Beyond the Comfort Zone - Interview with Chasidy Ashley of TBK Wellness Spa

[Music] welcome to beyond the comfort zone where growth occurs and life begins today i have my guest chasity ashley on with us to tell her about herself as well as tbk wellness spa here in georgia cassidy welcome thank you thank you so great to have you um i would love you just to tell our listeners a little bit about what tk um he does or sorry tbk i just had this conversation with you about pronouncing things wrong and here we go so tell me a little about what tbk does tbk wellness spa which stands for true body work i took the k from the uh the word work which is trying to help me get the name out there so that we can have something a work in progress but it actually stands for true body work and that's what we're about here at uh my wellness facility we focus on um massages um pedicures body scrubs and what it means is that we actually pay attention to what your needs are we don't do the fluff and buff we're not just you know the uh spas that's just gonna put lotion on you we actually pay attention to what is going on with your body and we try and make an assessment and give you a massage based on what your needs are what's that inspired you to start tbk well i've been uh in january it'll be 13 years that i've been a massage practitioner and what inspired me was working for the chains and spas and they weren't given that first class service uh everything became a revolving door and nobody was getting the consistent attention that they needed and it started being more so about money versus the client and it just got lost in translation you know i seen from when i first began as a massage practitioner businesses used to care about how they treated their guests and then it became that revolving door and i was just tired of it i was like you know i know that i can get better service if i create my own vision as to what i think a true body massage would be or what a true massage experience or a spa service would be for someone and when did you start tbk um and well it's actually been a working piece of art for years but officially on the books 2019. i asked that question because i know you started a very challenging time right prior to co-read so you know tell us a little about what did that what did kobe throw at you and how did you pivot well okay so at the end of 2019 is when um everything began and i was uh okay you know business was going good getting out there learning people in roswell and people getting my name out there and then i was still actually working at uh my place and then working for um another spot i ended up having an accident so i was indoors before everybody else would call it so i had an accident so between covet and the accident i was thrown out of the game before anybody so it was that february and it took me all the way until uh late last year in order for me to get back up and running so it was just one hurdle after another one hurdle after another and then finding a different location it was just it seemed like everything all the odds were stacked against me and many people in that circumstance would have given up going back to saying okay i'll be a part of a chain so why didn't you give up why are you here today because i knew exactly what my vision was and the project had been six years in the making i just hadn't i have put it on paper and talked about it for years and just never did anything and i knew that if i went back to working for those chains and other spots i would never start i would have just kept going on saying oh maybe next year maybe next year so this just gave me the down time that i needed in order for me to focus and hone in on exactly how i wanted my space to be that's awesome because a lot of people would have given up in your shoes yes what's a common myth about spas that you'd like to debunk um a common myth that um every massage practitioner is the same um that is just a fluff and buff or it's a luxury massage is a luxury and i always say no it's not a luxury it's a it's a therapeutic need yeah okay so you talk about being a therapeutic need can you go into a little bit more depth how do people know when they need massage um i always tell i ask my guests you have kids they say yes i say you need a massage yeah you have a husband yes then you need a massage you have a job okay that means you need four a week so life right exactly it's like if you have a beating heart you need a massage you know um i think anyone that um [Music] if you don't want to see the doctor you come and see me it's like because we can focus in on helping with relaxation helping with your serotonin levels uh keeping those cortisol levels down keeping those stress hormones down it's um it's therapy in itself and then a lot of times i get a lot of guests that like to talk while they're on the table and they get everything out and they always say the good thing about getting a massage and being able to talk about everything that's going on is because i don't know anybody in their family or who they're talking about so it's like telling a therapist so massage and therapy at the same time that's pretty good right exactly now what's the biggest challenge that you're facing in your business right now people not knowing about tbk wellness spa um being here in roswell's like i'm new to the to this side of roswell i was on a woodstock road at a salon lofts but just knowing that i'm here in this location that's the biggest thing that people they just don't know that we're here yet okay it's marketing what are you doing to tackle that right now um well i've been going on what they call gorilla marketing going to the uh local restaurants um meeting people uh i've joined the chamber uh roswell inc um roswell next you know just joining the little uh groups in roswell and just networking that way asking for referrals and um using social media so that's another thing and then um just trying to you know let people know just hey remember just send me a referral i could always use a referral tell me about the most influential people in your life and how they pushed you outside your comfort zone into a place of growth um well i can say the most influential person in my life is my personal trainer who's also an employee personal trainer massage therapist esthetician nail tech um and he does all of the the every scope that we have here it's like he is one gem combined into one and the reason why i say he's so influential is because um he'll challenge me and have me think about business in a different aspect and whereas i just thought oh my name is chassidy i'm a massage practitioner people know who i am it doesn't take that you know it it's challenging to get out here and to introduce yourself to people and to market and to say that you're the owner because for the longest time i didn't even want to say that i was the owner i was like oh you know i'm a massage practitioner and he was like well how is that supposed to you know get anybody in your door if they don't know that your owner that you have other products that you're offering and it was challenging to step outside of my comfort zone of saying that okay i'm more than a massage practitioner i'm also a business owner a woman in business so um but he's been very influential in challenging me and trying to just help me to hone in on my position as an owner and my position as a woman in business because like i said i just looked at it as i'm chasing a massage practitioner and it's important to step outside that and to really own who you are um and what you can accomplish so um but it can it can be hard and a little uncomfortable right to have that that new persona that you're stepping into before you're fully you know there and filling it right exactly what is the biggest leap that you've taken outside of your comfort zone and how did you grow from it the biggest leap um leaving the security of a company that was already established and stepping out on my own and not and making a vow to myself never to return to work for anyone else um that security blanket you know like with these established companies they already have everything you know they can get you clients on the books because their names are already established but not already having an established name and just coming new to the area um of roswell and not knowing anybody and just planting your roots here that is it's been difficult but at the same time it's um i wouldn't change it i wouldn't change it for the world yeah to work for somebody else i'm like and a couple of people you know said like you know you're crazy to start a business during a pandemic and my thing is is that i could take the longest lunch that i can i don't have to answer to nobody i don't have to in when if i don't want to but as a business owner i'm very responsible but i just think about it in terms of if i want a 45 minute lunch i could take one if i want a two-hour lunch i can take one so those perks those things right there are keep me saying okay you know what get out here and hustle get out here and work hard get your name out there so that you can take a little bit of longer lunch break if you need it yeah most difficult things in life are often the most rewarding as you really accomplish something that's true that is true um what is one thing that if you could go back and give your 18 year old self a piece of advice what would it be oh um if i could give my 18 year old self some advice it would be to go to school for business i would definitely go to school no yeah go to school i would i would definitely have done a four-year degree in business you know just learning different aspects and just knowing how to run a company um properly and just knowing all the little perks and everything that you learn in business courses and doing your own accounting and books not that you would want to but just so that you can become more knowledgeable and so yeah that's what i would say like you know what secure yourself a four-year degree just get that learning yes just to get the learning in yes now what's one thing in the process of starting up a business that's occurred that you didn't expect um clients not getting in the door yeah um how hard it would be to um market i think that's my biggest challenge just the marketing that's one thing that has thrown me um for a loop like i just thought i had everything in the bag i thought i knew everything about marketing i thought i was doing everything right and it's just with this social media and you have to get online you have to have an online presence because i'm more camera shy i was like get online who wants to do that i was like and talk about myself i'm a massage practitioner like no you know i can i i know where your knots are and i'm like that was just that's the most difficult thing is like you know to get out here and to market that that has been the biggest challenge it's the biggest challenge biggest learning yes biggest learning experience yes yes but it's just like i'm a lot better than what i was a couple of months ago well you're growing every day you're getting outside your comfort zone it's becoming more of your comfort zone right correct i'm curious because you know i always find unique entrepreneurs always have different productivity hacks and things that they know how to do that someone else does not so what would you be your favorite productivity hack or tool that you use that is indispensable that other entrepreneurs might want to know about um my productivity tool get up early i go to bed early and i get up early and i think that sets the tone of the day if you get enough sleep i promise you you'll have a better and a more productive day i think that's important by 9 9 15 lights are out i'm i'm sleep and it's just like and i make sure that i try and get the best eight hours that i possibly can and i think honestly you know a lot of people say well no i can't yes you can if you make sleep a priority you definitely can have a better day a more productive day that's great i have not usually heard that one as an answer but it's such a good one and it's what we all know just don't do anything about right right although i'm with you i i'm the get up early type so yeah go to bed early and get up early cause it's like uh 5 30 6 o'clock it's like i'm up and moving and it's like i can write things down i don't open till 8 but i can get things written down i know exactly what my day is looking like and i can plan properly and that works for me it's like if i get to bed if 10 30 catches me it's not gonna be a good day tomorrow the next day because i'm like i missed out on my sleep that's the most important to me thing to me right now is my sleep yeah protect it like gold right what's one thing you've learned you know in your career so far do you think everybody should learn at some point in their life um one thing in my career that i've learned that everybody should learn um is that um patience and i say patience because when you deal with um a bunch of different people at one time it could be it could be guests it could be your co-workers the people that you're with you have to have patience with everybody and i try and always remember to be mindful of what somebody else is going through and even with if a guest calls and they want to book an appointment and they can't make their mind up about certain things and you know you have 10 other things to do but you're trying to be more attentive to that person or it's like if they are if they have an attitude that day you know i always try and think you don't know what's going on in that person's life so just put yourself in that shoe their shoes and be patient and i think that that's just important especially being in the spot industry it's just like you just always have to take a step back because you never know they need you at that moment and they need you to be exactly what they're calling for i need you to be my outlet and i think that that patience comes in when you do that that's great that's really good advice what's something that i haven't asked you that yet that you wish i would um and tell me about it um let me see what haven't you asked me what uh uh oh what else um besides like what are my modalities in terms of massage i'm not just a massage practitioner i actually have a background in um infinite pediatric massage i don't know so i've worked for children before um and also i am a licensed fertility massage practitioner so i specialize in um women who have problems conceiving and i also specialize in prenatal massage as well as postpartum glad i asked that question because those are some very important specialties that i would say most people probably don't know about or wouldn't even think to go look up so yeah they're they're very important tools and um getting um when i first became a massage practitioner 13 years ago i knew i just wanted to just do infant and i was just like you know i don't even really want to work with adults and then came the fertility and then came the prenatal and i just started seeing the whole spectrum where it's just like you know you can really work with somebody from preconception to conception to postpartum and then even you know um help moms who babies are experiencing colic um they're not sleeping enough they're not uh getting enough to eat they're constantly waking up and how sleep helps i mean how massage helps with a sleep colic um any elements that children are having it's just as important for the babies as it is for the mothers so that avenue that i chose to go into um a couple years after i had began began practicing i thought that it was just very important in order for me to separate myself from everybody else because i just wanted to be identified as someone that specializes in helping women when um they're having problems conceiving or you know like their backs are hurting while they're um pregnant it's like those ailments it's like it's it's really difficult for women to um like when when they're in those stages those late stages of pregnancy you know it's like constantly getting up in the middle of night they're not sleeping because their back is hurting and their uh their feet are swelling those are things that i wanted to make sure that i could help women with because i knew how important it was in order for them to know that massage is a great stress reliever and it can really help that low back pain and even um sometimes help with an easier labor because your body isn't so stressed once you uh go into labor wow that's especially i'm not sure i even really knew existed or that massage could help with those things are there a lot of people who do that and specialize in that yes there are there's a whole other team on um online there's a facebook uh book group that i'm a part of and um it's for a fertility massage interesting are there a lot here in atlanta are you you know is that one of the things that you have that's probably not that common around here people would travel to you for um i know that there are a couple here in atlanta i don't know exactly how many but um when people do find out that i specialize in it it's just like you know i can't tell people yeah i specialize in that so you can definitely come and see me and um what is something switching gears for a second then i want to go back well actually switch it this way do it opposite um how can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about tbk um come out to see you for massage schedule something um they can call me um directly um uh 678-587-5019 or they can check on the website at tbkwellness.com awesome tbkwellness.com check it out everyone and one last final question since you are on beyond the comfort zone um what is something that you would like to try in business or in life that's outside of your comfort zone that you haven't yet i know you're gonna think this is funny but i don't know how to swim i don't know how to swim and i promise you that is on my bucket list that is outside of my comfort zone i fell in the water one time when i was a child and the water scares me to this day well i don't know how to ride a bike so we're good right those are both childhood and actually i do know if it gives you a little bit of confidence to cross that one off your bucket list an adult who never knew how to swim until recent um who's probably someone around our age and she recently learned so um you are not alone in the world that's good to know so you have to let me know when you learn to swim and then you have the next thing to get out of your comfort zone right well thank you so much for joining us on beyond the comfort zone today um i really enjoyed learning about the build of your practice and what you're doing at tbk so thank you so much well thank you for having me i really appreciate it awesome [Music]