By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer
Dear Working Well Resource Readers,
2013 has been an amazing year. First off, the world did not end on December 21, 2012 as some reported might happen. Getting to see 2013 is a huge success now that the Mayan’s have been disproven. Aside from this major hurdle, Working Well Massage has had a fantastic year, giving thousands of massages in the Chicagoland area, relaxing many Chicagoans (And out-of-town visitors to our corporate locations and chair massage stations inside Whole Foods Markets).
Chair massage is our Working Well Massage specialty!
In 2012, we continued our partnership with Whole Foods Market in the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park stores in Chicago. I am very proud of our strong association with Whole Foods because I believe in their products and I am happy WWM can align with Whole Food Markets core values to provide healthy relaxation services inside two Chicagoland stores. Thanks to Rich Holley, Store team leader at the Lincoln Park Whole Foods Market ,and Mike Farmer, Store team Leader of the Gold Coast store for allowing us to operate our chair massage stations inside their stores!
Working Well Massage inside Lincoln Park Whole Foods Market
In 2012, Working Well Massage continued to provide excellent massage therapists to our retail and corporate clients–and we will do so in 2013 as well! We are happy to be able to provide high quality services at affordable prices. Notice, I don’t say high quality services at low prices. We don’t do that and we don’t recommend it. Paying low prices usually means someone is getting ripped off, either the massage therapist or the customer (because the low paid services are usually not high quality!). As 2012 came to a close, I admit I was happy to hear that the company “Groupon” has had massive layoffs and is losing investors. I have written about the negative effects of deep discounting and sadly, I am seeing my beliefs bear out. I know I am in good company when Peter Cohan, Contributor to Forbes magazine, agrees that Groupon is a bad idea for small businesses–and I say it’s bad for small business customers as well. At Working Well Massage, we have always tried to keep our prices affordable, but we still need to make a living. By offering a living wage to our massage therapists, we can continue to provide quality services, stay in business (a very important goal for small businesses!) and treat our current and future clients with respect and care. We love what we do and we are happy to help people save money on our services..but not at the cost of our business and our personal health!
Lorian Bates, Working Well Massage Therapist as she prepares to provide high quality massage to WWM clients inside Whole Foods Market. Photo by Sue Shekut.
Working Well Massage corporate clients have been happy to have us provide our stress relieving services on a daily, weekly, monthly and periodic basis. For reasons of confidentiality, we do not broadcast our client companies names, but we can say that our clients include financial services, marketing companies, software manufacturers, manufacturing firms, schools, universities, police stations, private pampering parties and not-for-profits. This year Working Well Massage also donated time and money to local and national charities such as Climate Cycle among other groups.
Working Well Massage therapists give a small moment of relaxation to officers as they prepare to go out into the streets and as they come off duty after a long shift. Photo by Sue Shekut.
Thanks to all our readers, Working Well Massage clients, Working Well Massage team members, and Chicago area police and fire fighters! We appreciate your business in 2012 and look forward to service you again in 2013!
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