Business Building

I've finally accepted the fact that work is unpredictable. It's been difficult not knowing what my day is going to look like and even more difficult to sit around, ready to work but with little or nothing coming in. Especially now. End of October was alright, beginning of November was good and now it's all messy (I had more clients on Thursday then I did on Saturday and Sunday combined!!! Usually those are my better days). But yesterday a client inspired me to do something about it. A coworker and I had a duet massage* with this couple and they enjoyed their massage so much that they left us a little happy holiday card. That simple gesture made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside which got me thinking... I can probably do something like this for my clients.
Alright, so this is a little bit of an aside. At work we don't have business cards. We have little 10% off cards where we can give those out with our name as the referral agent. But somehow I don't like giving those out. Yes, it's incentive for them to come back but I don't know how I feel about giving discounts to everyone. I guess this stems from some of our professional development classes when we were talking about discounting our rates and the effect that that may have on our business and client expectations.
Someone suggested that I make my own business cards, so some time, earlier this month, I sat down and designed really nice cards but something stumped me. What is my title? Until I am registered, I am a bodyworker. I don't like being a bodyworker. Not because of other bodyworkers but because of the name. Bodyworker. It makes people raise an eyebrow, wink and you and think perverted thoughts. Bodyworker. So I was thinking of alternate titles** but the only thing I came up with was 'almost registered massage therapist'. Even then, that was a stretch and I wasn't going to put that on my business card. Discouraged, I scraped the whole idea.
Yesterday I bit the bullet. I made holiday themed post cards with 'Happy Holidays/Joyeux Noel' written on them. It also has my name, the business name and phone number along with that one word that stumped me last month: Bodyworker. Yep, I did it. It looks pretty darn classy and I am quite stoked about receiving them (they should arrive in the mail in approximately 7 days... I rushed the order because December is... tomorrow). I'm excited. It's a step in the right direction I think.
I chose to make the card bilingual because I've found a new appreciation for being a Frenchie. I work with a woman who's french, from France and it's been really nice to get to talk to her in French. And, just this past week we've had a student come in at work and he'll be working with us for the next three weeks and he's french (from Quebec) too!! Also, Jenny (a fellow frenchie, I've known her since grade 4), Darla and I went to the Backstage Lounge on Granville island for frenchie night. It was fantastic to listen to everyone speak french and to dance to some french music.
So hopefully after all this, I'll end up with more business. But if I don't... well at least it has made me grow as a therapist. And that's always a good thing :)

*Duet massages are when two people get a massage in the same room. Despite the room being VERY small for the therapists, it's usually a different dynamic and is wonderful to work with.

**Massage therapist, registered massage therapist, massage practitioner etc. have all been taken by the College of Massage Therapists (governing body for the registered therapists)