Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72093
BUSINESS SIDE Most chambers also sponsor free educational seminars. In my own rural town in North Carolina, our chamber offers a "Lunch and Learn" program almost every week on different business topics. It's held at a rotating list of local restaurants; everyone pays for their own lunch, and expert speakers give presentations on topics ranging from using social media to finding tax deductions to how to manage time. With all that available for free, it's rather surprising that any business owner would actually have to pay for advice. COACHING I confess that the very word coaching rubs me the wrong way. It's my own issue, stemming from a time when I worked in an office with a woman who had appointed herself the Official Office Coach—no one was safe when she was around. Her standard greeting was, "May I offer you some coaching?" and without waiting for the answer she would proceed to tell you what was wrong with your attire, demeanor, makeup, or the way your office was arranged (she was also a self-proclaimed feng shui expert). Everyone hated to see her coming. Ms. Busybody aside, many massage therapists are supplementing their income by offering personal coaching services—and many more are availing themselves of the services— judging by what I see happening in my social networks. One coaching organization offers a 125-hour online program that costs $9,190 to become accredited. Whew! You may need a coach to tell you how to come up with that kind of money. The same company offers a live, six- day course for less than $3,000 in various cities across the country. In just six days, you'll know everything you need to know about how to advise people on how to conduct their personal and professional lives. I'm not sure that's valid. Many of the people offering coaching services have had no such training. Even more importantly, many have no real qualifications for offering such services, or no real measure of success and experience from which to draw. My bottom-line advice: if you're in the market for a coach, hire one based on the personal recommendation of someone you know and trust. Barring that, check the previously mentioned review sites and Google. A little Laura Allen is the author of A Massage Therapist's Guide to Business (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2011), Plain & Simple Guide to Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Examinations (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009), and One Year to a Successful Massage Therapy Practice (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008). Allen is the owner of THERA-SSAGE, a continuing education facility and alternative wellness clinic with more than a dozen practitioners. Contact her at therassage@bellsouth.net. investigation can go a long way. Hire one who has successfully run a real business and not just a coaching business—someone who has been through the school of hard knocks. There's not a coaching class in the world that can touch that. WHO'S YOUR EXPERT? I have mentors (I guess that's the old-fashioned word for coach). The person I turn to for relationship advice is the one who has been in a happy relationship for more than 30 years and who has loyal friends and family who think well of him. The people I turn to for business advice are the people I've seen running their own successful businesses for 10 years or more. That's not to say that they haven't ever had a failure; we all have failures, but they have bounced back from failure and come away better and stronger than before. I regularly take advantage of the seminars and services offered by our chamber of commerce, SCORE, and the Small Business Administration. I network with other massage therapists and other small business owners, and I also have what I call "distance mentors." They're successful massage therapists I admire, and I follow their careers on social networks. I see what they're doing and read what they're writing, and they all seem to have a common thread: they never get tired of learning. They're constantly on a mission of self-improvement, no matter how far at the top they may be. I notice that even those who have been practicing for decades still make reference to their own mentors and their own continuing education. Bear in mind that success is a relative term. And remember that whatever it is that you need in order to reach your personal definition of success, there is expert help available. Celebrate ABMP's 25th anniversary and you may win a refund on your membership. ABMP.com. 27