How I started my massage business 

Why I quit working as a massage employee

Four hundred dollars a week. That was the most I ever made working as employee. For the first 8 years I was so unhappy working for other people, and because I was so unhappy working to further someone else’s business, I wasn’t really that busy. A lot of the massage places near me are paying their therapists $20 plus tips and I had a goal income that I wanted to make. I had to give up my passion for horseback riding and competing because I couldn’t afford it, there were lots of classes I wanted to take but I didn’t have the extra money. For me to reach that $1000 a week I knew I could make, I had to work twice as hard to make someone else money. Towards the end of being an employee I felt held back; I felt like I couldn’t be my true self. It wasn't until I was fired from my last job that I decide to take a chance and finally open my own practice.

The thought of finally having my own practice was exciting and scary at the same time. I had been under the cushion of another person for so long and this would not only be a career changing decision, but also a huge financial risk. Do I go back and find another job and keep being unhappy with not having control over my own destiny or do I grab at the brass ring, stop complaining about working for other people, and open my own place? I decided to grab at that brass ring and take the leap.

 Time was of the essence. I needed to find a place immediately as I had a handful of clients that where chomping at the bit to see me at my own place. Within 4 weeks, I found office space in a professional office building. With only $800 to my name, I put first and last month rent on a space ($600), thank God I liked it! And the last $200 had to somehow hold me through till I could somehow get clients in the door. I got a cheap sign made from an online retailer to hang by the road I raided my mother’s basement and garage for some office furniture; I made all the changes to a website I had been working on and Deep Relief Massage Therapy (August 10,2009) was ready to be open for business.

How on earth would I get new clients in the door so I could pay the rent? I didn’t have any money to pay a lot for ads. My hunt began for free places for me to promote my brand spanking new massage practice.

How I started my massage business with only $800 to my name 

I knew about the review site Yelp.com. There you can claim your business listing, add photos and a bio about yourself, and run specials on your listing all for FREE. I offered a killer deal a one hour massage for $35 for the first month I was opened. I was busy right away, that listing brought me a lot of new business and since they found me on Yelp there was a good chance they would leave a review. I was shooting for a 5 star review with every single client I saw. I spent a lot of time reading reviews of massage places near me and I took notes. I knew what the Yelper's liked and didn’t like. My sheets were (and are) perfectly clean, there are no dust bunnies collecting in the corners, the temp of the room is just right and I made sure I dressed like a professional.

I studied the websites of all the places on yelp that had reviews. I even paid attention to the reviews that mentioned the color of the room and one review I read even mentioned the horrible paint job on the wall. My attention to all that detail paid off, people started writing 4 and 5 reviews on Yelp.

Facebook was another great tool for marketing. I was already pretty active on Facebook, playing games applications and communicating with friends, and then I learned that a Facebook fan page is a great free tool to market my shiny new massage practice as well. The fan page is a great way to interact with your clients and share information with them. How do you get local clients to like your page? Mention your Facebook page in the emails you send out to your clients and have a Facebook feed on your website. In your voicemail tell potential clients you have a fan page. Your fan page, itself, has got to have great, relevant content.

Don’t just post when you have an opening or special you are running. BORING. Some of the best pages I have seen get their clients to interact on their page. Ask a question. One question I ask from time to time that seems to get a lot of comments is “what did you do to relax and take care of yourself this weekend?” A great page from a large spa once asked their fans around Mother’s Day to post a picture of their mother on their wall and write a short comment about how awesome their mom is/was. You want people to interact on your fan page; every time a client comments to one of your posts it gets posted on their wall, which is huge exposure. The average Facebook user has 150 friends, that’s a lot of potential new clients to see your message. Your page also needs to be one stop shopping. I have a tab for clients to book online and to buy gift cards; it’s like a mini version of my website.

Using daily deal sites

Next, the social buying craze came to my attention via Good Morning America. After watching the story I hopped online to Groupon. On their website I read how it works: give a 50% off deal and they keep half of the sales. I am a risk taker when it comes to my business so I submitted my application. And this is a copy of the email I got:

“Jessica, Thanks for contacting Groupon! Since we only feature one business a day, our schedule is carefully constructed to highlight a variety of business types, locations, sizes, and price points. At this time, we don’t see an opportunity to feature your business. We have your information on file, and if it’s OK with you, we’ll be in touch if an opportunity arises in the future.”

I was bummed that Groupon didn’t pick me, but, as it turns out, there is a small local company near me that has the same concept and they were more than happy to take my business. My journey in the social buying water began as a small business owner. It cost no money to join these sites and it is a sure fire way to get your name out there and lots of new clients in the door in the very short time.

 I am not going to lie to you, this type of marketing is a lot of work but if you have a plan it can be smooth sailing. You first need to ask yourself how many new clients can you take on and still be able to see your regulars. Set a limit on how many of these voucher clients you will see a week. Make online booking your best friend. You will be getting a lot of phone calls to book and the online booking will save you a lot of time from playing phone tag and you will have all the information you need from these voucher clients beforehand.

You also need to see this as a marketing tool. Do not think about the money you are losing; think about the exposure you are getting. I have spent $500 on a print ad for the local paper that only ran for a week and I didn’t get one phone call, but social buying sites it can bring thousands of new visitors to your website. How many of you have ran an ad that brings you that kind of traffic?

Think of these voucher clients as a way to build your client list. Make sure you have all their contact information. Add them to your email list and encourage them to become fans of your Facebook page, if you have one. Don’t forget to ask them to review your services. I have learned these voucher clients are much more likely to write reviews of your products/ services so again it is very important to read reviews from other places and learn from their mistakes. One bad review on a site like Yelp can hurt your reputation, so it is very important to treat these voucher clients just like a regular paying client.

Also, with social buying you need to give it time to work its magic. During the time your deal is valid you won’t see too much return. If you give great service and treat these clients with lots of love and respect, after the dust settles, you will start see them calling to book again for a regular priced massage. I had one of these voucher clients rave about me to her chiropractor down the street from my office and within a week I got 3 new massages clients that the chiropractor sent my way. At the time, I never even met this chiropractor!

The birth of the unlimited massage package 

I am not a huge fan of giving that classic new client discount; what I do love is package discounts. Packages keep clients seeing you and you know they have the funds to see you on a regular basis. The best package I ever sold to date that kept my book full and money in my pocket every month was the Unlimited Massage Package. To make it work, you need to ask yourself how much money you are willing to make a week off one client. After much playing with the numbers and trial and error with getting a base reading on how many times clients are really going to book in a month I came up with $240 for the month. Most of my clients either booked (2) one hours or (1) hour and a half a week. I required that all the sessions needed to be pre-booked for the month at the date of purchase and I also have a disclaimer that if you cancel I cannot guarantee that I would be able to rebook your time before the package expires. The package would expire 30 days from the date of purchase and I only sell 5 of these packages a month.

The unlimited massage package played a huge role in my practice in many ways. I got a set rate from a client every month; it filled my book, and it got clients used to the idea of seeing me on a regular basis.

As my book was filling for the month my phone kept ringing. A full book tells new clients that you must be a great therapist and they will wait 2 – 4 weeks to book with you. A large part of my marketing was based around this unlimited massage package. I wrote blog post about it. In my newsletters, I mention it often; I post links on my Facebook fan page for people to share. I mention it on my home page for my site. With all this marketing, when someone would search for “unlimited massages,” my site would often be on the first page of Google searches. After 2 years of running this package I don’t offer it anymore to new clients because it fills my book too much now.

Selling on Ebay

The last affordable marketing venue I discovered was eBay. Most people think of eBay as a venue for goods rather than services, but eBay is another great way to get your name out there. Having you ever thought about eBay as a way to sell gift cards? I have personally had good luck having the starting bid at 50% off with no reserve, and if you are not ok with running a deal on one of those social buying site, eBay maybe a great option for you. The cost to sell on eBay is rather low. You will spend about $5 to sell a gift card on eBay, you won’t sell as much as you would on a social buying site and you will make more money. The most important thing about marketing for your massage practice is to be yourself.

Don’t feel the need to conform to this idea to be like every other massage therapist near you. 

Think outside of the box and pay attention to what other business in your area are doing to get new business. Have fun with it. Marketing your gifts and talents needs to be a fun part of your life. If you are having a good time brain storming by yourself or with others it will show through and you're marketing. In the end clients are going to want to see a therapist who enjoys the love they have put into marketing their massage practice.

I'm still here

These past 17 years as a small business owner have been an awesome roller coaster ride. I opened my doors in 2009 with about 10 clients who stuck by my side and in short 2 years as a solo massage therapist I got to 18 – 25 table hours a week. Just by taking the leap, my income went from $1600 a month as an employee to $4800 a month as a solo massage practice. I am now able to, take 3 – 4 weeks of vacation a year and take 3 to 4 massage classes a year. I wasn’t able to afford to do any of these things as an employee. At one point I had 4 independent contractors working for me. As of today I've scaled back and have 1 full time renter.  In 2016 I won Best of Central Mass.