At Your Service

I received an email in my inbox today soliciting for a webinar. It got me thinking about the resources available to massage and bodywork professionals. One of the things I love and will fiercely defend about our members and the massage and bodywork profession is that people work in this field because of love—love of healing, love of helping others, love of flexibility, among others. People in this field know that you shouldn’t go into massage for a fast buck; massage is slow—an hour is still an hour. No shortcuts there. So those in the field practice it because it feeds their soul. If performed with a proper business mindset, and some willingness to roll up your sleeves and work hard on not just the art but the business of massage, it can also feed your family. What’s nice about this is that if you have that interest and desire, you can take advantage of a cornucopia of resources created with you in mind. It is a good time to be a massage therapist—organizations, publications, and resource providers are working very hard on your behalf. These groups want your time and attention, and they’re doing something about it. A good example is textbooks. When I first joined ABMP in the mid-90s, I heard about the “Mark Beck book.” That was the resource available to massage students. Now, my goodness—there are approximately 300,000 massage therapists, and approximately 298,000 textbooks. Okay, I made that last number up—but there are a lot. A long time ago, ABMP stood out from the crowd because we were doing things no one else was—in particular, providing a level of service that was (and still is) unparalleled in our field. Well guess what? People paid attention. We started providing free webinars for our members; others followed suit. We have provided a free website for our members for 10 years; now others are doing the same. Frankly, we’re flattered (thanks guys!). And that “flattery” makes us double down on our efforts to continue to provide the best and most comprehensive resources—and service—available to our members. You love your work; we love helping you succeed. Massage and bodywork professionals (especially ABMP members) have a lot of resources available to help them be successful. Many of these tools are free, are included with membership, or are available at low cost. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit out there. Don’t be afraid to grab it. (And let us know how we can help.) Follow Les at twitter.com/abmp_les.