Starting to get cold feet about starting massage school
I’m feeling nervous about moving into massage therapy from software engineering. I couldn’t handle coding in isolation once COVID sent all the desk workers remote, and I’ve been told by several people that I had a talent for massage (potentially though it’s just that I have good grip strength from being a rock climber). So, I’ve decided to start massage school in the fall.
I’m nervous about a lot of things - needing to run my own business, marketing myself, deal with inappropriate clients, making enough money for it to be worth it, I’m 41 so although I’ve been an athlete (rock climbing, swimming, skating, ex-triathlete) my entire life I’m concerned especially with my climbing background that my hands and elbows can handle the load… although for now my joints seem to be holding up and besides a right side inguinal hernia I had repaired last year my myofascial system seems okay…
I know I won’t make what I was making as a software architect/team lead, I don’t really need to make as much now though as I’ve put a significant amount away and feel I have close to enough to retire, but I am concerned about at least breaking even after education, supplies, and renting my own studio, and then the statistics I heard that only 20% of people who graduate massage school stay in the trade longer than 2 years (is this stat even accurate?).
I’m looking for perspective from people working as LMTs, I feel like maybe even though I’ve been kind of dreaming of doing massage for the past 5 years or so that this may be a foolish response to losing the willingness to deal with the particular kind of BS I encountered in software, although it’s not close to purely that, I have lots of genuine interest in massage…