Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Rebecca Tamm, Owner of Michigan Massage and Wellness, located in Troy, MI, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Michigan Massage and Wellness is a massage therapy, movement, and wellness practice. We treat people from all walks of life, from the overworked, over-tired, and stressed out who just need an hour to themselves to individuals with chronic pain, debilitating injuries, concussions, and those who are preparing for or recovering from surgery. We offer services such as relaxation and deep tissue massage, cupping therapy, scar tissue therapy, concussion/TBI treatment, manual lymphatic drainage, and more. Being able to offer so many different modalities under one roof has allowed us to build a wonderful client base, and they know that we have something for everybody.

Tell us about yourself

I dropped out of high school and resigned myself to cubicle life. At the age of 24, having what I guess is now a quarter-life crisis, I just felt stuck and stagnant. A chance encounter with a brochure for a local massage school changed everything. I had never given or received a massage before enrolling, but once I was there, something just clicked. And while in school, I had aspirations of working for a fancy day spa doing fancy body treatments, and after school, I got a job doing exactly that, and I hated it. My father was an entrepreneur, and I guess I followed in his footsteps. In 2004, with only two clients to my name, another chance encounter led me to the office I had been in for over 12 years, mostly working as a solo therapist. In 2017 I moved to a new location with much more room, and I started building my team.

Truth be told, I never thought I would be doing this work for this long, and in this industry, you do run the risk of burnout very quickly, but that led me to learn new and different modalities not only to have more offerings for clients but as a way to save my body physically from the demands of this industry. And now, 18 years later, I still can't imagine doing anything else. Not to mention at this point, I am essentially unemployable because I've enjoyed a great work/life balance for so long.

And what motivates me to keep going is our clients. They are like family and friends to us. Some have been with us since day 1, and to be able to build lasting relationships with people, they don't just look at you as another massage therapist that they can replace at the drop of a hat or when your schedule doesn't work for them, but we become invaluable to them for their wellness.

What I love is when someone comes in for their session on the brink of tears because they are in so much pain, they can't turn their head, and they are at their wit's end, and an hour later, they want to cry tears of joy because of the improvement in range of motion or reduction in pain. People are never unhappy to see us!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Surviving the great recession of 2008, as well as a three-month shutdown in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I saw several of my colleagues close their doors for various reasons, but for me, quitting wasn't an option because this is all I have. Being a single person and small business owner without a second income to help out really makes you push through the mud.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Keeping up! I've been a jack of all trades, wearer of all the hats for 18 years now, and just in the past year, I have started to enlist help on the support/admin side of things, and that has been a huge weight off of my shoulders. Also, the belief is that all of us small business owners/self-employed people are just rolling around in our piles of money. Ha! I'd love to show someone how much it ACTUALLY costs to run a business.

And the uncertainty. When we closed in 2020 for three months, I really had a hard time with that. I realized how much of my identity was tied up with my work, and not being able to do the thing that I loved and see the clients that I loved to see, not to mention the state of the world at the time, really put me in a negative headspace. Looking back, I can see the downward spiral I went through, but being able to say that we not only survived but we have thrived since then really makes me proud. And to see that something I created on my own, pulling myself up by the bootstraps and learning as I go...well, I may not be the most successful, and we may not be the biggest, but our motto has always been quality over quantity, and I believe in keeping things smaller and more manageable and making sure that our clients and our staff are happy. Because when they're not, it absolutely reflects in their work, and I want to have a space where massage therapists can come to learn, grow and thrive and be part of a team/family. Not just another cog in the machine or someone that all we see are $$ above their head.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Profit First! If I had started implementing that when I started my business, I can only imagine how much further ahead I would be.
  2. Know your audience. Do you want to cater to the masses, or do you want to have a niche service/offering/product? One of the services that I do is one that literally no one else in the area does, and I have people that will drive 2 hours for treatment.
  3. Respect your staff. If you have employees or plan to, treat them well. Recognize them, appreciate them, and give them a voice in your organization. I treat my employees like peers, I believe in transparency, and when we are doing reviews, I not only ask how they are doing but how I can improve as a leader. Like Sir Richard Branson says: "Train employees well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough, so they don't want to."

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://michiganmassageandwellness.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michiganmassageandwellness
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michiganmassageandwellness/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/michigan-massage-and-wellness/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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