Ep 62 Transcript: From Shutdown to a National Franchise with Amber Briggle

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors in spelling or inaccuracies in the spoken words.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and today I've got a super fun conversation. I am being joined by Amber Briggle and she is the CEO of B-Well Enterprises, which is also the home to Soma Massage Therapy and incredible massage therapy businesses she has built. And she is working now towards bringing a new level of massage therapy across the globe in a franchise way.

She is the epitome of the accidental CEOs that we talk about on this show. And so I really wanted to welcome her on here to be able to share her story because it's powerful. You're going to love it. And we're to be digging into, you know, how some challenges can turn into these growth opportunities, which is exactly what she's done. And you're going to be blown away when you hear what she has done with everything that she's been thrown at, that's been thrown at her. So, Amber, welcome. Shauna Lynn, I'm really excited about this conversation. Thanks so much for having me.

I am super excited about this as well because you just have such a fabulous and unique story. And so in our pre-interview, we did talk a little bit about how, you know, we're all over talking about COVID, but you said something that I really wanted to repeat here because it was so profound. And you said, you know, as much as we all want to just move on and forget about COVID, small businesses have not forgotten. And I, and I love that. So tell me a little bit about your

your journey. We've talked about you're you are an accidental CEO yourself. And so tell us a little bit about what's brought you to where you are today. Yeah, absolutely. I will try and keep this very brief because it all happened over two decades ago. But I did go to a really fancy four year school and basically graduated with a degree where I had no clue how to use it. And I'm sure a lot of your listeners can probably relate to. I ended up kind of bouncing around, working at a dead end job.

landed in Boulder where my husband was going to grad school. That's what led us to Boulder, Colorado. And I knew I wanted something different and bigger for my life. I still didn't really know what it was that I wanted to do. still kind of, I was in my mid twenties, early twenties, I was still kind of floundering and discovered that one of the very best massage schools in the world at that time was located right there in Boulder. was the Boulder College of Massage Therapy. Now I had never in my life gotten a professional massage before.

But I thought it was something that I would enjoy doing. I'm a very hands-on person. I've always been really interested in holistic medicine. It seemed like it would give me some flexibility in maybe building my own business and just doing whatever I wanted to do with my life in the future. so plus it was just a one year. It was a one year program. So was like kind of like a low commitment for me. I applied. I was accepted. I graduated with honors a year one year later and I took off and my business was really starting to

⁓ Get solidly I had a good solid reputation in Boulder which was kind of ⁓ Kind of remarkable because there's a lot of massage therapists in Boulder and I was brand-new I can imagine if like the number one college. Yeah, it was there for a reason. Yeah And so I I graduated I started working I had a good reputation and then my husband got a job offer in the Netherlands now We were in our 20s and we didn't have a kid We didn't have a house plant or rent was month to month and when the Netherlands calls like they

They don't call twice, right? So we jumped at that opportunity, moved abroad. I started a family there, but I was able, our first child was born there, but I was able to continue working because wherever I go, my hands go too, right? So then when that job opportunity, when that contract was over for him, we landed in Denton, Texas, which is just north of Dallas, which is where we're at now. I, at that point, had started and stopped kind of two businesses.

right, and was starting to kind of get the hang of it. And so I started again in a spare bedroom of my house ⁓ and very quickly had a supply and demand challenge. had far more demand than I could safely supply. Okay. And so I started referring other people to other massage therapists in the area who I knew they would get quality work from at some, you know, if they weren't able to see me for a few weeks because I was booked.

I wanted to send them elsewhere so they could get that treatment that they needed and then they could come back for their recurring session with me a couple weeks later. And most of the times those clients would come back and see me for their next repeat appointment, but sometimes they wouldn't. And it wasn't necessarily because the other massage therapist was better than me. Maybe it was just because their location was more convenient. Their hours were more convenient. Maybe there was a personal connection that they found, that they created.

session. And I realized pretty quickly it would make more sense to refer people in-house rather than out of house. So I saw the need and I did all the things that a person needs to do when they're starting their own business. I got an EIN and I got an LLC and I got the website. And I hired a massage therapist whose work was similar enough to mine that on my busiest days, which was all of my days, I could refer my clients to her. So it'd be a seamless sort of transition and then vice versa.

And she got busy and then things just kind of grew from there. So after about a year and a half of that, I moved my business out of the spare bedroom of my home into a brick and mortar, very difficult location to find. I do not recommend this location to an actual, like maybe if it's like you're working out of the house on a day and you're doing your computer work, like you could do that. But if you've got people coming to you to give you money, probably not the best location.

However, because we ⁓ were by appointment only, we didn't do any walk-ins, we're by appointment only, and we do charge for cancellations, people were committed to finding us. So they'd find us, ⁓ and we did very well for a number of years, and we were looking to expand again into a larger location when COVID hit. And that's when everything just went sideways. ⁓ At that point,

In March of 2020, we had two locations. So I had my one studio that had four treatment rooms, and then I had a satellite office in a chiropractic clinic. Two months later, I was down to one location. The office in the chiropractic clinic had closed. We just had the one location, and the majority of my team had quit. Now, a lot of your listeners, I imagine, are women like us, and I'm sure a lot of them can remember the challenges of trying to...

run a business, ⁓ start a business, just log into your computer while your kid's school is closed, while there are no after school activities, there's no extracurriculars, there's no play dates, daycares are closed. And so we had this constant struggle as women of like, how can I keep my family safe, keep my kids educated, you know, and still further my career? And for a lot of women, that was just incompatible.

And there's lots of data out there. I mean, it was called the she session for a reason, lots of data out there about how the pandemic negatively impacted our careers. Well, 85 % of massage therapists are women. And so while I had a deluge of clients that wanted to come back and see me, I didn't have the capacity to take them on. And so it was an absolute struggle. And one by one, by one, by one, I started slowly rebuilding my team to the point where a year after,

we had reopened. We were able to open in a brand new, beautiful location, just a few blocks from downtown. It's very visible, like right on a busy corner. We got our own parking lot. I've got seven treatment rooms. I was able to open that second location at the chiropractic clinic again. So now I have two locations. I've got a team of, I wanna say maybe 26 or 27 massage. Oh wow.

Whereas before the pandemic hit, had 13. So I've doubled my staff. I've doubled my space. I have four front desk assistants. And now we're grossing over a million dollars a year and looking to franchise. And I'd be happy to talk about some of the pivots that I made if that's something that you're interested in talking about. yeah, the pandemic, it's hard for me not to tell our origin story without also talking about the pandemic because it was so traumatic. I, every day, I had no idea.

Is this the last day that we're going to be in business? I mean, we were completely closed. Like you can't do massage from six feet apart. We sell literally no merch. Like we sell physical touch and we're getting in your bubble. We're getting in your space. We don't live with you. Right. And we're getting and we're getting close to you for a very long period of time. Right. Can't do it online. Can't do curbside. And it was terrifying to see my staff one by one. I understand why they had to quit, but I was

How can I possibly have a business if I don't have a workforce, right? So it's really difficult for me to talk about where we're at now without talking about this really difficult period that we went through five years ago, but it was through that fire that I walked through that I understand that I'm actually pretty good about decision-making and planning and staying focused even when you're panicked out of your mind.

And I have a little bit of, I don't know, I would like to be able to share that wisdom with the world, which is what kind of opened my eyes to the idea of franchising is how can I help more people have good paying jobs and heal as many people as possible coast to coast, given the 20 years of experience I have and being able to salvage, not only salvage, but evolve and glow up a business through a once in a century pandemic.

Yeah, and mean, as much as we're talking about specifically the challenges that the pandemic itself brought, I think that it's just such a relatable story in that, you know, we're often seeing businesses, there's always, there's factors that we cannot control. There's external factors that are going to impact our business, our ability to remain agile, our ability to be able to be flexible and adapt. ⁓ That helps to dictate the success that we're going to have going forward. At the same time,

I mean, especially in times of uncertainty, you know, we're, in a state right now where a lot of things are changing on pretty much a daily basis. And while massage therapy may not be as impacted currently as some other businesses, there are certainly some industries that are dealing with and navigating layoffs and various challenges for their own business to keep the lights on. And I think, you know, we speak to this, you you mentioned it in kind of your intro there about how like this is a

I don't want to say it's a female only problem, of course, ⁓ but women have extra challenges because of the additional demands that are on us. And I think just maintaining your mental health throughout this, like, what would you say, like, you you're dealing with, you're losing all of your staff, you're looking to the future, and there's so much uncertainty because every day things are changing. You don't know.

when you're going to be able to return to quote unquote normal circumstances, you're trying to abide by the protocols, you're trying to do best by your family, what would you say was the key to keep you moving forward? Because it's so easy in those circumstances to just sit down. We all have those moments where we would love to just curl up in a ball. Yeah, and I did, and I did that plenty of times. Let's be honest. But no, that's a great question. I admit I did not practice great self-care.

during that period, I just didn't have the bandwidth for it. And it's unfortunate because our tagline at SOMA is, self-care is how you get your power back, right? And when you're in those really rough, those hardest patches of your life, that's when you need self-care the most, but that's when you're the least likely to access it. So for me, what kept me going was, well, I'm 47. So though this was my first pandemic, it also ain't my first rodeo, right? Like I've been-

there was the great recession in 9-11. And I've seen things have happened to our country and happened to our economy. And we still have this kind of uniquely American perseverance and optimism that in six months, it's going to be better. So I did have this optimism and this hope. I'm also insanely stubborn. ⁓ my business was closed not because of anything I did wrong. And I just kept holding on to that.

My money's dwindling, but I haven't done anything wrong. I didn't make a bad ethical decision. I didn't make a bad financial decision. I didn't make a bad legal decision. I didn't make a bad HR decision. This is out of my control. And so what can I control? Right? So I would just kind of reframe it that way. And so what I did is I gave myself a project. I'm very type A. I need to have something to do. And so I created a virtual massage studio, which I know sounds crazy because

because I just said you can't do massage online and you can't. But I recognize that there were billions of people around the world who were stuck at home doom scrolling on their cell phones all day long. Where's the care? When are we going to open again? When's my job coming back? Where can I find toilet paper? Just like scroll, right? And what a great opportunity for me to get in front of them and educate them on massage as medicine, massage as part of your wellness routine, massage as self care.

And I would put together these series of self-care videos. So it helped me because I'd have to put on pants and makeup every day. That was, when you're in it, like that's all you have to do, right? Absolutely. on pants and makeup. And I would frame my camera and I'd get my ring light out and I'd say, okay, you know what I've been dealing with? I can't seem to unclench my jaw. So let's work on this together. And I would walk people through.

stretches and exercises and mindfulness activities to just relax their jaw. We'd work on our breath. We would do like DIY reflexology because remember we couldn't touch our faces but everyone had sinus congestion because it was and your allergies were driving you crazy. So we teach you how to like decongest your your sinuses by touching your feet right and people people started following this because they would it gave it gave them some hope it gave them something to do.

⁓ It helped me educate, like I said, the whole world on on massage as medicine. And that gave me a sense of purpose, though I wasn't making money off of these videos. It's still I felt like I was still working on my business and it still gave me something to do until we got to the point where I could start hiring people and bringing clients back in again. I was still working on my business even if there was no revenue coming in. And that gave me some sense of hope and just

Just a thing to do. just gave me something to do every day. Yeah. Well, even as much as we talk about you can't pay the bills with exposure, you can't pay the bills with hope, but at the same time, you you're building, you are building exposure. You're building your credibility. You're building your expertise. And what I love about what you were talking about there is so key when it comes to bringing people into your business. Here's the thing. So I come from a home staging background. I work with a lot of home stagers.

And if I see one more home stager post on social media about decluttering tips, I'm going to lose my mind because no offense, if you're listening to this and you're a home stager, stop with the decluttering tips. Unless it is something that is absolutely going to revolutionize the way that we declutter condos already got it all covered. So stop it. So what you're talking about, though, is you're covering things that people no one else is talking about. And that's the key is if you're going to be on social media, if you're going to be sharing a message, if you're going to be leading

through education, which I love building your business through education. I think that that's such a smart way to do it, but you've got to teach people something they don't already know and teach them something they can't just easily Google. So especially in your case, you're physically showing them how to do something. That is key as well. When you can actually demonstrate it, those do really, really well online and help to, again, you've got your credibility, you've got your expertise, you've got your exposure. So now...

when you want to get some say media exposure, you can easily say, well, check out all these videos that I've done. What I look like on camera. This is how I speak on camera. These are the types of things that I can teach people. And you can go to any media outlet and say, I've got these six things, my top six tips for whatever. And I guarantee they're going to look and say, well, no one else is talking about this stuff. Yes, this is a brand new topic. And that's key. You are finding a new topic. And yeah, COVID.

caused all of that because of the whole move to everything online. You might not have thought of it necessarily in that same way otherwise, but at the end of the day, like you said, you are still doing something and as much as we can't pay the bills with exposure, you were building your business still through that exposure, which I think. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, you're right. You can't. I early in my career I used to just give away free massages because I was just like I knew if someone could just feel the of quality of touch as we call it. I knew that they'd be hooked and a lot of times they were, but.

A lot of times they weren't. And I was giving away like hour long sessions. I'm like, it's your birthday, come hop on my table. And then they wouldn't see me again for another year for their birthday, right? When they could get that free massage. there is, so you're absolutely, you're right. can't pay the bills with hope and exposure.

But I do think there's some value in not monetizing every single thing you do with your Absolutely. But once I figured that out, I stopped giving away hour-long table sessions. And I would go to like farmers markets. And I would do free 10-minute chair massages. But the only thing I'd ask is for a ⁓ email address that actually worked and your phone number so I could start an email list. Right? Amazing.

Yeah, so like, so we're still, there's still that exposure, but it was much more targeted to the people who I knew would be coming back to see me. It was just a taste, just a sample. Same thing with these videos. They were just little samples of what massage can do for you and what soma massage therapy specifically can do for you. Like we're not a fluff and buff spa. We really focus, we've got a no tipping model. You know, like if you've never taken physical therapists or chiropractor,

why would you be tipping us? You know, you get a full 60 minutes on the table. I treat my massage therapists like the professionals that they are. We've got a no membership model. We're doing everything so different than a lot of these other corporate places. And by being able to give people these little like, you three to five minute tastes of these videos, they started to understand that massage was kind of more than what they, that so-called massage therapy specifically was more than what they understood.

massage as a whole to be and it really ended up being a very positive thing in the end for my business. Well one the things I love that you talked about there is exchanging these 10-minute massages for an email address so you still made it transactional and that means that they the people who are getting these massages are associating a transaction with they're associating a value with it it's not just something that's just been given for free even though you know yes it's fairly easy to give an email address but we've kind of all especially nowadays we've gotten a little bit weary of like

I don't really want to give my email address out to 16 more people in a day. So to give that email address out is building a little bit of trust. like you said, you get to build up this email list and you just never know where that next business is going to come from. They might not need you for a full massage today, but when they do, now you're going to be top of mind. Exactly. That's absolutely true. there's people that I met. we, sorry, when I first moved to Denton about 15, 16 years ago, the very first

what's called the Denton Community Market started that season. And I had a booth at the very first one, because I knew if I could just get in front of these people, that's my target market, right? Like they're interested in wellness, they've got a little extra time, they've got a little extra money, know, come see me. And even now, now I'm still a licensed massage therapist, but I'm not actively practicing because I'm so busy building my business on this franchise brand. But even now we still have people who I met 15 or 16 years ago giving

free chair massage or it was their coworkers who started to come see me. So it's definitely value. There was definitely value. It probably one of the best things I could have ever done to get my business off the ground. Yeah. Thank you. And thank you for sharing that because I think that is so important that, you know, a lot of times people are trying to come up with, you know, this unique hook to get people onto their email address or they're simply adding people because they met them at a networking event and they're just adding them on, which I'm not saying you can't do that. I'm just saying that you're going to create a deeper connection if they've got something to actually associate it with this. It's tangible.

that that's exactly what you're doing. So not everyone can give 10 minute chair massages. Not everyone's services are easily condensable into 10 minutes for that matter. Not that massage is easily condensed into 10 minutes either. But I organize a local charity walk for multiple sclerosis. And we always bring in registered massage therapists to do exactly that, to give just these mini massages. And it's not intended to fully heal all ailments or anything like that.

gives a bit of a taste anyway, give them some nice exposure while also being able to support a great cause, which is fantastic. So, yeah. So I want to circle back to your no tipping policy though. Where did that come from? And I'll admit, I don't know if I've ever tipped a massage therapist. So I don't know if that's a standard practice in some areas, but ⁓ you know, do you promote this to your, to your, it's good. yeah. We make a big deal about it. Yeah. We have intake forms. We have it on our,

appointment reminder emails. I mean, it's part of our brand and a lot of people have told me too how much they really appreciate that, that we do have this no tipping model. It came organically, Shauna Lynn. wasn't, I've been kind of, you talk about the accidental CEO, like I've been making this up.

The whole time. 20 years of just kind of winging it. Now I've got it down pretty good now, right? I've got- Of course, yes. Who's solid business says we're franchising, we gross a million dollars a year. I think I've got it down, but you still kind of lead with your gut and your intuition. Now, when I was in Boulder, was self-employed. I did get fired from my very first massage job, actually. Our practic clinic. That's ironic. But honestly, I never really wanted to do this.

for someone else, I always want to do it for myself. So getting fired was also probably one of the best things that could have happened to my career. As a solo practitioner, I knew exactly how much money I needed to make to pay my bills, to keep my lights on, to have a little bit of walking around money. Like I knew what my rates needed to be and I was keeping 100 % of that. So why would I rely on a tipping model, right? It also set me apart from

everyone else in Boulder because like if you live in Boulder, you're like if you're not a massage therapist, you're like a yoga practitioner or a dog walk or dog whisperer, right? Like, I mean, like there's so many massage therapists. So what can I do to set myself apart in this industry? And that was something I could do. I knew what my rates would be. So this is how much I'm charging. It did set me apart. And what I found too from that is that my clients like myself began to view massage as being

part of your wellness regimen, right? As I which it should be. Right, exactly. Like if you've never tipped your physical therapist and you've never tipped your chiropractor, why would you be tipping me? Like we worked, no, I didn't just rub oil on you and slide you out to your car an hour later, right? Like we got into those adhesions and those trigger points and we're realigning those muscle fibers and that fascia and like, now your range of motion is increased. Now your migraines are less extreme. Like now you can breathe deeper. This is all beneficial for your health.

When you get people thinking in that mindset, they're more likely to come back on a very regular basis versus just a couple times a year, like for their birthday or anniversary or when their sister comes to town or whatever it is. we have a very loyal, very loyal client base that's come from that. And also, honestly, tipping is stressful. Like, you don't know how much you're supposed to be tipping someone and they're like elbow deep in your glutes, you know, and they're like really hitting that spot. And they're like your sciatica is just like magically disappearing.

and you somehow go into your brain and you're like, okay, how much did I have in my checking account and how much can I afford to tip Amber right now? And if I don't give her as much as I gave her last time, is she gonna think it was a bad massage? And if I give her too much, then I can't come back from my massage for an extra three weeks later, because I've gotta wait for this other, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's so It just takes you right out of the moment. So like, let's just make it easy for our clients. Let's make it easy for our therapists who have a consistent paycheck. They know what it's gonna look like.

And yeah, it's a huge part of our business model. It's one of the things that just one of the many things that really sets us apart. I think especially in today's current climate and culture where ⁓ tipping has become something that has been added on to like everything, You never expected. And I come from a hospitality background as well. I worked for 15 years as a bartender. I lived off of my tips and I've often defended the practice of tipping in that.

I go above and beyond for the guests that would come into my bar. And I appreciated being rewarded for that. As much as it wasn't necessarily expected, it was always very much appreciated. so I would say, I definitely stand out from the person down the street who's just like, here's some wings and a beer and see you later. I was working at a high-end martini bar. And at the same time now, having been on the other side of this for over a decade now,

I do see the fatigue that comes with the tipping and the stress of it of like, listen, just cause I didn't tip you a ton doesn't actually mean that I didn't love the service. It's just, don't really know what's appropriate and I don't want to offend you by giving you too much and I don't want to offend you by giving you too little. And I also want to be mindful of like, I've got other bills to pay too. And you know, I came out for a dinner that I was expecting was going to cost me a couple hundred dollars that I don't want to spend another hundred dollars on tipping. yeah, I love that.

And so, what I find interesting about this is not only is a big part of your culture, but you're also able to attract and retain ⁓ valuable staff members. And that is a challenge in growth in a business period. But the fact that you're able to do that by saying like, listen, you're not gonna get any tips, but I'm gonna pay you a fair wage. So tell me a little bit about that, because I know you make sure that you are paying a fair living wage for all of your employees. Like how do you create the first culture?

Yeah, I really try to and of course, everyone always wants more money, like, you know, all of us do, but I really, really try to and we pay at or above what other massage studios in our area are, are charging. ⁓ You know, if you want to payroll is my biggest expense and it should be right. If you want to have a quality business, you got to have quality people and that means you got to treat them well.

So like, I don't ride their ass if they call out sick. Like, I'm gonna believe that they're really sick and I don't want you coming into work and spreading your germs. If you're really sick, right? Like, you need me to change your schedule because your school schedule or your kids schedule change, like, let's talk about that. Let's sit down together. I, you know, I try, as I said, try to pay my team a fair living wage, give them as many hours as they can safely and legally work. And when I'm seeing problems pop up,

at work, I don't, because I said before, you know, I really, I just trust that everyone's got a good heart until you prove it otherwise, right? I'm never going to assume the worst in someone. So when I start seeing problems pop up at work, I don't instantly think that this person is trying to, you know, cheat and lie and steal from, from Soma. I assume that whatever's going on is actually a symptom of something else, right? And that's when we sit down and we have a come to Jesus talk. And I'm like,

What, tell me what's going on. Like as much as you feel comfortable sharing and what can I do in my scope of practice as your boss to help support you? Do you just need a week off? Do you need a micro loan? you like, do we need to adjust your schedule? Like what can we do to support you so that whatever's going on in the background doesn't bleed into work? And when you kind of enter into these conversations with a heart and when you're not chasing the bottom line, but you're caring for people.

You're caring for the people that build your business. I've always seen my job, whether it's a massage therapist, a business owner, or now a CEO, it's my job to care for people. And if I'm constantly chasing the bottom line and always entering into every situation with this scarcity mindset, then I'm gonna be making rash decisions that only serve one purpose, which is money, right? And that's just not sustainable. If you want to have, as I said,

a quality business, you need to take care of the people that run that business. And that's my massage therapist and that's my clients. They always come first before any other decisions are made. That is so beautiful. And I really hope that everyone who's listening, really listen to that, rewind it if you need to. Like, let's go back a little bit because it's so incredibly valuable and important what you're talking about there. Leading with questions, leading with curiosity, leading with that

that benefit of the doubt that, you know, I think that it's so easy when we're building these businesses, we're so invested in it. And listen, no one is ever going to love your business as much as you do. I don't care how invested they are in your business and how passionate they are and how great of an employee they are or whatever, they will never love it the way that you do. But it doesn't mean that they're out to get you either. And when they're making mistakes, they really...

I don't know, I mean every job I've ever worked, and again, I was always born to be an entrepreneur as well, and I've been one for quite some time now, but it didn't mean that I gave any less to these other jobs that I worked. I always wanted to prove my value and my worth and be indispensable as much as possible to help them to build their businesses for my employers. And I think that that's how most people do feel, especially when you're in...

a smaller business. Like even though you said you've got like 26, 27 massage therapists, you're still a small business. Like this is still not some big major corporation with hundreds and thousands of people at it. This is still a small business with a very real person at the helm who built this from the ground up. And so you can build these very human and organic and authentic relationships with them.

you know, most of them are not going to be out to get you and you might get the odd bad seed in there and you know, it happens. And it happens and I'm able to kind of spot it fairly quickly. I mean, but yeah, you have those conversations, what's going on and you dig a little deeper and you dig a little deeper. And if you just kind of come to an impasse, then you really need to make some really tough decisions. But you know, if you're always thinking that people are out to get you like that is no way to what a toxic way to live your life. You know, that's just that's not good for your heart. It's not good for your health. It's not.

It's not good for your work culture. Let's just trust that everyone out there is in it for good and tells me otherwise. And if you prove me otherwise, then you're gone. I'm not going to jump to that conclusion instantly. And that's the type of leadership that I'm bringing into this franchise model now, too. I want to help other people also be able to create non-toxic, supportive, good-paying work environment for people who don't necessarily need a college degree to do this work.

Additionally, you don't need to be a massage therapist to own a Soma massage therapy. Now, I am one, but that's not a requirement. Similar to like if you want to, I don't know, open a...

coffee, I don't know, name a coffee place that's not a Starbucks. Like one of those other ones. ⁓ In Canada, we have Tim Hortons. Yeah, Tim Hortons. are all franchises. Subways are all franchises. So someone who wants to open a Tim Hortons, like they didn't need to know how to make a donut or a cup of coffee. Exactly. They teach you. And you don't need to know how to do a massage. You just need to know how to run a massage business. Right? Right. And so that's what I'm trying bring this sort of like servant leadership model to this.

to this franchise model as well and really make, not only make wellness accessible to people coast to coast, but make wealth accessible for any of our franchisees. And for your listeners too, please know, if you're interested in franchising, absolutely come reach out to me. We can talk, but if this isn't for you and you maybe know someone who for this might be a perfect fit, maybe they're onto their second or third career, they're interested in wellness, they're a hard worker, they can.

solve problems in real time, they're creative, maybe this would be a perfect fit for them. And if you end up sending someone my way, who then later becomes a franchisee, we're offering a referral bonus of either a thousand dollars cash or a year of free massages. Like can't do their way. So. Yeah, exactly. And what I love is that, you you, you've found a business model that not only works, but sets you apart. And this is the key. If you were going to try to franchise something, there's a reason why

you know, Tim Hortons and Subway and all these places that are that are franchise places, they are unique. They are set apart from someone else. And it's a lot to do like to do the Starbucks model where you're opening up all those coffee shops yourself. How many coffee shops have they closed down over the years as well? Because there's a lot that you can only have your hands in so many places. But when you franchise it, it allows someone to become a business owner. But based on a model that is going to work and not just work, you're not just

this average massage therapy place, you are a very unique model. And I think that's why I really see this working for you. But I would imagine it wasn't an easy decision to come to of like, I'm gonna just franchise massage therapy. So tell us about how you got to that decision. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't an easy decision and it was an easy decision. So it was an easy decision.

because I've seen, as I said, the success that we've experienced through and post COVID when many businesses, especially businesses that employ primarily women, did not make it full stop. And those business owners didn't do anything wrong. They just got screwed. They just did. And for me to have a high touch business that doesn't sell any merch and employs primarily women,

and make it through the pandemic and have now a $1 million plus industry, like that's remarkable. And so it was an easy decision to think about franchising because again, we talked about some of the things that make Soma different from our competition. And a lot of that is because I want to make wellness accessible to people. You don't have to be a member. Our price point isn't insane. I want to make this accessible. But again, I want to make

wealth accessible to massage therapists, to franchise owners, to the front desk administrators. Everyone's going to get paid a fair living wage and be part of a really fast growing, exciting brand. I want to have that servant's heart in everything I do. And I want to make this business as big as I can to serve as many people in as many ways that I possibly can. It also wasn't an easy decision. How do you maintain

the quality of your brand when it's so big, right? ⁓ How do you make sure that you are supporting your franchisees? Now I'm in the Dallas area. If I have a franchise owner in Canada, in Portland, Oregon, in Tallahassee, Florida, like I can't just pop in and see. So how do you maintain the brand, the thing that made the brand so unique, right? I've learned, so I, yeah, sorry, let me back up.

I want to make sure I'm supporting. I want to make sure that I'm supporting anyone who owns a Soma franchise because it's a big investment, right? You are investing in your future. For some people, it's their life savings on the line, right? Like I, I have make sure that we're doing it right. And I know until previously, I knew nothing about franchising. I knew everything about massage, but I'm starting a brand new business with this franchise. So I made sure I vetted several different franchise coaches. I wanted to make sure that I

landed in the right place. And I'm now with, his name is Rick Grossman. He's the franchise Bible coach. You can buy his book and listen to his podcasts as well. He's been fantastic. He and his whole team have been fantastic walking me through this and making it so that we can duplicate the Salman Massage Therapy model anywhere. I went through this really intense like nine month boot camp with them where I extracted everything in my brain from the past 20 plus years and put it on paper. And we have like

written policies and written procedures and written protocols. And when we're, when we enter into a relationship with a franchisee, we don't sell franchises like I can sell a massage. We award them. We're looking for someone who really resonates with this sort of model because we want to make sure that they, that they can uphold our brand standards. And when they go, if I, if we have a cowboy and they go off script, there's ways to, you know, what we call cure that.

And if they can't, then you terminate the contract because I'm not, it's again, I'm in it for the people and not in it for the money. And if they're cheapening the brand and not adhering to our values and our ethics, then it's really, then it's better to cut them off than have them stick around. mean, there's no value for you as the franchise owner and the franchise corporate essentially, if your brand is being tarnished, that's, it's not worth

The money that you quote unquote make selling a franchise isn't really making you money. that's not a, mean, not to say that it's not making you money, but what I mean is that like, it's not as though like you're just gonna run to the bank with it, set it and forget it basically and not worry about them. And just like, I've got this money. I don't need any further money. don't need any, again, it's not even about the money, but I...

it is about further money because you can't build the brand. can't get the next franchisee. If you're like, well, we had a Soma massage where in my area and they were like bottom of the barrel for massage therapy. like, so they're not coming. You're not going to the next Soma. Yeah. mean, so like, and you're right. Like it's not about money, but Shauna Lynn, like I also have a mortgage to pay like money, right? Like we need, we do. We need money to pay the bills. I actually really like money. I like it a lot. Right.

But that's not my North Star. Like what guiding me is making sure that this business model is accessible to as many people as possible. And I am showing up every day in ways that can care for them and care for myself in sustainable, supportive ways, right? And through that, I can pay my mortgage. But when you flip that around and you're like, how am gonna pay my mortgage? I'm just gonna sell a franchise to any cowboy that comes along. That's not sustainable. That does tank the brand and that does take the customer experience.

And then you have turnover, like crazy with your massage therapist, your team members. You really have to like, what is your North Star? My North Star is making this accessible and sustainable and supportive for everyone that wants to enter into it. I love how you framed that because it's so perfect about like, if you're leading with money, you're setting yourself up for disaster, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're not trying to make money. We're all trying to make money. I just did a social media post on this like a couple of weeks ago.

We're trying to make money. I really like money. I like money a lot. Yeah. as women, we're kind of taught to not be that comfortable with that. And, you know, women like myself, like you and other guests that have had on the show are trying to change that conversation of like, listen, you're in the business to make money. And if you're not, you're running a charity. And what's the point of doing that? had Michelle Williams on my podcast a couple of months ago. She's a profitability coach. And she was talking about when she was running an interior design business.

she realized she was actually losing money to the point where she was essentially paying to serve her clients. But that's not a business. And it's one thing, like don't get me wrong, if you've made some bad financial decisions and you're kind of paying a little bit of a price for that, that's a different thing to navigate. But overall, your business should pay your bills. And yes, it takes time to build up to the point where you are profitable and you're gonna spend a little bit of time in the trenches, of course. But at the end of the day,

your goal of starting a business is to make money. So your commitment to ensuring that every soma massage therapy is making money, that in turn supports you, your business goals, your mortgage payments, all the things like that. And frankly, I don't think I want to work with a franchise owner or franchise corporation that isn't in business to make money, because I want to know that they're going to be around for me still. If you're not a business to make money, then what's going to happen if you run out of money? Where does that leave me? Yep, absolutely.

100%. So now why would someone start or like buy into your franchise as opposed to starting their own massage therapy business? I know you've kind of answered this, but I really want to like lay it out for people here because yeah, it's an understandable question. It's a very good question. If you had a chunk of money and you wanted to start your own business, why not start your own business? Why pay a franchise?

6 % of your gross royalties every month. Why would you do it? Well, let me tell you, I have 20 years of bad mistakes under my belt that you don't have to make now, right? I don't have all the answers, but I have seen an awful lot, including a global pandemic, including getting fired from my job, including getting almost sued, including, I've seen all these, I've seen it all.

And so the benefit of buying into a franchise model is that you are not doing any of this alone, whether you franchise with someone on massage therapy, and I hope that some of your listeners do, or whether you find another franchise, maybe it's home health care, maybe it's Tim Hortons, I don't know, maybe it's something else, But you have the support of fellow franchisees who are in the trenches, seeing it every day, are seeing their profit and loss, and they're seeing the trends in the economy and in their communities.

You also have the supportive corporate who have literally people on staff who are there, similar that we have at Selma to answer any questions you have when it comes to marketing, bookkeeping, ⁓ supply lists, build outs. Like what do I want my studio to look like? Here's a map, we've got it for you. We've got a build out list that goes like down to the freaking paperclip. Like, so now you have a Selma Massage Therapy Studio, what do I need to put inside of it? You don't have to do.

any of this alone. And that is the beauty of franchising is that you own your own business, but you're not operating in a silo. And myself, having done this since 2004, being a massage therapist and then being a business owner since 2011, I've seen a lot. And it's my expertise and my background and my history that has led me to having this successful business today.

And I want to teach you how to do it too. And I've got an incredible team at Soma who as they've continued with me on this journey, they understand that their roles will be evolving into a more corporate model so that they can provide the level of support to our franchisees that they provide through their customer service for our clients. So that's, mean, if you basically, basically, if you have $100,000 to drop on a business, like, are you going to do it by yourself and let the chips fall where they may? Or do you want to buy into a franchise model and have that support?

So it may not be for everyone, but I think it's a brilliant business model and I'm really excited that we're part of it. Same. And I mean, it's an established brand. It's an established model that has been tested out and fine tuned over so many years that to me it is kind of a no brainer. And especially like what you said earlier about you don't even need to be a massage therapist to do this. And that is so key that.

You do have to be invested in wellness. And if you're just looking to turn a quick buck, like no business, don't get into any business just to turn a quick buck. If you're looking to turn a quick buck, I don't know, go be an Amazon seller or something. But if you're looking to build an established business that you can really be proud of, that you can support your community with, that you can support

other massage therapists with. mean, this sounds like it's such a fantastic opportunity. And I love that you're offering this referral bonus because frankly, like the best way as any business, any business, whether you're a franchise or not, your best connections are referrals. know, someone else who's listened to someone else or met someone, you know, I'm constantly, my clients are most successful when they, hate using the word capitalize, but you know.

or leverage. They lean into. They lean into. The relationships that they already have, not in that super icky way of like, hey, what can you do for me? But just in that authentic way of like, listen, you know, if you don't put it out there, no one's going to know what you're doing. I was working with a client recently. She's got a, we're making some changes and she's got a brand new business that we're going to be launching for her. It's super exciting. And at first she was kind of afraid to tell people about it. She was afraid someone might steal it. She was afraid some people might look at her like she had three heads.

Like there was a lot of imposter syndrome and other fears that were kind of going on there. But as she started telling people, you know, the magic that happens when you start telling people about things, all of a sudden, like someone knows someone who knows someone else and like that chain of networks. So.

you're offering this referral bonus is such a great strategy as well for building a business because it's fantastic. like, listen, if you're listening to this episode, you're like, I can make a quick thousand dollars here. Like for a year of free massages, right? Your free massage. Yeah. Who do you know? And you're right. You do not have to be a massage therapist to do this. You need to be a massage therapist to be a massage therapist, but you don't need to be a massage therapist to own a business. And this is a business.

And let me just say too, another great perk about owning a Soma Massage Therapy is I'm on those massage tables every week. Because wouldn't you? Of course, yeah. I mean, I'm getting, it's high stress. mean, you know, but it's also, I admit a little bit of quality control. wanna know, obviously our massage therapists are good. Obviously, when they're us. like, I didn't know that the table in room five was so creaky until I got on the table because no one told me. So now we have a new massage table in room five. So it's a little bit of quality control. Anyway.

Definitely lots of perks of owning a soma massage therapy. Come find me. It's at mysomamassage.com Amazing. Thank you so much. And I love what you're saying about the creaky table. We had a company vehicle that I very rarely drove. And so every time I would get in and I would be like, guys, I didn't know that this was going on here. Like, why didn't anyone telling me? And so I just basically made it a point to drive that vehicle once a month, even if I didn't actually need to drive the vehicle for work, because it quality control. Yeah, absolutely. And I would show up on projects with us.

with my staff, not because I thought they were doing anything wrong, but just, know, where are we at on things? And are there opportunities for us to grow as a company and as a business? So I love that. Yeah. It's a great way to support your employees. It's a great way to support yourself, your own self care, as well as quality control. So win, win, win. Amazing. Well, listen, if there's someone listening to this episode today and you want them to take just one bit of advice, you shared so many valuable

nuggets today, but if there's just one piece that they take away from all of this on their entrepreneurial journey, what would that be? Yeah, I think it goes back to setting your priorities so that people come first. Right. money will come, do what you love and the rest will fall into place. But when you're constantly when you're in this scarcity mindset and you're always worried about how am going to pay the next bill? How am going to attract the next client? And you just you have this like weird like

mental game of chess where you're always worst case scenario, you're always chasing the money, you've lost track of who you are, why you started this business. You started whatever it is that you're doing, you started this business because you want to help people and you've got a passion for doing this thing that you're doing. So put that first and put your people first and everything else will fall into place. Just always do the right thing for the people who support your business and they in turn will support your business. Love it.

Thank you. That is a perfect way to end this as well. So thank you so much, Amber, for sharing your story today, for being so open and honest with everything that you have navigated over the years and for helping to inspire our listeners today. Thank you. Thank you, Seanan. And this was a real joy. Thank you so much. Thank you. So listen, if you're listening to this episode today, of course, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a review wherever you get your podcast. And remember, the best way to support not only this podcast,

but your fellow female entrepreneurs is to share this episode with someone that you know can benefit from it. Maybe it's someone who's considering getting into a franchise themselves. Maybe they're thinking about franchising their own business. Maybe they're a massage therapist who could use a little bit of support. Maybe it's someone who might be a great soma massage therapy franchisee. Whatever the case may be, again, support your fellow female entrepreneurs by sharing this episode with them. And until next time, keep thriving.