It took me about 5 years to really establish a solid clientele base. Like most things, the more I became comfortable with my story, the more clients were comfortable. I quickly came up with a very solid story that explained how my uncle, dad & martial arts background led me to this vocation. I would often get asked with in the first 5 minutes “How did you get into massage?” I made sure I was very deliberate with how I drapped, making firm contact when appropriate & very tight folds to keep my client feeling safe. I knew that if I had one complaint about improper behavior or sexual harassment, my career would be over. After about 6 months I settled on “I’m going to leave the room now, undress to your comfortability, get under the top sheet & I’ll knock before I come in.”Įxcellent draping was also an area I focused on. I worked very hard on paying attention to how clients responded to requests to undress, then get under the sheets.
Gay massage therapist near full#
At the time full body massage was a huge part of my practice, asking people to get undressed & under a sheet was pretty intimidating to both them & me. The next thing I realized was I had to earn a new clients trust very quickly. I had less issues with someone that was referred to me by my clients than I did a client I had not met.
Gay massage therapist near how to#
These challenges lead me to learning how to develop a clientele from my current clients.
This was a delicate balance, I didn’t want to surprise a client I had not met before, I also didn’t want to have a majority of the clients turndown an appointment with me. I also had to teach my colleagues how to talk about scheduling with a male therapist.
“Ok, great you can work ok me!” I didn’t get this one often at first.This one bothered me more than the first, not because I have a problem with homosexual men, but because they used the term “Gay” so derogatory. “You must be gay.” This was a variant of #1, I lived in a pretty conservative community & being gay was not a popular lifestyle.“Really, your a guy & you do massage? I’ll pass.” I often got the vibe they thought I was creepy.When I started to promote myself around town or in the gym there were 3 reactions I would get from people. This is where things started to get a little rough. Shortly after I started at the chiropractic office I began working for a local massage therapy practice inside a health club. I did have a couple of people ask not to work with me because I was a male. My reception from the patients was pretty receptive, I think the fact the chiropractor I worked for was male was a big help. As I mentioned earlier in the post I’m a pretty active guy, I’ve also been told I’m pretty intense when I’m passionate about something. I was 24 years old at the time & still pretty rough around the edges. In ‘00 I took a job at a local chiropractors office, I saw patients for 20 min pre/post adjustment massages. I talked to a couple of massage business’s when I was out of school in ‘98, but nothing really came of it. I loved learning about the body, how injuries happened & how I could help people.Īs I said previously, Michigan wasn’t the hotbed for massage, there wasn’t a really clear way to get into practice. I started school in September ‘97 (I guess I had enough of retail), I was instantly hooked. I loved martial arts, I wanted to become well rounded! I decided if I ever became crabby at my retail job I would go to massage school. In May of 1997 I attended a Martial Arts seminar taught by Dan Inosanto, during this seminar he discussed how important learning the healing arts were to becoming a well-rounded martial artist. I wasn’t sure massage therapy was what I wanted to do, so I put it on the back burner & plodded along. Also colleges weren’t offering massage classes either.Īfter talking with a couple of local massage therapists I learned there were two schools each of them 40+ min away. We didn’t have the interwebs to research how to get into the field. In 1995 there weren’t a lot of ways to enter the massage therapy profession in Michigan. Still at 41 years old I’m pretty active, I have a short attention span for things I’m not interested in, put those two things together sitting in a classroom and it leads to misery. I knew I wanted to do something physical & that helped people, I also knew that a 4 year degree wasn’t for me. I also grew up in a very physically affectionate family, I still hug & kiss my dad when I see him.įrom 16–21 years old I worked in retail, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do, but it was a job & that’s what I thought I should do.
When I was a kid my uncle would tell me about his Rolfer, my dad hurt his back & we found ice massages would speed up his recovery time. How I Overcame The Challenges Of Being A Male Massage Therapistįor most of my life the conversation of massage has been there.