Hey, thank you for the opportunity to talk to you! I feel that one of the biggests trends is that the health & wellness industry is starting to see more collaborative, shared-spaces with different modalities of practitioners because there is a need for it from the viewpoint of patients who love the convenience of their practitioners being in one place and from the practitioner perspective to help keep the overhead & set-up costs down. It’s a win/win.

What we’ve done at Performance & Recovery Labs is merging a collaborative sports medicine practice with the practitioners running their own practices under our roof, with an athletic recovery center complete with infrared sauna,

cold plunge, top-notch massage, etc. The collaborative aspect helps our patients move through injuries and rehab faster since they are working with different practitioners, approaching their issues with

their “lens” of focus and our practitioners are purposefully vetted to ascertain if they are truly open to work together as a team on treatment plans. It’s such a fantastic work environment, I feel very lucky to work with these

Of course, I’m the owner and CEO of Performance and Recovery Labs. I’ve had a career in clinical massage therapy for more than 20+ years. I have a strong background in medicine, having pursued a degree in medicine as an undergrad while working in a hospital/medical practice for more than 9 years combined. However, after much deliberation, I chose to take a solid left-turn from pursuing medical school and in 2003, I received my certification in massage and neuromuscular massage from the Colorado Institute of Massage Therapy. It was one of the few programs in the country at that time that really focused on anatomy & clinical massage that I could find.

After graduating from massage school, I started my career and really got immersed in the running and triathlon communities in the Back Bay in Boston, Massachusetts.  After working there for 5 years, I moved to Austin where I founded and operated a successful practice, The Austin Bodyworker for 7 years. It was here that I achieved my goal of creating a flourishing clinical massage-only practice. It was staffed by awesome, like-minded therapists who were serious about treating and educating their clients about what great massage and bodywork are and how incorporating massage consistently into their training & lives could help them achieve their goals. I am going to admit that I am one of those annoying people who loves their job and in Austin, I was so lucky to have so many opportunities to do some really fun things like working on big-named musicians when they came through town to play at SXSW, ACL Fest and Austin City Limits. Getting to massage runners as they ran, on a foggy October morning on the brand-new Formula 1 track, before any cars had ever been on it, was also a fun memory.

In late 2014, after getting divorced I moved to Boulder, Colorado to open Boulder Bodyworker. I wanted to create an even stronger practice here in Boulder than I had in Austin. I consider myself a chronic athlete and triathlete, so I understand the push/pull of training and the mindset of an athlete when they are looking at their event and life goals. I got re-married in 2017. And in January of 2021, I opened PR Labs, with the support of my husband. It felt that the time was right for a holistic, integrated performance and recovery clinic, and the perfect place to seek proof of concept was central Boulder. Our daughter Ava, helps out at the office whenever she can. We’ve been open for 3 years in Boulder and host 7 different businesses under one roof. Our growth has been so amazing to watch. I’d say at least 55-60% of our clients see multiple practitioners on a regular basis. We get great feedback that our patients love the collaborative environment.

Honestly,it’s the least sexy thing you want to do, consistently showing up. Both times when I moved, from Boston to Austin and then Austin to Boulder, I had to build my clientele from the ground up which meant a lot of long hours and time spent showing up to events in the active community. I would bring my table to expos, lead foam rolling clinics for different running and cycling groups, and attend networking events everywhere I could. I handed out cards and shook hands, putting myself out there. Which for someone as somewhat introverted as myself, is not my comfy place. Also, I made myself available to work on people, even when I didn’t feel it. “You want a massage at 8 pm on a Friday? I’ll make that happen”

Word of mouth and referrals. As a small business, our marketing budget was basically nothing, so I connected with different people and businesses on Instagram, got them on the table for a massage and then asked them to tell their friends and family. Networking within the athletic community and getting your name out there. Let people meet you, smile, talk about what realistically you can do and set an expectation of the kind of service people can expect if they chose to work with you.

And while it’s not always fun, being where the patients you want are hanging out is also key. Don’t expect your target audience to come to you in the beginning, put yourself in their way and be prepared to let them know why they should chose you.