We recently connected with Nichole Alarcon and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nichole, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I’ve taken two major risks in my professional career, and thankfully they have (so far), been the two best decisions I have ever made.

The first major risk was when I quit my corporate office job at a major massage franchise, to take my then part time massage practice full time.

In 2014, I initially began serving my San Antonio community by creating a completely mobile massage therapy practice called Massage Móvil. At the time, this little practice was something that I was only supposed to do part time, because as I stated earlier, I had a full-time career working in the corporate office of a major massage franchise. As my experience grew in the massage franchising field, so did my love for working one on one with clients. In 2017, I decided to take a leap, leaving the stability of an office job to pursue mobile massage therapy.

This was a huge pay cut, and since I only had clients on evening and weekends, I had to find new clients to keep me busy throughout the day and earn enough to pay my mortgage among other things. Then three months into this decision, I found out that I was expecting a sweet little boy.

This was so exciting for me, but I knew it would come with challenges, especially as a mobile massage therapist. I began searching for a massage therapist for myself because to continue working through my pregnancy, I knew self-care was going to be essential. Unfortunately, it took forever to find someone who wasn’t afraid to provide decent pressure or work on the areas that really needed attention.

It seemed like most massage therapists I saw, didn’t have the confidence, or training, or both to provide a good therapeutic massage for me until I found someone who specialized in it. She was so amazing, and I attribute having her on my birth team allowed me to work up until my due date. This journey through my own pregnancy, coupled with massage showed me just how much birthing people need this work.

This leads me to the second major risk I’ve taken. From 2014 through 2021, I had built a wonderfully sustainable mobile massage practice, had an office I worked out of part time and was booked months in advance, yet I still felt like I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. In the beginning of 2022, I made the bold decision to completely rebrand my mobile massage practice. Not only would I be changing the name of the practice, but I would completely change the focus. This was a scary decision because the foundation of Massage Móvil was based on being mobile. With this new practice, I would work mostly out of my office and solely focus on the motherhood community, with a specialty in prenatal, postpartum and pediatric massage.

Through my few years of going through the motherhood journey myself, I realized a passion for working within this niche group and knew this was what I needed to do. At the end of June 2022, I made this passion into and reality, and though it’s only been 3 months, I am just as busy, if not more and am working with the people I have a passion for helping.

For me, these risks were so worth all the hard work and fear, and I could not be happier that I made these leaps.

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

My name is Nichole Alarcón and I’m a licensed massage therapist and owner of Nurture Massage Therapy in San Antonio, Texas.

I’ve been a massage therapist since 2013, but this is not my first career. I was taking a break from working in the theatre industry and needed some time to figure out my next move. I began working at a massage franchise as a front desk associate, booking appointments and selling memberships. I was in awe and quite intrigued when people went into their session in pain and came out different, better. I created relationships with the massage therapists who worked there to gain more insight and decided that this might be something I could really love doing.

I enrolled in a local massage therapy school, while still working the front desk of the massage franchise. During my time in school, I learned so much and would ask questions and learn more techniques from the massage therapists I worked with. By the time I finished school, I was a manager of the massage franchise I worked at, and they offered me a position to work in their corporate office. I wouldn’t be a massage therapist in their location, but I would be training their franchisees and leadership teams how to operate their business, help with store openings across the country and create new protocols.

It was an amazing experience, but I still wasn’t quite doing what I initially set out to do. So on weekends and the evenings I was in town, I started my small mobile massage therapy practice. Over 5 years that practice grew and grew, and I grew less interested in my corporate position. I decided that it was time for me to go out on my own and take my part time practice, full time. I did this for nearly 8 years, before finding my passion in working within the motherhood community.

In June 2022, I rebranded my mobile massage practice into Nurture Massage Therapy and now specialize in prenatal, postpartum and pediatric massage. It’s a beautiful season in-person life, and I’m truly honored to get to work with this demographic of clients and their families.

In addition to working with clients on the table, I also offer something called Yomassage, which is a unique blend of breath, stretch, and massage in a small group setting. This is a wonderful class for someone who struggles with high stress, high anxiety, or as an introduction to massage. I’ll guide you through a meditation with breath work to help calm and relax the nervous system.

Then show you how to get into restorative stretch positions, which allow the muscle tissues to relax and release at a slower, more natural rate. While resting in these positions, I’ll provide a gentle massage to various parts of the body. It’s truly an incredible experience.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

One of the best things that has helped me build my reputation within my market has been community. I worked hard to learn about and connect with other professionals who work within the same demographic that I work with. Whether it was networking meetings or taking a colleague out to coffee to learn more about what they do and how they can help my clients, being able to foster that sense of connection has been so key. I’m definitely a believer in community over competition, and this mindset has been so helpful in creating such a strong referral network, but also in being able to help my clients find the best care for their specific need. Whether it’s with me and massage or with another provider for something completely different, my clients appreciate the authenticity in trying to find something right for them, and my professional referral sources, often return the favor.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

One of the most effective strategies for growing my clientele, besides networking in my community, has been my love for sharing educational content. By providing these educational resources for my social media following and current clients, I can show how I am an expert in my field. People often come across these videos, posts or blogs, find something that helps them, and then can make the decision that I might be someone who they trust to work with. Creating these educational resources does take time, but once they are created, I can share them in various ways and have essentially built up an entire library of resources that can continue to help current and future clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nurturemassagesatx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nurturemassage_satx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nurturemassagesatx
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7-QP3GEcm35-VeqNseKdgg

Image Credits
Brittany Reynosa of Brooks and Co Photo