Podcast

Weekly Roundup

• 2 great texts and a podcast recommendation 
• The Continuing Fight for Abortion Rights 

Discussion Topic

• How to Stop Taking New Clients
• How busy is too busy? 
• We’ll cover how can you slow or stop the flow of new clients.

Quick Tips

• Do the legwork on your business/career records. Make a date, do it now. Go through all the papers. Scan the important stuff.
• Transcripts
• Ein letters
• Insurance, permits, licenses

Sponsors

• ABMP 
• The Original Jojoba Company 
• Happyface

Transcript: 

Sponsor message:

This episode is sponsored by The Original Jojoba Company. I believe that massage therapists should only be using the highest quality products because our clients deserve it and our bodies deserve it too. I have been using Jojoba for years because it doesn't go rancid. It does not contain triglycerides like a lot of products do. So it won't go bad. This also makes Jojoba a really cost effective carrier for your essential oils. You can put that lavender in there and the oils are not going to go rancid and waste your lavender. It is non-allergenic so I can use it on any client and every client without being concerned about an allergic reaction. This is a really big deal in my office and you, my friends, can get 20% off the price of the product when you shop through our link massagebusinessblueprint.com/jojoba.

Michael Reynolds:

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Massage Business Blueprint podcast, where we help you attract our clients, make more money and improve your quality of life. I'm Michael Reynolds.

Allissa Haines:

I'm Allissa Haines.

Michael Reynolds:

We're your hosts. Welcome to our show today. We are glad you're here.

Allissa Haines:

That was like a rockus music entry. It could just be that my volume is up, but it's dance party morning.

Michael Reynolds:

Hopefully it all, I think it all equals out in the post production, but I know you've mentioned this. I'll try and tone it down a little bit. I'm just a little bit loud for you. So I'll...

Allissa Haines:

Oh my gosh. I think I didn't tell you. So I, my friend, Jason sent me this podcast episode put out by ADP the payroll system people, and they use our podcast music, but it's a different version of it.

Michael Reynolds:

Oh, nice.

Allissa Haines:

It's the same melody thing, but it's [inaudible 00:01:42]. Also, I really liked the podcast episode, but I'm not sharing it with anyone because they had just terrible sound quality and from the part of the host, like occasionally the guest is calling in on the phone and it's terrible and you're like, ah, whatever they're doing the best they can. Now, it was the host who had terrible sound quality so I'm not referring to it.

Michael Reynolds:

Oh, well, yes for us for having better sound quality than ADP, which-

Allissa Haines:

I know, right. I was like, seriously? Two people with an internet business can get a better podcast quality going than ADP? Come on. Any who, I'm going to go first because mine leads into yours. Is that okay?

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah. Go for it.

Allissa Haines:

All right. So what I've been reading this week is, so Monday was just the sweetest day. I got two different text from people, all massage related people. Well actually I got three texts in total, but the first one was one of my friends checking on another of our friends because the website was down, her website was down for like a couple hours. There was a glitch thingy. And the first one was like, Hey, I've been trying to get all of her in the emails bounced and the websites down. Is everything okay? Have you heard from her?

Allissa Haines:

And I was like, oh, I totally just heard from her this morning. So everybody's okay. It's just a computer glitch. But it was such a sweet message, checking in on somebody and then the same thing happened again. Another one of our massage friends texted me and said, "Hey, I haven't heard from so and so in a while. I've been, I've emailed a couple times, but not gotten a response and is everything okay? I know it's really hard times right now." And I was like, yes, everything's fine. She's actually great. She's just really busy. She's probably not reading the emails in a hurry. And I was, she's actually really busy starting her massage practice again. So, but it was just such a loving concern. It was really sweet.

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah that's sweet [inaudible 00:03:32] for each other.

Allissa Haines:

And then somebody was really sweet to me, for me. I got a wonderful text message with a podcast recommendation from our friend and a longtime premium member and just a wonderful oncology massage therapist named Joan, who I adore. She always sends us things like emails us stuff that she thinks we would like or would appreciate, our members would appreciate or our listeners would appreciate. But she sent me in just me, special me a podcast recommendation. And it was for the podcast Everything Happens, which is by [Kate Bowler 00:04:11], who is such an interesting person, a young woman with stage four cancer and she's written a couple of books. She's a theologian. I think she's like a hospital chaplain actually and she, it prolific and beautiful writing and podcasting. But Joan specifically sent me an episode that's about the myths of parenting and which was an episode I think in late March, which I actually didn't listen to yet because my, I got caught on a more recent episode where Kate Bowler interviewed Susan Kane. And you know Susan Kane, Michael, because we saw her speak at a conference years back.

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah.

Allissa Haines:

The Quiet Revolution, The Introvert, she was on the podcast talking about loss and how we deal with loss and resilience and bittersweet stuff and it was just lovely. But I have the parenting episode, the myths of parenting episode on cue to listen to today on my way to work. And it was just, it was such a lovely day of people doing sweet, thoughtful things to check on each other and share with each other. And then I got home from work late Monday night. It was nine o'clock when I got home and I hadn't looked at news all day and I looked at news and the world is imploding, which is actually Michael's next topic for what he read this week. So let's go right into that. Michael, what are you reading?

Michael Reynolds:

Sure. Like many of us reading about the leaked draft from the Supreme court signifying the intention to overturn Roe versus Wade. And nothing I can say is going to be more eloquent or qualified than the voices already out there. So the article that I'm referencing today though is from Anti-Racism Daily which I love, by the way. And bless them.

Michael Reynolds:

Nicole was up at 2:00 AM writing this article immediately after the news and it's on their website. And the title of the article is the continuing fight for abortion rights. And what specifically I am enjoying about this particular article is the points of action we can take, because I think it's really important to not only share our voices and our opinions and so forth, but also take action. So some of the things referenced in the article, for example, I've already made a donation to National Network of Abortion Funds and they give you a link where you can make a donation to distribute across 83 different funds, which these funds specifically are set aside to help women with things like transportation and medical care and access to getting abortions who are underserved and marginalized.

Michael Reynolds:

So that's one way you can take immediate action. There's events throughout the country that are being formed for protests. So I'm keeping an eye on those events to see what's coming in my area. So there's a list of things you can do immediately and a list of things you can do over time. Things like setting up of safety plans within your community and of course voting. So this particular article Anti-Racism Daily always does a phenomenal job in my opinion of framing the issues and then providing actionable steps that we can take to participate. So that's what I've been reading about as many of us have, and that particular article I've linked in the show notes, because I think it's very impactful and very practical as well, so.

Allissa Haines:

And I'm going to take this opportunity to rope a few other thoughts into here as to why this matters. So there has been my 12 seconds of being a pre-law major and reading a whole bunch of stuff in the last couple of weeks, in the last few days. It's important that we recognize that should this decision, I mean, we did read a draft decision so who knows what the final is actually going to look like. Some people are saying that this got leaked so that the final would look more like this because there could be embarrassment in the court for changed opinions between now and when the final is released.

Allissa Haines:

And any who, this particular decision, the way it's written is really rooted in erasing the right to privacy. The right to abortion was based on a Connecticut case. I think Griswold versus Connecticut way back when people challenged the ban on contraception and it was a court decision way back then established that there was a right to privacy about what happens in your bedroom, whether you're married or not. And that has gone on to lay a foundation for many other things, including not just reproductive freedoms, but also marriage equality, trans rights, all kinds of medical stuff.

Allissa Haines:

Should this decision move forward as the draft is written, there's going to be an erasure of these privacy rights. And at the same time, we're seeing all kinds of other things go on in this country. So put a pin in the Supreme court stuff for a second and I'm going to tell you a little story about what happened to a colleague of mine in Massachusetts last week. This colleague has been a massage therapist for a couple of decades, at least, and has always held his business accounts at a particular bank in the Boston area. And he got a phone call from that bank early last week that said, we are shutting down your account. We have frozen your debit cards already. We have frozen your account and any funds that, come get your money or we're just going to mail you a cheque with whatever's left in the account in two weeks when we close it final.

Allissa Haines:

And he was like, is this a joke? He thought he was getting a spam phone call that wanted his information to steal from him. So he ended up walking in, went into a bank branch and talked to a bank, a branch manager who was able to dig, was like, didn't know what was going on, but was able to dig around and find a letter that had not yet been mailed to this massage therapist that said, "We cannot serve you and your business any longer. We're closing your accounts with all the details." So the make manager was finally able to get through to headquarters and all they could tell this massage therapist was that they had learned through news and such that massage therapy businesses were often connected to sex trafficking and other illegal things and they were, his business was not conducive or whatever... did not meet with their conservative views.

Allissa Haines:

And they literally used the word conservative and closed his accounts out. So this was shocking. And a couple of payments that he had made online have bounced. He had to, some deposits sent from his credit card processing to the bank had bounced back. So there was this whole money debacle that he had zero control over and zero warning of until it had happened already. And this is not cool. A bank decided that a massage business, because perhaps it may be related to something illegal, which in Massachusetts is ridiculous, because we're so highly regulated. It happens but this dude who had his massage business for 20 plus years at this bank just got cut off.

Allissa Haines:

So how does this relate to the right to privacy? It doesn't. But I can tell you that legislation is moving in a way that will allow any company, any local government to shut you off for whatever freaking reason they want. So if they want to say your massage practice is a brothel, they're going to make it so like it's okay for banks to just ditch you. Like holy crap, one thing does lead to another. This is all part of a conservative movement to create a society in which we all follow their evangelical rules. And this absolutely 100% will affect your business financially. There you go. This is it. So if Michael gets any hate mail, by the way, just a reminder that Michael is the one that brought up this particular topic.

Michael Reynolds:

I'll take the hate mail.

Allissa Haines:

Not I. If you want to send an email saying that we shouldn't be touching upon these political issues, one, we should because we touch people's bodies and the bodies political inherently and because the fricking evangelicals have made it that way. And two, and not all of them I appreciate lots of religious people, but yeah, this all relates to our business. This is going to relate to our ability to do financial transactions. So heads up, they're coming for us in every possible way. That's my rant. Sorry, I didn't intend on that.

Michael Reynolds:

Yes. I was blown away when you told me about the [inaudible 00:13:14]

Allissa Haines:

[inaudible 00:13:14].

Michael Reynolds:

I was like, what is happening? So that was amazing.

Allissa Haines:

Yeah.

Michael Reynolds:

All right. Well-

Allissa Haines:

We have a happier topic today and I'm excited to get to it.

Michael Reynolds:

A happier topic. And speaking of happiness, let's talk about how much we love our friends at AB&P.

Allissa Haines:

We do love our friends at AB&P. Yes, let's talk about Massage and Body Work magazine because I have an article out in the most recent one. My follow up on imposter issues. So AB&P is responsible for AB for, pardon me, Massage and Body Work magazine. This is an award-winning magazine. It is included in print for AB&P members. You'll get it in your mailbox. It is beautifully designed and available for free to the whole profession@massageandbodyworkdigital.com. The blueprint for success column.

Allissa Haines:

Hey, That's Us, is featured in every issue in the best practices section. It is a high quality professional journal that includes techniques, in-depth features, video tie-ins to cover issues that matter to professional body workers, the in an, an episode, hold up, in an issue, maybe not the current one, maybe the one before, they had a really great layout of all of the benefits that you get with AB&P, all the partnerships that offer you discounts. So that was really exciting, because we were in there. Our members get a discount when they become a member through the AB&P member portal and a whole bunch of other companies that I just absolutely adore that you get discounts with. So went off on a tangent there, but you can learn more at ab&p.com.

Michael Reynolds:

And going to comments from Facebook live, Kylie popped in and said it was a great article. Thank you.

Allissa Haines:

Aw, thanks Kylie. It felt really good. Actually, I'm going to be recording a podcast episode with them about that too, that I think will be out late in May. So heads up folks.

Michael Reynolds:

Heads up. All right. So let's talk about how to stop taking on new clients.

Allissa Haines:

Yeah, this is great. How busy is too busy? Well, we're going to find out. I got a great email from a listener that said, "I have a re-booking rate of 99%." I'm just going to insert some applause there. "I belong to a networking group that I should probably drop, but I get nervous wondering how the summer will go every year. I live in Phoenix where summer temps can hit 120 degrees. Because I do both in call and out call, I hesitate to do online scheduling." Just a little foundational business stuff there. "A lot of my time is spent explaining to potential and existing clients that my first availability is two months away. Is there a point at which I can safely say I'm not taking new clients? And if so, what is the best way to say this?"

Allissa Haines:

So there's a little bit of information here that's important. So one, re-booking rate of 99%, which is just phenomenal. So good on you. You must be a great therapist with great retention practices and awesome. So, and also, we're dealing with a slightly seasonal business. So if you live in Phoenix, you're probably getting a lot of snowbirds who go home or go return to cooler places in the summer. So of course, it is possible that your business is going to drop a little bit.

Allissa Haines:

So let's think about this. And then we had some questions come up in the premium community about how to turn off the faucet of new clients for various reasons and it all fell into this really great topic. So typically, I will suggest that people stop or just reduce taking new clients pretty much when you find that you're as busy as you want to be between 90 and 95, 90 and 99% of the time. If most of your weeks, your schedule is full and you like it that way, you're happy. And if when you occasionally get a cancellation, you're not devastated by it, it doesn't mess up your whole budget. That's when it's okay to slow that intake or stop that intake of new clients. When clients are scheduling a few appointments out like two months out and they're still squawking about not getting in as often as they like, that's a sign.

Allissa Haines:

If you are full for eight weeks out, that's a good sign. So there's a handful of steps that you can take to slow down the intake or turn off the intake of new clients. First of all, I happen to know that the person who emailed just raised their prices, so this doesn't apply to them. But if you haven't raised your prices in a while, it's a good time. One, because maybe a client or two will drop off, maybe some lingerers who are like, meh, but they've been rescheduling will drop off. That sounds like a terrifying thing, but it's going to create more room in your schedule and that's a good thing if you're very, very busy. Also, when you raise your prices and you know, you start making an extra 100, 200 a week, it calms the fear a little bit about not taking so many new clients anymore.

Allissa Haines:

Because you know you're already making more. If you have an empty appointment here and there, it's not as emotionally triggering because you are getting more money anyway. All right. If you decide that you really, you just want to slow it down. What you can do is decide to only see certain kinds of new clients. This applies to if you're really into nicheing, but let's say, I'm going to use myself as an example. I'm taking manual lymphatic drainage next week. I'm taking the course and moving forward, I expect to, once I get some practice under my belt, I'm going to only take new clients who are seeking manual lymphatic drainage treatment. So I'm going to put up on my website. I'm so fortunate to have a very full practice. I am only accommodating new clients who are seeking manual lymphatic drainage treatments. And then you screen people, new clients as they schedule, figure out whatever your process is.

Allissa Haines:

So that when someone new schedules, it's because they're scheduling for that treatment. Okay, or you can just shut off the faucet all together, which says something like, I am so, literally put this on your website, on your booking page. I am so fortunate to have a full schedule, but this means I cannot accommodate new clients. Please see my resources page for information about my favorite local practitioners. Big bold, if you're going to still allow people to schedule online, then you need to figure out the control over that. But big bold, I am not accepting new clients. Boom. You can have the pretty explanation and then a big bold, right before your scheduling stuff. I am not accepting new clients, do not schedule an appointment.

Allissa Haines:

You can use that similar line if, and you could, if you want to really screen, if you're doing the first thing and you're, you are taking referrals from your current clients but nobody else, you can create a line that just says, I am accepting new clients on a limited basis. Potential new clients should call me here to initiate their first appointment. But again, you want to have some referral options saved in your phone. Typically, what I do, if I'm talk, if someone calls me, but I, it ends up that I'm not going to book an appointment for them, I usually say, are you calling me from a cell phone? If you want, as soon as we hang up, I can text you the website of the massage therapist I'm referring to. And people are so grateful about that. They really, really like, they might be a little annoyed that you can't fit them in, but they're going to be really grateful that you've offered a resource.

Allissa Haines:

And that's helpful because we always want to be building good business karma. So that's how to shut off the flow so that you can deal with who you have and keep them happy. So for current clients who are unhappy about the weight for their next appointments, you can really isolate who are the people who are super regular clients and want to come in regularly and maybe want to come in a little bit more. You can say to them, I'm sorry, I know that it's frustrating to not get in as soon as you prefer. My clientele grew very quickly and my schedule is becoming a little tricky. So let's resolve this. Sorry, I just lost my piece, my place on my notes. So my clientele grew very quickly and scheduling has become tricky. To help resolve this, I'm not taking new clients and I'm doing my best to schedule current and regular clients as frequently as possible.

Allissa Haines:

Let's schedule you out a few months. And when you give them that, when you say, I know, I'm sorry, this got a little bit out of hand. So let's schedule you so that you can get in eight weeks and then maybe four weeks after that, if you really want to come once a month. This is still tough because if you have so many clients that want to come in every month and you just don't have enough appointments every month, you're going to have to stretch it out to six and eight weeks between. But as you do this, we all lose clients for unspecified reasons. And especially with this person in Phoenix, they'll probably have a handful of clients go away for the summer. It's okay to not prioritize them in the way that you prioritize people who are there year round. So these year rounders are going to get their regular appointments and all of the less regular or seasonal get booked around them.

Allissa Haines:

So you're keeping your core really happy, which is good. Because they're funding your retirement and paying your rent and the remaining, you just do the best you can with and you can be, I don't want to say abruptly, but shortly apologetic and then move on. You don't need to feel really bad about it. You're running a darn business here. So for people who are really [piffy 00:23:12] about it, you can also, when your snowbirds come back in October and you don't have an appointment for eight weeks, you can say, I know it's super frustrating. I'm just, I'm doing the best I can here. Would you like, let me give you the information to another massage therapist and you can alternate between us. Let's book you for eight weeks here. The next appointment I have here, but if you want to get in four weeks with another therapist, here's their information.

Allissa Haines:

They'll probably simmer down and just stick with just you. Worst case scenario, they go to another massage therapist and you don't have to worry about it anymore or feel pressured about it anymore. I also think that this could be a really good situation to make use of a cancellation and waiting list. So when someone calls and you can't get them in for eight weeks, you can say, "Listen, I'm going to put you on my wait list. And whenever I have a cancellation or I end up with an opening, I will, I'll work down to your name on the list and maybe you'll be able to get in sooner." And that takes a little bit of effort. There are a couple of booking systems that have wait lists integrated. I forget which one is my favorite right now, but yeah, booking systems have those. Some of them have those abilities or it's probably worth a little bit of manual labor.

Allissa Haines:

I got to tell you this week, I am wishing I had a cancellation/waiting list in place because I've had three Covid cancellations, but that's pretty much it. So define if you don't want to take any new clients or you only want to take referrals from your current clients or certain pathologies or issues, whatever, state that really clearly on your website, have other referral options and be kind and patient with your current clients and let them know that you are taking steps to make it easier for them to schedule in the future.

Allissa Haines:

Because these things do even out, they really do. As soon as you're booked and you're 8 to 12 weeks out, two clients are going to move and one's going to die. You're going to end up with three monthly openings. So these things do and that's sad and I said that in a very offhanded way, but that's life. So people drop out of treatment. People move away. All of these things happen and you will typically within a couple of months, end up with a few openings where, and things will get a little bit better once you turn the faucet off. That is my whole shtick.

Michael Reynolds:

Sorry I was muted. I was jabbering and Allissa is probably looking at me funny, what does he think?

Allissa Haines:

I had this moment of thinking that my wifi maybe went out and I didn't know where and you were just [inaudible 00:25:48]. So, sorry.

Michael Reynolds:

Oh no, my bad. I was muted. Yes, thank you. Great, great practical list. So thanks for sharing that. Good stuff. All right. Let's move on to our third sponsor today, which is Happy Face. I love talking about Happy Face.

Allissa Haines:

I do too. Face cradles can be super uncomfortable for a client and that pressure and stuffiness can ruin the whole massage experience. Happy Face is the most comfy face cradle so you can give the most relaxing massage of your client's life. No sinus pressure, no eye pressure, no need to adjust mid massage, no wrinkles on the face or makeup smearing. It is really a great product and to demonstrate that, I'm going to read to you what someone put under one of our Instagram posts about Happy Face. "These are so legit." I love that. "I ordered one about a month ago after listening to your promo and it is all true. Thanks for the great product recommendation. My clients thank you too." And I might have mentioned this a couple of episodes back, but our friend [Sekaina 00:26:48] said that when, with the Happy Face and starting people face down and then flipping them and using the slight tilts on her tiltable table, that slight elevation in someones torso has all but eliminated the seasonal stuffiness issue.

Allissa Haines:

And I have actually tried that a few times because I have a tilt table now and danged if it doesn't work. So when my clients with a lot of allergies and stuffiness and stuff come in, I start them face down, which I typically did anyway with my stuffy people, because I don't want them to leave feeling stuffy. I want time to drain the head, but I have started them face down on a Happy Face. Then we flip them, we tilt the table up a little bit and people are leaving with no stuffiness at all.

Allissa Haines:

And I think that's going to even improve after I take the manual lymphatic drainage class next week. So I'm excited about that.

Michael Reynolds:

Nice.

Allissa Haines:

Anyhow, super tangent. Testimonials left and right. Happy Face is designed to fit on massage tables and massage chairs with Velcro fully on the full back surface. So your Happy Face stays where you put it. It fits all different massage tables and face cradles and face cradle frames and such, your face cradle covers your fitted ones will absolutely fit. It's a standard size. You can get 20% off the entire purchase at massagebusinessblueprint.com/happyface. You're going to use code massageBB at checkout, but that's on the landing page that you will see when you go to massagebusinessblueprint.com/happyface.

Michael Reynolds:

Thanks, Happy Face. All right. I don't have a quick tip today and you've got a good one. So let's just go with yours.

Allissa Haines:

Yeah. So mine actually relates to the little story I told you earlier about the guy whose bank account got shut down. He is now in a debacle because in order to open a new bank account, the bank is requiring, the new bank he's going to or credit union, I don't know, is needs a copy of his original EIN letter, his tax ID number for his business and they want a copy of the original letter, which probably got 15 years ago and wasn't filed well or whatever and wasn't scanned into, we didn't have that so much then and he's having trouble finding it and you have to actually call the IRS to get a new one and then they mail. It's a whole thing. It's just such a debacle for this poor man. So my quick tip inspired by that story.

Allissa Haines:

And also, by a friend who's licensed lapsed and now they have to go get, they have to reapply for a license in their state and they have to go get their school transcripts and don't have a copy of them and the school shut down. So that's a whole thing. So what I'm suggesting is that you make a little date with yourself, half a day to do the legwork on your business and career records. Go through your file cabinet, scan any and upload into a cloud or whatever. Everything that is relevant that you have in there, transcripts, EIN letters, insurance policies, permits, licenses, last year's tax return. Get it scanned and think through, I know it's hard to say, remember what you're missing, because if you're missing it, you're not going to know you're missing it. But think through stuff that you know you may have lost.

Allissa Haines:

And if you don't have the graduation certificate or a copy of your transcripts from your massage school, maybe request them now before you actually need them in an emergency situation. Anything that you could possibly be missing, try to think through it and get some of that stuff organized and together now so that you're not at a crisis when you can't work or can't access your money when something dumb happens because dumb things happen and they don't happen because you're dumb. They happen because dumb things happen. But they are certainly made worse if you haven't done the foundational work to keep your business running like a business instead of a hobby. So there's my quick tips. Schedule a little time to go through that, whatever. Put on a rom-com in the background or your favorite podcast or music and spend a couple hours getting that crap done.

Michael Reynolds:

Dumb things do happen.

Allissa Haines:

To me, a lot.

Michael Reynolds:

All right. Anything else in your mind or is that a wrap?

Allissa Haines:

No, I have ranted enough at everybody.

Michael Reynolds:

All right. Well, with that, a reminder, Allissa, a couple times has mentioned our premium community throughout this episode that is called Blueprint Mastermind on our website and it is our private community of super smart massage therapists. We'd love to invite you to join if you're not a member. It's 30 days free and then it's $20 a month after that, unless you're an AB&P member, in which case it is $15 and you can go through the AB&P portal and go to their benefits section and join through that link and that will give you the AB&P discounted price.

Michael Reynolds:

So anyway, either way you get 30 days free to try it out. And we have a ton of great resources there, including office hours, which are the best part, I think, of our benefits and we solve all sorts of problems all the time in office hours and really move people's massage businesses forward. So if you're not a member, consider trying us out for 30 days and check it out at massagebusinessblueprint.com. So with that, you can email us at podcastatmassagebusinessblueprint.com. And as always, we appreciate you being a listener. Have a great day. We will see you next time.

Allissa Haines:

Bye.