Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/135515
best practices Business side | Q & art | table lessons | savvy self-care Challenges? Opportunities! We Answer Your Questions Photo by Barry Gutierrez Photography. By Les Sweeney, NCTM, and Kristin Coverly, RMT KC: SMH. Since we wanted this issue's column to be tailored to exactly what our readers want to know—not what we think they want to know—we reached out through Facebook and Twitter to see what questions therapists had about building a successful practice and career. LS: What did we hear? KC: Well, we heard a lot. And we have members who need advice. LS: Perfect. That's what I am good at—free advice. Let's dive in and see how we can help. Jasmyn said the areas she needs guidance in are "getting clients and advertising." What are some tips Jasmyn can use for getting clients? Kristin and Les asked massage therapists and bodyworkers what challenges they face, and then pored through the responses. Here are some of those challenges, along with advice and suggestions. Kristin Coverly: Les, being a successful massage and bodywork professional isn't easy. Les Sweeney: Really? I just thought you needed lotion, a holster, and a table. Ha! JK! LOL! Sorry, just practicing my online persona. 28 massage & bodywork july/august 2013 KC: This is an ongoing challenge for almost all therapists. You can spend your time and money trying to market to everyone, but that's really only an option for therapists with unlimited funds. For the rest of us, it makes sense to focus our efforts on attracting the clients we really want to work with. Create profiles of the kinds of clients you want—including who they are, where they go, what they do—and everything gets easier. From this, you'll know where to market to them and what messages to use. But, and this will probably be an unpopular answer, marketing is a job business owners need to do regularly. And, by regularly, I mean daily. Think of new ways to get