Mmm, Tasty! is a food blog, as was probably obvious from the title!  Food blogging is a hobby of mine and I really enjoy cooking and baking, so it just made sense to dedicate a blog to it.

The clinic blog may interest some of you: I’m writing about self-care and other things relevant to the general public.  I’m hoping to also provide a resource for my local community to find out about fitness and wellness events in our area.  If you’re in Toronto, you may find that part useful.

I will probably post a little something here from time-to-time, if I have a resource to share with local RMTs (CEU courses, job postings, product reviews).  But for the most part, all my writing is dedicated to those two other blogs.

However, one thing in particular impressed me: the customer service.  See, back in February when I purchased the software I asked the guy who writes and sells the program if he would be willing to give me a deal on getting the Mac version later.  At the time I had a Windows machine, but knew I’d be moving to a Macbook in the spring or summer.  Not only did he say he’d give me a deal, he offered to move my data over to Mac for free!  And true to his word, he did exactly that for me today.  I now have a fully functional Mac version of the program, and actually must say I prefer this version.  It has a few more little features I never had in the Windows version, and it runs more cleanly.

If you are a Massage Therapist and looking for client tracking software, definitely give this one a look!

I’m no longer a new graduate and I feel I have some good skills to bring to the table. I went to a good massage school and finished near the top of my class, graduating with honours. I have taken extra courses in hot stone therapy, reiki, and structural myofascial therapy/structural integration. I have experience with rehabilitation after MVAs, and have handled all aspects of those cases (paperwork, billing, etc). On the administrative side, I helped open the last clinic I worked at in Ottawa. While I admit I did not do much of the ground work myself, I was there through the entire process. I am well aware of what it takes to open your own clinic, physically and financially. I have never had a receptionist and have had to handle that myself. I have a lot of experience with marketing and have good ideas on what works and what does not. I had nearly a full-time practice back in Ottawa, with a great client retention rate.

I think I have some great skills to bring to the table. So why is it that when I look around, I’m underwhelmed by most of the job ads?

Ultimately, here’s the issue: most of you are not hiring an RMT as an employee. An employee would mean you pay them an hourly wage or a salary (which they receive regardless of how many massages they do in a day!), handle tax deductions for them, and provide guaranteed vacation time, maternity leave, and so on. If you are not offering that, then what you are doing is entering into a business transaction with your RMTs. They are going to be providing a service out of your clinic, within certain boundaries as set out by your contract with them. You are not their ‘boss’ in the traditional sense of the word. You are essentially their landlord.

Therefore, when writing up your ads advertising clinic space for rent or on a percentage split basis, please keep in mind that I will be interviewing you as much as you will be interviewing me. I want to make sure what you are offering is a good business opportunity for me. I want to make sure that the clinic is somewhere I will be proud of working, somewhere that I will feel good about treating clients.

I know what I bring to the table. I know that I am a good therapist with good hands. Make your ad stand out by showing me what you bring. There are lots of clinics looking to bring in new RMTs. What makes your clinic different? Posting an ad that simply says ‘clinic looking for RMT, competitive split, please call!’ is not going to interest me. I know you do not have a strict word limit for your ad, so please, take the time and write something so I know a bit about who you are!

And one small pet peeve: most people who are looking for work don’t have access to a fax machine unless they pay for it. Allow people to apply via email. It just makes sense in 2008, you know?

Here’s hoping tomorrow’s job postings are more promising.

As we were doing her intake, she admitted she was nervous about the treatment, and wasn’t sure she wanted an hour and a half, as it seemed like a long time. After some further discussion, she also admitted she was not fond of massage on the whole and that she wasn’t much of a hot bath, sauna, or other heat treatment person.

I let her know that she didn’t have to have the treatment if she didn’t want to. She said she still wanted to try it, because it was a gift and she couldn’t know if she would enjoy Hot Stone massage unless she tried it. I then let her know that if part way through she decided the stones were just not her thing, we could switch to another sort of massage therapy, and I would not be offended in the least. She was thankful I had said that, and said that had been on her mind. I then explained how the entire treatment would proceed, and that she could let me know if anything is uncomfortable at any time.

One-and-a-half hours later, she came out of the treatment room and sleepily said it was a wonderful treatment and she was so glad she tried it. She was sure to take some clinic pamphlets with her and was curious about the other sorts of treatments available at the clinic.

Why am I posting this? I want to remember that massage, and how the client reacted, and how at the end of the day communication with your client is nearly as important as the treatment itself.

Of course this means my days as an Ottawa-based RMT are over! My current plan is to take a few weeks off after the move, which should be scheduled for somewhere around the 26th of January. After that, who knows? I’m going to be on the look out for a good business opportunity, and see from there.

Also, just in case: If any of my current clients have found my blog and are reading this, you should be receiving a letter in the mail with some details about my last day at the clinic and who will be replacing me. I sent a small batch of letters just before Christmas and a much larger batch yesterday.

Structural Myofascial Therapy - Offered through Simply Therapy. Level 1 is coming up in November, Level 2 in December.

Active Isolated Stretching - Also offered through Simply Therapy. Next course in November.

Thai Yoga Certification - offered through Santosha Yoga (scroll down for the details). Next class starts in November. Please note: I am not sure if this course would qualify for CMTO CEUs.

Hot Stone Therapy - Offered through Jacqueline Davis, a local body worker, teacher and counselor. It was just offered this weekend, but she seems to teach it every few months, so keep checking her website. If you’d like other options, there are always home study courses, as I wrote about back in August.

Reiki - Lots of options here. I’ll just mention level 1 classes here, but check the individual websites if you want level 2 or higher. Kathy Glover Scott has a class coming up on October 13th. (I took level 1 with Kathy and can recommend her teaching.) T-line services have a class that same weekend. Wendy Armstrong has classes coming up later this month and next month. For other local Reiki options, see Tone magazine’s reiki section; not all of those listed there are teachers, but a good number are.

And one other option: Massage Therapy Practice is an online magazine that offers CEU articles, videos, and other resources for massage therapists. They don’t offer local hands-on classes, but there are lots of other options for earning CEUs!

I’ll be sure to post again if I hear about more local classes.

My clinic recently hired another therapist. We needed someone to cover the evenings that I’m not working, and we have enough new client traffic that having another RMT in the office is workable. Anyhow, the new therapist has joined in with our advertising and promotion methods, in an effort to get more new clients in the door.

Years ago, the very best way to get new clients in your door was to do a ‘meet and greet’ — take part in some event and hand out business cards, shake hands with people, and allow them to get to know you a little bit. Because they’ve met you, they will remember you next time they need a massage therapist, or they might pass your business information on to a friend, coworker, or family member. I have spoken to many RMTs who have been in practice much longer than I have, and they all say this was the number one way they got people in their doors.

However, times really have changed.

My clinic has taken part in a variety of ‘meet and greet’ events since we opened our doors in April 2007, including sporting events, a midwifery information session, and an open house we hosted. All the therapists in my office have also handed out business cards at various social functions. Now, have we had a lot of new clients call our office because of these events? Not really. A few have called, sure, but not nearly the number we were expecting. However, we do have a good number of new clients calling our clinic every week. Where did the vast majority of those people find out about our clinic? By searching online for a massage therapy clinic in their area and finding our website!

Why do I think our website has been such a success? First, because it contains good information about our clinic, including details on the types of massage we provide, our fee schedule, and some clinic pictures so people can see if the environment is one they might like to receive treatments in. Second, because it provides online booking, a very convenient method in today’s computerized and wireless world. People don’t need to attend health fairs, golf tournaments and marathons in order to meet local health professionals. They can just ‘meet’ them through their websites, and then book an appointment online without ever having to pick up a phone!

I do want to be clear, however: websites are very useful for meeting potential new clients, but the best way to bring in clients is still through word-of-mouth. Our new therapist used to work at a local gym, and has been getting a few people sent to her through old colleagues from that job. I also have had success with this, as a few of my own clients have sent friends and family to me for treatment. It probably seems logical, but if you keep your current clients happy, they will be more likely to talk about your services and send others over to see you too!

So yes, times have changed a great deal, but personal referrals/word-of-mouth is still key to building a thriving massage practice.

As I’ve mentioned before, my first RMT position was taking over the practice of another therapist who was moving out of town. This meant that I had the chance to retain some of her client list as my own clients. As is to be expected, some stuck with me, and some chose not to for a variety of reasons; any therapist taking over someone else’s client list will experience the same thing. I have also gained a good number of new clients who were not part of the other therapist’s practice, and the number of new clients on my list is growing by the week. All this adds up to mean that I have a good base to my practice. I never have a week with no bookings, and I have a decent stream of regulars in my schedule. For this I am very thankful, and I appreciate all the wonderful people I have met over the last year.

However, something didn’t seem quite right. I’d have a few weeks where I’d be booked quite solidly, and then several weeks where bookings dropped off to only 1 or 2 per day. I’ve always known that is the ebb and flow of a massage therapy business, and that it is to be expected. But something still didn’t add up for me. If I have a steady number of clients coming in, why are my bookings all over the place?

This past week I sat down with my client list and looked at how people are booking. I looked at two major things: how often people are booking, and what time of day they are booking.

With the time of day, I found what I had already known: I get a lot more bookings between 4 and 7 pm, although I do have a number who book when they have a day off or who work an irregular schedule. So I do have some who book in the morning or early afternoon, but they are certainly in the minority. Not surprising in a town where government and high tech are two key employers, which means there are a lot of ‘9-5′ workers.

As for how often people book, I found that the vast majority of my clients either book in to see me once per month or book when they feel like a massage, not with any regular pattern. Now, both of these situations are very typical of massage therapy clients. Many would like to come more often, but either they have no insurance coverage, or their coverage only allows for one ‘maintenance massage’ each month. Of course I completely understand that people need to do what is affordable for them, and I’m always happy to do my best to work my treatment plan around that. But what I didn’t realize is that I had very few bi-weekly or weekly client bookings!

I can now look at my books a bit more critically and look at ways to attract more people who can have massages more often, or people who are able to come during the day. For those of you wondering how to get more clients in the door, I recommend doing a client list assessment of your own practice. You will probably learn something you didn’t realize about your own clients’ pattern of rebooking, which will help you plan where to focus your marketing efforts. I know I did!

Verdict? Learning this technique on your own is doable for sure, but I do agree that you need a bit of practice before unleashing your technique on the general public. I had no problems with the actual massage part, but I do have to practice getting the stones in and out of the heater quickly and efficiently, and also keeping it at a good temperature so the stones don’t cool off too much on you. Otherwise I’m having fun with the technique and would recommend learning it to others. It’s different than my usual massage style (if I can call it that), which is part of the reason I like it.

If you’re in Ontario, there are a few companies that offer home study Hot Stone Massage courses, including The Stone Massage Company (where I got my own course materials) and Stone Waters.