There is quiet a struggle for owners of a massage business. We want to be fair to people that work for us and at the same time we don’t want to feel taken advantage of. The average is a 50/50 split commission base type of pay. Most higher end spas will take 70 percent and the therapist only gets 30 percent, but their over head is more due to the fancy buildings they occupy.

As a therapist working for other companies 50 percent did feel like a lot to pay out. But at least they supplied everything and did all the advertising. Once when working for a company in Park City started taking 60 percent and still made me supply my own sheets, oil and table I was done and have been doing my own thing ever since.

I told my self if I had therapists work for me I would treat them better than that. I would make sure they never wanted to leave by never making them do things they didn’t want to do and paying them 60 percent commission and me 40 percent and I still supply everything and do all the advertising. To me it seemed like a good deal and there are other companies that only take 40 percent but only 2 that I know of. The rest take 50 percent and up. So when I did finally get brave enough to have some one work for me I did all the outcalls because they weren’t her thing, I did the seated chair events because it wasn’t for her and she didn’t like to work past 6 so I did the evening appointments as well. It sort of felt more like I worked for her and even other LMT’s said why are you doing all the grunt work that’s the whole point to highering other therapists so you don’t have to do it. Like I said I was trying to make people like working for me. In the end it didn’t help. She still didn’t feel like she was making enough of a percentage and I felt like I was running ragged to keep her happy. So I guess in the end neither one of us felt like we got what we deserved.

Most clients are in shock when they find out what the split is and I admit it seems like a lot but the truth be told most massage owners earn their split and some don’t. It’s a lot of work to manage a web site. It’s a one time initial cost but then the game begins to get traffic to it, hello blogging and article marketing and trying to link yourself to other sites. Then there is advertising. Where do you advertise to hit your type of market and get good clients in that will become regulars. So most owners get in the phone book, do flyers and now there are a whole bunch of living social or group on deals you can get in on. They pay the business next to nothing but at least they do get clients through the door with the potential of becoming regulars. Some will advertise on Craig’s list and back page in addition to everything else and there are some who only do that and those are the ones I think don’t earn their 50 percent split. I consider CL and BP a free for all because anyone can do that, licensed and unlicensed. It’s not bad to do as long as it’s not the only source of advertising companies do. Then there’s making sure you have enough supplies and do you higher a laundry service vs. running home every night to do your own. To say the least this type of business keeps you running.

So now I keep an on-call list of therapists to help me when I have over flow or couples massages instead of having someone here full time. Over the years and all the different places I’ve worked I’ve seen therapists play games, either trying to steal clients from the company or steal money, like claiming clients didn’t show up when they did and then pocketing all the money. So again, I told my self I will be extra nice when I call in therapists to work with me so they won’t want to steal the clients or money from me. So I keep taking less and less and sad to say no matter how little I take they still try to steal clients from me. I’m down to taking ten dollars when I call another therapist in and after sheets and oil I make about 5 bucks but again therapist give out their numbers and say just call me next time, when the clients actually made it to my website, in the little bit of traffic I’m getting to it. I feel like saying help me do my article marketing then if you want to reap the benefits of my website and cut me out completly. But I don’t I just make a mental note not to use that therapist next time. They act like they appreciate me calling them into work with me and they do want the benefits without a price to pay no matter how little and after all that they want the door to stay open for more. Now I feel taken advantage of and maybe I should just take more while I can since they try to steal the clients anyway.

I know clients think that 50 percent is too much too take and I used to too but now I’m thinking business owners should take that much to make up for what the therapist is most likely stealing. I asked a business consultant about trying to own and run a spa and he said that is the toughest business to deter theft in because people pay in cash so much of the time and cash has a way of disappearing. He said you can minamize it but you will never eliminate it. It’s appariently worse than retail to try and deter theft in. I also want to point out there are exceptions to every rule. So just because the majority of therapists and people in general are tempted by easy money not all of them steal.

Another LMT made an interesting point to me. She does offer her regular clients a discount but never for first time clients and she will pay a therapist 60 percent and she takes 40 but not to start out with. She said clients and therapists should earn their discounts and higher comission pay. I’m starting to see she’s right. So I might just give the average split from now on and then if they prove themselves trust worthy over a period of 6 months or so I can raise them to higher levels. I really don’t know what the answer is all I know is both business owners and therapists feel taken advantage of in the end.

To the average person 40 percent still seems like a lot but I think if those people tried to keep this kind of business running in this economy and saturated market they would start to see just how difficult it can be. There are 14 massage schools in Salt Lake City alone and they put out new therapists every 7 months. Most won’t last because it is harder than the schools lead you to believe but some hang in for a year or two and then find something else to do.

There are many things to consider when deciding where and whom to go to when looking for a massage. First is are you looking for deep tissue, at least something that resembles therapeutic with good firm pressure, or are you looking to be pampered and just relax? Going to a spa for the most part will be a pampering experience. I should say here that there are always exceptions to the rules so just because for the most part I feel massages therapists that work in spas have lost their deep tissue skills does not mean all of them have. But the hard part is you don’t know who you are going to get and their experience. It could be someone just out of school and their skills are not yet honed. On the other hand because spas have multiple therapists on staff your chances of getting an appointment when you want are better than with independant therapists, if you’re not choosy. Another attribute to spas is the ambiance. So if having a real nice atmosphere is important to you spas are better for that but it is also one of the reasons their massages are more money, the buildings and overhead are more for them.

An indepentant therapists, on the other hand, you get to hand select and essentially interview your therapist. This allows you to know more about their skills, styles, and specialties. You might have to plan ahead a little bit before your appointments since one person can’t be as accomodating as a spa. Another benefit to an independant is they are usually cheaper, again there are always exceptions and more and more independants are starting to charge as much as spas. It’s also more personable and clients often become friends with their independant therapist, since that way the therapist is not tied down by as many rules.

This may shock some people and I’m sorry for that but in massage school we learn to go by the professional hour which is 50 minutes. Now there has been a lot of unlicensed people working and they don’t know this fact and do a whole hour which makes it look like the licensed therapists rip people off, which isn’t true. The unlicensed girls are usually charging more too. But as long as you get 50 minutes you have gotten your time. We consider the time it takes you to change and get on and off the table as well as the time it takes us to change the sheets, take your payment and get ready for our next client part of your hour. So it is 50 minutes of hands on time and 10 minutes of prep time. But it depends on the company as well.

My first job was working for a new start up business so they were still in the building process and told me to give the full hour. My second job was well established and busy and I got yelled at for trying to do the whole hour. There I was told 50 minutes is plenty. When I worked in Park city we did 55 minutes. Now that I work on my own it depends if it’s a slow day or a busy day or how much my clients have screwed up my schedule for me. But again I do at least 50 minutes and if time permits I now will do the whole hour even though the 50 minute session was engraved in me during massage school.
Massage Envy sticks to the 50 minute rule but again they are charging less and stay pretty busy. One client was telling me she felt lied to by Massage Envy because they should advertise 50 minutes instead of hour massages. Like I said we learned 50 minutes was an hour. I have come to realize Massage Envy is now warning people on the phone their sessions last 50 minutes.

So if you are adament about getting a whole hour you should make that clear on the phone. Some therapists will try to work it out and others won’t, some might want you to pay a little more and then they will be sure to work it into their schedule for you. Ever since I went up to 60 dollars I try to do at least 55 minutes. So now we are only talking 5 minutes difference but if you still want those 5 minutes let me know up front and I am one that will try to accomadate you.

For the past year and a half I have been working on a curriculum for people wanting to apprentice in massage. When I first embarked on this project I had no idea what all was involved. I had to rewrite the curriculum 3 times before the department of Occupational and Professional licensing, otherwise known as DOPL, finally approved it. I thought that was a lot of rewriting and being denied but since then I have met other therapists whose curriculums have been denied up to 8 times and they still haven’t found how to get theirs approved. So I did see a need and offered to sell mine for a small fee. At first I felt guilty for selling it and thought maybe DOPL wouldn’t approve so I did it by word of mouth, sort of on the DL. But as expected DOPL started recognizing my curriculum being submitted multiple times and called me in. I was sure I was in trouble. DOPL wanted to know if I got my curriculum from some one else or did they get it from me. I’m a bad liar so I confessed it was mine but still tried to keep the fact I was charging for it a secret but then DOPL told me I need to be charging for it and I needed to come up with a cover sheet giving the individuals permission to use it and to get a copy write for it. DOPL also said each applicant needed to pay me for it not just the business because they are saving a lot of money by not going to school. So DOPL suggested putting expiration dates on the cover pages so it couldn’t be reused.

I’m not exactly sure how to work it yet, maybe I will have an initial fee and then a reduced fee for each additional copy purchased. But the good news is I don’t have to keep this a secret anymore. So if you or any one you know would like to buy my curriculum it is for sale and it saves at least 2 months off the application process. It took me over 100 hours to write so if time really is money it’s well worth it to just purchase a curriculum that’s already been approved.

A while ago I blogged about a new business that went in a few suites down from me and I allege it is an illegal business. I must mention here that I think people may be getting the wrong idea about me and maybe I’m too vocal for my own good. I have been frustrated with the number of massage therapists working without a license mainly because I paid my 10 grand to go to school and be formerly trained and worked my way up while others think it looks easy enough and just set up shop and muddle through to learn how to give a massage. Some of them catch on how to give a massage and others don’t and they are charging more than the licensed therapists. But even with all my frustration I’ve offered to help people do this legally. I’m apprenticing a couple girls and I’ve written a great curriculum for others to use and be able to apprentice with. So I’m not trying to keep them out I just wish they would get into this profession the right way.

Now, even with new laws in place to make it harder for unlicensed people to work, one such business moved in right next to me. I was trying to be discreet before since there does seem to be an investigation going on with them. We asked to landlord not to let them move in since they claim to do Reiki and that has become a catch phrase for something else entirely but he said they seemed professional and asked that we give them a chance. So we did…and we’ve regretted it ever since. I showed the landlord how they were advertising on-line and even though he realizes it’s not a ligit business he says he signed a lease and can’t kick them out now so it will have to be a police action that gets them out. He did go in and tell them that complaints had been filed against them and he was giving them the option to break their lease without reprecussions. But the insisted that are are completely legal and they are not leaving. They are advertising on line under therapeutic massage even though they told the landlord Reiki. So I called Salt lake business licensing to see what they what type of business they were listed as officially and the lady said, “what do you mean there is a business operating out of that suite? According to our records that suite is vacant.”

Now they have been there for 7 months and they don’t even have a business license so they are breaking every rule possible. I have been around for a while and have seen many shady businesses come and go but this one is the worst I’ve seen so far. Something is very very wrong and the thing I am most worried about is I think some of their girls are under age and not there of their own free will. They charge 60 an hour and the girl gets none of that. They only make what they make in tips. I’ve heard this from clients plus one of my friends went in pretending to want a job and they told her the same thing. But anywhere else these girls would make 30-40 per session plus tips. So why are these girls staying there? Some don’t speak English very well so maybe they don’t know.

I saw another expose last night on modern day human trafficing and many of these rings operate under the guise of being massage therapy. This problem mainly exist in border towns but it is branching out through America but works much the same way as the business next to me. The client pays 60 to 100 dollars which all goes to the house and then they tip the girl which they generally get to keep. Many of these rings are actually being ran by women too, same as the business next to me only there is also a Russian man that seems to be her partner in the it as well.

The National Board of Certification for Massage and Bodywork is now giving out pamphlets on how to deter human trafficing in massage. I think that’s so sad it’s becoming big enough the board now feels the need to increase peoples awareness about the problem. I never dreamed this would be an issue when I got into massage.

So I did help my friends out at massage soleil today because they were short staffed and I actually had a lot of fun. But my first client was a women who seemed a little hesitant. She made sure to tell me this was only her second massage so she wasn’t so sure about actually undressing and getting on the table. I was trying to figure out the best way to make her feel comfortable enough with me to want to undress and get on the table. She was so worried about being over weight that she actually tried to get her daughter to take her appointment today.

I’ve actually gained a lot of weight back over the last couple years and should put new pictures up on this site but I keep hoping I’ll start losing the weight again. So I do understand the hesitation but would like to assure everyone out there that we get all types and most massage therapist learn early on to be accepting of everyone. We have very over weight to very hairy clients to some that don’t seem to take showers at all and we are usually okay with all of it. So don’t let that be a reason to not get a massage, especially if you are needing pain relief for your muscles.

Sorry if I’ve been hard to get a hole of. I got deathly ill last week due to complications from my dentist appointment. I got a needle track infection which then spread to my sinuses. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life. But I’m back and working hard.

Tomorrow I will be helping a friend out at his shop, Massage Soleil, I’m sort of excited. I have my own shop because working for other people was usually in their best interest, not mine. But once in a while I like to get out of my environment and do something different. Some times it only reiterates why I went into business for myself which is also good. So tomorrow I will be seeing clients at my studio before one o’clock and after 6 pm. Let me know if you would like to come in.

…AND NOW it has moved right next door to me. I’m not sure what to do about it. So I’m treading on thin ice and I don’t exactly how much I should share. I’m sure my imagination runs away with me sometimes too, especially since I watched that expose’ on TV.

The whole point to the massage laws changing was to try and make it harder for unlicensed girls to work and since the age of time and ever since the worlds oldest profession became illegal massage has been used has a cover for them to hide behind. But so far many of law enforcement or the department of licensing don’t realize the laws have changed. I was hoping for instant improvement in the way things worked. I guess I was asking for too much.

But the problem next door to me is bigger than the problems were originally anyway, or maybe they didn’t seem this big because they weren’t right next door to me. The landlord says he’s stuck in this lease with a business we are pretty sure is illegal and unless we find new tenants he doesn’t want to break it. So if anyone needs an office space and doesn’t mind being next to a problem for I’d love to hear from you. I’d also love any advice people have on dealing with problems like this.

I’m taking the big plunge and no I don’t mean marriage. I have found someone to apprentice so for the next year she will be my shadow as much as possible. She needs so many hours of hands on instruction and so many hours of her own sessions so if any one is willing to a guinea pig for us and let me demonstrate on you please let us know and if you are willing to be seen by an apprentice again let us know. I will be charging less for the sessions that I’m using you as a demo. I need different types of clients though. I want some for Swedish massage demos and some for deep tissue, as well as, trigger point therapy. Some can be light work but I need some who can handle deep work as well.