If I tell someone I work around 40 hours a week, they might assume that means I do 40 hours of massage.

I don’t.

I usually aim for around 17 to 20 hours of hands-on massage a week. The rest of my working hours are spent running everything around those appointments and managing my business. For me, that’s what working full-time as a self-employed massage therapist looks like.

A one-hour massage takes more than one hour

I don’t book my clients back-to-back. If someone books a 60-minute massage, I leave 45 minutes afterwards before my next appointment.

When the treatment finishes, I don’t want the client to feel that they need to jump off the table and get out of the door because somebody else is waiting. They get dressed, come out of the treatment room and I make them a cup of tea. I offer a small biscuit and we normally have a chat before they leave.

Once they’ve gone, I clean and reset the treatment room and make sure everything is ready for the next appointment. Then I write my client notes while the treatment is still fresh in my mind.

After that, whatever is left of the 45 minutes is mine. I can eat if I’m hungry. Go to the toilet without rushing. Have a drink. Sit down for a few minutes.

Sometimes a client arrives ten minutes early, so my break becomes shorter. But because I’ve allowed 45 minutes between appointments, that’s normally not a problem. Massage is physical work, so I don’t see those few minutes as wasted time. They’re part of how I’ve chosen to structure my working day.

My work starts before the client arrives

There is also work attached to an appointment before the client walks through the door. If they’re a returning client, I read through their previous notes.

When did I last see them? What treatment did they have? What pressure did they prefer? Is there anything from their previous appointment that I need to remember?

I also like remembering the person, not only their treatment. If somebody told me they were going on holiday, for example, I might ask them how their holiday was when I see them again.

None of these things takes a huge amount of time on its own, but when you have several clients during the week, it all becomes part of your working hours.

Then there are the massage sheets…

I iron all of my massage sheets.

Yes, all of them.

I probably spend at least an hour every week just ironing. Before I can iron them, they need to be washed and dried. Then everything needs folding and putting away. And as soon as that’s finished, the next clients create another pile.

Laundry is one of those jobs you might not think much about when you’re training to become a massage therapist, but somebody has to do it.

In my business, that somebody is me.

Running a clinic creates its own work

I have my own clinic, so the treatment room isn’t the only space I need to look after. There’s the reception area, kitchen, toilet and floors.

I need to keep an eye on stock too. Massage products, cleaning products, tea, oat milk, biscuits and all the other things I use throughout the week need replacing. I don’t want to discover I’ve run out of something when I need it, so ordering and restocking are another part of my working week.

I also make aftercare packages for new clients. I normally prepare them in batches of 24. That has a little extra benefit for me. When I’ve used the whole pack, I know I’ve had 24 new clients.

I manage the financial side myself

I run my business independently, including the financial side. I record my income and expenses, keep my accounts organised and do my own Self Assessment.

I check my income every day. That’s probably more often than most people need to, but it means I always know what’s happening in my business and my records stay up to date.

I don’t want to reach the end of the tax year and start trying to remember what I bought months ago, what a payment was for or where a receipt went. Keeping everything organised throughout the year makes doing my Self Assessment much easier.

My website is also part of my job

I built my website myself and I manage it myself. If I change something in my business, I need to make sure the website is updated too.

Prices change. Information changes. Links stop working. Pages need updating.

I also need to think about how people are finding my business through Google and make sure the information they find is accurate.

Nobody books an appointment called website maintenance, but it still takes working hours.

Marketing doesn’t happen by itself either

Then there’s marketing. At the moment, this takes more of my time because I’m also growing the education side of my business.

I make YouTube videos and social media content. I write my scripts, film the videos, edit them, create thumbnails and upload everything myself. I’m also working on my online education and creating materials for massage therapists.

Someone else’s week might look completely different. They might spend that time networking, writing newsletters, attending events or working on another part of their business. This is simply where some of my working hours go at this stage of my business.

Three hours of massage doesn’t mean I’ve worked three hours

This is something I think is important to understand when you’re newly qualified.

If I have three 60-minute clients in my diary, that’s three hours of hands-on massage. It isn’t a three-hour working day.

And I deliberately don’t want to do 30 or 40 hours of hands-on massage every week. Massage is physical work and requires concentration. I want to give the person on my table my full attention, and I want to be able to continue doing this work for many years.

For me, aiming for around 17 to 20 hours of massage within a working week of roughly 40 hours works well. Another therapist might structure their business completely differently.

But if you’re studying massage, newly qualified or planning to become self-employed, remember that the number of treatment hours in your diary isn’t the same as the number of hours you’ll work.

Your treatment hours and your working hours are two different numbers.

Building your own massage business?

I created Therapist Business Blueprint for therapists who want help understanding the practical side of running their own business, from working out costs and pricing to policies, client management, finances and marketing.