It's Your Business-Understanding Business Concepts
Business & Marketing

It's Your Business-Understanding Business Concepts

Author(s): Cynthia Pasciuto, Esq.

3CE credits 11 Lessons Text

Determine ways to limit liability for your massage therapy practice through the business entity you choose, contracts and forms. Also learn how ethical behavior, negotiations and insurance can be key to the success of your massage therapy practice.

View an introductory video

This course provides information on how to make informed choices for business issues that are often ignored by massage therapists. When you finish this course you will be able to:

  • Explain why the type business entity is important to your massage therapy business.
  • Describe how an attorney can help you make business decisions.
  • List the requirements for, benefits of and problems with sole proprietorship, general partnerships, LLPs, S-corporations and LLCs.
  • State three parts that define a contract.
  • Define indemnity, liability, force majeure, waiver and alternative dispute resolution for contracts.
  • Assess three common contracts for massage therapists.
  • Delineate six forms useful for protecting both the massage therapist and client.
  • List seven duties required for an ethical practice.
  • Describe two types of negotiations and when to use them.
  • Review five kinds of insurance that limit liabilities not covered by business entities, forms, contracts, negotiations and ethical behavior.

  1. Important Business Decisions
  2. Getting Legal Advice
  3. Choosing a Business Entity—Sole Proprietor or Partnership
  4. Choosing a Business Entity—Partnerships and Corporations
  5. Contract Basics
  6. Contracts for a Massage Therapy Practice
  7. Other Common Contracts for a Massage Therapy Practice
  8. Forms for a Massage Therapy Practice
  9. Ethics and Your Clients
  10. Negotiating Skills
  11. Other Ways to Limit Liability

Cynthia Pasciuto, Esq., is a Massachusetts Attorney and Licensed Insurance Broker. She became involved in supporting health and wellness practitioners when asked to help a friend with an expanding acupuncture business. This showed her the lack of business information for those in the allied health field. As a result, she created The TrueNorth Guidebook for Health & Wellness Practitioners. This book contains information about project management, legal, insurance and marketing issues. It is available at http://truenorthbusinessconsulting.com/.

In addition to a law degree, Cynthiha worked for five years in the insurance industry and has completed a program in project management. Cynthia teaches seminars at the National Whole Health Institute and the New England School of Acupuncture. She also teaches at Bentley University in their Legal/Tax and Financial Planning Department.

Cynthia provides one-on-one consulting to meet the unique needs of health and wellness businesses. She provides  makeovers based on legal, marketing, insurance and project management requirements.