Hi after being disappointed in my working life I have decided to take the bull by the horns and set up in business for myself. I have always been interested in massage especially after doing an afternoon workshop and have decided to train in Holistic massage and also eventually Bowen technique as well.
My idea is to rent premises and also go mobile targetting Mothers with small children, business people and also maybe students as I live in an area with a thriving well to do student population.
So what I would like to know is am I barking up the wrong tree and if you were to pay for a massage what would make you come back for more treatments and is there anything I should look out for when I eventually set up on my own. I know this is going to take alot of hard work so I'm not under any illusions that I will get rich quick. For me this is having job satisfaction.
I would appreciate your opinions and advice.
Thanks

try to affiliate yourself with your local hippy/health food shop, my local shop does loads of trade for their 'therapists'.
also try not to make it sound like quackery, as a medical type some of the ads ive seen in the shop make me pi$$ myself.

I'd see massage as more of something to get done when there's a problem rather then a general well-being thing. In fact the only time I remember having one done is after a martial arts weekend when I could hardly walk. Obviously other people will be different, but I would definitely try and cover sports massage, basic physiotherapy if it's possible.

As far as the quackery and woo-ism that usually goes hand in hand with holistic massage; ask yourself this: Are you going to make more money appealing to the intelligent and well-informed, or the credulous dim of bulb? No competition, really.

To be brutally honest any therapy that has the term "holistic" in would make me run in the opposite direction.

my local chiropractic clinic has loads of rooms and self employed types in there. You could look about and try out renting a room first rather than going the whole hog with your own premises etc. Hot stone therapy anyone? 😀

I have always been interested in massage especially after doing an afternoon workshop

This rings alarm bells for me. I know a couple of people that have been into this for some considerable time and still can't make a living from it.

Our company used to have monthly Indian Head massages/Reiki for employees, but since the ol' recession they have cut right back on that kind of thing.

I hope it works out for you – good luck….but it's a pretty crowded place.

Look carefully at the course you'll be doing – some of the quick, expensive courses at private colleges might get you a certificate but you won't have the experience. Local further education colleges often have courses which can be cheaper and good – this is what I did four years ago.

As for "get rich quick". How many hours a week can you work? Not just what you have spare but how many treatments can you physically do as a decent massage will take it out of you. How many of those hours will you actually have a client? Will your clients want treatment in the evening rather than daytime? Multiply that by what you'll earn per hour and that's your limit. But you can make more money by adding value – think hairdressers where they'll sell you styling stuff etc. or as someone says "hot stones" which people pay a premium for – no idea why, heated lavendar bags or hot water bottles can have the same effect. Or maybe set up your own salon but that's a lot of hassle.

You'll need to learn anatomy and physiology to back up the massage. Run your own business, do your own books or pay someone to, advertise etc. And once your qualified keep on top of new ideas etc. otherwise you get left behind.

What makes people come back? Depends what they want. I want sports / remedial massage so if they don't get results then I don't go back – I can also tell if someone knows what they're talking about which helps. If you do relaxation then the person might like to talk whilst having the massage and if they enjoy that they'll come back.

There were about 10 of us on my course – two of us could have made it – the others weren't good enough at massage or just didn't have the get up and go to make it in business. I decided not to pursue it as a career change as my job started to get better.

Might have painted a bleak picture but to be good takes effort. I really enjoyed it so would suggest you do the course which should cover the business side as well so you'll then have a better idea of any potential business opportunities.

Agree with the comments above. You should do lots of market research into the size of the market, costs of renting premises / rooms etc, competitors, prices, promotional channels etc. and then write a realistic business plan. Some places e.g. Bristol where I live are saturated with people offering a range of holistic therapies and complementary medicine.

I know a number of people who have been on courses with the intention of going self-employed and have either given up or are doing it on a part-time basis and have to find additional income. Some of these people who are only able to do it part-time are also working in other roles (e.g. receptionist, personal trainer, gym staff) in established gyms, physios and complementary health centres where you expect them to be able to have direct access to potential clients – yet they are unable to find enough work to do it full-time.

You mention students as a market – don't forget they tend to be around for only about 30 weeks of the year. I live in student land in Bristol – and I see very few students in the waiting room of the Complementary Health / Holistic Massage centre which I pass a couple of times a day which is one a road where every other house is converted into student accomodation.

However, if you have a robust and well-thought through business plan and the drive and desire to make it a success you should make a go of it. Perhaps one way of doing it would be to start doing it in the evenings and weekends so you don't lose the income from your current job. This will give you the time to see if your venture could be profitable without losing core income.

The other route might be to consider working for the large gym or hotel chains who often offer such services for their members or guests, and see if this kind of work is for you.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do!

also try not to make it sound like quackery, as a medical type some of the ads ive seen in the shop make me pi$$ myself.

+1.

Massage is a hands on physical treatment in my opinion, and all that new age crystal aromatherapy stuff sounds silly. Sports massage, yes, but no Hopi ear candle whale songs please.

Make sure you do courses which are ITEC or VCTC aood accredited – this will enable you to join professional registers.

It's hard to set up full-time with just a single skill, you will get clients asking for some of the more esoteric treatments, if you don't have them you'll lose business.

Holistic massage is the basis for most other bodywork therapies, and if you do ITEC/VCTC it will include anatomy & physiology, business studies and first aid.

Join the 'healthy pages' forum, there's a wealth of advice and experience there plus you will get feedback on courses & colleges and plenty of business advice and support.

http://www.healthypages.co.uk/index.php

One of my mates is a "reiki master". Which sounds great. However he works 3 days a week on web stuff and that seems to pay most of the bills as he doesn't seem to have that many clients. Where he makes lots of cash is running courses on how to do reki. £40 or so (not sure what he actualy charges) vs £100's per person for a 2 day courses that seem to attract 5 to 10 people regularly.

This is in the center of east dulwich in london- lots of people with high disposable incomes.

Reiki seems an easy way to make your money- hold your hands above someone while your energies heal them! He had some great descriptions as to how it works 🙄

Homeopathic A&E

To be brutally honest any therapy that has the term "holistic" in would make me run in the opposite direction

'holistic' simply means 'treating the person as a whole' in other words looking into lifestyle and environmental factors rather than treating isolated symptoms……..

hd – it may well "mean" that to the trade, but to most people it means "ducklike".

A friend's wife got a tie-in with a local hotel. She rents their treatment room on the cheap & offers preferential rates to the hotel customers. Is a win-win situation, if the hotel's got the space to spare…

Stoner – that may be true, but 'most people' have many misconceptions 😉
a good holistic therapist will explain the nature and limitations of all their treatments just as a good medical practitioner should.

It's not the misunderstandings of uninformed people that is an issue but the willful misrepresentations by people who consider themselves educated and sophisticated…..

I'd understand financial positions before diving in. (I'd also read the previous sentence quite a few times)

In this case I'd stronly suggest that you should try to do it part time whilst maintaining existing cirumstances.

If you're in a 'thriving student' population bear in mind the lack of money they have and also bear in mind that like Reading Uni their students may offer 'cheap treatment' as part of their training course (*full physio hour £7 last year – you can't compete with that). I've never had children but my friends experiences lead me to believe that lying down for a 30 min massage with a toddler in tow would not be possible.

Re the 'rent premises and go mobile' – stop and have a think, that's 2 up front costs costs straight away – premises and travel kit , every massage I've been for has been in a private home (it's a lot cheaper).
– 1 was a chill out place, massage and sensory tanks or whatever they're called installed.
– 1 was spare bedroom, she always met client with her hubby for the first few visits
– physio – in a converted bedroom

I paid for the massages and tank as it was a 'new experience' type thing, I wouldn't do it again. I pay for phsio as little as possible however will if if I think it'll help me recover.

If you were a physio on the NHS list and doing work for them (11-4 say – as people who work don't get ill obviously) and pjs the rest of the time that seems to work.

"a good holistic therapist will explain the nature and limitations of all their treatments " has to get a patsy client past the door that has "holistic" written on it first.

It's a pity that quite a few good alternative therapies with independantly tested and proven eficacy have got in to bed with the quacks under the umbrella of the FHT or CThA. It doesnt serve their interests at all well. IIRC you are a physio? I have no problems with physios or sports masseurs. But bundling it up with smelly oils, hot rocks, energy flows and cyrstal enemas rather dillutes it's seriousness.

Stoner – Yes, it's a complicated situation !!
There is a kind of 'unspoken code' that any complementary therapist will not criticise any other bramch of their profession and that does mean that the FHT and CThA has included a lot of areas of practice that may not have otherwise been included.

However, there is another aspect to be considered – just as some people 'feel better' after "retail therapy", going to their personal stylist for a makeover, having a pep talk from their life coach etc some people, also 'feel better' after recieving smelly oils, hot rocks, energy flows and crystal enemas.
You could consider that the effect of a treatment is in the mind of the receiver and as long as no false claims are made by the giver then it is a valid trade, feeling relaxed and 'happy' is almost certainly an equally important part of good health as having the 'right' blood count and that is essentially the concept of 'Holistic Health' 😉

As I wouldn't want to be making any false claims I work (part time) as a therapeutic masseur rather than a physiotherapist (but have also trained in Indian head massage, aromatherapy, Reiki, chakral energy healing and accupressure)

I did these courses as much for my own interest and experience as a commercial venture as I also have a 'day job' as a lab based postdoc biomolecular scientist.
Having a 'foot in both camps' has significantly helped me undestand both the conventional and complementary explanations as to how the human body 'works' and has convinced me that no single code of practise of mode of thinking can provid a full explanation for any phenomenon, let alone one as rich and complex as human life 🙂

and as long as no false claims are made by the giver then it is a valid trade

then shouldnt they just call it Hot Rock Placebo therapy or Crystal Enema Placebo Therapy, shouldnt they?

The rest of the guff about energy centres and shakira's mountains is the kind of hooey that they're selling explicitly, rather than the placebo effects of one-to-one therapy and sympathy/empathy.

Hilldodger I'm well aware of the definition of Holistic. It's not the definition that makes me want to run in the opposite direction it's the fact that it only seems to be used by people who are advocating a therapy that has no proven theraputic effect. It's also quite insulting to advocates of actual working therapies as the implication is that such people don't care about the overall health of a patient which is simply not true.

You seem to be happy to trade on the placebo effect, I prefer any treatment I have to have an actual effect.

You seem to be happy to trade on the placebo effect…

gonefishin – as you have no knowledge whatsoever on the nature of my trade or how I portray it to my clients your comment is ignorant in all meanings of the word….

>My idea is to rent premises and also go mobile targetting Mothers with small children<

As if the poor sods dont have enough to worry about 😉

What's 'Bowen technique' when it's at home?

You mean appart from when you posted this.

However, there is another aspect to be considered – just as some people 'feel better' after "retail therapy", going to their personal stylist for a makeover, having a pep talk from their life coach etc some people, also 'feel better' after recieving smelly oils, hot rocks, energy flows and crystal enemas.
You could consider that the effect of a treatment is in the mind of the receiver and as long as no false claims are made by the giver then it is a valid trade, feeling relaxed and 'happy' is almost certainly an equally important part of good health as having the 'right' blood count and that is essentially the concept of 'Holistic Health'

which is nothing but a description of the placebo effect.

I made my assessment on what you have posted on this thread. If you want to change what you have posted I'll be happy to change my assessment.

You could consider that the effect of a treatment is in the mind of the receiver and as long as no false claims are made by the giver then it is a valid trade, feeling relaxed and 'happy' is almost certainly an equally important part of good health as having the 'right' blood count and that is essentially the concept of 'Holistic Health'

that sounds like a Crazy profession to be doing day in day out…

how much would it cost for a person to be relaxed/made happy for an hour?

Don't give up your day job, yet!
I know quite a few nurses who do this sort of thing- as a way to earn bits of extra cash- often starting off by getting the use of a room for say an hour a week, then building up from there gradually. If there is a local clinic that offers similar already enquire there- they will usually charge a fee for the room but do the appointment booking bits for you. It also helps to be affiliated with other paramedical specialities like physios and podiatrists (though I am concerned by your idea you might do a bit of "basic physio". You are either a trained accredited physiotherapist you are not.)
The problem they have had is that there just isn't enough business to do it as sole source of income.

Regarding the complimentary therapy therapy/placebo/quackery debate, I would recommend this as a good read:
by Nigella's late hubby
I have come across people being completely ripped off by complimentary therapists- one that sticks in the mind being a man in his 40's with an incurable brain tumour, naturally absolutely desperate, found a quack in London that convinced his family to try some sort of high strength carrot juice therapy- went the whole hog and told him he needed to stop all conventional treament and did brain CTs that he read himself and purported to show improvement. Made it difficult for his treating doctors. Naturally he died. Naturally the therapist made a lot of money.
And I see lots of old dears with bad arthritis sending off for magic cures out of the Sunday supplements, magnetic bracelets, etc. If they have already shelled out I tend to say "well if you think it's helping" If they haven't paid out I tell them there is probably no evidence and I wouldn't advice my old mum to spend her pension on one.
On the other hand a bit of soft lighting, nice smells, gentle rubbing, "ooh I can feel the tension", and an hour of me time seems harmless, makes you feel better, and is probably a reasonable experience in exchange for £50 or so if you have the spare cash.

One of the things in the book that I found quite telling is the idea that we do complimentary therapy all the time. When a child falls and grazes their knee you pick them up, rub it better, say there there, give them a hug and put a plaster on. That, my friends is top class grade A holistic complimentary therapy in action, and it generally works.
At least we are honest with kids, but with adults, the complimentary therapy lobby tries to baffle us with pseudoscience. It is what it is, rubbing people better.

Bowen Technique:

"Positive self image therapy"
You're super, smashing, great!

or maybe it's an extreme form of accupuncture? 😉

which is nothing but a description of the placebo effect

I'm afraid it isn't 😉
the placebo effect involves giving a treatment that is deliberately meant to have no effect to a patient/client who is under the impression they are getting a treatment with a specific therapeutic effect.

When you set out to treat client by use of any bodyworks system, listen to their concerns about their health/lifestyle and offer sound advice based on recognised principles that is not a placebo effect, it's effective therapy…….

@ stoner
shakras meridians and the manipulation of them has been going on for thousands of years.
your post smacks of total ignorance.

shakras meridians and the manipulation of them has been going on for thousands of years.

so has christianity, islam and judaism.

Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices which, according to traditional Indian medicine, are believed to exist in the surface of the etheric double of man.[2] The Chakras are said to be "force centers" or whorls of energy permeating, from a point on the physical body, the layers of the subtle bodies in an ever-increasing fan-shaped formation (the fans make the shape of a love heart). Rotating vortices of subtle matter, they are considered the focal points for the reception and transmission of energies.[3] Seven major chakras or energy centers (also understood as wheels of light) are generally believed to exist, located within the subtle body.

From Wiki.

Given the above I can happily say that I hold both Chakra and the above religious nutfuck rubbish with equal contempt. And it sure isnt ignorance just because you dont believe in spiritual hooey.

hd – just becuase the delusional practitoner of hooey therapies thinks it isnt deliberately meant to have no effect doesnt mean that any results are not as a result of the placebo effect.

check out all those double negs 🙂

From Wiki. I rest my case m'lud 😉

Although the translation of the descriptions of chakra may be 'religious nutfuck rubbish' to your sensibilities, try looking at some of the terminology used by quantum physicists to describe their work, translate it into a foreign language and read them through the eyes of a wildly different cultural system, before being too judgemental….

Ha ha ha, what an amazing troll! Holistic therapy, oh my days! I'm off to plant some 1 penny pieces in the back garden and then wait for the millions to roll in.

A word from one of your potential competitors:

"Massage benefits are both mind and body. It is rare that we take an hour to lie down, close our eyes and just 'be'. An hour's peace and quiet away from ringing phones and demanding children has a definite restorative effect."

If you can get people to pay you for the oppurtunity to lie down for an hour i take my hat off to you…

spirtual?
how so?
thankfully stoner during my early twentys i had the good fortune to get really really sick in a way that left the mighty medical folks baffled.
because they couldnt understand it they told me i would be like this for the rest of my life and would probably die early.nice.
three years later having learnt to cook macrobioticly so i could feed myself right and having recieved regular shiatsu i had it sorted.
the shiatsu practitioner that i used was awesome and a very busy man.
have to say though hilldodger i really have my doubts about you folks that say you can do all those things because you took a course.
it takes a lifetime of practice to be any good at just one of them.
so its a shame for you stoner that you will spend your life having zero idea about how to fix a problem when it arises.
thats upto you and fair play to you but why be so neg about stuff you no nothing of?
if you did you wouldnt go running to wiki now would you.

physics is physics whichever language you do it in.

Much as hooey is hooey.

spirtual?
how so?

Im sorry. I completely forgot that recent peer reviewed article of double blind trials on wheel-like vortices in the surface of the etheric double man in Nature last month. It being science and not spirtual hooey and all.

Cock detector working well for me…

just because something has been done for 'thousands of years', doesn't make it right. Human sacrifices to the Sun god anyone?

Each to their own, but paying for someone to carry out placebo/comforting/feel-good make-believe therapy on you seems like a waste of money to me.

Having a determined, positive outlook seems to help, the 'therapy' is less important.

thankfully chap i dont need no peer to make my mind up for me i find the proof for myself as can you if you wish.
so why not try it rather than be blind about it.