We recently connected with Paulette Patterson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Paulette, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
My first job working for someone as a Massage Therapist was at a nationwide spa. I was very nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. Working among a handful of other therapists who had years of experience while I was just newly licensed and freshly 3 months out of school. I’ve always known I wanted to open my own practice, but at the time, my goal was to gain experience so that I could take what I learn and apply it. The interview process was fairly easy. A part of the process in the industry is having to let the hiring manager experience your service or learning their way of how to do a service and then testing you on it to make sure you understand the process as well as being up to their servicing standard. I was fairly confident in my work, but still struggle with adopting things I learned and making it my own.
I spent 2 years with them before moving on and my time there taught me a lot with working among other therapists and spa techniques. It was a great experience and met amazing people, clients and therapists alike.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am the Owner of Embodywork and Wellness (currently Hiatus Massage) and a Licensed Massage Therapist with 6 years of experience. I specialize in Sports, Prenatal (pregnancy), and Occupational stress massages. I offer a wide range of services from mobile to couple massages with uses of hot stones and cupping. The human body is a natural machine that needs to be cared for in order to work properly. That’s where I come in. I am able to consult with my client’s doctors to offer the best care that they may need. Issues that most people may come see me about are, back, neck, shoulders, plantar fasciitis (feet), and sciatic nerve problems. Other clients also come in for muscle recovery or just some sort of self care that they need. One of my current goals along with bringing more awareness to the people about how important getting massages is to bring awareness to how important it is for expecting mothers to also be pampered in this moment. Growing a new life is very stressful mentally, emotionally, and physically and most times the focus is more on the baby then the mother. I create the space for mommies to be taken care of too.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Find your mentor(s) and find your niche. Massage Therapists are more than what the spa industry has led others to believe. We are specialists. We have a wide range of reach in the Spa/Beauty and Healthcare industries. When you find the niche that you enjoy, you find your clientele that you want to reach. Surround yourself with like minded people. The don’t all have to be massage therapists. You can have a people from different areas of business as long as they are helpful to what you are trying to achieve.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Referrals have done wonders for me. I like to reach out to different businesses where they can receive my services and also refer me to their customers/patients/clients. Then those same referrals can reach their family, friends, coworkers. There are many other ways, but that one brings in the most business and I love meeting new people and learning how they heard about me. It helps broaden out that connection that I aim to have with my clients.
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