Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Melissa Haile, founder of Moss North Therapy, located in Denver, CO, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My practice is Moss North Therapy, where we specialize in two things
Amma Therapy and Prenatal Massage.
Amma Therapy is a unique massage modality centered around Traditional Chinese Massage, including Fire Cupping, Gua Sha, and Auricular Therapy. Female-Focused Massage: We offer Pregnancy, Prenatal, and Infant Massage.
Tell us about yourself
I have been licensed for over 20 years. I am a Practitioner of Asian Bodywork Therapy and a 500-Hour Certified Vinyasa Yoga Teacher. I also have the background as a Doula, proudly trained by Debra Pascali Bonaro.
For five years, I was a Professor of Massage Therapy in New York City. There, I trained massage professionals in: Shiatsu, Swedish and Myofascial Therapy. I am one of very few Colorado healers part of the Certified Practitioners of the American Organization of Asian Bodywork Therapy (AOBTA-CP).
As an Asian Bodywork Therapist with over 500 hours of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I offer Amma Therapy, Nutritional recommendations, and Herbal recommendations. In 2014, I visited Chengdu, China, for specialized training on Traditional Chinese Medicine. These practices are particularly useful for women when it comes to issues of Fertility, Prenatal, and Postpartum healing.
What moves and motivates me is that I work in a profession that I am wholeheartedly passionate about, and I love what I do.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
This year, my biggest accomplishment was that I successfully took the leap of leaving a full-time corporate job and going all into operating my practice on a full-time basis.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Making calculations and big decisions on my business without knowing 100% how successful the outcomes will be.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be passionate about the business that you are going into.
- Set aside time a few hours a week to network and build relationships with other professionals who are in your industry.
- Set aside a few hours a month to plan how your business will become successful. Also, review the success of your plan and revise your plan if necessary.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Twenty years ago and shortly after graduating high school, I had the vision that I would open up a spa. I wanted a spa that would be focused on healing the members of the community that I serviced, specifically focused on the prenatal and postpartum population.
In that pursuit, I went to massage school at New York College, where I was fortunate to learn Amma Therapy directly from the founders. I further pursued my Bachelors's Degree at Long Island University and my Masters's Degree at Columbia University.
In 2006, I opened up Moss Spa & Yoga in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. This was a 3000sf spa that offered massage, yoga, skincare, nails, and acupuncture. Because of the great recession, my spa closed. I continued my career in the spa industry, working as the spa director for luxury spa and skincare brands, such as Exhale and Clarins.
After several years of working in the spa industry, I entered the field of massage therapy education, which I did before my family moved to Denver in 2019. With that same passion and drive of providing a healing massage retreat for the community that I serve, my practice Moss North Therapy is located in Denver. Moss Agate is a midwives stone; North is the upward moving direction of standing tall and is the direction of fertility.
This is the inspiration for the name of my practice Moss North Therapy. It is the intention of my practice to provide massage, self-healing, and support to my clients looking to enhance their self-care in addition to those who are pregnant.
Most wellness practitioners and light-workers have been brought on this earth to heal. I am so grateful that I was able to discover this early on because it has given me the courage, passion, and confidence that I have needed within myself to care for others through the healing art of massage therapy.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.mossnorththerapy.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mossnorthmassage/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moss_north_therapy/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissatara/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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