Making a Living with Massage Therapy pt2

Should I charge while I am in school?

In my opinion, yes. I always think it is a great idea to set up your clients’ expectations to the fact that you offer a valuable service that is worth paying for. Bear in mind that you may need a license to legitimately charge money for your services. I generally suggest that you charge about half of what you would once you are out of school and a practicing professional. I tell my students that they need to build the expectation with their “practice clients” that there when they finish school that the rates will change. Even if you choose not to charge while in school, you still need to build this expectation from the very beginning.

I used to work with a MT years back who was struggling in her practice. She had enough clients, but was still having trouble making ends meet. It turned out that she had quite a number of clients who were still paying her student-rate of $20-25 for an hour session! Her normal rates were $60/hr or 2 sessions for $100. She had been scared to raise her rates with these people for fear of losing the clients. After some convincing, she decided to raise her rates in compromise, to about $40-45. So did she lose clients? A few. But she also had a few comments of wonderment that she hadn’t done it sooner. And she earned more from the clients that stayed than she did in total from all of her clients at the lower rate.

It’s OK to give your loyal customers a preferential rate, just make sure it’s not hurting you more than helping! Think about the business and practice you are trying to build and work from there. It is a common mistake for MTs to chase down the bargain hunters, dropping their prices to where they can hardly sustain themselves. Bargain hunters will come to you for the low rates and will just as quickly go to someone else offering a special deal. These clients are hard to retain and you have to ask yourself, how hard do you want to work to keep them?

The other thing to bear in mind is what the massage laws are in your area. California thankfully just passed a state certification law SB731, but it is voluntary, and until then all of the old piecemeal laws remain in effect. Right now, in San Jose, you only need to be certified for 100 hours to get your license. Palo Alto is 72 hours! Once you have a license, I believe you should be charging as a professional (based on your abilities), not as a student.

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