Archive for February 21st, 2011
The 2011 AMTA Fact Sheet Is Now Available
21 February 2011It is always interesting to see the facts gathered from our industry. Compare the two articles about the AMTA Fact Sheet by Massage Today and Massage Mag and they both pretty much pulled the same information.
When I looked over the sheet, the things that stood out for me were different. The above articles focus on the section about “Who Is Today’s Massage Therapists”. I automatically jump to the “Massage Therapy as a Career”; “Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) started practicing massage therapy as a second career” data. Along with “More than half of massage therapists (57 percent) also earn income working in another profession.” Also “Of those massage therapists who earn income working in another profession 23 percent practice other form of bodywork, while 22 percent work in education and 18 percent work in healthcare .”
They probably don’t focus on this information because of their intent to attract more Therapist to the Industry. Understandably so, it’s an Awesome field to work in, however it is always best to get the bigger picture when reading articles, do your own research and form your own opinions. Most of the time perspective students of Massage are bombarded with sugarcoated outcomes of becoming a Massage Therapist. The schools advertise the ability to start earning massive amounts of money right out of school, or something along those lines. Good Advertisement but not a guarantee for all who go through a massage education course and this line of attraction increases distortions for totally unrealistic expectations and will most likely experience a very different outcome.
In fact if you are concentrating your efforts on becoming your own boss and creating your on work schedule, check out start up business plans. The majority of information out there will tell you straight up not to expect to make a profit at a new business for the first 3-5 years. Realistically it is best to have another part time job that gives you stability and maybe even health care benefits until you get your clientele base and business in good working order.
Interestingly enough it is also better to have a part-time Massage Therapy practice to save your body and increase the amount of time you spend in your chosen profession. If you don’t take care of your body inside and outside of work you will have a very short career. Continuing education credits can be spent on educating your body to perform efficiently and effectively. This also increases your knowledge that can be shared with your clients well being as well.
The other interesting statement made in the Fact Sheet was under ” State Regulation of Massage Therapy Profession”; “The American Massage Therapy Association and most other massage therapy organizations prefer the MBLEx, administered by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Board (FSMTB), as a state licensing exam.” The rest of the information is also enlightening. Check it out 
The last statement I focused on from this Fact Sheet is this; “AMTA works to advance the profession through ethics and standards, the promotion of fair and consistent licensing of massage therapists in all states, and public education on the benefits of massage.” I say Amen and good work, lets all keep up the good work of helping to educate and inform the masses.