Would you hire you?

Would you hire you?

I love hypothetical situations, mainly because they are fiction, but more importantly because they cause you to stop and think.  Let’s paint a picture of one potential future for you as a massage therapist.

You’ve spent your time and hard earned (loaned at times) money on an education that has prepared you to be a full-fledged Licensed Massage Therapist.  You have successfully entered the work force and have found a job in a spa as a therapist.  About 3 months into this venture you’ve become very adept at procuring new clients and more importantly retaining them!

One evening as you are enjoying a nice quite moment around the dinner table with your significant other, the thought occurs to you, “why can’t I do this on my own?  Why am I making someone else rich?”  The entrepreneurial seed has now been planted in your brain.  You devise a well thought out plan of cutting back on personal expenses at home and sacrificing the perks of life so that you can save money and in about 2 years you should have $100,000 set aside to open your very own spa!  Doesn’t it give you goose bumps just thinking about it? Others may encounter queasiness at this thought – these are probably people with a past experience in a failed business adventure.

Now starts the myriad of tasks necessary to open your business.  Incorporate or not to incorporate that is the question?  Who will take care of the financial books and taxes, what about liability insurance? What computer system to buy, how many rooms do I need to build out, what color is the carpet, the walls, the ceiling, where am I going to put speakers for relaxing spa music – satellite radio or iPod, what telephone system will I use, do I need to hire someone as a receptionist, where should I locate.  Do I need a washer dryer and a refrigerator, what about blinds and curtains for the waiting area?   I need a web page – now who’s going to help with that, I need a sign out front, what hours am I going to be open, what days will I be open?  Just to name a few.

All right it’s all worked out.  All the questions answered and it’s about 2 weeks before your grand opening and you have a great epiphany.  What if I hired 4 people to work for me as therapists?  I use to work for someone and helped make them a lot of money, why can’t I do that now?  I could quadruple my output!  I can only massage one person an hour but if I had 4 people working for me I could massage 5 people an hour in my new place!!  THIS ROCKS!!!

What kind of therapists are you looking for?  I mean what kind of characteristics are you wanting the people that you are going to be paying, to possess?  Are they trustworthy?  Do they dress professionally?  Can they massage well?  Are they the kind of person you want to work with every day?  Do they show initiative by doing things on their own?  Do they take criticism constructively? Are they pro-active at finding new clients and bringing them into MY clinic? Are they punctual, do they show up on time?  Do they do more than is asked of them without complaining?  Are they organized?  Do they take care of personal issues so it doesn’t keep them from coming into work?   – Just an example of some of the questions that you might have.

So now I have one for you — are you the kind of person that you would hire to start the business you have sacrificed so much to attain?  Do you have the quality of characteristics right now, that you would be looking for in someone to come and work in YOUR spa?  It’s a head scratcher I know, and hopefully this scenario will cause you to pause and take a good hard look at yourself and how you really work.  I promise it’s not too late to change.

It’s not something that happens overnight, but with baby steps.  Do you show up late for work?  Do you always have excuses why you are not on time?  Embrace change.  Organize your life and think ahead and be early from now on.  Do you gossip at work, complain about your boss, complain about what you do?  Stop!!  You can control the words you speak, choose not to be a part of that, and help others by not participating when they start talking!  The change to be this more professional and desirable person begins in your heart – you have to want to change.

Find a successful a massage therapist and try to figure out what makes them special.  Perhaps you could imitate some of those characteristics and make them part of you.

None of this is ever going to happen though if you don’t make positive sacrifices now for who you want to become.

The first baby step would be to graduate.   My advice is to get back to studying…I hear that’s what all successful people do!

Please let us know your thoughts.  Tell us one thing you know you could improve now to make yourself a better employee, student, or manager and therefore a employable person!