Many of us that are working in the health and wellness industry struggle with the idea of making money. However, if we think of money as ‘energy’ and that money energy is reflective of the ‘value’ that we provide to our clients, then to make more money energy we need to provide more value.

Now, while we can offer different alternative treatments to our clients, these will require more time and often a completely separate appointment, which kind of defeats the purpose of making more money from the existing hours that we are working.

The solution? Add deluxe upgrades to your massage treatments that add to the experience, while not requiring additional time to perform and also being inexpensive to do. For example, in a 90 minute massage treatment you could allocate 5 or 6 minutes of that treatment to a doing a basic sugar scrub on the client’s feet for an additional $15, and / or you could finish the massage with an indulgent 7-8 minute scalp massage using a beautiful all-natural essential oil based hair treatment for $10. That’s an extra $10, $15, or $25 that you have just made on top of your normal massage fee. How good does that sound?

I can tell you from many years of experience that this strategy most definitely works and the increased enjoyment that the client experiences from the deluxe treatment will help with re-bookings and also happy referrals.

When things get a little quiet and you’re wanting to bring in more business, you can take these same indulgent add-ons and offer them complimentary to clients who book for a certain time frame e.g. Enjoy a 90 minute massage and get an invigorating peppermint foot scrub and an indulgent lavender oil scalp massage (valued at $25) absolutely FREE! Limited time only. First come, first served. Book today!

So there you have it, a quick, easy and effective way to earn more money per massage. If you could add an extra $100 per week to your income by offering some beautiful upgrades, that’s an additional $5,000 per year for no extra time on your part (other than some minimal preparation and clean up).

I hope you’ve found this marketing tip helpful. Leave me a comment below with your thoughts and if you have your own ideas for earning extra income as a massage therapist, please feel free to share.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would have no doubt heard the buzz lately about essential oils. One company, in particular called doTERRA Australia (https://www.beautifuloils.com.au) is behind the near meteoric rise in essential oil sales in this country.

What are essential oils and what makes them so popular?

Essential oils are the extracted essence of plants, flowers, seeds, wood, and resins that contain beneficial properties. What makes these oils so popular is that they represent a safe and natural alternative to supporting health and well-being as opposed to relying principally on chemical, synthetic drug-based medicines.

Do essential oils work?

In a word, yes, they do offer healthy benefits such as increased relaxation, improved sleep, and skin benefits, although limited studies have been done to date on their effectiveness in treating serious diseases and conditions in humans. The overwhelming majority of clinical studies that have been done to date have been carried out in vitro in test-tubes and petri dishes and in vivo with rodents. As is well understood, results in rodents do not necessarily replicate in human beings, so more human clinical studies are needed.

Ways to use essential oils.

There are 3 primary ways to use essential oils.

1) Aromatically – This simply means that you are breathing in / inhaling the essential oils, which can be done directly from the bottle, from an inhaler stick, or from a diffuser.
2) Topically – This means applying to the skin for localized benefits, such as to support the skin or help soothe joint and muscle discomfort. NOTE: Safe industry practice is to always dilute essential oils before applying them topically. Neat application should only be used in rare instances, and only for very short duration.
3) Internally – This means actually swallowing essential oils, either in liquid form or in capsule form. Again, industry safety practices recommends that this be done under the guidance of a clinical aromatherapist who intimately understands potential interactions of essential oils with drug medicines. However, a growing number of essential oil enthusiasts (Wellness Advocates) are proponents of internal use as safe without professional guidance, provided that certain precautions are taken. This attitude and practice has been regarded by some professional Aromatherapists as potentially dangerous.

One thing that appears certain is that the popularity and growth of essential oil use in Australia (and abroad) shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Some are even saying that essential oils and aromatherapy are disrupting traditional health care. While this is a very big, premature claim there are a growing number of hospitals around the world that are integrating essential oils (such as doTERRA’s certified pure therapeutic grade oils) as alternative health care options for patients. Having choice is always a good thing.

For the entire week it rained. There was no sunshine to speak of and when it’s wet and no sun it feels cold, even in the tropics.

So I had to take my ‘pursuit of pleasure’ in doors and being a lover of really great massage therapy, I decided to try out what kind of Massage Surfers Paradise had to offer.

To my delight I discovered that there’s almost every style imaginable including Thai, Hot Stone, Reflexology, Swedish, Shiatsu and my long-time favourite: Hawaiian Lomi Lomi.

What I found interesting is the variations in price between massage therapists. Some were really cheap e.g. $45 for an hour and some were charging as much as $149 for a 60minute massage session!

As a marketer, I’m hardwired to equate price with quality and therefore the cheapest priced massage rarely appeals to me. However, as I had a whole week to fill in I figured I’d did try a couple of the cheaper sessions and evaluate.

Unfortunately, each time I came away feeling unsatisfied. The link between price and quality is a valid one and more often than not, you get what you pay for.

The 2 best massages I had were priced between the $70-$90 range and both the therapists were accredited and also offered a money-back satisfaction guarantee, which of course being a marketer I really liked.

Guarantee’s reflect confidence, which in turn inspires confidence. I mean, if you’re great at what you do why wouldn’t you offer a satisfaction guarantee? You’ll probably never need to honour it (as long as you over deliver), but it’s reassuring to potential customers / clients and can help bring in more business.

Anyway, by the end of the week I’d had 8 different massages in Surfers Paradise, all varying in price and quality. The sun finally came out on day I was due to fly out (Murphy’s law?) and as annoying as that was I was feeling very relaxed, and I’d even drummed up some business offering to help with a couple of the massage therapists online promotions.

All in all, even though it wasn’t the holiday I expected I had a good time away and I look forward to going back again soon. Hopefully the sun will be waiting for me.

Over the last few months I’ve been testing out some products namely the Presidents Pack by a company called Isagenix.

Isagenix are becoming famous worldwide for their highly effective nutritional cleansing program, which is helping people to transform their bodies (lose weight, gain healthy lean muscle), dramatically increase their energy and performance and add life to their years through healthy aging.

At first I was thinking it all sounded a little hypey, however after trying out the products myself and losing 13pounds of fat including 4 inches off my waist, not to mention experiencing a significant jump in my energy, I have to say that I am a believer.

Have you heard of Isagenix?