Service Swap

After a ridiculous couple of months, I wanted to splurge and get massage. Not being of the socio-economic status that typically does that sort of thing, I naturally turned to my masseuse friends for help. Many of these women are full-time moms, part-time massage therapists. They primarily do business for a set list of clients out of their homes, and at a fraction of the cost you’d pay for the same thing at a spa. So, I got to actually afford such lavish pampering within my measly budget, AND give my hard-earned dollars to deserving friends and not elitist spas…pretty great, right?

So I got the massage, and it was absolutely amazing. My shoulders had forgotten what it felt like to be malleable. My soul had forgotten what it felt like to be weightless. I decided right then and there that this blissful clarity needed to happen on a more regular basis.

I asked my friend, and recent miracle worker, how frequently people on average did this sort of thing; you know, the people who actually can do this on a regular basis. Her reply, as I expected, was far more than my wallet could bear.

Weekly. Yes, many people out there get weekly massages. If only we were all so fortunate.

But there was a silver lining to her expensive proposition: a lot of clients work on trade. A massage for yoga classes. For manicures. For hair cuts. For Spanish language lessons. You name it, they trade it, and as she rambled off the list of things she was getting for free, I realized that all of these services sounded pretty wonderful. These were things I could use.

On my drive home I started thinking…what could I trade? Unfortunately, while marketing services are very much in demand, they’re not easily broken into $50-75 units. And to learn to do some of the services my massage therapist friend suggested take way more time and energy than I have to spare right now.

So here is my open-ended question of the day. What would you trade for 60 minutes of stress-busting peace and tranquility?