by Sam Ward

After qualifying in ITEC Holistic Massage (Clare Maxwell Hudson School) in 2004 I registered as a sole trader with my business Amica Health in April 2005. One year into the business I thought it might be useful to review and share some of the experiences I have had of working as a Massage Therapist to date. It would be great to write about some of the fantastic discoveries I have made such as the therapeutic benefits of massage for the Practitioner (I always feel at peace and content during and after working) or the fascinating variety of the work, the amazing people you get to work with or the sense of fulfilment experienced through massage. However, this piece is going to focus on the business side of massaging.

Starting out

Briefly, I think it is useful to provide some personal background. I’m 32 and single so I rely solely on my own income. Just over a year ago I was in full-time office work and hating it.

I knew I wanted to work for myself and that I wanted to work with massage but the question was when and how to go about it. A friend who is already in the business had advised me to prepare and to establish myself gradually by massaging alongside the full-time job until I had enough clients to go part-time and then continue to steadily build up until I had enough clients to go full-time with my own business. However, I’m not terribly sensible and my tendency is to jump in and let everything fall into place. At the time I had just one paying client having a treatment twice a month. I harnessed my dislike of my job to motivate myself and decided to jump. I found a part-time job last June, knowing that this would focus my attention in gaining business. I gave myself eighteen months to two years to become fully established and this was to be measured in terms of income.

My first goal was to match the salary of my last full-time job.

The first six months were a rollercoaster. This was not helped by my undertaking courses in Sports Massage and Indian Head Massage on top of starting the business. My way of starting out may not suit everyone but I have never regretted going for it. I have never doubted it would all fall into place but there were moments when I felt lonely with the responsibility of making it work by myself. I was also very very skint. One month a friend even sent me a Tescos direct order to ensure I ate properly! The importance of friends can never be over-estimated.

Setting up

The practicalities of setting up as a sole-trader could not be simpler. One call to the Inland Revenue and you’re away. Once you are on the Inland Revenue’s radar there is a lot of support available. You are automatically invited to workshops about owning your own business and also self assessment for tax, so you are guided through step by step. Phone-lines are also provided so you can call with any questions. Once I’d rung the Inland Revenue I then rang the local council. Working as a mobile therapist meant that there weren’t any licenses or permits to obtain but it’s good to check. I also went on to register my business with the National Business Register to protect the name. It is important to note, because no-one seems to tell you this, you have to find out - there are grants available for small businesses from organisations such as The Prince’s Trust and Business Link, both of which have helpful websites.

These can help with the startup costs such as equipment and marketing.

If you haven’t done so already I would recommend registering with the General Council for Massage Therapy, as I’ve had a few queries from this already.

Once you are registered you may have a short period of being approached a lot for business. I will share a fairly uncomfortable experience in the hope that it serves as a warning. One approach I received was from a marketing company (the name is irrelevant as there are so many of them setting up and closing down) with the opportunity to advertise my business on a doctor’s appointment card. The idea being that you are repeatedly presented directly to a market that may need treatments. I thought I was being cautious and asked a lot of friends and family their opinions about the idea before signing up. But I didn’t do any research into the company itself on the internet. I paid £600 for a two year contract. I was informed that on average advertisers gained eight new clients a month and I was guaranteed I would not share advertising space with any direct competition. I was also told it takes a few months for the advertiser to start to see any returns.

While I was waiting for a response I received another approach from a similar company offering advertising space in a charity newsletter. I did not agree or sign anything but simply asked for further information. However, I was invoiced anyway which led to some upsetting conversations as they became quite aggressive. This episode led to me questioning the contract I had originally signed and I began to research on the internet. It didn’t take me long to find testimonials against the company. This made me feel shocked and like a fool. I’m not sure that this is an actual scam because the appointment cards are printed but I know the surgeries are not obliged to use them and that very few, if any, advertisers actually see any results.

I certainly haven’t had any responses in over a year. You live and learn.

Whilst training, I was told that I would have to do stacks of voluntary work to get known and initially I did approach a few organisations such as the Samaritans. Providing treatments for the volunteers resulted in a couple of paying clients but it’s important to weigh up the pros and cons of ‘freebies’. Although it’s valuable experience, I personally feel that when treatments are provided for free that it can become expected. You have to be careful in finding the balance between promoting your service and being taken advantage of. From my experience I also feel that when treatments are paid for people seem to value and respect your time and skills and that massage becomes more of an active part of a health regime rather than a one off because it’s on offer. Event work is slightly different as it is excellent experience and just really good fun.

One of the many advantages of massage as a business is its simplicity, so accounts are easy to maintain. Unless you are dealing in stock you only really need to note what you earn (which is easy as we are usually paid straight away for our time and skill) and what you spend out on equipment such as towels, couches, oils as well as petrol overheads. It is surprising just how much you can claim as tax deductible. This is very satisfying!

Planning and Monitoring

One of the most useful conversations I have had was with my uncle and I would like to pass on some of the advice he gave me in case it is of any use. He has lots of experience of new businesses setting up, their marketing and finances. The greatest advice he had was to plan and to monitor. This way you can really know your business inside out and stay in control as it develops. I had already done a rough and brief business plan which covers the next ten years to provide me with a structure for short, mid and long term goals. Although it is not intended that this plan will be shown to the bank it’s useful to write down where you want to go, how you think you can get there and to put timescales to these points. The plan can always be adapted in time.

From this business plan I then put together a rough twelve month financial forecast so that I could start to anticipate my earnings as well as schedule for costs such as the car’s MOT or the business insurance so there wouldn’t be any surprises. This then becomes an excellent foundation to which you can start to build in costs such as marketing or CPD activities, then map out and see when you can afford to do them. It may be time consuming to write all this down initially but maintaining it is easy and it’s an invaluable source of reassurance.
From the business plan and financial forecast it is then possible to formulate a marketing plan based on your ideas, costs and timescales. Ideas and dreams for the business can be concretely factored in and are then unlikely to be frustrated or fall by the way-side through lack of planning.

Marketing

We’ve all been told how to keep client records and their intrinsic value as historic information on client cases. However it’s unbelievable how much information is actually held in these records regarding our markets. My uncle and I sat down and drew out all the details we could and I made up an spread sheet breaking down all the information I thought would be useful.

It looks like this:

This information is useful because it breaks down to show you who exactly your business is based on and if you have a marketing strategy how you can amend it to be more effective. It also shows you instantly what is working, what isn’t and what could work in the future. Clearly you may want to adapt the information you pull out from your client records and you may have additional ideas.

You can now start to have fun, get creative and make up visual representations in chart format with colours and patterns. For instance a simple one would be to discern what percentage of your market is male and female, like this:

Before I did this exercise I actually didn’t have a very clear idea of my market’s gender. I thought I must be treating many more females but it was just based on a vague feeling. Once I’d done the chart I realised that my market is much closer to an even split. Now I have this information I can make decisions on whether I’d like my business to appeal to more men or not, where and how I advertise etc.

The type of treatment people ask for, their reasons for coming and how they heard of you are also really useful indicators. For example if people come predominantly for relaxation purposes you may want to think about the wording and tone of your advertising, if you do any, or perhaps adapting the treatment area to increase the quality in your work.

It is interesting that this all works in a circular fashion. I set out thinking I would work mainly to provide a simple pampering/relaxing treatment and what I find I’m getting fed back to me by clients is that I’m good at providing deep remedial massages that are relaxing too. So my style encompasses a mixture of elements. This is what gets passed word of mouth and what I’m recommended on for. As a result, people come to me for this, rather than a purely pampering treat. The charts formally track these facts so I can see very quickly the direction the business is going in. It has been possible for me to adjust and build on the strengths I didn’t know I was going to have. Our business is organic because it’s a people business and if you have the power to analyse it you have a great deal of information at your fingertips.

Two of the best charts I’ve created are a basic tracking of the number of new clients per month and a chart to show net profit each month. The first clearly indicates when some marketing or decision has been successful which can then be repeated or developed. Both are very satisfying and reassuring to view and much needed, especially in the first year.

Referring directly back to marketing I have seen that the cheapest, easiest and most effective means of marketing beyond business cards, websites and posters (though these are useful and quite fun to put together) is in the small details that are taken in subconsciously, the biggest of which is a genuine smile for everyone. Clearly we know that the way you greet someone and first impressions are essential but I’ve also found the way you leave someone is important to the way someone feels when they walk out. I feel it’s imperative to not just turn your back on people and risk leaving them feeling like you cared about them until they handed the money over and now you are on to the next one. It’s part of the memory of the treatment that they’ll take with them. Time keeping is a must as is good hygiene, a professional appearance and a good memory. Remembering someone’s condition is obviously important but so is assimilating information about their job or family. Remembering birthdays is a great way to show a little extra effort and whether you want to offer a discount with this is up to you. Similarly discounts for when clients recommend you on is an excellent means to provide value for money and thoughtfulness.

Ultimately talking to people is the second best marketing (after personal recommendations), whether this is formally or informally. Personally I hate cold-calling but found it slightly easier once I got my head around the idea that I might be offering someone a service that they would actually like or need. I still haven’t actually received any business from this method yet, which again illustrates the importance of noting what works for you and where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

Question of attitude

I love a challenge and building a business is certainly that. Throughout this past year with its ups and downs I’ve had to really work on myself along the way. I’ve had to remain focussed, motivated and positive. Above all I’ve had to learn to ride out the inevitable moments of panic, because they are only ever temporary. The easiest way to navigate these moments has to be to simply concentrating on providing the best possible massage I can, without fail this technique has calmed my fears. My own doubts have had to be confronted especially when I’ve met other local therapists/competition: I’m not as good as them, I’m not as effective, I’m not as successful etc but one lesson learnt is that we all provide treatments in a myriad of different ways and you just have to have faith that the clients who want your type of treatment will come to you. It’s also really important to keep an open mind and not let feelings of fear or desperation take over. The business will naturally change over time, particularly in the first few years and you have to roll with that and not get too fixed in your ideas. Enjoy being surprised by the unexpected discoveries. Luck will come to you and opportunities will replace closed doors so do not dwell too long if you face a set back.

This first year has been such a learning curve and I’m sure it will continue. There is so much to write about but I hope that by briefly providing a few insights other therapists will be able to relate to the experiences. Finally, if you are thinking of setting up I would whole-heartedly encourage you. You can make a living, it is well worth the hard work and it is good fun - so go for it.

Useful Reading

Which? Consumer Guides Starting your own Business (Which? Books)
Teach yourself Book-keeping & Accounts for your Small Business (Teach yourself books)
Lloyds Bank Small Business Guide (Penguin)
Marketing for Complementary Therapists (Harold, Steven A., How to Books)
How to be a Successful Therapist (Johnson, C, The Book Guild)

Useful Websites

www.businesslink.gov.uk
www.princes-trust.org.uk
www.gcmt.org.uk

For further information contact Sam Ward on 07748597081 or www.amicahealth.co.uk