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massage & fitness magazine
1. Personal Mission Statement.
As a massage therapist, what do you want to accomplish through your work? What are three important values that you would like your mission statement to convey?
For example: I want to offer excellent care. The three values that are most important for me to embody in my professional life and massage therapy practice are compassion, kindness and empathy (or honesty, humility, service, creativity, openness, loyalty, etc. — whatever values resonate with you personally). Your personal values and mission statement might have shifted slightly since you discovered science-based massage practices, expanded your knowledge base, and polished your self-care practices. As you continue to learn, your mission statement will also evolve. Revisit your mission statement regularly as you grow as a practitioner.
2. Personal Financial Budget.
How much do you personally need to make to live and thrive? I can’t say enough how important it is to have clear awareness of your true personal monthly expenditures so that you can create an accurate financial picture. After you determine how much you need each month, this will help you figure out exactly how much you need to make to meet your budget goals.
3. Output.
How many massages do you think you can realistically do in a day, week, month, etc, and will this stay consistent? Once you have an idea of how much massage you want to be doing each week, you can determine if you consider that number to be “full time” or “part time,” which will assist you in deciding whether massage would provide your sole income or if you will need to supplement with other income sources.
4) Work space locale.
Are you health care inclined or more drawn to a spa or wellness dynamic? When you see yourself doing massage, what environment can you picture yourself in? Think about what environments you might most prefer to work in; medical, spa, private homes, mobile massage, global spa tourism, corporate or athletic events, sports teams, etc. Remember, the environment you desire to work in doesn’t necessarily dictate whether you will need to be employed or in private practice. It’s just a starting point to ask yourself leading questions.
5. Describe your massage style in five words or less.
Try to expand your knowledge and use your creativity for this exercise. List five distinct words to describe your unique massage therapy presence. (Calming, restorative, focused, integrative, relaxing, compressive, rhythmic, etc)
Massage Manifesto: things to consider during your process. After you finish the creative portion of this exercise, shift gears and begin heavily researching your area. How densely saturated is your area already with other massage therapists or massage business?
If you live in a rural area, your employment options may be quite limited. If you are in a densely populated city, you may have an array of different opportunities but also have more competition to contend with.
Private Practice or Employment?
With your manifesto in hand, you now have an idea of what direction you want to take and have thoroughly researched the geographic area you hope to work. Financially speaking, it’s very important that you have an idea of how much you need to make and stay within that budget. This way you can gauge how many sessions you would need to perform per week to meet your financial needs and live within your means, while also filling a need in your marketplace. This is something only you can determine, and everyone’s situation is unique.