ONEBMT TEAM VISION 2020

Balance is not your typical small business. It’s a business centered around it’s vibrant community. It’s a place where people come to work to learn, grow, and laugh. A place where people come to heal, to relax, and to recover. It’s a place where people feel safe, respected, encouraged, and supported. It’s about making people feel like they are our most important thing in the world, because they are.

 

Balance has become a representation of all the people who have given of themselves to make a difference in the lives of the people we touch. It’s our past, it’s our present, it’s our future. In October of 2015 we came together to create the vision of the future we wanted to be part of. Over the next 6 months we worked in small groups to create that vision, to get feedback, and to begin our journey to today, October 11th, 2020.

 

Balance is turning 12 today and we’re throwing it a party. The energy is palpable. There's excitement is in the air. The balloons are hanging. The checks are written. The celebration is moments away from starting, and the ballroom is beginning to fill with laughter and happy people. You can feel our vibrational energy and it feels great.

 

An empty vase sits in the middle of the table next to our team scoreboard. There is anticipation to see the vase filled with the names of our teammates. Someone is winning a cruise today, can you believe it? A cruise! The team worked hard to make Plan and have a winning year. Throughout the meeting we’ll take turns celebrating our victories, sharing stories, and filling the vase with our names.

 

As we are chatting about how far we’ve come together and how much we can accomplish together, we notice Stas’ walking in to take his seat. He’s Josie’s guest. We all get to invite one client or mentor to our meeting to celebrate with us. That, and the addition of our client ambassadors, has made our team meeting a team party! The champagne is starting to get passed around and the lights dim. It’s time. Here we go. We’ve been waiting for this all year.

 

A video screen drops down and music begins to play. We watch scenes from the past 4 years as we came together to create our vision and worked together to make it our reality. It’s hard to imagine what Balance was like in 2015 and our video time capsule and team share our story.

 

FINDING BALANCE

THE JOURNEY TO BALANCE

We love welcoming people into our community and sharing with them all the amazing ways we can help them find balance in their lives. For many, the journey of finding Balance often means finding Dixboro. Once they discover our tiny village and small town charm, people are amazed that they are able to get out of the hustle and bustle of Ann Arbor so quickly. Dixboro has so much to offer from ample parking, to enjoying our farmer’s market, getting a cup of coffee from Moonwinks, or walk to the General Store. Our partnerships with local businesses have had a positive impact on Dixboro’s growth, Balance has strengthened the soul of our tiny village by leading the “Visit Dixboro” page, sponsoring events, and helping to host our “Dixboro Proud” night for neighbors and friends.

 

We love what we do and it shows. Our commitment to our clients is felt from our first contact. We take the time to learn about our clients by asking questions, acting on feedback, and finding ways to turn needs into positive actions. We often joke that there are almost as many different reasons that clients find Balance as we have clients. No matter the reason a client has found Balance, we want them to feel like the most important person in our world.

 

“Welcome to Balance” aren’t just words you hear when you visit; it’s how we want everyone to feel: welcomed, cared for, listened to, and appreciated. We’ve created an environment that feels like a warm embrace and a place of calm and peace. We love that our clients, neighbors, and friends stop in for massage, to say hi, drop off donations, sit in our gazebo on the green, leave snacks for the team, buy gift certs, and sometimes to just take a moment out of their busy days to pause, take in our energy, and recharge.

 

Balance is what you need, whenever you need it. From our lobby to our break room and our massage rooms, we’ve created spaces that honor the needs of people. Blinds in the breakroom, automatic door closers, music options, hydraulic tables, and an inviting lobby environment make sure we are able to help every team member and client have the experience they choose.

 

We’re #1 and we’re not shy about celebrating that. Our therapists feel privileged to work in a profession that has an immediate impact on the lives of the people they touch. In any given hour, our team of experts are helping people navigate through their cancer treatments, recover from rotator cuff surgery, celebrate their birthday, start their journey of wellness, and even take an extra 15 or 30 mins to simply nap. Finding out what our client’s need and working to make them happy is our north star. Finding Balance means finding Happy!

 

As massage has become more engrained in the wellness industry, we’ve worked to find ways to help our clients find ways to have their insurance pay for their massages. Providing SOAP notes, connecting with their employers, and using health savings accounts have made it easier for many clients to find Balance on a regular basis.

 

Referrals make us giddy, we love learning that a client has been referred to us by their Doctor, their Physical Therapist, their trainer, or their best friend. We are grateful for the enthusiasm of our BMT community--it inspires us daily! Our client referral reward level system is fan favorite, and our “BMT Appreciation Bingo” game has even been modeled by other small businesses around town.

 

Happy clients is how we define a good day. We look for ways to find Happy and to celebrate it, daily. Our Happy Hearts newsletter is shared with our team and clients, and given to local businesses in Dixboro. The team has created their own game of finding our clients wearing our “find Happy” shirts in the community and getting their pictures. #FindHappy and #HappyHearts are two of the favorite hashtags we love posting on our facebook page and BMT Community Tumblr page.

 

REWARDING, ENCOURAGING PARTNERSHIP

At Balance, we are all clients. Our One BMT team appreciates working for a company that provides us an inspiring, rewarding, encouraging, and engaging partnership. And one where they care about us, our health, our careers, and our happiness. We’re a diverse team rich in experience and training. We celebrate that diversity by sharing our knowledge, developing our massage toolbox, and focusing our energies and expertise helping people remain active and find balance in their lives.

 

We love what we do and it shows. From our BMT’s Self-Care Rewards package, BMTU’s educational opportunities, and our YES! And.. quarterly bonuses, Balance has created a culture where we are active in netting great returns on the investment we put into our professional development paths and our businesses. We’re are inspired by the business that BMT is running and we are engaged in being partners. We create visions for our future, define our goals, create our own personal development plans to move up a level at BMT, and help achieve our goals by participating in BMT’s open book game of business. Quarterly vision meetings, our One BMT Tumblr, and BMT’s open door policy allow us to give feedback, ask for assistance, and create a mutually beneficial relationship that is based on trust, respect, and doing the right things for the right reasons.

 

Our work is physical and emotional. At Balance, we have a culture and work environment that recognizes this and supports us at all stages of our life and career journey. Teammates don't have to worry about missing work due to injury or major life events: they just have to worry about getting better and back on track. Balance makes sure to return the team's investment in both everyday bonus opportunities, reward levels, and team benefits, to rainy days when extra help is needed. As the team has contributed to finding creative ways to hit plan and create solutions for our needs, Balance has been able to offer health insurance options for both massage therapists and front desk teammates. We’ve even created a sliding scale rewards system that rewards the team with the benefits and rewards that have the greatest impact on them. Extra trades, gym memberships, and family massages are a few things the team has helped create.

 

The team is encouraged to address self care needs to facilitate long-term physical well being, exemplifying BMT’s emphasis on wellness. We’ve built a service referral network for our clients, by establishing a mutual community trade system with other health care industries such as chiropractors and acupuncturists, bringing teammates access to these alternative health resources.

 

We love knowing that we have the power to work turn our ideas into realities by being an active part of Balance’s vision and strategic plans. Our team looks forward to team meetings, award ceremonies, and fun team events that happen throughout the year. The team understands that the goals they set can easily become reality with hard work and a commitment to each other and to BMT.

 

GROWING & LEARNING

THE BMTU WAY

At BMT, the entire team is passionate about learning and growing. Balance continues to encourage the team to develop and discover new ways of delivering expert massage and extraordinary service to the community, and to share this with the community. Balance Massage Therapy University (BMTU) is a thriving institution within BMT. It is the product of focused intention and investment on the growth of the team, the business, and the community.

 

We’ve created dedicated spaces and times for our team to learn and grow their skills. Our goal is to afford teammates an opportunity for mutual investment: the team invests in BMT and BMT invests back! The team can reserve a training room and work on honing a recently learned skill set or refreshing a long-ago lesson from school.

 

BMTU offerings include visiting instructors, pop up workshops, regular monthly trainings, online educational materials, instructor led classrooms, and team led workshops. For workshops, The team's favorite workshops include Prenatal Refresher, Rapid-Fire YES! And, Tool Time, and Hot Stone Rekindling.

 

Therapists at Balance are in the unique position to pursue many of their continuing education needs for free. Balance actively works with outside continuing education providers and encourages therapists to become trainers themselves. There are currently several staff members who are also expert level trainers. Many teammates were drawn to BMT because of the amazing opportunities afforded them in continuing their education and sharing their knowledge with others.

 

Our training program has grown its notoriety in the Ann Arbor area as one of the best places to augment skills in massage therapy, client service, and small business leadership. Every few weeks, BMTU's experts host a lecture series open to the community. This is one way BMTU has broken through the walls of BMT and engaged the community in learning. Speakers have included BMT teammates past and present, and community members with special insight or skills that they enjoy sharing. BMTU classes, workshops, and office hours take place all over the Dixboro area. In fact, a favorite spot for our Yoga for Massage Therapists class is at the gazebo on the Green. On many a warm Michigan day, you can see any number of people chatting, discussing, or learning at the gazebo.

 

We’ve infused BMTU into our client experience. By learning our clients' story, we are able to share with them what classes we think may best benefit them. Clients have told us they love when their therapist let’s them know of a class they are teaching that will have a great impact on their wellness. “What a great idea” and “Thank you for offering these” are feedback we get on a weekly basis.

 

Our monthly planning meetings provide us the opportunity to review team & client feedback, create/refine class materials, and provide the information our marketing team needs to get our education schedule and classes out to the team and the public. The team’s ongoing involvement in BMTU has helped it impact close to 100 clients in 2020. We’re shooting for 200 in 2022!

 

FINDING BALANCE

FINDING COMMUNITY

Balance has it’s own heartbeat and it’s pulse is strong. Our team and clients make up a community who work together to make a difference in the lives of the greater community. Our Balance Community Ambassadors (BCA) consist of clients who share their time and talent to help Balance live its mission and find ways to service our community.

 

We have a database of over 30 clients who let us know the ways they want to get active in our community involvement. Our database has helped with planning and gathering resources for events and volunteer days, such as working with the animals at the Humane Society. This network also helps us locate diverse community needs and learn of a variety of volunteer and outreach opportunities for therapists. This year, we started regularly volunteering with the U of M Cancer Center and the therapists have all loved making a difference in the lives of the patients there.

 

Our annual Holiday Donation Drive continues to grow its impact on people and pets each year. The games and events we have scheduled throughout the holidays inspire our clients and teammates to hit our donation goals. Our most recent goal was to raise $3,000 for local community organizations and sponsor an amazing Christmas for a local family in need to ensure their holiday was full of joy and happy tears!

 

Our focus on giving back doesn't end in December! Our therapist team sponsored a tip week in June that was a total success. The therapists nominated and voted for worthy causes and donated a percentage of their tips from the week to the winning organization. Our community was blown away by the generosity of our therapists and donated to our team’s causes.

 

We celebrate our clients and volunteers with a summer BBQ. We take over the green, grill out, play softball, and find ways to enjoy our time together. Our team and community look forward the party every year. We have giveaways stocked with donated prizes and goodies, and helps us raise a portion of our overall goal for the year. We especially love thanking the party organizers and attendees with on-site chair massages during the event!

 

After the video time capsule comes to a close with the number 115,252 on the screen - the number of lives we’ve touched since our journey together began. The ballroom erupts in applause. The pride we feel and the gratitude we share can be felt by everyone in the room. We love being able to make a difference in so many people’s lives and we look forward to finding new & inspiring ways to help others find Balance. Now we just need to figure out who is finding a cruise!