The field of massage therapy has been changed by Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps, who started a buzz in the public by sporting cupping circles from his therapeutic cupping session, a modality performed by licensed massage therapists. New clients turned to therapeutic massage, seeking its medical benefits for chronic pain, wellness, injury prevention, and recovery.

To celebrate the Olympic 2021 games that took place earlier this month, I am kicking off The Jacqueline Project by speaking with two-time Olympic massage therapist, Tammy Alumbaugh. 

Alumbaugh started her massage business in 1997. After receiving training, she spent her first summer as a therapist working for someone else. With no previous managing experience, she set out to create her own job security. 

While it is more difficult for females to receive funding than their male counterparts (Fleisher & Marquez, 2019, p.6), Alumbaugh says she did not seek a loan to start her business. Instead, she avoided purchasing more than she could afford. “I had the smallest two-room office that you could ever rent. My office rental was 340 square feet for $340 per month,” she explains. “I think a lot of people bite off more than they can chew, but I started appropriately small.”

Her goal was to see 20 clients per week.  As a sports massage therapist who practices a deep tissue modality, she thought that number of clients would be plenty. “I thought I’d have so much free time!’” Alumbaugh recalls with a laugh. “The other 20-30 hours a week you’re networking, you’re trying to find clients. Like other people, I underestimated the work that it takes to build and maintain [a business].” 

To generate referrals, Alumbaugh found a local therapist who was closing her business. “I made a proposition. . .Instead of paying her for her client list, I knew she had a bunch of outstanding prepaid packages,” so she offered to fulfill those outstanding orders. To her surprise, that was around 35 hours of massage services. Alumbaugh chuckles, “I should have gotten more specific about how many hours that would be. I just figured that the hardest part [about starting a massage business] is getting people on the table and if they’re prepaid then they’ll be willing to give me a shot.”

One of those prepaid clients invited Alumbaugh to a networking group that she says, “catapulted’ her business.  “I knew business is about relationships and the quicker I could meet people and be top-of-mind, the quicker I would generate leads,” she says.  Alumbaugh was the only massage therapist in her networking group, which she says worked in her favor. “I knew that once I made a connection, I would have repeat business.”

Alumbaugh’s networking skills led her to broaden her massage career and add recruiting to her services. Before moving to Chattanooga, TN, she was the person massage therapists and spas needed to know in the Greater St. Louis Area if they were looking for a job or employees.

She believes the greatest mistake new business owners make is joining a group and being inactive in it. This applies to in-person and online groups. She has witnessed group members failing to build relationships then claiming that groups are not effective. “You get out what you put in,” Alumbaugh explains.  “I never sat around and waited for people to invite me to a one-on-one or to their business. I was very proactive in making connections and creating that opportunity for a business relationship.”

It was that mentality, and a desire to give back to an international community, that got her to the Olympics. 

While Alumbaugh was training to be a massage therapist, she read about the massage program that had just taken place at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA. The application process is nearly two years long, but that did not deter her from applying through the host city’s volunteer forces.  Massage therapists had to commit to 10 shifts to be considered. Applicants must pass a criminal background check, provide documentation that they are eligible to travel, have an unrestricted passport, and have credentials comparable to what is recognized in the host city.

Alumbaugh was selected for Sydney 2000 and London 2012.  Earning a spot as a massage therapist is highly competitive. In Sydney, she was one of 210 therapists. The London games had 40,000 – 60,000 massage therapists apply and only 800 selected.

“[The volunteer force] allows you to list your top three [preferred events],” she explains, “If they can offer you your first pick, they do, otherwise they offer you the next picks and you can accept or decline that position.” While in Sydney, she worked at a competition venue for beach volleyball, her first pick, and a massage clinic at a non-competition venue inside Olympic Village.  In London, she worked at a practice venue for track and field and at Olympic Stadium.

Providing massage therapy to men and women from every sport and from every country shaped the trajectory of her whole career because it provided valuable hands-on learning experience. “I had never experienced such a range of physicality,” she exclaims. “I’d had experience with a few different types of athletes, but every 30 minutes you’ll have a marathon runner, a powerlifter, a water polo player, a shooter. . . it ran the gamut.”

Working with a wide range of athletes improved her critical thinking skills. Every athlete develops the physicality for their sport and their position within the team, and every sport will create an imbalance within the body. When she was in Sydney, Alumbaugh was in her fourth year as a massage therapist and admits she was unaware of what intake questions to ask athletes that would help her give them the best results. “There is a natural progression of questions that school doesn’t teach you when you’re working with athletes like that,” she explains.  “For example, if you’re working with a pitcher, your first question would be ‘are you right or lefthanded?’” In a fast-paced environment like the Olympics, “you learn that natural, logical, sequence of questions [to ask] to figure out where imbalances are. You work to correct the imbalance unless [athletes] specifically request something else.”

This sequence and means of working apply to all therapeutic massage modalities.

When Alumbaugh first entered the field, massage therapy was beginning to increase in popularity. It has always been a challenge for therapists to become recognized as healthcare practitioners but having therapists at the Olympic games has boosted the credibility of therapeutic massage as a non-sexual, medical treatment.  “There will always be a little bit of resistance, but when you’re seeing athletes on TV and they’re walking around with cupping marks on their body - it’s becoming more accepted as a medical treatment and as a legitimate practice.”

Another challenge among massage therapists is a feeling of guilt about charging appropriately. Alumbaugh argues that many therapists “are underbilling for their services which is hurting the industry as a whole.” She believes this is a conversation that needs to start in massage schools. “There is a point [in your career] when you have to recognize that you’ve put your time in, you have the training and years of experience - then you can bill more for your services than you can when you’re fresh out of school.”

As a female therapist, she receives feedback that she can deliver a much firmer pressure for clients than what they received from other therapists. The Olympics prepared her to customize sessions so her clients could receive physical results within an hour or less. She’s also had a lot of continuing education hours, which gave her more skills to customize sessions with.

One of Alumbaugh’s clients told her that she listens to clients better than other therapists had in the past.  She confesses that she’s experienced this problem as a recruiter, “When you customize, it’s three parts: intake, treatment plan, execution. Therapists would get through the first two, then not execute. They would do whatever they wanted during the session. That’s an epic fail.”

When Alumbaugh moved to Tennessee, she said goodbye to many supportive clients, including some she gained 24 years ago when she fulfilled those pre-paid massages. She says, “They have been my biggest promoters. They referred me to friends, family, and colleagues. . . leaving the Midwest was rough.” She credits their loyalty to her work ethic, stating, “I never missed work, ever, and I over-delivered every hour,” meaning, she always exceeded their expectations.

Alumbaugh’s advice for women interested in opening a business is to “start by working for someone else for a short time before you start. . .read The 10x rule because it sums up why people fail.”

Note: The 10x rule: The only difference between success and failure was written by Grant Cardone in 2011.

For massage therapists going into business for themselves, she recommends:

•         Making a connection to other massage therapists who have a different specialty than yours.
•         Learning to collaborate with other professionals to generate business.
•         Being open to feedback because it lets clients know you want to get it right for them.
•         Covering yourself legally with a medical release. You need that paper trail!

If you’re around the Chattanooga area and are looking for a local massage therapist who performs deep tissue and sports massage, email Tammy_Alumbaugh@yahoo.com to request an appointment.

References

Fleisher, L.,&  Marques, A. (2019, September 30). A seat at the table: special considerations for women and underrepresented groups in academic entrepreneurship. Academic Entrepreneur, p. 6. 10.21428/b2e239dc.618b909b