As massage professionals do we protect our interests, by allowing Massage Envy to advertise our events..etc.?

Comment

Comment by Alana Gianni Scott on October 8, 2009 at 10:04am

I really don't think it should be about the money. These people are entering a building under the impression they are getting very professional, qualified therapists and they are but it is mostly about us as therapists and being dogged around by these Corporations. Massage should under any circumstance NOT be a Corporate entity at all you loose all ties the the Big Picture, Helping others heal themselves from the inside out!! Almost ALL of the clients in these establishments DO NOT know their massage therapist wages and are getting paid so little. The Union would help reform these work environments to succumb t to our needs and not the franchises pockets! The franchisee are the money winners and unfortunately we as therapists pay in the long run for the over use and miss treatment of our own bodies for these places. I would love to hear what these corporations comments on this topic and how scared they would be if such a thing was instilled.

Comment by Michael Donaldson on October 7, 2009 at 11:16pm

Anna,
If you are happy with ME, then that is great. I hope this blog didn't come accross as attacking what your doing. I do think your being greatly underpaid for what you do and feel that you deserve more . The typical split is and should be 60-40 when working for someone else. The first year I got out of massage school I worked at a health club in my town. They charged $55.00 an hour to the client. We were paid $32.00 for that hour on our paycheck. Most everybody left between 5 -10 tip. They also paid for laundry, advertisement, booking appointments, tables, lotions, etc. My problem is that the sixty-forty split isn't just not the norm anymore...it's not even close! I know therapists that work at other clinics and spas and since ME has come into our town they have had their pay reduced. The price of the massage has even gone up. Tons of chiropractors in our area have taken notice and are paying there therapist as low as twenty dollars for a massage now, because of the way the market price has changed. Meanwhile, the chiro's are charging and recieving 75 - 125 per visit to insurance companies. They justify this by what other companies such as ME is paying their employees.
I had a chiropractor tell me a few months back that he paid that because he knew if his therapist didn't like it he could put an add in the paper and have twenty applications the next day.

Six massages a day is a lot! self employment taxes are high....never heard of 47%. What I think your forgetting is about deductions. My gross was about eighty thousand last year and I paid just under 10,000 in taxes and I used a cpa to make sure I crossed my t's and dotted my i's.
I certainly didn't get into massage to get rich...anyone that does is in this for the wrong reasons and probably wont do well at it. I just think we should be making the majority of the money for what we do...Because what we do is of great value and we earn it.
Best Regards
Mike

Comment by Anna Kimpel, LMT on October 7, 2009 at 10:12pm

I work at Massage Envy and wanted to give some feedback. First of all, let me say that I have been licensed for over 2 years and have worked as an IC, on my own doing outcalls, and now at ME. I realize that different geographical/socio-economic areas have different going rates, but let me tell you what I figured out:

I work full-time at Massage Envy. I average about 5-6 massages a day. I get a lot of requests, which is how we get raises, so I make $17/massage hr. My average tip is $10-$15 per massage hr. Cash tips go directly to us; credit card tips come on our checks. Since we are employees, taxes are taken out and we get a W-2 at the end of the year. We don't have to do any marketing, scheduling, wash or buy sheets, lotions, even our personal business cards are provided. The rooms are set up with dimmers on the lights, table warmers, hydraulic tables, music piped in, etc. Basically I just have to show up, sign out a room, fill up my ltion bottle, turn on my table warmer and massage. Then at the end of my shift I pick up my tips at the front desk. So on a typical day, here is how my pay goes:
6 massages=$17x6=$102
average tip is $12/hr so 6x$12=$72. Sometimes more, sometimes less...but it's an average.
So $174 for the day x5 days=$870 for the week.
I average about $175 a week in cash and my checks are about $850-$1000 every 2 weeks.

My friend V. works on her own and rents a room for $75/week. Say I decide to go out on my own and do this:
Even if I had enough clientele on my own to do 5 massages a day (fewer per day due to having to do my own scheduling, sheets, etc) and work 5 days a week, charging $50/massage hr (the going rate here) = $1250
$1250 x 4 weeks = $5000/month.
Room rent $75/wk =$300/mo.
Advertising (valPak or the like--I've priced this) = $100-$150/mo
Sheets/laundry/detergent = $100/mo
Lotion (I use an 8oz bottle a day, so prob. 2 gallons/mo) =$75-$100/mo
Basic overhead= $600-$650/mo This is not counting any networking membership dues, continuing ed, etc.
So $5000-$600=$4400
Self-employment taxes are 47%!!! So after taxes, my monthly net is $2332. That's about $23 per massage.

So Massage Envy income is about $2500, working for myself is $2332. Hmm....bout the same, huh? And no headache of running my own business. Besides, I support myself and wouldn't be able to survive while trying to build my own clientele until I could GET 25 massages a week.

Just my 2cents. Feel free to comment.

Comment by Jody C. Hutchinson on October 7, 2009 at 8:40am

What an interesting discussion. There is a ME in my town that is quite busy. There are many therapists working there who have had to close their own practices and work for less. I imagine that many of them are not skilled in self-promotion or just don't want the challenge of running their own business. I have had clients go to ME and be unhappy with the service. I think you get what you pay for.
I can only imagine how tiring it must be to be working for such low wages. However, this seems to be the trend in massage. I like to call it "sharecropping." Years ago, an MT could make decent money by working at a spa or hotel as an independent contractor. Now, it is impossible to make above minimum wage performing massage at a hotel or spa. The only plus about ME is that of comparing it to McD's. There will always be people who want the cheapest possible price and don't care about quality.
JH

Comment by Kim Lee-Thorp on October 6, 2009 at 10:55pm

In my opinion, each of us are only as good as our last massage. Clients should be able to easily tell the difference between me, a seasoned professional and a Massage Envy massage. I am going to go against the grain here and say that Massage Envy does a great service to our profession. They hire new therapists who need to get their hands on bodies to learn or maybe therapists who just need to take a job and receive benefits for awhile. I know many therapists getting lower pay and worse treatment from chiropractors offices and they are all alone without the commradery and networking of other therapists. Getting out of school and starting your own practice is a huge step and not for everyone. I think these franchises fill a gap in our profession and raise awareness of massage to the public. I encourage my clients to go to Massage Envy if they ask about it, I ask for feedback and I haven't lost a client yet. In fact, they are more appreciative of what I do. I feel I need to keep at my best by taking classes and having massage from other therapists and (it is places like this that I can actually afford to get a massage!) they keep me on my toes and doing my best in my business. I believe we need to embrace all massage therapists in our areas and make an effort to know and support them by rising above nit-picky competativeness for the overall good of this wonderful profession. I encourage you to visit a massage envy, get a massage and make a new business contact.

Comment by Nicole Mills on October 6, 2009 at 11:49am

I personally don't like these franchises because I feel it demeans our profession, but then some schools and state regulations do too. I also agree with your thoughts on how these franchises treat their employees, but at the same time I also agree that the employees made the choice to work there. From what I hear they have a high staff turn over rate due to being overworked and underpaid. I think that too many of these franchises have popped up and a lot of them will start going out of business. I feel it will be like other recently popular diet and exercise franchises. Everybody bought into the sales pitch thinking it was a good idea and an easy money-maker, except they didn't have a no-compete clause. Before you knew it, another one was down the street. Most of the owners of these places don't work in the field and are investors, so they don't care about the employees their bottom line is the dollar. Capitalism! (Michael Moore's new movie portrays this very well). I am not sure that a union is the answer for our profession for numerous reasons. Perhaps we can work with our state legislatures to set a massage therapist minimum wage, like they do with wait staff.

Ps. By law they cannot make someone stay at work unpaid, so if you are not getting paid to be there then I suggest you leave. This might be a good time for you to find a better workplace!

Comment by Michael Donaldson on October 6, 2009 at 11:32am

People becoming members of ME in my oppinion doesn't help our profession. Directly, they do provide jobs for massage therapists. The problem I have is that the jobs they do provide do not pay well (horrible in fact) and from what I've heard the work suffers. This is often now how somebody gets introduced to our profession and I don't believe it represents us well.

I've talked to some local chiropractors that have noticed the success of ME. They are starting there own membership massage businesses in their practice and paying the same dirt wages! I see a trend here that is very scarey. With the poor economy a lot of chiropractors in my area are hurting and see massage as a way to make money. My wife used to work for a chiropractor that took her to one of the chiro conventions and the big topic was how to profit by having massage employees. That chiropractor actually billed insurance $120 an hour and paid the therapist $20. I told my wife to quit, and thankfully she did.

I know not everyone wants to be in business for themselves, but whatever happened to the sixty-forty split? I do feel that we need to protect our interests. I feel that our associations need to hear from us and tell these companies they are not welcome in our clubs. As for the schools....totally agree! My old school that is no longer around used to invite ME into the schools. I thought it was ironic that when they recruited students they talked about making an incredible income and when it was time to hit the job world they'd bring this company into the mix.

Comment by Julie Onofrio on October 6, 2009 at 10:54am

The thing is a union will make everyone get paid the same even if they are slackers. I really don't know much about unions but it always seems to come up. I find it quite interesting.

The people who work at places like ME have chosen to do so. Many are actually quite happy doing so- most are not. They have a choice to stay or leave. By everyone continuing to take those low paying jobs it is teaching massage employers how to treat massage professionals.

I have been into a ME to get a massage and was not impressed by the quality of the therapists there. One guy I saw said he was working to get his own business going and had been working at ME for 2 years. If someone was serious about getting their business going they would work there 6 months and just go and start their business. ME is a good place for people to start who lack the skills and self confidence to do more.

I am not supporting ME but there are two sides to this. They are also advertising on TV even here in Seattle. I also read an article a long time ago that most people who go into ME actually become members so all of the advertising is supporting the massage profession. I would actually like to see some proof of that though.

I think massage schools also support ME and don't teach students how to go out and get or create higher paying jobs. They have job fairs and let them come into their schools to recruit students. Unions will only put a band aid on the problem. Getting to the source and making MT more responsible and teaching them how to start their own business and getting the schools to not support those places I think would be better.

If there was a union, ME would have to pay more and then most likely charge their clients more that could put them out of business. That could be good- no more slave labor but it could also take away the many jobs at the over 800 ME (was the last number I heard - that would be something to also see how many there are out there and there are also other franchises who do this but not as bad as ME.)

Julie
www.thebodyworker.com
www.massage-career-guides.com

Comment by Alana Gianni Scott on October 6, 2009 at 7:29am

I agree with a union. I work for the opposing company that mirrors Massage Envy in every way. They are unfairly deducting from our pay, "tip" wages for use of the credit card machines, tips earnings at the end of the month(which is optional) and best of all massage therapist are not receiving more per modality(Deep Tissue, Reiki, Reflexology, etc...)They offer insurance for families but not a practical price(ex. Family of 3=$400 per/wk) and we can not afford into any medical befits on our own because we really don't make enough for the coverage needed. A number of our massage therapist are going into medical and nursing backgrounds for just the benefit of insurance. Our pay is constantly changing and if we had a union we all would be locked into our pay agreement and pay increases, but I will say this these companies don't make you sign into a contract or agreement so technically you are your own "Boss".