April 17, 2017

Meet Razelle McCarrick of Satya Orthopedic in Copley Square

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Razelle McCarrick.

Razelle, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Since I was young, I have always had restorative inclinations. If I see that someone or something is suffering, I like to make it better. In high school many of my friends were suffering and I became the healer of the group. I remember the first time I ever massaged anyone. I felt hesitant and confused as to what I should do, but much to my surprise my friends regarded me as the best at it. The feedback I received from the people I worked on was so powerful for me, it made me feel like if this is a talent I have, I am morally obligated to use it, even if it’s not what I planned. Since I was about 7 or 8 years old, I had planned to be an Egyptologist and after high school spent one semester in college taking Anthropology courses in preparation for that path. It quickly felt like I had taken a wrong turn and that massage was calling.

One day I journaled about it and upon typing a period, the massage school I toured literally called. They asked if I was still interested in attending and I was. I dropped out of college and on January 11, 2011 began massage school. I quickly started to gravitate towards the science and effectiveness of massage. I was lucky to have a teacher who to this day is the most knowledgeable and effective practitioner that I know. He created and taught the orthopedic certification program that I took and I have him to thank for the work that I do. I’ve been an orthopedic massage therapist for 5 years now, but had been working for other companies and studios that did not represent my skill properly or accurately or treat me kindly. I am a very self-determined person and found that working for someone else was getting between me and the restorative work that I wanted to do. I wasn’t growing. I had always wanted to have a private practice, so in March 2016, I took the leap and created one. Satya Orthopedic. I put “orthopedic” in the name so there would be no uncertainty about the type of work I do and I could focus on educating the Boston community about what orthopedic massage is. I have never felt happier, more empowered, or thankful.

Overall, has it been a challenging path?
It has absolutely been challenging. You think to yourself, “it’s no big deal, I’ll just pay someone rent instead of a percentage to an employer and I can keep doing exactly what I’ve been doing”. In reality, there is a long list of things you need to do to set up and run a business from licenses, to payment processing, creating a website, coming up with a logo, branding, keeping up with social media, etc. When you’re in private practice in a competitive area and have a small budget, a lot falls on you responsibility wise. At the same time, you work when you want to, so you have to motivate yourself. I have sometimes found it challenging to cover all the ground required on my own to run my business: I design my own marketing materials, run my own ads, write my own blog, designed my own website, run the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, manage all the listings, network etc. I am not hiring other people to do these key things. The biggest obstacle has been reaching people and having them know I’m there. Patient retention has never been an issue and the ones I’ve been able to build my practice around are very loyal and enthusiastic about my work. Getting new patients though, has been a challenge. But I keep working at it.

Satya Orthopedic – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am an orthopedic massage practice and one of the only ones in Boston that identifies themselves solely as such. I specialize in treatment of injury, pain, specific musculoskeletal conditions and maintaining the health of tissues involved in athletic or work related activities. My demographic is large because the core of the work is in balancing the musculoskeletal system and mobilizing tissue. So many different groups of people can have musculoskeletal issues. This is why I include those suffering from anxiety and depression in my demographics because the tension and pain that accompany those mental health conditions is palpable and can be relieved by the type of work I do. What sets me apart is that my approach is balanced and holistic. Just because my work is orthopedic and essentially medical doesn’t mean it isn’t or can’t be relaxing. I work slowly and respectfully and with patience sink deep into tissue without alarming a person, so that we can do deep work without them feeling assaulted by it. I use organic oil and not too much of it and overall invest in the atmosphere and design of the office so that people can find Satya a beautiful, safe, and inviting place to be.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success personally as making the numbers in my life work and having enough left over to take care of myself. When I can pay my home rent, my office rent, my bills, taxes, health insurance, etc. and not stress about meeting those requirements while having enough to afford living the lifestyle that I feel makes me happy, then I will consider that being successful. My personal goals are to live in a studio by myself in Boston, continue to run Satya, to have stability in that, a full schedule, eat healthy and be able to afford the little things in life that make me happy like candles and home decor. I am a very security oriented person and a nester so security is my ideal. The markers I’m looking out for are having a full schedule and a steady flow of expressed interest in my practice, in other words three patients a day each of the four days I work. Success for me is really just being happy and stress free in general. To have nourishing and supportive relationships, abundance, good health and time to relax. To wake up and smile.

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