Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kory Rigler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Kory , thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I never planned to own a product based business. It wasn’t a goal of mine or something I put on my vision board.

What I did want to do, was help people feel good, feel better in their day to day. I have three different autoimmune disorders and face a lot of chronic pain in my life. Over the years I had tried everything from special diets and supplements, to yoga and heat therapy. Some things helped, but nothing really solved the pain, until I took a myofascial release class. In one hour, my pain was gone, Not forever, unfortunately. But for the afternoon, which was a miracle to me. I started to learn more, took some classes here and there, and then found a studio that was offering myofascial release instructor training. I knew right away that I needed to take that training to further my goal of helping myself, and others, feel better in our bodies. That training was through Wellround.

Wellround was actually founded by a phenomenal yoga teacher & fascia expert, Betsy Shilling. I, along with many others, trained with her in 2019 and I absolutely fell in love with the products she had developed. For a couple years I used those tools and shared them with my students, and then in 2021, during the pandemic, Betsy announced that she was closing the business.

I was stunned, and immediately reached out to a dear friend I had made through Betsy’s training, Holly Anderson, and said “what are we going to do?”. Neither of us could imagine not having these tools available for ourselves and our students. We both tried some tools from different companies, and nothing quite compared to what Wellround had to offer.

That’s when we started talking about “maybe someone could buy the company to keep it going”.

I reached out to Betsy, and after months of talks and negotiation with her and her partners, figuring out lawyers and funding, I was able to take over the company. I am forever honored that she trusted me to continue the vision she had for Wellround.

It hasn’t been easy, in many ways it is more tricky to take over an existing business than to start from scratch. There has been a lot of learning, a lot of growth, and I have made some amazing friends and met some incredible people so far. We were able to expand our product line last year with great success, and plan to expand further expand it this year.

Anytime I start to question my sanity for thinking I could do this, I look to the people I’m helping. The positive reviews, the students who praise the practice, the people who buy kits for all their friends and family because of the difference it’s made in their lives.

I didn’t plan to own a product based business, but that unexpected step is exactly what I needed to put me in the position to pursue my true passion- helping people feel good, and live well, in their bodies.

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 am an absolute movement & body nerd! I grew up as a competitive dancer, and went on to be a dance instructor and choreographer for 18 years. Along the way I also joined the Army Reserve as a medic, and became fascinated with Anatomy & Physiology. I went on to take college classes in Anatomy, Physiology, Kinesiology, etc. and in 2016 became a 200hr Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT). I have continued my studies through Yoga for First Responders, Veteran’s Yoga Project, Wellround certification, and a lot of independent study. I’m currently enrolled in a 500hr YTT. Learning is a really important part of my life.

I am also an autoimmune warrior with three autoimmune disorders, which leads to chronic pain. After spending so many years pushing my body through competitive dance, distance running, obstacle course racing, weight lifting, etc. my body really started to protest. This brought my shift to yoga and myofascial release, and ultimately brought me to running Wellround and focusing my time on helping people feel their best in their bodies, however that looks for them.

Wellround offers simple, effective, self massage tools and instruction for every body. I work with everyone- seniors looking to improve basic mobility, athletes looking to improve performance and decrease recovery time, people fighting chronic pain and/or chronic health conditions, and every day people who are dealing with every day aches and pains. I firmly believe that wellness is for everyone, and myofascial release through self massage is a piece of that wellness puzzle.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

Buying Wellround was terrifying for me!

Writing the initial email to Betsy, hoping I wasn’t stepping on toes or offending her by asking about buying her company, left me sweating- quite literally.

I had run some other small businesses in the past, but very different kinds. I had done both varying forms of MLM, as well as craft based businesses. I always did well, but this felt really different. I really had to put on my big girl pants, fight the imposter syndrome, and believe in myself.

Especially because as it turned out, the initial contact was the easiest part!
Now, I want to make it clear that Betsy and her partners are fantastic, and it could have been a much more difficult process if I had been dealing with people who weren’t, so I definitely count myself lucky in that sense. The process in general though, is a lot. From initial negotiations, to hiring a lawyer for paperwork and contracts, figuring out funding, the transfer or products and information, all of it took a lot of communication and patience on both sides.

The funding was especially frustrating, because it is a difficult process to get a business loan. As I found out, it is even more difficult to get a loan to acquire a business that was less than two years old and in the process of closing. No bank wanted to touch that, and since this wasn’t something I’d known I was going to do until it was happening, I didn’t have the kind of savings needed to do it on my own. I ended up getting a personal loan, and by some sort of miracle was approved for just enough to make a decent offer.

In a way, the process felt kind of like buying a house. You find THE house, you fall in love, you make an offer and cross your fingers and hope until you hear back… and then once the offer is accepted you worry about funding going through, and then you worry about inspections passing, and then you worry some more until everything is closed and the keys are in hand. I worried the whole way through, hoping with everything I had and leaning on my support people. I didn’t even tell most people until everything was signed and 100% official, because I was so worried it wouldn’t go through. Even then it didn’t really feel real for quite a while.

There are still some challenges I’m facing, like instagram not allowing me to sell through them because facebook doesn’t want to recognize me as the owner of the Wellround facebook, despite me being the only person on the account… lots of little things like that, that can get frustrating. I just try to tackle one thing at a time!

I am blessed to have had the opportunity to take over an incredible company like Wellround, to have had the ability to pull some financing together, and to have the support I’ve had from family, friends, and colleagues.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

It can be hard to explain to people that rubbing some balls around on their body can improve their wellness. Especially when the practice comes with a name like Myofascial Release. Most people have no idea what I’m taking about.

When I post on social media, some people get it, or maybe they can see my belief in the practice and decide it’s worth a shot, but the absolute best way for me to share the impact of a self massage practice, and Wellround tools in particular, is in person. I absolutely love the process of saying “what’s hurting you today?” or “what do you need help with today?” and being able to spend a few minutes directly addressing their request, and to see the transformation in them when they feel it working.

The relief I see from people in my classes, workshops, and demonstrations always warms my heart and reminds me why I do what I do. I have yet to have someone earnestly try a Wellround practice and not feel the benefit, and from there it is just explaining the difference between Wellround tools, and something like a lacrosse ball or foam roller.

We do have other Wellround certified instructors from when Betsy was leading trainings, and we are starting certification training back up this spring, which means there are more instructors out there to share the impact of the practice with people who can really benefit from it.

It’s important to me to help as many people as we can first, and sell products second. I hope people feel that when they work with me or any of the Wellround instructors.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.livewellround.com
• Instagram: @livewellround
• Facebook: @livewellround
• Youtube: @livewellround

Image Credits
Erin Wakeman