I'm about three months away from a Massage Therapist (and Thai Massage) certification and I've been a full-time RV'er for 2+ years now and would like to find a way to support myself with this while living on the road.
Has anyone ever been to a resort that offers theraputic massage training and/or services? I thought about approaching some of the large communities in the Phoenix area (I stayed at one in Mesa for a month last year, where my parents have a park model, and really loved it). I figure I could either give the resort a cut, or see if I could be hired to teach residents either or both of these modalities while doing private sessions on the side. I figure that some RV's are large enough to set up a table beetween slides, and maybe the resort would let me use the club-house for appt's. I just think it might be a service resorts would want to offer.
I am able to insure myself so that's not an issue.
What do you think? Does anyone have any suggestions?
I guess you're going to live in one state? Correct me if I am wrong but don't you need a license to do massages in each state you practice in? You also have to pay taxes in that state or county and some place city taxes also. Now if you are going to just live at one resort and make a deal with management to open a spa then that would work. Just my thoughts.
JAXFL wrote: I guess you're going to live in one state? Correct me if I am wrong but don't you need a license to do massages in each state you practice in? You also have to pay taxes in that state or county and some place city taxes also. Now if you are going to just live at one resort and make a deal with management to open a spa then that would work. Just my thoughts.
Hi,
Thanks. No, I'd like to move around. I really want to remain mobile. Maybe work in 2-3 states. You do need a license in each state but I'm willing to do that. It's only about $150 to get a M.T. license in CA -- every state is different. There is a national exam/certification, and once you pass that, you can just pay the fees in most states. Taxes can be sorted out. I'd like to return to the same places each year (maybe stay at each for 3-4 months/year and work for myself the rest of the year wherever I happen to be, doing only out-calls (you go to their home). I'd like to have a summer job and a winter job and spend the spring and fall doing my own thing. I also have an eBay business that was very profitable until the recession hit, which is limping along and will bring in $3-$5000/mo once things start looking up again,and massage therapy pays well ($50/hr minimum plus tips for out calls) so I don't have to have a lot of clients to make a good living.
p.s. I'm not interested in opening a spa. Thai massage requires only a mat and my table is portable so I'd just need a space to work for each appointment.
I belong to a place called Massage-Envey. The monthly cost is $49 for me and that gets me a 1 hour legal massage. If I want more than the hour it is $16 for each half hour after that + tip. Thinking about a resort and that most folks are on a fix income I don't know if they will spend the $50+ to get massaged.
JAXFL wrote: I belong to a place called Massage-Envey. The monthly cost is $49 for me and that gets me a 1 hour legal massage. If I want more than the hour it is $16 for each half hour after that + tip. Thinking about a resort and that most folks are on a fix income I don't know if they will spend the $50+ to get massaged.
Thanks for the response. I'm familiar with Massage Envy. Some of the graduates of my school go on to work there early on. (For what it's worth, I talked to a few yesterday who work there, and a few who have been working at La Costa Resort and Spa and they say that they are given only a few min. btwn appointments and end up burned out or injured w/in a year. One woman was out of commission for three months with tendonitis. For this reason, and a few others, I want to work for myself. I'm in this to truly connect with people, to teach and to heal and I don't feel I can do it in that kind of environment.)
I understand that many people in the RV community would not be able to pay $50 for a massage, just as many people outside of the RV community are not be able to afford a massage. It's for this reason that I would like to teach classes so that people can learn to treat each other. There are, though, many resorts that cater to people who are very comfortable, financially (some of the active senior communities in Mesa for example -- my parents are renting their park model there for $1700/mo...some people there are just getting by, others are very comfortable).
$50 min., as noted, is for "out-call" sessions, where you go to the client. I could offer better deals for RV park residents, regular clients, package deals and the like, since there wouldn't be much travel time involved in getting to them, and especially now, since I'm just beginning. My parents have a neighbor in Montana who makes $80-$125 per session for outcalls and she sees seven clients a day, five days a week. I don't know how she does it, but the clients are there. The Thai and Lomi practitioners I've met say they've felt little to no impact from the recession.
Once you've gone through the training, you understand why it pays what it does. Not only is it very physical work (especially the Thai massage where we are basically doing a yoga workout *for* the client) that requires a great deal of focus, we are bodyworker, counselor, spiritual advisor, nutitionist, herbalist and, OMD all wrapped into one. A big part of why I went into this is to be able to help people who can't afford bodywork and I look forward to volunteering my services at domestic abuse shelters and the like, but we do have to pay the bills.
It did occur to me after I posted this that most of the people in the workcamping forum are living much like I have the last few years. I don't stay in the kind of resorts where I would expect to be doing this work, and I'd like to get some input from the folks in the other forums who do stay at these types of places, to see if this is something they would like to see offered there but I don't know if it's appropriate for me to be asking about that in individual forums, like the Class A forum for example. Does anyone know?
It definitely requires finding the right niche. The place I stayed in Mesa would, I think, be perfect. Lots of very active, curious people there, every class imaginable is offered -- I got best in show in their photo contest while I was there! ha...
I guess, because I haven't stayed in many of the high-end resorts, I don't know how things work there. That's what I'm hoping to learn here.
At the WHR park in Kino Bay, Mexico, they have a woman come out periodically to do massages. The signup sheet fills up really quickly, same with the manicure/pedicure signup sheet. There's a WHR in Casa Grande.
Barbilou and Fujimo wrote: At the WHR park in Kino Bay, Mexico, they have a woman come out periodically to do massages. The signup sheet fills up really quickly, same with the manicure/pedicure signup sheet. There's a WHR in Casa Grande.
Wow, great! That's encouraging. It would be much easier for me to charge less if I was doing a whole day of appointments at one place. That's exciting. Thanks!
The Walnut Hills KOA near Staunton, VA offers massage services...I think the owner's wife is the massuse. You may be able to contact her for information.
In an hour drive of Mesa there should be more than enough resorts where you could work one day per week or every other week. One day at resort A and the next at resort B. You might even find that you have too much business. The key will be selling your product and yourself to the resorts. The Mesa area would make a good winter home for you. Don't forget that there are other areas of Arizona that are centers for snowbirds (Yuma for example). Some of the campgrounds that cater to the winter campers are huge with lots of activities. If a campground like that has 500 camp sites, then you are looking at almost 1000 potential customers. You would only need 1% or 2% to want your services each visit. A quick check shows 35 RV parks in Mesa - one with 2000 sites and a couple of more with over 1000 sites. The greater Phoenix area lists 70 parks.
You may want to offer a few classes at the start to build interest in your product.
Good Luck!
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