Starting your own Massage Therapy practice. Part 1. (Overview)

Ian Thomas, Knowledge Level: All Levels, Keywords: small business massage therapy practice

Two years ago, my girlfriend, Jaime a.k.a. Chandra, started at the Body Therapy Institute  to learn how to be a massage therapist. She has since graduated and started her  private practice. Being a business consultant, I naturally took great interest  in her business and I offered advice where I could. I'd like to take this opportunity  to share the lessons we've both learned. Over the next few articles I'll be detailing  how to start your own Massage Therapy Business. If you're not interested in massage,  don't worry, the lessons learned here apply to starting a small service business  an well.
The path JaimeChandra took went something like this:

1. School
2. Full time work for someone else / a few clients here and there
3. Part time work for someone else / Part time private clients
4. Full Time Private clients

This system worked well for her because she was able to get out of school and go straight to work. As with any skill Massage Therapy needs to be practiced. The practice you get in school needs to be maintained after graduation, or your technique will fade and your stamina will suffer slowing the development of your business.

Full time work also gives you a steady schedule.  Jaime used this time to develop her marketing materials. Once she had her website, newsletter, business cards, and a small mailing list to get her started. She transitioned to part time work and started building up her client base. This allowed her to have some guaranteed income to pay for the rent on her office so she could weather the startup period where private appointments are uncertain.

Once she had enough returning clients coming back once a month or once a quarter and she was booking 2 weeks out she started cutting off her part time and side jobs and focused directly on her private practice.

This is an overview of how Jaime has grown her business. The next article in this series will focus on the details of how to best leverage your school/training experience for your business down the road.

Ian is a financial services and entrepreneurship expert, with over 30 years experience.. Article on small business massage therapy practice by Ian Thomas

Tags: [cached]: massage therapy business, amp nbsp, girlfriend jaime, full time work, private appointments, startup period, massage therapist, massage therapy, website newsletter, private clients, newsletter business, marketing materials, part time work, business consultant, private practice, business cards, service business, chandra, stamina, graduation,

More Recent Articles