Starting my new massage business step by step - follow along!

I've decided to start a massage therapy business - again. 🥳

For those who don't know me, here's a little background and timeline of my massage career - so far!

I graduated from massage school in 1995 30 years ago this April!

After graduating, I worked at a bed and breakfast, doing many jobs and serving as the in-house massage therapist. Then, I started working at our town's very first day spa, where I worked for about four years. Working here inspired me to get my esthetician's license as well.

 During this time, I moved a few hours away and established a house call business, but it didn't last long as I returned home to my day spa job for personal reasons. 

In 2002, I left the spa and started a house-call business. Through the connections I made there, I had the opportunity to buy a small therapeutic massage practice in 2003. This business grew, and we moved locations and became a full-day spa offering massages, skincare, nails, a couples room, and a sauna. 

I sold the day spa when my son was born in 2009. The new owner continued the business until she retired last year. 

After selling that business, I saw a select few house-call clients and worked at The Eseeola Spa for four years, followed by two years at The Linville Ridge Spa. I catered to a high-end clientele there and used my massage and esthetician skills. The money was great, but the hours were not very family-friendly. 

During this time, I also started writing and teaching. I taught in a community college program for two years and then applied to be an NCBTMB-approved CE provider.

My ebooks and online programs took off! So, in 2016, I took a break from hands-on work to run my online business and spend more time at home. 

Fast-forward to 2023 (let's skip the pandemic era). I missed massage, so I started working part-time at a local day spa and, out of the blue, had a new house-call client contact me. 

NOW, I want to start a business idea that has been on my mind for years: a local house call company where I can take the appointments that work for me and refer the rest to available therapists who want to make extra money. I'll keep a booking fee for marketing, screening, and scheduling. My eventual goal is to build a business I can sell when I retire. 

So far, I have purchased a new-to-me Astra Light table and started a website. I'm pretty psyched about my domain name https://www.boonencmassage.com/. It's pretty great for search engine optimization, which I am completely geeking out on! So much so that I invested in an SEO tool and I'm offering my Massage and Spa Success Club members free SEO audits in March.

I've had one couple for massages so far that my friend could do because I was out of town. So, I've already made some money and plan to "launch" in March.

This month, I plan to continue to work on SEO and backlinks, start blogging, establish my social media presence (which helps with SEO), and look for other free or low-cost marketing and networking opportunities. 

I'll follow the principles I teach in the New Client Attraction Bootcamp, which is part of The Massage and Spa Success Club. 

Follow along on my journey of starting this business from scratch! If you want to "geek out" or optimize your website SEO, join the Massage and Spa Success Club. I promise I'll make it easy for you to improve your website and attract more clients from Google and other search engines.