Massage Therapy Careers are the latest trend in the career arena, promising great high paying jobs, flexibility and more meaningful work. This is really only part of the story. While you can find these qualities in a career in massage, there is much more to becoming a massage therapist than meets the eye.
First, most massage therapists start their own business. Massage jobs usually don't pay enough to make a good enough living to support a family and save for retirement. Jobs start at $15 an hour at most places. For the most part you can not work more than 25 hours a week because of the physical demands of the work. When you don't have a client you also only get paid minimum wage so that reduces your salary. There are some places like medical clinics and high end spas that may pay more like $45 an hour but those jobs are of course harder to find.
Massage school only really teaches you how to do massage. It doesn't really teach you how to be successful in a massage business. You will need to learn how to market your business, how to set your rates, how to find office space and create a website for your business.
The average age of massage therapists is 45 meaning that massage schools are geared toward teaching adults with more life experience. Because touch has a way of bringing up deeper psychological issues, it is important to know yourself more and be more aware of yourself in order to work with people more successfully.
Because massage is a profession that works with people who are in pain and are vulnerable to begin with, the client/massage therapist relationship becomes an important part of the healing process. It requires an understanding of the psychology of relationships and a deeper understanding of why you are drawn to helping others. Most people help others to feel better about themselves and get some of their own personal needs met. When you try to get your needs met through your client and work, it creates a conflict of interest. Your main focus should always be your client not your own needs. You can get more support for your own need through engaging in the process of peer supervision which is just starting to be offered more in massage schools and for advanced training.
The thing is that you can be a successful massage therapist and even make $100,000 a year when you are able to charge what you need to make and get the help you need in marketing and promoting your business. It is also a matter of uncovering your unconscious beliefs about yourself so that you can achieve the massage therapy career of your dreams.
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