I need to confess; I have made plenty of mistakes over the last 28 years as not only as a massage therapist, but as a massage clinic owner.

Each one, a lesson in humility.

Most recently, asking our Apex members and loyal community of clients to not only move once, but twice during this pandemic left me humbled and reflective of the journey.

Our final relocation in Parkdale in January 2022 came at a cost. A cost to our teams well-being, stability and recognition as a consistent reliable service.

So much change, in such a short period of time create an uncertainty I had never felt before. I consistently was waiting for the "shoe to drop". As the owner, I felt a huge sense of responsibility and commitment to all that chose to visit or work at our clinic. I was reminded of the importance of our personal health, while cultivating a service and clinic focused on  connection during a time of healing our physical and mental health as a community.

The gifts from this commitment came to me last week when I had the privilege to meet face to face with each member of Apex to not only renew contracts but to revisit the importance of how each of us creates a culture we covet.

Meeting after meeting, each of us reconnected to our purpose and values to cultivate joy, contribute to our well-being and shared ideas, opportunities for improvement while having our thoughts and emotions recognized.

I am proud to say, each meeting resulted in a renewed contract with a raise for the next year.

I learned pay is not everything. We are not the lowest, nor the highest paying clinic in our industry. Our clinic is a community of Massage Therapists; our revenue is based on per minute of massage therapy and is not subsidized by a higher priced service from a doctor. We recognize the co-operative, sharing of costs associated with supporting 25 RMT’s, our administration and operating costs, gives us the ability to create our unique purposeful life, career, and wellness culture we have come to appreciate and expect.

I wholeheartedly believe this is why we currently have 7 Massage Therapists that at some point left Apex to try other clinics, locations or worked for themselves and have returned to Apex. Our shared lifestyle values and culture have supported our careers as Massage Therapists for 28 years.

As we celebrate our first year in our new location, I am honored to share our community of clients created the busiest month we have had in 2 years this past December, while we also welcomed 143 new clients to our clinic during the same month. As we slowly start to feel a renewed sense of security and appreciation for our longevity, consistency and integrity, we know we are not alone in learning how important our community is to our overall well-being.

I think my biggest lesson as an owner of a small business is that over the many years, I have surrounded myself with people much smarter than myself. People that know what they want. Those people have shared their ideas in creating our co-op culture. Their feedback, thoughts and heart centered way in this world has allowed me the honor to create, collaborate and be a part of the mission that aligns all of us at Apex; to live authentically while healing our community one massage at a time.