We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Delvon Lee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Delvon below.

Delvon, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

My taking risk story kind of goes all over the place, but stay with me. First it started with quitting a full time guaranteed job due to not being on the same page. I jumped completely feet first in to opening my own business without and true knowledge on how to do so. I did the whole no no thing in my industry. Went and got a too big of an office space, bought a lot of decorations for that said office, spent time trying to market myself without knowing what I was doing. Tried to do some demographic look up but kind of procrastinated it. So I went blindly into this new journey I’ve never been apart of. I talked countlessly to people who didn’t respond to my cries of help. That’s when I got introduced to Mentor #1. She helped me perfect my craft while I will still in the process of growing. She was very straight forward with me and I remember her saying “you’re going to be different. You took the criticism and asked the right question which was how do I get better”. Well ultimately I fell flat on my face in office number 1. I was getting to my breaking point trying to figure out why isn’t this working at all. Until I swallowed my pride and asked for help. That’s where I met Mentor #2. She took in everything I was saying was the problem and broke it all down for me to be able to understand what she meant and where she was coming from. It took some time for me to just say I have to relocate somewhere else. There were no signage and couldn’t post anything in the building I was in so no advertisement close by. She offered me to rent space from her while I grew and the rest is history. I knew she previously have worked with other LMTs here in Kansas City, but sometimes people get ahead of themselves and think it will just be easier being on your own. I knew what I wanted and I was gonna fight like hell to get there and she has been with me every step of the way. I took to a Sports Massage group on Facebook and asked what type of classes should I take if I wanted to work with professional athletes. The answers were very overwhelming. I received answers saying “start with them while they are in pop Warner football” to the most expensive classes in the world, but I didn’t have the money do any of that. I was on the verge of quitting my dream of working for myself and that’s when I got a notification on a comment. I clicked on that and all it said was check you inbox I sent you something. So I immediately checked my messages and long behold this woman that didn’t even know me told me to look into SportStretch® USA. As soon as I saw that I jumped on it. Now I’m the type of Massage Therapist that does not want to do what everyone else is doing. I want to be different a trendsetter if you would. I started to message the creator of SportStretch®. First thing she says was you should join the email list. That’s exactly what I did. I kept in touch with her knowing she was probably super busy teaching, but I just came out and said “geez I wish you had time to be my mentor”. She messaged me back and said I’m never too busy. Nobody ever asks me. From there I went to her everything related to sports. Without even meeting me she helped me land my first profession athlete with the Kansas City Chiefs. Then I finally had the chance to take the SportStretch® class. After my world had been turned upside down with the loss of my mother unexpectedly. I was finally taking the next step in this journey. I went to Rockhill SC and finally got to meet Mentor #3. She taught me so much over that weekend and I was excited to get back home to try it out. I was the first SportStretch Therapist in KC. We stayed in touch and some other players started hearing my name. 2020 finally comes around and I’m feeling like what’s next for me. So I took another Huge leap of faith when Mentor #3 ask me if I would be willing to go Fort Worth Texas for a pro day/ off-season workout facility that needed some recovery work for a couple of weeks. I spoke with my wife and decided yes I can’t miss this opportunity. With barely any money to pay bills I borrowed money from my sister to make Texas happen. The whole two weeks were volunteering my time for these athletes to keep getting better while minimizing injuries. I met one of the best people I’ve ever met while there and she is now a forever friend to me. She taught me about being patient and things will start to unravel for me. After a week in Texas I started hearing about coronavirus. I don’t watch the news so I was completely oblivious to all of it. So I took a long trip back home after being gone for two weeks only to be hit with a quarantine the next day I get back to the office. I contemplated on what to do. Should I move? Should I stay? Do I want to start over in business? After being in the house for 2 1/2 months it was time to go back to work. I get a strange phone call from a Texas number so I answered it. On the other end was the trainer for the football guys I met while in Fort Worth Texas. He says “why didn’t you tell me you were from KC?” I explained that’s not what I was there for. I was there to be a helping hand in the recovery of the athletes. He told me to go get a rapid covid test and that is what I did without hesitation. Told me he has some guys that need someone like me for them during the season. Then boom just like that I landed some of the biggest names in the NFL all by taking a huge risk that was make or break for me and my family. boom just like that I landed some of the biggest names in the NFL all by taking a huge risk that was make or break for me and my family.

Delvon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a kid I always wanted to play football professionally. While my friends were saying they wanted to doctors and police officers I wanted to play football. I didn’t get to be on my first team till I was 13. My mom had double carpal tunnel surgery and I would rub her hands to try to make them feel better. Naturally I didn’t know massage even existed. I got to play in High School and it turned out that I was very good at football. Senior year comes around and I transfer to my original HS and couldn’t play. They wouldn’t turn in my transfer waiver. I got to practice and suit up for games, but never got to go in.
At first I wanted to do music seeing that I played bass in orchestra for any years, but that didn’t go as planned. My best friend calls me and says he is going to this school to Personal Training you should look into the Massage Therapy program. So I signed up for a walk thru. As I looked through the curriculum I noticed they taught Sports Massage. I was sold. I have always been intrigued with what the body can do for itself so this just adds on to that while learning about all the muscles and things in that nature.
I procrastinated for so many years after graduating because we were molded to believe that this will have to be a side hustle and we couldn’t live off of this income alone and I believed every single word they said. Now I still did some massages for family and friends every now and then till I got to the point that I didn’t want someone holding my life and my families wellbeing in their hands so I took action and studied my butt off for my MBLEX test.
I passed in 2018 and now I was stuck on do I start this or keep working this job I’m no longer fond of? I remember speaking to my grandmother and she just kept saying God will give you a sign. Don’t worry it will come. Unfortunately it came in way of A-fib at the age of thirty. In the hospital I just wonder what I should do. As I came out of the hospital I got a ultimatum of I either move to Denver for work ( not knowing when I would see my family) or take unemployment. So I took the unemployment and haven’t looked back since.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

For me I have spent very minimal on marketing. I know crazy right? The biggest tool that has worked for me in 4 years is a Google listing. No matter what people will google you first before ever stepping a foot in your space. No matter what business industry you are in.

So every client I see for the first time I ask if they can leave me a 5 star review on my Google listing for me and if I don’t deseve 5 stars please tell me how I can fix that the next time you come to see me.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn EVERYTHING from my childhood. I grew up poor and my mom and aunt raised me my siblings and cousins all by themselves. It was a tough time, but it gave me a drive that I didn’t know I was gonna have. I was taught young by schooling that you need to excel in class and go to a 4 year university to make a life for yourself. Work your tail off Monday thru Friday 9 – 5 and you will eventually grow in a company. I knew that’s not what life had for me, but I was slowly conforming to that standard as I grew older. I didn’t start my own company till I was 30 years old. It took that long for me to finally figure out why I was never really happy working for different companies.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.highimpactsportsmassage.com
• Instagram: high_impact_sports_massage
• Facebook: Facebook.com/highimpactsportsmassage
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delvon-lee-lmt-95a2b6121/
• Twitter: @highimpactKC

Image Credits
Christy Swiatkowski Coach Joseph Potts