We were lucky to catch up with Jill Bickerstaff recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jill, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?
How I got in my first job in my profession. At the not-so-tender age of fifty, having been a stay-at-home mother of four, wife, and home custodian, I was going through a divorce after twenty-plus years of marriage and in need of an income. I had a skill and a passion for massage therapy which seemed to be my best path forward. My massage therapy business license had long since lapsed, and my previous place of business no longer existed so I had to start again as if I had just gotten out of school. To reinstate my massage license required me to study, and retake the national exam. At that point, came the search for my first job after my fifteen – twenty-year sabbatical. This task felt daunting to me. I wondered if anyone would hire a fifty-year-old starting over again. I did have going for me that I was in good physical shape from many years of physical and nutritional discipline. Nonetheless, I felt intimidated by the starting over process. I had no connections with anyone already practicing massage who could help me. I had to submit a resume to massage places. I applied at a few spas and chiropractors that advertised that they were hiring. The pay at all these places was significantly less pay than I was accustomed to earning at my previous place twenty years ago. I worried about how I was going to manage my domestic responsibilities and earn a living. Then these places rejected me. No explanation why, except for one from a franchise spa chain. After her sample massage and claimed that she had more movement than she had in years from my work, said it wasn’t a good fit because my style was too unique for the other therapists doing partner massages. At least the rejection wasn’t personal. The chiropractor seemed to really enjoy his sample massage and asked me at one point where I learned my technique. But no hire. Another manager after his massage looked me squarely in the eyes and said he loved it. Apparently not enough to hire me. Feeling discouraged, I decided to do some research. since the front door approach wasn’t working, I’d try the back door. I picked several massage businesses and booked a massage with their massage therapists. I wanted to know what these massage therapists were doing that I wasn’t or what I was doing that they weren’t, and how the whippersnappers fresh out of school were getting hired and I wasn’t. This approach was much more productive. At one place, the therapist was a youthful fifty-two years old. She was quite experienced and gave a great massage. Another therapist was fifty and hadn’t been in the industry long at all. The fifty-something-year-olds showed me that my age wasn’t a deterrent. Another therapist, from a local yoga, herb, and acupuncture business was about to leave her job for another. She was applying for a mobile massage business whose platform works the same as Uber except it serves massage therapists and clients. It paid more than twice as much as the other places. This was the first I had heard of mobile massage using an app. I decided to apply. I sent in my resume and two days later got a reply, went in for an interview, did a sample massage, and came out hired. I was so grateful to the universe for leading me there and I was highly motivated to prove to myself that I could succeed and that I had something to offer the community at large. There were no guarantees about how much work I could get, if any. Jobs could come at any time between 8 AM and 11:45 PM and anywhere within a twenty-mile radius. I accepted just about everything that was available in those parameters. I drove through many snow blizzards to ski resorts, hotels, homes, table in tow, meeting all walks of life, the crippled and pro athletes alike. I was about a year into it, and had had a few humbling learning lessons from some for whom my style didn’t work. Mostly, I got very positive reviews. One morning, I got a phone call from a lady of corporate headquarters who wanted to know more about me and my story because she said I was ranked in the top 1% of their therapists of about ..I forget how many, somewhere between 6-10 thousand therapists on this continent and other continents. This was a proud moment for me. What I lacked in assertiveness and business know-how, I made up for in skill, heart, and effort. Between then and now, I have collected many referrals and don’t rely on the online app at all. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing. It was a major setback three years ago when Covid came into the picture. Covid came at a very inconvenient time. The massage app was forced to freeze and for most of a month, most of my personal clients weren’t booking. I was moving out of an apartment and looking for a new place to live. I ended up moving 300 miles away to a tiny home community where I could afford to buy a home from personal savings, but it meant starting over again. I still travel to my loyal clients three hundred miles away, but less frequently. My business comes from personal referrals. where I live now there is no massage app. It is a slower process to build the critical mass needed to sustain me and my dependents from referrals alone. My business is growing however and I am grateful to my loyal clients for their support. I count myself blessed to have my skill, the fortitude to do the work, and the passion for massage that inspires, not tires. Long live massage therapy and may God grant me the strength, ability, and mobility to continue.
Jill, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
What I am most proud of and what sets me apart from other massage therapists. Massage therapy is like ice cream and therapists are the flavors. We all have our own healing approach, it all has value. Some flavors may be more popular than others, but diversity is a good thing because no one is that special that they appeal to all people all the time. What I think is unique about my approach, my craft is that it is of no one else’s. It is my own creative process and inspiration with the exception of my angels. I didn’t learn it at massage school or from another therapist. It is my evolution and refinement process of what I aspire to do. My craft is what I call Mo’jility, the art of blending massage, movement, and stretch. My style is very fluid, which I think is very calming to the nervous system and has the ability to help people reach deeper states of consciousness. Movement helps me get more wholeness from the body by changing positions so the whole area and body systems are synergistically affected, not just specific muscles, one at a time. The stretch allows for more depth of reachability, I can get into areas that need the most and are most neglected. I am very good at helping others get more flexible and able to move better and feel better.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
If I could go back in time, I would definitely choose massage therapy again. The reason is that massage is a healing art, not a science. Perfect for creativity, connectivity, and healing. I feel like I was made for massage therapy and massage therapy was made for me.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Other than training and knowledge, what I think and believe is most helpful in my field is heart. A lot of information is transferred by touch. People and any sentient being can pick up on intention. If I come into another’s personal space, I am aware that my intention is felt. It is felt whether I am there to impress or to serve. For real healing to occur, it is vital that I show up with my heart and mind aligned and that I am there for the client’s best interest and highest good. From the perspective of how to last longer than the average six-year massage career, it is essential that one’s heart be true to the craft, otherwise, we burn out from energy vampires, the physicality of the work, or both.
Contact Info:
- Other: email: [email protected] My next project is to get a website built.
Image Credits
I have all rights to these photos