One of my most favorite quotes about massage therapists beliefs about money comes from one of my favorite books written by Steve Capellini called “Making the Switch to Being Rich”.  I don’t think that many have heard of or read this book but it is very interesting in many ways. First it is a story of how Steve was a member of the “Moonies” in the early 70′s I think it was. They were a cult basically. Steve’s father had him taken away and deprogrammed by a specialist.  He equates the process of deprogramming of brainwashing from his experience with what massage therapists need to do to snap out of it – it being the moneyless bubble where massage therapists gather and live in.
In it he says this about massage therapists:
If there is an entire group of people who are almost all inside the moneyless bubble, it’s massage therapists. We want to help people and heal them. We want to ease their aching muscles and soothe their unquiet souls. We want meaningful interactions with our clients. We do not, for the most part want to focus on the monetary aspects of our jobs.
Why do massage therapists equate making money with doing something evil? Why do massage therapists so easily give of their time and sacrifice making money in order to help people? Why do they think that it is more “noble” to live in poverty or without and help others? Why do they think that making money for doing something so loving and caring is not right?
Money is just money. It really isn’t worth anything anymore. There is no gold in the banks backing up the money. Our money is just currency – something to trade for products and services. How we get so many hangups about money comes from the beliefs we adopt at an early age without having the opportunity to question those beliefs.
Some common beliefs about money are:
- Money is the root of all evil
- People with money must have sold their soul to get it
- People with money must be doing something illegal to get it
- I get enough in the form of being appreciated by clients
- Living simply is a better way of life because you don’t need much
- If you are rich you are focused on materialist things and not caring and helping people.
- You can’t care and make money too.
- You are not in this for the money
- You can’t make money doing something that you love
The thing is that most of these beliefs about money just are not true. As Steve also says in his book people become massage therapists to further prove their beliefs about money. It is sort of a self serving prophesy.
There are a few ways to start looking at what your beliefs about money are. You can just start thinking about what you think or say when you see people with money or driving a fancy car. Are you jealous? Angry even? ( I had a client who once owned a Bently and he sold it back to the dealer because so many people were keying it because they were one of those things – jealous and/or angry) . What do you think about the idea of being able to charge $100 a session for a massage? Do you think it is impossible? That no one would pay it? That it would be impossible to stay in business or even get clients at that rate?
Beliefs are just the perspective or filter that you see things through. Everyone has them and lives their lives through them. Some see the glass half empty and others the glass half full. We think something is true because we think it is true.
Understanding and becoming aware of the belief systems that you have about money and success is a process that takes time and learning more about how beliefs are formed and how they impact your every decision. It is a process of learning to take responsibility for the outcomes of your actions that are based on these old beliefs. It isn’t about blaming yourself for where you are. It is just being willing to accept what happens when you make decisions and then change that response to get a different outcome.
Once you are more aware of these unconscious beliefs that drive your actions you can then begin to change your actions to get better results. Instead of blaming your lack of success in your business or in the massage job market you can start seeing that it is a result of your actions or lack of actions. There was a particular online forum recently just wanting to blame everything on the economy. Is it the economy or lack of financial preparation and planning? Lack of marketing or not figuring out the right marketing method that works?
The reason I keep writing about this is yes I was once in the moneyless bubble mindset. Until I started my websites and started making money online, I always just made just enough to live on. I didn’t care for the most part either. Now I know better. A career in massage is not a license to live in poverty or even simply. You can have whatever you want if you are willing to start thinking and challenging your beliefs about money.  While Meagan Holub’s book the Magic Touch: How to make $100,000 as a massage therapist is being released – what is the next level even that this could go to? Could a massage therapist make $250,000 ?? $500,000?  or become multi-millionaires like Bonnie Brown former massage therapist at Google.
