Podcast

Does competition actually matter? What about when your area is saturated with MTs?

Submit your questions at: https://www.massagebusinessblueprint.com/talk

Sponsored by Yomassage and Pure Pro Arnica Relief Lotion

Transcript:

Sponsor message This episode is sponsored by Yomassage. Registration for the first Yomassage virtual training is now open, with classes beginning in November. The Yomassage therapist training is an intensive 25-hour certification program. Over three weeks, you will be immersed in the Yomassage philosophy. Learn about the nervous system, the mind/body connection, fascial systems, mindfulness, benefits of touch, trauma-informed bodywork. Learn how to structure classes, understand body mechanics, how to encourage self-massage techniques, and utilize Yomassage positions and incorporate modifications, adjustments, and contraindications. You will build community with the other therapists going through the training. You’ll have assignments due each week, weekly discussion points, live Q&As, quizzes, and lots of one-to-one feedback from your instructor. Our listeners can go to yomassage.com and get $50 off of the virtual training registration using the code BLUEPRINTONLINE — one word — BLUEPRINTONLINE. Go to yomassage.com to learn more and register.

Michael Reynolds Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Massage Business Blueprint podcast, where we discuss the business side of massage therapy. [Break in audio] Reynolds.

Allissa Haines Hi, and my internet faded out, and I didn’t hear the part where Michael said his name —

MR [Laughing]

AH — and I thought, when am I supposed to say my name? But I’m Allissa Haines.

MR Actually, if you hadn’t said anything, it would have worked fine because you came in at just the right time so we’ll just go with it. [Laughing]

It kind of goes with the theme of today’s Q&A episode because I have a storm going on in front my house which is, like, thunder and everything. So you heard a bunch of thunder probably. My voice is totally scratchy because it’s fall, weather changing, and my voice is, like, hoarse and scratchy, and Allissa’s having trouble waking up, so this is like a stellar episode right off the bat. So we’re in great shape today.

AH It really is.

MR So we’re just going to leave all the — all the stuff in. [Laughing] We’re not going to edit anything out.

AH No.

MR So welcome today to our Q&A episode. We have a great question today about location and saturation of your business and how it relates to how strong you are niching or specializing. So a lot of good stuff packed in here. So —

AH I’m excited. Let’s play the question.

MR All right. Let’s play the question. Here we go.

Listener question Hi, Allissa and Michael. This is Megan. I have a question about location. So I’m just wondering if I should worry about being located around so many other massage therapists if I have a really good niche idea that no one around me has, or if I should open in an area with less massage therapists. So a lot of the massage therapists in the area I would like to open in, which is more central, are just generalists, and really, nobody near me has the niche that I would want to pursue. So I’m just kind of wondering. I’m trying to decide between two areas. If I should go where all the massage therapists are and just be okay because my niche is so specific, or if I should go off where there’s, like, less massage therapists. I’m just wondering what you guys think of that.

MR Awesome. Thank you, Megan.

And also, I want to note there that Megan said [nee-sh], and now I have to decide throughout the rest of the episode if I’m going to say [nitch], which is my natural inclination, or awkwardly say [nee-sh] to match Megan. So now I’m, like, totally worried about that.

AH I’m just going to say specialty.

MR [Laughing]

AH [Laughing]

MR That’s a great way to sidestep the whole issue. I love it.

AH But before we do, who’s our sponsor today, Michael?

MR All right. Let’s hit our sponsor. Today our sponsor is Pure Pro Arnica.

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AH All right, Michael. What do you think about this whole specialty thing?

MR I was going to ask you what you thought. So I guess you put me on the spot first. So excuse me. Sorry. Again, pardon my voice. [Laughing] Fall is awesome except it wreaks havoc on my voice.

So like to think that when you specialize that it kind of transcends a lot of other issues that can kind of come up when you’re generalizing.

So you know, Megan, you mentioned first of all you’re kind of looking at locations to kind of open up. So there’s a lot of different, you know, I guess, factors when you’re thinking about a location, but I think it doesn’t necessarily solve all your problems when you specialize. But I think it can allow you to do things you couldn’t otherwise do.

So I guess, I mean, I want to hear what you think, too, Allissa.

My take is, I think that if you’re specializing that specifically and your niche is really strong and you’re very focused, then you can probably get away with being in a more saturated market because you are that much different, and you’re going to attract the people that are right for you no matter where you are. I guess that’s kind of my thinking.

AH I 100% agree. In a field of generalists, you can specialize even in a saturated market and do really, really well. Especially if, like, you’ve thought through who the target client’s going to be here and you know there are enough of them in your area. So absolutely. You know, like, if you specialize in crazy-deep work in a field of people who, you know, the most common complaint is that my massage therapist applied too much pressure or not enough pressure, you’re going to get people who want your crazy-deep work.

If you — and it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a million generalists around. When word gets out, when you really define your website as someone who does very deep and yet gentle massage work — whatever your specialty is going to be — absolutely. You’re going to come up higher in more-refined web searches. The word is going to get around. These massage therapists who don’t — who are generalists who don’t want to do your specialty are going to refer to you, specifically, because they are going to have heard about you, and it’s a great option.

So I don’t think you need to be afraid of a saturated market if everyone around you is operating in a very general way. I say go all-in on your specialty, and this could even be — you know, when you’re in a really saturated market, I think the power of networking becomes even stronger. So if you get into some kind of formal networking, business-referral group, it’s going to be fantastic. And it’s easy to that kind of networking because you so clearly become not at all competitive with any other massage therapist around because no one is doing what you do. So it’s great.

And you can refer out to your favorite generalists and likely get referrals in from them and also, you know, and other kind of business owner or referral group. It just becomes so easy to refer the right kind of people to you when you’re so clear on who you treat. So yeah. I think that this —

MR That’s kind of the whole point of specializing.

AH It really is. And this, you know, it’s a great way to shine in a saturated market.

So yes. Two thumbs up. We wholeheartedly think you should do this and follow up with us and tell us how it goes and tell us more about your specialty and do it. Yay. Good job, Megan.

MR [Laughing] Love it.

AH That’s what we got.

MR All right.

Well, yeah. Good luck, Megan. I’d love to hear more, too, so definitely send us a note at podcast@massagebusinessblueprint.com and let us know what you decide and how it goes. Definitely. We’d love to hear.

All right.

AH And what should people do if they have questions they want us to answer on one of these Q&A episodes?

MR You read my mind.

So we love getting your questions. We’re really excited about the questions we’ve got. We’ve got a few more in the can here. We’ve got about, I think, four more episodes after this. We’re doing a 12-episode run to kind of test the waters on these Q&A episodes. So we’ve got four more spots this year in that run. So get those questions in.

You can go to massagebusinessblueprint.com/talk. And just like Megan did, you can click a button on your phone or your computer, wherever your accessing the site, and it will ask you to just, you know, give permission to your microphone. That’s okay. Go ahead and do that. And then once you do that, you’ll be on record, and you can just speak your question, just like Megan did. And just, you know, speak it in casual, natural language. Don’t try to make it, you know, over formal or super prepared. Just ask a question like you would ask anybody else a question, and we will play it on the air and discuss it. So again, that’s massagebusinessblueprint.com/talk T-A-L-K. All right?

Well, thanks for joining us today, and don’t forget to send your questions in. Have a great day. We will see you next time.

AH Bye.