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Massage Envy franchise comes to Alaska
http://www.massageenvy.com/clinics/AK/Tikahtnu-Commons.aspx
Curious about how independent Alaska and/or spa MTs feel about the arrival of the franchise. First location is 1142 N. Muldoon Rd. Suite F, Anchorage, AK 99506. More to follow.
Views: 384
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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I dont feel anything..
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Permalink Reply by Eileen Violet on
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Massage Envy, the McDonalds of massage, and the low balling, cheapening of our art form. No thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on
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The only thing that cheapens our art form is massage therapists that don't do a good job.
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Yes and to do a good job a therapist must be calm, very hard to do when you can't pay your rent, must be steady, very hard to do when your pay is soooo low you have to work sesssions beyond the injury point because your pay is soooo low that you can't earn enough...
Keeping your skills also requires one to exercise self care, hard to pay the chiropractor, acupuncturist or even buy healthy food and vitamins when you don't earn enough.
When I started in this industry it was much different, it was a living wage at 18-22 sessions a week. Can't do that at minimum wage...ME doesn't pay much more than that...even if you maxed the 'hourly' rate by being booked, the cheapies that patronize those places aren't the hottest tippers, and a whopping $15 a session with a $5 tip is far less than I earned per sesssion 14 years ago.
Have some self respect, and some self respect for our industry.
Dear ABMP,
.....
When this industry was fresh, the buzz was how do we navigate our place in the professional world? Overall we’ve done a great job of educating clients and bringing massage to the forefront. But when the average career is only between 3-7 years, we’ve obviously sold ourselves short. (I’m on 14+)
When therapists are paid peanuts, when rates keep going down, and companies like Groupon, Elements and Massage Envy pimp out, burn and churn, undercutting the industry, and treating their workers like machines and becoming publicly traded, FOR stockholder profit industries, I feel massage still has such a long way to go.
You can’t pay a therapist McDonald’s wages and expect them to be ‘professional’, cheapening lowers the standards of the whole industry and the level of expertise (so many like myself, skilled, yet running for other professions, I say a prayer of thanks every time I go to community college, grateful that I might one day make a living again, and slightly bitter I can’t do it, doing the job I love and have achieved a level of mastery in).
We’ve taken care of everyone else, yet as an industry we’ve been so co-dependent that we’ve given our value away. I always cringe when I see those ‘but if I’m a professional I shouldn’t take tips articles” (if you want to compare yourself to other pros, you need to be paid like other pros)…just as I cringe when I see Massage Envy ads in a magazine that’s supposed to support what’s best for therapists. What a joke.
I love massage, but feel it’s time to leave this industry, glad I enjoyed it before it became corporatized, diluted and cheapened.
Good people won't stay in the industry if they can earn more money elsewhere...and can't even earn a livinig doing massage, which sadly, lowers the skill and integrity of the industry as a whole...makes me very sad, as a 'veteran' long time, master therapist, seeing the decline industry.
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I dont think its such a bad thing. Its a good place for new therapists to start.. Once they get good, they will move on. And it will introduce more people to massage therapy. An experienced skilled therapist wont work there. Its a good place for a new therapist to build their mind and body strength for this type or work. I had a client the other day that had been suffering from hip and low back pain for years.. She gets spinal injections because of her pain.. Well I had her out of pain in 25 min. Really.. she was freaked out happy..Im an experienced therapist. You cant get that at MassageEnvey. But if you are burnt out, stessed. You might be able to get a good enough rub down for your problem. Maybe you cant affored a skilled therapist... I think it will serve a purpose. Sometimes I just want someone to rub my feet and dont want to pay $100 for it. But if Im really hurting or extreemly stressed.. I will seek out an experienced high quality therapist. Just my opinion. Its a good place for beginers.
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Permalink Reply by Maryshka on
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That's what a lot of people think, including many MTs, but to make a correction, experienced and skilled therapists do work at franchises. The bad thing is as the charge of service to customer increases, the % to MT does not.
It is not only beginners that work at franchises. This is where the education curve has to improve. Beginners and seasoned MTs work side by side at franchises. Franchise owners either get it or don't get it regarding the real work MTs do and the education MTs have taken on.
MTs working in spas don't earn their true earning potential either but their rate is not less than 45-50% as it is with the influx of franchise payscales.
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I really don't understand why we are still having this topic hashed and re-hashed. There are a couple of threads already out there that are specifically about this. Here's the bottom line the way I see it:
- The good old days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems. Billy Joel. How far back to the good old days do you want to go? All the way back to when women weren't allowed in the work place? Further? To when massage was only known in the Far East? Or to when people lived till they were 30 if they were lucky (still parts of the world like that, so not good old days for them). Personally I have no desire to back further than air conditioning and deodorant. Progress isn't always bad.
- No matter what else happens - pay attention to this - people have a choice about where they work. You may not like the choices, but you do have a choice. Instead of ranting about other people having it bad and throwing a pity party for them, how about getting out there and teaching people how to make sane, rational choices for themselves? And then trusting them to do so?
- I work for myself. I have all of the benefits and all of the risk. If I don't do a good job, I don't have clients. End of story. It's a tremendous responsibility that I have freely chosen to take on.
- I don't get to keep all of what I make. I doubt I get to keep 50%. I do believe in continuing education and I spend a lot of money in that area, BUT people seem to be under the mistaken assumption that if I get $50/hour I get to keep $50/hour. Wrong! I do all my own scheduling, laundry (got a load I need to put in the dryer right now), purchasing, bookkeeping, interacting with clients all day long...etc etc etc. I love it and again I've chosen to do it. But again, I don't get to keep all of what I make.
- I recommended that my best friend's husband get regular massage. For the last 3 1/2 years he's gone to his local ME for massages because he doesn't think he's worth spending more money on. Can't convince people to get massage if they don't think they are worth it. He is willing to spend ME prices on himself, and he, his wife, his kids and everyone he works with are better off for it. I can't see anything wrong with that.
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You can get the attorneys I get. Or you can get the ones OJ Simpton gets. There is a difference.
Maryshka said:That's what a lot of people think, including many MTs, but to make a correction, experienced and skilled therapists do work at franchises. The bad thing is as the charge of service to customer increases, the % to MT does not.
It is not only beginners that work at franchises. This is where the education curve has to improve. Beginners and seasoned MTs work side by side at franchises. Franchise owners either get it or don't get it regarding the real work MTs do and the education MTs have taken on.
MTs working in spas don't earn their true earning potential either but their rate is not less than 45-50% as it is with the influx of franchise payscales.
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