How To Start A Massage Business

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This article is based on an interview I conducted with Beret Kirkeby who is the owner of an orthopedic massage business. Check out her orthopedic massage business in NYC and enjoy the article.

Does Location Matter For A Massage Business?

Absolutely. Ideally you would want a ground floor location. Simply seeing the store front give the community the awareness that your business even exists. Being in NYC, ground floor locations are not readily available to small independent owners. The math just does not work out for what you can charge vs the rent.

We ended up on the 22nd floor of a medical building. To compensate, our website is our storefront. To survive, we had to learn A LOT about SEO (here is our SEO course), marketing (here is our marketing strategy course).

Additionally, if possible, you want to choose a location which does not have many competitors but does have a large enough population to supply you with enough clients.

How Do You Choose A Location For A Massage Business?

Because we could not be on a ground floor, the next choice was about how easy the business is to get to. We picked a location at a large transportation hub. Then based on the locations available, we considered our costs and maximum potential revenue.

Massage is an hourly rate business so a single room has a specific limit of revenue it can bring in. Locations with 2, 3 or 4 rooms all cost very different prices and bring in different levels of revenue.

We were looking for a space with a minimum amount of rent and a maximum amount of rooms. Maximum profitability vs cost became the deciding factor.

How Much Money Do You Need To Start A Massage Business?

My five year lease required a $20,000 down payment. Construction, remodeling and improvements cost another $35,000. I also budgeted 10,000 in float for my business banking.

What Permits & Licenses Are Needed To Start A Massage Business?

For massage therapy, you need to be a licensed massage therapist in the state in which you are working.  You must also have personal liability insurance and liability insurance for your business.

What Are The Biggest Costs? Any Hidden Costs

One big unexpected cost is laundry if you can imagine. It costs $500 dollars a week because there are so many things to wash. We have laundry fees coming out our ears. Once we are fully up and running to capacity that bill will likely double. It will cost more than my reception.

Hidden costs are the online marketing expenses. It takes Google a long time to figure out who you are and where you are once you put up a website. Just because you are online does not mean people are finding you. Before you have natural visibility, you have to pay for it via things like AdWords. The bills add up quickly. Almost every major website has some service you can pay for to gain more visibility. Examples of such sites are Google, Yelp, Twitter, etc. But even if you are paying, keep in mind that all your competitors are also paying, driving up the price of the advertising. To stand out you may have to pay even more than they do. It is best to really focus on understanding how to gain visibility in the long run without paying.

Here is our article on how to promote a local business.

How To Market And Promote A Massage Business?

Luckily enough, most of my clients are looking for me. We are a highly specialized company that treats injury and pain management. Most massage companies in New York are geared towards spa work and relaxation type of massages. Right away, our niche sets us apart. From the locations that provide the same sort of services as us, most of those are in a clinical environment while our space is a bit of a design piece, set in an art deco hotel themed environment. That unique experience helps us differentiate.

How Many Hours Do You Work Per Week As The Founder?

I am never really not working to be honest. Last week my boy friend took a picture of me brushing my teeth while typing. I would say I work over 70 hours per week (sometimes more). 20 of those hours is actually doing the massaging.

How Many Employees Do You Need? How Can You Make Them Reliable?

We currently have 5 employees. At full client capacity it will be closer to 15 employees. Reliability is an entirely other issue. We do an extensive interview process with our therapists. Many of them are given questions to answer via email before they even come in to interview. Then they interview with us and give us a massage. Its difficult to get a position at our location because we are very thorough.

How Do You Monitor Your Employees?

We are a small location so I see my employees at work every day. Keeping tabs on them is not really an issue. They also peer review each other in monthly meetings. Once a month each therapist gets to teach something to the other therapists. Then we work on each other to raise the level of our skills.

What Are Your Profit Margins? What Is The Most Profitable Thing You Do?

Therapists work on a base pay and a split. When you work it out I pay therapists $50 dollars per client. First time visits are discounted to $99.00 dollars and a return visit is $130.00. Technically, the business makes $50 dollars on a first time visit and $80 on a return visit before expenses. I overpay my employees. Industry standard is $40-45 dollars, but I expect a lot more from them so I pay accordingly.

Here is our tutorial on what are profit margins and how to calculate a profit margin.

Do You Feel This Is A Good Business To Get Into?

I personally would not recommend it to anyone who does not have burning desire to try to change the industry. Massage is considered a health care profession. However it still lives in a grey area of a service profession. We pay higher costs for advertising, and fees because we are listed as health care. But we can’t collect insurance in NY. The industry is changing fast, and at the lower levels of employment it can be very physically demanding and even at times demeaning. We are at the bottom of the health care industry and sometimes you can get treated like that.

If you are looking to start a massage business, here is a tutorial for how to write a business plan and plan your business.

To Whom Do You Recommend This Business?

If you are going to get into this business, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you do your research first and know exactly what kind of massage you want to do. Often it is an excellent choice for someone who uses it as a flexible part-time job while pursuing another career like acting, music or their own small company. Often, massage therapists don’t earn more than $30,000 dollars a year. It can be hard to make the jump to business owner without support.

What Is The Ideal Client?

The ideal client is someone who is invested in their health care, or a sports enthusiast. Because we work with injuries, people move on as they get better. Our goal is not to keep them here. The very proof that we do what we say comes from them moving on.

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