Massage Business/Marketing

 Massage Business Course Outline for Massage Schools Hours: 55

I. Massage State Laws and Licenses– Every state has their own laws so it is important to know what will be required of you as a professional massage therapist.

A. State Laws and definitions as it pertains to the business and practice of massage

B. City, County laws and licenses

C. National overview of laws and licenses

II. Business Practices

A. Records and record keeping

1. Intake and personal history- intake form and verbal intake.

2. Daily treatment records

3. Client referral forms

4. Billing invoices and financial agreements

5. Medical terminology and abbreviations

B. General Massage Insurance Billing  Procedures- billing insurance can help you keep clients coming in the door.

1. Terminology

2. Distinguishing Methods of coverage

3. Processing Claim forms

C. Massage Business plans

  1. Writing Your Mission Statement
  2.  Set your massage fees: Determining massage fee schedules and massage cancellation policies
  3. Networking with other professionals-  word of mouth is a very important part of getting clients in the door for a massage. It isn’t what you might think it is.  It is  really just building relationships.
  4. Newsletters and other marketing
  5. Finding your ideal clients
  6. Marketing massge
  7. Massage Websites

D. Taking care of yourself

1. Physical

2. Mental

3. Emotional

4. Spiritual

5. Financial

III. Professional Standards and Ethics

A. Code of Ethics are general statements created by professional associations.  They are usually very general in nature because everyone will interpret them differently.

1. Legal Standards

2. Professional/Personal standards

B. Scope of practice is determined by your state board of massage or whoever is in charge of licensing of massage in your state.  It will usually be just a general definition of massage and may also include some things that are not allowed.

C. Setting Boundaries and professional behavior.  Boundaries are really tools of support for your business.  It will be a process of learning about what you value and what is important to you and creating boundaries that will create the framework for your massage/business or job.

D. Confidentiality

E. Interprofessional Communications

IV. Human Behavior/ Client Interaction

A. Active Listening and communication skill.  When you can learn to really listen to your clients and stop giving advice, clients have a greater opportunity to heal and feel cared for.

B. Transference, Countertransference and projection.  These concepts can hardly be understood or practiced in such a short course on ethics.  It will be a career long process of taking a deeper look at yourself.  The process of supervision can be very helpful.

C. Body-Mind connections

D. Chronic pain clients

E. Addictive behaviors

V. Hygiene and Sanitation

A. Basic standards in accordance with State law

B. City, County Board of Health Standards

C. Universal precaution

D. Massage Therapy Supplies and equipment

I have a whole website on building a massage business –www.massagepracticebuilder.com

All of the links on this page will take you directly to my other site for more info and will open in a new window for your convenience!

Start Your Massage Business – Most massage therapists at some time in their careers will start their own business.  You will need to know how to get set up as a business and learn how to promote yourself.

Business 101Massage Business Basics – Accounting   —  Bookkeeping  —

Marketing for Massage Therapists – Marketing is everything you do and say to tell people about your massage business.  It is starts with creating a vision of what your ideal massage business and ideal massage client are.  Everything else will be business decisions based on your vision.  This is really ethics and creating boundaries that support you in your vision.  When your business is struggling, there is usually some simple integrity issues going on within your business.  This can be helped greatly in the process of supervision.

Create a Web Presence – Websites for Massage Therapists – This is one of the most important things you can do in my opinion.  You really can be getting most or all of your clients from your website.  When people who are searching for the words ‘massage therapist’ find your website, they have a much higher chance of being your ideal client.  They are already looking for massage and understand the value of massage.

Massage Insurance Billing – Being able to bill insurance for massage services has been one of the things that has helped me stay in business for so long.  In most states, you can bill insurance for car accidents or for injuries sustained at work.  (There are a few states that are having issues with this and it is not allowed, but there are also many movements and more opportunities happening with the implementation of the Affordable HealthCare Act which has provisions for massage to covered (potentially). See also Billing Massage in WA State.

These pages were moved over from my old site www.thebodyworker.com

Creating a Brochure for Your Massage Business

Dealing with Cancellations

The Myth of Goal Setting

Investing in Marketing

Charging for Massage