Self-Promotion

I have a hard time with the whole promoting myself thing. I don’t like asking people for things, I don’t like talking to strangers and I have a bit of a shy streak in me at times. So walking into strange physical therapy offices, chiropractors’ offices, gyms, salons, spas and so on to ask them if they need a massage therapist or would they please display my flier and take some cards is very challenging for me. It helps a little bit if I tell myself, “I’m a great massage therapist and it is selfish of me to not let people know about me,” but then my insecurity makes me feel silly for even thinking such things and though it helps overall, I still find it hard.

However, Wednesday was the day that I MADE MYSELF go out and do all that unfun self-promotion stuff. I spent an hour or two visiting all the little places right in little ol’ Penn Valley that might possibly be employing massage therapists or be good spots to put a flier about massage. I was anticipating no one needing massage therapists but most people taking a flier to put up.

Surprisingly, many people said no about the flier, which was unfortunate but I was fine with it. Even more of a surprise was I ended up with three concrete possibilities for actual employment. One salon told me about a new spa just around the corner that is hiring a massage therapist. A local chiropractor said she already has two therapists but one of them is flaky and she would like to talk to me when she has more time. And then, most surprising, the next day I got a call from another chiropractor who got my flier from the physical therapy place and who is interviewing massage therapists for a job starting March 27th and would I please fax him my resume! It actually sounds rather ideal. It would just be Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 9-12 or 9-1 doing 15-minute massages on patients to help them warm up and get more from their chiropractic adjustment. That job would give me some steady, dependable income and a chance to work with a variety of people but still have time to develop my own private practice. And it is all of 2 miles from my house.

I definitely won’t be living in my parents’ house when they return in late April, but if I end up having enough work to pay for rent, food, gas, life, etc. I might just stay in the area through the summer. We shall see. My “plans” seem to be changing every moment.