What could this massage therapy industry evolve into and what is my role?
We had a new client come in yesterday. She had a terrible experience with another massage therapist and really needed her next person “to be good.” She was not messing around, she did her research, read our over 80, 5-star only reviews and decided to give us a shot and made sure to let us know her expectations. I actually love clients like this, they know what they want, they have high expectations and usually, we deliver.
She worked with our newest massage therapist Angie but I told her that if she works here, she is good. As the owner, I am super picky about who I bring on. Unlike most massage clinics, we offer a free in-house training program for our employees. Unfortunately Colorado does not require continuing education so I do! Our therapists are highly experienced and specialized.
Anyway, I could see the skeptic in her eyes, but she took my advice and gave Angie a change. She was happy with her results and rebooked telling Angie, “I’ve never had a massage like this before.”
After her session, I checked her out and she told me she wondered why skilled therapeutic massage was so rare and I went into my speech about how many massage therapy schools have been watered down and the corporate “turn and burn” places scoop up newer massage therapists and kick them out before they ever get good, I also mentioned that many massage schools never teach therapists how to work as to not injure themselves. The result is, most massage therapists burn out and quit long before they ever make a decent living or become really specialized. There is also the very real fact that clients don’t know what they don’t know. If a client has only received a “vacation massage” or a “massage envy massage,” they may not understand the difference between truly effective work and “just okay” work. Now I am not dissing all massage therapists who work at corporate places, some of them are very skilled and highly talented, but most are not. How could they be when they have a massage to give every hour on the hour and only get paid between $20 and $30 per hour? Where is the incentive to become good?
It’s unfortunate that this client and others before her found us because of a negative experience. I want to create a working clinic in which everyone has the opportunity to make a livable wage. I want to create a clinic in which continuing education is the expectation and it is accessible. I want to crank out so many highly skilled massage therapists who want to do this profession for a lifetime, who want to become the best of the best. This way, there are more highly trained massage therapists out there and the entire industry gets elevated because of it. This would result in higher wages, higher expectations and much fewer negative client experiences!
In the first 20 years I went from a low skilled, low self-esteem solo entrepreneur with a struggling practice to a refined craft and business model that employs four of us. I never thought I would get to the level of success while choosing to raise a small family as well. I wonder what the next 20 years will be like? Will the quality of massage therapy across the board be elevated? Will I be able to mentor lots of other budding and talented massage therapists too? Will over all we have less clients like we had yesterday complaining about the experience they had with their mediocre massage therapist? I hope so. I care about this profession. I know just how healing bodywork can be. There is so much untapped potential. What’s next for the industry? I am grateful for my small but (hopefully) mighty role in it.
Chārutā AhMaiua, Licensed Massage Therapist
Owner of Self-Transformations Massage
Specializing in Therapeutic Barefoot, Myofascial Release, Deep Tissue & Trigger Point Therapy