Starting up a business?

[Joe in texas]

And there ARE situation when taking clients with you is ethical and acceptable.

I'd be curious to see some examples of this...

Here it goes. I worked in small Salon and Spa as IC for a year. When I came there they didn't have ANY massage clintele.
The main reason was their strong position about not doing any marketing for the massage services.
They didn't want to spend a penny on bringing clients in and relied upon the word of mouth. But how are you going to get referrals if you don't have even one customer walking into the door?
Obviously the rule about marketing applied to me. Which by the way was not discussed before I accepted the job. But it doesn't really matter much.

My point is that I had to spend my time and money to get and to keep my own clients, I have developed regular clientele who are not interested in spa itself but mostly in my own set of skills.

And yes, I do have some business generated by the spa (after they moved to more visible location) which consists of one-time massage clients who wouldn't care much if it where me or somebody else giving them a massage as long as it's up to their standards and in convenient location.
And I don't think it's ethical taking them with me in case of leaving UNLESS some of them became regulars who respect the work i do and don't want to change a therapist.
Then i would inform client about my move and give him a choice.

 

[Hamratsn]

And there ARE situation when taking clients with you is ethical and acceptable.

I'd be curious to see some examples of this...

Here it goes. I worked in small Salon and Spa as IC for a year. When I came there they didn't have ANY massage clintele.
The main reason was their strong position about not doing any marketing for the massage services.
They didn't want to spend a penny on bringing clients in and relied upon the word of mouth. But how are you going to get referrals if you don't have even one customer walking into the door?
Obviously the rule about marketing applied to me. Which by the way was not discussed before I accepted the job. But it doesn't really matter much.

My point is that I had to spend my time and money to get and to keep my own clients, I have developed regular clientele who are not interested in spa itself but mostly in my own set of skills.

And yes, I do have some business generated by the spa (after they moved to more visible location) which consists of one-time massage clients who wouldn't care much if it where me or somebody else giving them a massage as long as it's up to their standards and in convenient location.
And I don't think it's ethical taking them with me in case of leaving UNLESS some of them became regulars who respect the work i do and don't want to change a therapist.
Then i would inform client about my move and give him a choice.

If the spa you were working for as an IC is that stupid to have IC's and not set up rules and have you sign some sort of contract, then no one can complain much even if it is unethical. Most salons abuse the status of independents anyway. There are many businesses who hire indies besides salons and they dont have the mess that I/C's this industry does.

 

[DoppolyKonson]

A few thoughts:

Although I appreciate the perspective R&R offers, I think his tone can be hard to take. I give Naked Eye credit for standing up for herself, staying respectful & not being intimidated by the strength of some forum members opinions. I've seen other new members join MassagePlanetL, make a few posts, become upset when disagreed with, and then run from the board, never to return. Naked Eye's sticking with the discussion, and I hope she stays as a member of our forum.

Naked Eye, you asked if any of us had experiences similar to your own. We got caught by the ethics of the situation, but I feel that's been well discussed. I wanted to comment on the challenges of sharing a space with other massage therapists. It sounds like you're trying to form a cooperative. (A worthy goal!) A colleague of mine tried to do that in my town. The first challenge is that the landlord requires one name for the lease (they don't want to be responsible for collecting rent for a group of people). So, will you be that name? If so, can you cover the rent if the other therapists don't pay? I ask because that happened to my colleague. There was a whole group of people gung-ho about forming a bodywork cooperative, until it came time to actually commit. (Some people were planning to work full-time; some part-time; and they were all going to share three treatment rooms). After she had signed the lease & decorated the space, the other bodyworkers backed out. ALL of them! Luckily two massage therapists moved to town at the same time, and they each ended up wanting to rent a treatment room full-time. My colleague had the other room full-time, so it worked out, but obviously differently than planned. There was some turnover on those treatment room rentals over the years, but she was usually able to find massage therapists to replace anyone who left. The key here is that she was completely responsible for that space & the rent. Someone has to be. So, my question for you, is do you want that responsibility? Do you like the community aspect of working with other MT's enough that it's worth the added responsibility? Some people think sharing space with other people divides the responsibility; it actually compounds it. It would be a lot less risk for you to rent a smaller office for just yourself, so your financial wellbeing wouldn't be dependent on other people. Something to consider.

Edited by Blisss to correct the names, once she realized she'd accidentally substituted Tatyana's name, instead of Naked Eye's. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[Atherfool]

GIGO

What does that mean? ~ sorry....I was just wonderin.

 

[iamct01]

Although I appreciate the perspective R&R offers, I think his tone can be hard to take. I give Tatyana credit for standing up for herself, staying respectful & not being intimidated by the strength of some forum members opinions.
Tatyana, you asked if any of us had experiences similar to your own.

Thank You, Bliss! For your support and trying to keep open mind.
But...I didn't start this thread. Naked Eye did. I probably sounded too much in tone with her so you got confused

And, yes sharing the space is important topic.
I personally think it's not not the best idea when comes to organizing the business. Somebody has to be the owner, but not necessarily the boss.


And GreatLakes! I agree that the described business was run poorly and I do agree that massage industry is not quite established when it comes to compensation/responsibilities structure.
But my example is not a unique incident. There are so many poorly organized and run businesses (specially salon and spas ) that it's not even funny.
And it could be a topic of a separate discussion.

For me it comes down to this question:
Is it ethical to take clients from the business IF the mentioned business neither established non-compete policy nor provided fair and ethical work conditions?