The pressure to push through: the cost of “Don’t work, don’t get paid”

by Nicola Hogan

Any casual worker, contractor or self-employed person knows this phrase:

Don’t work, don’t get paid.

It sounds logical, even obvious. But over time, it can be something else entirely: a quiet pressure that shapes decisions, boundaries and sometimes even our health.

As winter arrives and the end of the financial year approaches, many massage therapists may feel this pressure more acutely. Illness, client cancellations, sick kids, school holidays, inconsistent bookings and financial obligations can all create an underlying sense of instability.

In an industry where many practitioners are self-employed or working under contractor arrangements, time off often comes at a direct financial cost.

Precarious employment

In Australia, many massage therapists are self-employed or working as a contractor. Both modes of employment carry financial responsibility, including managing tax, superannuation, and periods without income. There are none of the benefits that come from permanent employment situations, like sick pay or holiday pay.

If you are living week to week and not budgeting for unplanned time off and legal tax obligations, then you may be finding that the pressure to push through is going to lead you down a fast track to burnout and job dissatisfaction.

In the early days of my massage career, circa 2000, I was “casually employed” in a paid-per-client arrangement. No superannuation, no hourly rate, no cancellation fee. If a client no showed or cancelled late, I got nothing. I said yes more than I should have, to keep my spot and stay in good graces, proving I was committed.

Blurring the lines on employment classification

Looking back, the arrangement blurred the lines between casual employment and contracting, something that has since become a much larger conversation across many industries, including massage therapy. But did you know that being paid a price per massage or piece rates is actually a characteristic of being an employee?

In the last 10 years, a lot of work has been done to improve the conditions of employees and contractors. The AMT website also provides very good fact sheets and resources under the members tab covering employment arrangements, workplace agreements, award entitlements and tax obligations. I also encourage you to read these blog posts about pay and employment here, here, here, here, and here (yes, there are quite a few!).

The sting

One morning I was outside watering the garden before work when I felt a sting. I looked down to see a dying bee and its stinger buried in the back of my hand. I brushed it off and kept watering. There wasn’t time to stop. I had a full day of clients – 6 in a row. By the time I reached work, my hand was already swollen. I ignored it, rubbed lavender oil onto the sting, told myself it was fine and began my first treatment. By midday, the swelling had tightened and started to itch. Still, I kept going, all the while thinking about the loss of income if I stopped … after all, I wasn’t sick. A sting wasn’t enough to take the rest of the day off.

Permanent full time and part time employees within Australia are entitled to paid personal (sick) leave. Employers also have a responsibility under workplace health and safety laws to provide a safe working environment (this obligation also extends to contractors), and employees must take reasonable care for their own health and safety. Given that my hands are an essential tool to perform my work, and they were effectively impaired, I should have reported this to my employer and taken the time off. But, I was in the situation many massage therapists continue to face: don’t work, don’t get paid.

Client number 5 that day was a teenage athlete. She arrived with her mum and they both stared at my hand. “Is that what happens after doing too much massage?” the teen asked wide-eyed. I paused, suddenly very self-conscious. “No, I got stung by a bee”. The teens mum raised an eyebrow. “That’s really swollen, you’re having an allergic reaction.” It was the first time I had actually looked at my hand all day. By now the top of my hand and fingers were swollen, red and shiny.

I still had two clients to go but I didn’t stop. By the end of the day, the swelling had crept up my forearm. My hand was heavy and my skin was tight and sore.

I stopped at the chemist on my way home. The pharmacist looked concerned, handed me antihistamines, calamine lotion and an ice pack. The meds kicked in, the swelling reduced overnight, and I considered myself lucky. At age 22, I believed pushing through was part of being dedicated. I mistook endurance for professionalism.

The perils of survival mode

There’s an uncomfortable truth about being a casual employee or working as a contractor or being self-employed: risk and uncertainty. Precarious employment can teach you a lot about resilience but it can also teach you to ignore your body in the name of survival. This story isn’t just about a bee sting. It’s about what happens when we keep pushing through pain, warning signs, and discomfort because we’ve tied our worth (and income) to our output.

But it is not only the pressure we place on ourselves. Social media and marketing culture often encourage therapists to do more, be more, scale more and constantly strive for the next level of success. It’s no wonder so many practitioners feel the pressure to push through, placing their own self-care at the bottom of the list.

What once may have happened through staying late, squeezing one more client in or working through illness can now also show up digitally, through constant visibility, pressure to market ourselves or feeling like we should always be doing more. Over-giving in the treatment room or online space does not always lead to over-receiving. One practitioner’s fully booked schedule might look like a quiet week to another. Massage therapy is like that: there are many different shades to practice, and no one size fits all approach in treatment or in business.

The self-care conundrum

Many massage therapists enter this profession because they genuinely care about helping people. But care without sustainability ultimately becomes depletion.

Massage therapy is physically and emotionally demanding work. Without proper support, financial education, sustainable business structures and adequate rest, many practitioners find themselves questioning whether they can remain in the profession long term.

As an industry, perhaps we need to ask harder questions like:

• What does a sustainable practice actually look like?
• How do we support and encourage therapists to care for themselves with the same attention they offer to their clients?
• How do newer practitioners learn the difference between dedication and self-abandonment?
• How many warning signs do we ignore because financially stopping doesn’t feel possible?

Whether employed, subcontracting or self-employed, financial insecurity can quietly shape practitioner behaviour in ways we don’t always recognise until our bodies force us to stop.

The body always speaks.

The question is – will we listen before it has to shout?

About the author

With 25 years of clinical experience, Nicola is a massage therapist, mentor and writer known for her thoughtful, client-centred approach and deep interest in the emotional and relational dynamics beneath touch. Her work is grounded in the stories, patterns and insights gathered through decades of hands-on practice, alongside a growing passion for practitioner sustainability, communication and professional longevity within the massage industry.

Alongside clinical work, Nicola has mentored therapists through the AMT pilot mentoring program and worked as an advisor through the government-funded ASBAS program, helping small business owners strengthen their digital communication and marketing capability with greater clarity and confidence.