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

Maksim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry?

Massage therapists are criminally overworked in our industry. While many states in the US vary on their requirements, many require at least six months of training in addition to holding them to some standards of professionalism. Like many others in trade and healthcare industries, we are overworked and underpaid. Many massage therapists are paid by massage hour (not for cleaning, keeping notes, etc) and rely very heavily on tips. If they are not working, regardless of how tired or sick they may be, they rarely have even paid time off (PTO) available to them. Many, still, are misclassified as independent contractors so the owner of the space gets to avoid paying taxes while the worker is charged more in taxes than they would be as an employee.

Massage therapists are experts in reading muscular function and tension, things that contribute greatly to injuries and to mental and physical health. While they may not know everything once they have their certification credentials, massage therapists do know a lot about anatomy and their specific trade — often more than many beginning personal trainers.
Leaving the medical expertise aside, though, massage therapists are experts in inducing relaxation. Massage therapists train (and continue to train) in bringing relaxation to people in their care. There are so many ways to help someone relax and relieve stress. Massage therapists are awesome at helping others to let go of their stress levels. Every day, that skill is more and more important.

Massage therapists are trusted to be in a room with someone in a vulnerable position and lay hands on them, but they are not compensated in a way that reflects that level of trust. At Mythic Massage, we compensate for time in the office–whether the massage therapist has hands on a client or not. We also encourage and provide funds for continuing education and help each other to not work ourselves to the bone. No one else is looking out for massage therapists, so we need to help each other out.

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

I am a licensed massage and bodywork therapist in the state of North Carolina (licensed massage therapist in Virginia) and also a personal trainer. I have a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and an associate degree in Massage Therapy. I initially went to school for personal training in 2007 but ended up doing the massage therapy program due to scheduling. As a performer and former lifter, I have always approached bodywork in a way that looks at the whole person. I tell people often that you can come on your schedule or when you’re in pain and I can “help put the fires out” or we can work together more intentionally to reduce the risk of flares. Either way, I view my work as multimodal, just like wellness is.

I am openly queer, as an out transgender man married to a man. I am also autistic and have ADHD, Coeliac disease, and hypermobility. I love to move but have often run into the problem of my body not agreeing to do that, so I have found ways to work with the body I have. Throughout my career, I have discovered that those with pain problems and those who are transgender have a lot in common: we are highly motivated to dissociate from our physical forms to survive. Our bodies can be so uncomfortable or painful that we lose the ability to control how much we “connect” with them.

Mythic Massage was created as the first phase of a community-type center for movement, where people can improve their bodies without dieting or torturing them in a way that further separates them from their forms. If the body hurts, they won’t stay there, even as the culture around them chants, “no pain, no gain!” In contrast, we tell them to listen to their body and don’t do things that won’t work. We believe that movement in all forms heals and that everyone can find a style of movement that works for them.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

As the owner of a business so small I refer to it as a micro business, I have found myself trying hard to be The Boss. The whole thing rests on me and they are employees so they don’t have to make these choices, so this is all on me — right? I hit a point where I saw it coming: payroll would not be on time. We grew extremely quickly and I had taken on MCAs that were extremely expensive. Finally, I was at the end of my rope: there were no other places to go. I told my staff the truth and offered them they could leave and I would write them a glowing letter of recommendation. Obviously, I would pay them when I was able. My tiny team stayed and pointed out that I am not alone in this. Slowly, I am learning to share with them things about the business and pulling them into the overhead view of things. Together, we decide on some spending, upgrades, and how to use our sliding scale program effectively.

I’ve also learned to give more positive feedback, which I have not experienced much on my own. This plus learning to share the load and how we all guard each other’s boundaries and free time has made our team flourish.

2022 was my first full year with employees and I have learned so much as a leader and as a human. The burdens don’t need to be mine alone. Remind yourself–and them!–that you’re a team and anything that goes well for one of you impacts the rest!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

While we do have a few sources of new clients, our best method of getting new clients is simply our referrals. We have been blessed with clients whose lives literally change for being in our space and working with us. Those clients become our best advertising and tell others about us. When we offer discounts or other gifts for referrals, few of our regulars take us up on them. They know that we are grateful for them and they are grateful for us.

Basically: giving your clients the best possible, 5-star treatment, and being genuine will get you loyalty that is worth more than anything you could possibly give.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mythic-massage.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maksimumrex/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mythic.charlotte/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maksim-gomez/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/maksimumrex
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5_HfsPp0USoVIpmeGcqdwQ
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mythic-massage-charlotte
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@mythicmassage

Image Credits
Maks only: 2021, LunahZon 1, 2, 3, and 6: 2021, Keilen McNeal 4: 2022, Catrina Mineo 5: 2022, Maksim Gomez