Today we’d like to introduce you to Reggie Perkins
Hi Reggie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was a Kinesiology student at the University of North Texas. I graduated in 2019 with a bachelor’s in science. When I graduated I started doing personal training and powerlifting coaching. I also competed in competitive powerlifting as well. During my time as a trainer/coach I was really into stretching. Before training my clients I would go through basic stretching and mobility techniques with my clients to help them warm up before going into the workouts. As time went by I was applying for jobs like any other recent graduate and found a new company called Stretch Lab in Frisco Texas. I started working for stretch lab in 2019. I became certified in stretch therapy and started building my clientele. My passion had had started to grow. I loved the fact that my job was active and hands on. After a few months my schedule would become fully booked. After some time had moved by I was ready improve my skills and expand my knowledge. After some research I found out about Thai Massage. Thai massage, also known as Thai Yoga Massage, is a traditional Thai medicine technique that combines yoga-inspired stretching and acupressure with gentle pressure and manipulation of the body. To some it up Thai Massage was a more advanced version of stretch therapy. I did some more research and found two Phenomenal Thai Massage instructors here in Dallas. (David and Misty of Thai Love Yoga. ) They are two instructors who studied the art of Thai Massage in Thailand. They we’re offering training for new students. After my first day of class I was hooked. I was studying new techniques everyday. I still study with my instructors to this day. In 2023, I decided to leave Stretch Lab and start my own mobile business. I would do private housecalls for some of my longtime clients. I’ve worked with a variety of clients from athletes, young children, Parkinson’s patients and your average working adult. My mobile business had started to grow. Moving forward I partnered up with Josh Wise of Wise World of fitness in Arlington TX and started to offer my services at his private gym. I just recently expanded and now offer my services at Self Made Training facility in Downtown Dallas.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While working for Stretch Lab, I took a chance and applied for a Physical Therapist Assignment program in Dallas. I was looking upgrade my skills and wanted to give the medical field a shot. The program was very challenging and pretty much took over my life. It led me down a road of depression. I wasn’t able to have a personal life during that year in a half. The class terms got so heavy at one point that I had to retake a term. I had to wait an entire year to re enter the program. Along with waiting, I knew retaking the entire term would take a toll on me financially. I had already taken out loans from my undergraduate degree and wasn’t ready to put myself in even more debt. After long consideration I decided not to return to the program and go back to work. While working I also started building my business on the side. Building clientele on my own was a big struggle. As for all Massage therapists/Personal Trainers, we all start with little clientele. What helped me was posting my work on social media. Since Thai Massage was very new and unique to people around me, posting videos of me working really attracted people to follow my social media. My major challenge was charging what I was worth. In the beginning I would do free sessions for friends and family and people I knew locally. While everyone enjoyed my free sessions, most people would not come back. Most people would just take advantage of my free sessions. I would deal with a lot of price negotiating with customers trying to receive my work for a cheap price. Another issue I dealt with was last minute cancellations. People would get and contract with me to book an appointment and cancel last minute or just no show. What helped me the most was creating a booking site where a deposit was required to confirm the appointment. This helped me weed out difficult customers.
As you know, we’re big fans of Thai Bodywork By Reggie . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I specialize is Thai Massage. I’m a Thai massage practitioner. What is Thai Message? Thai massage is a type of full body massage that uses a mixture of deep tissue pressure, muscle and joint stretching, and gentle adjustments of the body into yoga-like poses. The benefits of Traditional Thai Massage are:
Reduces Muscle Tension and Spams
Mobilizes the Joints
Improved Blood Circulation
Balances and Increases Energy. What sets me apart from traditional Massage therapists is that my work is predominantly performed on a Japanese floor mattress. My line of work originates from Thailand. My service is about healing the body physically and mentally.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing I was very shy. I didn’t feel comfortable in big crowds and social events. I loved playing baseball and football.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wiseworld.fit/thai-massage
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reggie_thai_bodywork/
- Other: https://pocketsuite.io/book/massagefit/items/book-a-thai-massage-with-reggie
