Massage Business: Gary Mendelson's Entrepreneurial Shift

[00:00:00] Sanjay Parekh: Welcome to The Side Hustle to Small Business Podcast, powered by Hiscock. I'm your host, Sanjay Parekh. Throughout my career, I've had side hustles, some of which have turned into real businesses, but first and foremost, I'm a serial technology entrepreneur. In the creator space, we hear plenty of advice on how to hustle harder and why you can sleep when you're dead.

[00:00:21] On this show, we ask new questions in hopes of getting new answers. Questions like, how can small businesses work smarter? How do you achieve balance between work and family? How can we redefine success in our businesses so that we don't burn out after year three? Every week I sit down with business founders at various stage of their side hustle to small business journey. These entrepreneurs are pushing the envelope while keeping their values. Keep listening for conversation, context, and camaraderie.

[00:00:56] Today's guest is Gary Mendelssohn, the founder of The Massage Garage, a massage therapy practice based in San Francisco. Gary, welcome to the show.

[00:01:05] Gary Mendelson: Thank you, Sanjay. I'm grateful to be here.

[00:01:08] Sanjay Parekh: Uh, I'm excited to have you on because, uh, I don't know, maybe I might get some massage tips from you. Uh, you know, I've got this thing on my shoulder, but we'll talk about that maybe later on. Uh, maybe after the show's done. We'll see. Uh, but first, give us a little bit about your background and what got you to where you are today.

[00:01:24] Gary Mendelson: Wow. Well, there's lots of, lots of stuff to share with you, but, uh, I'll try and make it brief and, um, to the point. But I am currently, my title is Neuromuscular Therapist and Health Educator at the Massage Garage. And the way I got here, I started out very young. I was, uh. And my first business, uh, was in the theater, uh, in New York City for 22 years, and my first job was on Broadway with, uh, Neil Simon's little me. And, uh, we were in previews and I wrenched my back during rehearsals that morning. And, um, they sent me, the, the company manager sent me to this amazing. Massage therapist. He's was Mikel BOV's massage therapist at a BT American Ballet Theater. And they sent me to him, literally, I crawled into his office and we had performance that ne that same night. And I thought my life was over. I thought my career in the theater was over. This was my very first professional show, uh, at 17 years old, and he worked on my stomach.

[00:02:35] To to work on my back, and I was up dancing that same night. I was, it was mra. It was like a miracle, right? This miracle man who, who worked on my back through my stomach. And at that point I had heard, you know, or I felt all of this and I was up dancing that same night. And I realized there's something to this work, right? There's something to this work. And I don't think at the time he was considered a neuromuscular therapist. I think he was just considered a, a. Uh, massage therapist and actually a masseuse to get back to your original question is I, I went to the National Holistic Institute for Massage to get my massage therapy license.

[00:03:20] And then through them they had an advanced training program for, for neuromuscular therapy, which deals with the nervous system and the muscular systems together, uh, to get people out of pain. So. Going back to my first career as a musical theater performer, I did that for 22 years in New York. After that, I became ill and, uh, I, well, before I became ill, uh, I moved to what I call Penn Tuck, a rural Pennsylvania.

[00:03:49] Um, and I had two adopted boys through the New York Foster care system, and then we moved out to. What I call Penn Tuckie, rural Pennsylvania, um, in Milford. And I started to teach dance and opened up, um, a professional training school for musical theater and dance in Pennsylvania. 'cause I was a stay at home dad and I couldn't just be a stay at home dad. So I opened up this business. Um, and so I have, I have some history of business, uh, through that 22 years of. Uh, performing. I also was the, the founder, co-founder and owner of the, um, the Can Candlestick, which was a retail candle store in Manhattan, two in Manhattan, and then one, uh, candle store in Brooklyn where I lived, uh, at that time called Big Wic.

[00:04:45] And um, so we had. I had all these businesses and um, when I moved out to Pennsylvania, I sold my businesses to my business partner and, uh, then opened up this other store 'cause I couldn't. Being in rural Pennsylvania, um, and just being a stay at home dad, it wasn't enough for me. I needed to do more, get out into the community.

[00:05:08] So I, uh, so I had that business. Um, then I became sick and we moved to, to San Francisco. Um, and, um, through that. Through that process, um, I wasn't able to work at the time, but through the Department of Rehab I was able to, to go back to school, uh, to get my neuromuscular therapy license and health education license and certification. So that brings me to today.

[00:05:38] Sanjay Parekh: Is there anything that like, you know, you ran the, the candle, by the way. I love the name. Candles, shtick. Thank you. Um, but you ran that business for, for it sounds like about a decade. Were there lessons from there that you used? Two decades. Two decades.

[00:05:52] Gary Mendelson: So, no, actually 10, uh, a decade. Yeah. Yeah. 10 years.

[00:05:55] Sanjay Parekh: Okay.

[00:05:55] Gary Mendelson: You're right.

[00:05:55] Sanjay Parekh: So, so were there lessons from that that you used? And leveraged when you started opening up the massage garage, um, and help you improve kind of the, the launch process of that.

[00:06:09] Gary Mendelson: I'm sure, I mean, a lot of a, a lot of, I learned so much doing candlestick. Um, I am not a math person.

[00:06:18] Um, uh, but you know, the way that we, we funded the candlestick was through credit cards. That's how we did it. We started to go through the small business administration. They wanted a whole. Um, business plan, which we put together. We put this two page business plan and we went back to them and, and they said, oh, no, no. That's not a business plan. That's just an idea. And we, we decided, we did finally make a business plan, which we, we found very helpful and interesting, and to help us, guide us. But we ended up doing it through credit cards and, and throughout the process I learned. What a profit and loss statement was and how to, how to do that and all, all that stuff, I, I started to learn. I taught myself and I, the biggest thing I learned then, and what I'm continuing to learn is to hire people that do things that I don't, leaving me the time to do the things that I do really well. Because if I spend the time to learn a program for, say, a software program, and, uh, through trial and error, you know, that's time, that's money, um, that is being spent and time taken away from what I actually do.

[00:07:42] Well. Right. My expertise as a neuromuscular therapist and a health educator, I don't really want, right now I'm, I am chief bottle, wash, cook, and bottle washer. Right. Um, but, um, you know, I hire professionals to do my books, to do other things, to do my taxes, to do, you know, other things. Marketing, although I'm doing some of the marketing today. Um, so it's, it is important to me, but I, I've learned so much so to, to think about. Yes, I bring it into the business that I have today. It has morphed and I have learned so much throughout this business. And it, it's a different business in a way, um, than the candle store, than retail. And now I'm a healthcare practitioner.

[00:08:29] Um, I get people outta pain and educate them on how to stay that way and in that perspective. It was like the candle store where I helped them pick out the right candle and how to use it, right. So today I'm able to, to teach people and educate people on how to stay out of pain. I, I don't know, I think that answered, may have be answered your question.

[00:08:55] Adam Walker: Support for this podcast comes from Hiscock committed to helping small businesses protect their dreams since 1901. Quotes and information on customized insurance for specific risks are available at hiscox.com. Hiscox business insurance experts.

[00:09:16] Sanjay Parekh: Let me ask you this question. So you were in Pennsylvania and you decided to open this up, but you moved clear across the country to do it. W why that move? Why did it make sense? Uh, or, or, or, or is the ordering wrong?

[00:09:30] Gary Mendelson: No. So we moved to Pennsylvania. Uh, from New York, I stopped performing and then I opened up a professional training school for musical theater and dance called the Pike County School of Performing Arts. That's, that's what I did there. And, um, and that, uh, we were in Pennsylvania for five years, and so the last year that I was there, we had, I had stopped. Teaching dance to opening up the professional training school. So we turned the dance studio into a professional training school for musical theater and dance, not just dance. And so during the last year of that. Unfortunately, uh, my partner and I, we have two, two adopted kids through the New York Foster care system, and we moved from New York to Pennsylvania, saved a whole salary because of the rent and all of that. But, uh, my partner at the time, he was traveling back and forth from New York.

[00:10:31] He was the director of technology for, uh, for the New York Philharmonic. And he would, he would come back and forth and it was a, like a two and a half hour drive. Back and forth. But anyway, um, that being said, he, it, it began a, a small part of my story, um, where drugs became involved. And, um, I became, uh, due to that I became ill and, uh, became HIV positive and unfortunately wasn't able to work and moved to California.

[00:11:09] To hopefully, um, to find a different and better life and, and get away from the disease of addiction, which nobody, you can't get away from it. I mean, wherever you go, there you go, right? Um, but we found ourselves in California and I was able to find the help that I needed. And, uh, I was able to find recovery. I've been in recovery for quite some time. I don't speak for any of the recovery places, it's just my story. But I'm grateful, you know, I'm grateful to the fact that I, I am HIV positive and I, I was a, I'm a person in recovery and, um, because that's, that has molded me. And today I take better care of myself than I ever did.

[00:11:59] Than I ever did. Right? And, and I need to remind myself that, um, what I have, I, I've worked hard for, I've worked very hard for, and, and, um, you know, one bad decision or one decision, and I didn't think it was bad at the time, but, you know, one decision can change that in a moment. In a moment. And I have to be vigilant. 

[00:12:25] Sanjay Parekh: Right. So it's interesting. So your, your story is fascinating and, and thank you for sharing. Um, so it's interesting, so I, I wanna know like how much of that then really impacts your kind of desire to help other people with pain and some of these things. I mean, because to me there seems a pretty clear linkage from your past. Um, you know, not even just as a dancer, but just like what you've gone through and, and addiction and all these things to help people move past it. And so, so how does that translate for you into running this business and your motivation behind it?

[00:13:00] Gary Mendelson: A whole hell, heck of a lot. Absolutely. Um, it is, it's um, I think I said earlier, you know, being of service is really. A big part of my life today in all areas of my life, right? Not just, uh, not just my family, not just, uh, uh, friends, but also at work. And, um, you know, I think it's important to give back to the communities who have given so freely to me as well. And, uh, and that's a huge part of my recovery today. Um, and, and so bringing that into.

[00:13:35] Into my work. I think it has all to do with why I am doing what I'm doing, not just because I love, I, I love what I do. Sanjay, I absolutely adore it and, and I've been truly grateful. This is my seventh career, right? But I, I'm truly grateful that I can say that every single career choice that I've made have has been work that I love.

[00:14:06] Because when you love your work. It never feels like work. So that means I'll never work another day in my life. I'm sure you've heard that before, right? But it, it feels absolutely just like that. And I love every day going to meet my clients. In fact, I have two clients today, uh, after this, but I love to go and share with them my experience, um, because I give them, I give them suggestions throughout, throughout the appointments.

[00:14:36] I can rub you all I want, but if your brain doesn't understand what you're doing on a daily basis, that's creating the issues like you were talking about your shoulder, you know, I see that your shoulder is hiked up on your left side. Right. Because of possibly the way you sleep or the way that you're sitting in your chair. Right. Right. So these are things, and all of a sudden he's like, oh, I've gotta sit. 

[00:15:00] Sanjay Parekh: You're making me conscious about how I'm sitting.

[00:15:02] Gary Mendelson: Exactly. Exactly. Um, and that's good if we bring awareness. I tell my clients all the time, if the only thing I brought to you was body, more body awareness today, I feel like I've done my job, but I'm gonna give you a whole bunch more. Right? Yeah. And the only reason why I give you suggestions is because they work throughout the 17 plus years that I've been doing what I'm doing, which I love. I have found these, these suggestions that I give, that they work. That's the only reason why I give them. Yeah. And I've tried them myself. So it's, it's very important to me that what I'm sharing with my clients is something that I have tried that I, that I know works and it doesn't work for everybody, but, but it, it does work.

[00:15:49] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Um, Gary, this has been, uh, a fascinating conversation. I've got one more question for you. Um, if you were talking to somebody who's thinking about taking that leap like you did and launching a side hustle or a full-time business, what advice would you give to them?

[00:16:05] Gary Mendelson: First of all, I'd just say do it. Do it.

[00:16:09] Don't wait for the perfect time. There's never the perfect time. Right. If you wait for the perfect time, it's just gonna keep coming. I'm just waiting. I'm waiting. Waiting. That's one. The other thing that I'm gonna say was shared with me by one of my mentors, uh, at the, uh, NHI, National Holistic Institute.

[00:16:29] Um, he, I was about to sign a lease. For a place. Um, and I had to sign it and I had to take two days. I had to take two days for the month. And you had to pay for the whole month. Right. And, um, for me, at the time, it was kind of a lot at the moment, at the time. And, um, I was like, but what do I do? He's like, just do it.

[00:16:54] It's just money. Right. And, and if it doesn't work. Okay, it doesn't work then. Then you find what does, right? But he said, yeah, first of all, just know that you're better than you think you are. And two, it's just money. Try it. You're not gonna know unless you try it. Right?

[00:17:17] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah.

[00:17:17] Gary Mendelson: So that's what I would, that's what I would say.

[00:17:21] Sanjay Parekh: That's great advice. Uh, Gary, this has been fantastic. Where can our listeners find and connect with you online?

[00:17:26] Gary Mendelson: Absolutely, themassagegarage.net, [email protected]. Um, and I am on Facebook, I don't know the, uh, the address, but you can find me there. The Massage Garage in San Francisco and we, if you are in San Francisco, come and find us. Uh, we are at 1801 Bush Street, in San Francisco in the Japantown neighborhood. And um, yeah. Or you can call me. There you go. (415) 845-7143. That's it.

[00:18:01] Sanjay Parekh: Awesome.

[00:18:01] Gary Mendelson: Yeah.

[00:18:02] Sanjay Parekh: Uh, thanks so much for being on today, Gary.

[00:18:04] Gary Mendelson: Appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

[00:18:11] Sanjay Parekh: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Side Hustle to Small Business podcast, powered by Hiscox. To learn more about how Hiscox can help protect your small business through intelligent insurance solutions, visit Hiscox.com. And to hear more Side Hustle to Small Business stories, or share your own story, please visit Hiscox.com/side-hustle-to-small-business. I'm your host, Sanjay Parekh. You can find out more about me at my website, SanjayParekh.com.