The Membership Site That Empowers Massage Therapists To Soar

Shelli Varela: Mary-Claire Fredette, welcome to the It’s a TRIBE Thing Podcast. How are you?   Mary-Claire Fredette: I’m doing great. How are you, Shelli?   Shelli Varela: I’m awesome. I’m super stoked to tell all the beautiful, amazing humans about your membership site journey. And I’m hoping you can share who you are, who you serve, and how you came to be the person who has the membership site you have today.   Mary-Claire Fredette: Alrighty. Well, I am a mom of eight. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio and I’ve been a massage therapist for about 20 years and I specialize in barefoot massage, which means that I use my feet to massage people and I have two different memberships. One is that I have an in-person membership for my clients where they commit to their health and they come in and get a massage from me every month. And then I also co-own a continuing education company for a massage therapist so they can come and learn barefoot massage and have nice long healthy careers. And kind of how I came into this was, as I was discussing a little earlier with you, Shelli, I was an accidental restaurant manager. And it’s true. I fell into the world of barefoot massage and when I discovered barefoot massage, I just totally fell in love with it. And the problem with massage is that you have a very limited career span. The typical career span is three to five years, some sites will say maybe seven years and it’s typically due to injury.   And so, I do massage with my feet, which allows me to use gravity to provide consistent, well-controlled deep and effective pressure that’s actually comfortable for the clients as well. So, I’ve been doing that for a really long time and teaching barefoot massage to massage therapists for about 17 years. And I always knew that there was a way that I wanted to support massage therapists in their journey after they had taken our classes but I didn’t know how to do that because I strongly believe that massage is something you can only learn in person. There are parts of your business you could learn in other ways. You could learn ethics or business or marketing online, but you cannot learn the skill of massage online, I don’t think. So, with this continuing education company that I have, it was always in the back of my mind to provide some sort of support for them but I didn’t know how to do that.   And I think, actually, my husband and I had gone to a Jeff Walker seminar probably about four or five years ago maybe and Stu was there on stage with his wife, Amy, talking about Village Impact. And I think maybe that was the first time we heard about membership sites and I thought, “Oh, that’s a thing. There’s some way that I can support people,” but I didn’t know how to do that because I didn’t know how I could teach if I wasn’t supposed to be teaching skills online. So, it took me a long time to really figure it out. And then going through the TRIBE course and learning all the things I learned about how to build a membership site, I had this aha moment where I realized that I could use it in my own personal practice as well. Because the reason why people need a membership site is so that you can help them with their business, you can help them with their health, you can help them with some problem that they have, right?   So, I had three people within about two days that told me they had not gotten a massage from me in a long time because they just kind of lost track of time. And that was my aha moment with my own personal practice was, “Oh, I am going to solve that problem for you by providing a way for you to commit to your health by coming and getting a massage from me every month.” And so, I just had kind of a quickie launch and that was In January of 2019, and that is going very, very well. So, right now I have two membership sites. I have the in-person membership site and I have my online membership site.   Shelli Varela: I love how creative you are because when you have a hands-on skill or a physical business, most people don’t think of that as being or being possible to be a membership site. What was your client’s reaction? Because from the beginning, that may have seemed like an unconventional business move for some, but you saw a problem, you addressed it and you knew that regular contact and regular support with you was going to be one of the answers for your clients. When you very first approached them and said, “Hey, I have this idea,” what was their response? And how did you position that for them?   Mary-Claire Fredette: I just realized that I’ve been doing massage long enough that I see people and a lot of people I see regularly and a lot of people I see periodically like once or twice a year maybe. And when I had seen these people that the three people said they lost track of time, they were people who all loved my work and they just thought that they had seen me in like six months, but it had really been like 13 months or actually one person that had been three years since I’d seen him. And so, when I first came up with this idea, I just sent out an email and said, “I’m thinking about doing a membership site. I’m going to be raising my prices in January, and this is a perfect opportunity for you to save money and to commit to getting your massage like you want to get,” and that was basically it. It was a super simple launch as it were and they responded really well. And in fact, I think one of the things that made me happiest was when I was sending out my emails and a couple of people said, “I felt like you were writing right to me. You’re talking right to me.” And that’s when I knew that I had nailed my message and so people responded very well to that.   Shelli Varela: So, now that you have people that are getting regular massages like you always knew they needed, what are the differences that you’re seeing in your clients because now they get to be led by you, right? It’s sort of like coaxing somebody off the ledge that you know they need to jump from. So, if left to their own accord, they might see you once every three years, once every 18 months, but now that they’re seeing you regularly, like you always knew they should, what are the improvements that you’re seeing with their health, with their wellness, with their attitude? What does that look like for them?   Mary-Claire Fredette: I think interestingly, I’ve now had a couple of people mentioned this just recently that they’re so happy that I provided this opportunity for them because they seemed happier when they come in. They look forward to that appointment and it’s not necessarily on the same day at the same time every month, but they look forward. They know that once their payment comes out, they’re excited because they get to see me because they’re committed to feeling better and it’s really much easier for both me and for them because when people wait a really long time to get a massage, they usually come back because they’re broken. Because they feel like, “Oh, I’ve got migraines, I’ve got headaches, I’ve got a sore, whatever,” and then they want me to fix them and they come for a couple of weeks in a row, and I get them patched up, and then they don’t come back for a long time. So, this is really keeping those problems at bay and it’s really making my work easier. And they feel better in general and they actually seem really happy. They seem happy when they come in and I think that’s fantastic.   Shelli Varela: I just want to repeat this line back for everybody. You said, “When the payment comes out, they’re excited because they get to see me.” I wonder how many of us in our lives or in our businesses have something that we’re sitting on that could be a membership site, that could make things easier for somebody else, they just don’t think of it and how awesome would it be for people to be excited when they get charged their monthly fee? That is amazing.   Mary-Claire Fredette: I know. Right? So, yeah, their payments come up between about the 12th and the 15th of the month and right around that time I have a flurry of appointments being requested. I do all online bookings so they have to request their time and, yeah, that’s a pretty awesome feeling to have. And the amazing part about it also is that it’s provided for me consistent payment because the massage business is very up and down. It can be feast or famine and I think this is true for most massage therapists. And so, the problem that it solves for me also is that I have people coming in on a regular basis so that I’ve got that stable income on top of my other clients because I have other clients as well that aren’t a part of the membership. So, yeah, it’s really fantastic. It’s a win-win definitely for all of us, I think.   Shelli Varela: That’s brilliant. I wanted to just go back in time for a minute because I know we were talking at the top of the session and I had asked you how you came to massage. Would you mind just briefly sharing that story? Because I want to pull something out of that story that’s going to be super valuable for everybody else but if you’ll just share that little story about how that came to be.   Mary-Claire Fredette: Sure. So, I was telling you, Shelli, that I have a theater degree, which qualifies me to get a job in restaurants, essentially. And so, I was an accidental restaurant manager for about seven years and my husband had given me a gift certificate, actually two gift certificates for massage that year for Christmas. And I had been thinking about going back to school to get my master’s degree in something but I didn’t know what. So, I went in to get this massage with the gift certificate that I had and I hated it. It was terrible. It was painful, it was unpleasant, and I just really did not like it at all. However, I am pragmatic and I was not about to lose the money that my husband had paid and so I went back for the second massage, and this time I asked for something different, which was craniosacral, which is super, super light massage. And, to me, that was my light bulb going off in my head where I thought this is what I would like to do. Despite the fact that I was not a touchy-feely person at all, I just decided that’s what I was going to do and so I did.   Shelli Varela: I think that’s fantastic because when you play it back all the way to the root of that, your entire business was built on you having an interest in something. And so many people I find are hearing about all these incredible membership site successes, and they say, “Oh, well, that’s for them. You know, I don’t have anything that I’m amazing at or that I’m an expert at.” But really, if you follow it all the way to the beginning, it starts with, “Hey, I have an idea,” and I wonder how many people like where in your life is there something that you get asked about or something that you have an interest in or something that you talk about all the time, because that is the kernel of where a membership site starts. And then all of a sudden, you’re 20 years later, and you’ve got two membership sites, serving all kinds of amazing people keeping people healthy and also allowing your barefoot membership online community to have a career that potentially is up to three times longer than it might be otherwise.   Mary-Claire Fredette: Oh, absolutely. And I would say probably a lot more people have more ideas than they think that they have. It’s the thing that people ask you about all the time. You know, I am sure that probably a lot of people who have membership sites, see membership sites wherever they go or the potential for membership sites wherever they go, I get private Pilates lessons. And I think, “Oh, you should have a membership site.”   Shelli Varela: If only there was a machine to create it, you could put your ideas in one side, put it through the machine and have them come out the other side, right?   Mary-Claire Fredette: That would be amazing. Yes, indeed.   Shelli Varela: So, what does it feel like to you to be the person that your massage therapist, your barefoot massage therapist practitioners are able to come to you and learn this skill or be able to have a career that potentially so much longer. What does that do for you personally?   Mary-Claire Fredette: I love it. I love it when people come to my class and they’re having the typical massage therapist pains like forearms hurt, elbows hurt, carpal tunnel syndrome is starting and they love the career that they have but they know they can’t sustain it anymore. And when I see that light bulb go on in class and they think, “Oh, this is possible for me. I love this. I can imagine who I will use it on. I’m not going to use my hands anymore.” And some people go that far and it’s just really rewarding. There’s nothing greater I think then being able to help somebody improve their life, for sure.   Shelli Varela: So, how has a membership site improved your life? You know, you mentioned that you’re a mom of eight kids. What does the before and after look like for you now that you have not one but two membership sites?   Mary-Claire Fredette: Well, I would say that right now I’m having a hard time juggling some time, the time issue. I have one in football and three in cross country right now. So, that’s a little tricky. It’s a tricky season for me right now. But I would say that with my personal membership, having that sustained income is very nice, because I know that that’s going to come in and I haven’t had anybody that says they would like to stop having the membership. So, that’s great because I have that financial security and I also know that my schedule is going to fill up. I don’t have to worry about that. And with the online membership, I really love being able to solve the problems that people have that they don’t know that they have, by continuing to ask questions, well, why has that happened? What is making you not be busy or whatever? So, I don’t know that I’m answering your question, actually, but I’m right now so deep into trying to figure out how I can help other people that really it’s taking up a lot of time right now. But I know that things are running much more smoothly than they were in the very, very beginning and I think it creates space for me in my life. I think that’s probably the biggest thing.   Shelli Varela: That’s awesome. You’re dropping lots of bombs here. You have to solve a problem that people don’t know they have. I love it.   Mary-Claire Fredette: Yes, absolutely. And it’s kind of interesting because when I was trying to figure out what I would do for our online membership for massage therapist, I believe you cannot teach the massage modality online and I tried to figure out what else they struggled with in their businesses. And I actually picked up the phone and called some people like who knew a phone could actually call people, right? So, I actually picked up a phone and call people and what I found out was the things that they were struggling with is not necessarily how to do the barefoot massage but how to communicate with their clients because massage therapists are not what I call math-y people. Like we don’t do math, we don’t do computer-y things very well in general. So, solving business problems that they have as well as helping them with other skills like palpation, feeling muscles and bones, diving in deep and finding the problems that they don’t know how to say it out loud, that’s really kind of cool. It’s really great.   Shelli Varela: Right. Well, that’s so great because you’re building a bridge for one formerly didn’t exist for people in a way that that that provides them an incredible amount of freedom and longevity in their career. So, hats off to you my friend. That’s incredible. Last question, if you were to give somebody some advice, who was thinking or entertaining starting a membership site of their own and they’re wondering what that might be about, what advice would you give them?   Mary-Claire Fredette: I think the one piece of advice I would say is don’t go at it alone. That’s probably the biggest thing. I have an accountability group. We meet every week on Thursday and it’s a group of women that we help support each other not only in growing our memberships, but also emotional support with everyday life things. And also, whether it’s a VA or a person who actually helps you with tech or whatever you’re not good at, for me, that’s my husband helping me out doing all the behind the scenes stuff. I think those two components are extraordinarily valuable. And really, to be able to have somebody to bounce ideas off of is huge. So really, just don’t go at it alone and if I can add a second thing, and that would be just to be yourself. You’re going to find that people get along with me because I’m quirky, and I dance badly and my kids said I dance badly. I think I’m amazing but I think if you’re yourself just be yourself especially when it comes to putting yourself out there or doing Facebook Lives, the dreaded Facebook Lives or just don’t be somebody else. Just be yourself and have somebody to support you along the way.   Shelli Varela: Brilliant. Thank you so, so much for your time and if people are looking for you online, where is the best place they can find you?   Mary-Claire Fredette: The best place they could find me, Shelli, would be at MentoringMassage.com. And I’m also on Facebook and they can just look me up, Mary-Claire Fredette.   Shelli Varela: Amazing. Thank you so much, my friend. We appreciate you.   Mary-Claire Fredette: Well, thank you very much. Shelli, for having me. I appreciate you. [END]