Warning - Before You Become a Massage Therapist

I was in the last week of my Remedial Massage course. The teacher stood before the class and said, "Now, the average life of a therapist is between two and five years!"

What? I've just spent 6 months and over ten thousand dollars for a new career - and statistically I'm going to last just 2 years!

The class of 20 discussed it and we all decided that we would prove it wrong. We all planned to be successful and rich therapists living a great life, choosing the hours we want to work and the clients we wanted to work with.

Well... two years have now passed since that day. And the results are surprising - considering we were all so committed the proving the statistics wrong.

In brief, one classmate wouldn't give up their night filling job and commit to her new career. She didn't wake until lunch and never got going. Another was waiting until they could afford the best massage table on the market, and never got going. Two others went straight back to the jobs they had before studying as they liked the security. Another young man worked at a 5 star clinic for a few weeks before realizing he didn't like feeling 'oily' all the time. Two more injured their lower backs from wrong table heights and bad posture and found it too hard to continue. One by one I ticked them from the list.

Two years later and of the twenty in my class, only four of us are still massaging. I have just spoken with them before writing this article, and 'They all love what they are doing - but haven't yet met their financial goals.' We thought we would be able to choose the hours and clients we wanted, but the reality is that we are at the beck and call of anyone who calls.

Looking at it now with perspective, the four of us still working as full time massage therapists were the natural healers of the class. We have warm hands when we work and really care for the well-being of all those we meet. Not that the others in my class were not nice people... maybe not just natural healers.

I just wanted to give a quick warning to those considering the profession. Don't believe the brochures without doing your own research. Be sure to get several massages and talk with therapists in your area before you sign.

My class thought we would prove the statistics wrong. We didn't.