riverside_krista_— th 5 people y... _ apr 29, 2025 001_radical_massage the

9:41PM Apr 29, 2025

Speakers:

Krista Dicks

Keywords:

Radical massage therapist

career influence

Jim Rohn quote

sustainable practice

positive energy

Scott Dinsmore TED Talk

mindset shift

supportive circle

energy drainers

personal growth

marketing boundaries

scarcity mindset

abundant mindset

action steps

community events.

Krista,

hey there, radical massage therapist, welcome back to the radical massage therapist Podcast. I'm Krista, your host, RMT clinic owner, and your massage career hype girl. Today's episode is about something that doesn't get talked about enough in the massage world. As I've said before, I love to take ideas and bring them to that massage space. So it might have been something that I've learned outside the massage space, like in the business world, and I want to apply it to your massage career. I think that this episode can be really helpful as like a jumping off point for you. I want to tell you that the people you surround yourself with and how they influence your career is really, really important. Today's episode is about something that doesn't get talked about enough in the massage world. It's the people you surround yourself with and how they influence your career. I love to bring ideas outside of the massage world that maybe we haven't applied or heard about massage applied into massage yet, but I've heard about them, and I want to share them with you on how I immediately feel that they can be applied to our massage world practice and our profession, and how it can enhance your practice. You may have heard before that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. This is a quote from Jim Rohn, and honestly, that couldn't be more true when it comes

i Hello, sir.

And honestly, that couldn't be more true when it comes to building a sustainable, successful massage practice. So let's get into it. Your circle shapes your career. Let's get into the why behind this idea, when you're surrounded by people who are negative, burned out or stuck in scarcity, thinking it's going to affect you, whether you realize it or not, but when your circle includes people who are confident, creative, financially empowered, and excited about massage therapy, that energy is contagious and powerful, as I've said in one of my radical recaps. Now a radical recap is my email. That's a monthly thing, so if you are not subscribed to my email list, then you can do so in the show notes, but I sent it a little monthly email, sort of behind the scenes. So I watched a TED Talk by Scott Dinsmore, and he was talking about all about finding work that you love and what made people different, because apparently 80% of people hate their job, and so he wanted to learn with the 20% who love what they do, what they were doing differently. And I've already got an episode funny enough about the 8020 principle and how basically 20% of our upper efforts are relate to 80% of our success. So this is kind of a neat tie in as well, but basically you want so what he said was, you don't have to change your goals. You just need to change your surroundings. So if you have goals, obviously in your massage practice or in your personal life, because obviously this is going to relate to the people that you hang around with the most. So those five people might not be directly related to your massage circle, but they are going to influence your career some way. So you don't have to change your goals. You just need to change your surroundings. This is quoted by Scott Dinsmore in the TED Talk, which really struck a chord with me, and I feel like we can dive quite deep into this. But this doesn't mean you ditch your friends or your co workers overnight, but it does mean you're being intentional. Intentional about this. Doesn't mean you ditch your friends or co workers or family overnight, but it does mean that you're being more intentional about who you lean on, learn from and let into your inner world. You are also completely capable of making big changes and moving yourself into a new environment that is more nurturing and in line with your your goals, right? Because you might have big goals, but the people you surround yourself with might not get that vision and it's totally normal. I mean, massage therapy is a very unique profession, and some people just might not get the vision that you have. Have real life impact how your environment shows up in practice. Here are a few ways this is going to play out for massage therapists. This is going to play out in your mindset. I know I talk about mindset a lot, but it makes a big difference if your circle believes that massage therapy isn't a real career, or you can't charge more than x amount an hour. You're going to start believing that too. Or you're also not going to feel empowered to make any changes, because you're going to kind of want to not stand out. You're going to want to stay in line with the group in Canada. We call this the tall poppy syndrome as well. So you don't necessarily want to charge more, because the average, you know, price, is certain amount of per hour. So if you charge a little bit more, you're going to stand out just that little bit more. And nobody wants to stand out just a little bit more for fear of like, criticism and rejection and sort of this idea that we can't be like we can't charge what we're worth, right? We are worth a certain amount, and that is going to be different for everybody as well. Definitely, this plays into how your environment shows up in your habits. If your closest RMT friends are constantly overbooking working weekends, if your closest RMT friends, or even RMTS that you look up to in the community. Because I want to also say this doesn't necessarily relate just to the people that you like are can like, reach out and touch. These are, these are also like influences that you might have, online books that you read, podcasts that you listen to. So if the majority of your time is spent on one and or the other of positivity or negativity, then you're definitely going to see that reflect so in your habits, you're going to see this if your RMT friends are constantly overbooking working weekends and never taking vacations. So guess what you will start doing? Because, again, you don't want to necessarily separate yourself from that whole tribe mentality as well. If you are working with RMTS who are constantly like hustling, you're gonna feel that pressure to hustle as well, unless you are completely self aware. You've held your boundaries. You've usually been in practice for a long time. You've reached that burnout phase and then come back from it. So if you're going to be surrounded by those types of massage therapists or even at that type of practice, it's sort of a hustle practice. You're going to start to take on those same habits as well. It's going to show up in your personal growth. So if no one in your circle is talking about marketing boundaries or pricing, how are you going to level up? There was a season in my career where I felt stuck. I was surrounded by massage therapists who were constantly complaining and didn't believe they could make a good living in this profession. Definitely on the complaining side. When I've worked at different clinics before, a lot of massage therapists complain about like the conditions or the clientele, or the way that things were managed, and then they would not do anything about it, whether that was bringing it up to management or the owners, or just completely again changing your environment. It can be scary to move on to a new clinic. I completely get that. But I was in a space where I was not feeling supported, and I also did not like the way that things are being managed, and so I decided to leave that clinic and work somewhere else, a place that I was always hearing about that had a great reputation, even at the clinic that I was working at. And when I invited those other massage therapists to come, come over here? It's so great over at this clinic, we don't have to do this, and we don't have to do that, and they totally understand about time off it. Nobody came as much as they still wanted to stay in that space and complain they were not ready or willing to make that change, and that's okay. But once I started connecting with people who had positive growth minded perspectives, my entire mindset like would shift. Now, I would say I was always in a better space as far as mindset came, as far as mindset early on in my career, and I would notice that my income and my work life balance might be different than other massage therapists. I feel like again, in our career, we have a large percentage of massage therapists who have a scarcity mindset, and I believe in charging what you're worth, and I believe that we have value and. Um, there was just something different about what I was always doing. And I would always have an abundant mindset no matter what. My schedule was full and things were were rolling for me, whereas I knew massage therapists who were like, cutting back on their cables so that they could save money, right? Like it's, it's a challenging profession when we really want to help people, but we have a lot of that tied to self worth as well. So the action steps to curate a supportive circle. So it's really important that it's great if I say like, well, the five people that you hang out with are not you need to be particular and intentional about the five people that you hang out with. Now that you might notice that.

So here's some action steps to create a supportive circle. So let's get practical. Here's how to start shifting your environment without burning any bridges. So you want to audit your circle. Step one, who you talk to about your career? So you want to audit your circle. It's just step one. So who do you talk to about your career most often, and how do you feel about spending time with them? Do you feel energized or drained. There are some wonderful massage therapy communities out there, online, in person, I will be honest that one time, this is not every case. So one time actually fun story. How? So every massage community is a little bit different, and they bring different energy. I met one of our guests, Mel Stewart, through one of these community events. And it was an event where, obviously the massage therapist was getting together to talk about the profession. As we started to go around the table, it became very obvious that the massage therapists were there to complain about their clinic, their reception, the competition, the way that things were being booked, like how it was almost like one person had to be filled before the next person was was getting bookings. It was, gosh, like 15 years ago at this point, and I was not there to talk negatively. I mean, it was there to problem solve some of these things, but it also didn't seem like the energy was in a problem solving mood. And I remember as soon as that sort of negativity talk started, I must have been glancing around the room, like, where am I and what have what's happening? And that's when Mel and I locked eyes, and we were like this, we're we're in this together. We are like, we are, we know what's going on, and we are not part of this, like conversation. I just like, we both knew, like, this is not what we expected from the meeting anyway. So take that into consideration. I love meeting and talking to massage therapists, but at the end of the day, we were all very, very different. So what type of practitioner are you spending time with? Are you spending time with the one that is complaining and having about having no clients but isn't willing to do anything about it, that they're not willing to raise their rates, that they are taking time off for silly reasons and wondering why their schedule is not getting booked, if they are giving you advice on how you can, you know, save more money by cutting down your cable because they can't afford it because they're not making enough in their business. Just think about that. Or do you feel energized when you talk to certain massage therapists? And so I highly recommend, like some of these conference events. I've always been hesitant to go to conferences, to be honest, because massage therapists are, are a different, a different breed, but I really connected with my my like minded, open minded massage therapist community there, and that was really special and supportive, so you can find, find your tribe. So, like the conferences are really great places, and those community events, because you will find, you'll find your people pretty fast. Obviously, this podcast, this community, is something that I just want to create a space where people can see that even if you haven't like can't feel confident to do it yourself, or you're you're looking for more information. There are people in this community who have done it, and I want you to look to them for support and to see that it can can be done. And that's that is possible for you as well. So the second thing you can do to curate a supportive circle is to intentionally connect with inspiring people. So you want to seek out other RMTS or massage therapists, body workers, business owners, even like in that wellness space who are doing the work you admire. Don't be afraid to reach out to them. Maybe. Up there in an in the online space, especially in your local community. I've spoken before about creating like these allied health groups, either on Facebook or reaching out to the community. I have a coffee date with a chiropractor in it was new to the neighborhood next week. So like, I'm looking forward to that conversation to learn more about who they are, what they do, and how we can support each other in the community. So that's really helpful. Again, it doesn't have to be in person, but anything online works too. Attend continuing education courses with people you vibe with, so you know, definitely the techniques that you are interested in are going to attract a certain type of massage therapist. So you know, if you're getting into more of like the energy work, will just expect that some of those massage therapists are going to be much more on the much more on the energy side, versus, like the healthcare professional side, right? So that's that's all good. You want to also join a mastermind coaching group or online community that aligns with your values, okay? And that's it. Like, we, we, we get that. So you want to find that either in your city or online as well. Another way that you can start to shape your circle is to limit time with energy drainers. It can take some time to figure out exactly who is that energy drainer, um, but once you walk away from a conversation um, feeling feeling drained or not feeling inspired, feeling a little bit down, then you know that you you have found that that person that you need to start setting boundaries with. You don't have to cut them off, but you do need to set boundaries. And then you just start slowly spending less time with them or engaging with them. You need to protect your peace, especially during seasons of growth or vulnerability. You can number four for creating the best circle for you is to be the light for someone else. If you want a high vibe circle, be a high vibe person. Now, as far as the radical massage therapist goes, this is a big reason why I started the podcast initially, I really wanted to highlight the radical massage therapist that I was working with, and that's amazing. And then obviously I knew that there were incredibly radical massage therapists out there in the rest of the world, but I just really wanted to highlight the ones that I knew and why they were so incredible. For one, being massage therapists, and then two, that the career was their their launching pad for so many wonderful things that they were doing in their life that I just felt like somebody else needed to know about it. Most importantly, it was going back to me that I needed that inspiration because I was constantly hitting a wall and a love hate relationship with massage therapy, and I needed to be constantly reminded about the benefits that this career has, and I still continue to do the podcast and share my journey. Because every single time I get to talk to an incredible guest, or remind like write an episode like this about why there's so many benefits to what we have, that anytime I start to think about something else or get frustrated in this career, I need to look at myself and what I'm doing to these to change and just be reminded about what is so awesome about this, this massage career, right? So that's why I started it, and it has helped me to attract massage therapists who are like minded. I'm not. I don't really like like like minded. We don't want to all think the same and just live in a bubble, but more open minded about our massage practices. And you know, there are massage therapists who eat, sleep and breathe massage. God bless you. I am not one of them, even though it might seem like it with a radical massage therapist podcast, I'm not one of them. I'm also a clinic owner. It like I just, I just don't live massage therapy. And you know, a lot of massage therapists do, and that is wonderful for them, and they are a different type of practitioner for it. You also want to share openly, celebrate others and lead by example. So again, that's one of the best ways that you can if you're if you're looking to start like to have that circle, especially if you're introverted. I actually just heard this another the other day on a podcast episode. Code called she means business, and it really is if you're an introvert, sometimes it's hard to step into a room all alone and introduce yourself like whether that's in an online space or in person. But if you're introvert, and you start to lead by example, if you start to look create that tribe. It can be a lot easier energetically than if you try to put yourself into a room. You can, like, invite people to the room instead. And I think that's really fun. So And last, the last part is,

let's give a little pep talk. So how can you give yourself a little pep talk when you're feeling alone, if you're listening and thinking, that sounds great. Krista, but I don't have the circle right now. I hear you and I've been there. You don't need a big circle. You You don't need a big circle. You just need the right people. I can say that for sure, even like with the the amount of people that I've connected to through the podcast and in my massage career, I have connected with some really wonderful core people, and they might trans transition as well, and that might shift. But I'm so grateful for finding the right people in my massage career, even when one supportive person who believes in your vision, like can change everything, you just don't need that many people. And until then, of course, you've got me, you've got the podcast, you've got other RMTS massage therapists who are also listening right now and thinking, wow, same. So what's one small shift that you can make? Let's wrap it up with a challenge. What's one small shift that you can make this week to surround yourself with more supportive energy? Is it reaching out to another RMT you admire on following someone whose content drains you, right? So I did say, like, if you spend time with somebody, does their energy like drain you, or does their energy uplift you? That goes for content online as well. And I've definitely unfollowed a lot of people that just don't resonate with me, and this is my personal and professional profile, because I do notice, like, it doesn't resonate, and that's okay, and it's better to, like, curate what you're what you're looking for, so to support, like, your goals and your dreams and make sure that to protect your energy. I also love to journal about what kind of circle you want to build. So those are three recommendations this week to try and surround yourself with more supportive energy. I would love for you to hit me up on Instagram at the radical massage therapist and tell me what shift you're making, or tag me in a story and share your takeaway from this episode. And hey, if you want to be part of a more inspiring circle, I've got coaching spots open. I also offer the free 30 minute consult. So let's build a practice and a life you love. Hit me up with a request for a 30 minute session. And hey, if you want to be part of a more inspiring circle, I've got coaching spots open. So in the show notes, I'll have a link there. You can get free 30 minute consult, and we can talk all about building a practice and a life that you love until next time, stay radical, my friends and have an awesome day. You.