We recently connected with Kori Frieling and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kori, thanks for joining 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?

I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist since 2012. In that time I have worked in many different settings. Including chiropractic offices, clinics, and 4 star resorts. I love helping people recover from injuries and to help them have an hour of relaxation.

I decided to go out on my own and open my business shortly after my child was born in 2020. I realized that working as an employee was not compatible with being a new mom in the pandemic.

I found an office space and slowly began to build my clientele. I did a lot of marketing of myself and my skills to other wellness professionals, such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, and mental health therapists in the early stages of my business.

If I could go back and do something over, I would have not waited so long to go out on my own! The idea to be on my own had been in my head for a while, but I was not brave enough to take the chance on myself for several years.

If I were to give advice to a young professional, I would say to invest in relationships with other business owners in your area. It’s hard to get clients when you’re first starting out, so word of mouth referrals are crucial. Even though I am several years into owning my own business, word of mouth referrals are still my biggest referral source. So definitely build those relationships!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have a family history full of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Oftentimes at the family dinners, there would be healthcare related stories from my relatives. I knew that I wanted to help people, but I also knew that I wouldn’t have the stomach to stitch them up or set a broken bone. So I found Massage Therapy and that was that!

I have been in practice since 2012. I love it! I really love working with people on injury recovery. It’s so interesting to me to see how the body can compensate for an injury and how it can rehabilitate after an injury. I have worked with several clients who were able to postpone or cancel joint replacement surgeries after an intensive massage therapy plan.

I have also been a CranioSacral Therapist since 2019. CranioSacral Therapy is a light touch therapy that addresses the central nervous system. I love how powerful the light touch therapy can be for most people. It is a common misconception that massage or other bodywork needs to hurt in order for it to be effective. That’s not the case and I have seen some really amazing results with CranioSacral Therapy for my clients. Right now, I’m taking more classes to better support those who have have concussions and brain injuries. I’m excited to have CranioSacral Therapy become more mainstream in treatment plans as well!

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I would say one thing that is most helpful in a Massage Therapist’s field would be body mechanics. Most Massage Therapist’s have a short career due to injury.

A lot of these injuries can be avoided with proper body mechanics! I am so thankful for my teacher in massage school for going above and beyond to teach us proper body mechanics.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I once worked for a company that required me to sell, sell, sell to the clients. It all felt very pushy and uncomfortable to me because the majority of the clients were not interested in the aggressive sales.

When I first started my business, I didn’t want to come across as being pushy at all. So much so that I wasn’t asking people to reschedule or reaching out to them after not seeing them for awhile. I didn’t realize that the majority of my clients do want to reschedule and want to be reminded to schedule if they haven’t been in for a session in a while. It’s been a learning experience for me to find a nice balance between being pushy and aloof. But I think I’ve reached the happy medium now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Curatiomassage.com
• Instagram: Curatiomassage

Image Credits

Ashley Olsen:photo credit for headshot