You’re on the massage table feeling all your tension floating away, and you begin to think, “Could I do this?” It might be time to look into massage therapy school. “I rarely pay — I only go to my friends,” says Stephanie Lee, owner of Restore Massage Salon in Mountain View, Calif.
“However, massage therapists get about $18 of the $110 you’re charged when you go to a spa,” she continues. “But,” she added, “add the tip to that, and you’re making close to $40 an hour.”
And you’d be working for yourself, so you can make your own hours. “I know therapists who work seven hours a day, five days a week, who make six figures.” Sound good? Time to go to school. Schools offer a variety of different courses, from kinesiology to Western and Eastern massage techniques. The hours needed to get your license vary widely from state to state. In Pennsylvania, the newly implemented Massage Therapy Law has changed state licensure requirements (go to www.dos.state.pa.us for the complete rundown). The downsides are a lot of wear on your body — and like any new business, it can be rough going at first. “It’s hard to build a client base,”?says Lee. “But if you can, you can make a good living that is very satisfying.”
