A career in massage therapy can be pretty lucrative. Clients, who are mostly well to do or those who have money to burn, are known to give big tips especially if you have given them great service. It is actually through tips that you can earn a lot in this kind if industry. But it can also be harrowing and stressful. In order to survive on the job, you need to have the following set of characteristics.

1. Gift of the hands

Hands down, (no pun intended) having the gift of a comforting set of hands is the number one requirement for a career in massage therapy. To win customers over, you need to be skilled not only in massaging but also in relaxing. This may seem the same for most people who are not in the industry but once you are already part of it or is an avid client of massage therapy, you will know the difference.

A massage therapist can do all the right strokes to the letter but will not give comfort to the client. Some, on the other hand, may not do the conventional strokes but do relaxes the client. Some people's hands naturally have a strong firm grip but others have a stronger grip that can be hurtful to the muscles.

2. Gift of Gab

Another way to charm your clients into giving you really big tips is the gift of talk. Actually, when you think about it the best way to talk to your clients while massaging them is to listen. Let them talk to you. Let them tell you about their problems at work and at home. Most people will have something to complain about in their career. After all, they are there in the massage therapy clinic to de-stress aren't they?

This is the main reason why there are a lot of massage therapists who are privy to the deepest and darkest secrets of their clients. You see, when people are in a relaxed setting, they are more prone to speaking about their problems.

This is especially true when they are in the company of strangers who would not really know who they are talking about. They feel that massage therapists are not really part of their world.

3. Gift of patience

Working in a massage therapy clinic will allow you to meet all kinds of people. This may be good if all of them are interesting and affable. But what if they are not? And I assure you, you will come across people who you would just like to forget because of their attitude and their personalities.

In this kind of job, you need to have the patience of a saint especially when you have a client who is obviously so wrong but is still insisting that they are right. And the worst thing is, you can't argue because as they say, the customer is always right. You fight with them, you lose your job. That's the way the game is played.