We recently connected with Ten M. and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ten thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Any entrepreneur can tell you that there are always risks involved with starting a new business. Inspiration and drive are the fuel to these risks.
My inspiration to start Cup You was a tiny little seed for the last several years. In the 2016 Olympics, Michael Phelps created a huge new buzz around an ancient therapeutic technique. Suddenly his debut purple spots had everyone intrigued about cupping therapy.
The Olympics weren’t the first I had heard of cupping. I’ve been a clinical bodyworker with my own massage therapy practice since 2014. Even though it had already been near the top of my continuing education wish list, as I saw popular culture catching on I knew there were a lot of opportunities to be had. I added cupping therapy to my private practice and spent the next several years occasionally theorizing or daydreaming about a cupping exclusive practice. Simultaneously I watched almost everyone I performed this therapy on have incredible results. People loved the experience and even more so the relief they felt after. When my lungs became infected with mold around the same time, cupping therapy stole the spotlight again, as it was the only remedy that seemed to bring any relief to my recovering asthmatic lungs.
Fast forward to August of 2022 when I stumbled on a Craigslist ad for a 1978 class C RV. It was stripped down to studs inside, and needed a lot of work, but for several days I kept going back to the ad. It was like an itch, I didn’t immediately know what exactly I saw in it, but I felt compelled to look at those photos again and again. Finally it struck me! I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it and I scheduled with the seller to see it in person.
A few days and $1200 later I drove away a very big project, one that I refused to share with more than a couple people that I trusted the most for several months. I’ve been working hard since then to reshape it into the new home of Cup You- a mobile, on-demand cupping clinic! This project has been the biggest risk I’ve ever taken. Embarking on the build alone has had many terrifying moments as I’ve learned new construction skills on the fly, spent more and more money on supplies, and desperately hoped it could actually be completed in time for the end of my brick-and-mortar lease. The business concept is also a risk since it’s so unique from anything else being offered, but I am confident from my industry knowledge and experience that the demand exists and this will be an excellent way to meet it.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
The past 13 years as a massage therapist have been an interesting journey. I’ve always loved helping people especially with things that others couldn’t solve. This led me to specialize in clinical pain relief. It’s always super rewarding to give people incredible results but in many cases what I’ve given clients alongside this is more hope than they’ve often felt for a long time about being able to feel good in their bodies.
As you can imagine, this can also be a very physically taxing profession. This has limited me in many ways throughout my career, including the number of clients I can see and help. I’ve also observed a largely unmet need in the whole wellness industry for on-demand relief. Almost everyone has had this experience: you wake up one day and suddenly and unexpectedly some part of your body is in pain. It’s painful enough to disrupt your activity but nothing you try at home is relieving it. You call around to a few professionals, massage therapists, maybe chiropractors or acupuncturists, and no one can see you for at least a few days if not weeks!
The intersection of these two problems is the riddle that Cup You will solve. Cupping therapy is an incredibly effective and efficient bodywork application that provides the approximate equivalent of a full deep tissue session in only 20 minutes and at a more accessible price point. I knew that I would be able to help so many more people in an impactful way, especially with the ability to expand by training employees. Simultaneously a cupping exclusive practice can far more realistically operate on a walk-in format to bridge the gap between unexpected aches and the busy appointment books of other wellness professionals.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
My reputation with both clients and other professionals has been built by the ways I’ve helped people over the years.
As a bodyworker I’ve had the privilege to help people relieve pain in their bodies that often everyone else they saw failed to address. Many people have come to me as a last resort, not knowing what else to do, and feeling very little optimism. I don’t know that I can adequately describe how rewarding it is to be able to relieve such pain for someone. If you’ve ever spent months or even years feeling unwell in some way and getting no relief you can understand not only the physical burden that’s lifted when that finally improves but also the enormous mental and emotional stress that is relieved. It’s natural for people to share that story with those around them and that word of mouth has built my successful practice.
When networking with other entrepreneurs I also volunteered with The Denver Boss Babe collective for a few years. This networking group set itself apart from typical groups by focusing on organic, well-rounded relationships over pure self promotion. Being able to serve this community allowed me to help so many other entrepreneurs and especially solo-prenuers like myself through every stage of their journeys. When you give someone the help they need, they are excited for the opportunity to give something back, and this is how networking in this way gave me loads of community support in advice, emotional support, and naturally referrals.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When my private practice was at its biggest turning point, I had to unlearn the lesson of mimicking other businesses.
Starting your own business is hard and it’s human nature to learn by observing and mimicking others. Initially every time I had a question surrounding my business I turned to online communities of other massage therapists and entrepreneurs to ask their advice, see how they were doing things, and generally follow the consensus of the herd. This is an important stage in any skill development, and business is no different. However, sometimes it is hard to know when and how to break away from this stage.
I had already observed that many other massage therapists were over worked, causing burnout and injury and shortened careers. Some of this was squarely on the shoulders of the employer practices, but I was surprised to see that when therapists started working for themselves, they didn’t format their business to fix these problems and instead just perpetuated them.
I knew that I didn’t want the same outcomes for myself and one day when turning to my networks for advice on my next business decisions I finally realized that I’d have to stop doing things their way if I didn’t want their outcomes. As I sat reading the comments of my latest advice seeking post, I noticed that instead of relief and gratitude for the guidance being offered, I felt resistance. Reflection on this told me that I had already known before making the post what I wanted to do, and I was actually seeking validation instead of advice. When that validation didn’t come I didn’t doubt myself for a moment. I knew that the next moves I wanted to make for my business were the right ones to get me where I wanted to go, and from that moment forward I knew that if I wanted to go somewhere different than everyone else I had to be willing to make bold unique choices.
Contact Info:
- Website: CupYou.co
- Instagram: @CupYou.co
- Facebook: facebook.com/CupYou.co