On June 13th, 2021 I celebrate 10 years of being in business, and all in the same location, so I thought I’d do a blog post and talk about some of the highlights as a massage therapist in Kalispell. I’ve done about 2500 loads of laundry, all at home with my own washer and dryer. I wasn’t great at folding fitted sheets until about year 5, haha! Despite climbing on and off the massage table almost as many times as I’ve done laundry, I’ve never had an accident, and only one close call, and 1 injury to myself (a broken big toe, doing ashiatsu).
One way of describing my job is “I touch naked people.” Folks must wonder what ten years of looking at every imaginable kind of naked person must be like, and truthfully, it’s quite an honor that I don’t take lightly. Every person is unique, but ultimately we all have the same muscles in the same place, they’re just used more on some people. Tall, short, old, young, hairy, not hairy, after awhile it’s all the same, but the honor of being trusted with their dignity, and knowing I’ll show them respect and give them their money’s worth is never lost on me.
At one point a few years ago I thought “Maybe someday when I’ll retire I’ll write a tell-all book about life as a massage therapist”, but the truth is, there are only a couple of crazy stories worthy of attention. Here’s the 1st one: About 5 years ago I had a male client, a mechanic who must have come straight from work to his session. As I said above, I’ve done a lot of laundry over the years, but this guy was literally so dirty and greasy that when the session was over and I looked at the sheets, I realized there was no WAY they would ever be remotely clean again, and I threw them away! Here’s the 2nd: I had a husband and wife who booked back to back sessions, the first at 9am. While I was working on him, she went to the bar next door and got so drunk that 10 minutes into her session I had to call it quits and go get her husband to carry her to the car!
I’ve tried many marketing efforts over the years, including a few parades where I put my equipment on a flatbed trailer and either had friends hang out with me and wave, worked on my wife on the massage chair, or actually worked on a live female client on the massage table. That parade got me some hate mail, but massage therapists across the country praised the effort. (my wife was in the truck on that one)
One of the things that has set me apart from the other local LMT’s is that I’ve always had a table with a breast recess. (the parade pic is a great example of that feature). Now, ten years later the obvious thing that sets me apart is ashiatsu, with kinesio taping being a close 2nd. My skills have improved greatly over the years, I’m always on to new trends in the industry, and was using CBD oil topically in sessions well before it was the cliche it is now. Another thing that sets me apart is that I usually ask clients what they prefer to listen to, rather than just put on the same old, tired spa music. It was quite a game changer for me when I discovered Spotify, and my clients greatly benefit from being in control of what music is played during their session. The requests have ranged from Prince to Joe Rogan podcasts, and it always turns out good.
Another important thing that sets me apart these past ten years is that I decline tips. A mentor of mine early on taught me that, and it’s an important part of my business model.
As of this writing in June 2021, this is the 1st year I have not been one of the top 10 LMT’s in the local newspaper Daily Interlakes “Best of the Flathead” poll. In 2016 I won! Considering at this time there are roughly 80 licensed massage therapists in the Flathead Valley, there is a lot of competition out there.
For the first 5 years of my career, I worked as a debt collector part time while I built my business, and have been full time for the last 5 years. I’m hardly a millionaire, but certainly one of the highest paid locals, and have the benefits of a flexible schedule, call all my own shots, and choose who I want to have as a client.
Yes, I’ve actually fired clients, usually because of chronic tardiness, but there have been a few exceptions where a personality conflict was obvious and we parted ways at my request.
Yes, I’ve used my wife Sharmon as a model in some of my marketing, here’s an early pic from my career, check out that hair and brown shirt, oh, and the blond hottie too!
10 years have seen a lot of massage therapists come and go locally, but I’m still here, at the top of my game, in the same location, and still offering the highest quality massage therapy available in the Flathead Valley. CHEERS!
