What do you want from shiatsu?
I am a pain at Christmas and birthdays. “What would you like?” ask my family. “Nothing”, or “anything” are usually my replies as I just don’t like to make demands on other people. I am just happy to receive anything at all.
But now I find myself in this world of self-employment trying to kick start my shiatsu practise. “What do you want to achieve?” asks a tutor at a business skills course. “What do you want from us?” ask the other members of my networking group. Suddenly “nothing” or “anything” are not good enough.
I am learning the hard way that to build your practise from scratch one has to have clear goals in mind. It is vital to be confident enough to seek the resources to achieve those goals. It all comes down to how you value yourself and practise. If one wants to earn a living from shiatsu it is important to know how much you want to earn, set your prices accordingly and not be embarrassed to tell clients what you charge.
Surprisingly people are as suspicious of low prices as they are of high ones - another lesson I have learned the hard way. If you quote too low then it appears you are not a serious practitioner. If you want to get into workplaces then business people want to know you know how to value your product and expect to pay the market rate.
Set yourself a clear vision and mark out the steps that will get you there. Value your own shiatsu because if you don’t nobody else will.
Tony Brown @ July 18, 2008
