We were lucky to catch up with Maple Conn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Maple, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Two (of many) things I think my parents did right are: 1) teaching to learn from mistakes, and 2) creating a space where it was always safe and encouraged to ask for help.

In my life I think both have an effect of putting my focus on growth, community, and future-focused creative problem solving.

Navigating any career comes with some trial and error but I always find myself focused on recovery when I make a mistake rather than focusing on the mistake itself. This is helpful for my team because it keeps my eye on moving forward and continuing to create a good team workspace rather than making me turn inward with regret or frustration. And as far as asking for help, I feel comfortable relying on my network and delegating tasks when I have too much on my plate and that has helped me expand community and ensure that I maintain capacity to complete my own tasks with an attention that continues to ensure good quality result. Also I feel that proactively asking for help is empowering to my work rather than a last resort!

Maple, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in Evanston, IL, just North of Chicago. My mom was a Therapeutic Massage Practitioner my whole childhood so I grew up around the holistic healthcare community. After graduating High School I pursued Massage Therapy education at the Costa Rica School of Massage Therapy, where I graduated in 2017. And now, 6 years later, this career continues to feel like a superpower.

I moved to Minneapolis, MN in 2018 where I have been a proud member of the team at Sabai Body Temple ever since, and where I took over the business leadership reins in January, 2023. Sabai Body Temple offers Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork services including Massage Therapy, Thai Massage, Shiatsu, Reflexology, Cupping, Body Exfoliation, and Thai Herbal Poultice Treatments (a steamed herbal deep muscle heat treatment). Every session is personalized to fit the client’s needs following a short intake interview at the beginning of every session. Sabai also takes good care of our team with monthly paid training, living wage, unlimited time off, and a variety of other perks and benefits. We also prioritize shopping local as much as possible, don’t use much plastic, and do our best to use clean ingredients for the benefit of both our world and beloved clientele.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Other than training, I think what’s most helpful for succeeding in the holistic wellness field is people skills and diverse forms of communication. People want to be heard and they are mostly likely to return if they feel you have taken the time to know them, that you want to help them, and that you know what you’re talking about. Giving confident recommendations for home care/self care is also important because a lot of the healthcare and wellness industry benefits from sales and empowering someone with a simple stretch recommendation that they can do at home for free creates trust. Remembering details from session to session builds rapport, and acknowledges them as a whole person with a full life that’s worth remembering. For example, if I know a client has kids, a beloved pet, or even a hobby, I’ll write that in their notes so I can remember to check in about those details. Those details affect my client’s life and might affect their body too. I mention diverse forms of communication because these days there are endless channels for communicating about reservation dates, intake details, client questions and so on. Having a phone line, email address, text-available number, and messenger capability in 1 or more forms of social media increase your chances of receiving clients from various generations, and with varying comfort levels with verbal and written communication. Giving clients the option of reaching you a variety of ways empowers them to reach out in the way that is best for them. And following their visit, you then know how to best reach them… because people are busy and may simply forget to reach back out so knowing how to effectively send a gentle reminder is HUGE for building a returning clientele.

Any advice for managing a team?

My advice for managing a team is KNOW YOUR TEAM. Regularly ask how they are doing, what interests or hobbies they have, what additional stressors might be affecting their work ethic, or check in with what type of dessert they’d like brought in for their birthday week! People want to feel valued and, contrary to what pop culture might suggest, people want to be helpful and usually have great work ethic when they are engaged with their work and feeling supported. Encourage your team to take breaks. As a manager, you take on a higher responsibility — sometimes that means lower stress one week, and then covering for 2 sick team members the next; it’s best to view your managerial role as a responsibility rather than a title placement. Also find regular opportunities to praise work that has been done well, rather than mostly speaking up when something is wrong!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sabaibodytemple.com
• Instagram: @sabaibodytemple
• Yelp: Sabai Body Temple
• Other: hellosabaibodytemple@gmail.com 612-872-8354