In the massage therapy industry, it is rife with exploitation and predatory landlords and/employers. Everyone sees massage therapists as piggy banks existing to increase their wealth goals instead of healers or equal peers in terms of resepct and value. It is exhausting and now, more than ever I am sensitive to matters of integrity (or lack of it) in everyone from politicians all the way down to folks offering space to work in as a massage therapist.

To give examples: One start up salon (two techs, two treatment rooms, nothing else) - actually said they wanted 30% (!!!) of my hourly fee in exchange for working in their salon. I bring my own table, my own linens and laundry service, my own supplies and equipment and I could NOT have my own keys or a sign on the door. 30% they wanted just to let me have a room to work in.

A chiropractor I spoke to about working with has his therapists doing the laundry on their free time or at home in their own laundry because unpaid labor is such a good idea?

Another one was offering an office share until she realized that I had a nearly full book of clients I needed to move to an office and then suddenly, mid-conversation, she was talking about me working for her... nevermind that she had so few clients she had to work a full time day job to support her own part time evening office but she thinks she is in a position to have ME work for HER?

I literally can't make these stories up and I have more... so many more.

The most recent one involved an arbitrary 50% rent hike that suddenly came on after she saw my rates posted on my website and heard the incredibly enthusiastic chanticleers in praise of my work. While in negotiation about the rent (and this sudden 50% increase above the last tenant with no improvements in what was being offered to either of us), when I asked for transparency for fairness, I was instead suddenly given 6 days to leave the premises. End of discussion.

While the rent amount was not astronomical, the lack of integrity in arbitrary rent hikes along with the sudden "GTFO" mentality when asked for transparency is more of the same exploitation of massage therapists that makes it nearly impossible to find a decent one outside of an expensive backrub at a franchise.

It could be me being sensitive so I put here the (verbatim) emails that led to me leaving with 6 days notices. I will leave this for you to read and draw your own conclusions. 

Meanwhile, I am back to the carnival that is trying to find an office. Stay tuned. They can't all be like these characters.

Ms Jennie <[email protected]>

Jan 15, 2024, 7:35 PM

to "sublet" landlord

I am just trying to get a sense of what the fair value of the space for the hours I have access would be. I don't want to take advantage of you either. My concerns are that the bulk of peak hours for service industries like ours are after 3 pm when people are typically off of work. Unfortunately, both rooms are in use for yoga for exactly the same reason.

The premium value of the yoga studio is that you have the TRX straps hardware installed and I could make use of this for mat work (and also that there is enough space to do mat work) and I wouldn't mind paying the 15% commission for those sessions. I really want to get them up and pulling in more clients because it is a specialty for this area and also, on a pragmatic level - the amount of set up for it compared to a regular massage is 90% less time-consuming which means I have less unpaid "lost time" before and after the appointment. 

**** editorial insert here: To keep a proper perspective on what I am renting here, I am a ghost business inside this studio. Every piece of equipment I need to work including the massage table has to be stored in a literal closet when I am not there so the studio can be used for yoga or other activities. This means that I have to pull my entire office out of a closet and set it up to work, then break it down and shove it all back into the closet after the appointment is over. This is an incredible amount of extra, inconvenient and unnecessary work that any therapist should have to do but when you are still building a business and can't afford a proper office by yourself yet, you have to make compromises. Even less than ideal ones.*****

I ran some numbers based on traffic with Groupon exposure for December and to this upcoming two weeks. I am looking at an expectation of 4-8 massages on good weeks on average. The average price for massages (this factors in cash discounts and groupon promotions - (I'll be doing this regularly for a while and profiling different services. The pay out is poor but the market exposure is good and cheaper than other forms of advertising at the moment) - works out to about $65 per session. This is an average of $520 per week gross if I am doing well and able to maintain a minimum of 8 massages per week.

The general rule is that commercial rent should not be more than 20-25% of your business gross income (and this assumes I have full office access and not lack of access during peak work/sales hours). If this is the case, it makes sense to keep rent expenses below or close to $520 per month (assuming I can meet a minimum average of 8 per week).

The challenge here is that I do not have unrestricted access during critical peak business hours (after 3 pm) and this impacts how many appointments I am going to be able to secure on any given week. I am at the mercy of other people's schedule because I am competing with multiple competing franchise spas that always have staff available from morning to night, 7 days a week and offer more convenience at any given time.

I would like to do ____ per month and 10% commission on the table massage rates and 15% on the mat work but if you are not comfortable with that, we can continue discussing this.

As far as the studio cleaning, if the floors were up to standard from the last cleaning I can continue doing that for you but I want this to be separate from my contract agreement and we should discuss terms and expectations for it. It is more time-consuming than I thought it would be (or maybe it just seemed that way because I am already stretched for extra time with extra laundry and Lyft driving. LOL) and I am not sure I can guarantee that I can commit a specific day and time every week on a predictable schedule to do it like a cleaning service could. It would get done just not on a set, predictable schedule like doing it every Wednesday at 6 am. Let me know if you need this done and we can discuss this separately from the rental agreement. 

Let me know your thoughts,

Jennie

The "sublet" landlord

Jan 16, 2024, 8:53 PM

to me

Hi Jennie-

I would like our agreement to be fair for us both as well.

Another option is you could pay an hourly room rate of $15-$20 per hour. I wouldn’t charge for the extra time of setting up and breaking down—- just the time the client is there.

If you had just 5 clients per week it would be $300 or $400/  month.

I believe that $____/ month plus 10% of each client or $____/ month plus 15% of each client is fair and reasonable.

Yes, the studio times are prime time for students.

You can share with your clients the available times for massages. the studio schedule shows the available times as well as the table I printed out.

I do hope we can figure out a plan that works.

If you’re saying you make an average $520/ week then you are making more than me per month!!

I think the tone of emails can be misinterpreted, so I’m hoping that we are just working on figuring out the best plan and there are no hard feelings about our back-and-forth. I would prefer to meet in person if we can choose a day and time that we can figure it out, face-to-face.

Thanks,

"sublet" landlord

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

Ms Jennie <[email protected]>

Jan 17, 2024, 4:31 PM

"Another option is you could pay an hourly room rate of $15-$20 per hour. I wouldn’t charge for the extra time of setting up and breaking down—- just the time the client is there."

I don't know where you are getting these numbers from so I will assume that you are doing the same math every other non-massage therapists does and only looking at appointment rates for calculations. This option is not realistic for any massage therapist and this is why. The remaining income after costs for doing massage will not give me the additional income I need to cover my own medical insurance, taxes, equipment and supply costs and licensing/education requirements. Not to mention that this amount has to be spread out to include the lost 2 hours of travel, laundry, set up and break down. At this rate, I would be better off working at an Amazon warehouse with full benefits and simply retiring from the business.


Ms Jennie <[email protected]>

Jan 17, 2024, 4:31 PM

Hi "sublet" landlord,

Email is better because I need time to sit and think about things before offering a response and I don't want any misunderstandings about what was, or wasn't said. Written communications regarding matters as important as responsibilities and finances are better.


Again, I am asking what the rent would be for the one studio if complete access were available without exclusion of prime hours. I would like an answer to that question, please. I am asking for a reason and I think transparency is important if we are going to trust each other enough to share space."

If you’re saying you make an average $520/ week then you are making more than me per month!! "Is your landlord charging you more rent based on your projected income instead of the general market value of the space he is renting to you? I am not sure why your business income would be of any concern for your landlord's rent request.

This sounds like you are saying that you think I should be increasing the amount of money I am giving to you for rent based on my ability to successfully manage my business (instead of paying the generic, fair market value of the studio space during dead times.)

And if this amount is more than you make monthly, this means that your rent must be significantly less than that for the combined two yoga rooms and the office or you wouldn't be able to operate this as even a marginally, profitable full-time business for yourself. 

This brings us back to my original question about the cost of rent for the entire studio room, instead of part-time access. You can choose to not answer that question but I didn't think this was going to be top-secret information that needed to be withheld so I am asking again for full transparency.

I am a massage therapist, not a counselor or yoga instructor. My costs to work involve significantly more before costs to be able to stay in practice. This is why there are so many good, independent therapists who have left the field and all that is left are franchises and mediocre or bad massage therapists who were just lucky enough to get a decent office share with another therapist at a reasonable rent. When a therapist has their own office, most of them are working full time jobs to support their part-time offices in the evening because barely anyone schedules appointments during the day time during working hours. These therapists must rent offices on a full-time basis, not partial hours so they work full time jobs elsewhere and pay for a full time office that they only use part-time in the evenings. Even if this were something I were willing to do, it also means that I would have 24 hour access to the office and always in the evenings when most of the business is conducted. This is not the case in our situation so it is not a viable consideration or compromise.

"I believe that $___/ month plus 10% of each client or $___/ month plus 15% of each client is fair and reasonable."

I can double-check but I am confident that any professional or anyone involved in contract law would say that blindly agreeing to any amount of rent without transparency about the square footage market value of the existing space being rented is a fair or reasonable action or request. Even if we could come to terms with a percentage commission for usage, I would need to know what this commission is additionally being paid to you for. The monthly rent covers the storage of equipment, signage for my business on the door, and access to the space when not in use.

• If this commission is intended to be part of a rental agreement and not a result of clearly defined responsibilities and actions to be taken on my behalf to promote my business for those commission payments then it cannot exceed fair market value for the existing square footage rental value of the studio space adjusted for the actual value of it during non-peak or prime business hours. Given that 75% of the value of the space is when the foot traffic is heaviest for business is after 4 pm, the fair market value of the square footage for conducting business must be evaluated in these terms. (It goes without saying that if it were even 50% business usage times, your class would not be exclusively limited to the evening hours in there).
• If the commission is to be based on efforts you are taking to promote my business on my behalf, then we should discuss what is being done and how to determine which appointments are coming directly from your efforts as commission payments are universally handled in any business. If the commission is an additional functional requirement of rent, there would need to be a cap on what is being paid in commission based on fair rental value per square footage for the space during what is considered available usage times since I am limited to specific hours.

I will await your response to this. I have a few appointments that have already been scheduled and I will continue keeping those appointments in the interim. I do not wish to discuss this verbally because I think more clearly when I am writing things out like this instead of having to consider all these factors extemporaneously. Also, this prevents misunderstandings and confusion about what is and is not being said for future referencing.

I am glad that you value the importance of communication. I am confident you will see the value of these written communications to prevent unnecessary problems.

Sincerely,

Jennie Williams

"sublet" landlord

Jan 18, 2024, 5:01 PM

to me

Dear Jennie,

I hope this message finds you well. I appreciate your detailed email and the effort you've put into understanding our potential rental agreement. I understand that you have concerns and questions about the studio square footage, payment terms, and other details.

Running the yoga studio is a fulfilling yet demanding task, and I believe it's crucial for both of us to have clear and transparent communication to ensure a positive working relationship. Given the complexity of the discussions and the preference not to have a face-to-face conversation, I feel it's important to address the situation candidly.

After careful consideration, I believe our current arrangement may not align with both of our expectations, and I want to ensure that both parties are comfortable and satisfied with the working relationship. Considering this, I think it might be best for us to reevaluate our agreement.

I understand that this might not be the outcome you were expecting, and I genuinely appreciate the time you've spent at the studio. Everyone who has had a massage with you was so pleased. To make this transition as smooth as possible, I kindly request that you gather your belongings, return the keys, and vacate the studio by next week, Thursday, January 25 at the latest.

I wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and I hope you find a space that better suits your needs.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

"sublet" landlord "sublet" landlord - Owner of______

Ms Jennie <[email protected]>

Jan 20, 2024, 10:26 AM

to "sublet" landlord

Actually, this is exactly how I expected you would respond. I am disappointed but not surprised. I paid you in advance for the month of January. You accepted this payment without any qualifications or modifying exceptions after you received it. I expect to have this payment pro-rated for the days that I am now losing after the Thursday you are evicting me on, or access to the space for work until the 31st. Please let me know which you will be choosing.

Jennie