What they don’t teach you in massage school could hurt you.
Sure, you learned the general anatomy of the human body, locations of muscles and techniques to help ease your clients’ pain. But how much did you learn about massaging a business ledger? Or, what about best business practices, general accounting principles and tax law?
If you’re wanting to go into business for yourself, or open your own practice and manage employees, this information is essential and can easily be learned through home study courses that count toward your continuing education credits.
A number of home study courses, which can be found easily online, walk you through how to set up your business, marketing and managing the practice.
By establishing your business model, you are able to determine what you need to break even financially, estimate the demand for the needs you can offer, learn about business zoning restrictions within municipalities and set business plans.
Should you start at home, rent office space or buy property to open your practice? Determining what your financial limits and goals are can help you in establishing a successful business.
When you know your goals and limits, you can start finding clients. Without proper marketing, no one will be able to find you. And these days, with sites like Facebook, Twitter and other social networking Web sites, the marketing possibilities, which are no longer limited to fliers and traditional advertisements, are endless.
Classes on marketing can teach you about writing news releases, educating the public, sales promotions, client retention, customer service and getting referrals from other practitioners. Getting your name out to the general public is key in promoting your newly formed business. And with your determined location, you can know how to cater to your surrounding clientele.
On the more technical business end remains managing your practice and employees. Home study courses can teach you how to manage an office budget, maintain a ledger and proper balance sheet, as well as maintain client records and confidentiality laws.
With April now here, don’t forget about tax season. Home study courses also teach you about what tax deductions your practice might be eligible for and the importance of paying payroll taxes.
In addition, don’t forget a course on business ethics. A home study course on business ethics can help your practice in determining fees, tips, gift certificates and dealing with employees.
Make sure you check with your national and state licensing bodies to make sure the courses you select are acceptable for your continuing education credits.