October 7, 2007 at 6:39 pm · Filed under fyi, massage
I know local RMTs are often frustrated by the low number of continuing education courses offered in Ottawa. You would think that because we are in Canada’s capital city, we’d have instructors coming to town on a fairly regular basis to teach. Instead, a large percentage of the good courses are run in Toronto or Montreal. However, we do have options! Here are a few.
Structural Myofascial Therapy - Offered through Simply Therapy. Level 1 is coming up in November, Level 2 in December.
Active Isolated Stretching - Also offered through Simply Therapy. Next course in November.
Thai Yoga Certification - offered through Santosha Yoga (scroll down for the details). Next class starts in November. Please note: I am not sure if this course would qualify for CMTO CEUs.
Hot Stone Therapy - Offered through Jacqueline Davis, a local body worker, teacher and counselor. It was just offered this weekend, but she seems to teach it every few months, so keep checking her website. If you’d like other options, there are always home study courses, as I wrote about back in August.
Reiki - Lots of options here. I’ll just mention level 1 classes here, but check the individual websites if you want level 2 or higher. Kathy Glover Scott has a class coming up on October 13th. (I took level 1 with Kathy and can recommend her teaching.) T-line services have a class that same weekend. Wendy Armstrong has classes coming up later this month and next month. For other local Reiki options, see Tone magazine’s reiki section; not all of those listed there are teachers, but a good number are.
And one other option: Massage Therapy Practice is an online magazine that offers CEU articles, videos, and other resources for massage therapists. They don’t offer local hands-on classes, but there are lots of other options for earning CEUs!
I’ll be sure to post again if I hear about more local classes.
Original post by Candice
October 7, 2007 at 5:37 pm · Filed under massage
Sorry for the long silence, but my ‘busy season’ has now started and I have less free time at the office these days. No complaints about that, but it does mean I don’t write here as often.
My clinic recently hired another therapist. We needed someone to cover the evenings that I’m not working, and we have enough new client traffic that having another RMT in the office is workable. Anyhow, the new therapist has joined in with our advertising and promotion methods, in an effort to get more new clients in the door.
Years ago, the very best way to get new clients in your door was to do a ‘meet and greet’ — take part in some event and hand out business cards, shake hands with people, and allow them to get to know you a little bit. Because they’ve met you, they will remember you next time they need a massage therapist, or they might pass your business information on to a friend, coworker, or family member. I have spoken to many RMTs who have been in practice much longer than I have, and they all say this was the number one way they got people in their doors.
However, times really have changed.
My clinic has taken part in a variety of ‘meet and greet’ events since we opened our doors in April 2007, including sporting events, a midwifery information session, and an open house we hosted. All the therapists in my office have also handed out business cards at various social functions. Now, have we had a lot of new clients call our office because of these events? Not really. A few have called, sure, but not nearly the number we were expecting. However, we do have a good number of new clients calling our clinic every week. Where did the vast majority of those people find out about our clinic? By searching online for a massage therapy clinic in their area and finding our website!
Why do I think our website has been such a success? First, because it contains good information about our clinic, including details on the types of massage we provide, our fee schedule, and some clinic pictures so people can see if the environment is one they might like to receive treatments in. Second, because it provides online booking, a very convenient method in today’s computerized and wireless world. People don’t need to attend health fairs, golf tournaments and marathons in order to meet local health professionals. They can just ‘meet’ them through their websites, and then book an appointment online without ever having to pick up a phone!
I do want to be clear, however: websites are very useful for meeting potential new clients, but the best way to bring in clients is still through word-of-mouth. Our new therapist used to work at a local gym, and has been getting a few people sent to her through old colleagues from that job. I also have had success with this, as a few of my own clients have sent friends and family to me for treatment. It probably seems logical, but if you keep your current clients happy, they will be more likely to talk about your services and send others over to see you too!
So yes, times have changed a great deal, but personal referrals/word-of-mouth is still key to building a thriving massage practice.
Original post by Candice
October 5, 2007 at 1:01 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Affinia Hotels in New York and Chicago are offering the TravelSmart program, which offers services like printing boarding passing and free toiletries.
Original post by By HILARY HOWARD
