing posture, correcting faults and imbalances, and lengthening shortened muscles.  This book is a classic.  I still have my first edition, and teach a class in structural realignment based on this book. The illustrations and tables are great.

Pain Erasure by Bonnie Prudden is another one I’ve had since massage school.  It’s like a cookbook for massage–assess the condition, and look up the recipe to treat it.  It’s available from www.bonnieprudden.com

There are many more that I’ll mention in future posts, but for a therapist just starting out, these are a great foundation to start building your library.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I need my massage.  I was a massage client for years before I became a massage therapist.  I woke up one morning with a terrible crick in my neck and couldn’t even turn my head.  I called my mother (the classic response to being in trouble), and she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take you to get a massage.”  That was about twenty years ago, and I don’t think I’ve gone longer than a month without one in all that time.  I shoot for one every week or two. Massage is one of the major components of my personal wellness plan.

When I think back on all the massages I’ve had from various practitioners, a few stand out in my mind.  One was from a new student who asked to do a practice massage on me, and it took place on the front porch of his cabin overlooking a beautiful mountain view, with the sound of the river flowing below.  The setting more than made up for his lack of technical expertise. Another was a double-team Lomi-Lomi bestowed on me by two friends who had just returned from taking a class in Hawaii.  The Rolfing series I went through changed my body and changed my life.  I try to get a lymphatic drainage every month or two.  I’ve been blessed with friends and colleagues who practice many different modalities, and I’ve tried as many as I’ve had the opportunity to experience.  There are still plenty of things I haven’t experienced yet that I’m looking forward to.

When we were students, we all got regular massage because we had to trade and practice on each other.  Some of us maintain that habit after graduation, but too many others let it fall by the wayside.  If that describes you, pick up the phone right now and call someone you can trade with.  Due to my busy schedule and staying on the road a lot, it’s usually more convenient for me to pay for a session than to try to schedule a trade.  Either way, I’ve got to have it.  I just can’t stand there and tell a client they’d benefit from regular massage if I’m not getting it myself.  Sometimes a client asks how often I get a massage.  I’d be very embarrassed if I had to say I hadn’t had one in a year.

Getting a regular massage can prolong your career by keeping your body performing at optimum level and bestowing on you all the health benefits that we quote to our clients.  It could turn into a networking and/or mutual referral opportunity.  Visiting other therapists in town for massage can spread good will and teach you what your competition’s up to.  You might learn a few new bodywork tricks and techniques, too.  You’ll be connecting with another person who knows what it means to be grounded and centered, and who understands the awesome power of touch.  Pick up the phone and make that call.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I’ve been teaching this class for close to a decade, and many times the attendees are people who have already taken the test and failed.  When I first started offering the class, most who had failed the exam had blown it on the anatomy and physiology part of the test.  In the past two years, I’ve noticed the trend that people are failing in the theory and assessment part of the exam.  I’m not sure what this means…maybe schools are focusing more on the scientific aspects–with good intentions, I’m sure–and while I certainly don’t discourage that, we need to remember we’re preparing students to do massage and bodywork, and that entails much more than the ability to give a good rub.  We need to take that scientific information and be sure we’re relating it to the application of massage and bodywork in a clear and concise manner.

Knowledge of origins and insertions, and the actions of muscles are so important to being an effective massage therapist, particularly for those who want to focus on getting people out of pain and restoring mobility.  When a client comes in and says “It hurts when I do this”, if you don’t know which muscle does that, you’re blindly groping around hoping you hit the right one.

I’d like to see more massage schools giving entrance exams.  In my experience as an instructor, and past experience as a school administrator, I think a lot of students come in with the thought that they’re going to learn how to do massage, and they really aren’t prepared for the amount of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and pathology they’re going to need to absorb.  People who didn’t do well in sciences in school are probably going to have a harder time in massage school.  It doesn’t mean they can’t overcome it; it just means they’ll have to work harder.  I feel it’s important for school directors to paint a realistic picture at the first contact with a potential student of what they’re going to be expected to learn.

To the students out there, I’d like to offer some advice.  Set aside study time every day; strive for somewhere between a half hour to no more than an hour and a half.  Your brain goes on overload after that.  Focus on one thing at a time: today, the integumentary system, tomorrow, the muscles.  Don’t jump around.  It isn’t an effective way to learn.  Before you register to take the exam, be able to answer all the questions in your anatomy book and in your theory and practice book.  If you had a hard time “getting” something in school, go rent a video.  Sometimes you can hear the very same information from a different instructor and it suddenly makes sense to you.  Take practice tests.

My book, the Plain & Simple Guide to Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Certification (LWW, 2005), is a preparatory guide for taking exams.  I recommend that students use more than one study guide.  No one book can possibly cover everything.  There are a lot of Internet resources out there as well; www.massagenerd.com is a good one for taking practice quizzes.

The most important thing in getting ready for your massage exam is not to let fear of failure stand in your way.  Fear of success is the same thing as fear of failure; it’s all fear of change and the unknown.  Change that into positive energy and direct it at preparing yourself for the exam.  Adopt a positive mantra and repeat it to yourself daily.  Visualize yourself at the test center feeling relaxed and confident in the knowledge that you have done everything you can to prepare for a successful outcome.  Instead of dreading the test, psyche yourself up for it and be happy about taking it.  Look forward to it, because passing it is going to help you get the career you want.

Peace & Prosperity, and Happy Testing!

Laura Allen

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

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

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

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

I think we all have to do our part to change that perception, sometimes a little more forcefully than others. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I accept insurance at my office.  There’s a hospital nearby that gives their employees a monthly debit card for 200.00 as part of their benefit that they may spend any way they want to that’s related to healthcare, including massage.  I recently switched credit card processors.  I’ve noticed when I was working the desk that a couple of cards from the hospital employees had been declined, and at the time really didn’t give it any thought; I just assumed the client had gone over their limit for the month.  I would have gone on thinking that, until one of those clients called to tell me that she had called the credit card company to find out why she was declined.  The reason was because the credit card processing company had our business listed as—you’ve got it—a massage parlor.

I almost choked.  I called them immediately and demanded that they reclassify us as a healthcare business.  The woman on the other end of the phone was apologetic and assured me she’d take care of it.

A week later, it happened again.  This time, I called and asked to speak to a supervisor.  I told her I was very embarrassed about the fact that I had recommended the company to other massage therapists, and that I wanted this situation taken care of that same day.  Two hours later, she called me back and said it was taken care of.

I am just wondering how many therapists dealing with this huge company, or any credit card processors for that matter, are classified as massage parlors, and they’ll probably never know it if they aren’t accepting insurance.  Call up your processor and ask them how your business is classified.  I hope you don’t get the same rude awakening I did, but if you do, just insist that they change it and keep bugging them until they do. 

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I am currently serving a term on our state massage therapy board.  What a rude awakening that’s been!  I would like to think, and so would you, that everyone who enters our profession is going to act ethically.  I’d like serving on the board much better if there were no such things as disciplinary hearings to participate in.  It’s distressing to be on the jury, so to speak, that is charged with deciding whether or not someone has behaved in a manner that should cost them their license to practice massage, but it’s part of the job.  It’s also a dance, of sorts, when the board members disagree with each other, as often happens.  We have to put ego aside, and try to act in the best interest of the public. 

Prior to my appointment to the board, I was serving our state chapter of AMTA in an administrative capacity.  Since there weren’t any disciplinary hearings involved in that job, it was a lot more fun.  The main thing that spurred me into action was simply wanting to be involved in an organization that does so much for the advancement of massage therapy.

There are a number of ways to get involved in the politics that shape our profession.  State boards are obligated to have a period set aside for public comment at each meeting, and every time I teach a class, I encourage the therapists who are present to attend a meeting and make their voice heard.  We do truly listen, and sometimes the comments from the public and members of the profession have been the catalyst for making a change in the practice act or board rules and proceedings.

AMTA and the National Board have their elections, and I wouldn’t miss a chance to vote for the people who are going to influence the direction of massage any more than I would miss voting for the president (although I must say, at the moment, that one is still up in the air for me). 

I’m very pleased at the number of states who have joined the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards.  This collaboration of boards is only going to enhance the profession and eventually the portability of licensure. 

I’m not a person who enjoys reading all the wherefores and whereas, but I want to exercise my right to have a say in where we take our profession in the future.  If you want to exercise yours, then vote for our leaders.  Attend a board meeting and your state and national conventions.  Volunteer to serve in any capacity you can make the time for.  Throw your name in the hat for an election if you’re so inclined.  In addition to learning a lot, being in service is also an invaluable networking opportunity.  And most important, it’s a way to give back a little of what massage therapy has given us.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen