If you are considering a career in massage therapy you should spend time analyzing the future of the massage profession and whether this is a future that you want. Massage is a fantastic and rewarding career where your clients look to you for improvements in their health, the relief of pain, and the reduction of stress related tension in their body. It is also a dual career because you won't find many listings in the want ads for massage therapists. You are a caregiver, a healer, and a person involved directly in the health and well being of others, but you are also an entrepreneur, a business manager and a salesperson, totally responsible for your own success or failure, your own profitability and the future of your professional status.

Many people are attracted to the massage profession because they have done some simple calculations based on an average rate they found massage therapists charge in their area. For example, they take, say, $50 for a one hour session, multiply it times eight hours a day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year and come up with approximately $100,000 per year income. Though there are a few (very few) massage therapists making this kind of money, the majority are struggling to earn one-fourth of this amount. Almost no one makes $100,000 a year for forty hours a week as a massage therapist.

Very few folks who enter the massage profession for the purpose of making money are happy in the profession. The hours required and the physical effort expended to even closely generate the financial figures outlined above lead many a therapist to "burn-out' within a few years. The massage profession in Texas currently experiences about a 15% attrition rate, or every year almost 15% of the licensed therapists leave the profession and are replaced with approximately the same number of new therapists entering the profession. The most successful massage therapists are those who have a sincere desire to help people combined with the motivation and commitment required as an entrepreneur to look beyond and accept the hours, business management functions and involvement in the community required to succeed as a massage therapist.

The Texas Association of Massage Therapists is a non-profit organization committed to the success of all these entrepreneurial caregivers. Through the establishment of an organization to bring all massage therapists together in a success-oriented environment, the massage profession will grow upon a strong foundation. Through networking, mentoring, coaching and numerous educational activities, the TAMT goal to bring success to the massage profession will be realized. The general public will also benefit from all of this success since the experience level of therapists will increase as more remain in the profession. The financial capability of successful therapists will cause improvements in the quality of facilities, equipment and other service-related features. The educational level of therapists will also increase since quality advanced training is affordable to those who are successful.

There are a number of quality massage schools in Texas for both basic training and advanced courses. TAMT will also be providing business-related courses at our state conventions. Go to "Contact TAMT" and ask specific questions. We will try to provide you with the most comprehensive information available in a timely manner.