Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1476304
L i s te n to T h e A B M P Po d c a s t a t a b m p.co m /p o d c a s t s o r w h e reve r yo u a cce s s yo u r favo r i te p o d c a s t s 83 TAKEAWAY: Massage therapists have a responsibility to have a plan about the logistics of their business in the event of their death or disability. top, as death or incapacitation can activate certain legal documents like health-care directives and power-of- attorney documents. Ongoing fi nancial transactions may need to be put on hold and various parties named in legal documents may need to be notifi ed. As an aside, this is a great time to encourage you to make sure you have your will or trust, as well as various estate-planning documents—established and current. This includes naming benefi ciaries (and transfer-on-death instructions) on all your fi nancial accounts and assets. Your marketing systems would also need attention. If you die or are unconscious in the hospital, the last thing you want is your scheduled social media posts going out inviting people to book massages or buy gift certifi cates. You need to delegate someone to log in to your accounts and pause posts, and possibly update your website with an appropriate message. You'll need your online scheduler disabled and a sign placed on your door. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE YOUR "GET HIT BY A BUS" FILE? Organizing everything doesn't have to be complicated. Your starting point is to identify one or more people responsible for handling these things after a tragic event. You'll then want to create a checklist of the tasks they will need to execute, which includes the things previously discussed. Make sure these trusted contacts have a copy of this checklist or know where to fi nd it. From there, you'll want to decide how to grant the access needed to allow your trusted contacts to carry out these tasks. One of the best things you can do is organize all your fi les into one system. Using a cloud-based system like Google Drive is a great option, but there are plenty of others. You'll want to organize all your important fi les in this system. Next, you'll need to make sure your trusted contacts can get access to your systems. Using a password manager can be a great way to handle this. Most password managers allow you to add one or more trusted contacts to your account. If something happens to you, they can request access to your account. If you don't reply after a certain amount of time, it will give them access to all your passwords. This is a great way to create one single method for giving someone the "keys" to your business. If you or your trusted contacts are not tech-oriented, you can also store this information in paper documents in a safe. Pretty much everything you use will have your email address on fi le for password resets. So if you ensure that this document always has your current email password on fi le, then others should be able to get into everything else because they can log in to your email and then do password resets on all your other accounts. Whatever system you use, be sure to keep it up to date! It's a good idea to review everything annually to make sure your fi les contain the most current information. A PLAN LEADS TO PEACE OF MIND Setting up a "get hit by a bus" system is not fun, but it will likely lead to peace of mind for you and your loved ones. While we don't always have control over our own mortality, we can take control of the outcomes and how it would affect others if something tragic happens. Allissa Haines and Michael Reynolds are found at massagebusinessblueprint.com, a member-based community designed to help you attract more clients, make more money, and improve your quality of life. FREE DOWNLOAD: "HOW TO GET NEW MASSAGE CLIENTS" 1. Open your camera 2. Scan the code 3. Tap on notification 4. Download!