Amy Bradley Radford (00:00)
Well, welcome to the massage business success podcast. have a fun little interview to do today. We have Krista here from Align Massage Therapy and we are going to be talking about when your business becomes the boss and how to take back ownership as a massage therapist. So welcome to the podcast, Krista. Thank you so much, Amy. I'm really looking forward to chatting with you and seeing, you know, what I can, what I can offer to your listeners. I know you have a lot to offer us.
I'm really excited to pick your brain and just hear what it's like from your perspective about running your business. And I know on your podcast you've talked about running a business and all the things, but I have some specific questions I want to ask you today. And I think my listeners will be really excited to hear from you.
All right, let's just hop in. So, you know, many massage therapists feel like their business is the boss. I know that there's time. I tell people all the time, I have a joke and I tell them my boss isn't going to fire me when I go to do things because you know, I'm my own boss, but there's a lot of times that our business feels like a boss and we want to take back ownership. Well, we're the boss of our business. So I just wanted to ask you, have you ever felt like your business was running you instead of you running it? Well,
Yes, I have. I would argue like that no clinic owner or any massage therapist operating their own business hasn't let it get away from them at some point and it's taken over. I have learned a lot. only been a clinic owner for three years. So it has been relatively a short amount of time, but I've been an RMT for 19 years. essentially
Like yes, I've experienced like the business taking over my life, but I've been able to be able to like bring it back to, what, what I feel is more me in control. And from an early start, I would say that I learned from example as a clinic owner of Align Massage Therapy, I am now one of eight Align Massage Therapy clinics. I do not own all eight. There is an owner of Align. I own one.
And one is plenty at the moment. What is plenty at the moment? Right it is. But when you're talking about things going off the rails for massage therapists or for that for the business taking over instead of them being in control, I really feel that I had a great example in Janna Val Time who's on my podcast as well who's the owner of Align from observing her prior to becoming an Align Massage Therapy Clinic owner. I was an RMT at Align.
since 2009, so we're in 2025 right now. So it's been a long time that I've been able to observe her way of running a massage clinic and how calm and relaxed and how hands off, but hands back if we needed hands on again, she didn't micromanage. We were all independent contractors.
when there was a problem, like she was able to handle it. And we just felt like we were trusted to really like be ourselves and be at RMTs in her business. And so I could see that, yes, there are certainly difficulties when you are a business owner, but it didn't have to be crazy stressful.
because you have those examples as well out in the clinic ownership world where they're micromanaging, where they feel like they have to be there 24 seven. And that was not my example. And I feel like that was probably a a great place to be. ⁓ and then when I decided to become a clinic owner, I, there was no reason for me not to try to also be that clinic owner that was calm and collected and
you know, didn't respond or didn't like micromanage and just trusted their RMTs. There's a lot to be said for that. And actually that's a great topic because I'm a firm believer in mentorship. I'm a firm believer of others in our fields. In fact, I have this vision in my mind, but being able to pass along not just hands-on skills, but business skills from one set of hands to another, having those relationships.
in your community where, you know, the person who's been at this for a while can actually say, hey, let me share, let me share with you. And I think that is the most empowering place that you can be as a business owner is helping another business owner. But you got that from the get go. So you had a lot of direction and a lot of opportunity to build on top of those skills, which I think is what makes you an amazing massage therapist and clinic owner. Just our conversations that we've had, I really admire your perspective and your background.
and where you come from as you run this clinic. So what kind of things have you run into ⁓ that you've had to learn about taking back control of your clinic or your practice? What kind of things can you share with some other clinic owners or other entrepreneurs that if they're feeling a little out of control, what are the key aspects to this to help them get back on track? Yeah, well, I mean, for me, when it does start to feel out of,
Control and again, it's been a short amount of time and I'm grateful that I've I think I've learned this lesson in that short amount of time that I can can carry it forward when it comes from a place for me of ⁓ When I'm trying to please everybody else and it is really important that My massage therapist my practitioners are happy. I want them to work in a space that that they do feel valued and that they can do their work successfully
without, you know, without feeling like they have to do it a particular way. ⁓ so that's really important to me. But when it was going, if it goes off for me and I need to get back that control, it comes down to looking like, think I'm always wondering what, what they want instead of what I wanted out of the business when I'm letting them. And, I kind of do this to myself because I do want to be
open book I also I'm gonna be an open door and if you've got feedback and questions and if you've got suggestions I want to know about them and sometimes that's a Pandora's box that maybe I shouldn't have opened because thankfully they do come to me with a lot of things and a part ⁓ of me wants to accommodate and the old you know clinic version of me would really try to accommodate but at the end of the day you cannot please everybody and
I'm also very, I'm a three on the Enneagram, if anybody's listening that knows the Enneagram. And a lot of outside praise is sort of my motivation, not in a positive, not in always a positive way. But so I'm always wondering what it looks like to be out, the outside world. What do other people think about me as a clinic owner? What does this look like to other people? Does this look like success? Does this look like I'm doing well?
And when I work on myself more to detach from that and to be more, why did I want to be a clinic owner in the first place? it was because I want to create a space that I want to come into every single day, be relaxed, treat my clients. And then other people want to work with me? Wonderful. But it's still at the core, it's still my business.
bring that back in, that's when I feel much more in control of the business again. And it's not to say again that I don't care about what my team wants or needs, but that's when you're running it the way that you want to, you're attracting the right people. And that just makes the business run just more peaceful as well, because everybody's, you're never.
I think that's also what I've learned. Never, ever, ever going to satisfy everybody. No. In fact, you and I had a funny conversation and it still makes me giggle and it was over the hardest challenge. I asked you, what was the hardest challenge you had in your business with 1099 contractors and what was it, Krista? It was the thermostat.
Out of everything that I could have anticipated being a big problem in the clinic ownership role, it turns out the thermostat was my biggest obstacle when it came to clinic ownership. You've got to give us the backstory now. Everybody's invested into this. So tell us the backstory and then tell us how you figured out the problem and took back control and you were the boss of that thermostat again.
I was the boss. Yeah. ⁓ you know, but it, it just, it just blew my mind how, ⁓ we're all adults and we're all successful practitioners. And, and one thing like the temperature of the clinic space, you know, everybody runs at a different temperature. Unfortunately, all the rooms just are a little bit of a different, different temperature, ⁓ warm, cold.
So the situation was that, let's say it's this time of the year as the temperature is starting to drop here in Ottawa. So it's cold, but not too cold yet. And it's not like hot, like we're kind of in the middle. So somebody would come in and turn the thermostat up and they'd go into treatment for an hour. And then 15 minutes later, someone else would come out and go, ⁓ I'm cold. then like, so they turn it, they turn it up down, like depending on how they needed it.
And then, you know, they'd go back into treatment for an hour and then, you know, someone else, so the thermostat just kept moving up and down until finally, you know, I did get ⁓ a message about the thermostat and about being like that, you know, I'm cold in my treatment room and I understand that this person's hot, but they need to, you know, understand that I'm cold and they just keep turning it up and down and my client is cold on the table. Now that to me was unacceptable. Right. And I didn't take it out on
the other massage therapist that kept turning it up and down. It really, you have to be responsible. Like your client should not be cold when we have all of the resources in the clinic space to make sure that they are comfortable. And yes, unfortunately the room may be a bit of a chilled temperature, but we've got the table heater, we got a thermo for, we got blankets, we got hot towels. No excuse for your client to be uncomfortable on the table. So if you got to that point where you just let your
client like shiver while they were getting treatment unacceptable. So that was, I'm grateful. I do have that mentorship. was like, Jana, how do I deal with this? And you know, it seems silly that I had to reach out to Jana for that, but this was, this was just the, she said, bottom line, you, you're the boss. You've got to break it down.
Instead of boundary, just like you would with toddlers. She's like, it's not, it's not to, you know, make them feel like kids, but this, you just have to set a boundary. The temperature can only be between this range. That's it. I'm not about to put a lock on the thermostat or anything like that. Let's just all. actually my next question was like, did you lock it or how did you actually, so you actually allowed them to be responsible for themselves? Yep.
Yeah, you're, you're, you know, this is the range, especially in a group environment. said, you know, if there's, if you're working there by yourself, you don't do what you want. You know, I'm not going to be the thermostat police in that situation. ⁓ you know, do what you want. And if you're by yourself, but in the group environment, we do have to be respectful of, a certain, of a certain range. And that's, that's it. ⁓ so that was just one of the, you know, the situations that really hit
home for me, like, wow, like it's, it's not, ⁓ it's, it's, this is the biggest issue that I've encountered so far, which was just really, really interesting and helped me communicate better. ⁓ one, I, as I mentioned, since I've been with Alliance since 2009, a lot of my now practitioners that work at my clinic, I was colleagues with them. So I'm not, I was working alongside them and then they decided to also come and work for me at.
Align like the Align clinic that I own. So there really was a, I had to shift the mindset. Like these are not my colleagues and friends anymore. I do have to be that, that boss that sets the rules. And I think everybody appreciates when there are those, those boundaries, know? They do. They, they may not at the moment, but they do. We all do. Even, even small children love it when you set boundaries, they might fight you just a little bit.
but they do love it. I bet ⁓ that was an interesting shift for you to take on that leadership role and be able to still manage it. So how did that go for you? mean, what did you struggle with in that? I'm just curious. ⁓ well, I'm a people pleaser, of course. Like I said, these are our colleagues. didn't want them to be mad at me. I mean, what are they going to do?
Like now I realize like they're not going to leave because of the temperature necessarily. And I am a very like, again, I'm an understanding clinic owner. So now, you know, we have access to fans if they need a fan, know, I've given them, I give them like solutions, you know, we have, we have the fans, if you need to cover the vent, ⁓ you know, like air conditioning, when you need it the most, it can still be quite
get quite cold in the room. So I've got a cover for the vent if you need it. So again, just trying to offer the solutions without telling them what to do, but telling, like giving them that these are your options. And you know, what's always, what's been interesting for me as a clinic owner is that even, okay, so this room is too hot, this room is too cold. Well, would you like to change rooms? What is interesting is that we get very comfortable in our little
bubble of a massage clinic treatment room and even as with that with their complaints, it still wasn't enough for them to do something as big as change the room. So that to me just means there it's really not that big of a deal for them and I shouldn't make it that big of a deal and really try to bend over backwards as they would say to accommodate them if they're not willing to you know to make those big moves.
Yeah, you know, I have a couple of coaching clients I work with. Some of them are employers and then some of them are 1099s. And it's so interesting to talk to each one of those and hear about the problems that they're trying to solve. And you know, some people think that if you are an employer and you have more control over your employees versus 1099, that you will be able to manage things better, but they have a whole nother set of problems.
that go along with having employees. And then I talk to business owners who have the 1099s and there's a whole other set of problems there that all have to do with trying not to control what's going on when it's in those. So it's so interesting that when you place yourself in that position to be over people, the things that you learn as a business owner about how to manage those situations, it challenges you substantially. But you learn, you learn so much from it.
Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ and that's why I've been grateful for, for that experience because I am, I am learning a lot of learning a lot about myself and, then yeah, communication and negotiation and, how to, just, just work with a very diverse group of individuals. Yeah. Well, I've always said massage therapists are everything from white coats to gypsy bell. So I'm sure you have that entourage in your clinic every day.
Yeah, in one under one roof. Yeah, absolutely. A three wing circus without the tents. exactly. But I love massage therapists. We're such a unique group of people that I always love to go to conventions and just get to meet new people and just talk to them. it's always colorful. I'm going to leave it with that word. It's always very colorful. I would love to offer something else that I have learned on that.
that note of like colorful. I mean, at the end of the day, the, ⁓ like it's a business. So that was one mindset shift as well that just reminded me that at the end of the day, we don't have to agree with or love. I'd really like wanna hang out with outside of the clinic space with everybody that we work with. But the skillset that they bring to the practice,
They're like the clients absolutely love them and continue to rebook. They really don't cause many issues or complaints with clients and they're not bringing the clinic down. Like these, these temporary clashes with the thermostat, know, if it's a one and done, you know, that's fine. They're not bringing, bringing everything down every day. There's, they're not a toxic person. ⁓ you know, that there's nobody that doesn't want to work.
with this individual at a specific time. So reminding myself like this is a business and at the end of the day, as long as the clients are happy, the therapists are, you know, making or have a schedule that they enjoy and that they're making income, then that was more important to me on the bigger, the bigger picture than, than how is everybody feeling right now? I know that corporate can get very like cult, like they can really want culture.
And I do understand that, that they feel like hiring the right person means that you can actually train them for the job, but the person is more important. I think that is very, it's difficult as a massage therapist to just hire based on like personality fits. Because like I said, under one clinic roof, we've got the range of types of massage therapists.
but everybody's busy and they just, their clients just love them. So it's not really up then to me that's just like, why would I want to, you know, hurt my business by sort of removing one, one element just because we're not the same. Yeah, no, I can, I can see that completely, but I, I have seen that in other clinics as well. And how do you find the common ground? How do you, especially in a 1099 situation, how do you find that common ground where everybody respects each other's space?
and personalities and what they do and, all of those things that does have to be very challenging as a business owner that does. So I have a question for you. How do you, how do you hire? How do you hire people that can work for you? ⁓ I, I feel that I'm very fortunate. I haven't had to do any direct outreach to advertise or there's never been a, like the clinic has never been reaching out actively.
to hire massage therapists in my practice. ⁓ The hiring process is really has just been, like I said, I worked with several of my colleagues prior to I opened this clinic, there was a big announcement and although I definitely and would never poach, cannot go to some of my colleagues at other clinics and say like, would you like to come work at my clinic instead? That is an absolute no and I would never
Do that, do they approach me? Yeah, because we're also allowed to shift between the different aligns if we want to. We can have more hours at one clinic ⁓ if the opening's there versus the other. Maybe it's a little bit closer to home. ⁓ Maybe the clients you just seem to find are, there's more in my region than there are where you are. Buildings different, like just ⁓ accessibility, these kinds of things all do play a part in it.
So I've been very fortunate that a good, like most of the therapists I've worked with before, and then the other ones have been referred by the massage therapists and practitioners that I already have worked with. So they were like, you need a place to work. Why don't you like check it out over here? Things are really good. And I've been that massage therapist as well, who's worked with a line, loved a line and said like, you're not happy. Like, why don't you, why don't you come to a line? and ⁓
And so that's just been been my experience. ⁓ you know, one of the most rewarding hires I will say, although everybody is incredible is, was somebody that I used to work with. I, ⁓ originally from Barry, Ontario, if you're listening here in like Canada and I live in Ottawa now. But when I was just starting at my practice in Barry, there was a business course that I took and another massage therapist was in that course who was like five years ahead of me. So.
She and I, you know, connected and we kind of, she was kind of a mentor to me working with her already a few years more experience. And we were both in this business course together, learning how to build your business from the ground up. Wonderful course. And then, you know, I moved away. started, circumstances brought her away as well. And then she was curious about Ottawa.
to work in Ottawa as a massage therapist. And, you know, I kind of brought up the fact that I did have a clinic in Ottawa and she's like, do you have room for me? And yes, absolutely I do. So this is a practitioner who's now 25, 24, 25 years in practice working at my clinic who I looked up to back in the day. I still look up to her, but it was just this wonderful like full circle. I think that
You never know when your karma is going to like pay off maybe. So just keep being a good person. then it was just really wonderful that she wanted to work at my clinic and she's been working for, this is like, think, well, her two and a half years maybe. And she's thriving, you know, she's doing an, like her clients absolutely love her. She built quickly. She's a lovely person to work with.
So I've been fortunate that the hiring process, sure, like with some of them that I'm meeting for the first time, there's a bit of an interview. We do have a massage together so that I can experience your technique and then I know how to share your skills with clients. And then we go from there, but.
There's not much, unfortunately, that I can offer as to a process of hiring the right candidate. Maybe as I'm just thinking out loud, it's just about being like, an example and then if you build it, they will come. As I have talked with you this time and others, you know, I just gather that there is just a solid business model to operate this business off of, is huge, which is huge for a solopreneur, ⁓ you know, a one person.
or a multi-therapist or even employer. There's just a solid business model that you can actually take these people and apply it to and it's working. It's working well. Which in my mind as a business coach when I'm trying to help people, there are a lot of things that, you you graduate from massage school and you're like woo-hoo, I'm gonna go start my own business because that's how I'm gonna make the most money. And you jump out there and you run into
so many things that you had no idea that were gonna be a problem for you or you come in with an employee mentality and you're trying to run a business and it does not work that way. It does not at all. So I commend Janna for the business model she's created and the opportunity that you have to branch out and still be part of but still own your own and help others. ⁓ I see you helping more people have more opportunity to work.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we've had several examples throughout the align, know, all of the aligns where massage therapists feel that they can do better on their own and they go and try it. And some of them are humble enough to, come back, ⁓ you know, to align. and that's, that's really, you know, just, this does say a lot. ⁓ our turnover is very, very low. ⁓ you know, we, we pretty much pride ourselves in saying that most
of the massage therapist, if they leave, it's because they're physically moving somewhere else. ⁓ Or they have decided that perhaps a home practice is a better situation for them. And maybe they come back in the later years, not because it doesn't work or it just doesn't fit their routine or their lifestyle anymore. But ⁓ yeah, we're very fortunate that nobody, like the turnover is very, very low. Yeah, no, that's actually really
That's actually really amazing because I hear the flip side, Krista. I get people that call me and they're like, so I don't know how to organize these people or I don't know how to keep them or I don't know how to find clients for them or that sort of thing. And they struggle with getting this off the ground ⁓ to be something that's actually that works for everybody. So as we're kind of talking about this and you have a new clinic ownership mentality,
How much do you work with therapists about unlocking their potential? How much do you work individually with your therapists about building and growing who they are at the table? I would love to be more involved in helping them to grow. And I think it's going to be more of a task for me or like a goal for me in the new year just to offer resources, but then just kind of
say here they are, this is what's helped me. Because again, even though I say I'm an open door with clinic stuff, like ⁓ laundry or thermostat or whatever, it comes back to me, that's fine. But I'm quite surprised that they don't seek me out for mentorship. And even though I do say I want them to succeed and
So if there is any questions that I can help with, please let me know. I've discussed it with other clinic owners that perhaps we're too close to the situation that I don't want to feel like they're being swayed to like in the favor of the clinic, you know, like I want them to succeed but perhaps there's still that mindset to them like well, of course she wants me to succeed because I'm like the clinic
does better and the clinic makes more money and all of this and, there's still going to be that, that little belief, I think in the back of, of their heads. And again, maybe that's just me, but maybe I'm just too close that, that they're just not interested in mentorship from me because they'll feel like it's kind of coming from a one for the benefit of the clinic, which only does benefit them in the long run. ⁓ but I certainly sought out again, Jana.
I had five questions, I was definitely seeking her out and she has been very honest with me as well, you know, about some of my expectations in my massage career, income, you know, income expectations. And she would just sit me down and we'd have a good chat and she would offer realistic solutions. And I will tell you that some of them had nothing to do.
with massage therapy or seeing more massage clients at her clinic so that I could make more money, she gave me a game plan on how other ways that I could earn income that had nothing to do with massage and just going from that level of like, what am I gonna do to just have somebody explain it to you in simple terms and a realistic plan really just comps.
calmed me right down. I'm not mentoring my own team members, but I want to offer solutions ⁓ that they can use on their own if they want to. ⁓ Because I have learned a lot. I have great mentors and I have learned great resources. Even a podcast episode that I wish they could just share. yours on, ⁓ we had the discussion about pressure.
that is an invaluable, ⁓ just that little nugget, like I want to be able to share that with them and I have shared it, we've got a new massage therapist starting who's kind of just wanting to know how she's gonna approach her practice and I said, listen to this podcast episode with Amy Bradley Radford because that little nugget about the conversation about pressure scale, even in my years of experience, like was a wonderful like little way just to.
and I just have to put it in her court. Here's the episode. I think it will be helpful. ⁓ Thank you. Thank you because I can't tell you how many times when I work with other companies, that's our number one discussion. ⁓ And you know what, Krista, that is my experience with ⁓ coaching and consulting with other companies is it doesn't matter whether it's a 1099 or employee situation, they feel responsible.
for how to get clients back through the door or you have a new ⁓ therapist working for you and in a roundabout way, a client comes back to you as the business owner and says, hey, this was not the best massage or, know, and how do you handle that? And my little nugget was actually trying to help another ⁓ clinic help themselves. I mean, just how do you create the skills and talents and abilities inside the people where you're not telling them what to do?
and they know what to do and creating success in their hands as they go. yeah, no, I love that one. If you haven't listened to that one, go listen to that one. That was a really good one on the pressure scale. ⁓ that's my mind frame as well is how do you hand off skills to people either working for you or not, or even me as an educator, how do I hand those skills over that there is kind of an immediate sort of reaction to that and they get the feedback.
They get the feedback they need to be successful. ⁓ In fact, if I were to give you one aspect of myself, that is who I am. What is the truth? What is the universal principle inside business, pain management, massage? What are the things that actually work and not just this discussion that we get to have? So mentorship. Well, know, ⁓ gosh, we could even talk about mentorship. I just got done doing a mentorship in my area locally. This was my.
⁓ I call it a pilot because boy, there was a huge learning experience to mentorship. But you know, Krista, I think you're probably talking to a large ⁓ population of our audience that's listening when it comes to mentorship and helping being a business owner that's mentoring ⁓ either someone inside their practice or even outside of their practice. Mentorship is a huge thing and I...
We'll stop there because that will be a huge conversation.
What are some of the things that you think you would like to actually, if you were to like, just do this mentorship in January, what are, what are some of the things you'd love to bring out? What are some of the things you'd like to share with, with your, the people working with you truly, or even your audience? What are some of the things you'd like to share? You're mentoring me. I'm mentoring right now. ⁓ you're on the spotlight girl. Okay. So, ⁓ I think that the.
I would love for, my team does a good job of it, but I think that there is ⁓ great benefit and there's, when you accept responsibility, when you take ownership for your actions, when you take ownership for like how you show up,
⁓ I think that that is really important and my team is very good about that so far, but I do just want to drive it home a little bit more. again, this is something that hasn't necessarily come to me from the massage community, but it comes from a ex-Navy SEAL ⁓ who is Jaco Willink, who has a wonderful book called Extreme Ownership.
And it really does just drive home that at the end of the day, and I as a clinic owner, even if my therapist has a client that's unhappy with them, I am also responsible for that interaction. And a lot of people will push back and say, how did I have anything to do with that client being unhappy in that massage?
So I think that if I'm mentoring the general massage therapy population, I think we can all do better at being more, taking ownership or like being responsible. You know, if you're, if you are sick, if you're going to be late, like just, just own it. Like just own it and let your clients know the situation before you're showing up late and flustered and you're, and you're trying to backpedal and be like traffic this and this guy that and my God, my kid.
Like, sorry, but at the end of the day, you are the one that's responsible. And that's something that I've learned ⁓ and I can see it so clearly when people don't want to accept responsibility and they're blaming and they backpedal. And it's really interesting and I think that does show a lot about the growth potential that these people do have. ⁓
But yeah, so being responsible, taking that ownership, even something early, the early example of switching rooms, that is your responsibility to decide how you, if you're not comfortable in that work environment, how would you like to change it within reason? So that is really important to me ⁓ that came to mind, that responsibility piece.
And I think that, again, my team is pretty good, but if I'm mentoring the general, the registered massage therapy population, I would say for sure in Ontario, Canada, there is an entitlement right now happening. And perhaps there's a boom happening in the States as well for like licensed massage therapy that we are so fortunate right now to really walk into any clinic.
or even if you opened your own door or put up like a little like Facebook post that you're offering massage therapy out of your home, there is a demand and the massage therapist know this, that there is a demand. any clinic is always looking and very eager and happy to have you work for them because
We have a wait list all of the massage therapists have a wait list right now So another massage therapist is going to help to ease off that that wait list so trying to come at it from a place of like There is this entitlement that I can I can walk in and sort of demand what I want is not always Fair as a clinic owner there there is definitely There's all the only so much that a clinic owner can
can give you because again it's a business it has to you know it has to be operational and functional and it has to be fair but I'm also learning a lot from some of these massage therapists who know that they can negotiate almost whatever they want and I'm also old school that but I'm also grateful that I'm trying to be more open-minded that they don't want to work on weekends they don't want to work in the evenings
Whereas to me that was prime time to build your massage practice. But now they can build a successful practice working nine to five if they wanted to, but that's even too long that you don't need to work eight hours a day as a massage therapist. Like you can work nine to noon and still have a successful practice and have your afternoons and your evenings free. And that was a discomfort, like an ick that I guess I just,
still working on when I learn about these massage therapists who are, who are not, and I'm like, and now I'm trying to say, good for you. You know, like it doesn't serve my practice at all because I'm looking for people on the weekends, but like, you know, but that, but I'm like, good for you. You know what you want, you know how you want to spend your time. And maybe that would lead into another part of our conversation about really what does a successful practice.
look like or a schedule, like if your schedule is full, like all my therapists have a wait list and everybody's busy, that's wonderful. But what does that really, really mean? And I think that these newer massage therapists who are coming in are sort of getting it earlier on than I certainly did, that it is more about, for me, that freedom, flexibility piece of our career.
No, we didn't get that when we started out, honey. had to work hard for every client. And I went through years, and I'm sure you did the same thing, where I worked nights and weekends. And then I slowly shifted over to two nights and every other weekend. And then it was this management of ⁓ having to work really, really hard for clients. And the supply and demand is upside down in quite a few places with massage therapists. And there were so many people that left.
during COVID that we're just finally building back that it's almost not fair. But they are, they're starting out in places that they want. I will tell you what I have seen though, with some of the entitlement is they don't stick around. It wasn't hard enough for them. They didn't have to work hard enough for it. Or, know, massage therapy can be hard if you don't know how to manage your energy and your time and...
the things you do outside of your massage business to preserve your hands and your energy and all those things that are all factors into how to be a successful therapist. They don't like that. And so then they step away into something else. And so I've seen more people, I've seen our supply and demand start to even out, but I have seen a larger exchange rate. That's what I've seen ⁓ as things are working through that. So Krista, aside from the fact that you jumped into a model that actually gave you the framework for success.
What do you think a successful clinic looks like to you? mean, what, I mean, some of the things that you've seen work and some of the things you've seen haven't worked, but what does success look like to you? So I could give you some examples of some of the things, even though I do have a six, like a successful business model to work from every clinic owner with a line still has their own kind of management style. And some of the things that have really worked for me is
just to give that autonomy back to your team. The goal of the practice is for me to be more hands off with the management and the admin. Now I'm gonna do a lot behind the scenes, but I just don't wanna micromanage. I wanna trust my team and telling them that you trust them I think is really important and telling them that you can trust them with.
decisions when you're not there because you shouldn't feel like you need to be there 24 seven. that's huge. Yeah, that's actually that's actually a problem that a lot of 1099 or contract employer employers run into is not being able to trust the circumstances. So that's huge. Yeah. So like giving them like that that trust and saying like, okay, if I'm off site,
I mean, I do want to know about things, but there's going to be things that you're going to have to deal with right in the moment. And you might not be able to reach out to me or wait for my reply. So, you know, try to act like this is, this is also your business within like the Align business. And that's the independent, you know, contractor agreement is that the Align brings in the clients and then you do your best to
to take care of that client so that they come back and they see you and it's a win-win-win. But so when I gave them that trust and even when it comes to purchases, sure, let me know if the oil's running out or the toilet paper's low. But here's another idea. I trust you to go across the street to the grocery store and pick up that toilet paper and send me the receipt
and I will pay you back. What would you do in your own business or at home? There's other solutions. So that's a very small example, and a silly one, I'm a big fan. paper's very important. Very important. Very important. ⁓ I'm a big fan of Tim Ferriss, as you know, and ⁓ one of his sort of questions that he asks when he's working with his team is,
Like how can I like give them like a budget to just make that decision? Like if I say, if it costs $100 or less, just do it. Just please do it. Like don't worry about, is she gonna be mad or this or that? Like if it's a mistake, we'll talk about it. But I've already given you that okay to make the decision on the spot as best as you can. It hasn't really come up very much.
And that's a good thing. ⁓ But I think just knowing that I do, like they do have my trust, then I think that that gives them a little bit more peace in the business. Like I'm not gonna come down on them hard about anything. And especially if they take the initiative to replace it before I even know that it's gone. That's been a big one for me. And I hope that they do, you know, like feel like that's a good thing.
a good thing in the business that I'm not over overbearing. I also feel it's really important when I travel now, again, you don't one of the biggest concerns. I'm sure you work with a lot of clinic owners who have never taken a vacation because they're just too scared about what's going to happen when they're not around.
And again, that might come down to the trust. Like if you're worried that your massage therapists are like sneaking in clients through the back door or something and seeing people under the table or you're worried about ⁓ a fire, like God forbid, or even a light bulb going out and nobody changing it while you're there. I get it, I understand. Nobody cares about your business the way that you do.
Absolutely nobody even my favorite colleagues they I know like at the end of it They like I still care about the business more than than they do so but when I travel I Assign a one of the massage therapists they volunteer as well. I don't just push it on somebody It's not and hold. It's not a ball and told no I ⁓ I assign a massage therapist ⁓ at the clinic to be the new
⁓ first point of contact. Like, you know, at the end of the day, okay, oops, the plumbing ⁓ is an issue or that light bulb needs to be changed. Guess who you need to contact. Don't contact me. ⁓ I'm out of the country. They are your point of contact now. And they also are responsible for making those big decisions. I do have a manual that kind of gives an outline as to
what to do in certain situations and certain numbers to call. Like if you need a plumber, here's who I like. But if they're not available, to the Google and it's all good. Find somebody. I don't care. I'm not gonna be like, it just needs to be fixed. And again, just giving that responsibility and that trust back to them. So I have that first point of contact. And then if they need more assistance, we do have Jana.
You know, not all clinics are designed that way, but I feel like you can work maybe together with other, you probably have other massage therapy clinic owner friends. Perhaps you guys can do a little like exchange, you know, as, as a not maybe first point of contact, but in a, my goodness, like everything is going crazy. Contact this other clinic owner, but having that point of contact where
I can really feel comfortable. I don't check the schedule. don't check the email. I just trust that everything's going great. And I get a recap when I get back. And if there's important emails that have come through, they've responded professionally and said, like, Chris is away until X date. Is that okay if your email is, you know, not be responding to you until this date?
great. ⁓ And they just tuck it away into a folder that's literally called like when you get back then and then when I get back and then the next day when I'm back to work mode then I will look at those emails but I don't look at them before I get home and I know that's hard for a lot of massage clinic owners or clinic owners in general to do. I know clinic owners who are responding to email on the beach.
business owners in general. Or boundaries between personal and work. We could go off on that topic for a long time because it is hard. ⁓ I think when you're a business owner, it becomes your life and your priorities get a little screwed up until you can figure out how to make it not your life and your priorities. ⁓ Yeah. think my husband would probably say the same thing. Quit answering, we went on a cruise last year and he made me not, I actually couldn't read my emails. That was hard.
That was hard. was the best thing ever. Of course. Of course it was. when you don't, when you don't have access to it, ⁓ like you realize like how in the weeds you, you have been, ⁓ with it and it's so freeing and that is a successful clinic ownership to me is that you like we do it.
Because you want to be proud. I mean, I'm a little bit proud of the business, right? But I also am so much more proud that it can operate without me there. And I think that that is, to me, more about the success. That ⁓ it doesn't need me to be turning the wheel, I guess, all the time.
And I think that is a really great representation of being a success in business, that you can step away from it because going way, way into the future, eventually it's something you wanna sell or hand off to somebody competent. And if you are still so much like in it, like how can you really hand it off to somebody? ⁓
you know, confidently and comfortably, whereas I'm already like, I'm like, I can see that it can operate without me. And maybe that's scary to some people, but I think it's really, ⁓ I really love that it's, it's working that way with, without me being hands on. No, I actually think that that's very comforting to probably some people listening that it is possible that having the right systems in place that help it run itself.
that allows you to have a life because most of us get into a business because we want what? Time freedom, more money, all of those things. so that time freedom is huge. It's huge. That's one of the reasons why I do what I do is time freedom. I'm a third generation entrepreneur. my grandfather was an entrepreneur, my dad was an entrepreneur. That is all I ever wanted to do. Do you want to know what my first business was? I was selling suckers in the third grade.
$200 a month. was my first business. So I've been running businesses since I was little. love business. I hate being an employee for somebody. But you know, I've spent my time being an employee, but I love business. ⁓ one of the best, I received a lot of really great ⁓ advice from my grandfather, but one of the best things he ever told me was, you should set up a business model with being able to sell it in mind.
That is how your business model should be set up. ⁓ because there was a lot of things that bought and sold throughout the course. And when you start to talk about people who grow in business and build their portfolio or whatever you want to call it, they have the ability to be fluid with whatever it is they create. They're not so attached to it that it can't operate without them. So good job. Good job for having something that can be fluid because I'm here to tell you, life changes very quickly sometimes.
And your business needs to be able to change with you, or you need to be able to have the opportunity to change it. And that is actually a whole other side of business that I don't think a lot of people really take into consideration. And it's even happening in the massage therapy world. Because most of us, the reality of it is, if I were to sell my clientele, I really can't sell my clientele, Krista. But what I can sell is my business model.
and you have bought into a business model where you're at. And I'm gonna head back to mentorship because I actually teach individuals that are looking at retiring how to bring in other therapists to work with them for a couple years to transition the sale of their business over to them because that's the only way. That's the only way that it works in this field. when you can start to think outside your box, I'm liking Jana and Jana more all the time.
When you can think outside the box and you start to see the possibilities and you start to understand the do's and the don'ts and what you can do and what you can't do, when you start to really see that, boy, business can really take you far. It can't. And there's my little passion for business. I love all things business. I love creativity. I've really enjoyed getting to know you and talk to you about this. I've asked Krista a lot of questions about her business model.
Yeah, guess if you're interested, you can talk to Krista just because I'm curious how, I'm always curious how it works, but I'm really impressed at how well it's working and I'm impressed with you as a person and how much you're offering to other therapists, which I think is huge in our field as well. And so I've really enjoyed our conversations. Yeah, thank you. I love chatting with you as well. I love to hear that you're a third generation entrepreneur. I love.
entrepreneurship, but I certainly was not one when I was young. When I became a massage therapist, it clicked for me that, wow, like if I want to succeed, it is only up to me. And I love, I loved it. I love, like I said, I took a business course and I love learning about how to, run, run a business and, entrepreneur mentality.
and connecting with other entrepreneurs, but I was not selling suckers at third grade. I, I, nothing. I think that's so cool when people do have that like gene that they are selling and, just looking for ways to make money early on. That was not me, but becoming a massage therapist, it clicked like day one. Yeah. Yeah. No, I always, I always wanted to work for myself. I knew I just, I just had no idea what I was going to do. And you know, it could have been a lot of things.
Now I'm going to tell you, I actually went to school in business management because I wanted to run a business and I got into my first year of college and went, well, this sucks. And so then I joined a massage therapy course and went, woohoo. And we're 32 years later and all the different things. And you know, even inside of that massage therapy journey, I didn't stop at just being a massage therapist. And this is me talking to the audience. I didn't stop at massage therapy. I became an educator.
I became a teacher. teach nationally approved classes, but I love to teach. love to offer what I can. I'm a business coach. I now I'm on a little podcast. had a blog for a while. I wrote magazine articles. You can do whatever you want. You're not stuck to just this. If you're an entrepreneur and you have that heart and that passion, there is a world of opportunity to you. And all of those are different income streams, just like kind of Gianna talked to you about those different income streams.
There's opportunity. There's opportunity if you look for it. There always is. Yeah, absolutely. Krista, thanks so much for being on our podcast today. And I will look forward to chatting with you again because I love your little entrepreneur mind and how it works. And we hope to have you back soon. ⁓ thank you so much, Amy. I really enjoyed this conversation. Time like flew. I really appreciate it. And I just love chatting with you. All right. Thank you so much and we'll see you soon.
