I could write the book on this one, and perhaps one day I will.
But who would buy it?
It's not going to be a best seller when I tell the truth: it is difficult and probably impossible to make a full-time living as a Lingam Massage Therapist.
That's not what anyone want to hear.
Especially nowadays when we're bombarded with averts for change your life and get rich methods. Honestly, if you want to get rich or even make above the average wage then do something else!
I'm always sceptical of those individuals who appear in the adverts saying:
"I started selling a niche product on line and now I work 5 minutes a day and make mega money."
Because if that's true, why are they sell courses to teach other people to do the same!
Everyone can see I have run my SEXY MASSAGE business in the same way for over a decade, so perhaps I've found the secret sauce and I'm keeping it to myself by warning other people not to even try it.
Hey, that would make sense: that's exactly what I would do!
The average income in the UK is something over £30,000 per year and in the last decade I have not made anything near that from offering my massage service. But if you were to start up in business you might well earn more than me if you do something differently.
These are some of the things that have kept my revenue (the income) low:
1. Limited hours - this has been my biggest constraint the entire time. I've had children and therefore the need to factor in their needs. I have never offered full time hours. I've never been available 48 weeks of the year.
2. Having outside premises as I don't work from home and this is a big expense. If you work from home you can cut your costs and travel issues. You do need to think about client parking and have an immaculate space for the clients including bathroom facilities.
3. In all the years I've offered my service in its current format (over a decade) it has always only been my secondary income. I run another business so I divide my time and attention. This suits me as I don't like having all my eggs in one basket, and I was easily able to pivot when we had lockdown for the pandemic.
If you set up your business offering 2 or 3 time slots per day morning and afternoon with the occasional evening and you were consistently available for at least 46 weeks per year then you would certainly have a good chance at gaining regular clients and earning more than me.*** Although that's not all there is to it.
Now, for some amusing stories... well, amusing to me anyway.
I've seen businesses start up and disappear within a year, some of them have copied my business completely down to tiny details. Some of those details which I started are now very much standard. I'm fairly certain that it was my website in 2011 that was the first to tell clients the exact time allocated for the massage and the time allocated for conversations and getting changed
It used to be that all other sites would simple advertise a 1 hour massage, when they actually meant a 30-40 minute massage.
Initially, I promised my massage would be at least 75 minutes. I was twice as expensive as the massage parlours in my area but offering a session that would be twice as long. And when clients came to me they knew exactly what they'd get and how much it would cost: which was all vague and hidden in massage parlours.
Anyway, over the many years various people have set up copy-cat businesses to me and extremely close to me when I was based in Kent (2 or 3 times they were located within 1 mile) without actually doing all their research. They opened, they closed. They didn't see the success they were hoping for.
Now clients do talk. And a few will visit all the services. So I did get to hear about the differences from the client's perspectives. It is my impression that my competitors did two things different from me:
1. overestimated the number of clients that would see and therefore were disappointed with the financial return.* remember I've never needed it to make a FT income.
2. underestimated the attention to detail required for every aspect that wasn't the actually massage service: things like excellent clean facilities and extra time for talking.
***
Are you still with me?
Have I put you off?
Have you realised this business isn't the route to giving up your day job and making more money than ever before.
DO NOT GIVE UP THE DAY JOB
This kind of work is ideal if:
1. You already have the perfect premises and don't need to invest money in a separate building (because the chances are that will never pay out for you).
2. You only need to work PT hours and can be flexible with those hours. Note: almost all of the clients will want daytime appointments. You will find hardly any demand for 7pm or later.
3. You aren't under financial pressure because you do have a different main income.
***
That is the Reality Check delivered
Now, if this kind of work is ideal for you now that you have had the reality check then get down to the nitty gritty of doing the work. That really could be a book, or a course. Perhaps I could offer a mentorship.
I didn't start doing this overnight. If you have any thoughts comments or questions I'd love to hear them.
