It Wasn't a Bolt-On. It Was a Rebuild.

I've been writing The Rise Is Real here for a while. Starting today, it also goes out every month as a newsletter on LinkedIn.

Why we didn't just add a few services to Massage Heights, and what choosing the harder path asked of all of us.

Welcome to the first issue of The Rise Is Real. Once a month I'll write here about what I'm learning as a founder: building, leading, franchising, and the kind of wellness you can actually keep. I'll share what's working, what isn't, and what I'm still figuring out. I'm really glad you're here.

I want to start with the decision I get asked about most.

For twenty years, people knew us as Massage Heights. I opened the first one on April 4, 2004, in Alamo Heights, San Antonio, and it came from a very personal place. I was 19 the first time my back gave out. Massage is what finally helped, but regular massage was something I couldn't afford. Years later, on my 34th birthday, I paid way too much for a rushed massage at a high-end hotel spa in Sedona. I walked out thinking, I can do better than this. People need real care they can actually come back to.

That one idea grew into something I'm deeply proud of. Our Members, therapists and Franchise Owners built it into 100+ locations. I don't take that lightly.

So when I came back as CEO in February 2024, I didn't come back to tear anything down. I came back because the people closest to the business were asking what was next. I said it plainly on the Franchise Today podcast in January: "the franchisees wanted more vision, right? They wanted to know what the next thing was."

The easy answer

There was an easy answer sitting right there. Keep everything the same. Put a new service on the menu, maybe two. Call it an evolution and move on.

I'd been thinking about change since before I stepped away in 2021. As I told Stan Friedman on that same show, "I knew before I left that we needed to start making some changes to the offering. But I also knew that that would be a big undertaking." And back then, honestly, people weren't there yet. "The consumer just wasn't ready. The consumer is ready now."

When the time came, I knew one thing for sure. "It wasn't like, okay, let's just add on some incremental services, right?"

A bolt-on would have been faster. It would have been easier to explain. I believe it also would have been wrong. A new service sitting next to an old experience doesn't change how someone feels when they walk through the door. It doesn't change why they come back.

What a rebuild actually means

So we started with the person, not the menu. What does someone need to feel cared for, not once, but again and again, in a way that fits their real life?

That question led us to Heights Wellness Retreat. Hands-on care, wellness technology and community, designed from the start to work together, with three Membership Paths so people can choose the rhythm that fits them. We rethought the space, the flow, and how our teams talk with guests about what they want to feel. As I put it on the podcast, "Every little part of the retreat is a new experience. It's a journey."

It's the same idea I had in 2004. People need real care they can come back to. We finally built the whole version of it.

What it asked of us

I won't pretend a rebuild is painless. It's slower. It asks more of everyone. It asked our Franchise Owners to trust us with something many of them had spent years building. It asked our teams to learn new things while still taking care of the guest in front of them. And it asked me to be honest that I didn't have every answer, and to keep showing up anyway.

Some of those conversations were hard. Some were the best conversations I've had in this business. The Franchise Owners who leaned in early, asked the tough questions and then said yes are a big reason this is working. I will always be grateful to them.

Every opening in the past year has been a Heights Wellness Retreat. To me, that doesn't mean we're done. It means we chose the right path.

The lesson I keep relearning

When something you've built needs to change, ask yourself whether you're fixing the surface or the foundation. Surface changes feel productive. They're easy to announce. But people feel the foundation. Your customers feel it, your team feels it, and if you franchise, your owners feel it most of all.

A rebuild takes longer and costs you some comfort. In my experience, it's also the only kind of change that lasts.

I'd make the same choice again.

A question for you

Have you ever had to choose between the shortcut and the rebuild, in your business, your career or your own health? What did you choose, and would you choose it again? Hit reply and tell me. I'll be reading, and with your OK, I may share a few of your stories in a future issue.

With love and gratitude,

Shane

Want to know more about me? Visit shaneevans.me. Thinking about owning a Heights Wellness Retreat? Start at heightswellnessretreatfranchise.com.