Becoming a continuing education teacher can be a rewarding way to share your expertise, whether you’re teaching locally or traveling to exotic destinations. Key steps include creating a marketable course, choosing the right location to teach, and understanding state license renewal cycles to schedule classes effectively. With expert advice from seasoned instructors, this guide covers everything from course approval to marketing strategies, helping you build a successful teaching career. Success requires careful planning, consistent effort, and a willingness to adapt and grow as an educator.
Key Takeaways
- Focus on a course topic that resonates with you and appeals to other massage therapists. Research trends, gather feedback, and ensure your course length and price fit market expectations.
- Whether teaching at a massage school or renting a venue, consider the pros and cons. Schools handle marketing and provide resources, while renting offers more revenue but requires higher upfront investment and full responsibility for attendance.
- Schedule classes close to state renewal periods to attract massage therapists needing CE credits. Research renewal deadlines for your target states to optimize attendance.
- Use social media, mailing lists, and partnerships with massage schools to promote your classes. Tailor your marketing to your teaching location and target audience for better results.
- Build confidence by practicing your course, bringing extra teaching materials, and presenting content in an engaging, interactive way. Start small and refine your skills as you gain experience.
Have you ever dreamed of working as a continuing education teacher on an exotic island or making a living teaching continuing education courses? Both dreams are possible if you have a battle-tested plan.
A Google search will net basic information, but to avoid costly time and money mistakes, you will need to tap into the knowledge base of massage therapists who have made their teaching dreams come true.
I spoke with two: Laura Parker is a continuing education (CE) teacher and the CE director at Sage Continuing Education. When I caught up with Parker, she was returning from a teaching gig in Costa Rica. Jim Earley works full-time teaching CE courses. Recently, he taught 158 days of classes in a 12-month period.
Both of these continuing education teachers have important advice that can help make your teaching dreams come true. Let’s start with creating a CE course to teach.
Creating a CE Course
What course you should create
According to Earley, the perfect CE course to create is one that speaks to you and is marketable.
To find a course that speaks to you, start a list of massage topics that interest you. Parker points out you should not overlook the topics you already understand, because these indicate some level of interest on your part.
You can figure out which courses sell by looking for trends when searching courses online. You can also ask colleagues what kinds of courses they like. If you have access to a group of massage therapists through social media or an email list, you could conduct a free survey using a survey tool, like Google Forms.
How long the course should be
An eight-hour CE course is spot-on, according to Earley, because most massage therapists can commit to one day, but if it is longer than one day it might interfere with work.
If you are teaching your massage course at a destination location like Costa Rica, two-day (16 CE) courses tend to be more popular than one-day (eight CE) offerings since massage therapists have to carve out time in their schedules to make the trip anyway, says Parker.
How much you should charge for your course
Research the price of courses in the area where you are going to be teaching the course and figure out a price that is comparable, explains Earley. “Area” is the operative word. Earley’s courses are less expensive in areas where massage is less expensive. Parker says the average price per live CE hour ranges from $20 to $25.
How you get your course approved
You can get your course approved as a CE course through the state where you are teaching the course or you can become an Approved CE Provider with the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB).
As an NCBTMB Approved CE Provider, your course will be accepted by many states; for more information you should contact your state board of massage.
Once you have your course approved for CEs, you will need to decide where you want to teach your course.
Choosing a Location:
You can teach your course at a location that is set up to offer classes, such as a massage school, or you can rent a space, such as a hotel conference room. We’ll look at both types of locations.
Teaching at a Massage School
A massage school provides a room ready to go (massage tables included) and will help market your course. For payment for their marketing efforts and a space that requires little to no preparation, schools usually take a percentage of the cost of the course; for example, Earley’s percentage split is usually 60/40 (Earley/school).
If you are just starting out, say both Parker and Earley, try to teach through a massage school where there is no location cost and the school provides help with the marketing. Even though a massage school will make your course known to their audience, you will want to do your own marketing too. When teaching at a school, Parker’s own marketing efforts usually bring in 50% of the attendees.
You can start marketing by sharing the school’s links and posts about your class on your social media. Ask massage therapist friends to share your class information. Also, join massage-relevant online groups where you can post about your course.
Earley amplifies his reach by contacting the CE director of a massage school and arranging a 15- to 30-minute talk with their students to introduce his courses. Some students will take his classes even though they are not licensed or certified yet. In addition, a massage school’s director likes to have extras to offer students—like a CE teacher talking about upcoming classes—which can only strengthen the CE teacher’s relationship with the school.
When you teach your course, some participants will like you as a teacher and want to know when you are teaching again. Make sure they are on your email list so you can notify them about upcoming classes.
If your goal is to travel to faraway places and teach, don’t count out massage schools. Parker is scheduled to teach in massage schools in Iceland, Alaska and Hawaii in 2023.
Teaching at a Rented Location
If you rent a space, you keep all revenue from selling your course, but you incur all the costs of renting the space and marketing the class. Typically, you will be renting a hotel conference room that is big enough to accommodate massage tables. You will need to supply the massage tables, linens and lubricant or ask massage therapists to bring these supplies.
You will be 100% responsible for bringing in the participants. Free advertising probably will not be enough to fill all the seats.
To expand her marketing reach, Parker purchases mailing lists of massage therapists from the NCBTMB, state massage boards, professional organizations and companies specializing in mailing lists. The parameters of the list are different for each teaching location.
For instance, if she is renting a teaching space in Ocean City, Maryland, she will purchase a list of massage therapists around Ocean City, Maryland—and not a list of massage therapists around where she lives.
But for Costa Rica, Parker targeted Florida, since, geographically, it was close to Costa Rica and airfare would be less expensive than for someone who lived farther away, such as in Nebraska. Parker’s list also included massage therapists from states whose renewal period was coming up.
Ascertaining a state’s license or certification renewal period is not only important for marketing, it is also vital for creating your teaching schedule, because many massage therapists find themselves needing to earn CE close to the end of their renewal period.
Schedule Your Continuing Education Classes
Earley resides in Pennsylvania, but lives close to New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. He teaches in all four states and usually selects schools that aren’t too far away from his home to avoid the expense of an overnight stay.
Although Earley teaches year ’round, classes are most attended closer to a state’s renewal period, so he plans the bulk of his classes in the timeframe when the renewal period is coming up for each state. As a rule of thumb, Parker suggests scheduling classes within six months of a renewal cycle. You can find out a state’s renewal cycle by going online to the state’s governing board for massage. You now have expert tips for selecting, developing and marketing a CE course, but there is one more important area to cover: Teaching your course.
Becoming Competent as a Continuing Education Teacher
If you are concerned about being a good teacher, understand it will take time for you to gain confidence unless you already have teaching experience. For new teachers, Earley recommends keeping massage participants in mind as you teach. Make the class interesting to them and present information in a sharing—not didactic—way.
When you do this, he explains, participants will feel comfortable and you will relax, which will allow your personality to come through. Parker says participants like protocols to follow as they learn. First, teach a protocol, and then later in class allow participants to experiment. Also, come with extra teaching material, especially the first time you teach the class, in case the class moves faster than you had planned. Last, get some practice reps in teaching the course before you take it live.
Costa Rica or Bust
You need to be a competent course designer, teacher and marketer to travel the world or make a living teaching continuing education classes. To travel the world teaching, the safe way to start is to pick a location that has everything ready for you, like a massage school. You will have to pay for some advertising, but if at the end of the day the gig pays for the trip and you make a small profit, you have a win.
If you want to make a living as a continuing education teacher, identify the states where you want to teach and determine the license renewal cycle for each one. Then contact schools or find your own venues and set up a teaching calendar where the bulk of your classes are scheduled no more than six months out from the state’s renewal deadline.
Remember, Parker and Earley didn’t become successful CE teachers overnight. They had to figure out the formula for success. It is: a good plan plus a lot of hustle equals your continuing-education-teacher dream come true.
About the Author
Mark Liskey, LMT, CNMT, is a massage therapist, business owner, teacher and blogger. You can access his free, massage-business crash course on his business page, makethemostofmassage.com/free-courses.
