How is Asheville for a Massage Therapist? (Henderson, Hendersonville: rent, luxury)

[Anyelina]

HI!

I'm a Professional Massage Therapist and Neuromuscular Therapist, and I'm planning relocating to NC, and Asheville is the city I'm more attracted with. I work on my own and I would like to keep working independently when I move out there. I have had bad experiences working at resorts and spas.

I would like your honest advices and opinions for my profession if I relocate to Asheville. Is it a good pay? Would I have good number of clients? Is there too much competition in this field? Would I be successful in an outcall service?
I'm planning to specialize in Geriatric Massage and craniosacral therapy, I love the elderly and I have known Asheville is mostly with retirees, but I'm afraid they don't have enough money to get a massage in regular basis.

Do you think another city would fit better for me rather than Asheville? I wish to live close to the mountains or close to the beach.

I highly appreciate all your opinions and advices!

Thank you so much!

[the Parkies]

Anyelina, I'm going to answer your questions with more questions:

Which town do you think would be MORE perfectly suited for your services?

Which age group do you think would be MORE able to pay for your services?

Wouldn't your success depend upon your personal ability, level of advertising, and the pleasantness of the surroundings you offer your clientele (and licensing and personality and a few other things)? There's always competition in any field. If you focus on what you can offer and give clients your very best, do you think you'd be successful? If not, don't go there.

It so happens that I had dinner this evening with a friend who raved about a deep-tissue massage therapist in Hendersonville who used to work for resorts and spas and now offers services out of her home. Her charge is $70.00 for an hour.

Hope this helps, and best of luck to you!!

Jan

[Anyelina]

Hi Jan!

I would like a town that has good number of population and find shopping centers, restaurants, nightlife, etc. I have never been in NC, I just have done some research about Asheville and other cities and I have liked everything I've read and seen in pictures about Asheville.

The age group would be 40's and up.

You are completely right. The success depend on all of those things and others things too. But if you are in my profession and living in the city I am right now, you would understand me. Here you can find 2 to 3 spas in the same block, and 2 to 3 chiropractor's offices that offers massage in that same block. And also, there are around 30 independent therapists offering outcall service in my area too. That means, here it's completely saturated. I just want to live where it's a normal area and not too saturated like here in my field.

And yes, if I'm a really good therapist, that offers a great quality service, I know that any competition wouldnt' matter. But for me it's been very difficult to pay for all kinds of advertisement, mostly when the competition is extremely high. You would have to spent thousands and thousands of dollars paying just in advertising, and because of the high competition, at the end that it's not worth it. I have tried before, believe me. And now I'm basically in bankarupcy, for "investing" in adverstising. The problem is that high competition pays the same or even more in advertising. I have my own website, and my website is in the top positions for the best keywords in the search engines, and anyways, I don't get enough clientele. I post ads every day on the internet. Ads in magazines, but it still really slow. The most of my clients when they get my massage, they say that it's been the best massage they've ever received, and all of them are my regular clients and refer me to other people. This is how I have clients, because of good referrals and good testimonials, (word of mouth). But anyways, this is very hard. When the cost of living it's so high, when we are in a recession, when you have a lot of competition in your profession and you work on your own... this becomes a very hard situation.

So I think the best is to moving out to a normal town, that I won't have too much competition, and at the same time, a town where I can get a better kind of living, (not only financially or professionally). I love nature, love mountains, love rivers. Love a peaceful town instead of a noisy-crowded one.

That's great about your friend!! I've had experience working at resorts like Red Door Spas of Elizabeth Arden and now I'm working on my own too.

Thank you so much for your reply!! Have a great day!

Anyelina

[vandemusser]

Asheville itself is loaded with massage therapists. More per capita than I have ever seen, but they all seem to be busy. I think that is a function of a large segment of the population - retired or semi-retired people with expendable income for luxury items such as massage treatments. If you are truly talented, and stay focused, you should be able to move here and make a decent living.

That being said, a lot of the outlying areas areas around Asheville that have started to boom are so new to the population growth that a lot of these types of services haven't yet grown with the population. Same thing applies with good restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, etc. I'm thinking of towns like Marshall, Burnsville, Waynesville, Mars Hill, etc - all of them are within 30 minutes of Asheville. I would put money down that if the people that lived there had the option of getting a massage in-town versus driving to Asheville, they would do it. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure there are massage therapists in these areas, but competition probably isn't as fierce as it would be in Asheville. Rent for work space should be cheaper, too.

I'd expand your search a little. Research the demographics, because if there is an unmet need for something, you would be amazed at how quickly people will flock to it when it becomes available in their area.