Issue 119

AMTA keynote urges fiscal confidence

“How many of you would like to double your income?” Brian Tracy boomed to the attentive crowd of massage therapists gathered in the Albuquerque Convention Center. Hands shot up all around.

“I know, some of you say that you don’t do this for the money … and I bet you lie about other things as well,” he deadpanned, as the audience erupted in laughter.

Tracy, a motivational speaker and author of 30 books, including Break the Success Barrier, Create Your Future and How to Master Your Time, delivered the keynote address, “Massage for the 21st Century,” at the American Massage Therapy Association’s annual conference. His message was an important one for the altruistic massage-therapy field: Despite working in a healing profession largely untainted by a profit-driven mentality, massage therapists don’t have to settle for earning less. On the contrary: Every therapist has the ability to greatly improve her income—if she believes she deserves to and is willing to make money-smart choices.

Massage therapists are poised in the enviable position of helping baby boomers, a group more than 50 million strong, stay healthy and pain free as they age, Tracy said, adding, “it’s a great time to be in this industry.”

Because of this, and the public’s growing acceptance of massage, there is ample opportunity to earn more money, Tracy said. However, massage therapists, like all Americans, must take care to weed out “throw-away behavior”—i.e., spending money as soon as it comes in—which perpetuates a financial “comfort zone” that never allows them to get ahead.

To break this pattern, Tracy said, massage therapists must start to think differently about money and their right to it. Leading the crowd in rousing volley of affirmations (“I like myself!” “I love my work!”), Tracy emphasized lessons gleaned from successful people: healthy self-esteem, a belief that they deserve success, goal setting, perseverance, and adoption of behaviors that enhance, rather than deplete, income.

Without a financial plan, buoyed with a healthy attitude toward self and money, “the majority of people will not fulfill their potential,” Tracy said.

“The top 20 percent of massage therapists make most of the money,” he said, citing a statistic that mirrors all professions. You can turn this statistic around by applying strategies that put you in line for success. Adopt good financial behavior. When you get an idea, act on it, fast. And if you don’t succeed, try again … and again.

“If you keep trying over and over again, odds are you will hit one ball out of the park,” Tracy said. Finally, when you meet someone successful, ask what he or she does. “Start studying successful people,” he said.

— Kelle Walsh