How do you make a career as a therapist work? How do you take the leap, change career entirely, make yourself competitive in the industry and make sure that you earn enough money?
Tamara, our Level 3 Sports Tutor here at the Academy has done just that and has been kind enough to talk to us about her journey and how she has diversified her business in order to offer some of the most dynamic and unique treatments in the industry today.
Background
T comes from a background of 17 years in the truck industry working as a senior manager for a global truck manufacturer. She has always been interested in the health industry due to her love of taking on huge physical challenges such as 100k ultra marathons or, her next challenge in a few weeks, one of the world's biggest obstacle courses - 200 obstacles over 20 miles!
Similarly to many of our student's stories, T found the corporate world was dragging her down, she describes herself as a very 'mothering type' and someone who really wants to help people and make a difference.
Making the Change
She talked about her journey of making the change:
'I had never massaged anyone but I was so fascinated by the industry that it just felt stupid not to make the change. I applied for redundancy, got it, booked the level 3 sports course, and had to make it work but it was also that I really wanted to make it work. I spent a year living, breathing, eating sports massage. I did my level 3, straight into level 4, started my practice in between, built my website, and threw myself right into it. I used all those corporate business skills that I had from my previous role to really make sure that I made this work. It was blood, sweat, and tears with lots of hard work but I have absolutely loved it.'
Diversifying
Tamara was incredibly committed to making sports massage work for her, she completed her L3 and L4 in 2018 and since then has added a huge number of strings to her bow; myofascial cupping, hot/cold stone therapy, dry needling & acupuncture techniques for sports injuries, advanced clinical massage therapy and most recently aromatherapy. Alongside this, she also gained her award in education and training which has allowed her to become a tutor. T began working at the Academy in 2019 as an assistant teacher on the L3 sports course becoming a tutor in 2020.
'I have always thought that I don't want to be a jack of all trades and master of none but what I have learned is that in this industry, and with soft tissue work, this really isn't the case. The skills and knowledge that I have gained really add to what I can offer my clients. In my treatment room I have needles, cups, essential oils, hot and cold stones, kinesiology tape plus my hands! It depends on what walks through the door in terms of what I use for that particular treatment and I can use a few different things to treat one client really effectively.'
Becoming Competitive & Unique in the Market
T has found a very unique way of bringing together both holistic treatments and sports massage to create really dynamic treatments for her clients.
'More recently, qualifying in aromatherapy I have found really exciting and interesting ways that I can support clients more fully and uniquely. I can see someone for a frozen shoulder and, knowing that it's a condition more common in women and in women of menopausal age, I can create a wax using essential oils that support hormonal balance alongside utilising soft tissue work, trigger point therapy, and lengthening techniques (MET). It helps me think about the client as a whole and allows me to treat the full picture.'
This way of amalgamating both holistic and sports skills and knowledge within one treatment is very unique. Other examples she gave us included creating a specific wax when treating a runner who suffers from muscle cramps; other conditions include insomnia, stress & anxiety, dry skin, and hormonal imbalances, all of which differing oils blends can support as part of a wider treatment.
Tamara also uses her aromatherapy to add revenue streams, for example, she was able to make and sell a set of specifically blended balm, moisturiser, shower gel, and candle for a client suffering from dry skin and anxiety. T is easily able to incorporate those additional revenue avenues by creating unique products for her clients.
As you can see from Tamara's journey, she has worked incredibly hard to gain vast amounts of knowledge in a short amount of time and continues to push herself. The outcome is that her practice sits in an incredibly unique, competitive, and diverse place in the market; she offers knowledge, skills, and experience, the combination of which is hard to find anywhere else.
T demonstrates that it is entirely possible to make a big change in your career, learn something new, add strings to your bow and make it work. Along the way she has completely torn up the rule book when it comes to the expectations of holistic and sports treatments, showing that these can really complement each other giving huge benefits not only to her clients but her position in the market.