How to Choose the Best Massage School for You: Location Matters
Leverage the Location of the Massage School You Choose for Your Best Shot at Success
Beyond convenience, the one reason location matters when choosing the best massage school for you is leverage.
When you choose a massage school with a good reputation in the city in which it is located, that reputation can be a springboard for your massage career.
First, make a short list (it might be a list of one if you are unwilling to move) of cities you could see yourself practicing massage.
Then take your shortlist, get your typing fingers ready and hit the internet.
Only consider schools that specifically meet BOTH of these criteria:
1. Massage schools with an established reputation for turning out quality massage therapists.
If you want to be a successful massage therapist, one way to leverage your education is to go to a school with an established reputation for producing quality massage therapists.
Why? Because then, since people are familiar with the quality of the education, just by attending that school you get inherent credibility as a massage therapist.
And which people does this carry weight with? The answer is the important ones.
Every massage establishment manager or individual who knows anything about massage in their community will recognize the names of the schools in the area and will have had experience with the therapists they produce.
How to Find Renowned Massage Schools
To find out which schools these are, do an internet search for “best massage therapy in…” the city or cities from your list.
You are looking for reviews from massage establishments first – not schools. (Google and Yelp reviews are a quick-fix for this type of search.)
Take the top three establishments mentioned and navigate to their websites. The about page or bio pages will give you information about where the therapists went to massage school.
Jot down the top two or three schools mentioned and then test them against any other decision-making criteria you may have.
2. Massage schools in a community that values wholeness and wellness.
Earlier we recommended you make a list of places you’re interested in living. Yes, that’s important, but there is a caveat.
If you want to be a successful massage therapist, to maximize the leverage of your education you should go on to practice in a city that values health, physical fitness, wellness, wholeness – even recreation to some extent – and and so on.
Why? Because then, not only can you leverage the massage school’s reputation, you can leverage the health-consciousness of community in which you are now living and working.
Massage is not new, but as a health care modality, it is only recently being appreciated for its health benefits. Performing massage in a community that already values health and wellness means you can leverage trends that are already established in that city. No groundbreaking necessary.
How Tell If a Community is “Healthy”
To determine which communities are the most health-focused, take your shortlist of cities (and maybe those immediately surrounding your choices) and do a few quick searches online for some variation of these topics:
- Massage Therapy
- Yoga
- Health/Wellness/Fitness/Spiritual Retreats
- Races/Marathons
- Fitness Clubs or Meet-ups
- Hiking/Trails/Camping
- And so on.
Depending on the size of the community or city you are researching, you may get varied results, but you should get an idea.
If you live in a city like Austin, Texas, obviously you can skip this step.
Location matters! Get the most out of your massage education by choosing the most reputable massage school in a health-conscious city for the best chance at becoming a successful massage therapist.
Lauterstein-Conway Massage School is located in a community that is both familiar with and in need of massage therapists. Learn more about our massage programs today!