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Making Your Massage Career Last - Part 2

In a previous post I wrote about two secrets for staying in practice for the long haul: knowing your limitations and diversifying your work. Although those are both great ideas for giving longevity to your massage career, they alone are not what has kept me working beside the table for so long. Here are a couple more ideas:

Work only with clients that you enjoy. I have the best clients in the world. They educate, energize and enthuse me in a way I would have never expected when I began this career. Many of them have been coming to me for over a decade, so there is a level of understanding, trust and friendship between us that would be nearly impossible to replace. With that trust and level of understanding, the new clients they refer to me are usually a perfect fit and enhance my practice in the same kinds of ways my long-time regulars do. Being selective about whom I work with makes every day and session a joy.

If there are clients in your practice that don’t “fit” you, who are overly needy, difficult or that you would just prefer not to see, begin thinking about an exit strategy to the relationship. Is there a type of work that might benefit them more than what you do? Is there a therapist that they would get along with better? Can you gracefully adjust your schedule to change your hours or days off to help ease the transition? Convincing difficult clients to move on can be difficult but will make you both happier in the end. And as you define your “perfect client” more specifically and make space in your practice for them, you will attract people who are a better fit for you which is a better outcome for everyone.

Love what you do. Even if you’ve got certification in a particular modality or are capable of providing a particular service, if you don’t enjoy what you are doing, it can turn your whole day into a total drag. If you think you need to make some adjustments, do an assessment of all the services and techniques you offer and get rid of the ones that are no longer a fit for your practice.

This also holds true for the continuing education you choose. Recently I was contemplating taking a reflexology certification class as several of my regulars had asked me about the work (and I am needing to get my credits.) I did some research, found a class in my area and all but signed up for it when I realized I really don’t enjoy doing foot massage. So why in the world would I add that modality to my menu of offerings? In the end, I didn’t take the class and instead made friends with a reflexologist in town that I now refer my clients to (and go to see for my own R&R).

Aaah…I love my job!

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Comment by Felicia Brown on August 28, 2009 at 3:10pm: Rudy -

Thanks so much for your feedback and story. I know that it will also be of help to people on this forum and can help some relationships transform in an amazing way. I think what you say is true - so many learning opportunities are out there in life and our work to grow and see how to improve ourselves. I use this method a lot as well and have often found some big revelations along the way.

I do honestly believe though that we can create our ideal practice and attract our ideal clientele by declaring what it is we want in our professional lives. I definitely offer those "difficult" clients my care and "love" and encourage others to try that as well.

However, I see so many therapists that have a hard time saying no, setting personal boundaries or feeling ok about wanting to let go of a professional relationship or client because they don't want to seem or be selfish. I think it is important to remind ourselves and each other that in order to take the best care we can of our clients, we must first take care of ourselves. And if that means releasing some people or situations that are no longer working for our highest good, then that is OK. Don't skip the lessons that are there to be learned, but don't be afraid to walk away if it is what you need to do.

Comment by rudy m smith on August 20, 2009 at 5:46am: Hi Felicia,
I've been at body work for over 20 years and I learned something interesting about troubling clients - they are great mirrors. I work on 40 clients a week. I used to get exasperated when some of these "draining" souls would schedule but after a while I began to see a trend - they were teaching me something about myself, my STUFF. A few clients brought me to the point where I hated the idea of working on them. Then one day a long time ago I realized either I, or they, or both, were magnifying a destructive energy or thought. Since all problems typicaly are FEAR related, I began to ask myself what they were, or I was, afraid of? I held this thought in mind whenever I worked with them and then one day it occured to me that they were seeking love and acceptance as much as I was. I began to see my humanity was outside of me, not inside where it belongs, so I took a chance one day and I expressed my love for one of my more difficult clients (appropriately) through words of transformative praise. She cried, as did I and since that day she has been a model client. Since then I have used this method of transformative praise to change the nature of my relationships with numerous clients. The only real difficulty comes in dealing with the mentally ill. I have learned to be very carefull when dealing with clients who suffer from emotional illness lest my words be mis-understood.