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A short note about “Northern Virginia”

“Northern Virginia” is a local colloquialism for the counties closest to DC. It does not mean the top half of the state.

Over the years, I sporadically have received appointment requests for locations that are no where close to Northern Virginia but are technically in the top half of Virginia. This post was prompted though by someone booking from a location adjacent to, but not even in the top half of Virginia. They knew I only went to Northern Virginia, but was their location close enough? (I don’t want to put them on further blast so feel free to ask me at your next appointment.)

The precise definition of Northern Virginia is always a good debate. People have been trying to expand it for ever. I grew up in Vienna, clear NoVA territory, so my definition was decided long ago. It is indeed heavily prejudiced by how distance was measured when I was a kid but also by how much worse traffic has gotten over the years.

My Northern Virginia definition is Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William counties (all cities and towns contained therein), plus the border towns of Ashburn, South Riding, and Sterling. It is not up for debate unless you have managed to get from Haymarket to Triangle during rush hour in less than an hour. And it’s not going to be a debate, it’s just me asking for your secrets.

Adding Schedulicity Pay

Currently you can pay for services by cash, check, credit card, paypal, venmo, cash app, zelle, and now Schedulicity Pay.

I am not requiring prepayments/deposits on appointments or even a card on file for potential no-shows. (My generous cancelation policy is also not changing.) As always, my goal in adding a new payment option is to make paying me as easy as possible. If it’s not easy for you, pick another way instead.

It does save me a percentage point in fees to run a credit card this way at the end of your service than it does for me to use Square like I normally do. I can also send you the invoice via text message and you can pay via that text message from your own phone, which I thought was kind of fun.

It is totally okay to pay with Square as usual instead. With the rule change last year (or was it back in 2020?), everything I pay in credit card fees is now a tax deduction so it truly doesn’t matter either way.

Black Lives Matter

I’m just going to speak plainly since that’s what I do. 

I absolutely believe that Black lives matter. The way Black people are regularly senselessly murdered by police makes my heart sick but I am no longer surprised by it. I support the current protests and to be honest, I don’t mind the rioting. Riots gave women the right to vote, gave us labor rights, civil rights, gay rights… if a few building fires and looting will make the police stop murdering Black people and face real consequences for doing so, let’s go. Property can be replaced, murder victims cannot. 

I acknowledge my privilege as a white woman. I am doing the work to be anti-racist and unlearn the engrained white supremacy of growing up in American society with its institutional racism. 

I have screwed up in the past, I’m likely to screw up in the future. Having adhd means that sometimes my mouth moves before my brain does and what comes out may be more clumsy/awkward than I intend. Please do call me out when I’m wrong. The moment may be uncomfortable but I am always grateful to learn and do better. The last thing I ever want to do is make anyone uncomfortable – that’s not very relaxing!

Reviews

Just wanted to write a quick post about reviews. Reviews are a great way to help my business. I know the ones that go viral are long and hilarious but they don’t have to be long or hilarious. Short & factual reviews are just fine. 


If you don’t know what to say, here’s a few ideas:

  • was I on time?
  • was I pleasant to deal with?
  • did I focus on what you wanted to focus on?
  • would you hire me again?
  • would you recommend me to a friend? 
  • did you feel better after your massage? Less pain, more range of motion, calmer, able to sleep easier?


Here’s where you can leave reviews:

  • Facebook (I think you can just give a star rating without writing a review on Facebook)
  • Google
  • Yelp

Thanks in advance for helping me out! 🙂

On COVID-19


The July update is still coming along, it’s going to get its own page. In the meantime, the new things are: no hotels, no tourists, no out of town visitors, no apartments at all (so please don’t believe the exemption below, it no longer exists). Everything else remains the same because this disease is still a hard pass for me.


The mid-June update:

I’m not pleased with how any government is dealing with this pandemic so let me just say that the following is here to stay until the pandemic is over.

  • Masks for me and you.
  • I’m staying close to the exit.
  • You are welcome to provide your own sheets (table is about Twin size but anything larger is also fine). I am trying to develop the habit of bagging the sheets post -massage so feel free to mention it if you don’t see me doing it.

And of course everything below as well.

More than the death or ventilator possibilities, what really concerns me are the stories from survivors about how long it’s taken to feel normal afterwards. There’s many people who for weeks afterward would walk upstairs in their home and need a nap. Walking up a flight of stairs is like me getting all 80 pounds of gear out of my car and carrying it up to your front door. If that alone exhausts me, how long would it take for me to actually get back to work? Nope, no thanks, not it.


Here’s the end of April update:

The more I learn about this disease and how contagious it is … the more concerned I get. So here’s what I’m thinking:

  • I’m not working in hotels or apartments (unless its a ground floor unit I can access it directly from outside, like if there’s a patio (I don’t want to use any common doors or breathe in any common areas). There’s just too many unknown factors that are not under anyone’s control.
  • I’m only working in living rooms, unless there’s a room closer to the front door I can use. I mention this below but for real, for real, this is now a firm thing.
  • I will be wearing a mask during the massage. I’m still adjusting to wearing a mask, so far, not a fan but I’m happy to do what I can to keep us healthy.
  • I am developing a second intake form specifically for COVID-19, it’s mostly to ensure we are both healthy and not going to sue each other over accidental infection.

So far I’m still healthy (absolutely knocking on wood as I type that). And as this pandemic is developing, so is this page. I am very concerned about Virginia opening too soon, and a second wave coming through as that’s what happened with the Spanish Flu. So we’ll see what happens.


The obvious points:

  • Don’t book if you’re sick or if you’ve been exposed to this virus until you are cleared from quarantine. 
  • Cancel your appointment if you’ve been exposed or you are sick. There’s no penalty for last minute cancellations due to this virus but kindly cancel ASAP. 

Thanks in advance for helping to keep me healthy and free from having to quarantine myself. 

I am not shutting down for the virus unless/until I’ve been exposed or get sick. I’ve been debating this and here’s what I think: so long as our households are both healthy, getting a massage should be fine, especially with the precautions I’ve listed below. If you disagree, that’s fine, don’t book right now.

When my schedule is free (to be honest, my schedule is very, very free these days), I’m keeping socially isolated at home with my cats these days. I have lots of books to read and yarn to knit up – my inner introvert has been preparing for this for years!

As you know, I wash my hands before and after every massage. I am wiping down all of my equipment and bottles with Clorox wipes after every client (to be time efficient, I do this in my car rather than in your home). I sanitize my hands before getting out of my car. My sheets are professionally laundered & live in a plastic bag in my back seat until I grab them to use in a session. 

These are some ideas I have had to make us both feel more comfortable. 

Before I arrive: 

  • Plan a space closer to the front door so I’m not walking so far into your home. 
  • Let me know in advance if you want me to take off my shoes or wear shoe covers. 
  • Let me know if you want to use your own sheets.
  • Spray some Lysol around where we’re going to be. 

While I’m there:

  • Opt to skip working on the scalp and neck (the only time are our heads would be in close proximity). 
  • Wear a robe to change in and out of.
  • Wash your hands after the massage when you’ve gotten up and dressed. 
  • Pay via the prepay link on my website (melissa.to/prepay), Venmo (@MelissaRocks) or Cash app ($MelissaMorse) to eliminate a point of contact.

After I leave: 

  • Spray the area again with Lysol. 
  • Take a shower.
  • Wash the robe (and sheets if you used your own).

If you have other ideas, I’m definitely open to hearing them. If you have any questions, please ask me. If you’re still uncomfortable, then please don’t book until you are. You know I’ll be here still when this is all over. 

If I do get exposed or sick, I’ll be canceling all appointments and taking my schedule offline until I’m out of quarantine or feeling healthy again. In the meantime, I’m taking my vitamins and using essential oils to boost my immune system and maybe finishing some knitting projects.

2018 update

hello! I’m apparently just updating this site on an annual basis these days. Here’s what’s going on now.

First, I am no longer assisting at my friend’s business so my schedule is back to being fully open six days of the week. This is most obvious on Thursday which had been blocked off until 3 or 4pm most weeks and now is open starting at 10am.

It’s true. By request, I’m opening Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10am. These appointments must be made in advance. Otherwise appointments start at 11am and run until shortly before midnight (last appointment is 10/10:30pm).

There will be a small price increase on the 90 and 120 minute sessions, and by small, I mean like $2-5, which will begin at the new year. I’m still working on the numbers but the differences will be small.

There is a new policy on hotels. I’ve gone back and forth on it. For the last few months, I’ve alternated between telling people that I don’t work in hotels anymore and being super obnoxious about imposing several rules and fees to avoid working in them. I have had no shortage of awful, terrible experiences at hotels – people just wasting my time left and right. But I still have people asking and booking online at hotels. So time for an official, real policy.

Hotel Policy: There’s a $50 hotel fee, and the full hotel & service fee need to be paid in advance, 24 hours preferred, 4 hours mandatory. Go to mkt.com/melissarocksmassage and scroll to Hotel Massage. Any cancelations made less than 4 hours before the appointment will be refunded 50%, cancelations made less than an hour before the appointment will not be refunded.
It’s surprisingly serious, I know. But I seriously hate having my time wasted.

Quick note on payment options, I do now accept Zelle and Venmo for payments. I’ve only had someone ask once about BitCoin and the truth is that it makes no sense to me and doesn’t seem to be easily converted into cash, so I don’t take BitCoin and unless those two things change, I won’t be taking BitCoin.

And this is the part of the update where I swear I’m forgetting something but I have no idea what it is. So maybe there will be a part two this year! We’ll see. In the meantime, I’ll hope to see you on the table soon! 🙂

summer update

Here’s what’s happening on August 1st: 60min massage price is increasing to $115, and I’m going to the beach for about 42 hours.

The following week, I’m going to be gone Monday-Saturday afternoon (first appointment on Saturday is at 5pm). I’m going on a retreat with some classmates to Bainbridge Island in Seattle. I haven’t been on vacation since I went to a yoga conference in 2011, I have never been west of Colorado, and pictures of Bainbridge Island remind me that there are non-tropical rainforests. In other words, I am super stoked about this trip! XD

Am I just fleeing the area after increasing a price? Haha, no. I haven’t raised the 60min price in like 5 years, it’s overdue. No other prices are going up at this time. Even packages are staying the same. Which means that the 60min packages just became an even better deal.

If you have been my client at any point before 8/1 (yep, even if it’s been a few years), you can hold onto the current rate until the end of the year. If you have a friend who has been on the fence about getting a massage with me, please encourage them to do so before the first!

If you have bought or received a gift certificate for 60min massage, fear not! Gift certificates are honored for the service, not the monetary value.

I think that about wraps it up. If you’ve got questions, just ask.

Hello 2017!

This is a long overdue 2016 review post, and a preview of some new changes, mostly in scheduling.

I have been very quiet on social media since November for a small variety of reasons, and while I will probably still keep a low profile, I’ll be making a little more noise than I have been.

So 2016 was another great year – business doubled again. It continues that any day I declare to be the “busiest” will immediately stop that, so I’ll just say that the beginning of the week is the easiest to schedule, in general.

My best decision was in hiring Amanda to handle my phone calls. It took a long time for me to get comfortable with letting go of that, even though I know its my weakest skill. I never really have thought of myself as a control freak but there it is, staring me in the face.

There are still some days with my long time clients that I think that I can totally handle returning a phone call. And then a butterfly floats by and returning the call slips my mind. So if you haven’t talked to Amanda yet and you’ve called me before, you will.

I still suck at asking for reviews, so there still aren’t too many of those around. I know, I know, how can my business double when I am the worst at returning phone calls and have so few reviews? The majority of my first time clients are a fantastic fit with my practice (and y’all are pretty fantastic as people as well). I see the same people over and over, with new clients coming on board regularly.

I also took a bunch of classes for my next CEU deadlines. These were all fun classes for me with rocks and energywork. I’ll be adding crystal healing and a new form of energywork to my menu of services by the end of the month, if not sooner. If these things are too weird and out there for you, that’s fine. We can just do the same ol’ massage stuff and never talk about the weird things. If you’re curious though, feel free to shoot me any questions over email, I’m happy to talk about them.

And in the late fall, I cut off my long blonde hair and had it dyed blue. Normally my hair color is no big deal, but since my website and social media have my natural color, this new, short ‘do has thrown a few clients. So this is just a heads up.

It’s going to be weird for awhile but eventually I’ll get back to blonde. The plan is to go from blue to deep purple to a bright red (my favorite so I’ll probably be red for a long while) and then transition back into my natural blondeness.

My hair is the least important part of your massage so I’m not getting new website photos taken, just know that while my hair is weird, my hands are just fine. 😉

So here’s the new 2017 stuff:
+ As some of you know, I work out of an office in McLean a few days per week. Since my busiest day there hasn’t changed and my weekly clients tend to happen on the same day, I am dedicating my Thursdays to that office, leaving just a 10pm appointment for you all that day. If you happen to live in McLean, feel free to text me on Thursdays if you need an appointment that day, I’ll work you in earlier if I can.

+ I am taking a half-day on Mondays for myself. I am torn between just blocking off half the day (what I’m currently doing), or just taking the whole day every other week.

+ I am still working on a few of my classes. If there’s a Carnegie Hall of energywork, that’s what I’m aiming for. 😉

+ I am developing a webstore for crystals and crystal accessories. While it’s true that Melissa Rocks Massage is a true statement ;), it’s also my name plus two of my favorite things, I’ve been collecting pretty stones since I was in high school. The store is a side project that neatly fills up all of my spare time.

+ I am done discussing politics during massage. It was never my favorite thing since it’s hardly a relaxing topic, but the way things are going these days, it’s just too stressful/distracting for me. I love everybody*, and I’ve been concerned about the ozone layer and global warming since I wrote my first report on CFCs when I was in seventh grade. #resist, yes, but not while I am working.

Last but not least, I just want to thank you for reading this, thank you for being great clients who make my work a pleasure, thank you for supporting small businesses, thank you from the very bottom of my heart.

*it’s true. My natural inclination to like everyone I meet. I want us all to win, I want everyone to have truly equal rights.

Some upgrades ….

While my phone number remains the same, I did finally hire an assistant to return phone calls, since, let’s be honest, that’s the worst thing about me. You can still reach me directly through texts and emails.

I’ve changed my default email address to book@melissarocksmassage.com. I spend a lot of time in entrepreneurial groups, which have a lot of UK/Australian members so I wasn’t sure if book@ or bookin@ would be better so I am sort of using both. I’ll be whittling it down to book though. I think. For now anyway.

I have created a new intake form. Yeah, that’s the least exciting update.

I finally got the HelloBar working on this version of my site.

I registered some short domains so soon all my links will be cute and short (ever create a Google form? If not, it’s like 98 random characters – that’s not exactly sharable.).

And the last, somewhat sad update is that I am struggling with the plugin that I use to backup my sites. As soon as that is set here, I’ll be taking the original Melissa Rocks Massage site and setting that subdomain to forward to this domain. That’s the sad part. I’ve had that site for … idk, like forever. It’s an end of an era. At the same time, I feel fully committed and more … professional with this site and email address.

Go, tinybiz, go! 🙂

New options!

Tonight I figured out how to add online scheduling to my Facebook page! Feel free to try it out. 😀

AND I added instant gift certificates to my Schedulicity listing. It’s with a different company than the instant gift certificates on my website, but hey, who doesn’t love having options? And setting up instant gift certificate account is actually way more complicated than it sounds like.

… I realise that this is a very boring post, however, this is my idea of Sunday evening excitement (because I am afraid the Sand Snakes are going to end up on the Iron Throne so I’m delaying my GoT watching). #entrepreneurialthrills #productiveprocrastination #sandsnakesaretheworstsnakes