stuart james beall

My massage clinic, Beall Bodyworks, closed permanently in September of 2021. I was not happy about it. It was like sending my first car, a Pontiac Tempest, to the junkyard. I spent lots of money on that car to keep it going, until I lost my job. Then I had to sell my house, because I couldn’t pay the mortgage. And the car was still demanding expensive repairs. So I had to let it go. Cut my losses. Break up the love affair. Find a lower maintenance ride.

There are always challenges to overcome, when running a business. For me there were mainly five. 1- There were bad advertising deals. 2- I was invested in too much equipment, with little payback. 3- My own family poached my time, and ultimately sabotaged the business, whenever I tried to work on the computer at home. 4- There was COVID, quarantines, and stay-at-home mandates. 5- My landlord told me I had to leave my home of 9 years, with virtually no affordable housing in sight.

There’s nothing quite like helping people feel better about themselves, with soft-tissue manipulation. There’s nothing quite like having your own personal clinic space, having exciting new modalities to offer, having a professional website with photos of real clients (not stock photos of models).

And there’s nothing quite like having an income less than your monthly rent. That’s not meant to be funny. It’s happened to me a few times before, in different circumstances. This time, I felt more prepared. I had more money in the bank, to help me ride out the COVID pandemic. But the threat of becoming homeless was a tipping point. I couldn’t conduct business without a place to call home, where I could get a good night’s sleep.

I had to take a break to find a new home. And I had to switch careers, to pay for the increased cost of the new home.