00:48 Hey, welcome back to the show today. I am so excited to bring us down into the deep with Jessica today. Jessica, will you please tell us who you are and what do you do? 

00:55 Yes, I would love to. Thank you for having me. My name is Jessica Price. I'm the owner of Austin Deep and the Deep Academy School of Massage here in Austin, Texas. And I literally help people feel better every single day. That's it. 

01:13 What a gift. What a gift. That, what an awesome thing to wake up for every day. 

01:17 Yeah. Yeah. It's a great business to be in. Not an easy one, but it's a great one.  

01:23 It is not an easy one. Tell me about it. Like who, who are your favorite clients? Like, what are you, what are you dealing with down in Austin that causes so much stress and pain and they need this relief? What's going on? 

01:33 Well, as you know, Austin's had so much growth. I mean, we've got. It's now become the central point for techies. We've got a ton of, um,  uh, kettle on fire. We've got a lot of health nuts. who've now made Austin their home. Joe Rogan, Peter Attia. It's bubbling with energy and it's a very active city. So a lot of people here are into longevity, which is where the Austin Deep Massage plays a huge part in. And I've been in the industry, um, carving my own path, revolutionizing what people think about massage, the way they experience massage, and also being able to scale. My massage, which I can't wait to dive into that with you. 

02:20 We are going to dive into that. But before we do, I got to understand, cause there's Swedish massages. There's all sorts of crazy different methods of, of tissue massages. There's foot, you know, people climbing on your back with their feet. Like walk us through what makes your methodology unique. And, and I mean, obviously the name says it all, but. But what do you do differently? How are you training people? 

02:42 Oh, I love, I would love to. Um, so basically what sets us apart is we only, we only offer you one, one massage.  That's it. Nice. You can choose. You can only choose your length of time. 30 minute, 75 minute, 90 minute, because what I've learned, I don't know if you know who Joe Pine is, but his book, The Experienced Economy. Oh, such a good book. Customers do not want choice. Customers, they just want what they want. I have honed in on that. I put myself through the customer's shoes and walked through it all. All the things that they like that they don't like, um, and figure out a way to make it a consistent, high quality experience for them. And that we do at the Austin Deep Massage. It's a full body, fascia focused deep tissue massage. We warm up your layers. We warm you up. We get through melt, melt everything down and then we get into your trigger points and that's the good stuff. That's where you're just like your mouth. You're just like, oh my gosh, this is giving me so much relief and it's a repeatable experience and that's what sets it apart. A lot of, a lot of places you just really never know what you're going to get. You don't, it's a, it's a luck of the ball. 

04:07 Right. No, one hundred percent. 

04:08 Right? 

04:10 A hundred percent. I just went on a couple's massage with my wife a few weeks ago. And, uh, I walked away going, oh man, that was awesome. That was so deep. And she walked away going, eh,  that was not the best experience. And we were in the same room at the same place. And we both had very different experiences. How do you make it consistent? Cause that's, that's like a, that's like a big deal. 

04:30 It's a huge deal. And that's part of the problem. That's why the industry in massage is broken because people, you can't find consistency in the industry. And that's really the biggest thing that has set us apart is that we are able to deliver this one massage. The there's a flow to it and it literally it's therapeutic. It's a holistic approach to helping you feel better. Live without pain. Um, and it's repeatable. And that's why Austin Deep is so exciting right now. 

05:03 My gosh. Well, the way you described it, the whole meltdown, that, that kind of got me all like jello in my legs. Like, I literally am standing here thinking, uh, I really need one of those.  

05:14 Yeah. I know. It's so exciting. Todd, it, no, no pun intended, but there's layers to this. So you come in, it's a repeatable experience. We get you on the table. We hear all the stuff you have going on. We warm you up. Things start melting. Yeah. We hit all your trigger points. You come back in four weeks from now, it's the same experience. So already, you know what to expect every time. So when you see my brand Austin deep, you know exactly what you're in for. You know, people aren't going to do something weird, stretch your neck, yank your arm, crack your bones, cup you like, like you said, there's a million different modalities and back to the question, what sets us apart? We do one thing, but boy, we're the best at this one thing. And it's, it's, it's exciting.  

06:02 Love it. Love it. Okay. That sounds amazing. Now, now walk me through, it sounds to me like your business model is different than most because a lot of people are just running mom and pop shops when they do massage therapy, uh, locations. How are you differentiating that? And how are you? How are you building the consistent, uh, uh, result or, or process of how you do the deliverable in a 30-minute, 75-minute, or 90-minute segment? Across, how many locations are you in right now? 

06:32  Three. Yeah. 

06:33 Okay. Three locations. Three locations? 

06:36 Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

06:37 Awesome, awesome. 

06:40 Well, that's a great question, and it for like the first probably 14 years, Todd, I was hitting a wall. It was really hard to get folks who would buy in, align with my method, want to learn the method, and so forth. And also, I would go speak at massage schools in the business classes; maybe one person was hireable.  

07:03 It's that right. Why is that? 

07:04 It's broken. It's old. It's outdated. Um, there's been no change and that right there is why I opened the deep academy. It's a massage school. So I get people in to my school. Um, I changed the law in the state of Texas to allow for the theory portion 250 hours online. So I went up against the old dinosaurs in my industry here in Texas who did not want change, um, just to make it more accessible. I mean, for the modern day worker, barista, bartender, mom wants to jump back in. So the minute I decided that I'm just going to have to vertically integrate it, and do this on my own the entire process. That's when everything got very interesting.  

08:02 Yeah. So you got political.  

08:03 I changed, I, I disrupted things just a little bit because it needed to happen. It was, I mean, I had already, of my life. I started doing this at a very young age and it was time. Um, and I was tired of depending on misogynable graduates. Um, so yeah, I just decided to go for it, and it's been such an incredible journey. And now back to your question on like, how, how, how are we doing this? It's the deep academy, one hundred percent. I have my entire massage school. We get folks through the school, the first 10 weeks online, the last 10 weeks is in person. Um, it's been so much fun to work with the state of Texas, follow their guidelines, be kind of the leader, um, since we changed the law for this. And then what I do is I built a graduate program.  So that's where I teach the deep method. It's a trademark method. And this is where we really get them beefed up in hospitality. Ready to serve you and ready to get, get your fascia moving and melting and hitting the trigger points. And then they, they get through the graduate program and then they have to test out.  They test out. They lost a job at AustinDeep.  

09:21 Awesome. So, so is the, is the training center primarily to recruit your own people or is it to teach them the skills to get certified, go do their own thing? Like what, what's the general pattern of what, what are you seeing happening? 

09:32 Yeah, it's, it's a great question. So really I am, I am looking for people to come, come join the Austin deep team. Really? I mean, your interview starts day one in school if you make it into the school. So I interview every candidate to make sure it's a good fit. Um, these are people who really want to help people feel better and live better lives. So they're in it for the right reasons.  And, and then we take them through it. I, and, and the beautiful thing about my school on top of it being online and more progressive, it's, we do a tuition reimbursement after they've made it one year. So that's how much I'm looking for the right people. Um, and now what it's done, Todd, is the gap is.  The gap is so, no one is, no one is really pouring themselves into the educational component and the continuous training.  

12:07 Why is that? Do you think, I mean, it seems like, um, the human body is such a complex creature, like, and, and, and the way you describe, even just the way you casually talk about your massage therapy and the way you attack the tissues. It sounds so intriguing to me. Like I. I've had many massages and I definitely know when people understand the dynamics of how the body works versus those that are just like going through the motions. So how do you encourage that? Or is it something you just have to find naturally and you're like, okay, this person really wants to know and they want to understand this. I'm going deep with this person.  

12:46Yeah. So basically, if I'm understanding your question, right. Um, we, we are looking for people who, especially we're 2024. The entire landscape has changed. Education in general has changed when kids graduate high school. I have 18-year-olds coming to The DeepAcademy because they're just like, I don't want to go through the traditional route. The traditional route is kind of old. People want a job. Now they want a great skill and they want a stable income and health care benefits. And that's that's So it's been fun for me as an employer, but I'm really looking for people who have the professional skills, who have a growth mindset and really want to dive in to this, um, you know, and commit.  

13:37 I love it. So for those of you listening, as you're trying to build, especially in a skills based industry like what you're in and service in general, you really have to find those people and differentiate between who you actually want to. Plug into your system as opposed to take anybody and just see who lasts. Yeah. How, I love the fact that you started a, a, um, an educational program within your industry and got certified and even changed the rules a little bit to do that. How do you recommend that for other service industries? Because clearly you're setting a different. Path to getting the right people in your in house for you that a lot of people don't see that path to do that way. 

14:19 That's a great question. And, you know, I tend to go down these rabbit holes and then I have to, it's like, just focus. Focus. But if I were to look at the restaurant hospitality industry, there, there's talk about tough, like their turnover rate, right? That's and hospitality in that industry is not easy. Um, Danny Myers, a huge fan of, he has a Gramercy Tavern, um, Union Square, New York City. He's written a couple of really great books that. You know, if I'm in the house, I love hospitality. I absolutely love it because I get to get into the customer's mind and try to figure out all the qualms, all of your massage baggage, all the things that you bring to the table  and, and make them better constantly. I'm, I'm never like stopping improving my process, but if it was a restaurant industry, there's absolutely room for. For them to vertically integrate and build their own brand. And then that's their service. And that's their stamp of approval, basically.  

15:22 Love it. Love it. So, so, but I mean,  obviously, you know, your trade, I mean, you've been doing this for a very long time. And, uh, as you've, as you've kind of watched the pattern in those first 14 years versus what you're doing now, what was it that kind of tipped the, the weight on that so that you could see, Oh my gosh. If I had done this 10 years ago, I would have beaten my head against the wall for so long, trying to figure this out. What was that thing? 

15:49  You know, Todd, it was, it was during the pandemic and, um, coming out of the pandemic, it was that time when my husband was the one who pulled me aside and he's like, just, we need to take a look. And I had been flat for a long time, really struggling, uh, my attrition rate, therapist ratio. You know, I had that built into my, my op model, and it just, I mean, Todd, it was hard. It was really hard to find quality people who actually really wanted a real career, a real profession. So that's when he, he suggested, you're going to have to open your own massage school. We're going to have to own the entire Enchilada. And that's when I jumped in and I thought, okay, here we go. And back to being an entrepreneur, I'm like, okay, I've never done this before, but let's do this. And I, you know, slowly, but surely figured it out, and it's been so rewarding. Um, as the owner of my company, I, I love it. I love being able to help people. We offer scholarships. So it's. It's really cool to see people step up from the service industry, the daily grind, and actually have a real fulfilling career that they find purpose. Purpose is very big right now with purpose industry. You want to feel like they're making a difference in the world.  

17:17 No, no doubt about it. And as I, you know, as I talk to people, I've got teenagers and young adults in my own family, my own kids. And as I see them trying to pick a profession and do the things that they are really passionate about, it's interesting because, you know, I've got a daughter who is a valedictorian. Great in school. She got her nail tech license, and she's like dude dad. I love doing nails It's fun. I visit with people. I'm really good at it. I really like study my craft and she's Doing really really well as a nail tech, and it's it's not a bad thing and I think that probably Some of the battle you were facing, uh, from what it sounds like is that people weren't taking it serious. They were like, Oh, I'm going to go do massage for a little while. And then I'm going to go to school and do the X or Y or Z.  How are you now seeing the landscape changes? People are taking these trades a little more seriously and saying, Nope, I'm good with this. This is I'm passionate about this. 

18:18 Yeah. You, you hit on something. I love that your daughter found her passion. She's gonna rock that, right? Yeah. 'cause she's tapped into, she's killing it. What you love to do? No, that's the, that's, that's the money right there. And so my, I have two daughters and they both go to a school here in Austin called Alpha, and they tapped into their passion. It's part of their program. It's K through 12, two hour learning. The kids have to love school.Um, so they get two hours out of the way during the, the morning and then the rest of the day is cool doing life skills. So my daughter, the freshman at a new school called University of Austin, Texas, it was, they were just on 60 minutes, uh, I think last night actually. And it's the coolest school because it allows them to tap to continue their passion. They've got a Polaris part of it and then the academic portion. So it's a merriment of the both, but both my kiddos are living out that like they, they, my other daughter's musical Broadway. Writing a, uh, Broadway musical performed by teens, written by teens. She's directing the whole thing. Built an audience on Tiktok

19:26 It's crazy. So they don't teach you that in normal K through 12. 

19:27 They don't. And I'm an alpha mom. So I, I see what's happening on the forefront of education and it's so much fun for me and my husband both because we're both entrepreneur, we're growers, we're builders. So that's what, that's the shift I'm seeing. I'm seeing some colleges that are outdated themselves and now I think. People just want to feel that they're contributing. People want to feel purpose. They want that life work balance. And that's, that's the beauty of the deep Academy because I can catch those people, um, and give them this opportunity if it aligns and fits. 

20:04 I love it. So what have you done with the business side of it? Cause I, I, not with the business side, but your, your client side, because it sounds like you've really been able to solve a problem on the attrition side in terms of employees and kind of that turnover and all, all that real pain in the butt stuff of the operational side. But as you work on the avatar of who you're targeting, is there a specific like set type of personality you're looking for, or the type of person that you're looking for, or is it just. Come as you are and whoever fits fits, or do you find yourself kind of filling in a need for a specific group? 

20:39 And you're talking about customers?

20:41 Yeah, customers, customers, 

20:42 You know, it's been so interesting, Todd, because we will get abuelitas coming in who just the work we get 16-year-old track stars who go to, you know, they're competitively running and everything in between. So the work we do really blends itself. I think if I had to pick a challenge, it's that sometimes we get people who maybe they're used to the day spa. Deep tissue massage, which is not what we do. We have a therapeutic approach. It means we will meet you where you're at, but you will feel where you're at and we help you through that. We really do, but it's therapeutic. You know, approach to massage and helping your body heal and feel better. And I think some people have a different expectation or they want to tell my therapist, do it this way, or I want this, or my last, and we are like, my therapists are trained in one thing, and it's fascia. 

21:47 Now, now I love it. And, and as you, as you kind of niched down into that specific service type and a specific massage type, what led you to do that? Was there something that you were hearing too much feedback about like random types of results or what, what was it that kind of made that decision for you to really. Dive deep into deep, deep dive into deep tissue.  

22:07 You know, it started back in massage school. I was always getting in trouble for going deep, finding, finding adhesions, uh, not doing the Swedish massage, the Enya, you know, You know, I, and because I was bored and I grew up, I was an athlete growing up. I'm from South Texas, where Elon launches rocket ships, and I just had a knack for it. And, um, yeah, it was really, uh, four years in, I got my feet wet at a, at like a fitness center that had a physical therapy department right next door. And that's where I got mentored by some of the most amazing  physical therapists. One of them was a manual therapist. His name's Mark Hernandez. Todd, unbelievable.And they literally took me under their wing. I mean, I was maybe 20. Years old at the time.  Uh, so I learned a lot and that's when I discovered fascia And this was in the I don't want to say how old I am. But this was this was in the Late 90s and fascia. Okay, not a trending topic but that's when I really learned how impactful it is if you tackle the fascia first and 

23:30 So talk to us about fascia for those that don't know what is that? Is that a layer within our muscle tissue or what's going on with fascia? 

23:36 Yeah, I'll paint a picture for you. So fascia basically is connective tissue. It's like a spider web, like sinewy, clear see through, and it literally encapsulates your muscles. your tendons, your, it's, it's everywhere from the top of your head down to your arches of your feet. You're wrapped in it. If you've ever cooked chicken, raw chicken, if you peel the skin away, you will see this thin sinewy, this thin layer that is, it holds everything together. Basically, it gives us shape. 

24:14 Interesting. Okay, and so how do you detect where that is? Is it different in every person or is that pretty consistent layer that you're going for it?

24:18 Yeah. it's pretty consistent. The way we can differentiate every, every body type is different is some people lead more sedentary. lifestyle. Some people training for certain things. So we already know you're predisposed. Your fascia will be tighter if you're, you know, training for a marathon. We know exactly what to focus on. We know exactly what your muscles need to get refreshed, but loosening the fascia really helps. It feels like you're getting on the table and someone's stretching for you. You feel this deeper sense of relief with the fascia work that we do. And I think a lot of people don't understand what fascia is.I have chatGPT how to relay it in this most simplest terms to really help people because I really think fascia is the future. It's it has longer, longer lasting effects by getting it worked on and released.  

25:12 I love it. I love it. Now, as you, um, a lot of people listening to this podcast are fellow entrepreneurs. They may be in the service industry and they're trying to figure out like you were beating your head against the wall for a while. How do I get more quality people? How do I really speak to my target audience? How do I simplify my offering?  Any, any big issues that you hit in trying to do this that you would warn against?bAnd maybe, maybe some pitfalls that you hit along the way that you're like,  Avoid this and those those things would kind of come together.  

25:46 Yeah, let's see. That's it's so good. And um, let me let me think about this  I really think so one of the first books I read That my husband gave me was called emyth and e myth is so good. It's like right It's the foundation to really understand how systems and processes and scaling and then and then You have to figure out whether you have a product or not. What differentiates you? How passionate are you willing to just like grind every day? Because it's tough, I mean, Todd, it's tough. There's never a day that is not. Not easy. It's, and I'm always on, so it's a lot of work for sure. But I feel that passionate about what I do. I love being a job provider. I also love helping people feel better. And I on a mission to scale this baby, uh, with the deep academy and get more AustinDeeps, maybe even where you're located, but this is the way, this is the way we do it. And I think E Myth for sure, making sure your product. Is solid that there's a, a need for your product. And then as far as finding employees, I think you need to figure out what your values are as a business and, and then hire based on those things, those qualities and whatnot.  

27:07 I love it. Well, you know, before I let you go, cause I love the E myth. I absolutely love it. And I think so relevant for a service based business. Um, because you're really delivering this product that, that when it's  custom every time. It's nearly impossible to scale, but you have clearly read that book and taken out of it. A few things that I think are important. What was the thing that when you read that you're like light bulb clicked on and you're like, Oh, duh, I need to do this better.

27:39 You know, it was, I knew that I had to stick to what I did best. And that has been instrumental and believe me, there's many times where I've like gone to like, John, I, I think we should have this or what about, and he's Nope, stick to what you do best and then build on that. And that truly has been like, it's, it's been the most amazing thing ever. Like, whatever it is, you do, you have to be the best at it. Go deep, build hours in that. And then,  That's it. 

28:15 I love it.  I love it. Well, I'm so excited for you. I'm so happy to hear about the growth. How many locations are you shooting for? What, what's, what's your target in the next five, 10 years? 

28:23 In the, in the next five years, we'll definitely have another two locations here in Austin and then We'll, we'll scale in Texas first, so 

28:31 Cool. 

28:32 Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Houston. 

28:34 Well, I can't wait to look you up next time I'm in Austin because I love a good massage and I. I love deep tissue whenever I can get it. I love to get the deep, deep dish. I like deep dish pizza too, but I love deep tissue massage.

28:49 I love it. Well, Todd, maybe Austin deep will be coming to you soon. So I'll definitely ping you your heads up.  

28:55 Awesome. I appreciate it so much. And Jessica, seriously, thank you so much for taking the time today to, to kind of help our service based listeners really understand that dive, diving deep into your niche and really taking the time to, to qualify your people a little bit better, educate them better, will bring so many blessings to your business. 

29:14 Absolutely. It was, it was a pleasure to be on your show. Thank you so much, Todd.