a community of practitioners

Going out on my own

I am new to this website and thought I'd give this a shot. I've had my massage License for 4 years and have work for someone since the beginning. I'm very interested in going out on my own to build my own clientele. If anyone has any advice I'm all ears.

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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on June 15, 2011 at 11:16am

Hi Rebecca! My recommendation would be to form an LLC (Limited Liability Company) and get a Federal Tax ID number from the IRS. If you decide to do that, call them instead of doing it by mail - it will take minutes instead of weeks. ABMP provides liability insurance, make sure your membership stays current. You want to do everything you can to provide a barrier between you personally and any problems. While we are in the healing industry and want to take care of people, this is America and we are so very good at lawsuits. (I assume you are in America, but actually there are members here from all over!)

Start building clientele with family and friends. They will be tolerant of your starting up process and give you the opportunity to have some learning experiences as you build your practice! And they will refer people to you; I give a $20 discount for every referral that books (and shows up for!) a 60-minute or longer session.

Buy the best equipment and products that you can afford, and keep upgrading as you get the chance.

Consider doing on site chair massage at different places. I have even done them outside in 100 degrees at a horsemanship clinic! And I've gotten some really good clients that way.

That's all I can think of right now. If I come up with more I'll post again.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Onofrio on June 15, 2011 at 7:09pm

Just start where you are . You can actually start without much investment and keep it simple. You can rent an office from another MT or acupuncturist or something and not have to pay large overhead. You just need a website that is optimized and start building a referral network. Read and learn as much as you can about marketing and create a vision of your ideal client so you can be more specific with your marketing to get them in the door.

We could all give you our advice but then it won't really help you. We have to know more about where you are at - what step do you need help with. I have a facebook page too that you can ask questions and get answers faster.

http://www.facebook.com/MassagePracticeBuilder

Julie Onofrio

www.massagepracticebuilder.com

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Permalink Reply by Frank J on June 16, 2011 at 8:18pm

I agree with Julie. You should start by renting a room from another therapist who already has a office as oppose to getting your own office. Or if you can find someone who would like to share a room with someone also. If you have any faithful clients towards you at your place of employment now let them know about your move and if you have others that like they will eventually find you.

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Permalink Reply by Shelene Taylor on June 17, 2011 at 7:04pm

Hi Rebecca,

Everyone has given great advice and I agree with everything they have said.

A couple things I would like to add:

Be available when you are first starting out don't turn away business, when you build up your client base you can then structure your time better. When I first started I worked 6 days a week until I could then work a tighter schedule.

Start a database - each client is valuable and you want to be able to track their buying habits AND more importantly be able to contact them via email or snail mail. There are some very affordable programs like Bodywork Buddy that will allow you to do this. This is the number one most important thing you can do after getting your place, insurance and setting up your legal entity.

Set aside two hours each week to work ON your business. During this time make a list of potential clients and what you need to do to market to them. There are many low to no cost ways to do this as Therese has pointed out. Some other ideas are to introduce yourself to the businesses around you and give them a new client discount, connect with others to create a referral network.

Start your business off with integrity in regards to the company you are working for currently. I have been in business for 25 year and have about 85 employees - I have often "sold" clients to therapists that left. The company you are with might not be open to that but you never know. If they don't have someone that can provide the type of service you do they may want to been seen as having their clients best interests at heart. On the other hand businesses are generaly not in business to put others into business. By keeping your integrity around this you will thrive because you will not be operating out of fear or survial you will be energically coming from a place of abundance. You can and will find the ideal clients for you!

I started from scratch - just like you are contemplating - and I know what it is like. My business is now a multi location and multimillion dollar massage business - just opened my fourth location this April and am opening my fifth in September of this year. If I can do it you can to! For the price of a latte you can belong to an association that I started that provides monthly biz trainings, done for you forms and an annual marketing calendar. Visit www.iambiz.com for more details. I also want to offer you a free biz planning strategy session - 30 minutes. Let me know and Good luck to you!