January 1 is the national day for bowls and goals, a day for football and fantasy.
The football part is obvious, of course. But I say fantasy because, without commitment, a plan and a willingness to receive coaching, a massage therapist’s new years resolutions made on that day—whether to lose a lot of weight or get new clients onto their table—are merely pipe dreams.
As for the coaching and support part, one can coach oneself, but professional sports teams have seen that player-coaches have a hard time doing both. Either performance on the playing field suffers, coaching from the sidelines suffers or worse—both plummet. In that same way, it’s also hard for a bodyworker to be in their patterns and outside of them.
As a marketing coach for massage therapists for the past 20 years, I’ve seen many massage therapist resolutions made on January 1 and forgotten by January 4.
I’ve also seen many massage therapist resolutions made on January 1 become realities by March 1. The difference is in the commitments, and the willingness of a therapist to get support to make those dreams come true.
Massage therapists are great at giving support. They do it every minute that their clients are on their tables. But, after privately coaching more than 300 different MTs for the past two decades, I’ve noticed that they are not generally that good at receiving support. To be frank, they’re usually pretty bad at it
Making Real Resolutions
Let’s suppose you want to improve the appearance and health of your body, and your resolution is to lose 20 pounds. You can do that on your own, or you can join a weight loss program such as Weight Watchers, and get support. Micromanagers and control freaks usually like to eschew groups and do this on their own.
If you can succeed this way, that’s great. But there’s nothing wrong with getting others to lend a hand. After all, you make your living by lending a hand or two to the muscles of your clients.
Suppose your resolution to enrich your body looks by adding more tone and more muscle. You can do that on your own as well, or you can hire a personal trainer.
Or suppose on January 1 you look at your business, and the resolution is to double your income. To say the least, this exciting goal requires commitment. And getting support is essential to this goal, as is having that support on a regular basis, which helps a great deal.
Newton’s Law of Inertia and Massage Therapists
Observing the universe, the great physicist Sir Isaac Newton discovered what he called the Law of Inertia. In case high school physics wasn’t your cup of tea, it goes as follows:
“When no outside force is acting upon it, a body in motion tends to remain in motion and a body at rest tends to remain at rest.”
This principal applies equally in the world of human behavior and the massage therapy business. The key to Newton’s law is the premise: “When no outside force is acting upon it.”
It makes no difference if you view your life as a body in motion or a body at rest; unless you introduce an outside force, the resolutions to change your behavior, your waistline, your client roster, or your bank account will not likely make much impact.
That’s because the habits that created the reason for your January 1 resolution, will still be alive and kicking on January 2. One “outside” force you can introduce is commitment.
Another is support—such as a weight loss group, a personal trainer or a business coach. Introduce all three and your chances of losing 20 pounds, being more muscular and expanding your massage business by a factor of two are magnified enormously.
Doubling Your Massage Business
So how do you double your income?
As the old proverb goes; only a new seed yields a new crop. Your attitudes have been with you since childhood when you learned through osmosis the money psychology of your parents.
A good way to do this is through the use of affirmations. Here’s a good one: “I can undo negative ideas about money, and double my income this year.”
To double your income you must at least double your magnetism. That’s not likely to happen unless you raise your enthusiasm, your vibrations, your energy and overturn your family money patterns. You must become a bigger person.
When you consider that we use a tenth of our inner potential, this is very attainable growth.
As the marketing coach for massage therapists, I’ve shown many therapists how to keep the pilot light that they lit on January 1 aflame as the days peel off the calendar.
Such a coach is there to show you how to stretch who you think you are, change what you say about yourself and realize big breakthroughs in your worldly achievements.
When January 1 of the following year arrives, you have the breakthrough in your bank account that you resolved to create. This breakthrough was created by the transformed person you became in the process—and by commitment, the willingness to receive support and coaching.
Receiving Support
We all need vitamins and nutrients regularly. Are you also aware of your minimum daily requirements for inner vitamins? By inner vitamins, I’m referring to qualities such as appreciation, for example.
They’re available through a simple process that involves you and another person, your client, if you like, and takes only two minutes.
The technique makes you feel terrific, kind of like an inner massage and it lifts your self-worth. This is critical if you want to expand your income, because increased self-worth (a subjective quality) is the basis for increased net worth (an objective measurable financial term).
The process for getting the vitamin A1 (appreciation) that you need every day looks something like this:
Her: I appreciate your dedication to helping people heal.
You: Thank you.
Him: I appreciate the deeply therapeutic massages you give.
You: Thank you.
Being comfortable taking in the energy of appreciation allows you to be comfortable taking in the energy of money. Switch after a minute, and acknowledge your client as well. Then thank each other for providing your minimum daily requirements of appreciation.
Vitamin A1 isn’t the only inner vitamins you need daily. Others include Vitamin E1 (enthusiasm); Vitamin H1 (happiness), Vitamin H2 (hugs); Vitamin K (kindness); Vitamin L (love); and Vitamin R (respect).
If you’d like real health, add these essential inner vitamins daily with the different people in your life from your partner and kids to your coworkers and clients.
If you live alone, you can also do this exercise over the phone.
Magnetizing Yourself Through Enthusiasm
Foster Hibbard, an inspired teacher I’ve worked with, said that Napoleon Hill (1883–1970), his teacher of 13 years, claimed many of the great inventors, business magnates and political leaders he met through his 20-year mentor relationship with billionaire Andrew Carnegie, derived great results in front of a mirror.
Hill studied with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, among others.
The process they employed is simple enough. Look into the mirror when you’re by yourself and say the word “Enthusiasm!”
The reason to do it alone is obvious: you’re about to speak energetically to your reflection. Most people feel self-conscious looking in the mirror, doubly so if excited with others present. Also, don’t mind the responses in your head as you awaken enthusiasm.
Why enthusiasm? Because it’s contagious. Suppose you needed to hire a massage therapist to work for your business, and had three similarly experienced candidates: the first was depressed; the second was “hanging in there;” and the third was enthusiastic.
Who would you hire? The question is rhetorical: People love to be around enthusiastic people because they lift everyone in their presence and clients love to be around enthusiastic massage therapists.
Consider etymology. Our word enthusiasm comes from the Greek “entheos,” defined essentially as the divine lively within you.
This technique works immediately and amazingly. A caveat for you before beginning it—it’s natural to feel foolish, at first, when you start employing this method in your daily regimen. In time, that self-consciousness will give way to a more confident excited consciousness and a magnetic personality.
It’s that kind of enthusiasm in your being that will attract more clients to you. It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps the image of yourself all turned on might also be worth a thousand dollars.
On January 1, several college football teams will be victorious. Use that day to start your process of becoming victorious, as well.
About the Author
Coach Cary Bayer is an American Massage Therapy Association keynote speaker and marketing coach. He has worked with Quality Inns; Oscar-winning actors Alan Arkin and Pietro Scalia; comedian David Steinberg and director Judy Henderson, both Emmy winners; and 300 massage therapists. He has created 14 National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork-accredited workshops, as well as two DVDs for massage therapists. He also authored the three-book Grow a Rich Massage Business series.
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