You are trying to do it all yourself.

At a certain point in your massage business you realize that you just can’t do it all yourself and you need help. If you are busy as can be, and are still folding sheets, answering the phone to schedule appointments, doing your own billing and bookkeeping etc, then I mean YOU.

Why are you doing work that you could hire out for $10 – $15 an hour (less in some states) when you could be building your business and even creating additional streams of income? And working towards true financial freedom? But instead you are filing forms!

And I don’t necessarily mean employees. There are inexpensive phone answering and appointment scheduling services. There are independent bookkeepers and laundry services, and even virtual assistants who can do billing and make calls for you from their own home or office (which can even be across the country).

I had a virtual assistant who lived in New Zealand. We communicated primarily by email and instant message, and never actually met in person.

You have chosen a market that really cannot afford your services

So what do you do if they really CAN’T afford your services? Most massage therapists get into the field, not to make money, but to help people. But if you have chosen a market that simply cannot pay you what you need to make to run a viable business you need to rethink your strategy.

I hate to sound cold, but if you can’t make enough money to stay in business, who will you help then?

So if you are in this situation, you may want to seriously consider choosing a target market that CAN pay you want you are worth, and then DONATE a certain amount of your time and services to the market you feel passionate about serving.

That way you all win!

You are not charging enough?

Way too many massage therapists simply don’t charge enough for their services. It may be because they lack confidence in their skills, or are concerned about losing clients to the competition if they raise rates, or think their clients couldn’t (or wouldn’t) pay more, or don’t value their work and the difference they make in the lives of their clients.

But if you don’t charge what you are worth, how can you hope to build a sustainable massage business?

Are you charging enough for your massage services?

You don’t have the necessary business and marketing skills.

A lot of massage therapists are really good at massage, but don’t know how to run a business and are lousy at marketing or promoting themselves.

It takes a very different set of skills to run a successful business or practice than it does to give a massage and many therapists underestimate this.

If you need help in this area, there are many classes at local colleagues and as well as online to help you develop the entrepreneurial, business and marketing skills you need. You can also get help (often free) from organizations such as SCORE.