The economy was getting worse, and while I still had my job, our income was suffering since the majority of my pay was based on commission-able sales. We managed for many, many months, cutting back on extra frills, going out to dinner, seeing movies, etc, etc. However, there was no sign on any improvement and we needed to do something. Heather had not been employed and she really didn't want to get into the rat race of fast food, retail, etc. either.
After dinner one evening, she said she had investigated the option of renewing her massage therapist license. She went to school for physical therapy and massage was a requirement of physical therapy. She got into the field for a few years before we had gotten married and moved to another state. The state required quit a few classes and steps in renewing her license, so she canceled that idea and went back to the drawing board to find something else.
Weeks went by and not much had happened, until she asked me if she could offer massage services without getting a license. I said that I think she could, but would most likely free lance in massage and not get into physical therapy of any other form that would require a license. She said she'd be willing to and described how she would turn our basement extra bedroom into a nice massage studio. She already had a professional table and just needed a few other things that didn't cost too much money.
She went out and bought new sheets, towels, candles, massage oils, etc. All in all, it was a pretty inexpensive start to an unknown career path. She painted the room, and spent a good solid week recreating the room into a very nice tranquil setting. Now that was done, she had to find clients. She placed an ad in the local paper and got a few responses, nothing overwhelming and several were looking for licensed therapist, however she got a few that didn't seem to matter about the license.
Heather was very good at giving massages and took her business serious. We were new to the area and really didn't know many people or what the city really had to offer. Her first client called and only asked a few questions about the massage and booked the appointment for the next day. He showed up when planned, got a very nice hour massage from Heather and according to Heather, was a talker, but otherwise a nice man who just seemed to want some company. Clients were few and far in between and she was hoping for more.
One night she admitted to me that many clients asked about special services when they called about setting up an appointment. I asked her what she meant and she said she wasn't really sure, but guys asked if she would do full body sensual massage and she always said no. She even got a few who asked for reverse massages (they wanted to massage her) and even topless massages. She said no to all of them. With the exception of a few here and there, the client base was not doing well.
She asked me, "Do you think it'd be OK if I did full body?"
"What exactly does that mean?" I asked her.
She said, "I assumed they wanted all parts of their body massaged including their genitals."