My name is Lawrence MacLellan and I run a business called the Cathedral's House of Reflexology. I've been doing this reflexology for four years now. I got into it originally basically to supplement my income. I had no idea that within that first year I'd be full time and now I am busy. I work six days a week and it's been probably the best experience I've ever had in my life as far as the rewards that this business has provided for me.


[Decision To Enter This Particular Occupation:]

I have been always a little bit interested in reflexology. We had some health problems with one of my children and I started reading a little bit about it and got some books on reflexology and I tried a few little things on myself and on my children as well and I couldn't believe the results. That got me a little bit interested and then my wife encouraged me as well. I also have a vision problem (I'm visually impaired) so I depend on my sense of touch anyway. I always did like working with my hands. I like working with people and I really like to try to help people, so reflexology just fell into place for me.

[Attitude and Positive Behaviour:]

Number one, I think you have to care about people. A lot of people use to take the course just to provide treatments for their family and friends and that's great to do that. There's sort of a new movement out there now. People are really starting to take the training to set up businesses. It's a business where you have to build up your clientele and you really need to care about people. If you're doing it just for the money you may be disappointed. You need to get a lot of satisfaction from just caring about people. I think that's the biggest thing that people have to make sure that they are that kind of person to get into this area of work.

A positive attitude is absolutely crucial. People are coming here and they're going to be getting a forty-five minute to an hour treatment and you need to try to motivate [them] - some people just need some motivation. They need to learn to exercise or deep breathe or drink more water. Whatever it is it just helps them along with their own health and you have to be a good motivator. You have to be positive.

[Change In This Particular Occupation:]

There's always change in our area in reflexology - in any of the natural healing - because there's more and more demand for it. More and more clients are looking at alternative healing and the medical profession are starting to recognize that and are giving us a little wider berth I suppose. It's a matter of time and it's going to be a consumer driven area.

[Problems Solving Activities Involved:]

The problems that can come up in a self-employed business, I would say for me personally and probably for other practitioners as well, is having a balance in your life where you're providing treatments but you need also to take care of yourself. Because you can work a lot of hours at this, you need to take care of yourself as well. So there is a fine balance because it's hard physical work. It's very demanding. You're giving all that you can for your clients so you need that time out for yourself as well. I think that's the importance in keeping your business in perspective, in balance.

[Skills Needed:]

Well, the training in reflexology is very important. The experience, of course, you can't match that. Experience is, I would say, number one. Being positive is also, of course, what's going to bring clients back and so the experience, the training, and the being positive are all important. They have to work together but I think experience may be the one out of the three that’s the most important.

[A regular day at work for me is:]

I usually start my first treatment at ten o'clock in the morning. I do two treatments in the morning, four or five in the afternoon and then I might do two in the evening. So some days I end up doing seven, eight, nine treatments in a day. Now that's a lot but that's the demand that I've been getting. I exercise in the morning before I start my treatments. I find that if I can keep in good physical condition myself, I have the stamina and the endurance to work that hard.

[Most Challenging Aspect:]

The most challenging aspect I would say for running your own business is staying positive. There are times when you're (especially when you first start out) trying to build up your clientele and somebody may cancel on you or the phone's not ringing or your advertising's not working. That can be very hard. Your best advertising is word-of-mouth and you have to be patient.

[Most Satisfying Aspect:]

There's so much in this that's so satisfying for me. People getting results I guess is number one. They're coming in and they're very surprised that their headache's gone, or their back pain's gone or they're sleeping better and they're just happier. That to me is worth more than what you get paid for. It's so rewarding to have people get results and you're making a difference in their life.

[Advice For Someone Entering This Field Of Work:]

The advice I would give people starting out (thinking about taking the course) is that you have to start out slow. You take your training, you get certified and you have to build up your clientele. It's not going to happen overnight. You have to have patience and you have to be positive and provide good information.

When you're giving treatments, I think there's two things that are very important. One is effort - that you want to make sure that you're giving all that you can for that person. And number two is be consistent so that they know what to expect the next time they come, and that's how you get your referrals.