Uncertain times for massage industry

It is no surprise the massage industry got hit hard during this 2020 Covid 19 economic disaster. A large number of Licensed Massage Therapists are either self-employed or subcontractors, therefore putting them in an unimaginable position questioning if a career in massage is even worth continuing.

A massage therapist is not an essential worker; therefore, they were mandated to shut down just like most of the country.  The first two weeks we did not take it as serious as we should have, in the back of our minds we were confident that the business could sustain the loss of income for a few weeks and it's business as usual soon after. Boy were we wrong, as the rest of the country can relate.

In the massage industry is very common that we work as either self-employed or subcontractors. It is rare that a small studio or spa hire massage therapists or estheticians as employees because the reality is they want to save on the 7.65% wage contribution to FICA on behalf of the person or just never got the education on how simple it is to hire a payroll company to streamline the process for the business. It is no secret that its easier for a small business to use subcontractors.  While most massage therapists start off as a sole operators,  a lot quickly realize the need to bring in a subcontractor or two to keep up with the demands or requests. Fast forward, you then can employ individuals including yourself to run the business. At least that what the idea is if you want to grow, right?

The idea of transitioning from subcontractors to employees in a business is never made lightly.  Its  easy and convenient the way things run with subcontractors and quite frankly the business  makes more money. If you have a small but growing crew, Why change something that is working? Be encouraged to know that surrounding yourself with a network of professionals to guide in the right direction at this moment in time during the economic disaster could have made all the difference. That decision of subcontractors versus employees hits home differently having to face a different outcome during the covid  19 economic disaster. 

If you are one of the lucky small businesses that got approved for the SBA 10,000 advance and also the Payroll Protection Program and all employees are now collecting unemployment benefits, all because a few years ago say you sat down to have coffee with a Human Resource professional, a Payroll Consultant, a Bookkeeper or accountant to get the ball rolling you are truly blessed and able to have breathing room now because for the ones that are subcontractors as you see from the department of labor statistics, most self employed individuals were left out of the benefits.

As a subcontractor during this time you would have attempted to file unemployment and been denied, would have not qualified for the Payroll Protection Program and would barely been considered for the SBA disaster loan. You and your subcontractors would have been in the same predicament as most of the massage therapists in the country. 

Professional  advice to protect your business is key to survive such a things as we are living today. That outcome  looks very sad right now, and sadly we hear and read every day of a fellow practitioner giving up their studio, practice and their dream because it is impossible to keep open to wait things out. It would mean closing the doors to the business that you worked so hard to build because it would be impossible to come up with the rent and pay the utilities until The Department of Public Health clears the industry to reopen.

Unfortunately, not many in the industry were lucky to have the right mentoring, guidance or education and network to help prepare ahead of time and right now are suffering the consequences.  Being honest it's been the norm in our industry to work as a subcontractor and now we face the worst consequence of that unforeseeable situation. 

There is more freedom in working for yourself, work when you want and how much you want and make make more money, its perfect! On the other hand, the business owner also makes more money so it's a win-win for all, or at least we thought it was that way until a disaster like Covid 19 strikes.

If you are in the wellness field or any industry similar, be encouraged to find a small local payroll company to handle your payroll. Did you know that for as little as under one hundred dollars per month you can protect yourself and your staff during economic challenges like we are facing today? Think of it this way, do you make more than one hundred dollars in tips per month? If the answer is yes, then you can afford to prioritize the future of your business.  

Learn from our current situation and make the necessary changes to ensure you are in a better position moving forward.

A Massage Spot

Taking extra steps to protect yourself and your massage business prior to reopening

While most in the massage industry are staying busy on social media to stay top of mind using the time to network, share and collect useful information that will help grow our business when the country reopens others are taking it a step further and even tweaking the intake forms. Anyone running their business properly has an intake form, we all have them, some are more detailed that others but across the board they can be generic but to the point. Not too many use a liability page because its just one of those things that small massage studios and spas don't worry much about.  Maybe when you started you got a bunch printed and when they ran out that was the end of that so if you used one prior to Covid 19, way to go!

Like everything in life, choose to make the best out of what life throws you way.  Learn from the situations at hand and work on how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.  Choose to make everything a teachable moment especially running the business. That is why we were was so happy today to come across a new Covid 19 liability form provided by My Massage World.  A precautionary Coronavirus Liability Release Form. You can have access to it by joining their email list. Who would have thought you would have to do such a thing, but here we are, implementing ways to protect ourselves and the future of our business.  
Fall in love with  the idea of implementing new things, like that the new intakes will be  precise, to the point and address all concerns by releasing massage therapists and the business from all liability so you are more confident to run the business when the country reopens.  Start taking some points from it and update  automatic intakes in your software if you have one and plan to have one ready for each and every client to sign prior to receiving a massage at you business.

In the meantime, Stay Home and Stay Safe using this time to work the back end of your business. Choose to learn something new each day that will help you run your business more effectively in the future.

A Massage Spot

Quick skin care

So is your skin is suffering because you haven’t had a facial in over a month? Here is a great idea for you to treat yourself with something right in your refrigerator.

Did you know that yogurt improves your skin tone, texture, and also moisturizes your skin? The yogurt texture helps lock in moisture in skin and even out skin tone reducing the risk of sun damage, dark spots and wrinkles.

Now please note, a yogurt mask should not be used if there is an infected area or broken skin on your face without consulting your dermatologist, please be sure you talk to a professional before attempting to treat any skin condition on your own.

Remember, your skin is an organ and it absorbs everything you put on it! #skin #skincare #beauty #esthetician #beautybusiness #spas #spabusiness #treatyourself #glowingskin

A Massage Spot

If you have a massage business, you have to read this

Uncertain, that is what we are in the massage industry. We are in disbelief that we started 2020 with big ideas, big plans and big dreams to grow our business and in the blink of an eye, complete SHUT DOWN!

Post after post in massage groups where each day there is a new post telling the same story, "I have decided to close my doors". For some early retirement because giving up is the only answer that makes sense right now, for others being a sole proprietor and not able to access the funds needed to keep up with the rent and utilities closing is the only option that they are left with. For the ones that make up the small number of recipients that their staff actually qualified for unemployment and business for: sba advance, ppp and a credit line, well it looks like there is hope after all; but is there really? Let's choose to believe there is, especially if the government is willing to help us ride this storm out and we continue to make every attempt possible to keep our business running. While it is easier said than done, it does not hurt to try. That last thing we want is to get into debt as we do not know how this is going to affect the rest of the year and our bottom line.

Something like the PPP is great but part of it clearly states "only forgiven if you use it for payroll within eight weeks of receiving the funds" which means if a business receives the funds this week and is shut down for another ten weeks now you have funds that become debt to the business. Explore all your options and plan accordingly for the future of the business.

Your clients miss you just as much as you miss them, across the industry everyone has been exchanging ideas on what and how to do things, getting creative, working on digital marketing and social media to the best of our knowledge making every attempt to stay top of mind for our clients not to forget about you, and quiet frankly hoping that they continue to show support by purchasing gift certificates in the meantime.

We are happy to get a Business Survival Guide For Massage Therapists in an email from Clinic Sense and hope it gets into the hands of every therapist out there that is going to do whatever it takes push through this challenging time. If you are using  ClinicSense as a scheduling software you will appreciate that the company has taken the time to put a survival guide together for the massage  industry to benefit from it.  Be encouraged to look them up and request the guide.  As you continue to prepare to reopening you will surely be thankful you did.

A Massage Spot