I'm considering massage therapy but I've gotten negative feedback...?

[AshT]

I was researching massage therapy and I am interested in it. They pay in good in WA state but friends have told me people never stick with it. Are jobs hard to find?

[Tink413]

I use to work at a large massage school - they make it sound as if finding clients is easy - its not, they also never mentioned that out of 100 students, only 2 would find a reasonable amount of work, and that out of those 2, one would be injured or have to leave the field due to burn out within 2 years.

If you like the idea of doing it, and would consider doing it on the side to earn extra money - that I could endorse, but if you hope to switch careers and support yourself, its going to be an uphill battle most likely.

[massagegeek786]

Most massage therapists start their own business. Jobs are usually low paying. You have to be more of an entreprenuer and business person than anything. The profession is at one of it's biggest crossroads right now with many things happening that will hopefully make it into a more lucrative career.

[Sabeena095]

90% of all MPs last on average 3-5 years because most don't get paid well, it's hard on your body, and burnout is a constant challenge. I've done it 5 years and am very happy to be almost done with it. I feel like the whole miserable experience has aged me 20 years.

If you want to "get a job" in massage, it might not be too hard but don't expect to earn more than $15 an hour plus tips. You can only work at most 20-25 hours a week. That's not a lot of money. Plus you will not receive any employee benefits such as vacation pay or insurance.

The only way to make money is to start your own business. Then you incur lots of expenses and have to work at least another hour unpaid for every hour of paid massage doing laundry, marketing, cleaning, and other crap work.

Out of my class of 20, 8 graduated, 5 got their certification and now none of us are still working in it. Not a single one of my old colleagues is still massaging, out of dozens. That tells you something about massage as a job choice.