Meet Colton Hughes of Element Massage

Today we’d like to introduce you to Colton Hughes.

Hi Colton, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
When I was just a little boy of 6 or 7, my mom would ask me to rub her shoulders for her. She told me that I had strong hands! And whether that was true or not, it perpetuated a hobby. I continued giving friends throughout high school back massages and then after graduation, I decided to take a year off to figure out what I wanted to do. At 19, I decided that I wanted to give a massage the “right” way (or I guess the anatomically correct way) and discovered Irene’s Myomassology Institute in Southfield, Michigan. Once I was there, I was hooked. It was where I needed to be and my fascination grew. I never planned on making a career out of it, I just wanted to learn.

I graduated in 2010 and began working at a spa owned by my mom’s friend. At times, it felt like I was working for family – expected to do things off the clock and it soured by experience for bodywork. I already had two other jobs and so I instead focused on Taco Bell, where they kept asking me to promote through the ranks. I was there for 8 years, moved up to Lansing and became a Restaurant General Manager. It was basically my “college” as that is where I learned how to run a business, understand metrics and foster a team of people. I was passionate about my job and was good at it. I was one week from my certification of being Lansing’s Market Training Manager…a goal I had been dreaming about for years…when a friend reached out to see if I was still practicing massage.

He was the manager of a local chain massage spa. Once I got hired back into bodywork, I felt that I was in the right place. Except…as a male in the industry, there were many times starting out where both women and men didn’t feel comfortable working with me. I would be waiting on my own time to get bookings only for them to cancel when they found out I was a guy. But once clients started to realize that I knew what I was doing and gave good pressure – I quickly became the most booked therapist. That spa was good for getting a lot of experience on different bodies but it felt like a massage farm where we would be doing back to back massages on the hour and not getting adequate pay. The franchise, which was owned by a businessman who wasn’t a massage therapist, just kept expanding more and more without investing in what they already had. We would have broken equipment for weeks, have to purchase our own materials that they were supposed to supply and they tried taking wages from us. Things were going downhill there but then I was given an opportunity to work at a new salon that was opening up.

One of my clients had proposed that they’d like to include massage at their hair salon. I knew I could do things on my own after my experience at the chain and that’s when Element Massage was born in 2016. I figured my clients who I left would find me on their own but that was not the case and I had to virtually start my clientele over. Life at the salon was exciting but slow for massage. It was a beautiful space but it was noisy and my therapy room was used as a hideaway for stylists. To make ends meet, I had acquired a job at a sign shop (plus a part time back at Taco Bell) where I was able to harness my self-taught graphic design skills. It was there that I met a chiropractor who offered me a deal of a lifetime.

The chiropractor knew the owner of an old theatre building in Downtown Lansing and through that connection, had a very affordable rent situation there. The Atrium Building was nearly century old and had opened as one of Michigan’s premiere vaudeville theatres in 1921, known as the Strand. The chiropractor shared a suite with another bodyworker but shortly after, the chiropractor moved his practice – leaving us with the cheap rent. We were looking for someone to take his room so I called upon my colleague Caryn, who I met at the chain and she followed me to the salon. We all worked separate from each other, sharing the space for about 5 years. I had made massage my full-time (and only) career at that point and was really growing my list of clients. The other two didn’t work as much as I did and so for years, I just dreamed about the potential of what the space could become.

I started with just a single therapy room and was sharing the desk and lobby area. Over time, I kept growing out of my proverbial shirt – needing more space for my budding business. We ended up splitting the lobby so I could start creating a brand for myself using the skills I had attained over the years. In 2019, I was busy enough to where I could use help taking on more clients, but of course the pandemic came so that put things to a halt. By early 2021, I had found a massage therapist at the nearby community college’s massage clinic and hired them. I moved our break area to an underutilized space and turned the former lunch room into my second therapy room. I now paid for half of our rent with what I had acquired but my vision was still incomplete.

In 2023, the State of Michigan and City of Lansing dropped one million dollars in pandemic relief funds for small businesses. Hearing about this reimbursable grant opportunity, I applied and was awarded the full amount of $50,000 to fuel Element Massage. Ultimately, I assumed the lease of our whole suite for our expansion and now had four therapy rooms. To our namesake, I planned to decorate with an “Outside, Inside” style…each room set in a different elemental biomes – themed after fire, earth, water and air – a desert, a forest, underwater and in the mountains. On Element’s 7th year in the Atrium Building, we had a Grand Unveiling on December 1st and I got to show off the curated space as if it were a museum: a hidden destination…a massage oasis in an otherwise wellness desert that is Lansing’s Downtown district. Since last year, I sought out friendly and talented staff to fill the rooms. In February 2023, there were only 3 of us…and now in summer of 2024, we are at eight therapists strong!

I would be content with what I have built Element into now, but when I had spoke with the owner of the Atrium last year, he proposed the possibility of building out a spa for us in one of his upcoming properties. Downtown has been facing an identity shift over the years. We are the capital of Michigan and our district’s economy had previously heavily relied on state workers to fuel it for the longest time – but now many of them work from home. There is a big push to make Downtown Lansing a space for residential, recreational and locally-owned business. This new property would be Lansing’s tallest building and looks to have all the amenities for its residents. It is supposed to be complete in 2026-2027 and is going to be erected right behind where I am now – even connected to the Atrium by a parking structure.

With such an opportunity, I want to transform my massage business into a one-stop body shop that I plan to rebrand as Element Emporium: Massage & Spa. I want to offer facials, acupuncture, float tanks, infrared sauna, waxing, mani/pedis and more! But how do I get there…to a space that could be 3-4 times larger and more expensive? All I know is massage and I have already maxed out the space I have. Well, I’m currently working on getting some grant funding so that I can rent a second suite next door to where Element is now so that I can start Expansion Phase 2 as I plan to keep taking baby steps as I work towards the next new dream.

Everywhere that I have worked has taught me everything I need to know…and also what not to do! I never planned on massage therapy being a career, let alone having my own business or even having staff working alongside me. I am so grateful for the path that I have gone down and am proud to facilitate an opportunity for therapists to expand their massage careers all while helping to provide a wealth of wellness to the people of Lansing.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My struggles were numerous. Some of my own doing and others out of my control. I felt financially underwater for the longest time until I was finally treading water after the pandemic and then feel like its easier to float on the surface these days. Not to say that there aren’t still some days where I am nervous about being able to pay my staff. The more money you have, chances are the bills are bigger!

Other than starting out as a male in this industry, the biggest struggles I’ve had were the spaces that I had worked in before. But it also gave me a first person perspective on how not to run my massage business. From expecting more from others than what they are contracted to do, to not investing back into the business and staff who are the hallmark of it, to not creating a proper environment for relaxing therapeutic bodywork…I have taken all these lessons in stride and made it so that my therapists have the best experience that I can offer them. Make them so happy that they never want to leave.

As you know, we’re big fans of Element Massage. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Element Massage is a place where anyone can feel comfortable receiving bodywork. We believe in having real interactions with our clients while supplying them with bodywork that fits their needs that incorporates our motto of Half Anatomy, Half Intuition. We specialize helping people who want to relax but also find pain relief – a perfect blend. But each of our 8 therapists have their own niche and backgrounds. From experiences working in spas and chiropractic settings, working in fitness or energy work – we have the right therapist for any client. We are the cool group of proud nature-loving weirdos that you can’t help but become friends with.

What sets us apart is our aesthetic. Our “Outside, Inside” decorating style transports you to an unexpected place when you walk into one of our four massage therapy rooms. You can get a good massage somewhere, but at Element, you feel relaxed just walking into the space. It can even put nervous first -timers at ease before the massage even starts. With themes of the great outdoors, each room is filled with art pieces, novelties, knick-knacks and momentos that help to tell a story of where they are receiving their massage. The ambience in each room is further enhanced by catering to the other senses as well to: lighting that shifts the way you see the room before and after the session, nature music that fits each created environment and candles made by our friends at Clover Joy Collective that have been formulated for aromatics that fit the habitats. Though we are currently tucked away in the basement of a 100 year old building, we are a hidden gem in Lansing…a destination that makes you feel like you just stepped into Wonderland.

While we are heavily attuned with nature at Element, we are also tech-savvy. We offer easy online booking, with digital intake forms and presence on social media. We make things accessible with QR codes and strive to have the newest technologies that we can afford.

Also, as of this year, we began offering out Aether Membership. Most think of the four elements but in classical writings, there was often talk of a fifth element. It was referred to as spirit, love, space and (a)ether. And in our business, we literally could not do our jobs without our clients. THEY are our spirit, our fifth element. We formulated the Aether Membership to make sure that those who see us regularly and have funded us over the years are well taken care of. Members are charged monthly and get one prepaid massage on their account. They receive a 12.5% discount on any other massages that month, receive point bundles, can share the benefits with another person and get access to exclusive benefits. We currently have 81 members out of our over 2500 book of clientele!

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Passion. It has always been my driving factor. When I fall in love with something, I put everything I have into it. It leads to dreams forming, providing me with a goal to achieve. It helps me think outside of the box and accomplish things that I set out to do.

Pricing:

• Aether Membership starting as low as $70/month
• 60 Min Relaxation Massage $80
• 60 Min Deep Tissue Massage $85
• 90 Min Relaxation Massage $110
• 90 Min Deep Tissue Massage $115

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.massagelansing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/element.massage.lansing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/element.massage.lansing/