Running your own massage therapy practice can be very exciting, and give you greater independence to boot. After developing the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in massage therapy, it’s time to start thinking about whether or not you have the tools needed for starting a business.
Above all else, that means figuring out how to overcome several different obstacles before truly getting your new venture off the ground. You will need to develop a business plan, and figure out how to make your business marketable, compliant with laws and regulations, and profitable.
If you can, however, you’ll be setting yourself up to take your massage therapy career to a whole new level. Here are some things you need to know before starting a massage therapy business.
Planning Out a Sustainable Massage Therapy Business
There are several hurdles to jump over when starting your business, including getting licenses and permits and taking care of all other legal housekeeping. When you’re trying to figure out how your business will get off the ground, you’ll also need to determine what the startup costs are going to be, as well as how long you can expect to take to break even.
Such costs can include the monthly rent for your office space, the costs of your massage tables and other equipment (eg. wedges and bolsters), and products for other special services you offer.
You will also need to decide how much you want to charge clients, as well as other methods for maximizing your business’s profits during your massage therapist career — whether through accepting insurance, offering different options for payment, or offering packages.
You’ll have to decide which services you want to provide at your business
Find a Focus For Your Massage Therapist Career
Finding a specific focus for your business will help you to attract clients. Determining exactly what this will be involves asking yourself a number of questions. For instance:
- What are you going to name your business?
- Are you going to operate out of your own home, or an office?
- What services are you going to provide?
- Who is your target demographic?
- Are you going to focus on one specific service or a number of them (for example, will you offer services such as oils, hot stone massages, or hydrotherapy)?
These are all questions you need to have answered before you can really set the wheels in motion for your business, and it’s best to have them mapped out before proceeding further.
Marketing Your Business to Potential Clients
While mastering the various techniques you’ll learn during your massage therapy training is one major part of the job, it’s equally important to make sure you get clients coming in regularly — and coming back for more. This can be helped largely by you finding the best possible strategy for marketing your business.
The better you market your business, the more clients you can attract
Form a plan for how you’re going to promote the business on social media, as well as reaching people through word of mouth and attracting referrals from other medical professionals you know.
While the services you provide could attract customers by themselves, your branding and online presence will be even more important in improving the exposure and public perception of your business.
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