When I was shopping around online for my electric massage table I was surprised to see that there was quite a variance on price when it came to shipping and handling costs.
These tables are heavy, (as you can see it took two guys and a trolley to move it) and so the shipping costs can be considerable. There was one vendor that I was considering buying my table from as they had it listed for a little bit less than competing sites.
But their web site said that after I placed my order I would be contacted by a representative and told the shipping method and cost.
That seemed a little dodgy to me so instead I called the company before I ordered. Good thing too - the amount they wanted to add for shipping was very high.
I did a bit more research and found my table at another site where the actual table was a little more expensive, but they were running a special and the shipping was FREE!
That saved me a couple hundred dollars! So if you are looking for an electric massage table do shop around and look for special packages.
By the way, my dog JJ wasn’t too excited about the new table, but he LOVED the box.
Posted in For Clinic and Day Spa Owners, Massage and Money, Tools of the Trade | Leave a Comment
I’ve recently had a number of therapists contact me who are concerned about the effect our challenging economic situation may have on their massage business.
I believe, more than ever before, in order to have or maintain a successful business you will need to have a clearly defined specialty and learn how to really differentiate yourself from other massage therapists.
If you feel that you need help with this you might want to consider my upcoming program, 9 Weeks to More Massage Clients
.
In this program you will learn how to promote yourself and your massage services in a way that feels authentic and natural for you, without feeling like you are “selling”?
And best of all, you can take part right from the comfort of your home or office!
You can find out more at www.moremassageclients.com
Posted in Getting Massage Clients, Massage and Money | 6 Comments
I received an email from a massage therapist last week who was looking for some online resources that would help her decide what was the best way to approach a bank or lender for funding to help her growing her practice?
She felt that she had a solid business plan and was ready to take her business to the next level.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, a great place to start is with a bank that you already have a good relationship with. You might find someone there who would be happy to take a look at your business plan and give you some advice.
Also if you belong to any networking groups (or know someone who does) they can be a great source of educational support. One business networking group that I was a member of for a number of years regularly had a friendly bank representative there to answer members’ questions.
In addition, here are some great online resources I use:
If you are thinking of going to a bank for funding, entrepreneur magazine has some good articles.
And here are links to all kinds of traditional and non-traditional financing.
Also check out the Small Business Administration for some great articles on getting financial assistance for your business.
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I just returned from a wonderful conference especially for entrepreneurs in Dallas, TX called the Idea Incubator. The whole 4 days was focused around taking your ideas from concept to cash.
How many times a day to you have an idea that could bring more money into your massage business? For example, you could teach a seminar, write an eBook or develop an eCourse on a subject you know a lot about.
Or you could link from your massage website (if you have one) to other sites that have complementary products you recommend to your clients anyway, and make money on the commissions (like with amazon.com).
So many ideas… so little time!
Anyway, on my blog over the next few days and weeks I’ll be sharing in detail some of what I learned that applies to running a massage business. So, if you’ve ever thought that it would be nice to have some additional streams of income coming in, and you’d like to know how, do check back.
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So, I’ve been re-reading one of my favorite classics, The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, which is really the science of manifesting anything you want in your life, when….
Well, let’s just say I was thrown off course by the unexpected. You see my husband had a number of surgeries recently and just prior having them I called my health insurance company to verify our coverage.
Being self-employed, we pay over $800 a month for a high-deductible “catastrophe” policy, hoping that we’d never have to use it, but knowing that it was (at least on paper) an excellent policy if we ever did need it. In almost 10 years we’ve never put it to the test as we keep ourselves pretty healthy.
So after being told that we had 100% coverage after we met our deductible, I went white when I opened the mail on Saturday to find bill after bill has been denied, and for no reason that makes any sense. It adds up to a LOT of money.
So, how do I stay positive and feel abundant when facing a mountain of unexpected medical bills? Of course I’m going to appeal it, but who needs to deal with that!
I noticed that my mind keeps wandering to the “lack” side of the fence and I have to go get it and haul it back to the reality that it is an abundant universe.
So it was somewhat comforting to read in The Science of Getting Rich this morning that…
Every person has the natural and inherent power to think what he wants to think, but it requires far more effort to do so than it does to think the thoughts which are suggested by appearances. To think according to appearances is easy. To think truth regardless of appearances is laborious and requires the expenditure of more power than any other work a person has to perform.
So now I don’t feel quite so bad. It’s not just me that has trouble with this. Wattles goes on to explain that sustained and consecutive thought is the hardest work in the world. Especially when the truth it is contrary to appearances. That’s because every “appearance” creates a corresponding form in our mind. The bills certainly made an impression on my mind!!!
Yet, to create true abundance and wealth, I have to return time after time to the truth that it is an abundant universe, and that I can be, do and have what I want?
Boy, I’ve got my work cut out for me today…
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When thinking about being wealthy it can bring up all kinds of uncomfortable feelings because of our past financial conditioning (especially all the stuff we heard as a kid about money not growing on trees. Duh!).
Bob Proctor, one of my mentors, says that the secret to financial prosperity is that we have to work through those uncomfortable feelings and not let them stop us. And once you learn how to do that in the area of money, you can apply the same principles to any area of your life.
Maybe you feel uncomfortable marketing and promoting yourself, or are uncomfortable with the concept of selling your massage services or products.
Or maybe what you really, really want is nothing to do with your massage business at all! Maybe you want to find that ideal life partner or soul mate. But the uncomfortable feelings come up when you even think about it. You know… the negative self-talk… that little voice that tells you all the reasons why it will never happen to YOU.
So the reason I believe that the book The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles (see left side bar) inspired the movie The Secret, was simply because when you put these timeless principles into place THEY WORK, and they apply to anything you want to manifest, not just money. Hence…. “the secret”.
And from watching the folks interviewed on The Secret, you do get to where the uncomfortable feelings become comfortable. As Bob Proctor has pointed out to me, wealthy people are very comfortable talking about money. But they didn’t all start out that way.
Growing up in my family, money was never discussed in public except in arguments. How about you?
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Tamara Felix, PhD, LMT of The Right Touch had some great insights about massage fees. Read on….
One way to establish wellness massage fees is based on the local economy.
Our local gas prices are a federally regulated cost of living check. More expensive in Southern California where the cost of living is greater, for example, than in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the cost of living is a bit lower.
In the early 1990s when I was first introduced to massage therapy as a client, the average full hour wellness Swedish massage was $45, sometimes $50-$55, depending on location; a 15-minute (unit) seated massage was $10; and the average gallon of gasoline for premium was about 75 cents. A $45 hour ($10 unit) calculates at 75 cents per minute, the cost of a gallon of gasoline in my neighborhood at the time.
Since the early 1990s, the cost of living has increased (tremendously) and so has the educational requirements to become a massage therapist and maintain licensure or other credentialling and national certification.
If you will take a moment to think about it, all costs of living increase when the gallon of gasoline increases: groceries and household items are more due to the extra transport costs, utilities take a hike, real estate is worth more, and employees get pay raises.
Today, a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in my neighborhood (Portland, Oregon) is more than $2.50 per gallon, and closer to $4 per gallon in Southern California. Each more specialized gas is an additional 10 cents per gallon, with diesel at as much as 50 cents per gallon more than regular unleaded.
Establishing wellness massage fees based on the local economy, a basic wellness Swedish massage should have increased over time to about $150 per hour (based on $2.50 per minute/gallon of gasoline), and a 15-minute seated massage should have increased to about $40. And that doesn’t begin to cover the additional educational requirements, and more focused and specialized training most massage therapists practice.
Do you also have advanced training beyond Swedish? How many years experience do you have? Each year of experience and advanced training program you pay to learn are certainly worth 10 cents per minute! Just a thought.
How have your fees kept up with your local economy?????
Thanks Tamara. Now that’s food for thought?
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This morning I was reading in The Science of Getting Rich, (see previous post) that Wallace D. Wattles doesn’t believe that we should be content with anything less than a life of abundance, including lots on money. He is not into poverty at all! In fact he says it goes against the universal laws of life.
“Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich. No person can rise to his greatest possible height in talent or soul development unless he has plenty of money.”
Imagine having so much money because of your successful massage business that you never have to say “no” to something because of lack… Imagine being able to do what you want, when you want, with whom you want and as often as you want…
And when he said “rich” he was not speaking figuratively. He clarified by saying…
“To be really rich does not mean to be satisfied or content with little. No person ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of using and enjoying more. The purpose of nature is the advancement and development of life. Every individual should have all that can contribute to the power, elegance, beauty, and richness of life.”
So, Wallace D. Wattles believed that riches are an essential part of life. And let’s face it; with money we are able to expose ourselves to so much more. We are able to learn from great teachers, and have the experience of travel. With money, we don’t have to limit ourselves or the experiences from which we can learn and grow or give back to humanity.
Because I had the money, I was able to travel to study personally with one of my mentors, Bob Proctor who introduced me to The Science of Getting Rich two years ago. And that has impacted my life tremendously. Bob has now become so popular because of the success of the movie The Secret that had I not taken that chance to be mentored by him, it may not have presented itself again.
If money was no object, who would you like to meet and study with? Which conferences would you like to attend? Where would you like to travel to? How would your life be different from how it is now?
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The popularity of the movie The Secret has brought a renewed interest in the classic, The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles. I’ve written about that book before and will continue to do so because I think it has a very powerful message for massage therapists.
Wattles says, right in the first chapter of the book, that it is our BIRTHRIGHT to live full, abundant lives. The universe is an abundant universe, and wants us to have it all. He goes on to explain that being rich in all areas of life, including financially is our Divine Right.
He says that many people believe it is all right to be content with poverty? Do you? A lot of massage therapists seem to think it is. I too used to have a difficult time charging what I was really worth. I felt that because I was helping folks I should give my services away (or almost).
I felt guilty even thinking about or imagining getting wealthy from serving others in need. And let’s face it; doesn’t everyone need healing touch these days? So how was I ever going to have that lifestyle I dreamed about? And my husband Francis was (still is) also a massage therapist! So did that mean we were doomed to a life of “just getting by”?
No it did not! But it did mean I had to make some changes in my business and in my life….. and most especially in my thinking.
And I’m going to share with you in upcoming posts some of the things that helped me along the way. Maybe they’ll help you too, or other massage therapists you know who may be struggling with making money and creating abundance in their lives. My passion is to help bring more prosperity to the massage profession as a whole. Will you join me?
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My husband’s massage practice is mostly made up of busy professionals and executives. So one year, in early December we sent a letter to all of his regular clients with 3 lovely gift certificates.
He explained in the letter that he wanted to alleviate some of their holiday stress. So if there was someone on their holiday list that they did not have a gift for yet, all they had to do was call us with their credit card information (or mail a check) and give us the certificate numbers and we would instantly “activate” them. Then, the certificates were ready to be put under the Christmas tree or popped in the mail. What could be easier?
We followed up with a brief reminder call to anyone who hadn’t used them a week before Christmas, incase they just forgot about them. A few clients who had been procrastinating about gifts were really glad we called, and we sold quite a few more.
And in addition to selling a record number of certificates, his clients really appreciated that we made their lives a bit easier during the holiday season. A win-win situation for us all (not to mention the happy recipients!).
Don’t forget to download your free massage gift certificates. Enjoy.
Posted in Getting Massage Clients, Massage and Money | Leave a Comment
