Natalie recounts her journey of launching a pelvic health clinic in St. Pete Beach in April 2024. She began by offering discounted services to neighbors, then joined the PelviBiz network in June to access a rarely‑used shockwave device. Ignoring early red‑flags and Kelly Alhooie’s advice, she invested time and money into training, certification (GAINSWave and FemiWave), and setting up clinic space. Her business partner proved unreliable, failed to meet obligations, and supplied a malfunctioning shockwave machine that caused patient pain, forcing Natalie to troubleshoot extensively. A hurricane later destroyed her original clinic, which she later viewed as a “godsend” because it allowed her to relocate to an affordable gym space ($500/month). She relaunched with a community‑focused “Hurricane Healing Week,” offering free sessions, building word‑of‑mouth referrals, and maintaining about 30% capacity. Natalie emphasizes her improved personal health through various therapies and her networking with other providers. She recently identified a local shockwave specialist who offers affordable, therapist‑run services, and plans to refer clients, expressing optimism for community healing.
Chapters
So yeah, my name's Natalie. I just started my business actually this year in April. But yeah, I guess initially I just kind of started with asking my neighbors to be my clients, and I was giving discounts that way. And then I just knew myself and how I really needed clinic space because that's just how I like to operate. And with my ADHD brain, So I joined PelviBiz in like June and then like I had started on this journey of starting my clinic space in St. Pete Beach. And the other interesting thing about this partnership was that they had a shockwave device and nobody was using it. So I was gonna be able to use this shockwave device and I was super excited about that. So I like spent a lot of time with training and setting up the clinic space and ultimately I didn't listen to Kelly's advice about like what I should be doing with this business partner because there were a lot of red flags. But I think I was just so clinically curious about like how the shockwave device worked, you know? And like I wanted this opportunity to like to play with it and see what the healing potential was, you know? And like it would've been $30,000 that I don't have out of pocket right now, you know? So anyway, like I just went ahead and like did my thing and like ultimately I did protect myself. But like at the end of the day, long story short, The guy turned out to be like a real flake and like didn't abide by any part of his, like what he had to do. So then I was like doing double the work and turns out like that with the shockwave device he had, he had misused it. So it was kind of broken a little bit and it was causing some more pain than expected for the patients. And so there was a lot of troubleshooting I was doing for him to like fix his machine. And so ultimately I still think I learned a lot. I have like a GAINSWave and FemiWave certification that I like I got for free kind of through all of it and just a lot more knowledge. But now also the hurricanes destroyed my clinic space. And so that was kind of a godsend. And I was crying on the phone with Kelly Alhooie as I was trying to get out of this business situation. And I was just like, do I just do it? Because I didn't want to be an asshole. But then when I really thought about it and thought about it in business terms, it was just like, like so much was like messed up about like what I was having to shoulder, you know? So like I think the hurricane was kind of a godsend for me and I ended up in a clinic space in a gym that was only $500 a month and started my launch of my clinic with the Hurricane Healing Week and gave free sessions for the community and just brought people into the space and let them know I was there. And I still would say like I'm maybe like only like 30% busy, but like I have like a lot of steady word of mouth mouth happening. I'm also using the opportunity of my extra time to do energy exchanges and to get to know other providers. And I've been feeling healthier than ever for myself. I'm getting colon therapy. I have a massage therapist, a chiropractor. I'm just like, wow, I'm really feeling pretty healthy and good in my body. Yeah. And then, yeah, I guess moving forward, things are looking better. I actually found a shockwave specialist today in my area. Who actually has created systems in the way that I would have created it, countering what the existing system is. So she's providing it very affordable, and they're doing massage therapists as techs, but they are open to doing pelvic. So I'm just going to refer to them, and I'm so excited about the healing that's going to happen in our community. So, yeah, that's it.
