What to Focus on First to Grow Your Massage or Bodywork Business |
Business and Marketing for Massage and Bodywork Therapists
Episode 19.
MINDY TOTTEN: Building your massage or bodywork practice is not one size fits all. You'll need a different approach depending on where you are on your journey.
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 that they do into successful businesses that they love, all without burning out or selling out.
For the last 15+ 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 souls but also their bottom lines. 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. And THAT’s how bodyworkers Do It With Intention.
Welcome back to the Do It With Intention podcast. I am delighted today to talk to you about where you are on your journey.
I got the idea for this podcast because a therapist reached out to me and said, “Mindy, I don't know what to focus on first to get me where I want to go in my practice. What should I do first?”
The answer to that question is it depends, which is like the worst possible answer to a question that you can get.
But it does.
It depends on where you are on the journey because creating a successful massage or bodywork practice is about so much more than just marketing, which is what most people think.
There’s so much more to designing a profitable business where you can serve others and make a great living doing it.
There are actually five areas that you need to have in place to have a successful and sustainable bodywork business. These are the key areas that we all have to look at, no matter where we are on the journey.
First, to be a pro you need to work toward mastery in your modality, getting better and better at the work that you do.
And you must create a safe container for your clients, not only therapeutically, but a safe container for your business as well.
Then you become a CEO of your business by diving into the business side of the practice. This is where you reflect and build and sustain your dream practice. You'll need to come back to these over and over and over again as you and your business continue to grow and evolve.
So what is working today, or what you're focusing on today, might be quite different from what you focus on in the future.
We dive deeply into each of these pieces inside The Bodywork Project so that everyone has a solid understanding of their own unique path to success.
One important piece that you can figure out right now is which stage your business is in. You'll need a different approach depending on where you are on the journey.
Building your massage or bodywork business is not one size fits all.
Your next step to growing your dream business is going to be very different if you just received your bodywork license compared to someone who's got a full practice and wants to streamline her work.
I’ll share with you the three stages of bodyworker success, and I’d like you to envision where you are on that journey.
The first stage of success is what I call being a Passionate Bodyworker. You know the stage, you're super excited and ready to serve. You want to help as many people as you possibly can and you want to transform that passion into a sustainable career.
Lots of folks in this stage have more questions than answers. This stage is exciting because you want to learn everything you can. At the same time it can be completely overwhelming.
If your plan is to make a sustainable living as a bodywork therapist, you not only have to become masterful in your treatment skills, but you also need to learn how to go pro as an entrepreneur.
The next stage in the journey is what I call The Savvy Bodyworker.
You've been a practitioner long enough to know that this is not just a hobby for you. This is a calling and you're ready to step into your power and to serve.
But often, you're still not sure how to make your bodywork career profitable and sustainable enough to live the life that you want to live because you shouldn't be working your fingers to the bone.
This stage of the journey as entrepreneur can feel like two steps forward and one step back. While you might be really talented in your modality, you're probably building up an entirely new set of skills on the business side of your practice.
The Savvy Bodyworker often goes through periods of trial and error. Here’s where you need to persevere.
The final stage of success is what I call A Pro and CEO Bodyworker.
When you get to this stage, you’ve accomplished what so many therapists only dream of -- you've turned your passion into a career that you love.
Now it's time to refine your business plan so that you can actually enjoy your life while you serve others.
Maybe you’d like to begin reaching more people by teaching workshops. Maybe you want to write a book or hire other people or create a signature offering that's as unique as you are.
In this stage, you're ready to reach out, serve more people, and design a lifestyle that works for you.
Once you figure out which of these three stages you're in, you can begin taking the first steps and move your business forward.
If you're not exactly sure where your business falls on this journey, no worries. I’ve got you.
I've created a 100% free Bodyworker Clarity Quiz to help you find your way.
I've included a link in the show notes. Simply answer a few short questions and you'll discover where you are on the journey and you can download a free guide that I created for each of the different paths.
This Quick Start Guide features insights and ideas on how to design your career according to where you are right now and what your next steps are.
I don't want you to have to take as long as I did to figure all of this out. And once you know which stage of the journey you're in, you can take the best next steps for you and your practice.
I know you can do this. Keep showing up and keep doing the work.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me today. I know what it takes to find time to fit something like a podcast into your busy day, and I so, so appreciate that you tuned in and listened to 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. That's Mindy Totten, T O T T E N.com/podcast.
If you really enjoyed today's conversation, I'd love for you to take a quick moment to leave a review on Apple podcasts. And make sure that you subscribe so that you can download each episode as soon as it comes out.
That'll help us get this podcast in front of more massage and bodyworkers like you, so that we can all work together to make the world a touch kinder.
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.