Today I had my first paying massage client.

He booked in last week but I had to postpone him because of Matthew having Chickenpox.

I was delighted when he then arranged to come this week.

To celebrate I went and got some Almond massage oil, its more expensive than the oil I have been using and I did wonder if I would be able to tell the difference.

It was worth the extra money as it was a gorgeous oil to work with and I shall be using it from now on.

My client enjoyed his massage and will book again.

It was a great feeling to get paid for something I enjoy doing so much.

…….. at Tesco I would have had to work for 3 hours to earn the same money.

No massage class tonight as its half term.

So not to miss out on a practice,I drove into Downham Market and gave a friend a massage.

She really enjoyed it and as she works with me at Tesco I am hoping she will spread the word about how good it was.

Next week we start our assessments at college and begin to learn all about the lymphatic system.

My Swedish massage page is now up on my blog too.

Last night as you know by now was college and massage course night.

First we had to get our test on the blood circulatory system out the way , I had revised hard all day as it included two diagrams that we had to label.One was of the heart.

It was also explained to us how our assessments will work.

Basically we decide when we want to start being assessed, enter our name in a book fill out all the paper work and away we go. Caroline ( our tutor ) will then discretely watch and asses us .

The sooner we start being assessed the better really as then we will find out where we are going wrong and have plenty of time to correct it. There is no limit to the amount of times we can be assessed either.

I think most of us have decided after half term would be a good time to start.

My client last night, was the kind of private client I would like.

Chatty, encouraging and she made it clear that she enjoyed the massage which was very good for my confidence.

My client and her husband are booked in every week now till the end of the course, so I expect I will get the chance to massage her husband too.

If Kathryn is not quick to book a massage at the college she may be disappointed as the beds are filling up fast.

I now have my Sally in Norfolk business cards so will soon be on the look out for my first clients.

Almost forgot, I passed my test with 14 out of 16 so all in all a great evening…

Hard to believe that we are now half way through my massage  course.

So last week while I was away skiing, it had been the first week for Clients in college.

Needless to say they made sure I had a client this week 🙂

I was nervous but not about giving the massage as thanks mainly to Geoff I have had plenty of practice and just about know the routine off by heart now.

What I was nervous about was all the paper work and remembering the important things … like washing your hands…wiping there feet with surgical spirit  before you begin…getting them to remove jewelry ,all the common sense things really.

Anyway it all went well , I was about 2mins short of the hour so that was really good and most importantly my client enjoyed it very much.

From next week they are opening up all 10 beds for clients as the demand has been so great, so that means we should all have a client every week.

Theory was on the Circulatory system, with exam next week 🙁 and pleased to say that my assignment was good enough to meet the criteria needed 🙂

Time to get some of my own paying clients soon….but before I do I need to change my consultation form because even though it was good enough to give me a pass on the course.I now realize it needs to be smaller and more compact,maybe in the form of a booklet.

Kathryn was looking for information on  massage courses. She googled ‘Norfolk massage course’ and found me !

She asked for some information so I thought I would leave it as a post rather than in a comment.

The course I am doing is a certificate in body massage,a part time course and runs for I year.

Its at the college of west Anglia in Kings Lynn,meeting on a Wednesday from 18:00 till 21:00.

” This course covers aspects of massage techniques as well as anatomy and physiology and a health and safety unit.There is a short external test as well as continual assessment.Some aspect of the course require home study.”

This course runs every year but you have to be quick as its very popular and places soon go.

The cost this year was £330 or £88 if you qualify for the discounted fee.

Kathryn if your close enough why don’t you book in for a massage and come and get a taste of what its all about.You could request me to do your massage  🙂

I soon need to start promoting my Swedish Massage and get myself some clients.

So today I made a start and ordered some business cards.

Found a great site on the Internet called VistaPrint.co.uk , where you can get 250 Business cards free , with 42 designs to choose from.

You just have to pay the £3.49 postage.

Once you have picked your design you can get other stationary with the same design making it look very professional .

Massage classes started again tonight.

Was great to see everyone and we soon got settled back into things.

First I had to hand my assignment in, something that has given me nightmares over the past week.Having never done an assignment in my life I found it quite hard to do and can only hope I have done enough.

We had finished learning about the Skin before Christmas, so today we moved onto The Circulatory System.

We then got back into practicing our massage.

As from next week ( 16th Jan )we open our doors as a salon, members of the public can book to come in for a whole body massage.

Anyone that’s in this area and would like to come the phone number is 01553 815333 , its for Wednesday evenings only and from 7.15pm. Cost is approximately £5.50.

College of West Anglia can be found in Tennyson Ave.

As I am away on holiday next week I will miss the first customers but I am sure they will save some for me.

Now that I am getting more practice massages, it was time to buy some more massage cream and oil.

The lovely massage cream, which came from morocco, that ladyM  gave me for my birthday, is almost finished and I wanted to save the last for Geoff when he gets home from Dubai.

So off I went to find sally salon services a local trade shop for hair and beauty products.

I managed to get cream and oil ,not as good quality as I hope to use but it takes time to find the right cream/oil.

 I qualify for a student trade card too so this will help me save some money while I am still training.

Now my dilemma is , when should I start charging for a massage.

Originally I thought I would not charge till I had qualified, but now I am thinking maybe I should give one massage free then charge a small amount to cover for my cream/oil

Hopefully this would not put people off as I need to get my practice massages.