Perfect Pressure Holistic Therapies
Perfect Pressure Holistic Therapies
Chelmsford based ‘Perfect Pressure Holistic Therapies’ tells Backing Essex Business about how the business was able to grow its confidence and find the right direction with the Group2Grow peer network programme.
After being made redundant in 2018 from her career in the City, Sue Walker-Newson decided to follow her gut and pursue her dream of working in massage therapy in her home town of Chelmsford whilst working part time elsewhere. Having always had an interest in massage and practicing for a long time on her family and friends as a hobby, Sue registered for a course at her local college to pursue the right qualifications to learn more, and set her eyes upon being able to do what she loved full time.
Studying while working part time, she was able to kickstart her client base with the ‘first steps’ initiative run by her college course, which allowed her to charge discounted prices for her therapies and get a real feel for what it would be like to professionally massage. Perfect Pressure Holistic Therapies only grew from there, with Sue embarking on an additional Reflexology course just before March 2020 when Coronavirus lockdowns came into play.
After completing hundreds of hours of practical and theory work on her Reflexology qualification, in addition to part time work and building her client base for massages, Sue was ready to launch her business. She felt she had a path in life, and she was ready to set the foundations to get there.
Fast forward to the present day, Sue operates Perfect Pressure from a therapy room in her house in Chelmsford, which allows her to work from home and set up the exact atmosphere she envisioned for the business. Calm, soothing and safe, clients can visit her little sanctuary to receive treatments in both massage and reflexology, or she can bring the experience to them – with the ability to take her set up to their door as a mobile therapist too.
“This can sometimes be even better, as my clients can go straight to bed after their treatments and not have to drive home. They can have a whole self-care evening for themselves right at home and not have to worry about driving or how they’ll get home, so they can fully unwind.”
Getting the Perfect Pressure ‘massage’ across
Even with the ever-growing self-care trend which erupted during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, Sue says that service industries like hers have still taken a hit. The added-on domino effect of the rising costs of living have meant that people don’t have money for what they might consider ‘luxury’ things like massages and treatments, meaning that prospective and existing clients are seen to be cutting back across the board.
“The whole complexion of the world has changed, and service industries like mine have taken a hit. The service that I’m offering is a bit of a luxury. It shouldn’t be, because welfare and wellbeing should be something that’s on the priority list for everyone, because if you aren’t looking after your body, your mental health suffers, and vice versa. Therapists like myself, we should be on the ‘I need this list’ not the luxury list. It’s changing people’s mindset, and I can’t do that on my own”
Through her college course and networking events, Sue became part of a community of other therapists in the local area. She says that this helps enormously, as they’re able to collectively raise awareness for the benefits and importance of these therapies for people, as well as their network broadening the range of available treatments, as all the therapists have their own specialties.
“Most of my clients come from recommendations and word of mouth, which is a slow burn, but I try to get out there and meet more people to get my name out there, that’s what works best for me.
For me massage is the most popular, that will always be my first love, I’m more known for that than my other treatments. We all have our own little niche and specialties. Mine will always be the massage.”
Whilst working on growing her business and client base, Sue has persevered with creating a business model that will provide an income stable enough to enable her to leave her part-time job and pursue Perfect Pressure full time, which will hopefully be in the not-too-distant future.
Living in bustling Chelmsford, with the local college that she attended qualifying new therapists all the time, Sue was aware that the market for therapists was saturated, and she would have to stand out from the crowd to make her voice heard. She considered the possibility of expanding the catchment area for her mobile services to serve clients in areas outside of Chelmsford, where massage therapists may be in shorter supply, but the costs associated with the added travel have led her to hold back in the meantime, not to mention the costs associated with a rented space if she wanted to branch out from basing Perfect Pressure at home.
Finding Group2Grow to work out the kinks
Her pushing to grow her small business amidst the pressures of the knock-on effects from COVID and a saturated market is what led her to find the Group2Grow Peer Network Programme. After hearing about it through her local college, she felt the programme could be beneficial to gain knowledge from other business owners in the area, and the free 1-2-1 sessions could provide some vital solutions to her struggles with getting herself out there.
The Group2Grow programme, delivered by expert business coaches on behalf of Backing Essex Business, was specifically created to bring together business owners from across the county to help them to solve issues their businesses faced and find solutions. The cohorts of likeminded businesspeople come together once every fortnight to attend a session guided by their business coach, where they will discuss common problems faced in running a business and discuss how they can overcome it together. In addition to the group sessions, each participant benefits from 3 hours of 1-2-1 mentoring to discuss their individual problems and goals.
The free 8 x 2 hour sessions centre around what the group participants feel they want to work on, with session content varying from marketing and sales techniques, to networking and confronting imposter syndrome, and participants are invited to contribute their own experiences and have input on topics to lead discussions, and work through potential solutions together.
“I’d just been looking for an approach that worked for me. Marketing isn’t my strong point, so I needed as much help as I could get, and as it was a free service, I felt like I could really benefit. The cohort and Sarah as our group leader made me feel really comfortable. It’s definitely worth doing, even if only for the confidence boost of knowing you’re not the only one out there.”
As well as the group sessions, the Group2Grow programme offers participants three free hours of 1-2-1 support where participants can work through specific problems that they’re facing with their business with an expert business coach. This can be focused on what they were struggling with initially to enter the programme, or elements from the peer sessions that they’d like tailored to them.
“The 1-2-1s with Sarah were really helpful, she helped me focus on certain tasks. She was able to help me tick things off, see the trees instead of the forest, and she would help to guide me toward what would work and build on my ideas. I had the chance to ask all the questions I wanted, and pull a list together of things that I wanted to work on.”
With her newfound confidence from taking part in the Group2Grow sessions, Sue realised she’s on the right track to grow Perfect Pressure Holistic Therapies. She’ll see what the future holds, but as the wellness and wellbeing sector continues to recover from the COVID19 lockdowns and more and more people become interested in incorporating massage into their routines, the possibilities for Perfect Pressure are endless.
Find out more about Sue’s business Perfect Pressure Holistic Therapies by visiting her website, or get in touch via admin@perfectpressure.co.uk or by calling 07966 963642
