Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Schwartz CMT, MAT, CES.
Hi Tony, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After spending some time running my own vending business after college working long hours and not having much of a social life I decided to make an effort to create a work/life balance. Not having much dating experience and not having a whole lot of time I just tried to make a concerted effort to make time. Eventually I did end up meeting the person that would become the light of my life. We were very different people from two very different worlds. As time went on we moved in together and it was becoming clear that making a change in my career was going to be essential. We then moved to another part of town while I tried to sell the company and begin looking for a new career path. Over the course of the next several years I worked odd jobs as my skill set was good but not conventional. One day at one of my jobs working in a coffee shop my employer informed me they were starting a tuition reimbursement program for all of us workers with a very low minimum number of hours to qualify at select colleges in universities. I started looking around and ended up in the massage therapy program and having a four year degree plus in credits I thought it was a good time to really expand my focus and look at the possibles. About two years later I started my own massage business and have been working both there and other clinics sense 2013. Over the years watching the kind of client issues that I seemed to get the most success with additional continued education within the bodywork industry. The world of bodywork has changed a great deal over the years and but what has kept me in this line of work has been an ever present thank you can use curiosity about the human body and the way you said we can help people reduce pain and lead more productive lives. The amount of continuing education that is available because we a very much in flux industry can also drive someone like me to feel like there is always more to explore.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In the case of being a male therapist I think it requires some context in that in a large part of the working world women tend to see things like wage discrimination and harassment on a far more regular basis in the general economy but in female dominated industries men still do face similar types of discrimination. I think in the bodywork industry in general it is slowly changing but I think it’s taking a change in attitude and a change in type of people owning these larger massage and Bodyworks studios that employ massage therapist. There are circle strong health believes that men do not book as many appointments as women to an industry level that is still consistently true. Mini studio owners tend to pay their male therapist between 20 and 40% less female therapist simply because they generate less revenue and many facilities will simply not look at male therapist because they want as many high-performing high appointment therapist as he can get. Mini times as what happens to women in the workplace they hire a few men and the rest are women just to say that they do have some in there employers to avoid discrimination issues or perceptions. There are very few employers that I have ever worked with a part-time basis or seen in a full-time setting that don’t openly discriminate against men I think it’s happening less but it’s still very prevalent and only makes it harder for talented male therapist to enter the workforce.
To my second point of the issue of a change in industry I believe that one of my nature struggles in to continue to stay as flexible as the technology allows while still maintaining very strict levels of quality and professionalism. Today we have a level of technology that makes entrepreneurship at the individual level for professional therapist easier than ever but it also creates a blowing up the lines between client interaction and professionalism at multiple levels. I think a very reasonable example of this would be the impact of social media advertising in the creation of social media posts in the ad spirited exchange between bodywork professionals in an open setting can be very good for the public to see done in the right way on the other hand interactions with the general public through social media can be vigorous and sometimes difficult to navigate because it blurs the lines between professional behavior and personal relationship building unlike you seen other aspects of the medical profession but you do see more in the health and wellness industries. It’s definitely an evolving situation with in the industry because we have such a high turnover rate in the first few years and many people do bodywork as a second job and not as a primary source of income this can create a evermore pores situation between therapist and client.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Tony Schwartz Bodywork?
I operate a specialty practice in an area of Southeast Minneapolis where I specialize in several different advanced techniques of bodywork. Many body workers operate very well with their training and clinics in spas and that’s because they can follow simple routines with general work that tends to make a consistent income. I am driven in my practice is stripping in the pursuit of really getting out the more therapeutic side of the industry and that’s a very important distinction in that if a client comes to you with a specific complaint about an acre pain you wanna be able to address that but do it in a way that complements what other medical professionals will be doing for example: physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga, and number of different other things. As I stated before I am fascinated by finding things in the body that I didn’t really know because they’re in the therapeutic realm and that drive to help people inspires me to continue to learn more. Over the years I noticed so many clients would say I know the first people to address things differently other than what a spa clinic might do that I listened and that I investigated more. The number of therapeutic practitioners that choose to go and get more advanced continuing education is actually pretty small. And I believe there are two general reasons for this the first being that people if they’re making a good living don’t really want to change a good thing and secondly I think that the way that many states regulate massage therapy and body work isn’t extremely conducive to making a continuing education system as an industry straightforward but more fragmented.
In terms of running my own practice I think there are a couple of simple key principles that allow me to continue to gain new clients: I think a simple pricing structure with the focus on problem solving rather then up selling makes a real positive impression. I provide every therapy at my hourly rate so that I can use whatever techniques or tools are necessary to help the client get to their goal. There’s only one exception I have an ounce for the use of CBD because of the cost of the item and I didn’t use that with in the last year and clients are very happy with that minor adjustment to that philosophy. I think the second key principle that has really allowed me to flourish has been listening and paying attention. I think all of us have been situation whether it’s going to a doctors visit or seen a business professional for something like accounting or real estate or even thinking where people listen to respond they don’t listen to understand. Taking genuine time to listen to somebody and acknowledge them without worrying necessarily worrying about a clock has led to a real sense of trust building a short period of time between myself and my clients. I’ve heard on numerous occasions that if you let someone talk don’t never stop and I have not found that to be true when working with my clients in my private practice people are willing to be concise and they are willing to answer questions as long as they feel they’re being listened to and that usually does not take up that much extra time.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
In terms of where I think my industry is headed I see two things on the horizon I see the biggest change coming in the work schedule of massage therapist and body workers. The COVID-19 experience I think has pushed a major shift in labor and I don’t believe that this will be a short term change I believe that it’s just a change that is coming earlier than originally thought. In my industry it’s not uncommon for people to working between 7 and 9 AM and working until 10 PM at night seven days a week. With more people working from home and more companies realizing younger workers demand flexibility if they’re not gonna see a reasonable salary and benefits. So I think you’re going to continue to see workers making more personal time for personal things during what used to be called “business hours” and work more at night or in the early mornings. A slightly smaller change I think will be the push further and further away from the traditional medical field. This trend has already started in the chiropractic industry as insurance companies demand to dictate more policies and procedures and limit coverage for they are insured customers and the chiropractic industry has pushed back very aggressively but going back to more of a cash-based membership-based system. I think that the massage and bodywork industry has seen this push back on the chiropractic world I just realized that even in the next 20 to 30 years it will not change and that staying as a separate entity within the healthcare field away from insurance will continue to be very fruitful.
Contact Info:
- Email: tonyjschwartzmn@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.TonySchwartzBodywork.com
- Instagram: TonySchwartzBodywork
- Facebook: Tony Schwartz Bodywork LLC
- Twitter: @TSchwartzB
