BUSINESS
Career development
The right
CHOICE
Choosing a new modality means balancing research, reward, interest and instinct…
a new modality and simply want to learn it out of personal interest. That’s fine, but training is also an investment both in yourself and your business, so care should be taken to ensure you’re making the right choice.
ANY holistic therapists find their way into the industry almost by chance, or perhaps fate. They may they have experienced illness or seen those around them improve their health and wellbeing when using some form of holistic treatment. Unsurprisingly then, most therapist start out by training in a modality that they have personal experience of and that they know has a positive benefit. We follow our hearts and our instincts in the earliest stages of our careers, choosing what feels right. Holistic therapists are often life-long learners, adding new modalities or specialisms as their career progresses. Sometimes we feel drawn to
One lesson we all learned from the pandemic is just how quickly and dramatically circumstances can change. When selecting a new modality, it makes sense to start with a SWOT analysis looking at the existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing your business. If you’re vulnerable to lockdowns and can’t easily pivot to delivering services online, then this should be one of your main considerations when choosing to qualify in an additional modality. Look for something which lends itself to both in-person and remote delivery. Many holistic therapists who switched to online delivery during the pandemic found that they had an increased demand for their services and that
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Futureproofing
this has been sustained in the period after restrictions eased. Many clients may prefer to get their treatments delivered at a distance.
Balancing your service portfolio The next thing to consider is the overall balance of your service portfolio. You might want to train so you can offer more advanced or specialist treatments in a given modality. This is great if you have a large enough client base with clearly differentiated needs. So, specialisation can work out well for, say, therapists who specialise in pain relief or sports injuries and work in sports centres in urban settings. It can also work well for therapists who have a tremendous reputation and draw in clients from a considerable distance. Where specialisation may not be the best strategy is where you’re clientele is local and your services are less differentiated than most therapists. Say you work in a holistic centre or your own practice room and are trained in Swedish massage.
holistictherapistmagazine.com
