I am a relatively new massage therapist needing some guidance. Is my

[superlisa96]

boss taking advantage of me? In my area an hour massage runs about $50. I work in a salon and get a 50% commission. It is my first professional job as a massage therapist and I felt this was a nice arrangement since I have no overhead this way. I have been there for 7 months, my biggest goal since I started was to bring new clients in and make them repeat customers. One of the ways that my boss has been "helping" me do this is offering a 1/2 price massage to new guests. This seemed like a good idea at first but in school they always warned us not to sell ourselves too cheap. I felt after a few months that these sales were enough and that I was doing a lot of work for very little money, but she continues to send ads out every week or so, some aren't so bad like "come in this week and get $10 off. The thing that is hurting my income though is the 1/2 price work, she ran three specials for this over the last four months including coupons and gift card specials. Now I feel resentful because more than half my clients are coming in at this discounted rate, and there are several that just love coming to get a massage from me but they always leaves saying, "let me know when the next special is". My boss believes if I do this eventually I will be able to raise my rates all I see is that people are only coming for the discount. On a daily basis my busines volume varies but I would say on average I take in between 10-15 massages a week, so when I get continuously get these pay checks that definately don't pay the bills every week I just feel like I'm wasting my time, and I hate to feel this way because I love what I do, I just don't know that I am being compensated properly for it and as we all know the job market is competiive and I know I am lucky to even be working, but I am not sure that it is worth straining my body for such little pay. So I know my story is long, but my question is: Does anyone else think I am being taken advantage of or am I expecting too much? How low of a wage would you be willing to work for as a massage therapist (even considering this economy)? And: What is the average number of massages do others do per week on part-time or full-time basis? I would love to hear your answers!