Tag Archives: pay-what-you-wish

Pay what you wish: how it works

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I’ve been offering pay-what-you-wish massage and bodywork off and on since 2011 for modalities I was getting certified in. This summer of 2014, I offered pay-what-you-wish for all my services at The Well during July and August.

It worked out well. I have had more people coming in to be worked on, new people (often via word of mouth) are coming in, and I am making ends meet, thanks to the generosity of my clients. It’s satisfying.

I am going to continue to offer it indefinitely. I like this way of working. It’s part of the gift economy. (If you’d like to learn more about it, read Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein, visit the website http://sacred-economics.com/, or watch the video below.)

The way I see it, bodywork and healing are what I do, and I’d like to stay busy doing it. I encourage you, if you’d like to receive regular or even occasional bodywork that you can afford to move your life to a higher level of well-being, to connect with me so we can talk about how we can work together, or just make an appointment.

Sometimes people are uncomfortable with this unorthodox concept of pay-what-you-wish, so here’s some thinking behind it, and I hope it will help you feel more comfortable deciding how much to pay for my services.

First of all, by offering pay-what-you-wish massage, it is not my intent to offer “cheap massage”. I work hard to improve my skills. I seek a lot of training, taking classes and workshops, reading, watching videos, and practicing with/on other massage therapists — way, way beyond what Texas law requires to maintain a license. Who knows? At some point in the future, I may be only offering some elite modality and charging top dollar. I’m not there now. I’m having a good time practicing and improving my skills.

Secondly, I want my practice to be full and thriving. If I hold out for top dollar, I will not be working as much. Since I learn so much from doing, making massage affordable gets people on my table more often, and the more I work, the better I get.

Thirdly, making a lot of money is not my top priority. I like money for what it can do for me, and my expenses and obligations are modest. I’m sharing this here because some readers may not be aware that there are real, regular people whose lives and decisions are not driven by the need to make as much money as possible by working at a job that is stressful. I too have had a mortgage, a child at home, a lot of debt, and stressful jobs. Not any more. My work now is driven by my desire to be of service and to take excellent care of myself while doing so.

Fourthly, in the so-called olden days, healers of all kinds – herbalists, hands-on healers, shamans – received support from their communities in many forms in exchange for their services. Entire villages could exist without money being exchanged because people traded and bartered for goods and services, and everyone did what they could to help the whole village thrive. If someone was poor and needed healing, the healers didn’t turn them away. If they could only pay with food or labor or kind deeds that benefited others in the community, that was acceptable.

Importantly, there would always be an exchange (because everyone has something to offer, and it’s crucial to recognize that), and if times were hard for the community, times were hard for the healers too.

Now we live in bigger communities in a society that uses money for most of its trade, but the good life is still about being connected and reciprocity.

Fifthly, if it’s not sustainable, it ends. I’ll change the way I do business or find another livelihood. This is what I wish to offer now, and so far I feel great about every single one of my pay-what-you-wish sessions and what I was offered in payment.

Here are some guidelines about how much to pay:

  • If you can afford full price, I gratefully accept. My full-price rate is $75 for an hour. For ninety minutes, full price is $105. (With the customary 20% gratuities, those amounts rise to $90 and $129 if you can afford it. Another great thing about pay-what-you-wish is that tipping is not accepted. Oh, I guess you could give me a tip about a good movie or restaurant, if you wish!)
  • If you are totally flush with money, and you totally loved your session, you can pay  more if you like!
  • If these are beyond your means at this time, here’s something to consider. As of late August 2014, two major “discount” massage chains in Austin offer a 50-60 minute massage for $44-60. Adding the gratuity expected at these establishments puts these massages in the range of $54-70. Scale up or down for 90 or 30 minute sessions. If these prices are what you can afford, please consider booking an appointment with me.
  • Here’s how I differ from a chain: I’m interested in getting to know your body, your tension patterns, your habitual postures, your tender points, so I can deliver relief and healing, so I take good notes and refer to them before your next visit. I want to work with you to reduce your overall stress and pain levels over time. I can advise you on how to prevent/relieve tension from working at a desk job. I can offer to teach you stretches, exercises, and self-care techniques you can do to enhance your quality of life. I can refer you to other good alternative health care practitioners and trainers. I give you the full time you pay for, if you are not running late. I offer better music, nature sounds, or silence if you prefer. I offer a variety of essential oil aromatherapy choices if you want it. I keep arnica on hand for your bruises and muscle pain. I’m more personal, less corporate.
  • If this is still beyond your means and you need bodywork, talk to me. I know incomes can fluctuate. Maybe you’re pursuing work you love, but the income isn’t there yet. Maybe you’re just not driven to earn a lot. Maybe you’ve had some misfortune. Maybe you feel stuck in a low-paying job. Maybe you’ve had some unexpectedly high expenses. You may even be stressed out about your situation, imagine that. I want to help you out, get you back on your feet, relieve your stress, change your energy for the better. Just ask what’s acceptable.
  • I am willing to trade or barter for services I need. Electrical work? Sign painting? Car detailing? Housekeeping? Gardening? Hauling? Delicious meals? Ask.
  • Also, if you would like to offer me a delightful non-monetary token of your esteem (some green or herbal tea, flowers or plants, a nice bottle of red wine, art, music, poetry, books, tickets, pickings from your garden, bone broth or other Paleo/WAPF diet food), please, just go right ahead and enchant me!

Pay-what-you-wish days and massage email list

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I occasionally offer pay-what-you-wish Ashiatsu days. If you haven’t experienced pay-what-you-wish bodywork, you balance what you can afford with the value you receive.

This allows people with irregular income or suffering a temporary financial setback to get the attention they need when they need it — and often the increase in well-being receiving bodywork helps the money energy start flowing favorably again.

I do appreciate your positive word-of-mouth, glowing written testimonials ;-), and referrals as forms of reciprocity. And if you can afford to pay extra to help subsidize someone else, fantastic. Otherwise, you can pay it forward.

Pay-what-you-wish sessions average about $50 per hour, if you’re curious about that, and they’ve ranged from $20 to $100 per hour.

And if the whole idea disturbs you, you can always pay my regular rate of $65 per hour.

To find out when I schedule pay-what-you-wish days, please send me an email request (mareynolds27 at gmail dot com) to be added to my massage email list. I send no more than one email per month.

For more about The Well Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage Austin, see my home page.

Integrating massage, thoughts on pay-what-you-wish payment policy

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This afternoon at massage school, we got to integrate all the styles and special techniques we’ve learned so far — Swedish massage, range-of-motion and stretching, body mobilization techniques, sports massage, and deep massage. (Later we’ll add some Shiatsu to that, and I plan to add a little cranio-sacral work as well.)

We asked our partners (fellow students) where their bodies were needing special attention. My partner had some tightness in his upper back (a 1 on a 1-10 scale), between his shoulder blades. I did the techniques that came to mind (raking the rhomboids, circular effleurage around the scapulae) and even made up some strokes.

Afterward, he said it felt good. That’s what counts.

I loved it. I am not a by-the-book person. This is where it gets really interesting to me. This is where we get to improvise, being in the moment and deciding how to proceed.

The basic skills are building blocks. There’s nothing wrong with pure Swedish. It’s pretty awesome — relaxing and therapeutic. It’s just that when someone has an issue, it’s great to have several resources to use to learn what works best on this person.

I want to learn a routine consisting solely of body mobilization techniques (BMTs), which are ways to jostle, swing, shake, rock, roll, and generally loosen up the body in a pleasant, rhythmic manner while the client is passively experiencing their body differently. BMTs can be done in 15, 20, or 30 minutes with the client fully clothed, so it can substitute for a chair massage. (It’s also great to integrate into longer massages.)

It will be nice to have something short and sweet to offer clients who don’t have the time for a full massage or who have never had a massage and would enjoy a fun little introduction.

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Today I heard about a massage therapist who operates on a donate-what-you-wish basis. It’s wonderful to hear about someone making a “good enough” living doing that. So many people have irregular incomes (artists and musicians, for example), and paying less when broke/more when flush works for them, and they really appreciate people who can work with the rhythm of their income.

Yoga studios have been successful operating this way (though usually with a $10 minimum). I know an acupuncturist who works successfully on that basis, and she is the free-est, happiest person I know and very good at what she does. She handpicks her clients.

I like that the massage therapist doesn’t have to think about how much to charge and wonder if the client can afford it. It removes some potential awkwardness and allows the focus to be on the bodywork and the relationship.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if all health care was like that? I imagine that in times past, when someone was a healer for their village or tribe, they never turned anyone away because they were poor. They took food, crafts, chickens, pay-it-forward, or whatever in barter. Healing was just what they did, in good times and bad. They rolled with their village.

What’s also attractive about pay-what-you-wish is that the massage therapists can hand-pick who they want to work with, and their clients become regular, long-term clients they can know well.

That sounds more fulfilling to me than “body in, body out” work with a lot of turnover in clients.