Seeds of Success

Q: A fellow new graduate (and friend) and I are discussing sharing a session room in a health center. Would it be worth the hassle of figuring out who gets the room and when, to have an established place to practice? Would we need to have a written agreement about the arrangement? The alternative is to set up my massage table in my living room.

You have a couple of major issues; let’s handle one at a time. Long-story-short, there’s nothing wrong with practicing out of your living room—as long as your cat isn’t hopping up on the massage table and dinner isn’t cooking in the other room. And it’s best to have a written agreement between business partners—especially if you are friends.

Let's look at practicing out of a personal space first. There are rules of professionalism you want to clearly maintain. It has to be clean, private, safe, accessible and not too personal. Realize that your client is going to use your bathroom, so you don’t want your see-through nightgown hanging on the back of the door. If the practice room is in the living room, your books on how to become a white witch probably aren’t the best thing to leave hanging around. The issues of boundaries and professionalism are absolutely huge when you practice out of your home.

Most clients are comfortable coming to a massage therapist’s home; however, the issue of you not wanting some clients in your home may arise. There’s always the cross-gender issue if you are a female. One of my colleagues, whenever she has a male client, after she lets him in the door, walks to the top of the basement steps and yells downstairs to her (imaginary, non-existent) husband, “Honey, I’m starting a client now, keep the TV volume down, will you?” Moral: Take precautions regarding whom you let into your space.

That said, many massage therapists do a smashing business out of their homes. It’s great for tax deductions, it’s convenient and you can make it homey and comfortable—and still professional. (Before you open your practice at home, make sure your neighborhood zoning laws allow home-based massage practices.)

Some clients will feel more comfortable going to a business setting for massage, and such a setting really is perceived as more professional. If you have the opportunity to share a space with a friend, try it for a year. Because you’re going into it with someone else, the overhead expenses will be halved, the rent is half, and you’ll have a colleague to brainstorm with. Perfect!

But put your agreement down on paper. Yes, even if she’s your best friend. This is a business; treat it as such. Create a monthly calendar with times on it; highlight her days and times and your days and times. “No surprises” is your mantra. She doesn’t get to show up during your time, and vice versa.

Determine right up front, and write it out, what percentage of the rent you are both paying. How are you going to split the expenses for the laundry, lotions, cleaning supplies and utilities? Who’s going to change the light bulbs and clean the toilets? Are you taking turns? Does she get to dip into your laundry and lotion supply if she runs short? Write it out.

Relationships can be mercurial, and you don’t want your business to suffer if you have a tiff with your buddy. If you’re both mature professionals, you’ll come up with a friendly agreement, you’ll both stick to it, and in a year you’ll both know if you want to continue.

Sandi Russ, owner of The Balanced Body Shop in Greenville, South Carolina, works with several massage therapists. She swears the reason her business runs so smoothly is that she has a contract with each person she shares space with.

“I used to take things for granted, things that were just common sense, but I’ve since learned that that doesn’t always work,” Russ says. Her written contract, drawn up initially for three months, evaluated by both partners and then written up for one year at a time, covers everything she could think of to keep her business running smoothly.

Russ strongly suggests a non-compete clause, even among friends. “If a partner comes with a lot of clients and then builds the business over time and then decides to leave, our contract specifies that she can’t open up a new practice within three miles of my site.”

A good measure of the strength of your friendship will be if either of you resist drawing up a contract. This is a business and your livelihood. You aren’t saying you don’t trust one another; you’re simply saying you both want to be successful and you want the business side of your relationship to run as smoothly as possible.

Send your questions to Charlotte Versagi at CVersagi@comcast.net.

Charlotte Michael Versagi, L.M.T., N.C.T.M.B., M.L.D./T., is president of the American Massage Therapy Association’s Michigan chapter, a clinical supervisor in a hospital oncology massage program, a lymphedema specialist, and on the faculty of a massage-therapy school.