A Day In The Life of a London mobile masseuse
Category:
Therapists
Last updated on: 07/09/2019
Ever wondered what a typical day is like for someone working as a mobile massage therapist in London?
Being a professional London masseuse is not only highly rewarding and exciting but also demanding and exhausting work.
We chatted with Monika, a very successful and popular therapist who has offered mobile massage in London for several years, to find out what her typical working day is like.
When Monika first came to meet us, she brought with her a large pile of certificates, showing her training and qualifications in various styles. As we looked through those in detail, she smiled and said:
“The certificates are all fine as far as formal training goes, but my treatments are actually are blend of all my experiences. From what I was taught in massage class to my many interactions with people from all walks of life in the real world! So, I think it's better if you feel my massage rather than read about it ...”
And how right she was! Monika a truly excellent massage therapist that scores top marks in everything from empathy to deep tissue manipulation techniques.
Monika lives in zone 3 in North London but had opted to cover most of London as part of her mobile work. This has made her even busier and popular all around London. She now has regular customers who request a visit from her for a massage in Croydon to the tips of East London.
She can do as many as five massages in a day, with her earliest possible appointment being 10am and her latest starting at 9:30pm.
| Time | Action |
|---|---|
| 7:30am | Wake up and check mobile phone to see if any customer bookings were received while she was asleep |
| Wow - three bookings during the night! After checking any specific customer requests, such as requesting a particular type of oil or music, Monika puts the appointments into her personal diary and checks the best travel options for going from her home to the first appointment. | |
| If she sees any obvious forecast delays due to travel, she lets her clients know immediately. The sooner customers are notified of the do-ability of any special requests or expected delays, the happier they remain. Monika has found that better communication is a key skill to gaining and retaining regular clients. So Monika always aims to send her texts as soon as she can. | |
| 7:45am | 15 minutes of stretching and aerobic exercises |
| This helps keeps Monika’s own body stay in shape and keep fit for what is a physically demanding job. It is not only performing massages that needs good physical strength and energy but also the constant travelling from one client to the next using London's often hectic and unpredictable public transport network. | |
| 8:00am | Shower, breakfast and get dressed |
| Like most mobile massage therapists, Monika prefers to wear casual, comfortable, loose-fitting clothing to travel around in. She takes her massage outfit separately in a bag to appointments and changes once at the customer’s home. This ensures her daily clothes and treatment kit both stay clean and fresh. | |
| 8:30am | Ensure all mobile massage equipment and accessories are packed and ready |
| This is especially important as Monika could be called to a massage booking at the very last moment, with as little as one hour to arrive fully prepared. | |
| Since she has requested to work from 10:00am, she needs to be completely ready to leave her home by 9:00am at the latest, in case she receives a last minute booking requesting a 10:00am start. | |
| Her regular daily checks include: | |
| - Topping up two massage oil bottles. Monika takes two bottles with her, one with plain almond oil and one with grapeseed oil for any nut allergy sufferers; | |
| - Ensuring that her uniform is clean and pressed; | |
| - Mobile phone battery is fully charged and charger packed. As a mobile therapist, being able to receive messages on the phone and checking travel apps like CityMapper and Google Maps is crucial to success; and | |
| - Checking her music playlist and portable speaker are charged up. This allows her to offer high quality relaxing background music for customers who do not have their own massage music. | |
| Importantly, as a London based mobile massage therapist, Monika does not have to worry about cleaning, packing or transporting a cumbersome massage table. Learn why mobile therapists do not bring a massage table to bookings in London. | |
| 9:00am | Leave home to reach first customer of the day on time |
| Working in and around London, means Monika travels by public transport. Driving in London for a mobile therapy job is largely prohibitive due to the constant traffic, difficulties in finding parking, and also other cost factors such as congestion charge. | |
| 9:50am | Arrive at the customer’s home |
| It’s important to arrive a few minutes early whenever possible - which is not always easy - so that she can set up in time to begin the treatment promptly. The duration for the massage begins when the therapist’s hands first touch the customer. | |
| As Monika rings the bell she hopes the customer is awake and seen her confirmation message. Thankfully, this customer was eagerly awaiting their Sports massage before heading off to work, so they open the door as soon as Monika rings. | |
| Monika goes to the bathroom to change into her kit before going through to the room in which the customer has indicated they would like to receive their treatment. | |
| Before starting her massage, Monika quickly checks any relevant health issues and treatments preferences with her customer. The customer is also asked about their preferences and any health concerns when they make the booking but since many customers get through the online booking process in as little as 1 minute, it is always worth checking again. | |
| 10:00am | Start the 90-minute Sports massage |
| 90-minute massages are by far the most popular duration booked for mobile treatments. This makes good sense for therapists too as they earn significantly more per booking than they would for a 30 or 45-minute treatment that is more common in spas. | |
| 11:30am | Massage treatment completed |
| Monika steps calmly away from the customer and lets them know they can take their time to get up slowly and drink some water, while she goes to the bathroom to wash her hands and get changed back into her travelling clothes. | |
| Whilst in the bathroom – away from the customer – Monika checks her mobile phone to see if she has received any further bookings whilst she was doing the massage. | |
| If she has received a Massage Me Now booking, this means she will need to be quick to complete everything and rush off to the next customer. It is very important however not to let the current customer know of her slightly rushed situation, so she remains calm and collected until she leaves. | |
| 11:40am | Monika collects and packs her items |
| If the customer has already paid online by credit card, there is nothing more to do other than give any advice she may feel is appropriate in respect of their overall health and wish them a nice rest of day at work. | |
| Some customers still choose to pay in cash. In these cases, Monika reminds the customer of the amount due at the end of the treatment. She always ensures she has a small supply of £5 notes to give in change when needed … but many customers generously let her keep any difference as a gratuity for the treatment. | |
| 11:45am | Monika leaves the first customer’s home |
| Her next booking is at 2:00pm for a Couples Massage with one of her regulars. This pair are almost addicted to massages and book every two weeks. The husband likes a really strong, deep tissue massage whilst his wife prefers her treatment to be softer and more relaxing. They usually book a 3 hour slot with Monika, giving them 90-minutes each back to back. | |
| These customers live quite close to Monika and they have their own dedicated massage table and room - like we said they are somewhat addicted! So today, Monika can simply travel calmly back to her own home to have a some lunch and then travel to her regulars to arive just before 2:00pm. | |
| 12:30pm | Monika arrives back home |
| She has a healthy but filling lunch which provides her with sufficient energy for the demanding day which still lies ahead. It is tempting to just snack on a sugary snack but Monika feels it is important not to skip or skimp on a high quality breakfast and lunch. It is these two meals that keep her feeling in good shape to perform the best massages she can for a whole day. | |
| 1:45pm | Monika leaves to go to her 2:00pm booking |
| These customer live only 10 minutes away and always have their own room set up, so arriving just 5 minutes before the start time is ideal. | |
| 1:55pm | Monika arrives at the regular clients |
| She knows this will be tiring booking but she loves her regular customers and is more than happy to attend. Luckily the wife prefers to have her treatment second, so Monika can begin with the more demanding deep tissue massage knowing that it will be followed by a less intensive relaxing session for the wife. | |
| 2:00pm | Monika starts the husband's 90-minute deep tissue massage |
| Deep tissue massage therapy can be quite intense, emotionally and physically, so takes a fair amount of energy to perform properly. Monika also incorporates some of her Thai massage stretches as the husband plays squash regularly and often has a tight hamstring. | |
| 3:30pm | The wife arrives in the room to receive her treatment |
| Monika takes a quick breather while the couple swap over. | |
| 5:00pm | The couples massage is complete |
| Exhausting but rewarding work, Monika goes to the bathroom to change and check her phone. | |
| No more massage appointments at the moment. Having already completed three therapeutic full body massages, she is thankful for the opportunity to rest for a while. | |
| But she knows it is Monday and this is one of the busiest evenings for mobile massage requests in central London. She is sure she will receive another booking soon, so bids farewell to her regular customers, thanking them for their generous tip, and heads off home to put her feet up whilst keeping an eye on her phone. Working as an on-demand mobile therapist means she could get a booking at any time that her schedule is active. | |
| 5:45pm | Monika's phone beeps alerting her to a booking |
| Having just finished a relaxing cup of tea (with a cheeky chocolate biscuit!) and enjoying having her feet up watching some television, Monika frowns a little as she hears her phone's familiar beep for a new booking. She has set a particular ringtone for any messages received from the company, so that she immediately knows it is a work related message and she needs to check it quickly. | |
| Expecting to set off to central London again, she picks up her phone and smiles when she sees that it is indeed another massage appointment but does not start until later that day, at 8:00pm. | |
| Because the booking platform gives a minimum of 1 hour notice between all bookings, this means that she cannot get any other bookings today. She can completely relax until 7:00pm before leaving for her final customer of the day. What bliss! | |
| 7:00pm | Monika leaves home towards her final massage of the day |
| It has been a busy day but Monika absolutely loves massaging people better, so is fully enthused about meeting her new client. | |
| 7:55pm | Monika realises that her tube line is suspended |
| The customer is has booked his treatment to be delivered to his hotel room in the West End. Travelling through Monday evening rush hour is always quite demanding but more so today as there has been a tube line suspended. Monika finds herself running late, so sends the customer a text message immedialtey to inform him. Using her phone app, she predicts that she will arrive around 8:15pm. The customer responds telling her that it is not a problem and thanks her for letting him know. | |
| 8:10pm | Monika arrives at the appointment |
| She actually arrived a little earlier than predicted and the customer is pleased to see that. He has already prepared his room with softer lighting, relaxing music and clean towels. As a result both the therapist and client immediately feel relaxed and friendly towards each other. | |
| Many customers who book a mobile massage are doing so because they are feeling stressed or anxious. Monika understands this very well and knows that the last thing she should do as a professional therapist is stress customers out even more. That is why she is always very focused on keeping customers accurately up to date with her progress whilst she is travelling to them. She has found that is helps keeps already stressed out people calmer and makes her life easier when doing the treatment. | |
| 8:15pm | The final treatment of her day begins |
| The customer has booked a one hour relaxing classic Swedish massage asking for extra focus on his neck, shoulders and back. He is in London on business and has spent several hours sitting in meetings … with several more to come on the following day. So he is looking for general upper body relaxation therapy to ease him into a better sleep. | |
| 9:30pm | The treatment ends |
| Monika changes back into her daily clothes and leaves the customer quickly and politely ... he looks like he is about to fall fast asleep, so she does not want to disturb him. | |
| 10:30pm | Monika arrives back home |
| It has been a long and tiring day but one that has yet again left Monika smiling and feeling really good about herself. She absolutely adores massaging people whether it be to aid remedial wellness or simply inject a bit of empathy and relaxation into their lives. | |
| The day has also been good for her from an earnings perspective. She completed 5.5 hours of treatments in total as well as receiving a couple of good tips from generous clients. At this rate, she might even take the last weekend of the month off! | |
| 11:30pm | Bedtime |
| Monika has a quick snack and shower before heading off to bed. She will be working again from 10:00am the following but does not have any bookings yet. She makes sure to plug in her phone to charge overnight but puts it on silent as customers can book online at any time and she does not want her sleep to be disturbed. |
SOURCE: Monika, a London based mobile massage therapist
Considering a job in mobile massage?
Whether you are recently qualified or have several years of experience, adding mobile massage to your list of services could bring a welcome boost to your earnings whilst also offered increased flexibility.
If you are considering working as a mobile therapist in London, then The Massage Rooms is an excellent platform from which to kick start your career in therapy.
Some important points to consider before applying are:
- Willingness to travel around a very busy urban environment
- Last minute bookings are common!
- Customers expect a high level of technical ability and empathy
- Deep tissue is the most popular request
Head over to the new applicants form to submit your details and apply to join London's best mobile massage therapists!
