After graduation, spa or private?

[Ana]

Hello MTs I was wondering which you would recommend a student doing upon graduation. Working for an employer for a while to gain experience or going straight into their own business of outcalls?

 

[Pompal 09.]

After graduation, spa or private?

You know I think that depends on you and the area you are in. I went to school in ABQ New Mexico, almost a million people there. I had planned on working for someone else (like a spa or something) before breaking out on my own. But we moved shortly after graduation back to a small town in Idaho. There is no licensure and most people are out on their own. In fact in this town every therapist is on their own. So that kind of changed my plans and now I am renting a space and starting my own business. Best wishes to you whatever you choose.

 

[PAYET M]

From my experience I would definitely tell anyone starting off in the business to get some experience working for someone else.  I would say the biggest reason would be to see how they run their business.  Let someone else make the mistakes as you learn from them.  Really get a grasp on everything involved with Massage Therapy, then go out on your own.  That's what I did and I'll tell you, I'd do it like that again in a heartbeat!  There is so much involved in the business from the simple things to things you would never even think of.  That's just my 2 cents.

 

[Pompal 09.]

After graduation, spa or private?

Right out of MT school, I started on my own. I would not say that I have a strong "entreprenurial spirit". I do have a desire to work as I wish and create my own schedule. I spent the first year rather lost, with very few clients. Most of those came from the 40+ gift certs I had donated to a raffle. I also traded with a local community radio station for two short "spots" (kinda like an advertisement) twice a week, I came in to do chair massage, twice a month. I did that for about 6 months. I got one regular client out of that, and she is my best regular, so that was worth it. I didn't know how to market myself. It takes some time to build from scratch.I still learned a lot in that year. But in hindsight, I think that more hands-on work doing massage might have been just as much if not more useful. It would have been nice to have some semblance of a steady income, as well. I did work for a spa for about 6 months, but they were even newer than I was, so there wasn't much work to be had there.Here's an idea. Get a job working at a spa or for a chiropractor. While you're doing that, take some business classes...biz basics, marketing, whatever interests you. Also check out the Toastmasters or other biz networking groups. That way you can be building private practice skills before you even start.

 

[Pompal 09.]

I think it greatly depends on the type of person you are and your ultimate goals as to which is the best choice.  Either option offers you an opportunity to learn about yourself, your work and ultimately what you want from life.  Working in someone else's practice, spa or successful business can provide insider information that is difficult to get from a book or course.   Which makes it a great starting point towards your own practice/spa/business.  There is nothing like experience to teach you what you want -vs- want you don't want -- as long as you are paying attention and taking notes.I do find people who have their own businesses do so because they are not satisfied with how other's are doing what "they instinctively know how to do better".   If you have this instinct or generally don't like someone else telling you what to do and how to do it -- then your own practice might be the better place to start. There...how's that for ambiguity?!