Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/766890
C h e c k o u t A B M P 's l a t e s t n e w s a n d b l o g p o s t s . Av a i l a b l e a t w w w. a b m p . c o m . 31 and social media. Any time we present ourselves to the world, we are vulnerable. Do it anyway. One thing to count on as we begin sharing ourselves with a wider range of people, raising our prices, and touting the valuable outcomes of our work is that we will receive some criticism. Whether it comes from a client, a peer massage therapist, or a family member who has a negative reaction to seeing our growth, something will happen that will sting. Knowing that this is inevitable, do it anyway. Any negativity we receive will be a tiny fraction of the overall response. It will come from people who want us to stay small so they won't feel pressured to grow themselves. So many more people will be happy we are sharing our skills and our message. They have been looking for us, they need our help, and unless we open up and share, they will never know we are there. You could even say that if we continue to wait for something outside of ourselves to give us the confidence to share our skills in a bigger way, we are actually harming the people who need our services now. We are required in this field to endow ourselves with our own value, as massage therapy does not have a long history of being valued in our society. We need to know in our minds, bodies, and souls that what we offer enhances peoples' lives so much that it is worth earning a good living wage. Our best clients already know this. They know they require our work to live their lives to the fullest. Listen to what they say about your work, and use these words to promote what you do best. LIFE STARTS NOW It is human nature to procrastinate. We can make really good excuses about why we need to wait until later to do something. We will be more prepared in the future. We will know more then. We will have more experience. While this may be true, it also may not. Time can go by DO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW TO PROMOTE YOUR PRACTICE: • Attend a networking event. • Call a client you haven't seen in a while and invite them in for a session. • Make a video inviting people to your practice and post it on social media. • Write a blog post. • Write a letter introducing yourself to a doctor or mental-health counselor. and we can lose focus and energy. We can begin to talk ourselves out of our deepest desires so we don't have to face the challenging parts of the journey. I am not advocating that you stop learning new techniques and improving your skills. Not at all. What I am suggesting is that you do not wait for some undefined point in the future to begin thinking of yourself as a professional with something extremely valuable to offer. I want you to start embodying that thought right now. In life, we need to make a leap. We need to do the scary thing we don't think we can do. We need to find the value and energy inside ourselves that we are waiting for the world to recognize. Waiting only means we are kept out of view. People are mostly concerned with themselves and their own lives. There are not many people walking around the world looking to discover you. You need to present yourself to them. Find value in yourself, and the world around you will start to take notice. Do not wait. You already have what it takes. Jennie Hastings, LMT, BCTMB, has studied money in the therapeutic process from every angle: as a client, patient, and practitioner. From the very beginning of her bodywork career, she received business training and coaching. Now she helps other massage therapists break through limiting beliefs about money with private and group coaching. She can be reached at jennie@massageblossom.com.