top of page

What's most important to reach $50k/year in your massage practice?


I recently posed a poll-question in the Massage Practice Mentor Facebook group: “What do you think is most important to reaching a $50k practice?”

Here are the responses to the three options I gave:

  • 44% Advertising and local visibility

  • 33% Visionary practice and marketable niche

  • 23% Revenue model and financial planning

There were also a couple write-in responses:

  • Client relations/retention

  • Organization and bookkeeping

So now for the real answer.

What’s truly the MOST important thing to getting a $50k/year business?

You probably think it should be advertising. But that’s wrong. So wrong.

Advertising can be like a black hole. Throw your money in and it’s gone forever. This is especially true if it's all you do for your business. There needs to be a lot more going on behind the scenes than out on stage, if you catch my meaning.

Local visibility, client relations and retention are all important for any massage practice. But if you want to get to $50k it’s going to take more than people knowing who you are and what you do. You can be famous for free.

Many massage therapists are booked out with clients waiting weeks to schedule. Are they all making $50k/year. No.

So how about having a visionary practice? If you follow me, you know that I have a program called Marketing for Massage Visionaries. I teach a class called Discover Your Vision. So if anything, it would seem safe to assume that would be my answer. Again wrong.

Despite how important having a visionary practice is to creating a business that will bring you a lifetime of joy and fulfillment - it’s not an instant recipe for $50k/year.

So the answer was actually revealed in the question. A financial goal of $50k requires a $50k revenue model and strategic financial planning. The least sexy of all the possibilities. Boring, right?

I'd say that organization and bookkeeping fit in as strategy here.

Of course, it’s important to note that a basic run of the mill massage clinic or spa isn’t going to be able to build a premium services model with diverse revenue streams, which is what a $50k business model requires for a solo therapist.

And obviously, even if you have a plan on paper, you need to mobilize to get attention and draw those high paying clients to your table with a strategic marketing plan and visibility campaign.

It’s ALL important to building a profitable business.

My point is this - I teach massage therapists how to build the practices that will give them the lives that they want.

That means, if you really want to make $50k/year then you need to plan for it by designing a business that is directed at that goal.

That’s why, in my Marketing for Massage Visionaries mentoring program, I show therapists how to create a revenue model and plan their finances around the goals they set. Some want to make a lot of money. Others are happy to make less if that means they can spend time with their families, traveling or pursuing other passions.

So tell me, did you notice that this article was a spoof? It's a copy and paste from my article, What's most important to reach $100k/year in your massage practice? I thought it would be helpful to remove the big six figure revenue target (which freaked a lot of people out when I originally posted) and replace it with an incredibly modest goal. My hope is that this allows anyone reading this to consider,

1- If I can financially plan and create a revenue model for $50k, why not $75k or $100k?

2- What is my current financial plan and revenue model, and is it supporting the life that I really want for myself and my family?

If you want to dig deeper into these two questions, join me at Massage Practice Mentor. That's my free Facebook group where we investigate what it takes to turn our unique healing visions into our ideal practices.

If you've never heard of me, I'm Rachael Scott. I've got a BS degree in business and run my solo massage practice, Rachael Scott Holistic Bodywork, near Seattle. I've got a great education and lots of experience that I'm happy to share to help others achieve their dreams.


bottom of page