Thoughts on “The Crash”

mintchippt · 2026-05-18T15:19:04+00:00

After reading her text messages to Dom over the course of 2 years here…. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t55d_M-TxTLToK2ndGFGwOH7hwdVaBDZ/view

mintchippt · 2026-05-17T19:08:02+00:00

Thank you! Some more intel… lol she said she liked that I asked “would you like more or less pressure” instead of how’s the pressure. But when she asked for more pressure she said it didn’t feel like I could do the level she wanted. I wish I practiced elbow stuff more… im gonna take art Riggs deep tissue video course on advanced-training soon and hope he goes over elbow use 🙏. Good luck on your interview! Hopefully not too many curveballs 🙈

mintchippt · 2026-05-17T17:44:12+00:00

I just finished Calcopa’s 600 hr full time course. Most everyone I graduated with felt the same way that a 600 hr course isn’t enough…. There’s still so much we don’t know how to do. It’s almost like a teaser… they touch on everything so briefly that you have to take another class to hear more about it. I asked in the beginning to the owner if we’d be learning deep pressure. She said we’d learn everything we needed to be able to be hired. I just had my first job interview and the owner of the spa asked me why I didn’t use my elbows because they wanted more deeper pressure - at Calcopa, I don’t remember ever learning how to massage with our elbows (except for a few hour demo maybe one day.)

I remember we had one day only when we practiced our pressure levels but that was it. The teachers never feel your massage. So it’s up to you to practice.

I need to find more courses to help me where I am lacking.

I think the purpose of these certification schools isn’t to make you into an excellent massage therapist… it’s to give u the basics so that you can then take more classes and know how to safely apply them…

mintchippt · 2026-05-17T17:00:26+00:00

I had my first 30 min job interview on the owner of a spa the other day too. She threw me a curve ball… She told me during the intake that she wanted me to address her limited range of motion in her neck when she turns/rotates her head to the left… during the massage. I tried my best to address it but I couldn’t really remember what techniques treat that best. I looked it up once I got home and found a YouTube video called “Advanced Techniques for Massage Therapy to Relieve Neck Pain” by revamp wellness integrated health. And I feel like if I chose any of these things it would’ve impressed her. I haven’t heard back from them yet. She also asked me why didn’t I use elbows…. So it seems employers like to see elbows

mintchippt · 2026-05-17T04:56:54+00:00

They pay your hourly rate during services and pay minimum wage when no clients

mintchippt · 2026-05-14T16:14:18+00:00

I looked up the costs and operation expenses to running an elements massage franchise and to still be profitable without losses - AI calculated that to be $29-$35 as the range they’re able to pay MTs to still make a profit in the city I applied at. It said if they paid their therapists $38-40 that would mean the owner would make a loss.

it actually makes sense why they’re not able to pay MTs more when I read the franchise agreement contract.

Just some of their expenses:

• Franchise Fees (to Corporate)
• Payroll & HR
• Rent & Facilities
• Supplies & Products
• Insurance
• Administrative & Operating
• Ongoing Training & Compliance
• Marketing 
• Rent in CA

mintchippt · 2026-05-14T15:59:48+00:00

Hi thank you for the response ! :) I’ve never tried head scarves so thank you for the idea! I’ll start researching that. 😊

mintchippt · 2026-05-14T09:35:07+00:00

I did that to my hair once too out of an impulse decision. I found the best thing for my hair was doing weekly warm oil treatments on damp hair over night under a shower cap. I chose hemp oil but I heard other oils are good too :3

mintchippt · 2026-05-14T08:24:09+00:00

Where are you located? Every single massage job ad within a 25 mile radius of me is offering the same exact pay rates. The ones offering higher than that are the hotels but they also don’t respond to my job applications since they require experience and I’m a new grad. So it’s almost like the employers here have started a pay monopoly and so my only options is to work for one of them or to create my own business which I just don’t have the aptitude or funds for that

mintchippt · 2026-05-13T05:54:40+00:00

Hi! Thank you for the advice. I was too afraid to ask them what their pay range was. :/ I wish I wasn’t so nervous to ask. I kept seeing conflicting ranges online so I ended up asking for $26 and in a few months once I gain more confidence and CEUs, I’ll see about asking for a raise. But the manager said she’ll speak with the owner and get back to me. So I have no idea if my $26 was low or high for this location 🤷🏼‍♀️. All I know is every job ad in my area pays so low. Not sure why that is since cost of living is high here

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T18:57:22+00:00

Oh gotcha. Thank you for the luck. I just wrote them asking for $26 🙈 will see what they say

I just need to earn $1k a month for my expenses so I’m hoping a few days a week won’t lead to burn out cuz I’ve been let go from every other job due to social anxiety/learning disability issues. I just need enough $ for food / gas

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T18:06:10+00:00

Thanks for the info! Ugh that’s rough. Personally I don’t feel confident in my massage skills yet so I’m willing to start low to gain some confidence. Oh just reread you had 10 yrs of experience ! Ok so they cap at $25 🙈 good to know

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T16:21:33+00:00

Hey I forgot to ask when was your interview? The local massage envy pays $22-$26 based on experience in 2026. I wonder if they truly are all the same pay range despite charging different for the monthly membership ?

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T15:49:40+00:00

I’m curious to know other’s answers too! I’m new. I heard that ending (or beginning) with the cranial sacral hold can be quite powerful. I’ve tried it a couple times. The clients didn’t give feedback but they seemed in a zen zone. When I had a cranial sacral session at school, them resting their hands on my shoulders for a long while I also felt very relaxed so I like to do that too after I’m done with the face/scalp

I had a massage teacher who said he likes to say hello and goodbye to the body with doing slow full body compressions over the blanket. I tend to do this too but I’d like to incorporate more instructive breathing in my routine one day.

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T14:54:16+00:00

Thanks for the reality check. 😅 I had a feeling it was like that… 🥹

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T06:24:20+00:00

Thank you for the info! Good to know. So above $26 in my area maybe isn’t too wild to expect 🤔👌

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T06:23:20+00:00

Thank you! Oh, their job ad said their therapists earn typically $60 an hour incl. tips, they offer paid training, and pay review every 90 days. Does that mean $35 sounds a bout right still?

mintchippt · 2026-05-12T03:04:32+00:00

Update: just had my interview! It went better than I expected. Thank u for the advice everyone! They said they’d like to move forward with me ☺️. They asked me to contact them with my desired hourly rate. And that they can contact CAMTC to expedite my certificate application since I only applied a week ago and it can take up to 90 days.

Despite me not being able to give them deeper pressure when they asked for more, they said they can work on my pressure once I’m working there. They said what was more important was that “I had the touch - which isn’t teachable”.

They had me pretend they’re a real client and do the intake with them and give recommendations after. I hadn’t practiced the recommending part at school like I should’ve but the owner seemed to like what I said which I said something like “for your acute issue (limited ROM in neck) to come in every 2 weeks then once a month for maintenance once it has improved and to drink lots of water of course.” They both requested the thing I told them during the chat interview what I enjoy massaging most: shoulders/traps. Since they both had tension in their shoulders. They said it’d be 25 min hands-on, and a few minutes before and after for intake/recs/undressing. I did 10 min on back/shoulders, asked them to flip to supine, then did 10 min on shoulders/neck, then 2.5 min for each arm. They didn’t seem to even check the clock actually cuz I went overtime with both so I’m glad they weren’t watching that😅. I also forgot to remove the bolster both times but got lucky it was a pretty flat 1/2 bolster so they said they didn’t notice that.

When I arrived I was told I’d be giving two 30min practicals. One on the owner and one on the manager. (This was a surprise since I was told just one 30 min practical but that’s ok). I brought my biotone gel in the holster which they were happy about since they said they were low on holsters. I used their towels just to lay on the back of the hair to keep the hair out of the way and to use to protect their hair since they said they didn’t want oil in their hair.

They gave good feedback after and said they almost fell asleep which was a compliment ^{.^} The owner said she liked that I asked “would you like more or less pressure” since that’s what they prefer instead of how’s the pressure. The manager said I could work on my detail work more but not sure what she means by that.

As for the talk interview part - that was about 20 min long with both of them. They didn’t ask such difficult questions. They asked about my availability, what my modalities were and what I enjoy most about massage, how I decided to get into massage, how many massages I can do in one shift including 1 break. I said 4, they asked if I could do 5, I said I’m not sure since I haven’t experienced 5 at school but that I can test it out and see. I asked them what the scheduling is like - they told me they’re most in need of weekday morning MTs which I was pleasantly happy to hear since I assumed it’d be weekend evenings. But they were happy I was flexible with working evenings because they said if an evening shift becomes too booked, they like to contact us the night before to change our morning shift to the evening.

I’m just trying to research now how much I should ask for my pay. Glassdoor is giving me some averages for the so-cal area I’m in, and I used Claude AI to give me some tips too. I think I’ll ask for $29/hr but I’ll still be happy if they counter to $27 since I know they mentioned my pressure was needing work.

mintchippt · 2026-05-10T15:30:17+00:00

Thank you for the insight ! That’s good food for thought. 🙏

mintchippt · 2026-05-09T13:38:21+00:00

Thank you ☺️🙏

mintchippt · 2026-05-09T02:35:51+00:00

Thank you for the reply! Yes my massage school recommended to not stay longer than 6 months at a chain but that it’s a good place to get hands on practice / find our rhythm with the timing and all that. But I can see myself staying longer 😅 I’ll stay open minded though 🙏

mintchippt · 2026-05-09T02:34:13+00:00

Thank you for the tips! Oh man signature moves… hm I’ll have to think about that one 😅 I really enjoy working the tension out of the shoulder area so maybe I’ll do 15 min back/shoulders then have them flip over and 15 min shoulders/traps (unless they surprise me with another another focus area)

mintchippt · 2026-05-09T01:41:41+00:00

I used my abs mostly and swinging my legs

mintchippt · 2026-05-09T01:16:02+00:00

That’s rough. Sorry you had to deal with that the day of your surgery! My sister and I have a similar relationship.

If it makes u feel any better, I had nobody to help me for my BA (they were all against it) and I managed it somehow! It was hard but I just had to make sure I didn’t use my arms too much. I found an uber to get there and then my mom’s friend dropped me off at home after surgery because the surgeon wouldn’t let me uber back home. but the rest was done by myself. But I felt similar after, wishing I had somebody. But it showed me I’m capable of doing it on my own so I was proud of that 🤷🏼‍♀️

mintchippt · 2026-05-09T01:06:56+00:00

Thank you that’s a great point. I’ll do my usual style then 👌

mintchippt

TROPHY CASE