When I look back over the past twenty years of NBT’s existence, I am in awe of the entire journey. Many of our clients only know NBT in its current location and haven’t heard the whole story. As we celebrate our twenty-year anniversary this June, I would like to share the NBT journey.
Taking you back to June 2003, gas was $1.83/gallon and the price of a stamp was 37 cents. Our first client entered my house in Waukesha for their Swedish massage. We converted our downstairs family room into my massage clinic. At that time, having the clinic in my house worked perfectly while I was still working full-time in the rehabilitation department at Quad Graphics. Eventually, I left Quad and entered into NBT full-time. Prior to making this decision, I remember sitting in my accountant’s office, discussing continuing with NBT on a part-time basis or taking the leap to full time. He looked at me and said, “Either you do it or you don’t; there isn’t an in between. What are you going to do?” Well, you know the decision that I made, and I haven’t looked back.
Sometime during that first year in business, I realized that I just wasn’t the therapist that could provide relaxation massages. In the middle of a flowing Swedish sequence, I would become aware of a connection in other parts of the body but not be able to break sequence. I had to ask myself if what I was providing was really serving my clients and meeting their goals. The answer was NO. So one day I switched to 100% MFR sessions. I am so glad that I listened to my gut and made the switch. Each and every day that I get to provide a therapeutic session, I am grateful for the knowledge and gift that I am able to pass on to my clients.
As my client load increased in the house, I had an opportunity to keep this location but also add three days a week in a chiropractic clinic in Mukwonago (March 2005). While in Mukwonago, I worked with another massage therapist and energy worker, as well as two wonderful chiropractors who believed in the benefits of myofascial release and how it complemented their spinal adjustments. Working in Mukwonago opened my eyes to the benefits of chiropractic and allowed me to learn a whole new perspective on working with a client’s energy.
I have many fond memories over the years. While I was in Mukwonago I got to help many amazing clients. I had been helping a gentleman for a few months when one day he said to me, “Wow, you really see a lot of famous people.” I can’t imagine what my face looked like when I asked, “Why do you say that?” He replied, “Well, you’ve seen Elvis Presley, Kid Rock, and other stars.” I found out that he never signed his checks from himself but signed them from famous people. Well, needless to say, I had to put a stop to my days of seeing famous stars. Please, don’t get any ideas.
Early in 2007, I had to make a difficult decision to leave Mukwonago. NBT was again growing and I had the opportunity to move to Pewaukee (July 2007) to a larger clinic. But in 2008, NBT had kept growing to the point where I had to make the decision to stop accepting new clients or add additional therapists to help with the number of clients seeking myofascial work. With the addition of new therapists we would have to make another move to a clinic that would allow the new team to work together. NBT moved to our fourth location in March 2009 where two therapists, one of the being Kristin, joined our team. With this move the concept of a team approach was developed.
In June 2015, we made the move to Quail Court and then in June 2022 we moved across the street to our current location. This was our sixth location in twenty years. It was important that any moves have minimal impact on our clients, so we made sure to keep our clinic location within a few miles.
As we enter June 2023, gas is around $3.50/gallon and a stamp costs 63 cents. We have had the opportunity to work with and help thousands of clients. I really can’t imagine working day to day with a more skilled, kind and wonderful therapist. Kristin is one of a kind in her offering as a therapist and I am so proud of her accomplishments.
As I reflect on the past twenty years, I am proud, grateful, and surprised at NBT’s journey. I couldn’t have envisioned that NBT would have changed so much in twenty years, but am happy it did. Each and every day we provide hope to so many that don’t know what else to do. Our clients have tried everything with many of them feeling as if they have been gaslighted by the traditional medical society.
I wanted to share our story because without you, the clients, the journey wouldn’t have happened. Every day that you enter our treatment room, you share and allow us to be a part of your journey. I am blessed and grateful every day that I have the opportunity to work with, who I believe, is the best therapist in the area. We have been able to provide the only multi-therapist clinic with expert level MFR experience in southeastern Wisconsin, along with additional treatments including Lymph, CST, Visceral, and others. I can’t wait to see what the next chapter looks like for all of us.