planning for operating/advertising expenses

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Julie Onofrio on February 5, 2010 at 2:56pm

Well you really need to do a business plan and start thinking about all of that stuff yourself. You can do it on pennies or on thousands depending on what you want to do. You have to figure out who your ideal client is so that you can create an effective marketing plan.

You can start renting a room from someone, set up a good website, start networking with groups to attract your ideal client, get some business cards and a flyer/brochure. I don't think you actually need much to start really.

Find a place to rent that already has traffic going through it. Like I started renting a room at a health club where there were already people who were interested in being healthy. You can find a place that has other practitioners or service providers who would complement your business and refer to you.

Advertising in this business really doesn't work for the most part - networking, building relationships and websites do.

Since you are a nurse you might want to figure out ways to take advantage of your connections in that line of work. Have you thought about hospital based massage or anything like that? I think that area is really untapped potential.

I have lots of info written on starting a business
http://www.massage-career-guides.com/massage-business.html

Julie

Permalink Reply by Jeannette McAleese on February 5, 2010 at 3:56pm

Thanks for your input Julie. You mentioned hospital based massage...my original plan with learning massage therapy was to start a program at the hospital where I work to offer the service to the employees. We already have a MT for the patients. I discussed the idea with a former classmate who decided it sounded like a good idea, doubled up on classes, graduated early and started the program. I asked her about us working together to expand the program and she was not intersted in that idea so that leaves me with starting up my practice elsewhere.

Julie Onofrio said:

Well you really need to do a business plan and start thinking about all of that stuff yourself. You can do it on pennies or on thousands depending on what you want to do. You have to figure out who your ideal client is so that you can create an effective marketing plan.

You can start renting a room from someone, set up a good website, start networking with groups to attract your ideal client, get some business cards and a flyer/brochure. I don't think you actually need much to start really.

Find a place to rent that already has traffic going through it. Like I started renting a room at a health club where there were already people who were interested in being healthy. You can find a place that has other practitioners or service providers who would complement your business and refer to you.

Advertising in this business really doesn't work for the most part - networking, building relationships and websites do.

Since you are a nurse you might want to figure out ways to take advantage of your connections in that line of work. Have you thought about hospital based massage or anything like that? I think that area is really untapped potential.

I have lots of info written on starting a business
http://www.massage-career-guides.com/massage-business.html

Julie

Permalink Reply by Erica Olson on February 7, 2010 at 11:25am

Why does that mean you should go elsewhere? What's wrong with sticking with your original game plan? If you have to have two people, why not network and find another MT who's looking to get involved in working in a hospital?

Jeannette McAleese said:

I discussed the idea with a former classmate who decided it sounded like a good idea, doubled up on classes, graduated early and started the program. I asked her about us working together to expand the program and she was not intersted in that idea so that leaves me with starting up my practice elsewhere.

Permalink Reply by Ann Ross on February 9, 2010 at 7:47pm

Hi Jeannette,
I congratulate you on listening to your inner voice and going towards self employment. I, myself had the same feelings/vision when starting out.

After spending a year not sure exactly how to start, I found a great room in a chiropractic clinic. I was able to rent for a reasonable fee and there was a decent amount of traffic to expose my business. However, I didn't rely on the chiropractor to give me clients. I was out advertising and networking on my own time too. I spent a year building my business at the chiropractic clinic, while working days at my desk job before I finally left the steady paycheck and started my business full time. Another thing I want to congratulate you on is deciding to keep your steady paycheck and build up a savings before taking the leap. While it's hard work doing both jobs, you won't have the financial stress associated with starting a business when you do leave your current job.

With that said, the start up costs associated with renting a room from someone are very minimal. The largest amount of money you will have to come up with will be paying for rent. I have a post on my website at http://www.MassageMarketingMentor.com outlining information on a business plan and ideas to get you started.

As far as advertising, creating relationships with other businesses and joint ventures is the cheapest way to advertise as it's usually free. Creating a website with a great presence is a must too.

Feel free to contact me personally with any additional questions you might have.
Best,
Ann Ross
http://www.MassageMarketingMentor.com

Permalink Reply by Jeannette McAleese on February 10, 2010 at 10:12am

Ann,
Thank you for the helpful advise. I went to your website and you have so much great info available there!
Thanks
jeannette

Ann Ross said:

Hi Jeannette,
I congratulate you on listening to your inner voice and going towards self employment. I, myself had the same feelings/vision when starting out.

After spending a year not sure exactly how to start, I found a great room in a chiropractic clinic. I was able to rent for a reasonable fee and there was a decent amount of traffic to expose my business. However, I didn't rely on the chiropractor to give me clients. I was out advertising and networking on my own time too. I spent a year building my business at the chiropractic clinic, while working days at my desk job before I finally left the steady paycheck and started my business full time. Another thing I want to congratulate you on is deciding to keep your steady paycheck and build up a savings before taking the leap. While it's hard work doing both jobs, you won't have the financial stress associated with starting a business when you do leave your current job.

With that said, the start up costs associated with renting a room from someone are very minimal. The largest amount of money you will have to come up with will be paying for rent. I have a post on my website at http://www.MassageMarketingMentor.com outlining information on a business plan and ideas to get you started.

As far as advertising, creating relationships with other businesses and joint ventures is the cheapest way to advertise as it's usually free. Creating a website with a great presence is a must too.

Feel free to contact me personally with any additional questions you might have.
Best,
Ann Ross
http://www.MassageMarketingMentor.com

Permalink Reply by Martha Cantwell on March 9, 2010 at 5:29pm

Hi Jeannette,

First of all best of luck on your venture! It takes a lot of courage. A great free resource is www.wholevisit.com. List your practice there, it is the only site I know that is free for massage professionals to list and it will start putting you in search engines like Yahoo and Google. After you tap into such free resources then go the pay route. Best of luck.

Cheers,

Martha