Today we’d like to introduce you to Rhodel Rosales
Hi Rhodel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Rhodel Rosales, a certified massage therapist, born and raised way back in the 1980s in San Francisco. Thanks for reaching out to me knowing that I am not from the LA area. I feel honored to share my story.
How did I get here? I graduated from Burton High School in 2002, had my sights set on diving into the graphic design world but the 3-hour art classes was off-putting but graduated from City College of San Francisco in 2005. After, I attended San Jose St. University for a year where I wanted to become an athletic trainer. That’s where all of the “fun” begins (I’ll explain in a bit. Stay for the ride). I studied to be a massage therapist beginning in late 2007 in a 720-hour program at the National Holistic Institute. I finally obtained my Bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at San Francisco St. University in winter of 2013.
I began working as a certified massage therapist in 2009 in a well-known spa chain, the only place that took me in. I learned many things in the 5 years I was employed at Massage Envy. From there, I shifted into the corporate wellness environment and that’s where I had the thought of bringing massage therapy to the people.
I had no idea how to start my mobile massage business so I started work with on-demand massage apps like Soothe and Zeel in 2015. I did that for a few years and everything came to a halt when the pandemic came about. Even though the massage apps weren’t doing well, my own personal massage business exploded during a time when working in close quarters was frowned upon.
So now, I’m here, providing massage therapy for one of the biggest corporations in the world and cruising along with my own in-home massage therapy business. Now in my 15th year in the massage world, I’m starting to evolve into making massage therapy education videos and alike with my own twist of humor.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t know what a smooth road feels like. Every path I have chosen came with scrutiny and consequences. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
My parents divorced before I transferred to San Jose State. I pushed it aside and thought it wouldn’t affect me. I had a major death in my family, my uncle, a father figure. During school, my mom displayed extreme psychosis. My partner at the time left me for someone else. Then I got kicked out of school for not getting out of academic probation. All of this happened within 1 year. This was my first time living away from home and thought it would be a great experience. Only it wasn’t the type of great that I was looking for. I always felt like “something” was wrong with me, but this 1 year led me on a fast track to mental depletion.
Seemingly lost for a few years, I decided to enroll in massage therapy school, but not without scrutiny and embarrassment.
The social stigma and misconceptions about massage therapy had me second guessing myself. But after failing to become an athletic trainer, I still wanted to work with the human body in some capacity. Massage therapy was my way to do that. I told people about it and they’d either laugh in my face, scoff at the idea, or give the disapproving “Oh that’s cool.” I enrolled anyway. Tuition was ~$13k for 1 year. I worked part-time at a dead end job to pay my way through school.
After completing massage school, you’re excited and think you’re going to make tons of money right away. How wrong could I have been? The nature of this job is extremely tiring. The low wages make you rethink your whole plan. I didn’t think I loved this rewarding career anymore. I thought I was on the right path, but I was just as lost as I was before this journey. I look to plan B, C, D, E…I finally get my bachelor’s degree 11 years after high school. I wasn’t sure if anything was going to come of it since my dreams of being a physical therapist were thwarted from not getting into grad school. I look to plan F, G, H…
I’m still massaging during this time, but it just feels I’m only moisturizing people day in and day out. A former coworker of mine recruited me to provide massage for a tech company in San Mateo, CA. All was well until jealousy and envy opposite of me took over. The tech company ended up being a dumpster fire as well. The on-demand massage apps were abundant, but you have to drop everything for it if you want to make a decent living. Learning how to manage your budget without any financial literacy of being a 1099 worker had the IRS swarming me. I was just digging my own grave.
I was still lost, even though I was getting hired at high-end luxurious spas, but a huge part of me didn’t want to be there because of how fake I had to act towards the target clientele. Sucking up to people wasn’t and still isn’t my thing, so I would quit within a week.
For the better part of the past decade, my dad was in and out of the hospital with kidney failure which turned into dialysis which turned into heart problems and his eventual death in late 2020. Within that time frame, another uncle, who has been a big part of my life passed away. Fast forward to more recently, you come across issues with mental health with the people you love, and cancer.
In the middle of 2021, I ruptured my left patellar tendon which caused me tens of thousands dollars in medical bills and lost business. And throughout my whole life, people told me I wasn’t going to be anything. I believed it. I knew I was a loser. I had f**ked up everything that I set my sights on. Failure after failure. Tragedy after tragedy. For years I wanted to end my own life. For years I thought about how I would do it. Imagine holding a knife to your own wrist or throat and yelling at yourself to just do it. Imagine a wrong way driver on the freeway coming towards you and you’re filled with a sense of relief but you turn at the last second. Imagine finally deciding the way to end it all is by jumping off a bridge, but there’s too much traffic on the way to said bridge because someone is already there about to jump off. If there was ever a sign to keep going. And mind you, I was still doing bodywork whilst silently crying and wiping away tears during sessions.
With that being said, the main obstacle/challenge was myself. This 20 year battle with severe depression has caused me to waste so much of my life. I wasted so much time not wanting to be around and thinking that my next life couldn’t be this bad. A person isn’t supposed to feel this way EVERYDAY! On and off medication trying to find the right one. Self-medication to sedation not wanting to see the sun. But I went from not wanting to live to knowing I don’t have much time left to living life to the fullest.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I bring professional massage therapy into the comfort of your own home. I don’t have a particular modality, or type of massage that I specialize in. But I do combine whatever I’ve learned and adapt to whatever problem you have.
I feel what sets me apart from others is that I don’t care about the number of people I connect with. I only care about connecting with the right people for me. I’ve walked away from a ton of wealthy clients because I felt that the connection wasn’t there. However, I am truly thankful for the ones who’ve trusted and been with me through thick and thin.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I’ve never had a mentor, and maybe I should have. But in terms of networking, you just have to find a common ground with people, not necessarily the same interests, but finding things out about someone and going on from there. You can’t be shy. I have clients that I’ve been friends with for years. And they have friends, and they have friends, and so on. People chit chat. I would say 90% of my business comes from word of mouth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rr-cmt.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/rrcmt
- Other: https://instagram.com/rhodeeski
