(If you haven’t read Dave’s spellbinding Parts 1 and 2 of his story, see our March and April 2021 editions)
“My name is Dave and I’m an addict” are words that used to fill me with shame.
I’m so pleased that my days of shame are behind me. I am an addict though and I’m not ashamed to admit that. I was drinking too much and using a variety of drugs to alter my mood to make me
Happy
Or Calm
Or Awake
Or Relaxed
Or Numb
Numb any kind of feeling…
I had done some research and was considering taking a course in Raynor Massage. But I was hesitant and put off booking. Randomly I had the most wonderful offer. It was the use of a treatment room in Sutton if I got myself qualified. The circumstances and coincidences that led to this being offered were spooky!
I won’t bore you with the details but it really felt like the universe was pushing me to follow this new career path. So I did my research and enrolled on the Combined Raynor Massage Certificate & Diploma Courses.
The same courses that over a decade later I now teach others. My addictive nature isn’t always destructive. I had a new obsession: Becoming a successful Massage Therapist.
I already had my website designed before the training course began. Business cards printed. Signs put outside the building. Leaflets distributed. I was obsessed about making this new direction work. I just had one thing left to do.
LEARN TO MASSAGE!
I had a wonderful teacher, Karen French. I found the training intense and loads of fun!
The hands-on approach really suited me. I’m not one for memorising from books and I hate written exams. On the Friday I received my Diploma. I opened the doors of my clinic on Monday!
I tried so many different things to promote my business and get clients. Some worked really well and others failed miserably. I ran a promotion with Groupon! It sold 350 vouchers! That’s a lot of massage! Some days I saw seven clients! It nearly destroyed me physically and mentally.
I ended up enlisting another therapist to help. Ed did the Advanced Course with me and still works at my Sutton clinic to this day.
I first met Brandon Raynor when he came to the UK to teach his Advanced Course. I was a bit star struck! (Brandon Raynor created Raynor Massage). Brandon was and still is inspirational and I’m proud to call him a friend of mine. I learned loads from Brandon and was getting great results in my clinic helping clients become free of pain.
One morning I received a phone call from my teacher, Karen, at 6am! She was due to be teaching a course that day but had a ‘flood’ emergency and couldn’t make it and asked me to cover.
It was my first taste of teaching massage and I loved it. I felt I had a lot to offer. I noticed how interested the students were in asking how I had built my business. It felt great sharing what I had learned.
I met Brandon Raynor again the following year when I took his Advanced Course for the second time. That’s my addictive nature kicking in again.
I told him I wanted to teach and he agreed! So I started my teacher training. I loved it all. I learnt from Terry Masson who teaches in Canada and also Maureen Abson here in the UK. My apprenticeship even took me to New Zealand! Very Exciting.
I had one BIG hurdle to overcome. I was drinking way too much every single day. I’d been drinking continuously since I left home at 16. A functioning alcoholic. The oil rigs would give me two or three weeks break from drinking but enabled me to then have two or three weeks at home drinking more than ever.
As a massage therapist I could get up, see my first client at 10.00, another at 11.15 and my last one at 1230. That could earn me £180. But it also allowed me to be in the pub by 1415. I was putting on a front of health and healing but still destroying my soul with booze. I wanted to give my very best to my teaching and knew I couldn’t do that with a hangover.
On Saturday, March 7th, 2015 I consumed my last ever alcoholic drink.
I taught my first course on Monday, March 9th. Over five years later I am still sober and have helped 100s of people achieve their goal of a new career as a massage therapist. My goal is not to just teach massage, it’s to also teach the business of massage.
My current addiction is helping others get established with their own business. I’m a little obsessed.
My proudest achievement is this directory of just some graduates of my training who are already up and running! https://davetaylortraining.co.uk/graduates/
It’s only a fraction of those that I have taught as many choose not to advertise online and others only trained to learn a fun new skill to help friends and family.
I’ve since moved to Hastings where I have established a new client base with a wonderful home clinic.
I still often see three clients a day, but now, at 1415 rather than being in the pub, I’m walking my dogs on the beach.
This is where I’m going to end my story.
Dave ‘clean and sober’ Taylor