My friend Kerry Methot doesn’t think she’s a writer. But she is. And it’s an honor to publish her guest post today. 

In Memory of Dianne Polseno

The massage profession lost a true legend on May 12, as Dianne Polseno passed away after a hard fought battle, (and I do mean battle) with cancer. She was diagnosed in early September of last year and bravely chronicled her journey through cancer and its many twists and turns on her Caring Bridge account. Ever the teacher, she left us STILL teaching, which was her life, right to the end sharing her story in all its honesty. It struck me that this woman who was so fascinated with anatomy and the human body would have loved to teach a class on how so quickly cancer could take over a very healthy body. She would have been her usual animated powerful self, explaining difficult to understand anatomy and physiology with props and gadgets until we all got it.

Ever the optimist, she tried in all of her entries to put a positive spin on her trips to the doctor, the chemo (flushes) and radiation (beams) and her daily struggles. She left us chuckling as she exchanged what she thought were bad and cold medical terminology, for something more palatable. She didn’t get too down, she had dip days, called her portacath internal jewelry and renamed doctors and even the giant radiation machine thinking her cells would absorb the negative terminology. It was her daily life, how to LIVE with cancer. It was personal, it was scary, it was optimistic, honest and intense. It was Dianne. She ended most of her entries with a statement that SHE was praying for US, her support system, which included her friends, colleagues, former students and family all of us who reached out to say hi or send a kind word.

She was a nurse, massage therapist, addictions counselor, teacher, anatomist, writer, author, mentor and friend. The most PASSIONATE educator I ever had, she simply loved to teach. In 2006, that passion was rewarded with the prestigious Jerome Perlinski National Teacher of the Year. During her acceptance speech, she reminded everyone in the audience “they are all teachers, in that all therapists can have an impact on the lives of their clients”

Dianne Polseno had a huge impact on my life and the lives of many of my good friends. I am a better person and certainly a better massage therapist because of her. I will miss our many great chats about the profession and about life. She supported me at every turn and never said no to presenting for us at the New England Regional Conference even when she was very busy. She pushed me hard to run for President and last fall told me I had to run, “because I have cancer and I demand it!” It made me laugh, and I know it made her smile when she found out I did run and became President. At conventions or conferences, we often had to sneak off to have our chats because if you tried to do it publicly, people would line up to say hi, ask a question, shake her hand or just give her a hug. She was a rockstar!

She made me laugh and laugh hard, like that can’t catch your breath kind of laugh. She was tough and opinionated especially in regards to ethics, no grey in her world, it was right or wrong, simple as that. I told her once that I didn’t always agree with her, but that she always made me think, THAT is the mark of a great teacher!

In the end, she lost her battle. She has left this world way too prematurely but has left a legacy that will resonate within many of us forever. In an entry in March she said she didn’t want to be a victim and when times got tough, she would start a gratitude list.

Today Dianne, you are on the top of many of our gratitude lists. We are grateful to simply have met you.

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I’m going to be on the Massage Nerd Show Wednesday night (5/23)!

I scheduled it for my birthday on purpose, I love my birthday. I’ve made some decent progress on my ‘List of 37 things I want to do’, and I’m coming up with a new list to conquer in the coming year.

Tomorrow will also be a sad day. I’ll be attending the memorial service for our friend, Dianne Polseno. You’ve likely heard all about her already (if not, go here). Yes, it will be a celebration of her life. It’ll still be sad.

I’ve been thinking a great deal about this massage community of ours. I trash talk it sometimes, I lovingly blather about other times.

I’ve said before that “The ties that bind us are so much stronger than the opinions that divide us within this field.” And there was sentiment in the post about Dianne that I want to repeat. I want it to stand on its own.

I love this industry. I love my profession. I love that as a whole we are generous with our time and money, that we support and fund so many causes, massage-related and beyond. I love that we all came to massage in a different way. Some came for a flexible schedule, some to be their own boss. So many massage therapists found massage through their own illness or caring for a loved one. In so many ways, it doesn’t matter how we got here. We’re here. We’re here together.

I love that we argue and battle over standards and education and everything else with such passion and excitement. I love that we care enough to fight. And even more than that, I love that we care enough to forgive, rebuild bridges and start again. Because we touch people, and that matters.

I love that many of our leaders maintain a hands-on practice, in addition to the myriad of other work they do. I love that we have great leaders in our profession who are not actually hands-on practitioners, but they get it. They get it. And they fight for us. They work hard to make it possible for us to do this work.

At the end of the day, we all touch people. We all give massage. We give it a chance, we give it a future. We give it context, proof and credibility. We touch people.

We are able to do that, and we do it very well, because of great teachers, friends and colleagues like Dianne Polseno.

I’m repeating it because Ryan and I will be talking about this community at the beginning of the show (go here to watch,  7pm PST / 9pm CST / 10pm EST). I’ve got some ideas and thoughts to share and I know Ryan will, too.

Then we’ll move on to the nuts and bolts of Writing for Your Massage Business. Don’t miss it. There WILL BE a special offer, good for 48 hours (See, I’m being kind to you people who must go to bed early, so long as you watch the replay Thursday or Friday.)

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We lost Dianne Polseno today. It’s a heartbreak for so many of us who learned from her and laughed with her.

Dianne was my very first teacher at massage school. That first day of Anatomy & Physiology class, I had no idea the impact she would have on me. I had no idea that sitting in the front row was one of the smarter things I would ever do. I had no idea that 18 months later I would be giving her a massage, the final practical exam needed before I graduated, and she would hug me and it would mean the world to me. I didn’t know that when she called me her ‘colleague’ it would change the way I thought and felt about myself.

Dianne taught anatomy with a passion. A PASSION. With verve and love and sense of amazement and wonder that never diminished. I struggled in that class, but she made it worthwhile. She got me excited and challenged me. Her sense of humor made it fantastic.

I was at the tail end of that A & P class when I went to Dianne’s annual Cadaver Workshop. She blew me away. We were shown a whole new level of respect and honor for the human body, in all its intricacies and wonder. It changed us, as people and practitioners.

And the ethics classes. Oh, the ethics classes! “We touch people,” Dianne would say. Loudly. Repeatedly. It stayed with me. I say it in my head all the time. I say it out loud when I teach. So simple and obvious, but the most complex and important idea for us to absorb.

On a personal level, Dianne taught me so much more. She told me I was smart and capable. She called me on my bullshit. She comforted me when I was feeling beaten down, and made me laugh so hard I nearly peed myself while in an exhibit hall full of people. When she was diagnosed last year she said in an email, “Keep me laughing, Blue Streak, okay?” Sending her absurd, hilarious emails of dancing cats and texts with inappropriate jokes for the last 7 months was an honor. A silly, wonderful honor that made me laugh, too.

I love this industry. I love my profession. I love that as a whole we are generous with our time and money, that we support and fund so many causes, massage-related and beyond. I love that we all came to massage in a different way. Some came for a flexible schedule, some to be their own boss. So many massage therapists found massage through their own illness or caring for a loved one. In so many ways, it doesn’t matter how we got here. We’re here. We’re here together.

I love that we argue and battle over standards and education and everything else with such passion and excitement. I love that we care enough to fight. And even more than that, I love that we care enough to forgive, rebuild bridges and start again. Because we touch people, and that matters.

I love that many of our leaders maintain a hands-on practice, in addition to the myriad of other work they do. I love that we have great leaders in our profession who are not actually hands-on practitioners, but they get it. They get it. And they fight for us. They work hard to make it possible for us to do this work.

At the end of the day, we all touch people. We all give massage. We give it a chance, we give it a future. We give it context, proof and credibility. We touch people.

We are able to do that, and we do it very well, because of great teachers, friends and colleagues like Dianne Polseno.

with Dianne at my massage school graduation

She spoke at my graduation from Bancroft, and at the end she said, “I am so proud to now call you my colleagues.” That scared the hell out of me. I felt I could never live up to that statement. But over the last seven years she taught me that I could.  I have never been so honored to know that someone was my teacher, my colleague, my champion, and my friend.

We’ll be feeling this loss for a long time. I take solace in knowing that I carry with me all that she taught, and I will work hard to be worthy of that knowledge.

(PS- This is the kind of absurdity I sent Dianne, and she laughed. Hard. You could probably use it right now, too.)

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Last Saturday I had no business checking my email or screwing around on Facebook. I was seeing 6 clients that day and was smack in the middle of moving to a new house. But between clients I got my daily google alert about “massage” and I saw a press release about a new massage table ‘designed for women’ and it interested me so I clicked on it.

I had a visceral response. For a minute I thought it was a spoof. I read about the ‘playful’ colors and ‘out-of-the-box femininity’ and my women’s studies hackles instantly rose and I was aghast.

Then I let a knee-jerk reaction get the better of me and I posted about the absurd product description and included a link to the press release. You all responded, as you usually do, with passion and verve and humor with a touch of sarcasm (FYI- I love you for that).  Some of you did the real legwork and emailed the company and tagged the company president, Bruce, in a comment.

Bruce called me on Monday. Because Bruce is a stand-up guy and that’s what stand-up guys do. He was, and is, genuinely upset about what happened. [added 5/4/12: Let me be clear, Bruce owned it RIGHT AWAY. It's the first thing he said when we spoke.  In fact, when I asked about the team that actually wrote the copy, he was hesitant to even bring them into the conversation, as he was intent on taking total responsibility for the debacle.] His company did an amazing job of creating a product that massage therapists had been asking for.  They created a table with a lower height range, a shape that allowed plenty of room for clients arms to rest, but with a curved inner portion so the practitioner can reach over the low back more easily. They made the table super-light (26lbs!) and super tough. And they made it pretty. Seriously folks, it’s a gorgeous, kick-ass table.

So what happened in the product description? I don’t know. My guess is, the same thing that happens to all of us in our marketing occasionally. We forget to have outsiders, laypeople, or uninvolved parties check our work. We think something sounds good, only to realize that it could have a whole different feel to a customer/client who isn’t yet familiar with our styles and personalities. Sometimes we don’t make ourselves clear and we convey a whole different message than what we intended. It happens.

Was it a lousy product description? I think so. Did they deserve to get my feminist wrath on a Saturday afternoon? No. And if I had delayed my complaints, I probably would have realized that Bruce was already a Facebook friend of mine and I could just message him directly to get some answers and be snippy and self-righteous one-on-one. But I didn’t. Instead I did the equivalent of giving a snotty middle finger to another driver from behind the window of my car. I’m sorry, Bruce. You deserve better.

Here’s the silver lining: I got to talk with my new friend Bruce. He’s a really good sport. As it turns out we share a birthday with Janet Jackson, Liberace and each other! That’s the kind of coincidence I won’t ignore. So we’re going to create a really neat project for you. We’ll probably give something away. It’s in the works. Stay tuned.

Bruce and the team are working on a product description that better conveys the amazing-ness of the table they created.

I am working on, well, I’m working on a lot of things. Right now I’m working on a new tagline. What do you think of this:

Writing a Blue Streak: making loud mistakes so you don’t have to!

You’re welcome.

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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‘Nuf said.

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Got that? No one is coming to save you.

There is no knight on a white horse. You’re not gonna win the lottery. Praying isn’t going to pay the bills if you don’t get up and go to work, too. The spouse you married for love (but a little bit for security and money, too) could get laid off any minute.  Spiderman will not be swooping in to pull you from the wreckage of your business malaise. Say it with me, “No one is coming to rescue me.”

That’s a pretty frightening revelation, huh?* Just let that linger in the back of your head for a bit.

There are a variety of things we will do when hunger, housing, health are on the line. We will hustle to feed our kids and keep them clothed. We will deliver pizza into the wee hours if it means helping Dad pay for his medication.

However, we become complacent (not just fiscally, but in our emotional satisfaction) when we hit middle ground. We get lazy. We get stupid.

Here’s a common conversation in my world

Me: How many clients do you want to see every week?
You: Oh, 18-20
Me: How many are you seeing right now?
You: Um… well.. some weeks only I have 2 or 3 clients, some weeks I have 10 or 11.
Me: What are you doing to increase that?
You: Weeeellll… I sent out postcards to my old clients. I worked a few health fairs last month….
Me: How’s your website?
You: Oh, well, I really should update that a little… I’m so busy right now, I haven’t gotten to it. We had a tree fall in the yard and I’ve been cleaning it up. My parrot was sick so I’ve been staying home a lot. And I was running the book fair at my son’s school, that was such a project!!
Me: <<Sigh>>

Or in a class recently

Me: Raise your hand if you’re seeing as many clients as you want to.
Only 2 people out of 20 raised their hands.
Me: What’s your biggest obstacle to getting started with online marketing?
“Finding time to learn!”
Me: If you’re only seeing 5 clients a week, and your goal is 15, what the heck are you doing with that extra 10 clients’ worth of time? (Okay- there are some reasonable explanations here, especially if someone is maintaining another job while starting a massage business. But most of the excuses are BS. Total BS.)

See where I’m going with this?

All the marketing blogs, books, online classes, in-person workshops and savvy-tech tools in the world won’t help you if you don’t GET OFF YOUR ASS and do the work. And it’s up to YOU to do it. No one is coming to rescue you. Masses of clients are NEVER going to just show up begging for your services.  (Secret: even if someone did rescue you, eventually you would still end up back in the hole. It’s imperative that you LEARN how to dig out on your own.)

We’ve talked about choice before, this is not new.

Kelli’s 12 week “A Website that Works” course will give you all the info, guidance and tools you need to turn your website into an Ideal Client generating machine. My Blogging for Your Massage Business workbook (and maybe the live training sessions!) will give you a step-by-step protocol for writing blog posts to capture and keep your clients engaged and in love with your business. But only if you actually use them. Only if you make a plan, schedule the time, and DO THE WORK.

I want you to buy Kelli’s 12 week program. I want you to buy my workbook. But only if it speaks to you and you’ll actually use it.  I’m no saint, I’ve been where you are. I’ve got a folder full of learning materials I bought and never even opened.

Will my workbook or Kelli’s course be different for you?

Only if you are different. You need to buck up and say, “I want to do more, I want to do better.”

Only if you banish the “But I can’t because blah blah blah…” mentality and replace it with, “I’m going to learn this stuff, and I will be good at it.”

No one is coming to rescue you. The good news is, you can rescue yourself. Your call.

[*I want to make it perfectly clear that we're talking about business crap, not real legit depression stuff, like I talk about often. If you are suffering from depression or other mental illness please be assured that someone is coming to rescue you. Call me right now and we'll make sure that happens. 508-208-9484.]

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I’m super excited that Andrea Lipomi, massage therapist and author of Confident Relaxation Massage: Advice for the Budding Massage Therapist, agreed to write a guest post for me. I love her writing, I love her attitude, and I love HER love of relaxation massage. Enjoy.

If relaxation massage is your jam and spa employment is your dream, you’ll likely feel alone sometimes when your classmates are engaged in a battle of egos to prove who can give the most complicated deep tissue massage, or the most intuitive energy work.

I’ve been there, too. There’s a certain level of snobbery that exists among some massage therapy students (and some massage therapists) when it comes to whose modality is the ‘best,’ and more commonly, to who’s ‘best’ at their modality. When I was on the cusp of graduating from massage school, the owner of the school (who incidentally also owned two day spas) publicly asked our class, one student at a time, what our career plans were. Before my turn came, I listened to a good 50% of my classmates proclaim that they were ultimately going to work for themselves doing deep tissue work, but that they might work at a spa right out of school as a stepping stone.

My blood began to boil – how dare these people snub their noses at my dream, the whole reason I ever went to massage school? And with that attitude, did they actually think they would make it? Did they think it was that easy? That spa directors and managers would be rolling out the red carpet for their lackluster commitment to day spa employment? When my turn finally came, I proudly announced, “Despite the obvious sentiment in the room that spa employment is nothing more than light pressure, fluff-and-buff massage, I respectfully disagree. My goal is to work at a fabulous day spa in the Rochester, New York area.”

Confident Relaxation Massage: Advice for the Budding Massage Therapist

I wrote this in 2010, five years after I’d attended massage school. The moment obviously stuck with me, and the chances are good that if you’re a massage therapy student or practitioner, you too have been exposed to a similar sentiment at some point in time. Maybe you were on the receiving end, or the giving end (for shame!), or perhaps you were an innocent bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, assaulted by the aural equivalent of this product. Perhaps your exposure to relaxation massage scorn has been limited to eye-rolling run-ins with the “you can’t hurt me” client – you know, the once-a-year massage-booker who figures that he needs to subject himself to red-lined pressure and the Festivus Feats of Strength to un-do in one hour the havoc that 8,759 hours of an office job, messy divorce, and recreational caber tossing have unleashed on his erector spinae.

Regardless of the circumstances, hating on relaxation massage and the facilities and therapists who provide this in-demand service is a bad idea – unless it’s your life’s mission to come off like a divisive ignoramus with a superiority complex. The “deeper is always better” massage mentality leads many to wrongly assume that everyone benefits from firm pressure, deep tissue techniques, knees in the glutes, and/or gut-wrenching discomfort. For the misinformed client, this approach can sometimes lead to hesitation to book massage appointments out of fear of pain or bruising; the spreading of harmful “painful massage is good for you” propaganda; erroneously equating a healthy level of machismo with suffering through an hour of uncomfortable crushing of the ribcage; the systemic tensing of skeletal muscles, resulting in less effective massage strokes; and possibly the most disastrous result: injury.

For the misinformed massage provider, the list reads in a similar manner, with the additional – and notable – catastrophes of liability for client injuries, and a shortened career lifespan for our dear massage therapist.   Admittedly, I’m biased toward relaxation massage. Protective, even. I appreciate uncomplicated, soothing, stress-reducing and sleep-inducing strokes, delivered in an attentive, uninterrupted manner with consistent pressure. The genesis of my massage career was sparked in a day spa, where I received my first professional massage: a 30-minute back, neck and shoulder spa-style massage of moderate pressure.

Palms, fingertips, and thumbs worked wonders on my stressed-out, hypertonic, scoliosis-battered musculature, and I don’t believe that the gritting of teeth or percolation of cold sweat would have enhanced the benefits I reaped one bit.   You don’t have to swallow the red pill based on the sole word of an admitted spa junkie who works at a resort spa and penned a book about performing top-notch relaxation massages. According to the International SPA Association, spas in the United States alone are a $12.3 billion dollar industry, and according to a report released by the Global Spa Summit (USA Day Spa Market 2010,) half of all spa treatment revenue in the United States comes from massage services.

Personally, my book is comfortably full, primarily with moderate-pressure massages designed to send the recipient to Dreamland. (The fabulous Allissa Haines wrote about her own success in the realm of relaxation massage here.)  I’m certainly not disputing that deep tissue work can often be beneficial when properly administered in an appropriate manner (sometimes even effectively incorporated as a spot treatment during an over-all relaxation massage), and is a great asset to have in our toolboxes. I just feel that as massage professionals, we should be mindful that the dreaded and oft-criticized “cookie cutter massage” label can apply to the indiscriminate use of deep work as well.

So do yourself a favor, and remember that helping and healing mean different things to different people. Client A may respond best to an expertly-executed, pampering treatment performed in a serene spa setting, and Client B may obtain optimal results from orthopedic massage techniques performed in a clinical setting. Also important to keep in mind: Great deep tissue work can often be found at top-notch spas, and lovely relaxation massages can often be found in medical settings – so cast aside your assumptions and open your mind to a world of new massage possibilities.

As members of the larger massage community, let’s strive not only to take pride in our own disciplines and areas of expertise, but to take pride in our capacity to respect our colleagues and the life-altering work that they do too.

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It’s time.

We’ve been hanging out for nearly 2 years now, that’s  pretty impressive for a commitment-phobic girl like me. We’ve chatted about business and marketing techniques, online and off. We’ve gotten into some deep ethical issues. We’ve gotten into fights and made up and grown stronger. We’ve shared some meals and many snacks.

I’m finally ready… I’m proposing… that you check out my new ebook, Blogging for Your Massage Business. (Well, it’s more like a guidebook or a workbook than it is like a straight ebook, but you get the idea.)

I’m ready to help you start Blogging for Your Massage Business, so you can attract the perfect clients for you, get them to your website and keep them on your table for years to come.

I’m ready to set the date, four of them actually, four weeks in a row, to spend an hour walking you down the aisle,  guiding you through the book and worksheets.

If you want, we can even spend an hour alone, wooing the blog brilliance out of your brain and onto your website.

Let’s make it official, huh? Slap a ring on this finger and make an honest girl of me.

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-or- How to stop taking new clients so you don’t end up working day and night.

It happened slowly. I saw it coming but the reality of it hit me like a brick last December. My practice is full. I simply cannot take any more clients unless I want to work a zillion hours a week. And I certainly don’t want to do that.

I noticed early last year that I was having to book regular clients 2 or 3 appointments out so they wouldn’t lose their favorite spot in my schedule (after several years of having it).  I’ve always referred out, both potential new client and some of my less frequent clients if I didn’t have time in my schedule, or if I was out of town. I started doing that more and more, and only taking new clients if they were pregnant or if referred to me for a specific reason.

In January I posted  on Facebook about how I changed my website to reflect this, and I wrote this little nugget about how I got to the ‘full practice’ point. I got some great questions about how and why I came to this conclusion.

Why not just book clients further out?

If someone has been seeing me every 4 weeks for 6 years, how could I possible tell them they can’t do that anymore, because I don’t have an open appointment for 2 months? I would feel awful! Also, I see many clients with anxiety and depression. Trust, structure and patterns are important.

Why not hire therapists to take your overflow?

I don’t want to be a manager. I do rent space in my office to 2 other practitioners, and I’m a great landlord. But I know from past careers that I’m a lousy boss, so a flat rent deal where everyone has their own, separate business works best for me.  And I was careful to choose an office that I could afford even without other therapists as renters, so having renters is a choice, not a necessity.

What if your business slows down? 

Well, I’ll start actively marketing and recruiting new referrals again! I did it once, I think I can do it again.

Will you stop all marketing efforts?

Heck no. I still need to hustle to keep my schedule full. I will still have slow weeks that require a ‘last minute appointment’ email. I will still write new blog posts and share info on Facebook for my current clients. I’ve got to keep them coming back. Regular clients, those who schedule their next appointment before they leave the office, make up about 80% of my business, the remaining 20% are people who just call when they feel like it, or get injured, or just when they get a gift certificate on Mother’s Day. I’ve got to continue to work to keep them around!

Several people said, “I love new clients, I could never stop taking new, challenging cases.”

I used to do much more injury and rehab work. I’ve gravitated away from that, I really prefer long term preventative and maintenance massage. It’s what I’m good at. It’s just a different ball game, and I find challenge in different ways.

This is what I looked like when I sent the email to my clients. Really.

Was it scary?

YES. Let me repeat: YEEEEES. And really tough. It goes against every fiber of my being to say no to a new client. It’s scary to know that I am purposely limiting my income and the growth of my client base.

But you cannot manage a business from a place of fear. Well, you can, but where’s the fun in that? And you certainly cannot work a zillion hours a week for years on end and be happy. Well, I can’t. Also, I’m raising my prices this spring and giving myself a raise. So I’ll make more money doing the same amount of work. Yay!

How did you make this transition?

• I started telling people last year that I would be raising my prices in spring of 2012, and that I was no longer taking new clients. (But I made many exceptions)
• In January I made the ‘no new clients’ official on the website
• I verbally informed every client who came in that my prices were changing on 4/1 and they would get an opportunity to purchase a package before that with a good discount.
• Today I sent out this email Referrals, Prices and a Great Big Thank You.
• I posted this article  reminding clients that it’s great to explore other therapists (I’ve been telling them this for years). I also gave them plenty of options, should they not want to pay my new pricing.

And that’s where I’m at. You can be sure I’ll let you know how it goes, and what kinds of wacky obstacles arrive that I hadn’t planned for. No doubt there will be many.

Here’s what’s great: I know that when I stumble, I have you to help me. You are a seriously refined, impressive group of practitioners and I get SO MUCH from your contributions, conversations and comments. (Darn it. I’m getting verklempt.) And as always, you have me, and the rest of us, to catch you when you fall. Yay us!

Have you turned off the faucet in your practice? How? I would love to hear more ideas in the comments below.

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This post is a joint collaboration between my favorite school-owner, Annie LaCroix, and my favorite new graduate, Kat Mayerovitch. There is simply nothing more key to your success than great communication skills. There are lessons in here for massage therapists of all ages and genres. Find them, use them. We all win when communication skills improve. 

This is to the millenials. Yes, you guys. You text-obsessed, under-30 people who barely remember a time before “friend” was a verb. I have a secret for you:

Many of us find communicating with you really, really annoying.

This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if it weren’t for the fact that people older than you still pretty much rule the world (and the admissions office). If you’d like to be in that enviable position sometime in the future, you’re going to have to learn to deal with us.

Luckily, it’s not actually that difficult.

Talking to “Old People” 101

Text Messages

Texting is great for a lot of things, including:

• Confirming lunch plans with friends
• Letting your nervous mother know your plane landed safely
• Sending sexy notes to your significant other

Texting is not appropriate for:

• Checking to see if a school is accepting applications
• Responding to an ad for a job opening
• Asking for directions to an interview 10 minutes beforehand
• Anything at all if you’re driving at the time!

Basically, limit texting to your personal life, and limit your professional communications to phone calls and email.

Phone Calls

As a school owner, here’s what Annie likes to hear in a phone call:

First, ask to speak to the person handling admissions. “Hello, my name is ____, may I please speak with the admissions office?” works wonderfully, even if the school doesn’t even have an admissions office. When you get in touch with the person you’re looking for, introduce yourself again (full name), and explain what you’re calling about. (Hint: “Can I get in the next class or something?” is not what you’re calling about. Keep it formal!) When you’re finished, be sure to thank the person for their time before saying goodbye.

Keep up this format (introducing yourself, asking for the person you want, reintroducing yourself, saying what you want, and offering thanks) for all professional phone conversations from now until you die. It also helps your professional image to check your voicemail and respond to it. With a phone call, not a text.

Emails

There’s an important difference between millenials and older generations when it comes to emails, and recognizing it will prevent a lot of drama. While you basically think of emails as longer text messages, older folks see them as electronic versions of letters, which is why they still hold on to a lot of snail-mail conventions. Some of these include:

• Address the recipient. “Dear ____,” is the most common. I know nobody but your grandmother would ever call you “dear” in person, but it’s still traditional in writing. “To Whom it May Concern,” is acceptable letter-speak for “I have no idea who the hell this email is going to, but I want to sound polite about it.”
• After addressing the reader, introduce yourself with your full name, and explain what you’re writing about. (Sound familiar? This is just like a phone call.)
• Write out numbers as words. For example, “I have been working as a nursing assistant for the last four years,” not “for the last 4 years.”
• Avoid initials or acronyms like TTYL or IDK. Also avoid shortened words like “thnx.”
• Close with “Thank you,” or “Sincerely,” on its own line. The last line should be your full name, even though you already gave your full name at the beginning. If you already know the person you’re writing to, it’s okay to use just a first name here.

In-Person Interviews

• Don’t forget that handshake, both at the beginning and the end.
• Turn your phone off. Not on silent, but OFF. Or leave it in your car.
• Make eye contact and smile, even if it feels awkward. Practice if you need to.
• “Thanks” is even more important in person than in writing.
• Communicate through your clothing. Dressy, non-sexy, clean, unwrinkled. You get the idea.

For the Non-Millenials in the House

You didn’t think I’d notice, did you? I know you’ve been reading this, hoping to gain some insight into the elusive psyches of the young. Well, here are some tips for communicating with millenials without pulling your hair out.

• Try texting. Millenials don’t always feel comfortable stopping what they’re doing to have a phone conversation, but texting is quick and non-intrusive. You’re much more likely to get an immediate response to a text message.
• Starting a Facebook group is a great way to ensure your messages will be read.
• When using email, keep it brief. Millenials want you get to the point, not write around a subject with anecdotes. The more long-winded the message, the more likely it will end in the trash.
• Good luck with phone calls. Millenials hate to feel stuck in a conversation they can’t get out of, and so they often won’t answer when it rings.
• Learn to have patience with impatience. Otherwise you’ll both go crazy.

Go forth and communicate.

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I have a thing for Wonder Woman.

I want this dress.

I loved the show when I was a kid.  I have happy childhood memories of wearing my WW underoos, tying a towel around my neck and jumping around the living room with my brother, similarly dressed as superman or spider man.

In the past few years, I’ve received some great gifts: the adult sized underoos, a birthday cake, a travel mug (I use it daily, Melissa), socks, bracelets and a few other things. On especially rotten days, I’ve been known to wear the underoos along with a Chuck Norris tshirt to bed. I don’t have the science to back me up, but I think I wake up stronger. (And funnier.)

As the story goes, Wonder Woman is  “beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Hermes, and stronger than Hercules.” In other words, she’s a myth. (Well, of course she is, it’s a STORY, Allissa.)

The problem is that when we (or maybe it’s just me, but I doubt it.) are faced with mountains of work and/or family obligations and/or social obligations, so often the response is to juggle, rearrange, put our heads down and plow through to complete tasks and meet the demands. Because that’s what wonder women do.

Well, I’m not Wonder Woman.

And (except for the Underoos) I’m not trying to be. I’m keeping my expectations high, but realistic. I want to give my massage clients the best massage that I can. I want to give my marketing clients the highest quality services I can.

I want to focus, so I can give you, my dear, refined, interested and interesting massage therapist reader the very best materials to help you build your business. So you can feel as giddy and happy as I do when I walk into my office every day.

In order to do that, I’m taking February off. Well, I’m not taking it ‘off’ so much as I’m going underground.  I’ve got some guest writers lined up, really smart people with different perspectives and ideas from mine, yay! I’ll be popping in on Facebook occasionally, ditto for Google+ and Twitter.

Here’s a sneak peek at what I’m working on for you

A series (that’s right, a series) of guides to help you write for your business. Blogging, email marketing, website copy, all of it. Useful, step-by-step, how-to guides to help you craft the words, in your own voice, to bring in new clients and strengthen relationships with your current clients. Written by someone who has been doing that for seven years, and is still doing that now. (Hey, that’s me!)

Worksheets, video, Google+ hangouts, small group webinars where you get individual and group guidance. The whole enchilada, baby.

If you’re not already on the email list, hop on over to the right and do it already. Subscribers will get extra-special updates throughout February (and you can pick up the Marketing with Personality ebook if you don’t have it yet.)

I’m also going to wrap up the Financial Integrity series over on the Massage Learning Network, if you haven’t watched Parts 1 & 2, you should catch up soon.

We’re gonna build some great things together, people.

Brace yourself, March is going to be fun.

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• Music! Contests! Giggling!

Looking to rent space?

At some point or another, you’ll probably find yourself looking at office space to rent. It can be a big, scary experience and totally overwhelming if you’re not prepared for it.

Bring this list, and use it. Go through it while you’re in the space. Yes, be a geek with a piece of paper and pen, checking off the list and making notes as you chat with the person showing you the space.

Before your visit, review the requirements for state establishment licensure, if applicable.  Bring a tape measure, and if you’re nervous, a trustworthy friend.

Drive by the location at different times of day and note the parking, local noise levels, activity of neighboring businesses.

Is the location near where your ideal clients are?
How does the place look from outside?
Is there adequate parking?
What’s the signage like and will you be able to put your own up?
Is the entrance well marked and obvious? Handicap assessable?
What kind of locks are on the main doors?

Who are the office neighbors, and what are their hours?
Are there shared spaces, common areas like waiting area or bathroom? Who exactly shares these spaces?
What is the distance from bathroom to treatment room?

What is the size of the treatment room, including ceiling height?

Take note of:
door lock
wall color
type of flooring
windows, doors, emergency exits that can’t be blocked
number of electrical outlets and their location

Where is thermostat located, do you have direct access, are there ‘shared zones’?
What design/decorating changes would you be allowed to make?

How long have current tenants been there?

Does rent include:
heat
air conditioning
electric
hot water
snow removal

If not included in the rent, what are the typical utility costs for the space?

Is it wired for internet/cable?

What are the terms of the lease?
Who handles repairs and maintenance emergencies? Are they available 24/7?

Post-visit thoughts:

Who showed you the space? Were they nice? Was it the person who you’ll be dealing with regularly if you choose this space and how do you feel about that?

How much work is involved in making the place functional for you?

Have you looked for space in the past? What am I missing?

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In March I’ll reach my seven year anniversary of graduating from massage school. I started my business the very next day and last week I officially announced that I’m no longer taking new clients. (We’ll discuss the ins and outs of that another time)

In a nutshell, here’s how I did it:

I knew I wanted massage to be my full time job, so I treated it that way from Day 1. If I didn’t have clients scheduled, I still went to the office as if I had a full schedule, and I used that time to learn about marketing.

I hustled at chair massage, working oodles of Friday nights massaging women who get together to scrapbook.

I asked for help from my family to take the load off at home. I let them help me.

I sent thank you notes to new clients.

I sent thank you notes to regular clients, at least annually.

I never settled for an empty appointment book. In the beginning, I would woo friends in with a discount, or offer complimentary massage to great referral partners.

I embraced new marketing methods, like websites, email, and social media when they became available. I got excited about change, not pissy about it.

I started out small, renting a tiny room and a sliver of desk space in a local chiropractic office and kept my expenses low.

I treated every client like royalty. 

I asked for help from my mentor to guide me though difficult situations. I let him help me.

I kept my day job, part time in a local pharmacy. It was great for connecting with potential clients, and keeping me sane, and putting a cushion in my savings account.

I quit my day job. Too many of us slack on Plan A because we have a Plan B. Losing that safety net made me hustle even harder.

I considered my ideal clients and adjusted my schedule to make their convenience my priority.

I listened to my business-owner clients, and read every book they recommended.

I asked for help from my colleagues when I struggled to treat a tough pathology or client. I let them help me.

When I started to feel stifled in my tiny rented room, I moved out into my own office space.

I learned new techniques regularly and advertised that to my clients.

I got active in my local massage community to keep me abreast of new ideas and to keep me passionate about the industry.

I taught a community massage class, to practice my speaking and educating skills.

I asked for help from my friends, to warn me when I overwork. I let them help me.

I set goals.

I rewarded myself when I reached goals, usually with new beautiful artwork for the office or a great massage tool or product.

I got lots and lots of massage. It greatly improved my techniques and allowed me to meet my colleagues.

I rested. A few times a year, two days on a couch watching movies is a great way to recharge (for me).

That’s my nutshell. It’s a great place to be right now.

What’s worked for you?

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As we learned in Part 1, Why Use Twitter, Twitter is a real-time information system network. You can connect with all sorts of people: experts, authors, massage peeps just like you, etc. You name it, you can find it on Twitter.

In a fantastic twist of great user friendly service, the good people of Twitter have created a great beginner resource for twitter here.  I suggest you stroll through the menu and start with Twitter 101: How should I get started using Twitter?  And once you’ve got the hang of it, there’s a great Twitter for Business guide, too.

If you’re not familiar with Twitter, you’ve got some homework to do before the rest of this makes sense. If you are familiar with Twitter, this post is for you!

Please Do

Know why you’re there. Are you looking to connect with clients, friends, leaders in your industry? Do you just want to follow comedians and retweet jokes? These are all perfectly legit uses, but those choices should govern your behavior, who you follow (because many will follow you back) and what you share.

Use a Twitter handle that’s easy to recognize, and is consistent with your presence on other platforms. (Unless you’re using twitter just to retweet off-color jokes and talk about your ceramic clown collection. Then hide under a wacky pseudonym and don’t follow any clients or colleagues. Please.)

Have a good avatar, a clear headshot or your business logo.

Share information that is useful and interesting to your followers.

When you share information, be sure to give credit to the originator of the information. It’s just nice, and you’ll likely make a new friend!

Have a sense of humor, enjoy the conversation, and be outgoing.

Keep it to 140 characters or less. If you have to put out multiple tweets to get a point across, you’re in the wrong platform, you want Facebook or Google +. Twitter is about microblogging: communicating your message in 140 characters. This can be tricky at first, but it gets easier with time and practice, trust me. I am certain that I’m a better writer because of Twitter. It’s forced me to create crisp, concise thoughts that can be easily understood. (Think we can’t communicate ideas, feelings, in 140 characters or less? Go here sometime.)

Be yourself. An appropriate, professional, fun version of yourself.

Interact. Converse. Engage. Play.

Thank people for retweeting you and following you.

If you’re managing multiple Twitter accounts and/or Facebook accounts use a tool like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck. It allows you to share content to specific platforms with the best formatting for that platform.

Please Don’t

Auto DM new followers with a sales pitch. It’s insulting, sales-y and gross. Example, I started following a major massage company, and they Auto DM’d me about their new product that I should want to buy. Ick.

Likewise, don’t Auto DM new followers with a request to follow you on Facebook. I’m here on Twitter because I want to be on Twitter. Meet me where I’m at, I’m not traveling to you.

Tweet while drinking or otherwise not in your clear, deliberate mind. Trust me.

Be an automaton. This is still human interaction, just through the web. People want to interact with people. Not robots.

(okay, go get a beverage, because I saved the most intense points for last.)

Please Don’t link your accounts so that your Facebook posts appear as tweets.

More often than not, the post is well over 140 characters and translates into a tweet that is truncated. I created an example (instead of publicly calling someone out on this. See, I’m not a total jerk).

On it’s surface this isn’t an awful tweet, and really, it’s one of the more attractive examples of linking. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is in Twitter Land. The links to Facebook don’t work well on mobile. Clicking on that link will open a browser, not the mobile app, and I’ll be forced to log in to Facebook. It’s a pain in the rear. Experienced Twitter users quickly learn to ignore links with ‘fb’ in the address.  We simply don’t click on them, and we start ignoring the person constantly tweeting them.

But if this were a good tweet, it would be short and concise, it would tag the NCBTMB’s Twitter account and use a hashtag in front of massage so it would appear in searches, etc. Check this out:

It’s the same message, but with clickable links to the person (or brand) we’re talking about and a link to the topic, too.

Sometimes, Facebook posts just don’t translate well. If there’s a picture posted, we don’t see it on Twitter the same way you do on Facebook, so often the headline that we do see doesn’t make sense. You’ve lost me. I’ll never hear what you’re saying.

Also, you are losing the opportunity to incorporate Twitter’s most useful (and fun!) features into your tweets. Twitter uses @tags and hashtags (#) to identify people and topics. You don’t get those clickable in-tweet links when you’re just funneling updates from Facebook

Please Don’t link your accounts so that your tweets appear as Facebook posts.

This method is not as awful, but I still don’t love it.

The nice part is that, because the post originates in Twitter, it will be 140 characters or less. What’s yucky is, the tweet may be full of @ and #, and that’s garbage* to people on Facebook. It doesn’t make sense in that forum, and people ignore it. But if you leave out the @ and #, you’re not using Twitter fully. Bummer.

Also, you are losing the opportunity to incorporate Facebook’s most useful (and fun!) features into your posts. (If this sounds familiar, thanks for paying attention) Facebook has expanded the update fields to allow for over 63,000 characters. You can be more descriptive, you can tag pages and profiles, you can attach pictures that are seen on the wall at the same time as it’s headline.

An aside:

I understand it may be ‘easier’ to just link accounts and leave it be. But networking and community, and building relationships, is not always about what’s easier for you. It would also be easy to skip the proofreading of your brochure. It would be easier to not give a client a knee bolster, or a warm pillow under the neck. You’re better than that. Also there are tools to make it easy to properly manage multiple accounts and platforms. Check out Hootsuite and Tweetdeck.

So there it is.

Are some people pulling off techniques I have in the “Don’t” list? Sure.

Are we all using Twitter in our own way? Yes.

Regarding Comments to this post, here is my Wish List:

I would love to know how you use Twitter to connect with colleagues, clients, Richard Branson, Samantha Bee, marketers, whoever YOUR community is.

Or I would love to know why you aren’t using Twitter, what’s stopping you?

*phrasing courtesy of Teresa Deak, 

**For more reading on the evils of linking posts across platforms see here and here

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“What is it?”    ”I don’t get it.”    ”I don’t know anyone on there.”

Can you imagine saying that about a roomful of potential clients? “I don’t know anyone there.” That’s exactly why you go to new environments full of potential clients (aka onsite massage jobs), to meet people.

Or how about a roomful of people with successful massage businesses and serious marketing skills? If you’re in the same business, trying to get some more clients, couldn’t you benefit from listening in on some conversations, maybe asking a few questions? Wouldn’t you want to have a beverage and hang out with those people? If you’ve ever wanted a mentor, or to be a fly on the wall, or to just make new connections from the comfort of your own recliner (hello, all you introverts!), Twitter is your chance.

Just to be clear: If you’ve got a successful practice and all the clients you want, this post probably isn’t for you. Likewise if you’re making an educated decision to NOT participate in this particular social media venue. I respect that. (I don’t do much on LinkedIn. I learned it, I see how it could be valuable, but I just don’t like it. It doesn’t speak to me. But since Michael schooled me on LinkedIn, I don’t knock people who use it and I don’t make ignorant comments about its usefulness or purpose.)

Also, this is not a Twitter tutorial.  This is the WHY of Twitter. (As I see it.) Tutorials are coming in Part 2 over the next week. I’ll include a discussion about linking Twitter and Facebook posts, (which was actually the debate that started this whole topic).

What is it?

It’s a real-time information network.

What kind of information? Any kind you want. You choose who you want to hear/read. You choose what information you want to pass along. You choose who to talk to.

I think the best way to explain is to give examples here. Right this very second, I’m opening my Twitter and looking at all the tweets on my Massage Therapy list, (I also have a Marketing list and an Autism list. But I can choose if I want to read everything in one stream or separately by the lists I’ve created. More on that later.)

There’s a link from @Lippincott about back surgery. That’s useful info for my clients and me.

Boulder College of Massage Therapy, @bcmt, linked to an article in the @abmp journal featuring one of their instructors. (And it’s an article about retaining clients, pretty useful stuff.)

Craniosacral therapist @katherineriggs posted a paper.li newsletter with all sorts of great articles, culled from Twitter, in fact.

I can get great information about my other 2 loves, marketing and children with autism spectrum disorders quickly and easily, too.

And in answer to  your impending question: Yes, it can be overwhelming. Information overload is certainly an issue. So here’s what I do when I get over-excited about everything I want to read and learn. I STOP READING THE TWITTER STREAM. I simply choose to not take in anymore information.

It’s a conversation.

And conversations lead to relationships, virtual mentorships, new clients, knowledge, etc.

Through Twitter, I met Paola Bassanese (@paolaenergya) a massage therapist and marketing guru in London. She’s been so kind about sharing my blog with her audience, and I’ve learned about yoga, spa therapies and nutrition from her. AND I have a friend moving to London this year, so I already know I’ll be buying gift certificates from her. Sweet. Oh, and she just won a big award. Rock on, Paola.

I have been setting up a new business in my Quickbooks for Mac. I ran into a snag and tweeted at @Quickbooks and my bank, @allybank. They both responded!

and

and @allybank even checked me out and read my blog!

And my all-time favorite Twitter conversation is this one. Justin lives in Indianapolis. I don’t remember how or why I started following him, but this happened (just click on the image to make it bigger and readable):

So, yes. You CAN get clients from Twitter.

You can also build relationships with your current clients and other locals. Check out Steph Lasch’s brilliant move with her business’s twitter:

But it’s so much more than that. It’s a virtual room full of people, most wearing name tags that specify what they do. And guess what, they all want to talk with YOU.

Join in!

Ready to dangle your feet? Check out Twitter basics here.

Ready to play? Sunday nights at 10PM EST, Kelli Wise hosts a live chat on twitter. Here are details and instructions for that.

Need some ideas on who to follow? Check out my massage list here.

Find Part 2 of the Twitter series here.

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It’s just after dark on January 1. I’ve been wanting to write since I woke up this morning, but other tasks called for my attention all day. There was a last minute trip to the grocery store, the making of salad and Monkey Bread, preparing for guests. There was a New Year’s Brunch today, and I was involved. It was an assembly of things I don’t really enjoy, preparing food, being social, making small talk and such. But we push ourselves to do things for the people we love, right? And this was one of those times. Not surprisingly, I made it through just fine. Also not surprising, it was even fun.

I always watch for the reaction when I say, “I’m a massage therapist.” Sometimes the declaration is met with an eyebrow raise or a barely-perceptible flinch. Sometimes it’s met with an, “Oh, I love my massage therapist!” I’m finding more and more of the latter nowadays, and I’m so grateful for that.

In a few conversations, I got to be an ambassador for massage. I talked to an Occupational Therapist working in geriatrics. I gave a great referral to a man with a chronic vocal cord spasm issue. I’m hooking up a new friend from Boston with a Shiatsu practitioner.

And it all came naturally, with little of the social anxiety and stress I normally feel at these kinds of things. Yes, I still wanted to crawl into bed and nap for hours when the last guest left.  Progress, not perfection. But the baby steps are significant and I think it’s really important to note them.

A year ago I wouldn’t have pictured myself here, pleased and happy after a social event with new people. I didn’t think I would ever feel comfortable and able to speak in an educated way about massage, without fumbling the thoughts and shying away. But here I am. It happened.

Anything is possible.

Whatever you think can’t happen, maybe it can. Whatever you think you’re not capable of, maybe you are. Perhaps change will occur without fanfare, as it did for me today. I hope to be more cognizant of the gentle baby steps that lead to these quiet successes. They are victories, really.

I hope 2012 is full of gentle steps and quiet victories for you, too.

With all my heart I wish you the Happiest New Year. Thanks for starting it with me.

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We ran a contest, to win this awesome CD, a Massage Therapy Foundation fundraiser. It pained me to choose a winner, so I’m happy to bring you the runners-up, one by one, for your enjoyment.

Special thanks to Maria Candelaria Solis for this giggle:

Of course I have had many funny things happened throughout the years I have been a massage therapist.

One in particular happened about 4 years ago.  I had acquired this business woman as a client a few months prior.  Everytime she came in for an appointment she was dressed in a business suit and high heel shoes.  This particular evening she came in, I greeted her, talked to her about what we were going to accomplish during the massage session.  I left the room to give her the privacy to get ready for her massage.

When I came in she was underneath the sheet.  I uncovered her upper back and proceeded to start working.  After I was finished with her back, I covered the area and then went to uncover one of her legs.  Imagine my surprise when I uncovered her leg still wearing the high heel shoe.  She was still wearing her pair of shoes as she was relaxing on the massage table receiving a massage.  It was all I could do to keep from laughing at the situation.

She is still a client, always comes dressed in a business suit and spiked heels but she removes them when she gets on the table.

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We ran a contest, to win this awesome CD, a Massage Therapy Foundation fundraiser. It pained me to choose a winner, so I’m happy to bring you the runners-up, one by one, for your enjoyment.

Special thanks to Nicole Smith  for this batch of silliness:

Not sure if this is funny or gross.  Not funny at the time now after a several years I can laugh about it.

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