Biggest Time-Wasters for Massage and Bodywork Therapists
Episode 15.
MINDY TOTTEN: Research shows that businesses that make a plan for the future outperform those without a plan by 60%. Think about that for a second. Instead of earning $1,500 each month in your bodywork business, you could easily earn $2,500 -- an extra thousand a month just from having a plan. Yes, please.
MINDY TOTTEN: Welcome to Do It With Intention, the podcast for massage and bodywork therapists. I'm your host, Mindy Totten, a mentor and coach for bodyworkers who want to turn their passion for the work they do into successful businesses that they love -- all without burning out or selling.
For the last 15 plus years, I've created a successful six-figure Craniosacral Therapy practice in a small city in coastal North Carolina. Over those years, I've met so many skilled, big-hearted therapists who are struggling to make their bodywork businesses work for them. Not because they weren't terrific therapists, but because they didn't know how to make the business side of their practices work.
It became my mission to help other massage and bodywork therapists build practices that support not only their soul, but also their bottom line.
On the Do It With Intention podcast, we'll dive deep into what it takes to build and to sustain a profitable massage or bodywork business. We'll have honest conversations about what really works and what doesn't as you create the ideal practice for you.
After all, you do great work in the world and you deserve to make a great living doing it. But you've got to be intentional about it not only in your modality but in your business too. That's how body workers Do It With Intention.
No matter what's going on in your life, there’s a lot going on: Kids, family, part-time jobs, books you want to read, classes you want to take. And don't forget all the things that you think you should be doing, like eating right or exercising, meditating, journaling, doing yoga every day.
Each one of these things takes precious time. Do you really need to take the time for business development, aka, having a clue about what you're going to do to move your bodywork business forward?
How do you find the time to work on your business and not just in your business? I'm going to share three common time-wasting mistakes that we bodyworkers make and the tools that you need to stop making them.
Time Waster Number 1: Social freaking media. It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of social media. I'm pretty darn old school in my approach to life. I like paper, I like pencil, I like fans. I don't even have a smartphone.
The idea of sharing what I had for breakfast online with a bunch of people who are friends of friends of friends? That still puzzles me.
That said, there certainly is some value to having a social media presence when you're starting to grow your business. Just remember to use social media as a tool and not to get sucked into the abyss of scrolling.
The average American spends -- wait for it -- 135 minutes a day on social media. Two hours and 15 minutes. Think of what you could do with an extra two hours a day. You would have an extra 40 hours every month to become the best you that you can be.
Limit time on your feeds. Maybe check in once or twice a week on your social media accounts. If you can't do once or twice a week, do it once or twice a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. If you absolutely have to check in all the time, then use a tool like Newsfeed Eradicator for Facebook.
Consider checking social media on your laptop, which is way harder to do than using a phone. This will open time to work on the things that you need to do to grow your business – to do the work you love.
Time Waster Number 2: Endless trades with other bodyworkers. A bodywork therapist that I'm working with in my private mentoring program told me that even though she was full every week, she wasn't earning enough money to pay her bills.
I asked the usual questions. Are you charging enough? Are you seeing enough people? When we delved into her business more closely, I saw that she had two to three trades with other bodyworkers every week. That's about $250 a week. Multiply that by four and she could easily be making $1,000 more every month.
The worst part? She wasn't even enjoying them anymore. Often the other therapists didn't even show up. When we went even deeper into this issue, she confessed that she felt guilty about ending the trades.
How do we fix this? One and done trades are a marvelous way to share your work with other therapists so that they can become referral partners and for you to get a taste of what other people are offering.
But after one trade with someone, if you'd like to continue receiving their services, you need to make an appointment with them and become a paying client. And they need to do the same with you.
There's something completely different about the energy around a paid session. It's completely different than if you go in for a trade with somebody.
If you're paying for their services and they're paying for yours, you’ll both expand your practices more quickly so you can serve even more people.
The only trade that I've done that lasted for an extended period of time was not with another bodyworker. It was with an interior designer and she really needed the work that I was doing – CranioSacral Therapy -- and I really needed the work that she was doing . She helped me tremendously. You know you're in an excellent trade when both people feel like they're getting the better end of the bargain.
Time Waster Number 3: Searching online for clever marketing ideas. Trust me, if this worked, I would have been the Queen of Marketing. You don't need catchy phrases. You don't need a clever business name. To create a sustainable practice, you need to go deeper and to get guidance.
You need a simple step-by-step marketing plan designed especially for you, and ideally with the help of someone who's already done what you want to do.
How do you fix the time that you're spending online trying to figure this out on your own? Stop looking for shortcuts. Look for a mentor or a guide who you resonate with and begin to take those inspired action steps to move your practice forward.
If you need some ideas I'm going to put a link in the show notes and you can download a free PDF that I have called 100 Ways to Build Your Bodywork Business.
That can be a good jumping off point. And once you find somebody you resonate with, who's done what you want to do, reach out to them to get additional support.
Again, trust me: Surfing online all day trying to figure it out yourself is a complete waste of time.
Start scaling back on these time-wasters so that you begin to have the time to work on your business. You'll also find that you have more time for your life and for the things that are important for you.
MINDY: Thanks for coming on this journey with me today. I know what it takes to make time for something like this in your busy day and I so appreciate that you tuned in and listened all the way to the end.
We've got all the links from today's episode in the show notes that you can find over at MindyTotten.com/podcast.
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Okay, that's it for today. It's my pleasure and my privilege to be with you on this journey. I'll see you next week, same place, same time. Until then, get out there and Do It With Intention.