The other day I had the privilege of  working on a young woman who had never had massage.  She was super stressed and very much an introvert.  When it was time to turn over, she looked at me and said “This is wonderful!”, totally unexpected but extremely welcomed.  I thanked her and moved on with the session.  And so, this is what motivates me to do massage.  It feels good to make someone’s day just better.  I made her day better and she made my day better.

I’ll be honest.  When I first stated doing massage, I saw dollar signs and a nice lifestyle.  Well, just like anyone else and starting a new job you always have big ideas.  I certainly had big dreams.  I soon learned massage was hard work, there wasn’t a ton of money in the industry for the therapist, and it was hard to live a good lifestyle when you had to string together several jobs in different areas to make ends meet.  Because of these things I considered getting out of the field and trying something completely different until one day I decided to open my own office.  Game changer but also brought about a host of new challenges.

Nothing more, nothing less

At this time I lived in California where I was one in a gazillion of massage therapists.  I had to define how I would stand out.  It instantly became clear to me that my success was through providing excellent customer service.  Earlier on in my career, I wasn’t the most skillful massage therapist but I was a great listener.  Clients would come in tell me what they needed and I’d do it.  Word spread in my community that I was a “healer” with a really nice office.  People started coming to me with very specific concerns.  I’d listen and I’d do a massage around those concerns.  This sort of business model energizes me til this day.

I love helping people reach their goals through massage.  I’ve taken dozens of trainings where I’ve collected tidbits of useful techniques (mental and physical).  I read journals about the body and the mind.  Everyday motivates me to try to make myself a better massage therapist so that I can better serve my clients. This is what motivates me to do massage.

Felicia Hayes

Hi. I’m Felicia. I’ve made a 20+ year career of massage and bodywork. And, I still love it. I also enjoy writing, playing music, photography, cooking, baking and painting. All of which I’m not very good at. I’m also a daily bike commuter.