Do It With Intention | Business & Marketing for Massage and Bodywork Therapists

As a bodywork therapist, you know that dreaded feeling when your perfect work day gets turned around by a last-minute cancellation.

Cancellations can be so discouraging — somehow, we always feel like it's our fault and we don't want to face the painful process of dealing with them.

On today's episode, I'll share with you my own cancellation policy, and ways that you can set up your practice, so that cancellations are less painful for you and your business.

Remember, if you come from your heart, you can be both firm and kind with your policies and you can do it with intention.

This week on the Do It With Intention Podcast:

• The 2 parts to a great cancellation policy.

• What to do when somebody cancels to keep the process as smooth and painless as possible for both you and the client.

• My standard email I send clients after a cancellation to collect payment.

• How writing a clear, concise, cancellation policy that you consistently enforce will result in fewer cancellations in your massage and bodywork business.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

Students and colleagues are finally getting back into hands-on work as massage and bodywork practices re-open across the country.

As this transformational work continues, I've been getting a lot of questions on setting time boundaries and starting and ending sessions on time.

We all know from either the practitioner perspective, and from being clients ourselves, that sinking feeling of running behind with an appointment, and how it throws off the entire day, as you scramble to catch up.

On today's episode, I dive into how you can have healthy boundaries within your business and end sessions on time, in order to build on the safe container you create for your clients and your business.

This week on the Do It With Intention Podcast:

• What to say to a client at the beginning of each session in order to help create positive, realistic expectations for the session.

• Why leaving the client in charge of the content, but allowing yourself to be the driver of the bus is an intentional and loving way to facilitate a session.

• Tips to help you end each session gracefully and on time.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

Paid advertising can be a powerful tool for growing a business, and it requires thought and intention.

On today's episode, I'll walk you through key considerations to think about before you spend your money on advertisements for your practice, so that you can follow your heart and build your practice with integrity, without wasting your hard-earned dollars.

This week on the Do It With Intention Podcast:

• 5 considerations to reflect on if you're thinking about paying money to get clients in your doors.

• Why considering using Facebook ads for your practice requires extra attention and thought.

• Key differences between print and digital advertisements that will help you to create the best ads for your massage and bodywork business.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

In my almost 17+ years in the bodywork industry one of the questions I get most often is, "Should I accept tips or not?"

Many massage and bodywork practitioners have strong opinions on allowing tips in their practice, so on today's episode I walk through my perspective and experience around the topic and how I've navigated it so I can be truly present with each client.

I've learned over the years how to create a safe space for my clients by charging premium prices for premium services. One of the best parts of being a business owner is that you are able to make your own choices for your practice that resonate with you, and you're able to do it with intention.

This week on the Do It With Intention Podcast:

• 3 things to consider when you think about whether or not you will accept tips in your practice.

• How not accepting tips can make your massage and bodywork business feel safer for clients.

• Why tips can be tricky when you want to earn a consistent and sustainable income.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

Over the past year it has been so inspiring to watch my Bodywork Project students pivot their businesses during the pandemic to continue being of service to their clients.

I am thrilled to have Julie Taylor, an experienced nurse practitioner, herbalist and reflexologist, join me on today's episode as she shares her experiences in doing what she has always done in her career — pivoting with her passions to meet her clients' needs.

Take a listen as Julie shares how she translated lessons learned in The Bodywork Project into successful business practices she plans to continue in the years ahead, and find out about her unique connection to the okapi. (What's an okapi, you ask? Listen in…)

This week on the Do It with Intention podcast:

• How taking something simple that you're knowledgeable in and turning it into a client offering can be of such great service to others if you're just able to take that first step and put yourself out there.

• The misconception that in-person retreats need to be scaled for success and how, alternatively, small, intimate retreats can lead to the most healing and transformation.

• Ways to consider your massage and bodywork clients' needs matched with your skill set to spark ideas for new offerings.

• The small and easy way to introduce a newsletter to your clients without overwhelming their inboxes.

• Julie's new method of leading her introductory sessions that has allowed for richer, more meaningful discussions and appointments, which she'll be continuing even after the pandemic!

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

It can be an agonizing part of your business -- for all bodyworkers -- to raise your rates as you are working every day to be of service to your clients. But, if you do the clarifying work to intentionally land on the right pricing for your practice, you will be able to step into each session with purpose.

On today's episode, my friend and Bodywork Project student, Jennelle Thimmesch, shares her empowering journey in raising her prices for a third time.

I am so excited for you to listen as she shares her deep wisdom from her transformational Zero Balancing practice, how increasing her prices empowered other therapists in her town, and even what landed her dog on her list of 100 reasons to raise her rates.

This week on the Do It with Intention podcast:

• The importance of using a step-by-step process, as we do in The Bodywork Project, to find an intuitive number for your rates that resonates with you and that will give you the comfort needed to succeed both personally and professionally.

• The empowerment that comes from taking the clarifying steps to raise your rates from your own authority within yourself.

• How Jennelle's price increase letter to her clients lifted up other therapists in her town, as she learned from the model of others in The Bodywork Project.

• Jennelle's advice for any bodyworker on how to be able to come from a place of true generosity in your life and work.  

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

So many bodywork therapists are working through losses from this past year – loss in their businesses, personal lives, or even loss of loved ones from Covid-19. For bodyworkers, it can be difficult to see beyond that grief and to continue being of service to others.

On today's episode, I am so thrilled to sit down with my friend and Bodywork Project student, Kristy Denton, to take a real, honest, look into her personal and professional transformation over these difficult months.

Kristy is honest and open as she shares her story of dealing with devastating loss, and her decision to continue to serve others through her bodywork practice.

As Kristy has navigated running a successful CranioSacral Therapy and massage practice in a small Oklahoma town, where there are more cats than people, it is so great to hear her story and perspective on what a passionate bodywork practice looks like in any corner of the country.

This week on the Do It with Intention podcast:

• Lessons learned from a small-town CranioSacral Therapist on how to introduce your light-touch therapy to clients who don't yet understand the healing benefits of your modality.

• Kristy's alternative ways to keep in touch with her clients and to create new offerings that allowed her to become more confident in herself and her business.

• Boundaries in her business that allowed Kristy to have a full schedule while only seeing clients 3 days a week with plenty of time to rejuvenate, take time for herself, and show up for each client with a full cup.

• After such personal heartbreak, the power of seeking support for both yourself and your massage and bodywork business.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

As bodywork therapists, we have the good fortune to meet many unique and special clients who walk through our doors looking for help on their healing journeys.

Just as there are people in your life who you don't perfectly mesh with, there will always be clients who just don't sit well with you. Or, to put it bluntly, bug the heck out of you.

How do you continue to offer premium services to clients through this tension, and maintain your presence throughout your session together, even when you don't necessarily see eye to eye?

On today's episode of the Do It With Intention Podcast, I'll walk you though a big lesson I've learned about working with difficult clients that will allow you to still show up and be of service.

This week on the Do It With Intention Podcast:

• My experience with a difficult student when I was a high school teacher years ago that still so perfectly relates to my ability to work with difficult clients in my practice today.

• Why having compassion and understanding for each client, even those tricky ones, will allow you to step into each session from a place of neutral and maintain presence throughout.

• How a small shift in attitude and energy can transform the success of your sessions with any massage and bodywork client.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

When I was first starting out in my bodywork business, my revenue goals were always just to make "more." But what happens when you can never reach that target of more?

On this week's episode, I want to build upon your vision and goals for your business we've been talking about the past couple of weeks, and consider how your revenue targets fit into that vision.

When you know that you are making enough money, not just "more," you can be more present in your work with clients and they, in turn, are going to have better results from your work because of your presence.

This week on the Do It With Intention Podcast:

• 2 types of income targets and how to set your revenue goal for each month around them.

• Why being intentional with your income goals is empowering while growing and running your massage and bodywork business.

• How to set what I call "possibility benchmarks," so that you can remove the pressure of unreasonably high goals while also opening yourself up to the possibilities of what might be.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos

As the new year unfolds, I am so excited to see and hear about your inspiring visions that you have set for yourself and your bodywork practice for 2021 and beyond.

Once you have your vision, though, then what?

On last week's episode I shared with you 7 simple steps to start envisioning how you want your life and business to be over the coming year. But in order to make your vision a reality, you will need to have clear, actionable steps to take you there.

Today, I walk you through how to make solid, achievable goals to kick-start your vision into becoming reality.

This week on the Do It With Intention Podcast:

• Understanding why goals are just one aspect of getting you and your massage and bodywork business where you want to go.

• Why avoiding goal-setting is not a realistic way to run a business that will support you and your family.

• The difference between aspirational goals and process goals and how to utilize both in order to make your vision a reality.

Resources from this episode:

• Grab your free practice-building resources here!

• Check out my website

• The Bodywork Project

• YouTube massage business videos