a community of practitioners

Expanding Practice

Hi Everyone,

First I just wanted to thank you for being here and having this group. Secondly, I welcome and appreciate all the information you can share.

After 23 years of working on my massage practice, I now want to work on my massage business. I am looking to cut down on the hours that I am currently working, charge more for my work and add two other therapists to the practice to cover the extra hours and bring in additional income. I have a two year lease left on my studio and am hoping by the end that I can build the business enough to require a larger space. I have been trying to read as many posts as possible and am lucky to currently have an accountant across the hall from me to help me with financials. I am considering a 60/40 split initially (Too much? Too little?) Most of the clients will be filtered through me. I have a large client base but will no longer be working as much. With a small studio, how do you suggest booking clients. Referring them to the therapist and have them book each client themselves? Use email, texting and phone calls to inform therapists of bookings? I am getting bogged down in the details of setting up the small practice. The only other offices I have worked in had receptionists that did the booking for us.

Thanks for your help.

Sue

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ann Ross on July 16, 2010 at 9:40am

Hi Sue,

Congrats on taking the next step in business! I am going through this exact thing myself right now and am feeling the same way about the little details. It's quite overwhelming! I am considering outsourcing my reception to "My Receptionist" http://www.myreceptionist.com/ as I don't have the funds to hire someone to work the front desk. They have an online scheduling service that our clients can use, as well being able to reschedule online after the session at the office. It's my understanding we can just do the rescheduling right then and there for them.

As far as payment, I think as long as you are doing at least a 50/50 split that is ethical. The way I've looked at it, as I've done all of this work myself through the years, my hourly wage was always probably less than 50% of my gross because of all the "business maintenance work" we end up doing. If you are supplying clients, linens, supplies, doing laundry etc and all the therapists have to do is give the massage, a 50/50 split is great! Remember, you will be paying taxes just to have them as employees and that will be eating into your profits too. Make sure you are paying yourself enough too, so that hiring employees is worth it for your own bottom line and the growth of your company. Being an employer is hard work and you've worked hard through the years to create a successful massage practice.

In regards to reception again, I would put as much information as possible on your website so that when clients find you online, they won't have to feel like they need to be calling to get the information. It's my goal to be able to have most people book online. Have a FAQ page and maybe an email address such as "info@yourdomain.com. My Receptionist is a great service, but they charge by the minute when a client calls. Again, a great service but saving as much money as you can is always a good thing.

There are other online scheduling services, but with My Receptionist they do all of the call handling for you, something that is most important when it comes to owning a business. The last thing I want to do is be on the phones all day answering calls, when its my time to relax a little bit. The whole idea when outsourcing is to work less, right? :)

I hope that helped a little bit for you, Sue! While I'm not quite there yet with the hiring of employees, I am just on the verge and have been doing a bunch of research myself. Best of luck to you!!!

Warm regards,
Ann Ross
Massage Marketing Mentor

Permalink Reply by rudy m smith on July 16, 2010 at 9:59am

#1 - buy your own office space - stop throwing away money on rent.
#2 - 60/40 is fine - very few massage therapists like to commit to paying lease/power/water/phone so if you do those things charge a premium for them. If you own the building rent out the other rooms and then charge a per use fee on top for clients from your data base.
#3 - make sure you only enlist talented people with good work ethic... a lazy therapist can ruin a reputation for a standing practise quickly. Everyone dressed proffesionaly.

Permalink Reply by Kelly Sanders, LMT on July 17, 2010 at 7:42am

This is an excellent idea. All the salons I've worked in I either had a 60/40 or 70/30 split or paid a room rent fee. The last owner charged me a per day fee so she was racking in MY money. I'm now looking to buy.
Good luck