Black Friday 2012

The election ad campaigns are finally over, which means the holiday season is officially upon us. Clients of mine from years past may be wondering if I'll be offering a Black Friday special as I have for the past two years. In the past couple years, my Black Friday special offer was limited to only my Facebook "fans." This year, EVERYONE is hearing about it, but those who HAVE "liked" my Facebook business page will have an added perk that I'll be sharing next week. "Like" my page so you too can enjoy the special treatment!

Here are this year's Black Friday offers:

**Buy 2 gift certificates, get 1 free

OR

**Buy a 60-minute massage gift certificate and get 30-minutes added on to it for free

In the first option, the 2 paid-for gift certificates will not expire, but the free gift certificate will expire May 31, 2013. In the second option, the full 90-minutes will expire May 31, 2013, but the paid-for 60-minute portion will not expire. For either option, this offer is limited to 3 gift certificates per purchasing person, meaning you can 'buy 2, get 1 free' OR buy 3 60-minute + 30-minute gift certificates only. 

Remember, you can "like" my Facebook page for extra special treatment not only for this Black Friday deal, but that's also where I post any same-day appointments that I'm trying to book and discount those appointments by $15!  

WHEN: 8am-12pm Friday, November 23, 2012

HOW: Call 503-318-9626 or email me at rachelsheardlmt AT gmail DOT com. I can take your card information over the phone, and either mail your gift certificates to you, or arrange a time for you to pick them up. If you choose to email me, I will need your card number, expiration date, zipcode and the 3 digit code on the back of your card. 

WHO: This offer is open to all current and past clients (and anyone you may forward this to).

By the way, do you know who my ideal clients are? I would MOST love for you to share the gift of massage with these people. Thanks! 

A Dose of Inspiration: Holiday Magic

What a fantastic holiday season it's been. About 60 gift certificates for massages went out this season, including those from my Black Friday Special. Two of my clients shared some of their home baked goodies with me when they came for their massage. A couple clients padded their tip to me, as a special "holiday bonus." Another client brought me a Worry Doll wall hanging, soon to be gracing the wall in my massage room.

I am feeling the love!! I am thankful for all the gift certificate purchases. It means so much to me that my clients value my services so much that they want to share that experience with their family, friends, and coworkers. 

So. So. Good!! I only have a picture of one of the goodies shared, because the other ones disappeared before I even thought about taking a pic. Delicious!

When you see these Guatemalan Worry Dolls on the wall in my massage room, I welcome you to tell them all your concerns. May they help you relax and find even more enjoyment from your time on my table. 

PS--I still have lots and lots of the Lindt Lindor Truffle samples. They're sticking around a whole lot longer this year, since I vowed to keep MY hands off!! ;) They are SOOO good though, and come with a $1 off coupon too. 

Hope everyone enjoys this holiday season as much as I am! 

Upcoming Events: Mother's Day

Happy May! This month's CD we're enjoying during your massage and spa treatment sessions is Columbia River Gorge by Gary Jess, gifted to me by one of my wonderful clients last week. It has a lot of piano--something I don't think I have in my other CDs, so I, for one, am excited for having something different. One of my clients over the weekend commented that it sounded "royal wedding-y." Come take a listen--unless otherwise requested (and you are always able to bring your own music or request something else), it'll be playing all this month.


Mother's Day is just around the corner. I hear backyard barbecue pits make nice gifts, and massages do as well! Gift certificates are available. You may purchase one (or as many as you might need) directly from my website, by phone, or in person after contacting me to set up a time to meet at the office. As always, cash, check, Visa and MasterCard are accepted. I'm now able to accept your Discover cards as well.


With any luck, we'll find ourselves with more flowers and sunshine this month. If you wind up sore from gardening, yardwork, sports, etc, you'll also have better chances to get in for appointments now that my husband's bowling leagues are done. Tuesdays and Thursdays will soon be marked open for evening appointments--he still gets to go collect his winnings! His recent 278 game helped his team win the league!

2011: Looking Forward

My last post was geared toward catching up from the busy-ness going on already in 2011. I'd like this post to take us forward and share what is to be expected in the near future.

Saturday, March 5: This is the date of Oregon City Preschool's Auction/Fundraiser. Please help support my son's preschool. LOTS of great items to bid on--both silent and live auctions, many raffles. I've donated a 90min massage gift certificate myself. The auction takes place at Clackamas County Fairgrounds 4-H Hall from roughly 6-9pm. Come by and say Hi--my husband and I will be there!

Saturday, March 12: This is the date of the very first Save Your Hands! workshop that I'll be teaching. I'm still looking to fill the 5 more spots in this workshop, so if you know of other LMTs/students, bodyworkers, even estheticians, please let them know they can come to this workshop at a discounted price of $70, which includes a new copy of the 2nd edition Save Your Hands! book, AND 6 CEUs! It's an awesome deal. The book combined with the hands-on workshop provide a wealth of information to help LMTs learn how best to care for their bodies, what to be aware of to prevent injuries, and recognize symptoms if they do arise. 

Please note: I will be changing up my website to accommodate a page exclusively for the Save Your Hands! workshops. Some of the information currently on my website will get shifted around. Please let me know if that makes it difficult to find what you're looking for, though I'll do my best to keep it user-friendly.

Friday, March 18: This is the date that my husband and I are set to close on our house! We plan to move in that weekend, so weekend appointments won't be available that weekend. Once we have moved, my schedule will change. We are a one-car family, and moving takes us 3 miles from my office, instead of just 3 blocks, so I will only be working when my husband is home. Until he finishes his bowling leagues on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, my new schedule will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 5:15-8:30pm, Thursday I may be able to do a 5:15 appointment, and I will be adding in weekend availability to make up for lost time during the week.

That's the latest and greatest that comes to mind. A big thank you to everyone who bought gift certificates over the holiday season--the recipients are coming in and seem to be enjoying those gifts! Let your other gift certificate recipients know they can also print their intake form off my website (Links & Resources page) to save time when they come in to redeem their certificate.

My First Acupuncture Experience

You should know by now that my glass is pretty much never half empty. All my clouds have a silver lining. There's always two sides to every story. You get it.


Today, my 3:30 massage appointment was cancelled at 1:50pm. Fan-tastic, right? Right!


It did become fantastic when I called up Carol Greismeyer at Oregon City Acupuncture. I met Carol through the Women Empowering Women networking group a good year and a half ago, but it wasn't until she moved her business from Milwaukie to just the other side of 7th Street on Madison here in Oregon City in September that we really connected. 


Since she moved across the street from Heidi's, we've toured each other's offices and agreed that trading services would be a marvelous thing. Carol is usually in the office Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and my mother in law was already planning to come spend the afternoon with her grandsons, so I thought it'd be the perfect time to give acupuncture a shot (pun intended). 


Carol was able to get me in exactly the time I was hoping for, and gave me a very good nutshell of the eastern views of how the body works, and then the de-stress treatment. The needles are not bad at all, just a little poke when it goes in, and then it's fine. 


Carol discovered an energy blockage under my right knee (thanks to all my muscle imbalances, no doubt), and my right hand felt "funny" for a few minutes of the treatment. It was a nice, relaxing treatment, but didn't leave me a sloppy mess either. My hands feel much better, a lot of the muscular tension in my gripping muscles has been relieved, and the same for my upper shoulders/neck that hold tension too. 


My massage therapist tomorrow will no doubt be happy to have a little less work to do on me tomorrow when I get to have my massage in our trade too. By the way, when you come in for your massage and spa treatments, the new face occupying the room next to me is Jessie. And I'll be happy to tell you what her massage style is like after I experience it tomorrow for myself. Be on the lookout for new signs to be popping up that will have both our names on them. Jessie's clients need to find her too. :)


Back on topic now. Give Carol at Oregon City Acupuncture a call: 503-653-1468. The de-stress session is $30. See what you think! You can also buy gift certificates on her website--just in time for the holidays! What a great gift idea. We could all use a little more Eastern influences in our very Western lives...