We recently connected with Shonda Griffin and have shared our conversation below.
Shonda, appreciate you joining us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
Yes, I absolutely take vacations. I have too. Being self employed helps me to be able to schedule my client time as freely as I need to. Vacations are mandatory so I can give my body a rest from taking care of others.
I have to schedule time to rest and take a break from being “The Boss!” I keep this going by taking vacation breaks every 2-3 months.
I’m also an avid traveler. So I also need to get out and experience the world. I just recently became. A travel agent, so that helps greatly.
For anyone who believes that they can’t take a break or stop what they’re doing for a short period of time, will burn out faster in this business. Taking mental & physical breaks are mandatory.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I started in massage at the age of 4. Seriously, I had three uncles who made me walk on them until my hands became strong enough to massage them. I developed a knack for helping people to feel better and get out of pain.
I’ve been working as a massage therapist since 1995. I have over 2000 hours of hands on experience. I initially started with light to medium touch therapies. My skill set quickly moved towards deep tissue, sports massage, and stretch therapy. My clients seek my help because I can apply deeper pressure to assist with their pain and future ease of movement.
What I’m most proud of is when I get to see immediately relief on my clients faces after I’ve been able to help them feel better. What I want other to know is that I’ve experienced pain in the same areas of my body. So I get what they’re going through. That’s why I’ve geared my practice to help others in the same way I’ve experienced relief.
I’ve been in car accidents, I have degenerative disk issues and I’ve experienced debilitating back pain. So, I understand their cry for help. That’s why I work to help my clients to get OUT OF PAIN. and live their lives with more pain free.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Yes, So before I went back to massage full-time, I was in law enforcement. In my mid-twenties. I told myself that I would NEVER go back to massage again full-time.
I was in law enforcement for almost 17 years. Although I loved helping people. I was becoming less and less satisfied with what I was doing how I felt afterwards. I couldn’t see how my actions were helping others.
Towards the end of my career I’m law enforcement, I made a decision to do something that have me immediate gratification. I know that I’m good at massage, so I decided to go back to it.
While I was in law enforcement, I still had clients who wouldn’t allow me to quit. So I was still helping people throughout my 16 years of law enforcement.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Well, I was very fortunate to have from 80-90% of my supplies that I needed for my business. I did this by accumulating the things that I needed along the way. I actually didn’t realize how much stuff that I had. That made a difference. Less capital had to go into the supplies portion of the business.
Also, I had enough money saved up so I could be able to rent the space that I needed for my business. I did reach out to other small business loan companies. After I took a hard look at my options. The better choice was to use what I had on reserve and build my business that way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.murrietatherapeuticmassage.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrieta_therapeutic_massage?igsh=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg==
- Other: Booking site: https://www.vagaro.com/murrietatherapeuticmassage
Image Credits
My model: Fay Arzagon Johnson