We recently connected with Missy Albrecht and have shared our conversation below.
Missy, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard
One of the things we do differently at Invincible versus other physical therapy clinics is we assess the ENTIRE body, ensuring that deeper structures like the organs, nerves & blood vessels are moving well along with the surrounding muscles and joints. We see a lot of people in our clinic who have been to many movement providers (physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists) and haven’t fully reached their goals because there was, for example, an organ restriction from years ago causing the body to protect the area. Their past providers probably gave great care, but there were deeper structures that needed to be addressed to allow the body to fully heal. Our mission at Invincible is to help spread awareness that these deeper structures need to move well for the full body to move + heal well! We hope that spreading the word will increase the number of referrals to people who do this deeper work taught by the Barral Institute (called visceral manipulation = organ-specific facial mobilization) & we can all work together to optimize care for people. We work with so many other providers collaboratively where we do that hands-on deeper structure work and they continue their amazing skills with muscles, joints & movement education (or whatever else they specialize in!).
Missy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Invincible was born in 2014, built on the foundation of helping active people get their bodies up to speed to where their minds were already at the start of their workout/race/game. Initially working mostly with the CrossFit community, focusing on injury prevention & performance, I already had some initial training in working the organ system because of my own personal success story in physical therapy school. I had just dealt with some major health issues that were ultimately caused by gut issues. I also had bad back pain that nobody could figure out until a professor of mine introduced us to visceral manipulation. He worked on my intestines and got rid of my back pain, so I always knew I wanted to learn it once I felt stronger in my general physical therapy skills. The initial organ class was in 2011, but I really dove in head first in 2017 into the Barral Institute curriculum. It honestly took me a while to really feel confident letting people know their organs needed to move too because it felt very ‘out there.’ And now I can’t stop telling people about it because it’s such a missing piece to our healthcare system and the health of our society. 7 years later I’m now a teaching assistant for the Barral Institute, spent 2 years mentoring a physical therapist who didn’t initially know the work and is now a believer in the work, and am now mentoring other providers who are learning the work. The work that we do at Invincible is so unique, my hope is that people who are looking for true healing will come in with an open mind & trust that their body is the ultimate healer. We are just facilitating the body’s own healing mechanisms. We assess where the body is holding the most amount of tension and work that area. If you come in with hip pain, it’s very possible that we start with your stomach! We just have to listen to where your body takes us to start. And then of course we working on education about how you’re treating your body outside of the office (posture, walking, exercise, eating, etc.) And we also talk through the other providers you have seen to see if it’s worth adding someone else to your team (functional medicine, naturopathy, holistic nutritionist, pelvic floor specialist, etc.). Our patients are always so surprised at how gentle this work is, yet how effective it is. And I’m so grateful for the longevity of my career because I don’t have to do the heavy soft tissue work I used to do early on as a physical therapist! These deeper structures don’t respond well to a heavy hand, and the gentle touch we use allows us to be very specific & listen to what the body really needs help with. I’m so proud of how Invincible has evolved over the last 10 years and am so excited to see how it continues to evolve in the world of movement & healing:)
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Wow, this question really sums up 2024 so far. Earlier this year I had an employee (and friend) steal documents from Invincible on their way out to start their own practice. I never saw it coming & to this day they’ve never shown accountability for their actions or any integrity. I had poured so much energy, love, and support into them. No one deserves to have what they’ve spent their blood, sweat & tears on for 10 years casually stolen out of greed. As I’ve talked to other colleagues who’ve had employees steal from them, they have shared that some people just don’t see all the hard work that goes into building a business. They don’t see the documents they’re given access to as property of the business and feel its ok to just take them. The biggest lesson from this experience that I’d like other business owners to know: even if you trust the employee, share as little as possible while still allowing them to thrive in their role at your company. And make sure your employees know how much has gone into building the business. Obviously these things can’t always be prevented, but it could help make people think twice before they steal. The biggest resilience that came from this experience is reflecting back on how I was able to continue patient care these past 6 months, continue to grow Invincible & start a mentorship program all while I was dealing with one of the biggest betrayals of my life. It was not easy, but every day I kept telling myself “whatever you do/feel/think, quality care for your patients is the number one priority.” It was a HUGE practice in mindset training. The manual work we do requires so much focus, I had to learn how to set my own ‘drama’ aside so I could truly focus on what mattered most. A few weeks ago I had a major turning point in my processing of this experience, as I still struggle with the emotions that came from this event. I realized that I needed to not give this event, this person, any more energy than had already been taken. If thoughts arise, I need to refocus on what was good in life and the things I’m grateful for. This betrayal has now inspired me to not let anything get in the way of the Invincible mission because it’s too important (and so is my own mental health!). This experience has not only made me more resilient, but it’s also made Invincible live up to its name even more!!
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
This question takes me back to the first few years of business when it was just me and I didn’t really know much about the business side of things. I wasn’t making a profit, and my savings were dwindling, but I was providing quality care to patients so still felt like I was doing what I was meant to do. I had a few weeks where my personal finances really took a hit and I found myself eating eggs, kale, and quinoa….and trying to sell my clothes for money. I know, it was a low point with money but I would do anything to still eat somewhat healthy haha. I can’t say that I ever thought of closing the business. But I did eventually ask for help and was blessed with some amazing support. I also started sharing doTERRA essential oils, which was an amazing source of side revenue that still allowed me to promote my physical therapy practice + promote a more natural way for people to live. And then the big shift it getting my business on a roll was taking the risk & signing up for PT Biz, a mastermind for physical therapy business owners. It’s with this group where I learned to hire an admin, create systems, build a true business to gain time freedom for personal life. I’m still in this mastermind group and so grateful for the community & resources it has provided me with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stayinvincible.com
- Instagram: @stay_invincible
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/UDa6iAc587ZVnw7q/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: @invincibleco
Image Credits
Valerie Hawks