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

Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

When Inopened Miller Massage in 2017, i never imagined it would grow to where it had today. I started as a solo practitioner in a 10×10 salon suite. I was not only the massage therapist but the manager, marketing department, interior decorator, receptionist, laundry service, book keeper and so much more!

Miller Massage grew rapidly and within months I found myself fully booked. I tried renting my room out when it wasn’t in use, in hopes to shift some of my overflowing schedule to this new therapist. I knew right away it was a terrible fit and parted ways. I decided to bring on contractors to help grow my business.

I had a lot of success in hiring my contractor therapists. I found them on facebook local groups and through indeed. These wonderful additions to the team grew with me into our first store front. We all brought our kids to help paint and make it our own!

In 2020, we had the opportunity to grow into our beautiful day spa and needed to grow further. We hired our first front desk team members and all contractors were turned into employees.

We have a current team of 6 massage therapists and 3 Esthetician’s. We don’t have a high turn over rate, with most team members staying with us for years. Our hiring process and training takes about 3-6 months depending on the candidate. We are always accepting applications for peak season hiring, October- May.

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

Miller Massage is a day spa located in Surprise, inside Sun City Grand. We are open to the public and can be found inside the Cimarron Center in The Grand.

Guests can look forward to a robe and spa slippers at check in, as well as our self guided amenities like our zen lobby and dry saunas. We are noticed from our refreshments like cucumber water and our special blood orange tea, available year round.

We offer specially curated services you can’t find anywhere locally! Our therapists are trained in specialty massages like a Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage or Thai massages. We offer rain massages with our state of the art Vichy shower that includes detoxing mud and body scrub body treatments. Our Esthetics department provides luxury facial services customized to your skin types.

Come see why they call us the hidden gem of Surprise! No need to drive all the way to Scottsdale for a luxury spa day.

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

We truly thrive off of word of mouth and positive reviews or feedback. Surprise is an amazing city that really supports small businesses like mine. We are just greatful for every guest we have visit us and we put our all into what we do. We want to have just a consistent experience you can look forward to. I think you can just feel the difference in the whole vibe of our spa from check in to check out. We really try to go above and beyond.

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

My advice would be to always remember that we’re human and life is going to happen. We should approach things with grace and understanding.

As a business owner, be prepared to step into any role to support your team as a whole. Never expect something from your team that you wouldn’t do yourself. Be prepared to be flexible with your plans and roles.

Keep open communication and be honest. Team meetings give a chance for everyone to get on the same page. I make a point to have an informal meeting with my team leads once a month to check in. We like to try to get the team together for team building activities or group events when possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: Millermassage.com
• Instagram: Millermassage
• Facebook: facebook.com/millermassage
• Youtube: millermassagetherapy
• Yelp: millermassagetherapy

Image Credits
camryn smith photography monetadesine