Hybrid Education in Massage Therapy

Right now, we’re standing on the cusp of a new era in education. With the advent of Learning Management System Software (LMS), there is a lot more power at the fingertips of teachers in delivering course material. Some material works fantastically well in an online environment delivered via LMS. Courses that are heavy in theory, reading, or lecture work very well. Of course, massage therapy does require a substantial hands-on component so online delivery isn’t a complete option for most courses. A hybrid model is to combine part in-class training with part online. This solution is ideal for massage therapy because the online component can replace or reinforce the lecture components of a class, leaving potentially more hands on time with the teacher.

What can LMS Software do?

An LMS is a system for the delivery, tracking, and management of training (wikipedia). It can include everything from online test-taking, grade-reporting, lecture & powerpoint components, video and multimedia presentations, online forums and class discussions, wiki’s, and more. One of the advantages is that the LMS can be either a guided, structured process or more free-form and self-paced.

I've been interested in using LMS ever since I found out it existed in a few online classes I’ve taken and trainings at work. As a teacher, I’m always looking for better ways to implement learning objectives. Technology isn’t always better, but it is a tool. Most of the students I see in the classroom are increasingly tech-savvy (text messaging anyone?), so moving some of the learning online isn’t that much of a leap. The added bonus is that after some work to set it up, some of the process is automated.

I’m planning on bringing LMS into my classroom in stages and I’ll keep you posted here about how the implementation is working. The first step is to take the testing online. LMS software includes the ability to import/create a testbank and administer the tests online. The nice thing about it is that the test is automatically scored and their grade entered in the LMS. Our program is spending too much time on tests and retests and grading and I’m hoping that after the initial testbank entry that this process will be much more streamlined.

As a parent, my daughter’s middle school just implemented an LMS called School Loop. It’s great to be able to log on and see your childs progress any time you like and check how they’re doing. She’s on there every day making sure she’s completed all her assignments. It’s great. So much for the old “I forgot my assignment at school” excuse.

What Are The LMS Options?

There are quite a few options out there, from the very expensive to the free. Commercial vendors include Blackboard, eCollege, and others. The two big free players are Moodle and the Sakai Project; both are open-source and have similar functionality. I have chosen Moodle, primarily because there is a larger user base and to the uninitiated I thought Moodle seemed easier to get into. I’m not a big advocate for one or the other, but from here on out I’ll be talking about Moodle, since that is what I’m using. Here is a good place to take a look at some of the eLearning options.

Hosting

Once you decide on your LMS, you’ll need to host it. There are packages that you can download to host a server on your own, but I elected to go with a free (ad-supported) off-site server called NineHub, but there are other free hosting solutions available. If you choose to go commercial, you’ll probably want to set up a vendor-hosted solution that can provide enterprise support. Setting up NineHub was a breeze though and I was off and running.

A Sample Test

Once I got into the system, it took a couple of hours to learn my way around. Give yourself some time to get acquainted, especially if you aren’t at all familiar with the online classroom environment. You can get some help from a downloadable guide from Moodle. In short order I was able to figure out how to import some of the questions from an existing testbank and set up a small quiz. It worked! Based on that test, I’ve decided that we will try a pilot test in a few weeks in an actual class to see how it goes. We’ll gauge student response and see if it has the desired results in reducing teacher overhead. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve been in classes using online learning before and can definitely see the potential. I’m excited to try some of these solutions in my class now. As learning continues to evolve, as teachers we need to use the best tools available to ensure the best learning. While technology can’t guarantee more effective learning, it has a place, and in it’s place it excels over anything that has come before.

You can read more about eLearning here and here.

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Killer Introductions for Massage Therapists pt3

This is the final entry in the “Killer Introductions for Massage Therapists” series. See parts 1 and 2 here (1 & 2)

Putting It Together

Once you know what you deliver and who you deliver it to, you are ready to design your killer introduction. Now you are equipped to frame what you do for your potential client instead of letting them put you in a box. Try these introductions on for size:

“Hi, my name is Mike Wolnick and I’m a Massage Therapist.”

“Hi, my name is Mike Wolnick and I use massage therapy to help athletes overcome chronic pain and injury to maximize their performance.”

Which introduction do you think is better? This kind of introduction is very powerful. Let’s look at why:

1. It describes your work specifically. It’s hard for anyone to frame #2 as a sex worker or a spa therapist.
2. It appeals to your niche. If you are really good at dealing with certain client issues, or just really enjoy working with some types of clients, why try to appeal to everybody? This introduction is going to appeal to athletes.
3. It plants a seed. If you just introduce yourself as an MT, if they personally don’t need massage right then, they’ll forget about you. But if you frame it right, you’ve made a connection in their mind. In this case, if the client experiences an athletic injury, that is tied in their mind to you now. Even better, if they have a friend in a month complaining of some nagging sports injury, you’ve made that connection for them too! Otherwise they might never have associated massage with their friend’s pain.
4. Sounds more professional. Which introduction would you take more seriously?
5. Changes Your Competition. Do you think introduction #2 is competing with the spa down the street? Of course not, now your competition is other things that help with athletic injury. You even set yourself up in a better position to work with other professionals in that new area – sports medicine, orthopedic surgeons… Now it’s a matter of the client thinking about what very different method they can use to deal with their injury. Would you rather have surgery or get a massage…?

I’m just using sports massage as an example here, so adapt the idea to your own work. One other thing to note is the tone of the introduction. Use action words (overcome, maximize) and address the partnership involved in massage (help). And finally, make sure you don’t promise on anything you aren’t positive that you can deliver!

Using this process will help you to better build your business with the kinds of clients you want to work with. I guess you could say my introduction is:

“Hi, my name is Mike Wolnick and I help people change their lives and develop exciting, successful careers in massage therapy!”

Let me know how it works for you!

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Benefits vs. Features in Massage Therapy (Killer Intros pt2)

This is a continuation of a series entitled “Killer Introductions for Massage Therapists”, see part 1 here.

Benefits vs. Features

Simply defined, a feature describes what it is and a benefit describes what it does. This is a very important distinction. Features are things like the style of massage, techniques, and anything that describes your work. Benefits are what the client actually gets out of it; how their life is affected by the bodywork.

One of the biggest problems is that most of the things described in textbooks as benefits are really features. Do you think your clients really care about better circulation? Endorphin release? Decreased secondary edema? Any of the other things that are commonly described as benefits? Of course not.

What they really care about are the benefits they receive from these effects.

1. Better circulation = More energy, less pain (from stagnant irritating chemicals)
2. Endorphin Release = Less Pain so maybe they can sleep better at night
3. Decreased Secondary Edema = faster recovery from injury

It is vitally important that you translate what you do into something meaningful to your clients. They care about what your work will do for them, not about what it is you do. So make a list (write it down!) of the benefits you deliver to your clients.

Taking The Next Step

The next step is to figure out who you give these benefits to. You deliver different results to stressed out executives, pregnant women, and athletes, so why would you say the same thing to each of these clients?

Massage has a great many effects and benefits on the human body, pick the ones that are going to have the most effect for your target market. Going with these examples:

1. Executives: Stress-reduction, better job performance, increased energy, reduced headaches…
2. Pregnant Women: Decreased sciatic pain, Reduced discomfort from side-lying positions…
3. Athletes: Increased performance, reduced risk of injury, more playing time…

Think about what is important to your target market. Once again, write it down!

Back to Part 1 On to Part 3

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Killer Introductions for Massage Therapists pt1

When Massage Therapists are taught how to be professional and build their business, they are often taught to introduce themselves with the good old “Hi, my name is Mike Wolnick and I’m a Massage Therapist.”

Although this isn’t really a bad thing, it’s just not quite good enough. Why, you might ask? I mean it gives your name and it lets the client know what you do. So what’s the problem? Let’s dig into this a little deeper.

The Problem

Every person out there is going to have a different body of experience with massage therapy – shaped by the media, past personal experience, the past experiences of the people they know, etc… In other words, they already have some kind of opinion about what massage therapy is. When you tell that person you are a massage therapists, you are now whatever they think that means. If they think that MTs are prostitutes, that is what you are to them now. If they think of spa massage, you are now a spa MT, if they think of clinical massage, now you’re a clinical MT. So what do you do about this?

The problem is that you allowed them to define what you do for you.

So What Do You Do About It?

You want to turn the tables and frame what you do for them, as it should be. The key to this is a thorough understanding of what it is that you really do. Your first thought is “I do massage”, but this isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. What is your focus? What is it you really bring to your clients? Start to think in terms of benefits.

Part 2

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Making a Living with Massage Therapy pt4

This job pays x (insert rate here). Is that good?

I don’t know, is it? Asking this question is putting the cart before the horse. There are a couple of things that must be considered before this question is asked.

1. How much do you need?
2. How much work can you do?
3. How busy will you be?
4. What do comparable establishments with comparable clientele pay?

How much do you need?

The first and foremost item that needs to be considered is what you need to live. If you are young, single, and living at home with mom and dad, your expenses may only be a few hundred dollars a month. On the other hand, I had a student that had over $9000 a month in expenses by paying 2 mortgages and the like. Obviously their needs would be very different.

Start by figuring out your bills and obligations on a monthly basis. Rent, car payment, gas, insurance, cable, phone, memberships, etc... add it all up. Don't forget to include annualized costs as well like car registration, magazine subscriptions, or that annual family trip you take (just divide by 12 for a monthly cost). Also, estimate what you spend irregularly on things like clothes, new shoes, and the like. Try to average it out into a monthly cost. The important thing here is to put a number on your lifestyle, NOT to give yourself a bare minimum budget that you can just barely survive on. It is good to know the bare minimum that you can scrape by one, but you don't want to live that way all the time. You can even plan for the future by adding in the things that you aspire to - new car, starting a family, starting a business.

How much work can you do?

Because we work directly with our clients, and generally we can only work with one client at a time, we MTs are inherently limited in the quantity of work we can do. There are also physical limits as well. Although I've done 10 massages in a day before, I certainly wouldn't and couldn't keep up that pace on a regular basis. Personally, I found my comfort zone to be about 15-20 massages a week. What is your number? It may be higher or lower, but how many appointments a week works for you? Without putting your body, your health, or your family/social life at risk? There are 4.33 weeks in an average month, but using 4 will help you to play it safe and estimate higher.

How busy will you be?

Before you can determine if you will be able to live off of the income from your practice or that job you applied for, you need to know how much work you will be getting. This isn't as important if you are making a set hourly wage, but it is vital if you are paid by commission or per client. This is so important that you should never leave an interview without finding out how many appointments a typical MT at a business does a week. Why? Because it may sound great that a spa will pay you $60 an hour, but if you're on-call (or worse, sitting around) and only getting 3 appointments a week, you're making a lot less than $30/hr at 10 appointments per week. Also find out the cycles of the business. Some places are relatively steady, others are feast or famine. Make sure you see the big picture.

What do comparable establishments with comparable clientele pay?

If everything is working for you in these other questions, this one isn't so important. If you ain't broke, don't fix it! But it is good practice to know what comparably experienced MTs, in comparable establishments, working with comparable clientele, and in comparable locations are paying their MTs. Minimize comparisons between massage businesses that seem similar but are not. A small day spa that caters to locals in a ritzy resort town won't be comparable to the huge, posh spa at the resort up the hill. Compare apples to apples. Still, the difference isn't as much as you might think. Cost structures in massage businesses can vary widely - how the business is run and the cost of overhead can be very different from place to place. Spas are expensive to run, so don't expect the lion's share of what the client pays.

Another common mistake is to compare what the business charges the clients. Sure the sticker price of the services can give you a good idea about the clientele, but it isn't necessarily an indication of how they pay their MTs. My wife and I took a look at working at the Ritz-Carlton Spa in Half Moon Bay when it first opened. We were shocked to see that they only paid their MTs what amounted to $10-15/hr in commissions (on a service price of $100+). The 10% they were paying wouldn't have been bad if they were charging $300+/hr, but they weren't. They claimed they had interest from MTs as far away as Utah, and my immediate thought was they would have to be from out of state and have no idea about the cost of living here! Needless to say, we passed on it. They wanted their MTs to rely on tip income, which in my experience, no matter the setting, is unreliable at best.

Summing it up

Once you have answered these questions, then you'll be equipped to determine whether the pay is good or not. If a job isn't going to make enough for you, then you either should pass on it or you'll need to supplement it. If it will keep you busy but the pay is low, how will you have time to supplement it? Or if you are already doing your limit in appointments per week, how can you add more to make more money? These questions will allow you to figure out if a job or practice will allow you to live the way you'd like. A good job or practice will balance all of these elements.

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Making a Living with Massage Therapy pt3

Will people pay $xx?

Maybe. There are a lot of factors that go into a purchasing decision. It’s really all about value. If the perceived value is equal to or higher than the price, a person will buy it. The trick is to find the right balance.

A frequent concern is that a MT down the street charges a different rate. It is absolutely OK for you to charge something different – as long as you can justify it! It’s called differential (competitive) advantage. What sets your service apart from theirs? Although you do have to account for the price levels in your area, it isn’t the most important factor. Sometimes it can even work in your favor!

A MT I knew had an office on Union St. in San Francisco, a posh little shopping district. She was charging $60/hr and couldn’t seem to get clients to save her life. She looked at what the other massage businesses in the area were doing and realized that she was by far, the cheapest place around. Seems like it would be a good thing, right? Nope! It turned out that her low price was giving her potential clients the idea that she offered a sub-standard service. Believe it or not, when she raised her rates to $85/hr the clients started coming in!

Build the value of what you do, tailor it to your specific clients’ needs and you are on your way to finding the success you want.

Differential Advantage

Simply put, this is what makes you different than your competition. Just like you never see a business advertising "we have the same prices as everybody else!", you need to talk about what makes you better as well.

A differential advantage (DA) could be anything, but it's important that you find out what yours are. Pricing is an obvious one, but others can be location, convenience, specialty techniques, parking, outstanding customer service, testimonials, education, experience, etc...

A little less obvious can be some of the intangible DAs, things like a warm and welcoming personality, inspiring trust, creating security, excellent communication skills, personality, sense of humor. These things can be harder to pin down and you can't really advertise most of them ("Come on down for the funniest massage in town!"), but they have an important impact on the value that people perceive in your service - and on client retention.

Most people are willing to pay more for something that they see more value in. Differential Advantage is a topic that warrants its own post, so keep an eye out for more on setting you and your business apart.

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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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