How a vacation changed our professional life

... and why we sell massage chairs today

Competent specialist consulting and the professional sale of massage chairs - if someone had told me not so long ago that after 25 years of working in the IT sector I would decide to take this step together with my partner and set up an additional non-specialist business, I would probably have shaken my head in disbelief. As a true IT professional, my heart has been and continues to be beating for database performance and test automation for decades. The step into the world of massage chairs can therefore be described as quite extraordinary. After all, until a few years ago my experiences with massage chairs could be reduced to a few rare situations: These were limited to the waiting time at the airport or made my stay at the gym bearable. Massage chairs have also sweetened the time in the shopping mall, when my partner Manuela has once again persuaded me to go on an extended shopping tour. Speaking of Manuela: In the end, it was her former boss and our now good friend who finally got the ball rolling, ...

Until a few years ago, Manuela, then still based in France, worked in the renowned Parisian massage chair specialist store "Detentation - Fauteuil Massant " www.detentation.com and advised relaxation-seeking and health-conscious clientele. We spent our family vacation last summer in the Provence region of southern France - together with Manuela's former boss Jonathan. As our youngest offspring was approaching kindergarten age, Manuela was faced with the question of what professional activity she wanted to pursue in the future. In addition to considering re-entering her learned profession as a medical assistant, her former boss finally gave her the decisive impulse: to start selling first-class massage chairs in Germany. Manuela's many years of experience and her qualitative expertise opened up a world of potential.

 

 

Even after we had turned our backs on the sunshine in the south of France, our friend's idea never left us. Lost in thought, I recalled a personal experience that had happened more than 20 years in the past: my father had been recommended by a doctor to use a massage chair because of a severe diabetes illness with the accompanying lack of exercise. This not only got the circulation going, but also effectively offered the possibility of a daily movement of the body without having to leave the house. When the massage strength became too strong for my father, I inherited the chair during his lifetime. It found its place in my study at that time and I enjoyed its relaxing effect. After some deliberation, doubts and calculations, we decided to give the project a chance. What we still thought was a dream during our vacation, became within reach after a thorough market research: Surprisingly, neither the Internet nor the Stuttgart area was overrun with providers. Both digitally and locally, we went in search of a wide range of brands - in vain! - which of course was very convenient for us. Without further ado, we seized this opportunity and started our project with two weeks of intensive training and visits to potential suppliers. A short time later, our exhibition could be admired as the most diverse one in the wide area of Stuttgart. Thus the foundation-stone of the massage armchair world www.massagesesselwelt.de was put. Since then, we have always been at the disposal of all those seeking relaxation: whether massage chairs to relieve pain and tension for the private sphere or to simply relax after work in the office or home office. Of course, we are also happy to advise in the commercial sector to advance health management and employee retention thanks to the feel-good factor. 

At this point we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to our good friend and mentor, Jonathan Cohen. Thanks to his inspiration, coupled with 13 years of experience in the massage chair business, he helped us get to pole position within a few months. His expertise helped us make the right manufacturer and model decisions and ultimately allowed me, too, to become a massage chair expert away from the familiar IT after many nights of continuing education and test sitting.

Nevertheless, unfortunately, not every risk can be predicted: Like countless other entrepreneurs, 2020 presented us with an unexpected challenge. COVID-19 deprived us of the possibility of trial relaxation in our showroom. Nevertheless, in order to find the most suitable individual massage chair, we have been working on an online massage chair finder ever since. This determines which chair is ideally suited based on physical characteristics and specific massage wishes. We wouldn't be us if we couldn't think of anything suitable - you'll hear from us!