We were lucky to catch up with Tish Tensley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tish, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In life you will take many risks. I think the best risks are the ones that make you change for the better. I’m married with 3 children. I worked double shifts at a group home. My life wasn’t upside down, but it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. I knew I wanted to change from a job to a career doing something I loved. I journaled and prayed for direction. My husband had his goals and roadblocks just as I did. We were a family of 5 trying to make it. One day at work, I saw a commercial for massage therapy school. I was surprisingly drawn to massage immediately. The fact that this commercial probably played a thousand times was the funniest part. I waited until morning and called a friend who attended Everest Institute. As soon as the sun came up, I put in that call. My friend confirmed there was in fact a massage therapy program. Shortly after completing one call, I attempted another to change my lifestyle. I spoke with someone in admissions at Everest. I actually stopped in for an open house that same day. Within a week or 2 I officially was a student of Massage Therapy. I juggled school, work, marriage, and children for over a year. Some days were easy and others not so easy. My last day of testing I got 2 flat tires 1 exit away from the school. I drove slowly and controlled to the school. There was nothing in the world that could stop me from taking my final exam. Completing massage therapy schooling was a journey for me. I took a risk on myself and won. After completing massage therapy school, I began working immediately. Within a year of being in the industry I was able to pay 10k for my husband to complete his Barber Education as well. Taking risk can be a struggle but the reward is in the end.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Hi, I am Tish Tensley, Licensed Massage Therapist and Owner of Grace Healed Me LLC. At GHM we understand clients encounter stress & pain daily. Each session is individually customized based on the physical, mental, and energetic needs of the client. It’s more than just massage its realigning mind/body connections and opening up neural pathways allowing your brain to process old/new information. Grace Healed Me LLC is all about helping others healing, teaching self-awareness and most importantly seeing our customers thrive daily

You can always trust your healing will be handled with Grace.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I began business in 11/2016. My 1st 10 months of business I had 3 clients. 2 weekly clients and an auto accident client. I was so stressed. I worked as a massage therapist full time in Spa environment. At my full time job I was #1 therapist. These clients wouldn’t follow me though. The more I passed my card out and was truthful the more my clientele list dropped there as well. One person said , let me switch therapist now if your leaving. By spring of 2017 I knew I was not giving up on my business followers or not. I thought of calling Groupon the entire spring. Somehow I let summer sneak up and I applied for Groupon 8/2017. By November GHM sold over 300 massages. I remained working my full time job. I was started to notice the calls and bookings. By the new year 2018 I was trying to figure out a way to.muscle up the nerve to say I quit. Im not a quitter. This isnt something I have much experience. I knew I had to because everytime I went to this full time job something bad would happen. My car caught a flat, my alternator died you name it. 2/2018 I finally worked in and said Im done. GHM had sold over 500 Groupons locking business down for the next 2 years. I went from 3 clients to 500 in less than a years time. I pushed myself and stuck to the plan and it paid off

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I come from a long line of hard-working people from my grandparents to my parents and done the line. Somewhere in this industry I picked up a nasty habit of working 8 to 10 hrs straight no break. I know, I know. It sounds crazy! Yes, my body hurt some days. I was sick to my stomach. I also missed a lot of time with my husband and 3 older children. That’s what hurt the most missing time with my family. I built this illusion in my head my clients needed me. I knew I needed a change in operations. In 2019 I started writing down goals to work only 5 days a week 6 hours daily. I worked 6 days a week at that time, but I was getting better. My days were beginning to end by 6pm and I could make it to a volleyball game. Which previously before setting a goal to get off at that time was highly unlikely. When covid hit I was actually grateful things slowed down. My family was so use to me being at work. It was different for them to see me support them with schooling and be present for them everyday all day. Returning to work was easy, I truly understood the assignment. I reduced my days and work time effective immediately. I’d rate my stress/pain a 10 pre covid. Now a days I’m feeling great and taking care of myself, family, and then clients. I’d rate my stress/pain a 3. It feels great!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gracehealedme.com
• Instagram: Instagram@gracehealedme
• Facebook: Facebook @gracehealedme
• Linkedin: LinkedIn @gracehealedme.com
• Youtube: @gracehealedme

Image Credits
Kristi