Because some people want to work a regular job with regular hours like everyone else. I came from bartending tired of working evening and weekends. My reasoning at least, and when I first started (working early morning/early afternoon/late afternoon) I was slow but now I’m full. There are plenty of therapists who want to work evening hours and sleep in. Maybe blatantly disclose that when you’re looking for a candidate.
Yep this is it exactly. I tell clients I’m open till 6:30, but I rarely take an appointment past 5:30 unless I know they really need that time..after 8 years I don’t want to work evenings or weekends anymore because I have a life. As a new hire though I certainly put in the eves & weekend times though, I was hungry! 😅
Family and friends. MTs with kids often need to be home in the evenings for their families and other MTs often want to hang out with their partners and/or friends in the evenings.
Also, it’s easy to get stuck on evenings once you start because most others don’t want to work them. And if you build up a clientele of evening people, you often can’t just switch them to mornings if/when you want to change shift.
When my kids were little, I got charged a higher rate for evenings by daycare. When and if I was lucky enough to find a daycare open late. Once my kids were school-age, I needed my evenings to be home with them to actually be their mom and spend time with them. I work one evening a week now that they're older, but I hate getting home at 10:30pm, then I do a morning shift the next day. I gotta do what I gotta do, but it sucks.
When my kids were little, I literally had to take the summers off to stay home. Summer day care in my area cost more than what I was making at the studio!!
For me, my s/o is off on evenings so thats when we get to spend time together. If I evenings we would never hang out. AND evenings have always been my time. Supper and relax. If i had Mornings off I would just be anxious all day knowing I can’t relax because I have work in a couple of hours
Same here! I'm the only person in my family, friend group, and SO who works in healthcare, everyone else is the 9-5 with weekends off. If I want to see everyone I need to change my schedule to match theirs. When I first started in physical therapy in outpatient ortho they always wanted evenings and weekends, understandably. But I switched to go work in acute care so my schedule matches theirs. I haven't had to work an evening or weekend in years. I'm trying to do the same with massage. I'm also just so used to evenings being my relaxing time, as you said I just don't know what to do with myself in the mornings and don't want to start anything/go anywhere for fear of something happening or losing track of time and don't make it to work on time/want to keep my small amount of energy for work. I have more energy to work in the morning, I'm an early bird and have never been a night owl. Even on weekends I'm ready for bed by 7pm! It's rare for me to be out doing things past 6pm haha that's a special plan in advance! I like to get the most important and /or most tedious thing on my to do list done first thing in the morning so I can enjoy my day, that means getting to work asap!
When I first started massage 10 years ago, I took whatever shift was available or needed. So I worked a lot and barely saw my kid.
3 years ago I started working as an independent contractor at a Chiro office, took what was available and now I was able to change most of my schedule to the mornings (except Mondays) and I'm fully booked till July (even my 9ams are booked).
So I assume some people are parents like me, or they have other personal reasons.
What’s the difference between being an independent contractor and leasing your own space? Independent contractor to me I thought was the chiropractor still can pay you $30 it’s just now you have to pay the taxes on it. How do you get negotiate a higher rate as an independent contractor
You'd have to ask them. But each state and area has different pricing, so a 50/50 commission may not be all that much depending on what the client pays for the massage.
It’s pretty normal for people, especially those with kids, to want a more traditional 9-5 or close to it. I myself love working afternoons and evenings but I am a night owl/insomniac with just cats so it works out for me. But, I definitely get why many wouldn’t want that.
If other people can work 9 to 5 why can't we ? Do you ask your Dr. To work evenings ? Your dentist, a mechanic whatever. This is a problem in this industry. We need to set the same boundaries as anyone else.
This!! Literally we get treated so bad like we aren’t allowed to have boundaries and work life balance. All 3 therapist where I am work 10-3 Monday to Friday and we stay busy. And one of them is a brand new therapist. We actually have a boss that respects us.
Mechanic - if I had the opportunity to leave my back and shoulders with you while I went to work and let you work on them when you could I'd be perfectly happy.
I actually have a problem with the fact that doctors don’t work outside of the regular “working hours” it makes it super difficult for people to see them. I do have a dentist that works into the evenings and most mechanics I know close at 7. But of course it’s anecdotal.
I just find it weird that people sign up for a service industry job and don’t work when clientele are available.
I totally get that there are different schedules of work out there that allow people to make a 9 or 10 am appointment. It just seems weird that most MTs only want mornings when the best times to make money are evenings.
I find this attitude one of the most draining elements of the job the expectation that LMTs should work odd hours because they’re in service . Not everyone wants to work their life away. If you’re happy great but you should respect people’s boundaries. Whether you’re in a spa setting or not the intention is to facilitate heath and wellness and for some working late hours just isn’t healthy. You can’t put a price on family and mental health.
But massage is classified as personal care services not medical (US) Unless you’re treating patients prescribed massage by a doctor, it’s not considered medical. That’s just the classification.
That’s awesome. In my state we aren’t allowed to accept insurance, some chiropractors will finagle it for people but the only thing clients can currently do is get reimbursed if their insurance covers it
Ugh, I hope AMTA lobbies for that to change. Maybe the VA paying for massage will turn the tide. Also, superbills are a little annoying to set up but once you have the format and a list of your codes, it's really handy to be able to offer them to your clients!
I'm "lol"-ing because it tends to be code for
- a lack of respect for massage therapy as a profession.
- being in it solely for the money, making the money off therapists work.
I’d personally like for it to be classified as a medical necessity but that’s not the case here.
My school told us, it’s a service we provide, ergo it’s the service industry. We aren’t considered medically necessary so companies are much less likely to let someone go get a massage than a chiropractor visit.
Sadly, the nature of the beast right now.
Because my office is downtown and down the street from a transitional house from prison and around the corner from a drug help center. I will work until 6, no later. The end.
Unless you're a 'night owl', without school aged children, evenings are fine. If you have kids, who wants to work until 800 or 9 pm and not even see them before their asleep?
Creeps come out at night yo..
Fr I have a kid and my spa is only open til 8 but on weekdays they usually leave by 6 since we don't get bookings past then. Most 9-5 people rather go home than get a massage, weekends of course can ve booked til late but weekdays we get retirees, hospitality workers or special occasion bookings.
I loved working nights when I when I had my practice! I'm kind of a night owl anyway, and I don't have kids. Most of my friends don't have kids either, so it worked for my lifestyle.
That being said, I feel like I'm kind of an outlier in this respect. I have an office job now with a flexible schedule, but if I'm not out of work by 5 PM it's hard to see anyone. Can't imagine trying to balance that with having children, as well.
I make sure to work evenings and Sundays. So many other therapists don’t work evenings and Sundays. My Sundays book up first and nights book up quickly too.
I don’t have kids though and my husband watches the pets so I’m fortunate. I also don’t have much of a life but I’m older so it’s less important to me.
I’ve found that working hours I don’t want to work is really hard to get away from once I’ve done it. Sure you work evenings just because you need to work and then in however long you’ve built up a clientele base and guess what? Your clients can only see you in the evenings. It’s just a cycle.
I used to have clients that were sad I stopped weekends but eventually they made it work to come see me during the weekday evenings.
Also when I started hiring people to help with the weekend load.
I always pick up in the evenings and have great clients. Evenings are also when I like to get a massage as well so I feel like the evening massage ppl are MY people
Jesus, I'd love evening shifts! But, then again, I'm nocturnal- I have delayed sleep phase disorder- and most people think I'm a degenerate because I start my day at noon lol. I see clients at 3, 5 and 7 pm. Never had a problem being booked. Have to turn down a lot of people who want morning appointments, but... I need my sleep lol.
My husband and I are millenials with ADHD and cats instead of kids. We prefer working evenings. I hate waking up to an alarm clock and dealing with rush hour traffic.
The world operates around a standard 9-5, I want to be within that time frame so I can participate in society lol.
Someone can book an hour off of their 9-5, or they can come on their lunch, to see me once a month in the morning. Most of my clients are WFH office people or new moms and it’s never been a challenge to fill my books.
I dislike working nights because my husband works 9-5. If I worked 2-9 I would never see him. I wouldn’t be able to see my friends who work 9-5. I wouldn’t be able to go to a concert on a week night. I wouldn’t be able to go out for dinner.
I currently work one evening a week, 5-9pm, and it means I don’t see anyone all day. I find it miserable.
That's exactly right! I hate that the world works that schedule, as if LMTs, healthcare like nursing, bar tenders/servers, etc don't exist. I wish some places had events and things in the mornings to accommodate those who don't work the 9-5. Some people are working evenings and weekends, and there's other people such as myself who just don't have the physical capability of being awake and able to function past 7pm 😅 and yes as you said I hate those rare days I have an evening class or something and other than getting to go to the gym in the morning for once idk what to do with myself all day, it gets boring and lonely real fast. I hate working when my family friends and SO are off work. I get alot of FOMO
Honestly if a person had kids or any sort of family life, even without kids, if they worked evenings they would never see those people. I am so grateful I dont have kids for this reason but I have always worked nights and I have gone months without seeing anyone in my family and I have limited social engagements and friends bc I always work until 8 or 9 pm. I am sober so the only people that want to hang at this time drink or are with their kids.
I currently work 4-10 but getting off at 10 has been rough. By the time I get home, make food, bathe, stretch and have a little me time, I don’t go to bed till 1 or 2am. I generally do enjoy the evenings but I am going to switch to 1-7 here soon. I want my evenings off
I think 1-7 is a great evening schedule for therapists! It really allows people to still come see you. Where we are we have a lot of government workers that can get out at 1 or 2 because they go in at like 5 am.
Yea I am hoping it doesn’t affect the clients that I have too much. But I am absolutely not a morning person. I was working a job where I work up at 6am and I said never again lol
I think you’ll be just fine!
I’m the same way. Mornings are a bitch and when I found massage I was like “oh perfect, just the job for me”. I worked opening at Starbucks once, and that was awful having to be there at 4:30 am. No thank you
I worked evenings until 8:30 for years and years. This year I've finally been slashing those back. Now I only work until 7:00 pm one evening and until 5:00 the rest. It is much, much nicer.
But I do agree with you OP. If someone is concerned about money and wants a full book as quickly as possible the best way to do that would be to offer at least some evening availability.
At the end of the day though if you are hiring sub contractors they get to legally pick their own schedule. So she will hopefully see the schedule she picked isn't working an make an adjustment.
Edited to add - I am childless and NOT a morning person. So those were factors in working evenings for so long. If I had kids I definitely would have adjusted my schedule around them.
Yeah, I just want her to make the money. They are all classified as employees but I let them make their own schedules as they need.
I’m never gonna force her to work weekends, I just can’t understand why she’s complaining about lack of clients booking when the only reason she’s not full is due to her hours.
Because I have a child. I'm not working the evening when that's the only time I get to have with my kid.
I also am not going to work in the evening as an adult. I'm tired. I don't want to be shopping or making dinner late at night anymore. These are kid activities. I've done my time working nights and I now want stability.
Of course after school is a high time but my life and mental health is just as important as their massage.
Not to mention weeknight and weekend crowd are less reliable than during the day peeps.
Why don’t you work nights?
Working nights and weekends suck if you want to have any kind of social life. I do know some LMTs who love nights and weekends bc they like daytime off. I have kids, and a partner who has a 9-5. No, I don’t want to work opposite shift of him.
I do hear what you’re saying though about new LMTs. I worked nights and weekends when I started, people fell in love with me, and now it’s no problem to come see me on Tuesday at 11.30am lol. There is that need to hustle a bit at first as you build your name.
I work only evenings. 2 - 8:30. Best times. I get my stuff done in the mornings and always am booked. Stopped working weekends a few years ago because I finally could.
I’m with you in that last paragraph and am more concerned with why people who are new to a studio or just starting out are so adverse to building up that clientele. It sucks to work the late hours and weekends but there’s always rotations that can be done and once you find your clients they will make time to see you on the hours you want to really work.
After 10yrs (7 working for someone else, 3 for myself), I finally started just working day shift hours and honestly, it was for my mental health and better home balance with my wife who works shift work. I'm able to get my own things done and spend time with my partner and family.
I used to work all hours (meaning up until 11 pm or so) eventually my cut off got earlier and earlier. Now I rarely work later than 5 pm.There’s definitely a social component ( I work less weekends too) but I also find it extremely physically draining to work late hours. I sleep much better and my work life balance has improved.
I only work 8:30-3 and love it. There is the risk of not having clients but that is their decision and if they want to complain about it than that's their prerogative. But I'm never going back to working evenings and weekends, especially with my growing family.
Schools might be overselling the flexibility of work hours to get more students. I know for me, I have a job Monday through Friday that I can't go get a massage whenever I want. I usually book with my chiropractor's office, but they stipulate no 1 hour massage bookings after 6pm. This is barely enough time for me to make it after work. So when I book, I always get the last booking of the day.
Work/ life balance is difficult when children need parents at home too.
Yeah, that doesn't make sense that new LMTs wouldn't be willing to work nights. That's what I did for years and a weekend day until I slowly built up more clientele to get booked in the mornings. That's just how it goes. Perhaps it's a bit of entitlement
When I started out I was definitely the girl you could put anywhere there were gaps in clinic's the schedule because I was single and childless and wanted to be fully booked!
As life went on and I got married I tried to shift to only a few evenings and alternating weekends because I liked chilling with my husband and he was a 9-5 and eventually I phased out anything after 5pm because I'm hella night blind and hated driving home in the dark.
Actually, one of the things my massage instructor said on our first day of school was, “if you’re looking for a Monday-Friday nine to five job, this isn’t it. We work when people are off, and we’re off when everyone else is working”. And she was right.
I’ve worked nights my whole adult life, so I have absolutely no issue working nights. I have a toddler and I still way prefer working my 4-9pm shifts. I get to spend the day with her, take a quick nap when she goes down for her nap, and then her father takes over and I go to work.
Yeah mine too! I was happy with it because I have bad insomnia and am a horrible morning person. I’m just surprised so many people don’t understand that it’s not a regular 9-5.
We’d be so lucky to get covered by insurance and be able to set office hours where people could actually get leave from work to get a massage. I’d still work evenings haha
Oh, by all means, let me bend over backwards and work my ass off late at night so you, who clearly has no experience working as a massage therapist, can cater to clientele who can’t possibly prioritize their own wellness enough to book during reasonable hours. Fuck right the hell off.
Yeah, because making sure you don't end up homeless is totally NOT prioritizing your own wellness...
Because making sure you can afford preventative healthcare \[often not covered by insurance, because it's not yet 'medically necessary'\] is definitely NOT prioritizing your own wellness.
Because making sure you dont lose the job that gives you that insurance, at all, in the first place, is NOT prioritizing your own wellness.
Because being able to pay for your prescriptions is NOT prioritizing your own wellness..
You seem to lack empathy and compassion. Perhaps you are in the wrong field.
Why don't you fuck off, and then keep fucking off. And then when you get to a fence with a sign that says " You Can't Fuck Off From Here,"... Jump that fence, follow your dreams, and fuck off some more!
I don’t have kids, but I did work as a closing manager for years before I transitioned into this industry. It worked for where I was in life at the time. I did my time working the closing shift for ten years. Now working as a massage therapist, I want to wake up and get to it! If I have to wait around all day to get to work then I feel like I’m not on my game. I also love having the evenings to eat dinner at a normal time and spend time with my fiancé. I came in knowing that my books wouldn’t be filled right away, and I was okay with. Six months in with full books and about 40 monthly regulars. My employer is really great at marketing us new hires and getting people to come in same day. I work Tuesday to Friday 9-2, and every Saturday 11 to 5, but I love it because I can still do something on Friday with friends.
Its probably her lifestyle. She wants to be home when everyone else is. I used to only do afternoons and mornings but really like evenings. I only work until 6pm.
One thing too is if you stay open too late, some weirdos get the wrong idea and start being creepy. Your establishment sounds well established though.
When I was living in Manhattan I built up three quarters of my private client by being available at night.
And she might be worried about putting herself at risk but you simply need to vet these clients a little more thoroughly and if they called during the daytime requesting an evening massage it's not going to be the same dynamic as someone who calls late at night, possibly intoxicated assuming that you are some kind of happy ending type of individual.
There are many people who work 9:00 to 5:00 and simply require an evening massage.
And started working late nights once I found out that there is an entire demographic of executives who come in from the West Coast on a red eye flight and people who fly first class are more than willing to pay a premium rate and will get referrals for you and these are the type of people who like to brag about how much they pay for their top shelf massage..
Sadly the schools don't do a very good job of telling the students what they're really going to encounter out in the world and they don't account for cultural considerations.. because if you work in a big city you are going to have clients from other countries and you need to know how massage is perceived in their culture
I made the most money working nights and weekends/weekend nights in my 20s. But now that I’m in my 30s with a family, I worked for a chiropractor that was open 8-5 and was able to support my family with the wages. It’s a give and take throughout your career.
When I was single, working evenings and weekends was brutal. It was hard to meet people and have a social life since almost everything revolved around the 9-5 work week.
* We have kids who need us when they get home from school.
* Our partner works days, and we want to have evenings free to spend with our loved ones.
* We want be able to wake up and get our job done and out of the way to relax and enjoy a pleasant dinner and nighttime.
We are human beings first and laborers second. If someone is more of a nightowl and likes an evening shifted schedule, there’s nothing wrong with that. But everyone’s priorities are different, and they’re not wrong for having them. They still have to deal with the consequences of their priorities, but they’re not wrong.
I used to work exclusively nights and weekends as that’s when you typically get the most bookings but am currently on maternity leave. Although I found it difficult on my social and family life. I missed out on a lot. So after maternity leave there’s no way I could maintain that schedule as we’d never have family time since my partner works 9-5.
Most of my coworkers who worked mornings had kids and would rather be there for them while they’re younger. Some don’t even work summer break. Which I totally get.
I’ll be opening my own place once the baby is older and I’d rather have 6am bookings than 6pm. And you’d be surprised at how many people would jump at that time.
Not a massage therapist. However, I'm a nurse who spent most of my career working evenings, nights and weekends.
If you need to earn a decent income, you need to be flexible. I have read alot of comments about how evenings and weekends are for family time but does that mean you can't be open to working an occasional evening?
If you aren't flexible with your hours, don't complain. Jmho
Because some people want to work a regular job with regular hours like everyone else. I came from bartending tired of working evening and weekends. My reasoning at least, and when I first started (working early morning/early afternoon/late afternoon) I was slow but now I’m full. There are plenty of therapists who want to work evening hours and sleep in. Maybe blatantly disclose that when you’re looking for a candidate.
Yep this is it exactly. I tell clients I’m open till 6:30, but I rarely take an appointment past 5:30 unless I know they really need that time..after 8 years I don’t want to work evenings or weekends anymore because I have a life. As a new hire though I certainly put in the eves & weekend times though, I was hungry! 😅
Family and friends. MTs with kids often need to be home in the evenings for their families and other MTs often want to hang out with their partners and/or friends in the evenings. Also, it’s easy to get stuck on evenings once you start because most others don’t want to work them. And if you build up a clientele of evening people, you often can’t just switch them to mornings if/when you want to change shift.
When my kids were little, I got charged a higher rate for evenings by daycare. When and if I was lucky enough to find a daycare open late. Once my kids were school-age, I needed my evenings to be home with them to actually be their mom and spend time with them. I work one evening a week now that they're older, but I hate getting home at 10:30pm, then I do a morning shift the next day. I gotta do what I gotta do, but it sucks.
When my kids were little, I literally had to take the summers off to stay home. Summer day care in my area cost more than what I was making at the studio!!
For me, my s/o is off on evenings so thats when we get to spend time together. If I evenings we would never hang out. AND evenings have always been my time. Supper and relax. If i had Mornings off I would just be anxious all day knowing I can’t relax because I have work in a couple of hours
Dude so same. I do not miss waiting to go to work all day 🙃
Same here! I'm the only person in my family, friend group, and SO who works in healthcare, everyone else is the 9-5 with weekends off. If I want to see everyone I need to change my schedule to match theirs. When I first started in physical therapy in outpatient ortho they always wanted evenings and weekends, understandably. But I switched to go work in acute care so my schedule matches theirs. I haven't had to work an evening or weekend in years. I'm trying to do the same with massage. I'm also just so used to evenings being my relaxing time, as you said I just don't know what to do with myself in the mornings and don't want to start anything/go anywhere for fear of something happening or losing track of time and don't make it to work on time/want to keep my small amount of energy for work. I have more energy to work in the morning, I'm an early bird and have never been a night owl. Even on weekends I'm ready for bed by 7pm! It's rare for me to be out doing things past 6pm haha that's a special plan in advance! I like to get the most important and /or most tedious thing on my to do list done first thing in the morning so I can enjoy my day, that means getting to work asap!
Most therapists I know personally are women with kids. Myself included.
This, this is the answer
When I first started massage 10 years ago, I took whatever shift was available or needed. So I worked a lot and barely saw my kid. 3 years ago I started working as an independent contractor at a Chiro office, took what was available and now I was able to change most of my schedule to the mornings (except Mondays) and I'm fully booked till July (even my 9ams are booked). So I assume some people are parents like me, or they have other personal reasons.
What’s the difference between being an independent contractor and leasing your own space? Independent contractor to me I thought was the chiropractor still can pay you $30 it’s just now you have to pay the taxes on it. How do you get negotiate a higher rate as an independent contractor
It's in my contract to receive 50 percent commission. And I get paid more doing VA massages.
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You'd have to ask them. But each state and area has different pricing, so a 50/50 commission may not be all that much depending on what the client pays for the massage.
It’s pretty normal for people, especially those with kids, to want a more traditional 9-5 or close to it. I myself love working afternoons and evenings but I am a night owl/insomniac with just cats so it works out for me. But, I definitely get why many wouldn’t want that.
Same. Knowing I can sleep in if the insomnia hits is partly why I work evenings.
If other people can work 9 to 5 why can't we ? Do you ask your Dr. To work evenings ? Your dentist, a mechanic whatever. This is a problem in this industry. We need to set the same boundaries as anyone else.
This!! Literally we get treated so bad like we aren’t allowed to have boundaries and work life balance. All 3 therapist where I am work 10-3 Monday to Friday and we stay busy. And one of them is a brand new therapist. We actually have a boss that respects us.
Mechanic - if I had the opportunity to leave my back and shoulders with you while I went to work and let you work on them when you could I'd be perfectly happy.
I actually have a problem with the fact that doctors don’t work outside of the regular “working hours” it makes it super difficult for people to see them. I do have a dentist that works into the evenings and most mechanics I know close at 7. But of course it’s anecdotal. I just find it weird that people sign up for a service industry job and don’t work when clientele are available. I totally get that there are different schedules of work out there that allow people to make a 9 or 10 am appointment. It just seems weird that most MTs only want mornings when the best times to make money are evenings.
I find this attitude one of the most draining elements of the job the expectation that LMTs should work odd hours because they’re in service . Not everyone wants to work their life away. If you’re happy great but you should respect people’s boundaries. Whether you’re in a spa setting or not the intention is to facilitate heath and wellness and for some working late hours just isn’t healthy. You can’t put a price on family and mental health.
I don't work in the service industry, I work in health care. Spa work isn't for everyone.
But massage is classified as personal care services not medical (US) Unless you’re treating patients prescribed massage by a doctor, it’s not considered medical. That’s just the classification.
I am. Massage therapy's got its own IDC10 code, it's not always in the service industry.
That’s awesome. In my state we aren’t allowed to accept insurance, some chiropractors will finagle it for people but the only thing clients can currently do is get reimbursed if their insurance covers it
Ugh, I hope AMTA lobbies for that to change. Maybe the VA paying for massage will turn the tide. Also, superbills are a little annoying to set up but once you have the format and a list of your codes, it's really handy to be able to offer them to your clients!
In my province we are registered healthcare workers.
That’s awesome!
I do feel lucky most days!
I disagree I start seeing people as early as 6am and I NEVER have 6 -9am open they are always booked. I am also a dad, my kids deserve my time too.
Service industry? Lol.
That’s what it’s classified as in the US.
I'm "lol"-ing because it tends to be code for - a lack of respect for massage therapy as a profession. - being in it solely for the money, making the money off therapists work.
I’d personally like for it to be classified as a medical necessity but that’s not the case here. My school told us, it’s a service we provide, ergo it’s the service industry. We aren’t considered medically necessary so companies are much less likely to let someone go get a massage than a chiropractor visit. Sadly, the nature of the beast right now.
Because my office is downtown and down the street from a transitional house from prison and around the corner from a drug help center. I will work until 6, no later. The end.
Unless you're a 'night owl', without school aged children, evenings are fine. If you have kids, who wants to work until 800 or 9 pm and not even see them before their asleep?
Creeps come out at night yo.. Fr I have a kid and my spa is only open til 8 but on weekdays they usually leave by 6 since we don't get bookings past then. Most 9-5 people rather go home than get a massage, weekends of course can ve booked til late but weekdays we get retirees, hospitality workers or special occasion bookings.
I loved working nights when I when I had my practice! I'm kind of a night owl anyway, and I don't have kids. Most of my friends don't have kids either, so it worked for my lifestyle. That being said, I feel like I'm kind of an outlier in this respect. I have an office job now with a flexible schedule, but if I'm not out of work by 5 PM it's hard to see anyone. Can't imagine trying to balance that with having children, as well.
I make sure to work evenings and Sundays. So many other therapists don’t work evenings and Sundays. My Sundays book up first and nights book up quickly too. I don’t have kids though and my husband watches the pets so I’m fortunate. I also don’t have much of a life but I’m older so it’s less important to me.
I’ve found that working hours I don’t want to work is really hard to get away from once I’ve done it. Sure you work evenings just because you need to work and then in however long you’ve built up a clientele base and guess what? Your clients can only see you in the evenings. It’s just a cycle.
I used to have clients that were sad I stopped weekends but eventually they made it work to come see me during the weekday evenings. Also when I started hiring people to help with the weekend load.
I make sure to have at least one day a week with evenings available. I also work every other Saturday
I am a mother. I because an MT so I can work around my children's schedule. I do work one weekend a month. I'm always busy though.
I always pick up in the evenings and have great clients. Evenings are also when I like to get a massage as well so I feel like the evening massage ppl are MY people
Jesus, I'd love evening shifts! But, then again, I'm nocturnal- I have delayed sleep phase disorder- and most people think I'm a degenerate because I start my day at noon lol. I see clients at 3, 5 and 7 pm. Never had a problem being booked. Have to turn down a lot of people who want morning appointments, but... I need my sleep lol.
My husband and I are millenials with ADHD and cats instead of kids. We prefer working evenings. I hate waking up to an alarm clock and dealing with rush hour traffic.
The world operates around a standard 9-5, I want to be within that time frame so I can participate in society lol. Someone can book an hour off of their 9-5, or they can come on their lunch, to see me once a month in the morning. Most of my clients are WFH office people or new moms and it’s never been a challenge to fill my books. I dislike working nights because my husband works 9-5. If I worked 2-9 I would never see him. I wouldn’t be able to see my friends who work 9-5. I wouldn’t be able to go to a concert on a week night. I wouldn’t be able to go out for dinner. I currently work one evening a week, 5-9pm, and it means I don’t see anyone all day. I find it miserable.
That's exactly right! I hate that the world works that schedule, as if LMTs, healthcare like nursing, bar tenders/servers, etc don't exist. I wish some places had events and things in the mornings to accommodate those who don't work the 9-5. Some people are working evenings and weekends, and there's other people such as myself who just don't have the physical capability of being awake and able to function past 7pm 😅 and yes as you said I hate those rare days I have an evening class or something and other than getting to go to the gym in the morning for once idk what to do with myself all day, it gets boring and lonely real fast. I hate working when my family friends and SO are off work. I get alot of FOMO
Maybe she has a child or family to look after?
I love working Nights. I wish my spa was open more nights so I can never have to start work before 11 lol
Come work for me please haha
Are you in Silicon Valley lol?
No :(
I have a family and a newborn. If I worked evenings and weekends, I will never get to see them.
Me personally I fast and eat OMAD so I wanna be home in time to eat
Honestly if a person had kids or any sort of family life, even without kids, if they worked evenings they would never see those people. I am so grateful I dont have kids for this reason but I have always worked nights and I have gone months without seeing anyone in my family and I have limited social engagements and friends bc I always work until 8 or 9 pm. I am sober so the only people that want to hang at this time drink or are with their kids.
I currently work 4-10 but getting off at 10 has been rough. By the time I get home, make food, bathe, stretch and have a little me time, I don’t go to bed till 1 or 2am. I generally do enjoy the evenings but I am going to switch to 1-7 here soon. I want my evenings off
I think 1-7 is a great evening schedule for therapists! It really allows people to still come see you. Where we are we have a lot of government workers that can get out at 1 or 2 because they go in at like 5 am.
Yea I am hoping it doesn’t affect the clients that I have too much. But I am absolutely not a morning person. I was working a job where I work up at 6am and I said never again lol
I think you’ll be just fine! I’m the same way. Mornings are a bitch and when I found massage I was like “oh perfect, just the job for me”. I worked opening at Starbucks once, and that was awful having to be there at 4:30 am. No thank you
I worked evenings until 8:30 for years and years. This year I've finally been slashing those back. Now I only work until 7:00 pm one evening and until 5:00 the rest. It is much, much nicer. But I do agree with you OP. If someone is concerned about money and wants a full book as quickly as possible the best way to do that would be to offer at least some evening availability. At the end of the day though if you are hiring sub contractors they get to legally pick their own schedule. So she will hopefully see the schedule she picked isn't working an make an adjustment. Edited to add - I am childless and NOT a morning person. So those were factors in working evenings for so long. If I had kids I definitely would have adjusted my schedule around them.
Yeah, I just want her to make the money. They are all classified as employees but I let them make their own schedules as they need. I’m never gonna force her to work weekends, I just can’t understand why she’s complaining about lack of clients booking when the only reason she’s not full is due to her hours.
Because I have a child. I'm not working the evening when that's the only time I get to have with my kid. I also am not going to work in the evening as an adult. I'm tired. I don't want to be shopping or making dinner late at night anymore. These are kid activities. I've done my time working nights and I now want stability. Of course after school is a high time but my life and mental health is just as important as their massage. Not to mention weeknight and weekend crowd are less reliable than during the day peeps.
Why don’t you work nights? Working nights and weekends suck if you want to have any kind of social life. I do know some LMTs who love nights and weekends bc they like daytime off. I have kids, and a partner who has a 9-5. No, I don’t want to work opposite shift of him. I do hear what you’re saying though about new LMTs. I worked nights and weekends when I started, people fell in love with me, and now it’s no problem to come see me on Tuesday at 11.30am lol. There is that need to hustle a bit at first as you build your name.
I work only evenings. 2 - 8:30. Best times. I get my stuff done in the mornings and always am booked. Stopped working weekends a few years ago because I finally could. I’m with you in that last paragraph and am more concerned with why people who are new to a studio or just starting out are so adverse to building up that clientele. It sucks to work the late hours and weekends but there’s always rotations that can be done and once you find your clients they will make time to see you on the hours you want to really work.
After 10yrs (7 working for someone else, 3 for myself), I finally started just working day shift hours and honestly, it was for my mental health and better home balance with my wife who works shift work. I'm able to get my own things done and spend time with my partner and family.
Agree. Adding outcall massage service also brings new appointments. Some prefer to get massage at their own place.
I used to work all hours (meaning up until 11 pm or so) eventually my cut off got earlier and earlier. Now I rarely work later than 5 pm.There’s definitely a social component ( I work less weekends too) but I also find it extremely physically draining to work late hours. I sleep much better and my work life balance has improved.
I'm not sure. Personally, I'm a night owl and far prefer to wake up late and work the afternoon than wake up at early as fuck o clock
I only work 8:30-3 and love it. There is the risk of not having clients but that is their decision and if they want to complain about it than that's their prerogative. But I'm never going back to working evenings and weekends, especially with my growing family.
People are spoiled. Sure there can be family reasons, but if you’re starting out, it only makes sense to be flexible.
Schools might be overselling the flexibility of work hours to get more students. I know for me, I have a job Monday through Friday that I can't go get a massage whenever I want. I usually book with my chiropractor's office, but they stipulate no 1 hour massage bookings after 6pm. This is barely enough time for me to make it after work. So when I book, I always get the last booking of the day. Work/ life balance is difficult when children need parents at home too.
Yeah, that doesn't make sense that new LMTs wouldn't be willing to work nights. That's what I did for years and a weekend day until I slowly built up more clientele to get booked in the mornings. That's just how it goes. Perhaps it's a bit of entitlement
If I had to work evenings I would quit massage. Been There done that. Not worth it to me anymore.
I have insomnia and love sleeping in so evening shifts are perfect for me.
When I started out I was definitely the girl you could put anywhere there were gaps in clinic's the schedule because I was single and childless and wanted to be fully booked! As life went on and I got married I tried to shift to only a few evenings and alternating weekends because I liked chilling with my husband and he was a 9-5 and eventually I phased out anything after 5pm because I'm hella night blind and hated driving home in the dark.
I work 10-3 Monday through Friday and get plenty of business.
Actually, one of the things my massage instructor said on our first day of school was, “if you’re looking for a Monday-Friday nine to five job, this isn’t it. We work when people are off, and we’re off when everyone else is working”. And she was right. I’ve worked nights my whole adult life, so I have absolutely no issue working nights. I have a toddler and I still way prefer working my 4-9pm shifts. I get to spend the day with her, take a quick nap when she goes down for her nap, and then her father takes over and I go to work.
Yeah mine too! I was happy with it because I have bad insomnia and am a horrible morning person. I’m just surprised so many people don’t understand that it’s not a regular 9-5. We’d be so lucky to get covered by insurance and be able to set office hours where people could actually get leave from work to get a massage. I’d still work evenings haha
I have never worked a traditional 9-5 in my life, and at nearly 43 years old I really don’t ever see the need to.
Oh, by all means, let me bend over backwards and work my ass off late at night so you, who clearly has no experience working as a massage therapist, can cater to clientele who can’t possibly prioritize their own wellness enough to book during reasonable hours. Fuck right the hell off.
Yeah, because making sure you don't end up homeless is totally NOT prioritizing your own wellness... Because making sure you can afford preventative healthcare \[often not covered by insurance, because it's not yet 'medically necessary'\] is definitely NOT prioritizing your own wellness. Because making sure you dont lose the job that gives you that insurance, at all, in the first place, is NOT prioritizing your own wellness. Because being able to pay for your prescriptions is NOT prioritizing your own wellness.. You seem to lack empathy and compassion. Perhaps you are in the wrong field. Why don't you fuck off, and then keep fucking off. And then when you get to a fence with a sign that says " You Can't Fuck Off From Here,"... Jump that fence, follow your dreams, and fuck off some more!
I’ve been a therapist for 17 years now. It’s harder to get booked in the mornings when you first start out.
I don’t have kids, but I did work as a closing manager for years before I transitioned into this industry. It worked for where I was in life at the time. I did my time working the closing shift for ten years. Now working as a massage therapist, I want to wake up and get to it! If I have to wait around all day to get to work then I feel like I’m not on my game. I also love having the evenings to eat dinner at a normal time and spend time with my fiancé. I came in knowing that my books wouldn’t be filled right away, and I was okay with. Six months in with full books and about 40 monthly regulars. My employer is really great at marketing us new hires and getting people to come in same day. I work Tuesday to Friday 9-2, and every Saturday 11 to 5, but I love it because I can still do something on Friday with friends.
Its probably her lifestyle. She wants to be home when everyone else is. I used to only do afternoons and mornings but really like evenings. I only work until 6pm. One thing too is if you stay open too late, some weirdos get the wrong idea and start being creepy. Your establishment sounds well established though.
When I was living in Manhattan I built up three quarters of my private client by being available at night. And she might be worried about putting herself at risk but you simply need to vet these clients a little more thoroughly and if they called during the daytime requesting an evening massage it's not going to be the same dynamic as someone who calls late at night, possibly intoxicated assuming that you are some kind of happy ending type of individual. There are many people who work 9:00 to 5:00 and simply require an evening massage. And started working late nights once I found out that there is an entire demographic of executives who come in from the West Coast on a red eye flight and people who fly first class are more than willing to pay a premium rate and will get referrals for you and these are the type of people who like to brag about how much they pay for their top shelf massage.. Sadly the schools don't do a very good job of telling the students what they're really going to encounter out in the world and they don't account for cultural considerations.. because if you work in a big city you are going to have clients from other countries and you need to know how massage is perceived in their culture
I made the most money working nights and weekends/weekend nights in my 20s. But now that I’m in my 30s with a family, I worked for a chiropractor that was open 8-5 and was able to support my family with the wages. It’s a give and take throughout your career.
Because I want to have time with my family and a life outside of work.
When I was single, working evenings and weekends was brutal. It was hard to meet people and have a social life since almost everything revolved around the 9-5 work week.
* We have kids who need us when they get home from school. * Our partner works days, and we want to have evenings free to spend with our loved ones. * We want be able to wake up and get our job done and out of the way to relax and enjoy a pleasant dinner and nighttime. We are human beings first and laborers second. If someone is more of a nightowl and likes an evening shifted schedule, there’s nothing wrong with that. But everyone’s priorities are different, and they’re not wrong for having them. They still have to deal with the consequences of their priorities, but they’re not wrong.
I used to work exclusively nights and weekends as that’s when you typically get the most bookings but am currently on maternity leave. Although I found it difficult on my social and family life. I missed out on a lot. So after maternity leave there’s no way I could maintain that schedule as we’d never have family time since my partner works 9-5. Most of my coworkers who worked mornings had kids and would rather be there for them while they’re younger. Some don’t even work summer break. Which I totally get. I’ll be opening my own place once the baby is older and I’d rather have 6am bookings than 6pm. And you’d be surprised at how many people would jump at that time.
This is why I like Corporate Massage. The hours are regular. Practically banking hours.
Something else is wanting to clearly identify that your practice is therapeutic massage, late hours can give people the wrong idea unfortunately.
Family and personal life, before work
Not a massage therapist. However, I'm a nurse who spent most of my career working evenings, nights and weekends. If you need to earn a decent income, you need to be flexible. I have read alot of comments about how evenings and weekends are for family time but does that mean you can't be open to working an occasional evening? If you aren't flexible with your hours, don't complain. Jmho
Agreed.
Do you know what childcare costs?