You don't work 40hrs/wk?

[chelsea.divine]

How do you respond when your 40hrs/wk working client asks you "how many clients do you work on a day"? I say 3 or 4, but wonder what they're thinking? Concerned I may come across as either failing or lazy.   Do you add anything after the plain facts?

 

[Farhadalishah]

When most therapists work , the hour is filled with physical and at times mental work for the good of the client. Before I was a therapist I lugged 5 gallon water bottles for a water route for about 7 years and that was physically demanding. Every job has demands and I feel absolutely no guilt in reducing my work hours from 50+ hours a week to about 30-35.(for just about the same money)If anyone questions the amount of hours you work IMHO they haven't yet figured out the power of the service you provide---besides aside from the actual hours  you have to add in drive time, time cleaning and folding sheets, writing notes ,etc.---and all that adds up....keep healing..............

 

[Golf]

hi,If you have the book...Check out page 160 of Mosbey's "Fundamentals of Therapeutic Massage" (1995) by Sandy Fritz.  Box 7.3 "Massage Pricing Averages."  I have this page photocopied and as soon as someone even starts to complain without knowledge of the non-massage work time put in to the business, or about the prices, I have this out and make reference to it.  Here are quotes about time management from it:"...There is always time between massage sessions.  It will take:Forty five minutes to do a half hour massage.An hour and fifteen minutes to do an hour massage.An hour and forty five minutes to do an hour-and-a-half massage.Three hours to do an hour on site massage. " and it goes on to say, "Always remember that each hour spent doing massage requires at least one hour of business management time.  Giving twenty one-hour massage sessions is at least forty hours of work."This is all very true.  There is so much more work behind the scenes that clients don't see:  record keeping, cleaning, laundry, changing the sheets, phone calls, researching conditions, continuing ed classes, purchasing supplies, photocopying forms, doing the books, arranging advertising, etc, etc.Re: Clients perception of 3-4 appts/day:  Take as many appts. as you can handle physically and emotionally.  You have to maintain your own health if you want to be able to help others improve theirs.  Take care of yourself first and feel good about it.  Nothing wrong with that.  

 

[Sahara]

Wow, CanadianRMT, I wish I had access to those quotes when I was working for the salon! They always wanted me to do an hour massage but they always had BIG troubles scheduling me properly.But hey, we won't go there... because it will just upset me.  Anyway, glad you have put this up to help others! Thank you!

 

[One More Year Nick! (2)]

If you are an independent, self employed MT then doing 3-4 a day is reasonable.  Given all the time to prep, change and clean the room, do the client and business paperwork, then devote some time to marketing before doing the laundry, you have a full day.  Many of us don't really count the hours doing laundry or paperwork when we do them in the evening while trying to spend time with the family, but we should.  

 

[sophiesmummy]

LadySinatra, 40-50hrs if I include time studying and on the boards!  YogaLMT, I like the idea of explaining that FT is 16-20hrs/wk.  CanadianRMT, don't worry, I will adhere to my limits. Strong believer in that. As stated in another post, I'll only work on as many clients as I can handle well.  If I start thinking of myself during massage, that's too many. Thanks for the info.  I have a different Mosby's.

 

[Karamazov]

When clients ask how many hours I work, and  I tell them I do 3-5 hours of massage a day, their typical response is "wow that's a lot".  They know how much attention and physical effort I put into their massage and that I also manage the entire office.  Clients sometimes become concerned, if they are the last one in the evening, that I am tired.  That's when I let them in on the secrets of how I take care of myself by either starting later in the day or having a substantial rest between clients.  In my experience, it's a rare client that believes our work is easy.  And if they do, they usually want to know how they can get more of that for themselves.  To me, doing massage is like performing a dance.  I want it to look easy...like I have just as much to give the last person of the day as I do the first and that my lifestyle is free of struggle and angst.  I believe that in order to inspire others to release their own struggles I have to set the example.  Cassandra

 

[This is my avatar]

I also find that the "good" clients (not the nosy ones) ask me "don't you get tired?!!? " and I tell them that my # of sessions per week increased slowly so it was easy to adjust.  I also say "like any other job, it's work, and you get used to it".  My clients usually feel concern for me, I think.  I tell them 20 a week is full time because of laundry,  notes, etc. - the stuff that the rest of you mentioned.

 

[Lindsay Killer Cherry]

That's one of my favorite questions "how many hours a week do you work?" and I tell them "whatever it takes to get the job done".  Now I don't even work 20 hours a week sometimes as I'm still trying to get things moving here, but I have to explain to people that if you see 20 clients a week, that's pretty much full time.