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My situation...
So, here's the deal. I'm currently in an IT career, but I'm pretty bored. I make approximately $140k/yr working 45 hour weeks. Even with this, I'm unhappy. I'm at a desk all day. I work to make other people rich. I'm not really doing anything to give back. I leave work most days with an empty feeling.
Lately I've been thinking about changing careers and massage therapy is something that I've always been interested in. From what I've read, I'd have to expect some lifestyle changes.
At any rate, I have a couple of questions and I would GREATLY appreciate any feedback or advice you can give me.
1. Should I expect a HUGE change in lifestyle?
2. What schools do you recommend? I've been looking at the Costa Rica School of Massage Therapy.
3. In you opinion is this career one that you love or one that you are doing just to make money?
Thanks!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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I would get several massages from different people.. see how it feels, and check out their work enviornment. You wont be making $140,000.00 year either.
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Permalink Reply by Joyce Young on
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(You didn't say where you are located now, so I'm going to assume you're in the US)
First, I will confess I did not get to look through the entire website, but I have a few questions:
1) I don't know what a "World of Massage Therapy" certificiation, but if they are claiming you can work in any country with this certification I would ask them to prove it. For instance, Canada requires something like 3000 hours of study from an approved school. I doubt Canada would accept it. Also, in some countries you don't need a certification (since its still in the realm of folk medicine/natural healers). Maybe the terminology they are using is throwing me off.
2) Is the school COMTA certified? Many states will grant you a license if your graduated from a COMTA approved school. I would figure out where you want to practice and would that school be accepted. I had a problem when I moved right after graduation to a new state, the board would not grant me a license until I could prove the school's COMTA certification.
As for the 140K, yeah good luck on that in your first year. Supposedly it is acheivable to make that much, but it takes years of work, devirse means of support (teaching, etc), taking insurance. But you have to hussle. Definitely plan on a huge change in pay during your first year. Pay off everything you have (if you have any debt), move to a small place, etc. Totally depending on where you work and where you are, you could look at $35 -60K in your first year if you were full time (20hrs).Your mileage will vary.
As for a career, for me it's a calling. I had to stop when I changed jobs, locations, etc and couldn't afford to wait and rebuild my client base. Now I'm back on track to get back to FT and I don't reqret it.
Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Jed Heneberry on
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You could always try a split career, like the MTs featured in this issue of Massage & Bodywork: http://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/70551/58
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Well thats a smart idea.. If you just trun into a massage therapist..You might starve to death.. lol But if you keep you current job. And let everyone know you are a massage therapist. Work on some of your co-workers, their family and friends.. One day you might find yourself busy enough to do massage full time...Ive often said Massage is the best part time job in the world. and one of the most challenging full time jobs on many levels. You are making money now. You could take a month off and go to Thailand, Chang Mai, and have an adventure and learn Thai Massage. You have the money, you can do the training.. I would ease out of that income.. Use it to your advantage now..As a massage therapist, you are limited as to how
much massage you can do. If you want to make a living, you need to be able to do six hours of massage a day. Not that easy.. And thats if you have the clients... How many massages have you gotten over the years? Everyone that gets massage regularly usually has a massage therapist already... Think wisely... I love this work... But in my opinion its better to ease into it then go cold turkey with your current employment. The average career span for a massage therapist is only 6 or 7 years. There is a reason for that. And also,, your male.. It can be a bit more challenging being a male massage therapist. Again, this is just my opinion.. But Ive been doing this kind of work for almost 30 years...
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These are all great comments! Thanks for the feedback.
What I'm hearing regarding pay is in line with what I've read elsewhere. Honestly though, I'm okay with that.
@Joyce: As for the Costa Rica School of Massage Therapy, I'm currently on an email thread where I've copied both their representative and someone from the Oregon Board of Massage Therapists. I'm trying to figure out if their curriculum has enough hours/classes to cover Oregon's requirements. It looks like they can meet Oregon's requirements... But, I'll have to pay a little extra (~$500). :(
@Gordon: With respect to Thailand, I've thought about that, but I wasn't able to find any schools that jumped out at me. Any suggestions? Also, given that I'm not licensed yet, I think that I would need to go to school for 500+ hours initially before any CE type stuff would help. Is this not true?
@Jed/Gordon: The nice thing about my current career field is that there is plenty of part time IT work. Splitting careers sounds pretty good to me. I, in some respects, like what I do. It's just VERY monotonous and depressing when you stare at a computer EVERY day. Maybe if I do massage 50% and IT 50%, my attitude towards IT would improve.
Thanks again!
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Hey,
I saw that you're looking for Oregon licensure. I'm in Portland and would be happy to chat more with you about my experiences being a massage therapist here. Feel free to send me a message and let me know.
Thanks,
Amanda
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$140K and your are making other people rich? I would say you are doing pretty well thanks to those otehr people.
No one is a massage therapist just to make money, they have to LOVE it. Way too much pain, struggle and work and too little money to make that a viable mindset. Sure, some may get lured to massage school because they are told they can makd $80 an hour, and they foolishly multiply that times 40 hours in a week and sign up to get rich quick. But those folks get out of massage alot quicker than they got into it. On the otehr hand, lots of people work in IT just to make money and do something they love on the side.
You would be lucky to earn half your current, after several years of practice building, Just do the math...
$70K at $70 a session means a thousand sessions a year. 250 work days means 4 appointments per day -- on average.
Anyone here average 4 appointments a day as a sole practiioner, each every one of the 250 work days in the year? If you have a 0 appointment day, then you have to have an 8 appointment day just to get back to the average? Anyone here like having 8 appointment days?
And in OR, $70 may be your gross income before expenses for your practice, so that $70k quickly becomes $50k
Paying thousands of dollars to take a 50%+ pay cut...That would be a HUGE lifestyle change.
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Hi. I am a recent career changer from the IT Field. Like you, I loved the money but was bored and frustrated. I graduated in August and am so glad I made the change after 23 years in IT. Almost every day I get the satisfaction of helping somebody with pain or increase range of motion. The money is no where near what I was making before. But I'm also taking the transition slowly and trying not to burn myself out. Luckily, my debt is minimum and I was able to sock away a lot in a 401K during those 20+ years. I love to travel but that has really been cut down over the past 2 years. I hope as I establish myself the $$$s will get better and I'll be back to enjoy some of the things I had to cut back on.
As far as the school in Costa Rica, you'd have to see if it's an approved school if you're planning on practicing in the US. You should be able to find that on the NCBTMB website.
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I'm also still doing some IT Consulting from home a few hours a week, building websites and such, just to help with the money situation. Don't know what your skills set is, there's no way I can go back to big corporate consulting work and juggle a massage therapy career.
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Permalink Reply by Pam Cameron on
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I've been doing massage for two years and last year I made about $11,000. Granted I am a tiny person and can only manage 9 massages per week, but I have coworkers who do 1,000-1,500 massages a year ( that's considered a lot in our profession) and I guarantee they make less than $30,000 because they're going without health insurance and living very frugal lifestyles.
However, if you do decide that money is overrated and you go to massage school, go to one in your state. And talk to graduates from local schools to see how their experience was.
More lucrative than becoming an mt though, would be owning a spa. If you have a good head for business and like managing people that might be the way to go. Our spa owners are not MTs but they are great managers and I love working for them.
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Permalink Reply by Marcus Brewer on
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You gotta love the IT field...LOL. I too am in the IT field. However, I've been making a slow transition from IT to the sports/wellness world. I doubt, that I would depart from the my current job, (curse you...benefits, I yield to thee and your alluring ways). Even though I'm burned out and at times very unmotivated to sit behind a computer all day, I will tough it out and work towards graduating from MT school and eventually getting my licenses. After all, not being under the pressure of starting out from "zero", gives me time to learn, network, and to advance the passion I have for massage therapy. By then I'm sure I will have more of an idea where I stand with my transition.
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Permalink Reply by Kirstin Davis on
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1. The average massage therapist makes 110k less a year than you do, you are going to have to do the math on how that would affect you. In 10 years I've never personally met a massage therapist that averages more than 35k a year (who is not on the lecture circuit). The average therapist can not physically see more than 25 clients a week without physically exhausting themselves. 15+ is considered a "full time" practice to most in the industry. I know hundreds of LMT's and only one of them averages 30 massages a week (and she is having shoulder replacement surgery). Massage has a lot of physical and time demands (especially when you take into account that every 3 massages = 1 load of laundry).
2. I would get my initial education in North America in the state in which you intend to work, then I would do continuing education out of the country. State licenses can be difficult to attain with international certificates of education. Check your local board to see what their requirements are and what they require for reciprocity.
3. I love what I do but there is no way I would do this for the money. It's simply too demanding of a job to be in it for the money.
I'm also in Portland, you can find me a www.relaxpdx.com I'm happy to give you a massage and talk shop.
best of luck
k
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