This week we’re reading Sebina‘s story.
1. Why did you choose to become a massage therapist?
It all began in 2004, when one of my hobbies was to perform massages on my family members. Even without any proper knowledge about massage techniques, I was receiving wonderful comments from them, and their words became my motivation to start my studies in massage. I found a great satisfaction in helping others, which sparked my passion to pursue this career even further.
After beginning my studies in Body Treatments in 2004, I joined massage company and started working as a “Massage and Slimming Therapist”. Although my daily schedule was filled with 10 hours of work, the love I had for the profession overpowered any feelings of fatigue or irritation, even with a fully booked day of massage sessions.
My clients were my main motivation. I was always treated kindly and they provided constructive criticism to help me improve. Their advice allowed me to transform traditional massage techniques to a new, unique style.
My parents and family members are also proud of me becoming a Remedial Massage Therapist. I remember some colleagues asking me, “How can you work continuously for hours on end for a massage treatment? I can’t do it any more than 45 minutes, and I wouldn’t want to as well!”.
I replied to them, “Because I love massaging people.”
2. What do you enjoy most about your massage therapy?
In 15 years of massage, what I enjoyed most was providing massages that not only allowed clients to feel relaxed in the moment, but also helped to release problems from their bodies. I love seeing my treatments really helping to relieve stress from their lives. They even call me their “painkiller”! In short, when my clients are happy, I am happy too!
I’ve had many great client experiences, so many that my clients know that they can trust me completely. This allows them to fully relax and receive the best outcome from my massage. They are willing to listen to my advice to help them maintain their treatments at home. This improves their overall wellbeing.
It feels great to see each of my tailor-made treatments fulfilling each of my clients’ needs.
3. Why did you choose Blys and what has your experience with Blys been like?
I enjoy working with Blys because they kept their promises – I am in control of where and when I work. I pick up bookings anytime I want. There is no external pressure or hard feelings from not being able to help them.
Especially being a female therapist, the most pressing concern for bookings are safety. I love to work with Blys as they give me the freedom to refuse any bookings if I feel that the location or people is unsafe. Safety and security are much more important than earnings. Blys also continues to regularly update the therapists’ app functions to allow us to have a better understanding about clients and bookings before and after providing services.
I also enjoy Blys due to clients’ positive and polite attitudes towards us as massage therapists. They are always happy to be treated. I have worked for a large variety of bookings, such as corporate events, sports and special occasions like pre-wedding, expos, concerts, baby showers or even birthday parties. I’m really blessed to work for Blys. They have provided me a lot of opportunities to meet up with different clients’ needs. 99.9% of my own experiences with clients has left me smiling.
4. What is the best compliment/feedback you’ve ever received?
For me, I think their smiles are the best compliments. Some of them even use multiple paragraphs to describe how great I am! The most remarkable one for me was when a client was talking directly to me after the treatment. She said: “Sebina, you know, you are a genius, just like a healing master with amazing hands, but are you tired?”
I love reading the comments left by clients after providing my services on my weekly email from the company. This has become a really important part of my job to me, as I aim to reach 5 stars for each booking; preparing well, being on time, providing equipment in good condition and giving the best skilful massage treatment to the extent of my abilities. In return, almost 99.9% of comments are fabulous. However, the 0.1% of clients who weren’t giving me 5 stars became the most important issue to me, so I can seize the opportunity to review how and what had I done that had resulted in missing out the 0.1%.
Hearing from clients is important; no matter whether it’s good or bad feedback. Each client is necessary to develop my career.
5. How do you spend your free time?
I enjoy listening to music and radio while driving, as well as reading magazines, website, or books about nutrition, aromatherapy, crystals, herbal therapy, supplements or any other natural healing methods.
Being a RMT, I like to give massages to myself and friends too. Clients always ask me, “Where and who gives massages for you when you are tired?” I usually reply: “I’m always busy at work, so most of the time, I just give massages to myself. If I’m free though, I won’t hesitate to ask colleagues to massage for me!”
I enjoy food, too. Most of the time I like to cook steak and salad at home, and read cookbooks to learn how to cook better, but sometimes just learn from videos.
Two years ago, I began attending fitness expos, so that I could learn and watch how people increase their motivation for having difficult exercise challenges as well as trying to get myself back to a comfortable fitness level. Finally, I’ve started treating myself better this year – I began spending some free time on Yoga & Zumba Dance!
Thank you so much to Sebina for being a part of our Therapist Spotlight series! Getting to know each of our therapists and their stories always makes us more excited for our next massages. Blys provides the opportunity for massage therapists to take control of their mobile businesses while maintaining a solid work-life balance. Sebina is a fantastic success story and we’re so pleased to have such a passionate and skilled therapist among our ranks.
If you’d like to book a massage with the wonderful Sebina, check out her Public Therapist Profile. Please note she is based in Sydney, NSW.
