My family and I arrived in Australia’s “big smoke” Sydney only the other week, and are all settling in in our own way at our own pace with some big decisions and opportunities on the horizon.

The economic climate of Australia, specifically the massage training industry is in a definite contraction phase with many schools standarizing their training and opting to offer what they call government accredited training. This standardization is actually not necessary for the aspiring massage therapist because Australia’s massage industry is deregulated, and according to invesatopia this means “there is a reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry.” In short there are no rules that govern what is required to be a massage therapist. Nonetheless if you are not skilled or provide skilled training the laws of supply and demand will have it that you are quickly out of business.

Since these oligopolies are hyjacking the massage training industry with big advertising campaigns many innocent public are being decieved into believing that only these type of massage courses will lead them to success. This is the unfortunate situation in Australia, and the remaining smaller independent schools like ourselves are having to battle hard to counter this prophaghanda.

Because of this I am facing the serious decision of whether or not to continue my massage training business in the Australian market, or take it over seas. The state of the world economy in UK and South Africa and NZ specifically being our target market, is that they are each in a recession.
Due to this I am at yet another crossroads. Right now I have been offered the opportunity to study at Law School as well as continue to study Japanese in a Masters program. I could also further my business degree with a masters degree called an “MBA”, Master of Business Administration, each of which are both lucrative and appealing professions, should I choose to pursue and succeed in these paths.

So for now I am off to Singapore to teach a class next week for two weeks, I plan to take one week off after that and introspect on these important life decisions at this important crossroads juncture in my life.