How long did it take you to get up and running?

[johnny fettcakes]

This question is directed primarily at those who offer mobile massage, as that is my business. Maybe I'm just being a little impatient, but I've been working hard to promote my business for over a month now and I haven't had a single call for an appointment. Luckily I was able to get a job 2 days a week right out of school to give me some kind of steady income, but I hate to take on more days there or get another job because I'd like to leave my schedule open for future clients and the other things I have going on in my life.

I know things are generally slow for massage during the summer here, but I don't know if its that or if there is something else I could be doing to promote myself more. I've had I don't even know how many people give me the "oh I'll be calling you soon" line and never hear from them. Frankly I'd be happy with one or two personal clients a week right now.

So how long did it take you to get up and running? What did you do to promote your business?

 

[Muhammad Body of Dog]

My business started as a mobile one. It was slow going, and despite advertising, most of my clients came from word of mouth/referrals. It was hard for me to rely on income from my mobile business, I hard to get a shop after a while. That and it got prettty hard on my body lugging stuff :} best of luck!

 

[FAISALWAD]

I'd say the first 3 years I'd be lucky if I had a client a month! Admittedly I was working a normal job so it didn't really matter, but during that time I just did more courses, got more experience elsewhere, figured out what I was good at. I really don't think I was ready for a steady clientele straight out of school (at the time I thought I was )

 

[sammyy772]

I don't offer mobile massage, but I did recently strike out on my own, so to speak. I started with basically no clients about 6 months ago. I've been a therapist for about five years, but I had always worked for/with someone else (employee, IC). Also, I am fairly new to the community I live in. I didn't work for anyone else here; I just decided to dive in. So, that said, things are generally slow, but growing. I guess maybe all I can say is it takes longer than you might think. Just keep working at it. You'll get there.
By the way, I love your screen name, Ahimsa.

 

[Scenester]

How long did it take you to get up and running?

I've been working hard to promote my business for over a month now

What have you been doing??

"oh I'll be calling you soon" line and never hear from them.

I heard that so often that I quit believing it. Come on folks, don't lie to me...

How long did it take? Still in the process. What works for some doesn't for others, there are lots of posts out there. Read them all, try everything.

 

[Killer]

How long did it take you to get up and running?

So how long did it take you to get up and running? What did you do to promote your business?

I also have a mobile service. After school, I didn't have money or a client base that would support rental of a facility, even just a small one. I started a mobile service out of necessity and now it's the thing that makes me truly unique in my town. I worked really hard my first year to get set up and follow my business plan. I had very specific goals and marketing strategies to reach those goals. I'm in my third year of business now, and I've met my goals so far and I'm on target for my five-year plans.

As for promoting business, I started out by checking out BodyworkBiz.com. I enrolled in the "60 Clients in 60 Days" program for the cost of a few hours of massage. I'll be honest, I learned quite a lot in that course. I thought it was well worth the money. Since then, I've enrolled in other classes through their website and been happy with all of them. Not Affiliated, Yada Yada (NAYY).

I also spend a lot of time on my computer doing my own office stuff - gift certificates, flyers, brochures, newsletters, business cards, etc. The way I look at it, I have time to invest in my business and not a lot of money. The more I can do on my own, the more I can put money back into the business. My biggest expenditures are gasoline, office supplies and poseforum.xxxe.

Another thing I do is write 15-second "commercials" so that when someone asks me what I do, I go into my routine. Depending on who I'm talking to or what their interests are, I'll change up my "commercial" to address something specific for them. For example, when I go to work functions with my husband, I know that most of his co-workers are married with small children at home. I "sell" the benefits of massage as stress relief to engineers and their wives. When I'm talking to someone who has really poor body mechanics, I can usually zero in on what's aching them by how they hold themselves and I can "sell" the pain management aspect of massage therapy.

The thing is, marketing is an on-going aspect of business. What works for one person doesn't work for another. And strategies that work for one demographic might alienate another. You need to sit down and make a plan: who you want to attract and what kinds of things are they into. Then figure out what you can offer them and how to make them aware of you. Lots of things factor in to a marketing plan, including the weather, time of year and the choice of wording in your material. Keep plugging away, and if you need more ideas, just ask.

 

[crln]

I'll say what works for me, is to write down exactly what you want and then focus on it. Its amazing the power of the written word. I've found that writting down say how many clients you would like to see a week has a tremendous influence on me achieving that many clients.

Jason

 

[bethan]

I agree with Jason. It is crucial to write down your goals, visualize them AND come up with a plan to reach those goals. It is hard to ignore it all when it's right down there on paper.

I think setting realistic goals is also a wise idea.

It's also important to totally commit to it and to be sure you are doing it for the right reasons and also be open to changing your plan or your mind if things are not going as you expected.

I fully expected that the majority of my business would be mobile business when I first got out of school. As has been stated already, it was harder than I thought. Word of mouth is our best advertising, and this is especially true when you are going into someone's home. The problem in the beginning is that you don't have many mouths talking. That is why it becomes crucial that you have your "commercial" for yourself and that you always find a way to bring up your business. Of course, you don't want people to run the other way, but there is definitely a way to work it in there without being annoying.

So, I plodded along, doing okay. Not as well as I had hoped, but not so bad. But, I began to realize that I did not like trudging to people's homes and dealing with moving furniture or carting the table down to their finished basement or maneuvering the half shoveled walkway, and I didn't appreciate the cat jumping on the table or the dog goosing me in the butt in the middle of the massage. The marketing that was involved was a lot more work than I ideally wanted to commit. So, I re-assessed and decided to just work for someone for a bit and then I opened my own office. The marketing I do is a bit different and I have found that the word of mouth that my clients do is easier. I think that whole trust thing about coming to their home is taken out of the equation. This all works well for me.

I think if I didn't have the option of opening my own office, then I would have had to adjust my thinking a little bit and be more committed to the marketing and set up some sort of protocols for dealing with animals and unshoveled walkways, etc. Again, I think an attitude adjustment on my part would have helped here too. But, because I had other options, I chose that because I realized it was a much better fit for me.

If you choose mobile massage, be fully committed and have patience.

Best of luck to you.

 

[embracexthexpale]

In my area, the people who use mobile massage services the most are the wealthier residents, especially the ones in the exclusive housing developments. They have large homes, which easily accommodate a massage table, and they like convenience & are happy to pay for it. These housing developments often have a central office. I recommend calling these offices & asking if they have a newsletter they send out to members. If so, would they be willing to include information about your business, if you offer an introductory special for their residents?

If you know the names of the big developments in your area, just look them up in the phone book. Usually, there's an office number listed. If you don't know the names, ask around, and also drive around. You can't miss these places. They have huge signs at their entrances and usually a guardhouse.

Once you get a few of these residents as clients, word of mouth will spread quickly, especially if you offer them referral bonuses.

Good luck!

 

[OwieDokie]

After nearly 3 years, we are JUST getting to the point where we can survive without working anywhere else. The income is still modest and it does fluctuate, going gangbusters in winter and slimming down to our most loyal core group of regulars in summer. But it's a blast working for ourselves and if you want to do this, then by all means--nothing beats it!

It took a while to build, though. We never did any coaching or paid advertising, no bulk mailers, coupons, email campaigns, or new-business-in-town announcement media blitzes. We built our practice primarily from referrals and a good internet presence.

I think my first month I only had one client, so don't panic I did work as an IC (with a LOT of control over my schedule, etc) at another facility while I built my own practice, and I slowly dropped days there as our schedule filled. I will say, though, that sometimes it wasn't UNTIL we dropped a day at the clinic that more clients came our way. So I learned not to be scared; that we'll get taken care of, and we've been blessed. So, is it worth it? Absolutely

We all wish you the best of luck! You can do it. Just be patient with yourself. You will do fine

Hugs,
~Jyoti

 

[fatsausage]

Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement. I finally booked my first client today for next week, so heres to hoping she doesn't cancel!

Personally I'd rather build my business off referrals than advertising, but I guess lately I've been doing a bit of both. I get a lot of great people who want me to work on them through the chiropractor I do work for, but he has a "no compete" (although he hasn't made me sign anything yet because he can't find the paperwork) so I'm unable to take on any of those people. I have given a few of them my cards though to pass on to friends and other family members.

I did look into doing some advertising in some of the smaller local publications in my area, but even those are more than I can afford to pay right now so thats out. There are several places I frequent here in my area (coffee shops, massageplanetes, etc) that have tables set aside strictly for local advertising and business cards, so I've made sure to leave some at those places. I also did an event this past Sunday that was a fund raiser and I set up a chair massage booth. It was free (just had to make a donation), and some good exposure, and I made a few bucks...but 5 hours in 107 degree heat is not my idea of fun! So far nothing fruitful from that event but you never know. I'm keeping my eye out for more events like this, and hopefully ones inside! : I have my website up, although I don't expect a lot of traffic from that, just a place for people to go for more info. I also just started offering gift certificates.

I guess I will count my blessings that I do at least have the contract job with the chiropractor a couple days a week to bring in something. My boyfriend is being very supportive and understanding I'm going through a building period here, but my mother is the one stressing me out. She keeps pressuring me to take on another day at the chiropractor and I just don't want to do that. One main reason I wanted to be a therapist was because I've always wanted to own my own business, be my own boss and make my own hours...NOT work for someone else!

 

[Sunitha T]

Honestly, working for one month and having a job in a chiro office is very good. It takes time. No business like ours has people immediately pounding down the door for no reason! : Hang in there. This "building period" may be quite a while.

 

[shain r]

When you do more chair massage events, I would advise having a sheet where they can sign up for e-mail, or even gather their mailing address. Constant Contact has a great program which is very inexpensive (even free at first). It's a great way to keep yourself in front of these people, so after they have gone home from the event, lost your business card and possibly forgotten your name, when they are finally ready to get that massage, you will be the first one they think of. They can only do this if you keep in touch with them.