My Massage Career - Julie Onofrio, LMP

My massage career started in 1987 when I decided to go to massage school but it really started much earlier than that. Looking back now it seems that most of what I was doing played a big part in my success in this career.

I went to college for Science and had at first wanted to be a nurse but I couldn't get over the giving shots part and actually didn't even really think about all the other difficult things I would have to deal with but that was enough to lead me in other ways. I got an Associates Degree in Natural Science. I also thought that maybe I would go into work with animals and environmental science. During my 2 years at college, I took an elective in photography which I absolutely fell in love with. I kept taking classes in photography and back then it was the real photography with developing prints in a dark room. It was like magic having the pictures appear and being able to manipulate them to make them into art. (Likes art and science and working in a dark room.)

After my first two years of college, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I worked in a photography lab developing pictures for professional photographers for a year. I decided working was for the birds and went back to college this time for Sociology - that was the easiest major I could find for me and my interests. So I got my Bachelors in Sociology and had a lot of fun. When I got out though I went back to working in photography. The place that I was working at laid someone off and asked me to do their job and do mine too. ( I was so good at my job that I often was looking for other stuff to do.) They gave me a .10 raise - Woohhoo! I went out to lunch and didn't go back! I just couldn't do that -work more and not get paid.

After the worst snow storm in history of Western New York, I decided to venture out and go and visit my college buddies who had moved to Seattle. No more snow for me! When I got to Seattle, I found jobs in photography again but this time working in customer service aspects of photo labs dealing with customers, orders and handling complaints. I think this was a very important part of my massage career- learning about customer service and learning to deal with the many challenges. I also worked for a mail order company who also did a lot of marketing and I was able to be a part of the marketing campaigns and learning about sales.

I was working in a photo lab that was the top of the line here in Seattle and was getting burned out - everyone needed everything yesterday and everything was about money. I read on the back of a local Weekly newspaper about going to massage school. It said something like "go to massage school and learn about all these health things and help people". I had only had one professional massage and I had hated it because I was covered in bruises when I got home. It wasn't anything I had ever thought of. I liked health and science and helping people. I was in massage school within a few weeks! The company I was working for knew I was going to leave eventually and that my heart wasn't in the photo biz so they laid me off and gave me a severance package of some profit sharing and I left the job in the middle of massage school. Everyone in massage school had been telling me to not quit my day job because it was going to take awhile to build clients. I didn't listen.

A friend of mine who I went to massage school with found a gym in downtown Seattle that had a guy doing massage and he was leaving and looking for someone to take over. She jumped in and I joined her awhile later. I had failed the practical portion of my state board exam and had to wait another 6 months to take it. They only gave it twice a year or something like that at that time. I had the money saved up so I decided to take the advanced massage training course and add another 250 hours to my initial 250 hours of training. (Back then all I needed was 250 hours.) I passed the second time and off I went.

I shared the massage room with my friend in the health club. We rented it from them for like $100 a month -that's split between us! I basically built my business there by hanging out at the front desk and talking to people going to the gym. I worked on all of the staff and aerobics instructors. I went into the club even when I didn't have clients. I often would hang out and then go for lunch and take a ferry ride and come back to a few massage appointments. I got clients basically by being there.There was also a group of physical therapists who ran their business out of the health club. I got to know them and they were a big part of my learning experience too. I was always asking them questions.

One day I got a check in the mail from some guy who was prepaying for 5 sessions. (I offered a discount for people when they bought 5 at a time.) I didn't know the guy nor had ever worked on him. He just came in and became my best client ever. He was a personal injury lawyer interestingly enough. He connected me with a chiropractor too because I had a lot of neck pain at the time. I went to the chiro as a patient. Before I knew it, they were both sending me clients all the time. These two people actually built my career for me. I still get referrals from the chiropractor today - 24 years later.

I moved out of the health club and moved a few times after that. I rented an office from a holistic women's doctor who also referred people to me. (She was also a client of mine.) Then I moved into an office and rented a room from an acupuncturist in the same building. I had my business there for a few years and then moved into an office with some of my friends who were also studying Zentherapy (circa 1995). I have been in that office since then and still am there today. I rent the room which includes phone and laundry.

I have always rented from someone else. I never wanted the responsibility of the overhead. I guess you could call me the lazy massage therapist. I never really did much marketing or advertising. I hated it and still do.

In about 2000 or so, I became a contracted provider with the health insurance companies. Our insurance commissioner at the time, Debra Senn, had just made it a requirement that insurance must cover massage. I was able to get on the lists for Premera Blue Cross, Regence Blue Shield, Aetna and Uniform Medical which at the time was the insurance for State workers. I also have always billed insurance. I learned how after hooking up with the lawyer and chiropractor early in my career. It has always been a mixed blessing for me. It brings in clients but much more work and stress dealing with getting paid, going to court and keeping accurate records. But I think it was the one thing that allowed me to succeed for so long in the massage profession. Today I still take insurance occasionally but I am working my way back to a totally cash practice.

Last year, 2010, I made probably the most money of my career mainly due to insurance but this year the one insurance that paid the most making that possible, cut what they pay almost in half making it impossible to keep taking their clients. I have had to raise my rates to my cash clients to make up for the insurance cuts. I am not sure where this will all go as it does not seem like there is anyone standing up for us. When I called the one insurance company and asked how do we get the rates increased and our contracts changed she said it wasn't possible, yet I know that doctors and hospitals negotiate their contracts with health insurance companies all the time. The massage profession just does not have enough influence or cohesiveness to do something about it.

Currently, I just have a really good website that is over 100 pages of content and is highly optimized for searches and it is the only thing I currently have that gets me clients.

My Massage Career - Part Two