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Posted on: July 29, 2013

If you are considering a career in massage, this article prompts you to ask yourself five vital questions. Answering these questions will not only give great insights into many important aspects of what a massage career entails, it will also help you determine if a massage career is right for you.

1 - Do You Care About People?

Firstly let me elaborate on the question. Everyone cares about at least some people. I mean do you generally care about people, do you enjoy caring for people.

This is an important first question to ask. If you want a long term career in massage, you want to be able to answer honestly that you do, because it's the primary role you will have in your career. Everything you learn in preparation for your massage career is to prepare you for your primary role, caring for people.

2 - Are You a Good Self Manager?

After embarking on your career in massage you will need to be a good self manager. While some will find employment in spas, sports facilities or medical clinics, most will enter into their own business which means you are the boss of you.

You will need to have good time management skills and manage your book keeping, although you will be able to outsource some of that if you wish. Also you will need to manage your discipline as you will predominantly work unsupervised.

At the very least you need to understand that self-management is an important asset to have in a massage career. You should be willing to learn the skills if you don't feel you already have them.

3 - Do You Have Good People and Communication Skills?

This is an important question. Some people think that a massage career is perfect for a quiet, maybe even an introverted person. In many ways this is true, but keep in mind that you will need very good people and communication skills for 2 reasons.

You need to deal with clients before and after treatments, including dealing with initial face to face or phone inquiries. If people don't like you, they will not book a massage with you, no matter how good you are as a massage therapist.

You need to effectively communicate to find out any health issues they may have prior to treatment. Sometimes health issues are of a sensitive nature and they will not divulge them unless they feel very comfortable with you, so people skills are vitally important to ensure the best treatment for your clients.

4 - Do You Enjoy A Quiet Work Place?

Obviously working as a massage therapist means working in a quiet work place. No busy office chatter, and during treatments it means up to an hour of quiet, although it is common to have relaxation music in the background.

Of course this can be extremely desirable for many people. Most massage therapists actually love this environment and enjoy the quiet of treatment time. They even find it meditative and it can be very therapeutic for them even while they perform the treatment.

Also, if you choose to work part time in your massage therapist career, perhaps from home, then this quiet time may be a very welcome respite after your busy and noisy day.

If however you love busy chatter and noise in the workplace as some do, maybe this would not be an ideal environment for you and you may want to reconsider a massage career for yourself.

5 - Do You Have An Interest In The Human Body?

This might sound like a strange question. I recommend you ask it to yourself for 2 reasons.

First the obvious one, during a career in massage you will spend many hours per week in personal contact with human bodies, not working near people like in most jobs but actually touching their bodies. While it is always non-sexual, it certainly is an intimate profession.

From personal experience and from speaking with other therapists I have found that it really helps job satisfaction if you have a genuine interest in the human body and how it functions.

Second, the not as obvious. Many people seeking out schools for massage to begin their journey into massage therapist career are attracted by the 'art' of massage. And rightly so, the best therapists are certainly masters of their art.

However don't forget that massage is also a science, and in the course of training for your massage career you will have to do intensive study of the human body; anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, structure and function. A genuine interest of the human body will help make this time not only more valuable but intensely enjoyable as well.

Conclusion

Firstly let me say that while answering each of the above questions with a resounding 'YES' would certainly make you a perfect candidate for a massage career, it is NOT necessary to have a 'perfect score.'

I would simply encourage you to take time to have a conversation with yourself where you ask these questions and most importantly, you answer them honestly.

These questions are designed to give you insights into what a massage career entails, and to clarify your thinking about whether a career in massage is right for you. They should also help to reveal potential challenges that you may need to deal with either now or during your massage career.

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