SOUTH CONGRESS MASSAGE by Megan Russell Negeen Mosley has been working out of South Congress Massage, a co-op comprised of four individuals, since its inception eight years ago. Finding a space where you can run a successful massage business and maintain constant clientele is something many massage therapists dream about, but for Mosley, it’s something she just lucked in to. This self-described “nosey neighbor” lives off of South Congress Avenue, and poked her head in one day to find out what was going in to the newly renovated space. Turns out they needed a massage therapist and she was up for the job. South Congress Massage, 1210 S. Congress Ave., 512.445.7455, southcongressmassage.com.
Negeen Mosley
| Massage Therapist, LCT
On the benefits of being a massage therapist: For me, the benefit I get out of it is assisting people through blocks of all kinds. And not just in the physical sense, but the emotional sense as well. There’s something honorable and very rewarding with helping somebody work through the awareness that maybe they’re not really focused on in their body. We all tend to live so busy in our minds. I can help people come back in to their body a little bit.
On what she loves about being an entrepreneur: What I love most about being a sole proprietor is the flexibility I can create, especially in this line of work. To be able to set your boundaries about the amount of work you want to do in a day, as opposed to working for somebody else where they want to schedule you more than you can emotionally or physically handle.
On Austin’s entrepreneurial spirit: Austin is a young, progressive city. With the UT presence, it draws young people who are motivated to get out there and do something fresh. And there’s an energy here that’s always been outside the box, in Texas anyway, so there’s a lot more opportunity for people to find different niches and start these different businesses. 82 Austin Woman M A R C H 2 0 1 4
Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: I think you have to manage yourself, your time and your product. It’s important to have a strong work ethic and maintain a certain level of consistency and honorability of what you’re putting out there because you can’t really compete if you’re not. Taking that leap and establishing yourself in your market is challenging. But you have to put the investment in yourself and your idea because once you take that leap, if you stay with it and have that work ethic to maintain a quality to whatever you’re doing, then the people will find out about it and that business will come. Don’t let fear play in to the factor of why you don’t take a chance. Almost always choose to put yourself out there and listen to your instinct. Probably, for massage therapists who want to get out on their own, I can say just from my experience that location helps in so many ways. Being in an office park somewhere means you really do have to invest quite a bit in to having people find you.
On tools that have helped her business: Obviously, having a web presence these days is an absolute. People will come to Austin and Google “Is there massage on South Congress?” That’s why we picked the name. We wanted something very general that would come up easily if people were looking for us. And just being here on South Congress means the ability to get business. Very recently, we’ve started doing online booking, which I find has been really great. Not necessarily a marketing tool, but tools for people to access us when we’re not available, because if I’m in a session, I can’t book a client.