As I have said before, I tend to have my ups and downs. I seem to ride that roller coaster even though I am aware that it exists and that I shouldn’t get on it. But, like most therapists, I’m up when I work, and down when I don’t.
Interestingly enough, I have just come off of a relatively busy slow season. I managed to meet all my bills, and knock down my credit card balance. But right now, it is getting slow, and realization of the true situation is setting in. This makes me start a nose dive that I have trouble stopping. At this point, some truths set in showing me that I really don’t know what I am doing business-wise.
Part of what hurts is that I contribute nothing to the family income. In fact, I have no income at all. The business almost pays for the business, but not completely. At present, the company is showing a $6,600 loss on the year. This comes from mostly necessary expenditures. There was a show I paid to be in that I never recovered my entry fee. The company needed a new computer as the software I was running would not run on the one I was using. The bottom line is that I may be making the rent and mostly the monthly expenses, I am still not completely self sufficient.
I have had a lot of good suggestions from friends, and many I can’t see implementing. Some very valid points have been pointed out. I obviously need to make changes, but I’m not sure where to start, or how and what to do. This made me start digging into numbers again (my right brain was thrilled, or was it the left… I can never get that straight).
Out of everyone I have seen this year (this includes clients that came in last year), 22 people came back once or more than once. Out of those, I expect to see 13 of them again. I feel the others will not be back for whatever reason.
Of the 87 new people that I have seen this year, only 9 came back for more sessions. That’s about 10%. Of those 9, I expect 6 will return for more. That makes the group of returning clients not quite 7%. Most therapists survive by having a fairly large number of returning clients whether they come in weekly, biweekly, or monthly. I obviously need to increase my number. The problem is that I don’t know how.
I have been told that I need to talk to my clients after we are done working and get them on a plan (hence the ‘P’ in SOAP notes, Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan). I need to let them know that their problem will come back unless they change something. To get completely better, they need to start taking care of themselves on a regular basis, and that includes massage (or whatever modality they were here for). I need to tell them that there is a goal (their healthiness) and show them that if they come regularly for a bit, they can then start coming monthly to keep their pain away. Basically, I need to help them see what they need and get them on a plan that will help them reach their goal.
Unfortunately, this is not an easy thing, and I feel it may take more salesmanship than I have. I agree, people are looking to be told what they need, rather than figure it out for themselves. They need to be led to better health. But I am not a salesperson. (I have actually considered sending out a questionnaire asking why they have not returned. If I did it in a stamped self addressed envelope, I might get most back. I might truly learn that my work is bad, or that once people have been fixed, they don’t see a need to come back, like they do with a doctor. Or I may find that the people I attract are ones that simply can not afford to come on a regular basis.) When I talked with the lady that owns the shop down the street (whom I have traded with) she couldn’t tell me why people wouldn’t come back. The two there that I have worked on both said the work was great.
The other thing suggested was to raise my prices. The average price for a massage in Jacksonville is $65, while I charge $50. Others charge more for type and difficulty of massage where I don’t. The only difference in price is the hot stone massage.
The other reason for raising my prices is to attract people that can afford to come in often. Some people tend to look at low prices and think that something is not as good if it costs less. This is why some people will shop at Macy’s and others at K-Mart. People feel the same way about massage therapists. If one does not charge a lot, then they can’t be very good. Hmmm, so I should raise prices to gain more business? The bad thing is that I am seriously thinking about it. (Here we go again. Let’s reprint all the flyers and redo both web sites not to mention the PayPal rates for gift certificates.)
The other flip of the coin is that I have a lot of people that truly can’t afford to come in regularly (and I include once a month in that term). I feel that most of the people I see can barely afford my prices. Maybe that is the wrong market to be appealing to, but maybe it isn’t. I’d hate to think that most of the people I have helped might not have been able to get help had my prices been more.
The worst thing is that the whole thing makes me feel like a failure. I know it takes time to build a clientele, and I know I need to be patient. But at the rate business is growing, it will be 10 years before it is going well. I have been in a lot of situations in my life where I have had not control over the situation, and I have hated it each and every time. This by far is the worst. I can’t do anything more to make things better, or I don’t know what to do to make things better. I feel like I’ve reached a plateau. I need to figure out a lot of things, like what it takes to keep people coming back.
I also keep getting hit by things caused by my own stupidity. Three months ago, I must have taken the bill for renewal of my auto tags, and let it get shuffled under some other papers. Today, I taught astral projection to two people. I got a check for $80 for the class. On my way home, I got pulled over by the police and given a ticket for driving with expired tags. The ticket cost $71.50. So, my teaching the class netted all of $8.50. Ok, did I really upset someone in a previous life?
My landlord is trying to talk to her handyman to see what it would take to move a wall in her office. If she does this, the big room will go from 10 x 18 to 15 x 18. Now, my office is taking up the first five feet of that room, and my sister-in-law has her stuff in the rest. She wants to go out of there, but is staying because I can’t make the whole rent. Now, once the determination is made on the wall, and a time frame is set, and I get a wall built to separate my office from the new treatment room, I’ll be looking to hire a therapist. And guess what… that person will be a female. I figure a female therapist will be able to pick up on the males that won’t deal with a male therapist. At least that is the idea.
I feel I’m pinning too many hopes on this to be a big push for the business. Yet, I know that this is something that the business needs. It has been suggested that I hire someone now, and share the one treatment room. I just can’t see scheduling this. I would be afraid that the new therapist would get so many clients that I would not be able to use the room. J No, it would be best to wait until I have two treatment rooms.
The biggest joke is that this whole rant seems to be about money. It is, but it is not about making tons of money or huge profits. My focus is on the work, but I know I need to make money to be successful. If I am thinking about raising prices, it is because it will attract clients more likely to come back on a regular basis, not because I want to get more money. I just want to work. But to do that, I have to make money to pay rent, and pay myself something so I don’t feel like I‘m failing.
So, I guess I’m still riding that roller coaster. Right now, it seems to be running in circles as well as up and down. Sooner or later it will level out and end. Then the key will be to stay off of it. I guess I just got to stop buying those tickets.