We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eric & Angel Koenig. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eric & Angel below.

Alright, Eric & Angel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

After spending years building our counseling practice, Mindful Counseling, from the ground up we felt like we were being led to incorporate holistic health and wellness into our practice. After a lot of consideration, we decided to open up a sister company, Mindful Wellness Center, to provide services beyond traditional counseling. The goal of opening Mindful Wellness was to be a one-stop shop in our community where clients could come to address not only their mental health but their overall well-being.

We decided to begin with a sensory deprivation tank or float tank. Float therapy, or rest therapy, has been the subject of over 250 scientific studies and has been clinically proven to be beneficial for people suffering from PTSD, anxiety, depression, and a host of other conditions. We felt this would be the best immediate fit for our facility. After months of research, we ordered our sensory deprivation tank and our adventure was underway. We began construction on our float room which was at times a tough experience. Because the building was already in place we had to install a shower in what was previously a conference room which was quite an ordeal. The foundation had to be cut to install drains and water tap for the pod. T.V. mounts and office equipment had to be removed. After several months of build-out, we were finally ready for our pod.

After months of planning it was time for pod delivery. The day of delivery was an adventure I’ll never forget. Despite having multiple calls with the freight company the pod arrive on a tractor-trailer. This was interesting as we are located in a business park and there is absolutely not room for an 18 wheeler in our parking lot. To further complicate matters their truck arrived with no lift gate so we had no way of getting the pod out of the truck. Thankfully our moving company, Little guys movers, was determined. After about an hour of strategy and work the pod was finally out of the truck and on the ground. A crew of 7 movers and two trucks worked for about 7 hours to get the pod in the building. We spent the day removing doors, measuring, moving, and assembling. If something could go wrong, it went wrong. From doors being a fraction of an inch too narrow to slide the pod through to door hinges being stripped out and not being able to be removed it was a long day.

However, after hours of moving the pod was finally home and our wellness adventure had begun.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Angel and I had built mindful counseling up from a one-person, one room, counseling practice to a full-blown group mental health practice with 11 counselors. We saw that there was a need in our community not only for mental health care but general wellness. We wanted to normalize wellness and make wellness services accessible to everyone in our community.

I was working as a Risk Manager for a local governmental entity and attending Law School. To be honest, I was experiencing burnout and was not taking care of myself. Angel suggested that we try out a sensory deprivation pod nearby. We had a day date and made the trek to a float center nearly an hour away as there were no local float centers. I was expecting to be bored out of my mind and went in with low expectations. However, after just an hour in the pod, I came out feeling different. The experience is a hard one to explain but I felt rested, relaxed like I just had a massage, and my brain was able to find a home for all of my stray and intrusive thoughts. I came out feeling great. Almost immediately we began talking about how we could incorporate float therapy into Mindful Counseling and daydreaming about bringing wellness to our community. After a few months of talking and worrying we decided to take the plunge and Mindful Wellness Center was born. I made the terrifying decision to leave my stable job of 5 years to start a new adventure and we were off and running.

Currently, we offer float therapy, reiki, and wellness coaching. We will be adding sound healing to our practice in the next few months and have plans to expand into other areas as well.

We never wanted to be a day spa, we wanted to be an authentic place of healing and a place where people could be their authentic selves and not feel stifled by a sterile, spa-like environment. It was important to us to be a part of our community as well. So we began offering local artist space to display their works for sale. The result was a truly unique wellness center. Instead of a sterile spa experience, our guest are welcomed by local art, bright colors, our shop dog Tripp, and tons of live plants.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start?

Obtaining initial funding was tough. Thankfully we had some experience with building a business from our sister company Mindful Counseling.

We approached our bank on three occasions for a start-up loan. Each time, despite having fantastic financials the bank would not provide a loan. Instead, they offered credit cards. Knowing we didn’t want the interest rate of a credit card we hit the ground running and started looking for Small Business Loans.

We used google to find an index of lenders who provided SBA loans. We applied for several small business loans and after about 3 or 4 duds we finally matched with a great lender. There were still a few bumps in the road but everything eventually worked out and we were able to secure a small business loan with favorable terms.

To anyone that may be struggling to find start up money my advice would be to keep going. It takes time but persistence pays off.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Both Angel and I have been working from a young age. We have had many terrible bosses and tough work experiences. When Angels was an LPCI completing her hours for full licensure she had a hard time finding a company that treated their employees right. Long hours, overfilled schedules, late paychecks, and poor employee support seemed to be the norm. That was part of the catalyst that led to the creation of Mindful Counseling. We wanted to be a place where people wanted to work. A place where people could be their authentic selves and not have to hide behind their “office personality”. A place where employees could achieve a real work-life balance.

I believe that transparency and communication are key to managing a great team and making your business a great place to work. Employees are encouraged to be their unique selves. From picking their own office furniture and decore to rotating employee-led training topics.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mindfulwellnesscenteroftx.com
• Instagram: mindfulwellnesscenteroftx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MindfulWellnessCenterofTexas
• Twitter: @mindfulwellnesscenteroftx
• Other: TikTok: Mindfulwellnesscenter

Image Credits
N/A