I recently read an article in Massage Today Magazine that was written by Cary Bayer and it really spoke to me, I would like to discuss it further in this forum. I speak to therapists in person and on the phone all day, every day, and while not all therapists share this common ailment enough do that I thought I should comment on it and bring it up here. There is a constant battle between those that heal and the business of healing. Much of this battle is due to the fact that many therapists spend more of their time healing clients than thinking about the business aspect of their practice. Trust me, I do understand that thinking of all the things that running a successful practice entails is far less exciting than learning a new modality or way to ease a client’s pain, but it is necessary.
In his article “Re-framing the idea of referring new clients to other LMTs” Cary Bayer says and I agree, that the therapist being referred to may become that client’s therapist for years to come and therefore could be lost revenue to the referrer into the thousands of dollars. I agree with Mr. Bayer that we don’t want to see therapists become over worked, hurt or injure themselves or over schedule to the point of burnout, none of these outcomes are good. However, by taking the time to implement a business plan that includes a referral partner or partners that will compensate you for each session you referred to them; you are passing up a valuable revenue stream. In the same regard, if your practice is quickly becoming over referred to it may make sense to expand your practice, higher other therapists that share your particular style and passion for healing and thrive. Your client’s, employees and community would be positively affected by your expansion and that is what all healers and therapists strive for; the positive effect of your healing power on those around you.
Now of course there is always a lot to consider when implementing a new business plan, but I strongly feel that with the extra effort success will follow.
David Fried, Custom Craftworks customcraftworks.com
This research is a review of the literature and is not a claim about the function or performance of any products sold by Pivotal Health solutions.
