Taking on more spa work vs spend time on private practice

[chris c]

It isn't always about money, or even maximizing productivity. You can treat this strictly as a series of business decisions, or as a series of choices along your journey. Some choices will lead to lessons that will help you make better choices, others will take you exactly where you want to go. Enjoy the ride!

 

[Shep]

I say do the interview. see how they run their place. you can learn how they set up and how they do business. see how they get clients. see what marketing ideas you can get from them.
If the staff there is fit for you and you need a steady income. do the job part-time. Just don't budge on your needs. you are the moneymaker not them. without you, there isn't any business for them because your doing the work. that's one of the reasons I left the spa I use to work at. they belittle me saying that I make nothing if it weren't for them hiring me. they basically wanted me to depend on them and see them as boss and superior. guess what? since I left that place is going downhill.

if you can. focus on your own private practice. why make others rich? i'll focus on my own practice too if it were for having a tough time finding a decent studio. you know how hard it is in SF since your in SF too. the only time you need to work for others part time is when your business can't sustain itself yet from enough clients. part time work for others will help cover basic needs of shelter/rent, food and marketing. you know. the basics of business until it can run on it's own profits.

 

[like me not me :)]

It is this kind of business-bashing rubbish that makes us reconsider the time we spend in this forum.

you are the moneymaker not them. without you, there isn't any business for them because your doing the work.

Clearly, running a place, set up, doing business, getting clients and marketing ideas are not work and are of no value.

see how they run their place. you can learn how they set up and how they do business. see how they get clients. see what marketing ideas you can get from them.

So why are you suggesting Josh waste any time learning these non-valuable skills at a place that would not exist without him or the other therapists?

guess what? since I left that place is going downhill.

Ah, yes...the "delicate genius" gets revenge. The average salon or spa has a lifespan that far exceeds the average career of a massage therapist, hairdresser or any other technician. Any business that can't survive the loss of an employee is not a business -- it is a parasite.

why make others rich? .

Because they risked everything to create a business that employs others. When you risk everything to create a business, you deserve to get rich.

Josh is trying to do just that, but is struggling with the worthless details of how to build a clientele (which the idiot, undeserving spa owners seem to have figured out)

 

[Jo Momma]

it's reality. have you worked at spa's and big corporation that treats therapist like a sweatshop? It's about fair pay for the skills. did I say all business will fail? NO. just ones that mistreat therapist and keeps a huge chunk for themselves and not pay fair to therapist. you don't understand the concept of respecting your employees and that workers are part of the team and that we therapist aren't inferior. From your post it seems that you are on the business perspective and not the therapist perspective. we help clients heal as fast as we can. atleast the honest one. you business owners want us therapist to do a fluffy massage so that they come in more frequently. that is robbery in my opinion.

Is it true business can't run without workers? they can obviously hire more workers, but guess what? but it's still a fact that business need workers to even stay open. Let's see how a business run without the needed workers to take appointment or therapist to service clients. can't run a massage business without them. period. what's the turnover rate in typical spa? it's a burn and churn business. personal private practice hiring good workers with fair pay exist. especially business owners who are therapist themselves. the unfair business i refer to are those that only wants money because they have no perspective on the therapist's side. yes, spa's stay longer than therapist? why? because they can't make money when they are in a sweatshop. the successful ones start to open their own business. than they make money. stop trying to persuade people to work for a sweatshop. I see time and time again the spas or business owner discourage a therapist to run their own business. they just want to use the therapist to get rich instead of encouraging them to have their own practice. It's about win/win business. not the old model of workers being inferior. majority of business in this field have no respect for therapist no matter how good the therapist or money they bring. their mentality is we can just hire new therapist. with that attitude of business owners, that is why most therapist have short career. And clearly a massage therapist's value to have return clients and getting the clients to refer friends, family and all the people they know is off no value. and not to mention the back profits of return visits and buying products. the therapist do all that not the business. they are the one that keep the client loyal not the business. not to mention that most therapist market outside to get more clients. because of all that , they deserve pay fair and respect. You are obviously on the side of exploiting therapist.

So why are you suggesting Josh waste any time learning these non-valuable skills at a place that would not exist without him or the other therapists?

Did I say skills of running a business was not important? why you think I suggest he observe all the business awareness when he does his interview? to see what works and what don't work. and because it's important for josh's future practice. if the offer is respectful to josh and he needs the work. than take it. if the offer is belittling josh, why should he put up with it to make the business owner rich? Did I say the business he may interview for isn't going to run without him? No. the business can just hire other workers but it still remain a fact that they need workers. Josh is smart, doing what he can to run his business so he can get out of the rat race. no therapist wants to make a stupid rotten business owner rich who show no respect for therapist. Look at Massage Envy. Sure they make money but at who's expense? the many experience therapist have there probably killed more massage career than motivate massage therapist to stay in the field. those kind of business is what makes the massage field look bad and gives it a bad reputation. And yes, as you quoted, the details of building a client is worthless. BS. clients are your livelihood. you show no respect for clients and just want their money. If a therapist leave, what's the likelihood of the client coming to the same spa? unlikely because they lost their personal therapist. this shows clients and therapist are the moneymaker. so show them respect and pay them fair. it's a service field. who's doing the service? sure, the business has a location but without the workers there is no business. therapist can always work elsewhere that show them respect. can a business easily just move to another location? no. because of all the law regulation.

Obviously you don't understand the concept of win/win. business that know that prosper. they understand their workers are their livelihood and respect them and pay them fairly.
business mentality to exploit workers like yours is what make therapist quit or hate working for others.

 

[Pompal 09.]

From your post it seems that you are on the business perspective and not the therapist perspective.

Of course R&R is posting from the business perspective and not the therapist perspective!! R&R is a business owner. Why on earth would they be posting from a therapist perspective?

I think R&R (particularly Mr R&R) have made many valuable contributions to this board FROM A BUSINESS OWNER'S perspective. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, this board is full of people making a living from massage, business owners are just as entitled to be here as therapists, it's just that most business owners don't bother to do that. I can understand why, even if they found this place it's full of bash the business posts.

There is money to be made as a sole practitioner, there is money to be made as an IC/employee/multi-therapist partnership/room renter/ salons/etc, there is money to be made organising those people.

Without the glitzy spas out there, massage would have a much lower profile, there would be a much smaller market for therapists, and it's not from the jobs the glitzy spas create, it's from the public awareness than massage isn't some nudge nudge wink wink service, it can be something else. So many men say 'I couldn't tell my wife I had a massage'- they couldn't while it was the realm of the adult industry, but if their wife has a massage, it's ok for them to have one too. Spa fluff services have allowed therapeutic massage to grow as an industry to support more therapists. Not as many therapists as the massage schools churn out, but that's a different discussion.



If a business owner relies on one therapist for their business, they're a fool, no business owner and therapist could thrive based on the income from the one therapist. If one therapist leaves and the business falls apart, it means the business was falling apart before the therapist left.