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1. Tell us a bit more about you and your practice as it is today? i.e. are you a solo practitioner or a business owner? If solo, what kind of an establishment do you work for, how large is it, what is the clientele like, what is the specialty offered? If it is a business that you own, kindly include the same time of relevant information that will give the reader a good idea about your establishment/practice. Please also include where you live and work?

I manage social media for some massage companies, shoot videos for them, give a few massages a week, attend 5-7 massage conferences a year and run MassageNerd.com

2. Tell us why you chose to go into massage and at what point in your life did you decide to do so? What were you doing at the time? Where did you first hear about the massage career? What factors influenced your decision?

What were you looking to get out of this decision? I was working in nursing homes, and my mom is the one who talked me into going.

3. What were some of your questions and concerns before further pursuing your massage therapy goals? Talk about concerns with school and the profession itself.

I didn’t have any concerns in the beginning, but they started to come around halfway into school. I didn’t realize it was harder for a male therapist to get started in the massage profession.

4. What is your specialty and what are the top three contributing factors to your success today?

I current specialty is social media and video.

5. What do you like about your specialty? What do you like about what you do in general as a career? Why?

I love working from home for the most part…but it does get lonely sometimes.

6. What do you not like about what you do? Why?

With social media, I can’t turn it off.

7. If there were three things you could change about your work or the industry as a whole what would they be? Why would you change them? What would you change them to?

For massage therapists not to be so isolated. Also, don’t be jealous of other therapists

8. How long do you plan to practice and what do you plan to do after?

17 years, and I plan on staying in the field the rest of my working career.

9. Do you currently have another job or business whether full time or part time? Tell us a bit more about it and how you are able to juggle that with your massage career?

I currently work with 3 different companies managing their social media, plus run MassageNerd.com, shoot photos/videos for therapists and still end up giving a few massages a week.

10. What are some mistakes you made in your career pursuit that you’d like to warn other students about so they can learn from your experience and avoid it?

Find a mentor early on.

11. What would you advice someone who is looking at massage therapy schools? What do you recommend they look for and how? How do you recommend they determine whether the school is the right one for them?

Ask to sit in on a few of their classes, and ask questions to the instructors, past and current students.

12. What do you recommend for someone who wants to go to massage school but cannot afford it?

Look at it as an investment.

13. What are your three biggest points of advice for an aspiring massage therapist today? What should they do/not do? What should they think about and consider?

Don’t give up, get a mentor and take as many CE classes as possible. Soon after graduating, make sure you get a massage job…otherwise you will less than likely even get into the profession. Find a specialty to set yourself apart from other therapists

14. Any open thoughts / comments – anything else that you’d like to share about yourself, the massage industry, profession, future, etc? If nothing, make one prediction for the future of massage?

Right now there is fewer people getting into massage and more massage schools are closing. The great thing about that is there are a lot more employment opportunities.

15. What is your passion outside of massage? What are your hobbies and interests which you pursue when you are not working? Tell us why you enjoy what you enjoy.

Editing videos and learning photoshop.

Ryan Hoyme CMT, can be found on his website here.