San Francisco Bay Area Ultimate 80’s Party at Club Avalon

Rpm Therapy is affiliated with this Ultimate 80’s Party so come on down and have a great time on us.

If you love 80’s dance music….

Come to the best Night club and Bar in the San Francisco Bay Area. Put on your polyester and your leg warmers and join us every month at Avalon night club and bar. Dance the night away with 80’s dance music, with all your favorite music artist like Prince, Madonna, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, The Go-Go’s, Eurythmics, Cyndi Lauper, Depeche Mode, Michael Jackson, The Beastie Boys, Simple Minds, Devo, Def Leppard, The Bangles, a-ha, Wham!, Grandmaster Flash.

All your favorite music from the 80’s, the decade that brought you break-dancing, the Breakfast Club and the Rubik’s Cube!

Details

PROM NIGHT—-80’s STYLE—-Over 400 People

Flashback to 20 years ago..Prom Night…

Costume is Optional but “80’s Prom Attire would be Sweet!!”

when Saturday, 8:00pm December 29, 2007 Pacific Standard Time
where Avalon
777 Lawrence
Santa Clara, San Francisco Bay Area

full description
COSTUME Optional, Come solo or bring a friend

FREE PARKING, NO COVER if you mention MEETUP

COSTUME CONTESTS

Directions: 777 LAWRENCE in santa Clara (Intersection of Lawrence and Homestead)

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Simple-ology The Simple Science of Getting What You Want is a multimedia learning experience. Simple-ology is the works of Mark Joyner. I came across his website about a year ago and then shortly afterwards bought the book, with his audio’s and book I change my thought patterns that lead me to take on new challenges with less effort.

Mark Joyner is a #1 best-selling author of over a dozen books translated in almost as many languages. He is widely recognized as one of the early pioneers of e-commerce, responsible for inventing, pioneering, and popularizing many of the technologies we take for granted today (including remotely-hosted ad tracking, electronic books, Integration Marketing, and more …)

- One of his books (MindControlMarketing.com) shot to #1 within 36 hours of its release.

- One of his websites became the 37th most visited website on the planet within 6 weeks of its release.

Anyways, he is working on some great new things and you can get it for free…I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

Case Study

I recently had a customer who had a sharp pain and burning sensation in between the shoulder blades for aprox 3 weeks with no results from chiropractic, or personal training with weights. This client had a bad case of rounded shoulders (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome).

This client is very physically active, works as a computer engineer and is middle age male who happens to be in physically great shape for his age, from many years of playing ice hockey, as puts it. He came to see me on a recommendation from his wife, with an assumption that I could not offer anything that would be of help for him.

I could quickly see that he was very strong, often telling me in our session, how great his personal trainer was, on how much he could now bench press, squat etc. After asking him what a typical workout routine consist of, I was not surprised when he told me how much he loved to work on his chest and biceps muscles.

He was shocked when I told him that he needed to eliminate, the bench pressing and biceps curls for a few weeks. This was something that he did not want to hear, I mean he was making more progress now with his workouts than he ever has. I explain to him using a favorite analogy of mine why he needed to give up the bench press for a while. Your muscles of your upper back and rear shoulders in relation to your chest and bicep muscles, is like,

“Imagine if you were holding on the edge of a cliff, your hands or grip, are your rear delts, rotator cuff and rhomboids, and your Pectoral muscles (chest) are like having a 25lb. weight around your ankles”

With this dynamic going on, it is only a matter of time before your hands (rear Deltoids, Rhomboids and Trapezius) muscles give out and lose their grip strength, the end result, being that your chest muscles are pulling constantly on its opposing muscles, thus weakening them over a period of time.

Lengthening the muscles of the chest, by deep muscle work and stretching (yoga or doorway stretches) and then implementing a counter strengthening program to de-accelerate the pulling to the front. This particular client never returned, I personally think that he did not want to give up his strengthening program. You can only try and help not all advice will be received well.

The paint is still wet on this web 2.0 social networking website, but now massage therapist everywhere have a place to call their own. With all the things that you come to love from a web 2.0 website is here at www.massagespace.net

There is nothing like it for massage therapist right now, it will soon become, “The MySpace for Massage Therapist” with everything that MySpace has and everything that MySpace does not have, www.massagespace.net will fill. This revolutionary new search engine and content host platform for everything massage, will transform the traditional way of doing business for massage therapist all over the world. It will be a 1-stop network for sharing ideas, learning new techniques, selling content and offering affiliate programs to other massage therapist. This will potentially generate a “hands off” income that will supplement your massage business.

Free To Join, Click here to Sign-Up

Imagine a website, that is loaded with features, you will want to visit every day and it is free to join. I have been a massage therapist for over 10 years and as I see it, this new MySpace for massage therapist and other holistic bodyworkers will literally change the way massage therapist do business. Traditionally a massage business has always been viewed as a “hands on” business model but now through www.massagespace.net, we may be able to change that. A massage therapist or bodyworker, can now create a training video on a specialized technique upload it to massagespace.net, users can view a 2 minute demonstration of that video and then decided to buy that downloadable video if they want to see more.

Through a 2 tier affiliate program (not yet implemented) other massage therapist can now drive traffic to that downloadable video or offer that same video to their friends and clients and earn a “hands off” income that will supplement their massage business. And it does not stop there you can upload ebooks, articles and images, and with many more features like a community forum, guestbook and Meebo chat, connecting with others in your community has never been offer all in 1 website. Massage therapist now have a Space that they can call their own.

MassageSpace other features such as live chat rooms both public and private chat rooms available, upload your favorite video’s from Youtube and Google video or create your own. Members can also upload free business marketing tools that will help grow their businesses (i.e marketing brochures, client tracking forms, massage images etc), the only limitation is your creativity. This is your community built for you and your customers, so tell all your fellow massage therapists, bodyworkers and clients about this brand new website.

I am sure if you had done any research into internet marketing, you may have heard this many times before. Yes, this is true, the money is in the list but do not abuse this or your list will just opt-out or just completely ignore you, as I do.

During this last year learning internet marketing, I will say that, it has been like riding on the Bart or a Subway and trying to read the signs that are passing before your eyes. There are so many signs on the wall and you are moving so fast that you cannot take in everything. It get to the point where you start to see only the the bold big buzz words, and that is exactly that these internet marketing gurus want. They do not want you to read the fine print because if you do you will realize that, there next best thing that they are trying to sell you is already old or it is just a small portion of a bigger thing that will not help very much. That is of course you buy their next “make money online easy course”. Not knowing anything about this internet marketing industry, I felt like I had to learn a little bit about everything, so that I could choose the best path to mastering this industry.

Do to this drive to take in as much as I could, as you are probably doing right now, I joined every mailing list that had something for me to learn, especially if they were giving away something for free. Wait did I say free, nothing is free. And this is what I am experiencing right now, my time is not free, but it is this time, that these “internet Guru’s” now take up pounding my inbox with every gotta have ebook or software program available. It seems like they all wait for each other to come out with a new product so that they can offer it to their list through an affiliation program.

It’s funny to receive in 1 day several individuals all promoting the product with some special offer that you can get through them, yeah right. Wait several days and you find it online for free. The money is the list, only if you list pays attention to you, don’t abuse this right or you will turn off your audience, or they will become more knowledgeable and stop listening.

You may be thinking to ask well, did you buy? And if yes, then the money is in the list!

Maybe for a time being but if you want to sub-stain anything meaningful and not just put out there crap, to see if it sells; mentality. Respect your list and your business, take the time, to generate your own ebooks or services, repackage if necessary. Do JV partners with individuals that will have quality content for your list, and then, you begin to make money with your list, because your list will not ignore you and may even refer you, these guru’s are becoming predictable with each email blast and I don’t know of any business that can survive predictability.

Internet or Network Marketing?

When I got into researching this internet marketing business, it was out of a need to market my direct network marketing opportunity, called Burnlounge to make a residual income for expanding our massage therapy business. As, with all these network marketing companies, they push you to recruit your family members, friends, co –workers, your local shopping checkout clerk everybody you can get in touch with. And if you can‘t do it, just put them in contact with your up-line and they will recruit that individual for you.

I am not your direct seller superstar, I personally feel silly when I do it, I feel like a used car salesman, pushing hype and glitter with no substance. But the earnings potential that they would spoon feed you with every single week, was appetizing and I was hungry. The sad thing is, these direct marketing companies or MLM’s know it as well. I was determine not to follow their plans of direct selling so I started to look at lead capturing systems to generate potential leads for my MLM opportunity.

It was at this time that I started looking into these lead capturing systems that I was getting excited. I thought to myself, “wow” the internet will allow me to market my network marketing opportunity and I did not have to talk with 100’s of strangers and not have to feel like a used car salesman, great! But that is when Alex Arnold, founder of Burnlounge stepped down all of sudden due to some FTC regulations issue.

I was blown away but instead of playing the victim role I started to look into ebooks, affiliate programs and adsense revenues, that I quickly realize that network marketing, direct selling or MLM’s were not built on a business foundation that I was happy with, for reasons which I will talked about in another post. Internet marketing on the other hand is a business model that is built on your own efforts. It is system that allows for you work as little as you want and gain tremendous advantages out of it.

No recruiting involved, and no weekly meetings to attend, nor did I still work for someone as you do in network marketing (your up-line). And if you are an expert in something, create a ebook or service, plug it into a internet marketing system, set-up auto-responders, manage and nurture your mailing list, is when I finally realized the difference.

Have you ever consider the massage value of your clients?

As I have mentioned before our massage therapy facility is expanding, and we are coming to realize quickly is this, the bigger you get the more responsibility you have to give up. You cannot possibility do it all, take from me. I am probably the most hands on person you will ever meet.

With our expanding massage business, the tasks in which need to need become greater, it requires you to step away from certain things in your business. And take the role of doing a more “hands off “ massage business model, this is so hard I think for most us to understand, and I believe that this is the reason why so many massage therapist break down, physically. I mean massage therapy by nature is a hands on business.

In order for us to grow our massage business, we had recently calculated the value of each client, we done this by taking some massage industry statistics. Such as how many times on average do clients come back for massages, how much the average client spends and how long they stay your clients on average. Here are basic calculations based on aprox. figure’s for the last 5 years.

Average visit per year per client= 11 times

Average length of massage 75 minutes= $95

Average time client stay our customer=3.5 years

Total value of each client = 8 x 3.5yrs x $95= $3657.50

Why this number is so important to us is this, now when that new client or our existing clients come into our massage facility they are no longer just a 75 minute massage appt. with a name but a valued customer that is worth $3657.50 each visit to us.

What we are learning is that having new employee’s on your staff is very challenging. You will have clients that did not like the new person and new employees will take time to adjust to your facility. But the most important thing to know is that the client is the most important person to your business. And when you know this value, you can now allocate each employee to resolve any problems that arise accordingly. Do you know the value of your client?

Through Massage Therapy!!

I hope that everybody had a great weekend. We had a great weekend my partner Doreen and her friend Lupe Huesca organized a Massage-a-thon this past Saturday. This time of year is a special time of year for most of us, but as we are out shopping for gifts for those special people in our lives, we can’t forget that so many of us are not enjoying this holiday season because they are victims of domestic violence.

Doreen took our massage company and offered healing hands as support for these DV victims that are being abused by the hands that most likely, their spouse. For many of us, either we have been victims of Domestic Violence or have witnessed it as a child or both.

We are only massage therapist, but it is so amazing how healing it can be, changing the world 1 massage at a time. I have learned from my own therapy that giving a massage is the most relaxing time for me. I was abused physically as a child and grew up with a lot of rage and anger, it wasn’t until I discovered massage therapy that my own healing actually started to begin. When you are in a massage session, you completely forget everything about you and turn your full attention to your client, you instantly begin to feel what your client needs, and your total focus is on that need. It is as if you are not even there, and your hands instinctively know where to go, to heal and nurture that person. It was through this process that the abuse I suffered as a young child began to take hold and slowly allow myself to heal not only for myself but my client as well. We all I am certain could use some healing and nurturing, but this past weekend it especially true for these DV victims.

Massage therapy is very healing, and I know for my partner Doreen, this is where she shines the best. Especially when she knows that her healing energy is going to a great cause, she feels as if she is saving that 1 starfish, because for that 1 starfish it makes all the difference. And I am here to tell Doreen that you are making a difference and the biggest starfish, being me, thank you.

As you will see from the Mercury News clip, they fell real short of their goal, if you feel it in your heart and pocketbook to help to this cause, please send a donation of any amount to our paypal acct. @ info@rpm-therapy.com and make a note that it for the Massage-a-thon, and I will be sure to forward it to the right individuals, thank you.

Mercury News Article

Massage Gift Certificates Now Online

Happy Holiday’s everyone, be sure to get your massage gift certificates for that stocking stuffer, you will be glad you did.

I would like to share with you a marketing observation that I experienced this past weekend. As we do every year RPM-Therapy participates in about 10-15 events each year. This past weekend we participated in an event that we had tremendous success at in prior years but now we are seeing declining sales and conversions. For us it is very unfortunate because of this trend, we will not be returning next year, as we will be working all new events next year to “market test” an observation. We enjoyed this show very much, but it must make dollars and sense for us to keep doing it.

What we have come to observed at this event last weekend is this, we believe that working the same events every year, transitions you from being something new and exciting, to becoming something of a “fixture”. And if you find yourself here in this same position, ask yourself, am I working this show just because? Are my sales dropping each year? Being a part of something year after year is good for our soul, people remember you, call you by name and greet you warmly. But you are still there to make money, whether you are selling a craft that you make by hand or if you are part of a larger business as a franchisee or independent contractor, you are there to make sales not just to socialize.

Our observations may resonate with you, judge for yourself,

• Community events, are just that communities, so year after year it is most likely that the same individuals come year after year to support their communities, as most proceeds raised, go to some school related program, that need the financial support.

• If your rates increase each year like ours have been (to support our growing expansion), most of the attendees that come each year will notice this and NOT “see” the value of your services but in their mind, your service or product will be perceived as having “less value”

• Here is the biggie, if these individuals who most likely come year after year, again, to support their organization, schools or churches, are not already a regular client of your services or products, do you want to sell them another “special pricing” product or service that you have put together to “attract” new customers.

• Are you watering down your services or products value or image, just to make a dollar, what are your long term goals?

I understand the goal here is to get the word out on your product or service, and if it is working for you by all means continue working that event but if you are seeing declining sales, chances are it will not get better next year or that, it was just a bad weekend. 

Massage Therapy is still thought of as a luxury for some individuals and when they do finally break down to get a massage, it is usually at some 4 or 5 star hotel while on vacation. Let me tell you folks, this is the worst place to get your first massage session. Yes, I know that the temptation is there.

I mean you are on vacation right? And believe me these Hotels/Spa places know this, and they know that you came to spend money and pamper yourself. Where else can you go and spend $145 for a facial, $75 for a manicure and pedicure and $165 for a 50 minute deep pressure massage and feel good about it. These Hotels are loving you, oh btw did you get on their mailing list as well so that they can email you periodically to come back so that you will spend more of your hard earn cash.

How would you feel if I told you that your $165 50 minute massage was done by some in-experience, just recently graduated 21-26 yr old who, if you were to test their anatomy knowledge and skills they would fail miserably, trust me when I say that this is a sad thing not only for you as a receiver of these services but for us as well who take their massage profession seriously.

Would you feel good about spending so much money on a 5 star Hotel Spa service if they purposely gave you a 2 star service?

Oh I know that these 5 star Hotels are well designed with just about every possible luxury item that they can throw at you, but how do you think they can afford to do all that, they can afford to that because they know you are willing to pay through the nose for a mediocre massage at best. They are hoping that the fluffy slippers, the terry robes and lavender burning candles, will be enough for you to conveniently charge everything to you room, at a premium price.

It just baffles me that a luxury Hotel/Spa facility would go through all this for that 5 star presentation but only deliver 2 star massage services, do they think we don’t notice. Do they know that their spa customers are talking about how nice their hotels were but, man, when it came to the spa service it was just so expensive for what we paid. I find It so sad hat these 5 star hotels are positioned so well to really make an impact on our massage industry, by introducing their guests to a quality experience. Instead most people leave with disappointments and frustrations, which eventually trickles down to the professional who is trying to make a living.

These 5 star hotel/spa facilities are passing up an amazing opportunity, I have spoken to hundreds of individuals about the spa/hotel experience and I would say that less than 20% of them truly enjoyed their massage sessions. Not only are these, 5 Star Hotels/Spa hurting their image but ours as a massage industry as well.