Ep. 39: Unlocking the Secrets to a Successful Massage Therapy Practice with Cindy Slack

In this episode, Cindy Slack shares her journey in the massage therapy industry, beginning in 1999. She discusses how she navigated the challenges of starting out when massage therapy was less popular and the limited options for employment pushed her towards becoming a business owner. Cindy introduces her innovative software solutions, Body Work Buddy and Body Work Media, which help massage therapists with online scheduling, client management, and social media content automation. Throughout the episode, Cindy emphasizes the importance of organization, continual learning, and maintaining a balance between practicing massage and managing the business side of things 

In this episode, Julie and Cindy discuss: 

• Successful massage therapy practice  
• BodyWorkBuddy online scheduling tool  
• Marketing tips for massage therapists  
• Innovative social media strategies  
• Continuous learning in massage therapy 

Timestamps: 

00:00 Introduction 

01:07 Early Career Challenges 

02:32 Becoming a Business Owner 

06:30 Developing BodyWorkBuddy 

09:15 BodyWork Media and Social Media Tips 

17:05 The Importance of Continuous Learning 

22:03 Community and Mentorship 

29:25 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up  

More about Cindy Slack 

• Learn more about www.bodyworkmedia.com    
• Check out www.bodyworkbuddy.com 
• Free 90 Day Content Calendar 

I’ve been a massage therapist since 1999. I still maintain a private practice today, specializing in ashiatsu. In 2009, I co-founded Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, and have spent the last 14 years helping massage therapists run their business smoothly and effortlessly with simple-to-use tech for online scheduling and practice management. My latest adventure is a merging of my tech expertise, tools, and marketing experience gained from both my private massage practice and massage software business to create the seamless digital marketing tool of Bodywork Media which includes automated social media posts for massage therapists. 

Contact me for a free sample:
email - info@handcraftedtherapy.com
text/call -  972-658-7722

Order it online: handcraftedtherapysupplies.com 

Visit our store:
3303 North Central Expressway #240
Plano, TX 75023

Contact me for a free sample:
email - info@handcraftedtherapy.com
text/call -  972-658-7722

Order it online: handcraftedtherapysupplies.com 

Visit our store:
3303 North Central Expressway #240
Plano, TX 75023

Check out our Tales from the Table Book (coming soon) or Submit a story here

Connect with Julie Alexander and Handcrafted Therapy Join our email list! https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/HKY9uFv 

To learn more about Julie Alexander, LMT, and Handcrafted Therapy Events and Wellness Center, head over to www.handcraftedtherapy.com 

Join the Handcrafted Therapy Facebook community at: https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedtherapy Or on Handcrafted Therapy’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@handcraftedtherapy 

Transcript

Ep. 39 - Unlocking the Secrets to a Successful Massage Therapy Practice with Cindy Slack 

​[00:00:00] 

Introduction 

Julie Alexander: I have Cindy slack on our podcast today. I'm super excited to talk to Cindy. She's moving and grooving and I can't wait to get to know her a little bit better. Cindy, how you doing today? I'm fantastic. Thanks for for joining me in the podcast [00:01:00] today, the handcrafted therapy podcast. You know, I don't know if you've heard many of our episodes I know you said you watched the one with our friend hillary on it or listen to that one generally what I like to do is just kind of get to know you hear your story.

How did you? Get into massage. What are you doing now? That kind of thing. How did you get where you are in life? What lessons did you learn along the way that we can gleam from you? What mistakes have you made that have really good opportunities for you to learn something? Those are the kinds of things that we're kind of looking for on the podcast.

Cindy Slack: sounds good.

Julie Alexander: yeah, so let's get right into it cindy how did you get involved in the massage industry?

Early Career Challenges

Cindy Slack: Well, I have been a massage therapist since 99. And I actually just didn't really know what to do with my life. I was just a couple of years out of high [00:02:00] school and trying to figure out what to do. And I, so it seems like massage is a lot more popular now and there's a lot more options. But back then there really weren't and it was weird to go into massage.

So I actually had taken a career exploration class at a community college and they had us take a personality test. And, a couple of the things that came up for me was like a nurse. Or an acupuncturist and I was like, Oh, acupuncture, that would be really cool. I knew I didn't want to be a nurse. But I looked into acupuncturists and that was a lot of school.

And I was like, Oh, that is not for me. And and came across massage and I was really interested in the whole body, mind connection and, and all of that with it. And I went and got, And after that, it was like, oh, I could totally make people feel awesome all day long. So it just felt right, right away.[00:03:00] 

And, and I'm, it's awesome to see that it's a lot more popular now and there's a lot more options. But like I said, back then, and of course, there was the Internet, but not everybody had websites. 

Becoming a Business Owner

Cindy Slack: And so, like, finding a school and all of that was, you know, A lot more complicated than it is now and finding places to work so I wasn't originally planning on like being a business owner, but there wasn't Anywhere to work as an employee and so When I got started doing massage you know, just kind of grew into, Oh, I, you know, I'm basically on my own.

And, once I got comfortable with that and delved right in, it was great. But I never initially planned on being a business owner and business, the business aspect was not what I was excited about at all.

Julie Alexander: surprise

Cindy Slack: Right. Right.

Julie Alexander: Well [00:04:00] gosh, so you probably got started when you were what, like, 5 years old, 

Cindy Slack: Right. Yes.

Julie Alexander: It just doesn't seem possible that I'm looking at somebody so young that said they've done this for, you know, 25 years, so kudos, 

Cindy Slack: you. 

Julie Alexander: but what was it like before, you know, all the, You know, massage envies of the world came in and all of the big massage franchise came in.

I guess you were pre all of that, right?

Cindy Slack: Yes. Yeah. And now like having those come in with already having an established practice, it's like, Oh, not a threat at all. But I can imagine if that would have been. for starting out, that would have been a lot to try and compete with. But also as a new therapist, I would have loved to have had some place to work like that just to get my hands working.

So I, you know, I definitely think there's a [00:05:00] place for it and you can learn a lot from that. But, yeah, when I started there was just really not much around. And like I said, It was kind of, you know, kind of weird to be in massage and it's a lot more. A lot more common and accepted now, thankfully.

Julie Alexander: So where did you start working?

Cindy Slack: I had worked at a couple of different places, you know, as a contractor, like salons and spas and, which was not really my thing. And so I kind of jumped around for the first couple of years. And then finally I was like, you know, I just really need to have total control over my branding and my image. You know the environment and everything and so I Had enough clients that I knew I could at least pay rent somewhere so I just I went in for an office and jumped in To really go went [00:06:00] on my own and that's really when it started to take off and do and I really kind of wished I would have done that sooner But you know, I probably had some things to learn those other places You And like I said, I wasn't that excited about being a business owner or the business side of things.

And so, at first, well, this was before smartphones, of course. And, everything was like on my desktop computer at my office and not online. So, like, I had all of my client files and everything there. And if I had, if I was sick or needed to contact clients or something and was home, I had to go to the office to get that information.

And, you know, it's just a mess. And when I was first starting out and I wasn't super busy, it was, kind of easy to manage all of that. On the fly and, kind of not super organized. But then I started getting busy and it was like, Oh [00:07:00] no, I really need to have some systems in place and actually, you know, crack my income better and have better records.

Developing BodyWorkBuddy

Cindy Slack: And, so that was kind of when I started, well, I was married at the time to a software developer. And I was like, man, it would be really cool if I had something that I could have all of my records in and and online scheduling was just coming out. And, so we actually built body work buddy, which is an online scheduling and management system.

So, online, so, you know, I could check my records from anywhere. And so that was really a game changer for me as far as, cause we built in. Like recording your income and kind of making it a daily habit because before that seriously I would sit down at like the end of the year and like add up all of my Income, it was a mess and tax time was so stressful And like I said before I was busy.

[00:08:00] It wasn't a big deal but then all of a sudden i'm really busy with clients and I had Just this mess because i'm just not a naturally organized Business minded type of person. So, that really helped me to to get all of those ducks in a row. And when I really got those systems in place, things started running a lot smoother as far, you know, and as far as the business, I'm like, Oh, I'm like, I am a business owner, not just a massage therapist, 

Julie Alexander: Yeah. Well, I don't think that organization and that part of the business, part of the business is really what comes naturally to most therapists. 

Cindy Slack: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: We are very handsy, feely kind of people, we're emotional, we're empathetic. None of those align with like logic and organization, unfortunately.

So that's kind of a normal thing for most [00:09:00] therapists, I think, 

 so you're in michigan, right?

Cindy Slack: I am.

Julie Alexander: Have you always been? In michigan?

Cindy Slack: Yeah. And we didn't have licensing back when I first became a massage therapist. So I think it was, maybe 2013, 2015. I don't know, somewhere around there when we finally got licensing. So, pros and cons there. But I mean, it definitely with, massage kind of popping up everywhere now, I think it's a good thing.

we were kind of we were kind of late on getting on the train with that

Julie Alexander: Yeah. Yeah So you created Body work media. I'm,

Cindy Slack: Oh, yeah. Body work. Yep. Body work. Buddy was my first venture into online stuff. And then 

BodyWork Media and Social Media Tips

Cindy Slack: now I've got body work media, which is like automated social media posts for massage therapists and automated email marketing. So I'm not naturally or I wasn't [00:10:00] naturally very tech savvy, but like I said, I was married to a software developer and we developed BodyWorkBuddy and as part of that, I kind of delved more into tech than I would have otherwise and have kept up with it out of necessity. And so I've actually grown to really enjoy creating content and email content and social media content. And so I just created a system to kind of easily automate all of that so that massage therapists can have an active online presence without spending a bunch of time creating all of that stuff.

Julie Alexander: And is this service affordable to the one room massage establishment kind of a person?

Cindy Slack: That's actually specifically who it's made for. It's like 63 a month, so less than the cost of an hour massage. And, you know, really a solo massage therapist doesn't need a big social [00:11:00] media management company or big you know, budget for social media, like a spa or something would, we really just need to have an active presence there and to make it, you know, connect with clients and show that we are.

and so it's really meant for the solo therapist.

Julie Alexander: So do you does your company interact with? their customers online 

Cindy Slack: No, 

Julie Alexander: out like automatic posts?

Cindy Slack: great question. Yeah, so it's not actually like a social media management. It's more like a tool to help therapists be active on social media, but we don't interact with any of the clients or any of the posts or anything. We create the content and there's a portal where everything is connected to The therapist social media sites so we can load that portal up with content and the therapist just goes in and approves [00:12:00] or edits whatever they want and it will automatically be scheduled to post into their social media so they don't have to like download something and go and upload it into their Facebook or their Instagram and post it.

From there any interactions with clients or comments that's left on their social media or anything is up to the therapist.

Julie Alexander: got it And do you customize these based on what the therapist wants to promote?

Cindy Slack: Really it's a general. That could kind of work across the board for everybody, but each therapist has the ability to go in and edit all of the images. It's got an editor very similar to Canva. So they can go in and add their own branding and their own voice and colors and add their logo and they can edit the caption and create any kind of promotional.

materials that they want as well. So the reason that the way that we're able to do it [00:13:00] affordably is that it's basically content kind of mass produced for massage overall. And then the therapist has the ability to go in and customize it more if they want. But it's a good springboard for them to have a good place to start and not have to create everything from scratch. But they have the ability to make it into their own as much as they want. But I'm finding a lot of people just don't want to deal with, any of that. And they just approve what we have in there for them without customizing it. So that's an option too.

Julie Alexander: That makes sense. I mean it's It really feels like a big time commitment to go in and do your social media marketing for your business. And I know a lot of people don't really even understand why they need it for their business or what to post. Like you said, the content. And I think it sounds like you're just kind of helping people ease [00:14:00] their way into social media and kind of, you know, give them some helpful tools so that they can post and be present online and, you know, market their business.

Appropriately now i'm assuming that the content you provide is for people all over the nation, correct?

Yeah, 

Cindy Slack: Yes. We even actually have some members in the UK and Australia.

Julie Alexander: that's cool.

It's all in english, right? So are you still practicing massage therapy?

Cindy Slack: I am. I specialize in ashiatsu or barefoot massage, and I used to teach years ago, a CE class for that. I taught for about 10 years. Yes. But now I still just have my practice. I have, well, I probably do about 15 hours a week currently. And it's just me. I don't have anybody, working in with me or anything, but yeah.

So keep pretty busy [00:15:00] between actually working with clients and creating content for body work, media, and doing all of the, wearing all of the hats of all of the business things.

Julie Alexander: Right.

Cindy Slack: feel like it's helpful to still be doing massage. I think it's easy once you're not in the therapy room anymore to kind of.

You know, lose touch with some of those things. So, and I definitely see not doing massage, so I think it'll always be a part.

Julie Alexander: Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I kind of feel the same way. I mean I've talked to several people on this podcast about that subject and how You know, I think as an instructor or as a leader in the industry, I think it's important to continue to clients 

Cindy Slack: Yeah. 

Julie Alexander: and touch bodies, you know, frankly, it's like things do change things, change in our society, you [00:16:00] know.

Cindy Slack: true. 

Julie Alexander: With, the onset of wearable technology, I think that has a big impact on what we may be seeing in the future, you know, in the past 20 years. I mean, you've seen the progression of the tech neck, right? That wasn't around

when you started massage school. Right. And 

Cindy Slack: True. 

Julie Alexander: in the, last century,

Cindy Slack: Right.

Julie Alexander: We didn't have that 25 years ago and, you know, just the onset of some of these new technologies really, it's very interesting and I think it's important for us to advance.

In these ways, but and as their best, we need to know what these technologies are and how they affect people's bodies and how we can help. You know, better, better align them and better serve them and facilitate healing in their 

body. ,

Cindy Slack: definitely.

Julie Alexander: What kinds of things have you learned in your businesses throughout your years that you want to [00:17:00] share?

Cindy Slack: Well, I think I already touched on the big one was organization and, actually thinking of myself as a business owner and not just a massage therapist. And that really affected how I did things in my practice and that when I got organized and came at it from more of a business standpoint, it went a lot better.

Julie Alexander: Yeah,

Cindy Slack: So, yeah, that would be the main thing. And, I would say. 

The Importance of Continuous Learning

Cindy Slack: Keeping up with the changing times and the, new, well, like Ashiatsu, I I don't think I would still be doing massage if I hadn't started working with my feet. So, you know, 25 years is a long time. And I definitely think having learned barefoot massage is a big part of why I'm still able to do massage.

So definitely always innovating, always learning new things. And [00:18:00] also just the To keep that spark going, I found that when I would get feeling really burned out, it was really, a big part of it was like, I needed to learn something new. You know, getting a little bored and I would learn a new technique or something and it would help kind of reignite that spark.

Julie Alexander: I've been doing that for a long time, you know, I take a new class just to Give my I don't know my mind and my body a vacation for a minute from The day to day work and learn something new that reignites that spark of my love for massage I think it's so important and so vital, you know, I mean and it's important for our clients because 

Cindy Slack: Definitely. 

Julie Alexander: You know They need us fresh and excited about our work and not just doing a You know 

Cindy Slack: Definitely. Yeah. And a lot of my clients would say throughout the years. Oh, I love that. You're always learning new [00:19:00] things or even I would do something in a session that I hadn't done with someone before and they would be like, well, that's new. And I was like, oh, I haven't done that. Like, I've, it's like, Actually always been in my toolbox.

I just hadn't done it on that person, you know but they, really seem to appreciate that there's always more that they don't know 

Julie Alexander: Yeah, 

Cindy Slack: do or offer that I can change it up and kind of keep them on their toes.

Julie Alexander: that's awesome. I love it. I love it I mean, you know, it just it does validate our price point as well

Cindy Slack: True.

Julie Alexander: so the more Training you have and the more tools you have in your toolbox The more you can charge.

Cindy Slack: That's true. 

Julie Alexander: You know, one of the things that I've always done every time I've taken a class is I take a picture of like the syllabus or the handout with my pen with my logo on it and I post it on social [00:20:00] media and I know it's real cheesy.

It's like first day of school picture, but I do it for every class I take and I do that because This is an investment in my business and in me That I need my audience to understand that i'm doing and it because it's for them. It's for their benefit 

Cindy Slack: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: I just love that as a social media you know as part of my social media marketing Is really, you know enhance?

my You know my skills And let people know that's what I'm doing.

Cindy Slack: Yeah, that's perfect.

Julie Alexander: So Cindy, you mentioned that you needed to adjust your mentality to think about your business and focus on the business side. How did you do that? And what do you mean by that?

Cindy Slack: That's a good question. I don't really know how to explain how I did that. I would [00:21:00] say before that shift, I really avoided the business side of things. So part of it was just okay, I have to like, really look at this and, you know, really map this out and really do this, even though it's not very fun.

So part of it is kind of scheduling it into my schedule, so not thinking of just when I'm working with clients as being my work time. Having time in my schedule where I do bookkeeping and where I do notes and things like that and have it actually scheduled in, I would say is a big part of what works for me.

Julie Alexander: Yeah. I mean I would, tag onto that and say, you know if You need a little more motivation than just the self motivation. the point at which you reach out to mentors, colleague, or [00:22:00] even hire a coach, right?

Cindy Slack: Yeah, I think that's that's great. And definitely when I was starting, wasn't something that was easily accessible. So definitely something now that I think Is really great for newer therapists or anyone needing a little extra support that we have so much with social media and. 

Community and Mentorship

Cindy Slack: We're definitely much more of a connected community now when I first started, and doesn't feel as lonely and you can definitely learn a lot from the community.

Julie Alexander: I love that you said that. Cause that's one of the, my favorite things to do in Dallas is to create this beautiful massage community of people who support each other and. You know, one of the things I posted on my social media just a couple months ago, and I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart, is You can't compete with [00:23:00] me because I'm rooting for you

Cindy Slack: Yes, 

Julie Alexander: mean, I just love that phrase so much. Yeah, you can't compete with me because I'm rooting for you And, you know, we all are in this business because we love to help people and that's really what brings us together as a community.

I think more than anything. Because, you know, unless you're like, Eric Dalton, you're not in this to be a millionaire, right?

Cindy Slack: Right, right. None of us are getting rich here.

Julie Alexander: Yeah, no disrespect to the of course, but, you know, the rest of us for the rest of us, we're really here to help others. Right. And our, you know, whoever comes on our table, we want to help facilitate their healing and work together with our massage community to help make sure that our, our clients are really well taken care of in their healthcare needs.

So [00:24:00] you, kind of done a mental shift from going from, I'm really angry at myself for not being organized to, I'm really going to try to focus on what I need to do to make my business successful. Right, and you at some point must have had some aha moment to say, I can't get through this hurdle unless I make this mental shift.

in saying all that I think I don't think it's easy to just say I'm gonna shift my mindset

boom 

Cindy Slack: If only. 

Julie Alexander: Yeah,

if only but I do believe that like Getting together with other therapists, whether it be through the A MTA, a B, and P other massage groups. Maybe you have some networking groups in your area.

If you don't create one, it's so just go to your local coffee shop, put [00:25:00] it out on a meetup, But I do believe that helping each other is important. And, you know, like I said, massage therapists are empathetic. I don't think you're going to go wrong if you reach out to our community. And what, do you think about advertising on social media and spending marketing dollars that way?

Cindy Slack: is a good question. I think it depends on the therapist's business and, what direction they're going and things. But for the solo therapist, I don't know that it's worth the dollars. Because as a solo therapist, you're only going to have so many hours of massage that you can do. And like I said earlier, you don't need all of the expense of a huge social media agency like a spa would.

And I really think the, better thing to focus on is being consistent in a, in an online [00:26:00] presence and then like email marketing, implementing that in, I think, is better, return on your investment, which is mostly a time investment at that point. Than like advertising on social media and with body work media I never claim to get clients for people or you know It's really a tool to help you stay active in your online presence Rather than like oh, this is gonna get you 20 new clients, you know,

Julie Alexander: Does your tool provide metrics?

Cindy Slack: it does it has an analytics area so it can show you over time and that's definitely something that is important to kind of look at to make sure that the content that you're Posting is resonating with your audience and but doesn't, I don't necessarily see that as always connecting to X amount of appointments made.

It's more of deepening that relationship. [00:27:00] With your audience and with your clients and And that's where email marketing comes into as a much more personal. So like social media is a great way to Introduce yourself and start that relationship and then you can really deepen it with email marketing

Julie Alexander: Does your company offer like a monthly or quarterly 

Cindy Slack: Yes, it actually there's a whole area of pre written articles that you can use. So you can use them for blog posts or email newsletters or however you wanted to use them. You could print them out and have them as actual newsletters in your studio. But we also have email marketing that is like a weekly series email to guide someone from when they first.

Learn about you and then weekly over time to build that relationship with them and help them learn more about what you do and, all of that is a, [00:28:00] editable, customizable, editable is a weird word. But so you can go in and customize it as much as you'd like to your voice and your practice.

Julie Alexander: Nice. So like, if I wanted to hire you guys to do my marketing for me and help me with my online presence and my newsletter, I can go in and kind of change that content to make it feel more like me. 

Cindy Slack: Yes. 

Julie Alexander: of my little fluffy dog, 

Cindy Slack: Yes. 

Julie Alexander: Okay.

Cindy Slack: Yep.

Julie Alexander: I gotcha. I

Cindy Slack: Yep. Exactly. Yeah, with the email and with the social media too, you can always add in your own stuff at any time too. So definitely helps, have that base content to always keep. Your presence active and then when you have time to, in your more personal stuff, you can create some personal posts [00:29:00] and, emails as well to kind of have it more personalized.

Julie Alexander: Nice. Nice. I'm really, excited to watch what you've created and seeing what you've done over the years. 

Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

Julie Alexander: I think it's pretty amazing, Cindy.

Cindy Slack: Thank you.

Julie Alexander: Thanks for your work in our industry. Is there anything else that you want to talk about with your online tool that may any of our listeners?

Cindy Slack: Oh, I do have a free 90 day content calendar. So I find a lot of us therapists as you had mentioned earlier, like thinking of what to post. A lot of people just post, Oh, these are my openings this week, but then kind of draw a blank as to what else to post or they'll, get really active with posting for a while, but then keeping up with it is such a time issue.

And. Constantly coming up with new things to post. [00:30:00] So I do have a free 90 day Calendar and so it's got content for 90 days straight specifically for massage a content prompt each day in the calendar to Give you an idea of what to post other than these are my openings this week

Julie Alexander: Awesome. So we'll make sure to add that link to this podcast information. 

Cindy Slack: Good

Julie Alexander: Cindy, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I really enjoyed speaking with you.

Cindy Slack: Thank you for having me, Julie. 

​[00:31:00]