Learning from the mistakes of others

A famous coach said ‘It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.’ Magdalena Vonk shares what she’s learnt…

WHETHER you’ve been in business for a few months or a few years, there’s a wealth of knowledge and understanding to be gained simply by listening to other people’s experiences. Experienced holistic therapists have a lot of stories to tell of what went right and what went wrong in their businesses. We can all learn from them and save ourselves time, money and problems.

Learning through experience

New therapists usually get their knowledge and first experience of client care from case studies, more established therapists will understand that there is so much more to the client work than what is taught during initial training. College or course base experience enables practitioners to get the basic understanding of the profession but does not teach them about exceptional customer experience.

Boundaries

One of the topics that is not addressed enough during the training courses are boundaries. Most holistic therapists work in an intimate environment with their clients. Clients share personal stories. Because many holistic therapists are naturally empathetic and supportive, it’s is easier for us to fall into a trap of unhealthy relationships with our clients. The therapist client-relationship will never be an equal one. There is as power imbalance in every relationship where one side is employed by another to help them with their physical or emotional pain. If you are working with the same person over the period of years it is understandable that the bond may develop, however therapists should protect their own boundaries as well as help clients keep their own throughout this time.

In addition to the power balance there is also an issue of clients becoming friends and asking you for friends and family discounts. In over 11 years in business I have learned that friends will never ask for discounts and pay your going rate as they understand that you have bills to pay.

CPD vs. confidence

Many new therapist start unsure of their own skills and often fall into trap of over qualifying before they start earning money. Although training courses are valuable source of knowledge and practical experience they do not give therapist the level of confidence that can be gained from working and being paid for the work completed. Confidence in your abilities will never come from giving free treatments. It will come from working and being able to provide for yourself and your family from the work you are charging for.

No self-care

As holistic therapist you should know a lot about self-care. Looking after your body and mind is your bread and butter after all. However, many therapist to whom I spoken over the years seems to be shocked that I have regular bodywork sessions as they hardly ever do. There are various ways in which therapist can look after themselves, it is important to find your own. Sharing your aches and pains or a history of illness is not something that you should burden your client with. Remember your clients are having sessions with you to feel better themselves, not to make you feel better.

In person

If you would like to improve your clients’ experience make sure that you learn from others. Over the years I visited various holistic therapist and I always gain at least one new thing from the encounter. This can be an opening line or a massage move or the way how they designed the room. We can always make our clients’ experiences better.

Things that I have learned from other massage therapists:

Asking clients how they would like to feel at the end of the session. This helped me be more focused and target the areas where I need to put extra work during the treatment. I’ve had good massages that could have been better if my therapist had asked this.

Room décor that makes sense e.g. putting a decorative plate with flowers on the carpet so my clients look at something pretty when they lie down face down.

There are various ways in which therapist can look after themselves, it is important to find your own

Using appropriate music is the key to relaxing experience. I had some treatments in a practice room beside a loud gym and this was made more relaxing by use of headphones. I had also have some treatments where I was able to hear therapist next door chatting and this was the opposite of relaxing.

Using eye pillow when my client is lying face up to help them feel more cosy and relaxed. This also keeps the sun out and if you use lavender pillow it can be even more relaxing.

Time keeping. We are only human and we can for one reason or another run late and not start the session on time. Never assume that your clients will be fine with finishing later. People often have another appointments or babysitters waiting for them and finishing late may mean that they will be late and stress because of it. Always check first.

Conversations and friendliness are good at the beginning of the session during the welcome and intake form part of the session however chit chat during the session can be distracting and stop the client from relaxing and fully enjoying their session.

Online

As business owners, we need to act professionally online as well as in person. Some do’s and don’ts that I picked up over the years when it comes to online behaviour include:

Being able to handle criticism gracefully is the key to gaining more clients. Many people scroll to negative reviews just to see reply from the owner. If the reply is tactful and in a good spirit it shows that the business owner is professional. This is what clients want.

Behaviour to avoid online includes complaining about other businesses or clients. It does not matter if you do it on your private wall or on your business account. You never know who is looking at your posts written in heat of the moment. If you are angry or feel like you need to share your opinion about someone’s actions now, ask yourself a question – is this going to matter in 6 months’ time? If the answer is no I suggest that you sleep on it before you go to social media to share your story.

Remember that all businesses have good and bad moments, but complaining about customers or competition will only make you look unprofessional even if at the time you receive some likes and words of encouragement. n

iMAGDALENA VONK is a therapist and tutor in Cheltenham. Her passion is helping other therapists to get as much as possible out of their businesses. If you have any questions related to running a massage therapy business email her at

magdalena@wellnessinmotion.co.uk.