Ep. 44 Safe Spaces and Honest Stories: Real Talk on Massage Therapy with Louisiana AMTA President Candy Welch

[00:00:00] You are listening to that Handcrafted Therapy podcast with massage therapist and business owner Julie Alexander. That’s me. I’m your host. I’ve been a massage therapist for 17 years and I have a business marketing degree on this podcast, and we’ll be interviewing industry professionals that can talk to us about how to run your business better, how to be a better massage sheriff overall, and how to take care of yourself and give yourself a little love, little self care.

Little great than your life. I am so glad that you’re here. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Introducing Candy: First Podcast Experience

Julie Alexander: Candy, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.

Candy Welch: Thank you. Thank

you for

having me.

Julie Alexander: Yeah. Candy you practice in Louisiana.

Candy Welch: I do.

Julie Alexander: I met you at the A MTA Louisiana State Convention in New Orleans,

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: and Candy serves as the Louisiana State President. Is that [00:01:00] correct?

Candy Welch: Yes, I’m the A MCA chapter President for Louisiana.

Julie Alexander: Awesome, awesome. And you know, I met some of your. Massage clients and they just rave raving fans You have? Yeah. Tell me a little bit about where you work.

Candy Welch: So I have my own practice. I’m in downtown Covington in Louisiana, and it’s a small town so everybody’s knows everybody there. And I’m in the heart of downtown, which is nice. I have four other therapists that work with me in my building and we have an aesthetician and a hypnotherapist there as well.

So yeah,

Julie Alexander: That’s amazing.

Candy Welch: a good variety of people.

Business Success and Growth

Julie Alexander: And how’s business going for you?

Candy Welch: Absolutely wonderful. I’m booked out a couple months now, I think in advance, and I have another therapist that’s getting close to being booked a month out, and my part-timers just started, so they’re getting there. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: Awesome. And how long has your business been [00:02:00] open?

Candy Welch: I’ve been open since. Technically when I graduated December, 2016 was when I graduated, but I was working part-time at a chiropractor office and just getting started with my business and it just, after, I think I worked three years at the chiropractor office part-time, but kept cutting out days there because my business was growing.

So since 2016, almost nine years, almost close to that. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: Wow, that’s amazing. Amazing.

Specialized Massage Techniques

Julie Alexander: And what kind of massage do you like to practice?

Candy Welch: So I do a bit of everything. When I first started, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just knew I love doing massage. So typical Swedish relaxation massage. And then I went to my first A MTA Conve National Convention and I ran into the up ledger booth and I’m like, I need to try this. So, I got into craniosacral work and then.

I’ve taken a lot of the higher up [00:03:00] classes in that I’m all the way up to, you know, cranio one, cranio two, SER, one and two, and then some of the little extra classes they have. And our, with the state, A MTA our conventions, we started bringing along good names like James Alki. So I got certified through his orthopedic certification with his work.

And I combined the two. I remember. One convention that I met him, the first time I met him I let him know we were having dinner as a board with the teacher. And I was like, you know what? I’m gonna teach your stuff, but I’m mixing it with craniosacral work. And he is that sounds good. So, yeah, I love that.

Work. I mix everything together and then I’ve taken true dynamic structural dynamics classes with linen and teach worth, and I mix in myofascial work and it’s really just listening to the client’s body. And I’ve got so many things in my toolbox that I can use for them, you know?

Julie Alexander: Yeah.

How would, how. How awesome is it that we have, I mean, every massage therapist is so [00:04:00] unique. We’re like little snowflakes and each class that we take is like a branch on our little snowflake. Right. You know, and I mean, a craniosacral branch is not a bad branch to have. That’s for sure.

Candy Welch: it’s one of my main modalities. I feel like now, you know, I get a lot of children because of that. I ha I was working on kids before, mostly for structural things that were going on with them and then, I started to incorporate a little bit of the cranial work with the kids, and then all of a sudden people just kept bringing me their children to work on, which is awesome.

I love working on kids. It’s one of my favorite things to do.

Networking and Community Involvement

Julie Alexander: So how do you build your business?

Candy Welch: I definitely network locally with the community. We have a business association, the Covington Business Association and. I join them, I go to their meetings and I speak about what we do. The chiropractor, when I worked there, it actually helped build a lot of my clientele and then word of mouth for sure.

And we have a [00:05:00] small community where there’s always something going on in Covington. We there’s all, and luckily I’m right downtown and all the stuff happens right next door to my office because that’s the little park in the trailhead that we have there. So, they see my sign and, yeah. That’s a lot of where I get my business from.

Julie Alexander: Nice.

so you’ve got a good location. For walk-ins.

Candy Welch: Oh, I do. I don’t take walk-ins. But if we had the schedule for it, yes, it would definitely work.

Julie Alexander: if you needed to take or if you could take walk-ins, that would be great. Right. But it sounds like you guys are all booked up for a while, so that’s fantastic.

Candy Welch: It’s amazing. I.

Julie Alexander: so, are you, is your business at all seasonal or are you pretty steady?

Candy Welch: I’m actually pretty steady. I do, like when I was working at the chiropractor office, I remember seeing on Facebook on the massage post, oh, this is a slow month. And we’ve been so blessed that we haven’t really had that slow time. Like I haven’t as a massage therapist and even the [00:06:00] emp the ones that work with me, they, I think that when it gets slower, it just means I’m booked less further out, versus actually not having the clientele that I’m feel like I’m blessed. It’s amazing. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: I totally appreciate this ’cause I’m kind of in the same boat. I’m always booked.

Sometimes I’m booked out three months out and sometimes it’s three weeks. And you never know. You just never know. But I’m always booked.

Candy Welch: Right. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: That’s really awesome. So, I mean, when I went to Louisiana, I have to say, I was so impressed with the network that you’ve created in your community, both through the A MTA and through your regular business.

You know, I think you’ve done a great job of that. I really want to like share with our community of listeners how and why networking with people like the A MTA. It [00:07:00] doesn’t have to be A MTA, but people like the A MTA, how it helps your business grow.

Candy Welch: So when I first started as a massage therapist and I came from a business background and. I wasn’t, and being social and everything. And then when I found out I’m gonna be in a dark room with just one person, I’m not gonna talk. This is gonna be weird,

Julie Alexander: Yeah.

Candy Welch: So I love to talk and I made sure that I made friends with all the massage therapists as soon as I graduated that were in my area.

I went and got massage from them. I, you know, I mentored under a few of them. And I think another way that I’ve gotten. To be where I’m at is, you know, becoming friends with those other massage therapists. I had one that retired that referred me to a bunch, or referred a bunch of her clients to me. Then we all have different things that we’re great at.

So I refer out constantly. I have a friend who’s great with herbs and everything, and she’s an herbalist as well as a massage therapist. [00:08:00] And I know there’s certain things that she’s great at. I’ll send them that way. I have another one who deals with fre sound frequency. I’ll send them that way if they need some more emotional help that I can’t, that I’m not the right fit for.

But just networking that way, I mean. Getting to know who’s in my community. Downtown Covington is such a small place. There’s restaurants little shops here and there, and all the business owners are great. And I make sure they all know who I am. And that’s how you met Lucy? At the convention, that’s how I met Lucy, was I hung out in downtown Covington and so did she.

Julie Alexander: Yeah. Yeah.

Candy Welch: yeah, and she’s a small business owner over there and she spreads my name around all over the place. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: Nice.

You guys help each other out. I mean, it’s very complimentary businesses.

Candy Welch: Yeah. Yeah,

Julie Alexander: I mean, how great. I mean,

feel

like sometimes our community, you know, we are in a dark room all day long and I think we forget that we’re a part of society. [00:09:00] You know, like we’re a part of this bigger monstrosity of a society. I mean, it’s so fun and safe in our little massage therapy bubble and we like it here ’cause it’s comfortable.

Candy Welch: Right? Yeah,

Julie Alexander: To really grow your business. I mean, you have to be pounding the streets, right?

Candy Welch: you do. You have to get to know who’s around you and who you also have to look for, who’s your, who is your clientele base? What are you looking for? Are you looking for the moms that wanna relax or are you looking for somebody who’s injured? Or, you know, what? What are you going for with your practice?

So,

Julie Alexander: yeah. Well, who’s your target market and how are you going to reach them and how are they gonna find you? Yeah, it’s all great. How have you been able to educate your clients on using craniosacral work rather than the elbow?

Candy Welch: The elbow.

Julie Alexander: So

Candy Welch: that’s a good [00:10:00] question. I always at every CBA meeting, it’s the Covington businesses I let them know because they don’t. I don’t think there are very many massage therapists in the CBA. So, we get to give our little one minute drills that we do. And one thing that always gets them is when I explain part of what’s going on with cranial work, it really depends also on what they’re looking for.

If it’s somebody who says something about, oh, my neck is doing this and my sinuses, or whatever it is, something different. Versus the part of the cranial work that is the emotional release part. I’ll let them know. You know, when you get into a car accident, your whole body jumps. You go and your muscles, remember that reaction and that emotion, that fright, that scared is stuck in there.

1. If you don’t get it out you know, it’s gonna hold that muscle tension. Your muscles have memory. And so basically with craniosacral work, what I do is I hold space for your muscles and once your muscles feel like, oh, I’m being supported, okay, then they start to relax and that’s when you can have, you can, [00:11:00] or you don’t have to have your emotional release of that, and then your muscles will forget.

They not forget, but it’ll pass through instead of being stuck in that space. Yeah. So.

Julie Alexander: And how do you make sure that, I’m sure you ground yourself to make sure that energy doesn’t come into you. Right.

Candy Welch: Yes, absolutely. Like I I actually just taught, I teach at a massage school as well, but I teach my students how to ground themselves. Like on day, it was day two. Usually it’s day one or two. I

use something that I got from the Silva Method and it’s a counting backwards technique. The IL method has, you count back from a hundred, but I have ’em start at 10 or five and I have them close their eyes.

You look at the back of your forehead while your eyes are closed and you just count slow and breathe, counting down from 10 all the way down to one. It calms them down. And you know, I make sure if I don’t. Do that, that I do something close to that before I get in the room with my [00:12:00] clients. I also make sure I get all my energy out.

I do workout every morning, almost every morning. I’m trying to be good about that. Yeah, and then I have other things that, you know, I have a vibration plate at my office. If I’m not quite awake yet or I’m not focused, I’ll stand on the vibration plate for a little while before I go in with my client.

So that definitely helps.

Julie Alexander: Well, I never thought of it to use it as a cup of coffee. That’s a great idea. course I don’t have one, so I don’t use it that way. But I’ve used it in my chiropractor’s office before, you know? But wow, that’s a great idea.

Yeah.

So you’re an instructor at a local massage school. What do you teach?

Candy Welch: I

the modality portion of massage. So we have an anatomy teacher and then we just have modalities. Right now, I’m just getting started with this class. Their second day was Saturday. I teach in the evenings. They’re, I. Starting with swish, you know, just the basics. Getting to know, massage, [00:13:00] getting hands on each other.

Julie Alexander: Nice.

Candy Welch: Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: What’s

your favorite thing about our industry?

Candy Welch: I think the con our industry, I love the connection with the client personally. I, you know, you know, I don’t, I try not to carry my clients home with me. You know, I try not to. Because that’d be a lot. But

I.

I get to work with families. Like I have one family that I had at least two of the sisters text me today for massage or just to let me know how they’re doing that connection.

They’re going through a, you know, if some of them are going through a lot, then they’ll let me know. And I, I don’t know. It’s just a great community and I feel like family with some of my clients, I don’t cross the line, you know? But,

yeah.

Yeah. But it’s so awesome to have that connection with people that I’m somebody that they trust.

I had another client recently tell me something about, you know, I can tell you anything you don’t judge. This is my safe space and I love being that safe space for people. It’s awesome.

Julie Alexander: I’m so happy that [00:14:00] you’re that for people. I mean, most of us are in the massage therapy world, but you know, it’s so nice that especially now with all the stress of the world, you know, happening. There’s so many places that you don’t feel safe, you know, and you know, it’s nice to know that every, anywhere you go, you, if you look for a massage therapist, you can usually find an empathetic person,

Candy Welch: Right. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: you know?

It’s kind of nice. Now, will you be coming to Dallas for the national convention?

Candy Welch: Yes, and I can’t wait. ’cause two of my favorite teachers are gonna be there. I’m taking James’s class and Carrie d Ambros class. I’m so excited.

Julie Alexander: Very good. That’ll be great. We have a booth. I’m so excited. We’ll be right at the entrance. So if you or any of our listeners are looking for massage supplies will be there for you. Now.

Future Aspirations and AMTA Involvement

Julie Alexander: You shared with me something at the show, I don’t know if you [00:15:00] remember this or not, and you can tell me if this is true or not true, but are you going to be running for a national board position on the A MTA

Candy Welch: I

am so. My goal is to be AMTs hundredth year national president. So I think I got 20 years left, no, 19 years left. Maybe something like that. I’m working my way that way. I’ve got

1. I wanna take, maybe I don’t wanna take a break ever from a MTA, but right now I’m president. I’m gonna probably step down to a more comfortable role after that for a little bit.

And then I am gonna ramp up again to try to be am T’S hundredth year national president. That’s been a goal.

Julie Alexander: That’s super cool. I love that. I wanna support you in your goal. Just let me know how we can do that.

Candy Welch: Yeah. That’s awesome.

Julie Alexander: Because I mean, that’s pretty exciting. A hundred years is a long time.

Candy Welch: Right. Yeah. I remember going, my first national convention was the 75th year anniversary, [00:16:00] and I was like 25 years, and I was doing the math, I can’t remember how old I’ll be in that many times,

Julie Alexander: Yeah.

Candy Welch: but I was doing the math and I was like, yes, I can get closer to retirement. Be national president. That would be awesome.

So that’s, that was my goal. I set the goal of hundredth year president. That’s what I want.

Julie Alexander: That’s awesome. We’re so thankful to have people like you that volunteer for the A MTA. I mean, I volunteered a lot over the years for Texas, you know, in Texas, you’re in Louisiana now. I’ve never had. Aspirations of being on the national board, but you know, if I had a leader like you, I would probably be able to serve on the national board.

We might be able to do that together. I, you know, I support you.

Candy Welch: that. Hey, I can let ’em know, Hey, I got people already. Let’s go.

Julie Alexander: yeah, that’s right. I mean, this is a long way away. It’s a few years away and who knows what I’ll be doing then, but. I mean, I am a lifer for [00:17:00] the massage industry, you know?

Candy Welch: Yeah,

Julie Alexander: I just created handcrafted therapy, you know, this whole product line and this whole business, and I’m in, you know?

Candy Welch: yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. And you’re doing a great job. I loved your products, and I thank you so much for coming to our convention. That was awesome.

Julie Alexander: Yeah. That was really cool. It’s so fun to be able to support other surrounding states. But I also wanted to talk to you about a project I’m working on that’s about to launch. This is gonna be a really funny question for you. What is the funniest story or thing that’s happened to you on the massage table that you’re willing and able to share?

Do you have something that’s, you know. Appropriate.

Candy Welch: Okay.

Cute Massage Moments

Candy Welch: This is a cute one. I have a little, well, I say he’s six or [00:18:00] seven. He’s older than that now. This little one that I’ve been massaging since he was two. He had some heart issues and had surgery, so his back isn’t quite aligned. So he gets massages because it gets tension and I’ve been massaging him since he’s two and that was close to when I first started.

He’s. Gotta be, oh man. 11, 10 years old around there. Oh, that makes me so sad. I think How old he old when he was about four years old. Of course he plays on the phone or whatever. Just something to keep him distracted so I can work on him. And his, he got in trouble with his mom, and his mom took the phone away in the middle of the session and she’s just.

It’ll be fine. Just relax for a minute. And I worked on him and he’s leaving. He was really upset at his mom and he turned back at everyone We’re walking down the hall and he looks through in the face, he says, no TV for you tonight. And it was the cutest thing. I had to like, stop and let them finish walking down the hall so I could get it out, the laughter out and then go. It was so sweet.

Julie Alexander: That’s cute. [00:19:00] That’s very cute. I wanted to share with you, I’m actually gonna be writing a book.

I’m gonna be writing a book. It’s gonna be called Tales From the Table.

Candy Welch: oh, that’s awesome.

Julie Alexander: I’ll be asking for submissions for stories like this. And what I’ll do is highlight the submission winners in the book and put links to their websites and like a little bio of their, you know, of them and their massage business.

Nice.

Candy Welch: Nice. That is cute. I love that idea.

Julie Alexander: I’m trying to. Populate some of these stories from the podcast, but that hasn’t really worked out as well as I thought it would. And that’s okay. I think the missions are gonna work, so be looking for that and I’ll make sure to send you the link for the submission.

So if you wanna, you know, pass it around, we can

Yeah, we’ll post it on the podcast link too, once we [00:20:00] get it up. We’re working on it though. It’s very exciting. Very exciting. So, let me think about how I wanna ask this question. How would you help a therapist find their niche?

Candy Welch: That is a good one. I always, you know, I always ask my students at the beginning of the school year, what, where do you think see yourself and what kind of massage? And they have one idea and always by the end it always changes for every bumping. I. I know just kind of like just getting a feel for their hands and getting a feel from the feedback from everybody else in the classroom.

It kind, I’m like, oh, well you should go in this direct, or, you know, try looking at this teacher and it usually ends up in the right direction. You know, if I tell ’em I had one student last. Two years ago who two students, so the male student and a female student, and the female didn’t really wanna be touched, but she shared with the class and everybody how this guy had she was not afraid to be touched by him.

And that was [00:21:00] really comforting to hear because, you know, he is this bigger guy and everything, but his touch felt safe. And he actually, he does orthopedic work. James Slosky, he’s taking his classes and he is also going to go into the craniosacral route as well. And I think that’s where he belongs, you know, for safe touch.

That’s where he is. And it was really neat to to get another student’s feedback. And then of course, for their practicals, I have to get on the table, I have to get all these massages from

Julie Alexander: Yeah, it’s a rough life, isn’t it?

Candy Welch: it.

Julie Alexander: It’s,

That’s a great that’s a great suggestion. Candy. So when you’re, if you’re out there kind of struggling and not sure what path to take, what kind of feedback are you getting? You know, really analyze that feedback that you get from your customers or your coworkers or the people that you’re working on.

You know, and also to follow your passion. What are you [00:22:00] interested in?

Candy Welch: Always like it’s, well, I tell my students too, and listen to absolutely everything, what everybody says, hear it all, and with an open mind and what sticks to you that’s yours. Like you get to use that, but whatever sticks, you know?

Julie Alexander: Yeah. You don’t wanna force something because I think that’s where you don’t have passion and you’re just doing a job.

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: You know, you’re just rubbing lotion on people at that point. You know, we got plenty of those kinds of people. We want passionate massage therapists that are really invigorated by their work and excited to learn more.

Candy Welch: Yeah, it makes a big difference in your touch too. I think like the more you love what you do, they’re gonna feel that they’re gonna feel that you’re not just rubbing lotion on them. You know? It makes a difference.

Julie Alexander: I agree. I agree. Well, I’m so excited to be able to host this year’s

year’s

national convention. I feel like it’s me. I’m hosting, I’m just you.

Candy Welch: awesome.[00:23:00]

Julie Alexander: But

I did wanna mention we’re having a huge party at my store and I’m gonna pass out flyers at the national Convention. It’ll be Friday night,

Candy Welch: Okay.

Julie Alexander: so I hope you can make it.

Candy Welch: Oh, that’s awesome. That sounds like fun.

Julie Alexander: yeah. So do you wanna share with us how you got into this profession? That’s usually a fun story.

Candy Welch: it is, but it’s so, okay. My story. I have no idea how I got here, but I know that this is where I was meant to be because I realized all the parts, you know, that God was lining up for me to be here. It was, you know, I ran businesses before I went to massage school for other people. I learned, I worked at a computer place, knew how to make websites from the working there.

I ran all the operations for another business. I learned bookkeeping, I learned accounting and all of this stuff. And then I’m like, okay, I worked at a place that was awesome. I was making this guy a lot of money and you know, and [00:24:00] I was like, we didn’t get work done very well. We would end up cursing at each other and I’m like, okay, well this sucks.

I don’t wanna be depressed and working all the time. So I tried to find something to do. And I drove by the massage school. I was like, okay, I’ll check this place out. And I went in, did the whole interview thing. I was like, this sounds good. And went to my boss and explained it to, I might go to massage school.

And he is well, I’ll give you a raise. So I stayed for another year and then I finally went back to massage. I’m like, no, I’m gonna do it. I’m tired of yelling at you. You’re tired of yelling at we yelled at each other to get amazing work done, but it was just yelling. So I went to. It was very exhausting.

And it was a seasonal company, which was nice. I worked full time, but it was year round where I could take more days off. So I took days off and I went to massage school. And when I was in massage school, they asked that question, why are you here? I’m like, I don’t know why I’m here. I’m just here. And then once I started touching the clients when we had our clinicals and everything, I’m like, this is why I’m here.

[00:25:00] And it was just amazing. To be able to do what I do. And you know, I was able to start my business right out the gate because of all the past experience I had. And it wasn’t too hard for me to gain clientele. Like it took a couple of years, but I had the chiropractor office as well and then I was packed with people and, you know, I had marketing experience from the other jobs.

I felt like it was like all the building blocks for me to be where I’m at now,

Julie Alexander: so cool. That’s cool. I mean, not all of us get those building blocks before we just open our business, you know, and sometimes I recommend that students go work for somebody for a little while and learn something from them, and sometimes it’s what not to do.

Yeah.

Candy Welch: Yes, that’s absolutely true.

Julie Alexander: I mean, because at some point in my career I remember working for somebody else and going, oh my gosh, I just need to over my place.

I could do this so much better.

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: You [00:26:00] know?

Candy Welch: I, yeah, I feel you know, that is one thing when you’re young and coming in this business I think there’s places like my office where I have people who come into work, but I, you know, I’ll teach you, put your customer service face on, you know, do, but. Yeah, but I also, you need to be able to enjoy it too.

Don’t be fake about it. Just if this is what you love to do what you love to do. You know?

Julie Alexander: right. You should be authentic and

Candy Welch: right. Yes.

Julie Alexander: as well as honest and just humble about it. I mean, yeah, it takes a lot to manage that kind of responsibility, right? Being authentic and true to yourself. As long as you’re being true, it should be easy.

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: But you know, it’s when drama comes in and, you know, all this other stuff that I think we lose our true, authentic selves.

Candy Welch: Yeah. And, but what’s crazy is your clients will see that, you know, and they don’t necessarily point it out, but they won’t come back [00:27:00] or something. It feels off, you know, to them.

Julie Alexander: Yep.

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: I mean, you’re, you’ve had employees. You have employees, it’s challenging to have massage employees. I mean, I know some people out there listening are trying to manage going from, you know, working for themselves to hiring somebody new or, you know, starting to hire people. You know, that’s a whole nother complicated ball game,

Candy Welch: it’s, yes. So like I finally learned that if I have a single doubt. About just don’t even go there. Don’t even, because that doubt will grow into something if there’s something off. And I’ve been so blessed to find the people that I vibe with. One, it’s really easy for me to find people at the massage school ’cause they’ve learned under me and, you know, that’s really easy.

But I had, one of my students worked for me and she had to move to New Hampshire and I loved her and we were such a good match there. And luckily I had this girl moving in from Oklahoma who. [00:28:00] Was coming in right when she was leaving and she wasn’t even gonna be there full time. She was gonna work at two different places.

And as soon as I put her on the schedule before I even announced she was working there, she had two clients that booked of my clients that were just checking out my website at the time, which was amazing. And but her, she is the sweetest, nicest. I’ve never had any bad vibes or little thought that, oh no, what if she doesn’t work out?

You know? But it’s just a vibe. It’s a presence and. I’ve had a couple of people here and there who kind of asked to work, but are they hinting towards, they wanted to come work with me and I’m like, eh, I just kind of skip a, if I feel that little vibe, I’m like, no, it’s, it may not work out. You just gotta learn.

Julie Alexander: Yeah, go with your gut.

Candy Welch: Absolutely. No when to say no, and it’s okay, you know?

Julie Alexander: I mean, you have such a comforting presence. KI don’t know if you know this about yourself,

Candy Welch: I don’t, but thank you.

Julie Alexander: but I mean, just talking with you, you feel very warm and open. [00:29:00] You know, you show a little vulnerability, which is really nice. I think this is something that we all can learn from. You know, it’s obviously easy for you.

I mean, it comes naturally for you and people find you safe, and that’s how your business can grow. And I think some people, it’s really hard to make this feel natural, you know, to make this comfort zone feel normal, right? Like you’re in a safe space, especially if you’re a guy in this industry,

Candy Welch: Yeah. Well, the. The number one key that I’ve learned and it, this took work though for me because hon, all you have to do is be honest with yourself, is the main thing. Be honest with yourself. Oh, I suck at this and I’m okay at this, so if I suck, let me work on that. If I can’t do it, oh well just let people know.

Hey, I’m not good at that, and they’ll. And if you just do what you’re good at, instead of trying to make something up and not be honest, then you know that’s what the people [00:30:00] come for you for. You know, like I’m, I was never good at waiting. I said this yesterday to somebody. I could not wait tables. I dumped trays of drinks all over people all the time.

I sucked at that.

job.

It

Julie Alexander: I.

Candy Welch: was.

I sucked it too.

I was so bad I could not do that. But like I’m honest with people, even with my flaws, and the more honest you are with your flaws, the easier it gets to be honest with your flaws. And that’s. That’s awesome. Like I am that way with my students. I’m like, I’m not gonna lie to you about anything.

If I missay a word, ’cause it’s, you know, late at night and I’ve had clients all day and I forget the name of a joint I call, I called the

iliofemoral

joint a glen femoral joint. One time. I’m like, that’s not right. After the words came outta my mouth, I’m like, I know that’s not right. And I’m too tired to tell you what the word is, but I’ll remember later.

And I went on with the lesson and then I, as I’m leaving, I called one of my ex students and I was like, you never guess what I just said, but and he is you mean the ilio tomorrow? I was like, [00:31:00] yes. And I texted ’em all on the way home. I was like, this is what it is. But you know, I was honest with Mya.

I’m not smart all the time.

Julie Alexander: Well, I think that there is. Real, true, sincere honesty and authenticity in being vulnerable and saying, I was wrong. I made a mistake. You know, let me make it right. And I think we get all caught up in the way we look or the way we say something, or the way people might perceive us.

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: But you know, if we can kind of drop that facade and just go, you know what, we’re all human.

. I mean, gosh, I have a client, this little lady, she’s super sweet, but she’s very put together you know, girl such Texas, a proper Texas lady.

Okay. She’s a proper taste lady. She came in one time to get her massage, and I’m not kidding, she said to me, I [00:32:00] almost canceled my massage today. And again, I’m booked up for two or three months there. Nobody cancels on me

Because

they can’t get back in. And I was like, well, why would you do that? Why would you cancel?

And she goes, well, I wasn’t feeling real well. And I was like. Well, what’s wrong? You didn’t tell me you were sick or anything. And she goes, I was gassy and I was afraid I was gonna fart when you pushed on my back.

back

And I’m like, honey, if you need to fart when I push on your back, you just let her rip.

Candy Welch: right, exactly. It happens all the time. It’s okay.

Julie Alexander: That’s right. It’s true.

Candy Welch: Yeah,

Julie Alexander: Well, is

there anything else you wanna share about you or your business or,

Candy Welch: I know Lucy, when she talked to you, she was talking a lot about the aia and I never got into that with any of this.

Using Microcurrent for Scar Tissue Release

Candy Welch: So our state recently allowed us to use microcurrent and [00:33:00] been using a lot of that was for scar tissue release and everything and the different things that they train us to use it for, and I’ve had a lot of good results with it.

That’s more of a visual thing though. Like I’ve done a lot of scar tissue release. I had one client who had severe endometriosis and I actually. Learned. I’m learning, you know, from the first alternatives, folks who were there at the national A MTA and conventions. And then I also have been learning from a guy in Texas that I happen to come across.

 I’ve been working with him over the phone on some techniques with aia and he had told me about, scar tissue release, but with endometriosis. And so I had done that to one of my clients and we had amazing results.

Like her intention was not to get pregnant, but she had, was not able to get pregnant. And after working with her, she was able to get pregnant and that’s one of the most amazing results I’ve had with that.

Julie Alexander: That’s pretty cool.

. So the a is a machine. Correct.

Candy Welch: Yes, it’s a Microcurrent machine. It’s similar to the Dolphins. I had dolphins too. I used those [00:34:00] before too,

Julie Alexander: So many tools and stuff that, that go along with massage. I think this goes along with the conversation about the modalities, right? I mean, when, you know, I would, I like to advise people. I know tools are fun and we wanna buy ’em all, and I sell ’em at my massage store, so I don’t wanna stop people from buying them.

But I mean, you do have to kind of think about what’s your strategy in your business before you go buying all this stuff. ’cause I’m sure the the AIO machine is expensive. I teach medi cupping and the ING machines. You know, it’s six, it’s $500. I mean,

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: so, you know, I think before you go out and buy a bunch of tools, you kind of really have to talk to other therapists like us.

use it

on a regular to see what results they’re getting, you know? And is that the same thing that your customer base is needy?

Candy Welch: [00:35:00] Right.

Julie Alexander: Does that match?

Candy Welch: Yeah, I do like with, especially with my students, you know, I’ll bring in some of my extra tools when we rarely have spare time, but when we do have a little bit of time, I’ll let them play with those so they can get to know, you know, I do have a Meco machine. I don’t use it very often. I just got it not too long ago because I see how much easier it is than regular thing to do when you’re doing cupping.

But I, you know, I brought it in. Let people play with them, let students play with them. Yeah.

Julie Alexander: That’s awesome. I mean, because students, I mean, I think we need to play with stuff before we know what to get and what we wanna do, you know, and playing with stuff is fun.

Candy Welch: yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

If you don’t get a chance to play with it, you might end up with a closet full of things, and I’ve got a little bit of that going.

Julie Alexander: Well, I don’t think that’s bad. I got a bunch of closets of things.

Yeah.

Well good. Thank you so much for taking your time today, candy.

Candy Welch: Thank [00:36:00] you.

Julie Alexander: I appreciate all the work and time that you contribute to our industry. Your knowledge and passion for it is really appreciated, and I know we don’t get thanked enough.

Candy Welch: Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you. I appreciate what you’re doing too. This is amazing. Spreading the word on everything. That’s great.

Julie Alexander: Well, we’ve all gotta talk really loud to make people hear us,

Yes.

but you know, I’m happy to provide a platform for people to hear their voice,

Candy Welch: Yeah.

Julie Alexander: and I appreciate you. Thanks.

Thank you so much for joining me on the Handcrafted Therapy Podcast. I would love to hear from you. You can email us at [email protected], or you can come by the store. It’s at 33 0 3 North Central Expressway, suite number two 40 in Plano, Texas, 7 5 0 2 3. Or you could connect with me on [00:37:00] social Instagram, Facebook hashtag can crafted therapy.

I’m Julie Alexander and I wish you a very happy and healthy day.