May 15, 2017

Meet Nick Pierce of Knead.com in Leather District HQ

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Pierce.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Throughout 15 years of escalating titles and responsibilities, the titles, bonuses, and bank balance meant less and less. I finally had enough of the stress and walked away from the security of well-paid position. In my next step, I didn’t want to find the same position at another company, but wanted to try something completely different. As a burnt out numbers guy, stress was a very big part of my life. That’s when I set my focus to provide busy people with a short duration break in their day, one that allows you to disconnect with the smart phone and reconnect with your body and mind. I want to help employers build or further enforce a culture of health. I know there are plenty of people that were in my shoes, too busy during the day to take a break, too busy in the evening and weekends caring for a family. We make it as easy as possible to setup and maintain our service.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like any company starting out, getting our name out there, letting people know who we are and what we do is always a challenge. Core to our service is the men and women we engage to perform massage, yoga and guided meditation. We invest a lot in our people, both in their compensation (as most make approximately 70% of the cost of the service), but also provide access to supplemental benefits, identity theft protection and action on feedback we receive from them. We’re not a dispatch service, we want to know our service providers, listen to them, and support them so they can be successful in the jobs we provide. That said, with high investment, comes high expectation. We are quick to act when it’s not a good fit or when the client’s service expectations were not met.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the knead.com story. Tell us more about the business.
Knead.com provides on-site massage, yoga and guided meditation. We partner with human resource professionals, and also property management professionals, to provide ‘in office’ or ‘in building’ services that allow the busy working professional to take a short duration, mindful, recharging break in their day. We are always available for questions, feedback and tweaks to make our services a success wherever we set up.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
The first year of the business saw both good and bad luck, both personally and professionally. The tough luck came early, as only a month into development, well before we launched, my father suffered a spinal cord injury as the result of a bicycle accident. With my anxious mother never leaving his bedside, I had to contemplate that the active man I knew might have lost much of his physical ability at the same time trying to ease my mother’s worry of what the future would be. The personal luck wasn’t all bad though, about a year later I had my 3rd son, adding to the duties of my favorite role in life, dad. The roads not always smooth, but at least you’re moving forward.
You can’t be a business owner without some measure of good and bad luck. I try not to focus on the bad luck, but learn from it.

Pricing:

Yoga / Meditation is $125/session, discounted to $100 for weekly service.
Massage starts at $80/hour (no tipping necessary), discounted based on frequency.

Contact Info: