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One would think at first glance, that being a massage therapist is a great way to do wonderful things for people and make a good living. Massages are priced at anywhere from $70 and hour to $100 for an hour. And besides a massage table for a few hundred dollars, sheets and oils there is not much more that needs to be purchased. Does that not translate into a substantial amount of money in your pocket?

Well, the reality is often very different than what massage therapists imagine when they consider this profession, and if you are thinking of making massage therapy a career, there are some things you need to know.

I have been a massage therapist and for many years. I know many therapists and as an instructor, I am in touch with many of my students. Being connected with the reality of massage therapy has not only helped me understand the dynamics, but also aided me in developing my own practice when needed. Some of those insights I would like to share here.

One of the most disturbing issues is that many therapists only last a few years on the job, and that is if they can even get their feet on the ground to generate an adequate income.

So what seems to be the problem?

As a therapist you are either employed (even if your employer calls you an independent contractor) or self-employed (or maybe you are like many colleagues a combination of both). Even if you are employed at a spa facility, gym, chiropractor or other health and wellness operation, chances are you will have private clients outside of your job and juggle a few different venues which puts you in a position of managing your own supplies, transportation, taxes and so on.

The first mistake that many therapists make, is that they neglect to see themselves as a business.

many small (and larger) businesses make the exact same mistake when they launch their venture: They fail to plan their business and fail at their business. When therapists leave the field it is primarily for one reason: They do not make enough money to pay the bills.

Step One View yourself as a business.

What this means is that you need to balance your income with your expenses and write a business plan for yourself. In order to stay afloat your income must match your expenditures that include every single expense from supplies, to the amount of money you need to have at your disposal to pay the rent, your car, your clothes and your pet food as well as resources for the future.

Step Two: Write a business plan.

When you start writing your business plan and ask yourself the question: How many sessions can I do every day, you might discover some interesting facts about your business. You may find one of the reasons why therapists have a hard time making ends meet and ultimately leave the field: You can physically only do a certain number of sessions in any given time period due to the sheer physical and emotional challenges that of this work. Right now you might not think so but and still experience a rush doing 4 or 5 sessions a day. But imagine doing this day in, day out for years. Not really an option, is it?

What this means is your income from massage work is restricted by the number of sessions you can offer. Finding this out in the planning phase is a huge advantage because it means you can prepare for the reality of only doing a few sessions a day.

If you wait until you are active in your practice, one of two things might happen: You will either perform too many sessions because you need the money and sooner or later burn out and leave the profession or you will leave the profession to find another job.

Part of your realization might also be that you will have to charge more than you anticipated for a massage. And you should. As a business you cannot afford not to.

The second issue that many therapists face is that they perceive a contradiction between the type of work they do and selling their services. I discuss this at length in my book The Successful therapist, but one of realizations I had is that I cannot be of service at all, if I cannot sustain myself through the work. And looking at it from that point of view was very helpful.

Step Three: Develop a massage marketing plan Clients do not just walk through the door. You have to attract them and then retain them. There are many ways to advertise your services and as many ways to spend a lot of money with no results. Before you spend any money, spend some time thinking what kind of client you want to work with and what solution you offer to a problem that they specifically have.

Then spend some time formulating and developing that solution as a headline and a service. I spent some time in Australia and worked out of a small bookstore in a crowded pedestrian area. My sign on the street said: Relieve your headache in 15 minutes and it worked. There were enough people with headaches mulling around and not enjoying their shopping experience. The reality is that no one cares about you. They care about what you can do for them.

Once you know what solutions you offer, it will be much easier to target those people directly and efficiently. Visit your local hotel and talk with the concierge about referring clients to you. Visit senior citizens homes and assisted living for seniors massage and offer the people who work there a referral fee. Talk to the HR department of a large company to offer an introduction to in-house chair massage. Go to prenatal yoga classes with flyers to offer pregnancy massage, etc.

Step four: Plan for additional revenue streams. Even though you might be doing all the massages you can and want to do, you will definitely want to have additional income resources in place to utilize the client contact you have through your massage traffic and marketing activities. There are many ways to do this for example retail related products. But there is also one idea that I want to suggest here: Offering spa treatments. Spa treatments not only capture a clientele that might not want a massage but they also add to your reputation, are much less taxing on the body and offer a very nice way to promote products you can sell after the treatment.

Nicolay Kreidler is a licensed massage therapist and massage instructor at Touching from the Heart and a facilitator at Spa College He is an active consultant to the spa industry and author of the book "The Successful Massage therapist" now available as ebook through Spa Pros

golf is a sport in which individual players or teams of players strike a ball into a hole using several types of clubs. golf is one of the few ball games that does not use a fixed, standardized playing field or area; defined in the Rules of golf as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules.

golf

golf is a very old game of which the exact origins are unclear. golf is played in an area of land designated a golf course. golf courses have not always had eighteen holes. The first game of golf for which records survive was played at Bruntsfield links, in Edinburgh, scotland, in A. The word golf was first mentioned in writing in 1457 on a Scottish statute on forbidden games as gouf, possibly derived from the Scots word goulf (variously spelled) meaning "to strike or cuff". But there is an even earlier reference to the game of golf and it is believed to have happened in 1452 when King James II banned the game because it kept his subjects from their archery practice.

The origin of golf is open to debate as to being Chinese, Dutch or Scottish. However, the most accepted golf history theory is that this sport originated from scotland in the 1100s. A game somewhat similar to golf was first mentioned in Dōngxuān Records (Chinese: 東軒錄), a Chinese book of 11th Century. However, modern golf is considered to be a Scottish invention, as the game was mentioned in two 15th century laws prohibiting the playing of the game of gowf. Some scholars have suggested that this refers to another game which is more akin to modern shinty, hurling or field hockey than golf.

golf

The word golf derives from the Dutch kolf meaning stick, club or bat. There are reports of even earlier accounts of golf from continental Europe. The oldest playing golf course in the world is The Old links at Musselburgh Racecourse. Evidence has shown that golf was played on Musselburgh links in 1672 although Mary, Queen of Scots reputedly played there in 1567. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrews, in Fife, established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography. The major changes in equipment since the 19th century have been better mowers, especially for the greens, better golf ball designs, using rubber and man-made materials since about 1900, and the introduction of the metal shaft beginning in the 1930s. Also in the 1930s the wooden golf tee was invented.

In 2005 golf Digest calculated that there were nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world, approximately half of them in the United States. The countries with most golf courses in relation to population, starting with the best endowed were: scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Republic of ireland, Northern ireland, canada, Wales, United States, Sweden, and England (countries with fewer than 500,000 people were excluded).

James Young Clark is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.AGolfersParadise.com. He provides more information about golf and golf issues that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

Notice, by the way, that the title of this article is "A Simple Weight loss Program", NOT "An easy Weight loss Program".

There's an old saying to the effect that anything worth having is worth working for. However, in today's society, it sometimes seems as if the emphasis is, if not "something for nothing", then at least "a lot for a little". People are seeking pills, potions, fad diets, whatever they think it will take to create permanent healthy weight loss so that they can live happily ever after.

The truth is, that while the facts of effective, healthy, permanent weight loss are well known, and have been well known for many years, there are many, many people who have not gotten the word, or who heard it and didn't believe it. To make matters worse, the pill pushers and fad diet spinners know that many people who don't really know the process, or are not willing to make the effort required by a valid, effective weight loss program, will be easy prey for their pseudo-scientific, or just plain bogus, claims.

Confusing the issue is that many of these claims are based, at least in some small degree, on actual data. Other touted methods for "easy weight loss" often are actually simple weightloss helps or aids that need to be incorporated into an effective weightloss program before they really do much good.

A recent example of this is the diet pill, Alli. It is expensive, has some possible side affects that would convince me not to take it, and, if you read the fine print, really doesn't offer THAT much in the way of weight loss. Taken by itself, it CAN help someone lose weight in small amounts, but it is really only effective if used in conjunction with the simple weightloss program I am going to talk about in a moment.

One drawback to all of these weightloss nostrums and incantations is that the weight loss is only going to occur while the person continues to take the pill or eat the special diet. Another is that the weight loss is not necessarily "healthy" weight loss.

Yes! It is possible to lose weight (which is supposed to be good for you) and actually negatively affect your health at the same time!

Just to play the Devil's advocate for a moment, what I am about to propose must also become a lifelong weightloss, or rather, weight management, issue or else the weight will also return. However, under the weightloss system below, the weight loss will be healthy in nature, and the side effects will include such weird things as increased energy, a better emotional outlook, the ability to participate in more fun activities, and the opportunity to live longer and live well during those additional years.

Put that on your diet pill label!

Oh yeah! Did I mention it was free?

Anyway, after all that, here is a simple weightloss program that WILL WORK.

There is only one stipulation.

YOU MUST NEVER, EVER GIVE UP!

You see, that is why so many things in life do not turn out the way we wish. We give up too soon.

Do not expect to see results overnight, and do not expect that what I am about to tell you will turn you into a fashion model or bodybuilding hunk. To get those kinds of results, you have to do the kind of exercise and nutritional regimens that those people have opted for. However, if you begin this simple weight loss program, you will lose weight over time.

How much weight?

No one can answer that. While weight loss will occur pretty much in direct proportion to the amount of effort expended, many things will still impact the results. Your genes will have some input, as will your physical condition and the amount of weight you are carrying, if you are a male or female, if you are younger or older, if you slip once in a while...and many other factors.

The simple truth of weight gain and weight loss is that when a person takes in more calories than their body burns, they gain weight. When, on the other hand, they burn more calories than they take in...they lose weight. That simple!

Sure, when you eat, what you eat, how old you are, how much sleep you get, and whether or not you take Alli or some other diet pill will help sway the figures in one direction or another, but...

IF YOU USE MORE CALORIES THAN YOU TAKE IN YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT!

Many people having heard that will fall into the trap of thinking that if they just eat less, they will lose weight. That is called a "diet", and diets don't work! The human body is designed to go into survival mode if you take away its expected food supply. That means it dials down its calorie burning process (metabolism) and exists on fewer calories. It also begins to cannibalize its own tissue for materials it needs for repair and maintenance if it does not get enough nutrition from the food you eat.

While eating smarter instead of simply eating less will help you lose weight, time is against you. As you age, your metabolism will slow down more and more for several reasons, putting you in the unfortunate circumstance of cutting your food intake, which we know is a bad thing, at least insofar as what we are trying to do, which is achieve a healthy, but simple weightloss program.

The problem must be attacked from two angles at once.

You must exercise AND adopt healthy eating practices and habits.

Now, don't let the idea of "exercise" scare you. In this context, it simply means "physical activity" of 30 minutes duration or more at least five times a week. Yes, that could be running or weightlifting, or study of the martial arts, or raking leaves, or gardening, or walking...you get the idea. The key is the 30 minutes or more, done at least 5 times a week, week after week after week for the rest of your life.

Before you run off with your hands waving in the air in despair, think about it. What if you swam today, walked tomorrow, did some weightlifting the next day, yoga the next, gardening the next. What if instead of just "walking" you joined a hiking club, or instead of trying to lift weights five days a week, you did it two or three times a week and filled in the other days with other activities.

Okay, you are busy. How about a 15 minute walk in the morning, a 15 minute walk in the afternoon, and a 15 - 30 minute walk at lunch? Why not get up and do yoga before you start your day...or at the end of your day. It's very relaxing as well as...well, you know...exercise.

It is actually best if you have two different types of exercise. One should be strength building and one should be cardio (aerobic) in nature. That is because cardio burns more calories DURING the exercise period, while strength building creates lean muscle mass which burns calories while you are watching TV or stuck in traffic on your way to or from work.

As far as healthy eating habits are concerned, you really know pretty much what you should be doing already. Smaller portions, more veggies and fresh fruits, hold off on the sauces (dip your fork in the dressing and then pick up the lettuce instead of pouring the dressing over the lettuce), and eat more often. That's right. Try to eat about six nutritional "meals" a day, spaced about 2 1/2 hours apart. Six small meals are more effective nutritionally and for weight loss than three big meals...with snacks anyway!

Watch your portions sizes, however. In addition to being a "broadening" subject, proper eating is a broad subject. Start looking at food labels. You might be surprised at what the proper size of a "portion" is. Cut the fats, and try to stay away from too many processed things...animal, vegetable, or mineral. As a rule of thumb, the closer to "natural" it is, especially fruits and veggies, the healthier it probably is for you. Try some of the whole wheat breads, by the way.

Start substituting low-cal items, but pay attention to the labels. Sometimes a low-fat item has just about as many calories as the original and humans, silly people that we are, eat more thinking that it's okay. Things will not taste good, or "as good" at first, but trust me, you DO get used to it. My wife and I picked up some doughnut holes yesterday morning and could barely stand them, they were SOOOOO sweet. We had just gotten accustomed to subtler tastes and flavors.

If you are not already taking a daily multivitamin...start. Most people do not get the proper levels of nutrients (vitamins and minerals) that they need anyway. If you are avoiding this or that food, or trying to keep levels down, you might be missing something. This is particularly true if, like me, you are classified as a SENIOR! Senior bodies don't get and properly process all the nutrients they need anyway, so take your vitamin and you might want to take some sort of protein supplement daily as well as protein deficiencies are common in us older folk as well.

So, how hard is all that?

Looks like a fairly simple weightloss program to me.

Donovan Baldwin is a 62 year old freelance writer and amateur bodybuilder. He is a University of West Florida alumnus, is a member of Mensa and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, health, and fitness. In the last few years, he has been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as health, fitness, weight lifting, yoga, weight loss, the environment, global warming, happiness, self improvement, and life. He has posted several of his articles on health, fitness, exercise, and weightloss at http://nodiet4me.com/articledirectory.

He also has a site with information on yoga at http://yoga-4-the-health-of-it.com.