Source
r/massage•
Euloque

Moving to Surrey, BC from Fredericton, NB and would like some input.

I looked through the CMTBC page so I know all the things about moving from a regulated province to BC but I could use advice from some BC therapists.

  • Suggestions on getting Liability Insurance.

  • What are good starting wages to negotiate for?

  • Are Continuing Education Courses easily accessible?

  • Will being male hurt my chances of building a professional clientele?

  • I see a lot of new and coming soon clinics advertising "full clientele guaranteed" in job ads. Is it really that busy?

Posted Jan 21, 2016, 10:09 PM UTC

23
SirRamenRMT, SMT(cc) - Canada•

You're so close to me! Kinda wanna know your name to see if I know you or not, haha (SJ).

From what I know, CEU courses out west are very plentiful. You should contact u/jadebear as she is out in BC and could give big hints and tips on insurance and wage negotiations.

1
EuloqueOPRMT,TMJ Release & A.R.T•

You probably don't know me. I don't ever go to St. John and keep pretty much to my small friend circle. Thanks for the contact tip.

1
jadebearRMT - Canada•

Hey! BC therapist here. First think you want to do is contact the RMTBC association. (www.rmtbc.ca) Once you're a member of the association, you get liability insurance as part of your yearly membership.

Massage here ranged from $85 to $110 an hour. We can't change that, they're set by the college. We can negotiate whether we pay rent or percentage to the clinic. Usually they'll have some system set up already in place. Don't take anything that makes you sign a non-compete clause or anything that makes you stay at a clinic for a certain amount of time. Contracts suck. If you're paying a split, there should always be a monthly cap (in that area, usually around $1500 a month).

The RMTBC sends out a monthly newsletter with all the cont.ed. in it. You can also apply to the college to take courses that aren't on that list.

There are plenty of people who prefer a male therapist. It might take you a little longer to build up a clientele (especially in surrey, it's very saturated in the whole lower mainland), but you'll get there as long as your accommodating and flexible with your time.

There's no such thing as full clientele guaranteed, unless they're going to pay you your wage even if no one books? I don't get how they can say that, but I've been out of Vancouver for a year, maybe the market has changed. It's not that busy because there's so many schools there now and lots of the new grads stay. There are many many RMT's in the lower mainland compared to the rest of the province. Doesn't mean you won't get busy, but it will take anywhere from 6 months to a year to really be comfortable.

Hopefully that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.

1