Finding Your Niche

There is no professional feeling to match that of when you hold your certificate in your hand for the first time and realise you are now a fully fledged and qualified therapist! It is certainly an exciting day, and probably slightly daunting too (if you want any help setting up or developing your business then please do sign up to our free Business Support Club for top tips and a step-by-step business plan).

However once you are up and running and comfortable with your clients and delivering world-class therapy treatments you might start to want to develop those skills further, to have even more tools with which to treat your clients. Finding your niche by undertaking further training to develop a specialism could be just what you need to increase your clientele and your confidence even further. Becoming an expert in a niche such as working with disabled people, cancer care or alternative therapies can be a real boost to your business. This may take the form of further diploma courses or a series of CPD courses, or volunteer work in a hospital or hospice.

A self-directed career path

Some traditional careers have just one or two very regimented career paths - in contrast, being a therapist with a good grounding anatomy and physiology in allows you to dictate your own career path, and as you grow and learn as a therapist you can gain further knowledge in areas of special interest to widen your repertoire. There is a whole world of opportunity for specialism depending on your interests, desired working patterns and salary expectations. There is nothing worse than being stuck in a job without the chance to learn, develop and grow as a professional. As a therapist, your sense of job satisfaction is entirely in your own hands (no pun intended!) Apart from any CPD requirements your professional membership body might have for you, you decide when you need further training, what you wish to specialise in, and how you would like to go about it. Treating and helping individuals is incredibly satisfying in itself, but the added possibility of specialism generates even more job satisfaction almost unique to the complementary therapy industry.

Continued learning

When you were at school you might have felt that studying was a burden but as we enter into adulthood, the majority of people come to realise that our capacity for learning is almost limitless, and the chance to discover new skills and talents is wonderfully enjoyable! With so many specialist courses to choose from, being a therapist can help you to rediscover the joy of learning. The human body is quite miraculous and learning about its anatomy and physiology is fascinating.

An expansive client base

If you are already practising as a massage therapist, your client base will be restricted according to your knowledge. If you only know the basics of the therapy that you studied out anatomy and physiology course for, you will not be able to address the problems of more complex individuals, such as injured sports people or those with particular illnesses and conditions. By studying and specialising, your client base will expand - so you can enjoy meeting and treating a wider range of individuals in need of your targeted skills.

Let us know how you get on!

View all messages