American Operator

Millions In Debt At 24 Years Old | Tori Clark - Spa Luxe I AO 42

• Joseph Cabrera

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At 20 years old, Tori Clark lost her father — and overnight, inherited her family’s charter bus company, Clark Travel, along with millions in debt. What followed wasn’t just a business turnaround. It was a six-year fight to survive, rebuild, and eventually redefine what success means.

Today, she runs Spa Luxe, a hospitality-driven wellness brand rewriting the rules of the spa industry — built on empathy, service, and community.

Tori Talks About:
🔴 The difficulties of being brought up by a single father.
🔴 Turning around a business that's millions of dollars in debt at the age of 24
🔴 Keeping employees as well as customers happy.
🔴 The struggles of owning and operating a business as a young woman.
🔴 How she views life like a domino, and what that means to her and her community.

Real stories. 
Real ownership. Real lessons from the field.
This is American Operator.

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00:00:00:00 - 00:00:16:10
Unknown
All right, y'all, on today's episode, we are talking to Tori Clark. She's an incredible entrepreneur. Someone that has done something that most couldn't do. And this is bring a business she inherited. It had millions of dollars of debt into a point where it not only survived, but was thriving.

00:00:16:11 - 00:00:28:01
Unknown
She created an incredible outcome for herself and for her teammates. Life changing. From there, she would go on to sell that business and then get into the spa business. She's now the owner. Spa luxe. Let's jump in,

00:00:28:01 - 00:00:41:05
Unknown
All right, team, I'm here with Tori Clark. I guess we're talking about government names is Victoria Clark, but Tori is what you go by. We met, at a Texas Business Hall of Fame event.

00:00:41:07 - 00:01:00:00
Unknown
I guess a month or so back now, talking to the Terry Black folks. Yep. Man. Immediately. It's funny what happens with gravity and with energy and magnetism. But like, her name, immediately over some breakfast tacos came together. And I was absolutely fascinating your story. So we're going to dig into all that. But Tori, so good to have you in studio today.

00:01:00:00 - 00:01:21:09
Unknown
Yeah, thanks for having me. And JC, I appreciate you. You're most welcome. And at especially someone who calls Salgado home, it kind of was like, that's my kind of person, man. Like, you might be doing all your business in Austin and stuff, but anybody who chooses to live in Salado or Wahlberg, or for people who don't know Texas and don't know Central Texas, you if you know, you know and you live there, otherwise you don't know about those places.

00:01:21:09 - 00:01:44:01
Unknown
But they get so much character. So maybe we'll get into some pro tips on where to live. That's not Austin. Oh yeah. Perfect. But let's kick off with kind of a little bit of a background. So one thing that got me just hooked as we were chatting was, you know, you run these, spa now Spa Works is the company right now that you are growing and developing and really just changing the game.

00:01:44:03 - 00:02:02:06
Unknown
We'll talk about that. But I was fascinated with your early days background, rat. And then also just kind of there's this comeback story in the bus industry before we talk that talk to me about where you grew up, what was, you know, what was it like kind of coming up and then let's talk about busses. Sure.

00:02:02:06 - 00:02:07:19
Unknown
So, I grew up in a little town that you have visited recently.

00:02:07:19 - 00:02:34:05
Unknown
Brenham, Texas. Yeah. And, infamous for Blue Bell ice cream. Right. And half the town works of Blue Bell, lease they did back then. So grew up in Brenham and, graduated high school there post high school. Did my undergrad at Texas Woman's University. And then, my graduate studies are at Baylor right now. But in the middle of my college years, my father passed away when I was 20.

00:02:34:07 - 00:02:59:18
Unknown
So that brought me back to the Austin area and, to care for family. You just decided, hey, I want to come back home. Yeah. So my grandparents owned the charter bus company and Clark Travel that you mentioned, and my grandfather called me one day, and I'll add my my dad was a single parent, raised me single handedly, and he was also an only child.

00:02:59:19 - 00:03:19:08
Unknown
So when my father passed away, that was a big, that was a pretty big deal in my family. So my grandfather called me one day and he said, hey, I need help running this bus company. I can't do it by myself. And the the, the grief and the emotional toll of of losing their child. I mean, it it was horrendous.

00:03:19:08 - 00:03:46:14
Unknown
So I came back at the end of the, my junior year to the Austin area to help them run Clark travel and been around the area ever since, you know, started taking off with Clark Travel and, and and helped with that and then took over ownership and and grew it eventually, married my amazing wife, Brittney. We have a little five year old Boston.

00:03:46:14 - 00:04:08:05
Unknown
We live in Salado now, as you mentioned, move there because it kind of reminds me of Brenham for about 40 years ago. And we're chugging along in the spa industry now. And it's been it's it's been a ride. It sounds like you're and I know just catching up a little bit on some of the twists and turns currently you're dealing with.

00:04:08:07 - 00:04:28:03
Unknown
Talk to me about, if you don't mind. I think when we were catching up, I know how important dad was to you is to you just obviously seems like it's, you know, you both just kind of had each other. What were some of the things early on that you learned from him and some of the things you carry with you now that kind of helps guide you day to day in what you do.

00:04:28:05 - 00:04:55:02
Unknown
Oh, man, I we could talk about that all day. Let's do it. My dad was a huge influence and as a single parent, single parents, whether it's a dad or a mom and growing up a kid of the 80s and 90s, having a single dad was completely abnormal. You just didn't see it. Any any friends that I had in school who had a single parent?

00:04:55:02 - 00:05:22:12
Unknown
It was always a single mom. And we don't talk about the single dads very often. We didn't talk about them then. We don't talk about that much now. And, I remember my dad's resilience and particularly one day my, we had fallen on some hard times, and my dad decided that he said, you know, I need, I need help, I need help putting food on the table to get through this transition time.

00:05:22:14 - 00:05:31:07
Unknown
And we walked in to get some assistance. And I think food assistance.

00:05:31:09 - 00:05:57:01
Unknown
And I sat in the chair waiting for him to get through the process. He walked up to speak to this lady behind the desk and she said, can I help you? And he said, yes, I'd like to apply for assistance. And she said, what are you doing here? And he said, well, I lost my job. I'm a single dad and I just need some help until I can start my new my new job.

00:05:57:03 - 00:06:06:20
Unknown
And she said, but you're a guy. And at that moment, my dad turned around. He said, come on, let's go.

00:06:06:20 - 00:06:26:23
Unknown
Hey, y'all. Quick break. Here at American Operator, we believe that small business is the backbone of this country. But more and more Main Street getting swallowed up by big corporations, wall Street or some of them are just shutting down. If you've ever thought about building something of your own, or just being a part of saving the American dream head on over to American operator.com.

00:06:27:01 - 00:06:36:22
Unknown
It's your one stop shop for inspiration stories, and you'll get to join this really great community of patriots that believe our country still worth fighting for. All right. Back to the show.

00:06:36:22 - 00:07:01:06
Unknown
And and we left and Jesse, I was probably eight years old. Maybe I was pretty little. And you remember all that? I remember that, yeah. And we made it through. I mean, with without, you know, the assistance. But seeing, seeing the resilience that he had of.

00:07:01:06 - 00:07:15:08
Unknown
Okay, he told me, no, you can't help me. And seeing him just find any way that he can. Oh, man.

00:07:15:10 - 00:07:28:02
Unknown
Take care of somebody he cared about more than anything else. That's. Yeah, it seems like it's what stuck with you. Yeah. Oh, man. He,

00:07:28:04 - 00:07:48:14
Unknown
Take your time to. Or no words. Obviously. He's an incredible guy. Means so much to you. What was his name, by the way? Mike. Mike, Mike. Yeah. So, given a government name. Michael. No. Well, yes or no. Together. Government named James Michael Cohen. I know a guy who does that, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, you got me tearing up over here.

00:07:48:16 - 00:08:17:07
Unknown
It's all right. Well, if you're tearing up about ice cream or buc-ee's or something, I'd be like, maybe it's a little too hardcore. I know I'm a Texan too, but doing it about good, man. It's never done anything wrong with that. Oh, man. He was, He was exactly what you wouldn't want a parent to be. And, we went through a lot of hard times, and I would definitely say the number one thing he taught me was resilience.

00:08:17:09 - 00:08:45:14
Unknown
In a lot of different ways. Yeah. But that was kind of the beginning of when I consciously remember seeing those resilient type, courageous conversations. But the reality is, my parents divorced when I was two years old, so my dad became the single parent of a two year old, little girl. And that's that's takes resilience in general.

00:08:45:14 - 00:09:19:01
Unknown
Also, my dad always told me the story of, after my parents separated. My dad was obviously really upset about that. And he he said he said he was crying almost every night just from the emotion of going through the divorce. And he said, I came into his room. Our bedrooms were side by side. I came into his bedroom and I said, I said, dad, and I'm two years old, by the way.

00:09:19:02 - 00:09:40:04
Unknown
I said, dad, you got to stop all this crying. I can't sleep a wink. He said the next day that was the end of his crying. Oh really? He said, you at two years old, coming to tell me essentially get over it and move on, he said. That's what I had to do. I had to move on. I had to provide.

00:09:40:04 - 00:10:05:06
Unknown
I had to be in the right headspace for you. So I think we both taught each other a lot. Even in my little two year olds. I was going to say, I bet you if he was here right now, he'd probably say the same thing about you as much you learn from him. On resilience. I can only imagine what a little dog running around can teach you, especially one with a little bit of flair like you do it well in meeting me.

00:10:05:06 - 00:10:28:18
Unknown
I can assure you you've already met him because we are a copy and paste of each other. I am the female version of my dad, 100%. Yeah. From the sense of humor, the way we speak, we're very. If he was sitting right here, that would be my twin. We'd be doing a double episode. Oh, my, a carbon copy.

00:10:28:18 - 00:10:52:22
Unknown
Oh, yeah. Well, I'm so glad you shared about Mike there. I think, I'm always just. It's not a surprise to me, but I'm still always in all about what makes somebody tick. And to me, even from when I met you, I was like, this person's got something different in them. Feel differently, wired differently. You meet those people, you don't always get to know why, but there's something there.

00:10:53:02 - 00:11:06:21
Unknown
And I appreciate you sharing that. So it sounds like when grandpa called and was like, hey, you gotta help me take care of this travel biz bus, because there was no question how you were coming down and helping. Oh yeah, I so I had a very interesting childhood.

00:11:06:21 - 00:11:14:06
Unknown
My grandparents owning Clark Travel. It's a charter bus company that started off as a tour business.

00:11:14:08 - 00:11:36:08
Unknown
So I'm sure you've seen this before where you have, you know, 50, 60, usually people who were a little bit older and they're 60, 70, 80, retired, take bus trips throughout the United States. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they get off together and get a little big victory. Yeah, yeah. So that's good. How are you still doing that?

00:11:36:08 - 00:11:59:22
Unknown
Do you think they still do it? Yeah, they still do it. So, my grandmother would write and direct the tours. My grandfather would drive the bus. That's how they got started. He drove busses, for, for Kerrville and Greyhound back in the day. And as he would say it, I saw the writing on the wall.

00:11:59:22 - 00:12:27:00
Unknown
And I wanted to, you know, basically be able to control my own destiny. So he and my grandmother put a plan together. And, you know, there is a family in Houston, the Rogers family. And, Lanny Rogers was kind of the the patriarch of the family, and he, he leased my family their first few busses from his own operation.

00:12:27:02 - 00:12:54:20
Unknown
And if it wasn't for him, they they no one was to take, a gamble on you in the bus business. When you're brand new, equipment's expensive. There's a lot to it. But the Rogers family did, and our families remained friends for decades. Just good people. So they started doing these tours. And by my dad, before I was born, he would drive busses to use his whole family affair.

00:12:55:00 - 00:13:13:20
Unknown
He's driving and he's like, they're like, is there like an audible? Like they're giving people an idea of where they're at. I guess I'm trying to understand, but sure, around Central Texas, around the whole United States or around the whole U.S., it wasn't just Central Texas base. Exactly. So, all of U.S., Canada, and I think they went into parts in Mexico, parts of Mexico.

00:13:13:20 - 00:13:48:08
Unknown
Sometimes it's fascinating. Oh, gosh. So, so growing up, seeing that, I mean, my first tour was, to Granbury, Texas. I was eight years old, and I helped. I helped in any way that I could. I remember my grandmother said, okay, we're going to take a picnic stop. And my grandmother was very unique in her approach to customer service and hospitality.

00:13:48:09 - 00:14:09:18
Unknown
She really taught me how to connect and communicate with people. And if you can put an eight year old on a bus with 50 people who are, you know, five, six, seven times their age, it teaches you a lot. And she knew what she was doing. At the time I didn't know she knew what she was doing, but she did.

00:14:09:20 - 00:14:34:14
Unknown
So she said we're going to pull over up here. We were heading out to Granbury. So we're gonna pull over over here. We're gonna have a we're going to do a little picnic. In today's world, we were called we would call that a charcuterie board and wine. Okay. Yeah. And because that's exactly what it was. She had cheeses and variety of different, you know, meats and salamis and, and, and red and white wine.

00:14:34:16 - 00:14:57:23
Unknown
It was a production. She would pull over and this is just a regular rest stop with the concrete benches is nothing fancy, but it was a very particular rest stop. And I don't know how she could remember these things. So she she would have the driver open up, open up the base of the bus underneath. She had white linens.

00:14:58:01 - 00:15:14:16
Unknown
I would have to go place all the linens out. She would bring all the charcuterie items. Place. Oh, this isn't it. I'm just like, would you do it? This isn't the gas station. No, this is that, like, when you get a cut out on the highway and it's got a couple picnic tables. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, that's not an easy one to remember.

00:15:14:22 - 00:15:38:19
Unknown
It's usually randomly off the highway. No. She knew. I don't know how she could remember every little detail. Yeah. It was incredible. So the whole production, I mean, I'm throwing out these white linens. She's bringing over the meats and cheeses and fruits and. And she says, you're pouring the wine. I was eight years old. She said, you're pouring the wine.

00:15:38:19 - 00:16:05:15
Unknown
You just stand right here and everywhere. Everyone will walk up and you just pour all the glasses of wine, go ahead and get started. So, I can tell you that that, serving is a difficult job serving wine on a bus, going 60 miles an hour is even more difficult. But I became a pro at that. Thank God she started me off on solid ground.

00:16:05:18 - 00:16:26:21
Unknown
Yeah. So, you know, everyone would come out, grab a bite, grab a, you know, glass of wine, get back on the bus. But the the thoughtfulness behind everything she did was just incredible. She could have just had them ride that bus. Get to the next point. Absolutely. So is that where you learned? I know we'll talk about this later.

00:16:26:21 - 00:16:52:01
Unknown
Is this where you started to learn experience like we started to learn like oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. She, I remember we were taking a trip through, the Rocky Mountains, and I was probably 13 or 14 at the time. It was over the summer and during the summertime. I was very fortunate that I would be able to travel with her.

00:16:52:03 - 00:17:17:14
Unknown
Not every trip, but a lot. I've been to every state except Maine. And and it's it's because of that. So I remember she said, we're going to put, snack boxes together for the trip. And it was a two week trip. And I said, I said, okay. She said, I have a unique gift that we're going to make.

00:17:17:16 - 00:17:43:20
Unknown
She went to Bluebell and she asked Bluebell if she could buy empty, half gallon ice cream cartons. And so she and they allowed they allowed her to. I don't know if they still will sell you an empty carton or not, but they sold them at the time. She brought them home, and she had a variety of different snacks, some sweets, like candies, juices.

00:17:43:20 - 00:18:06:01
Unknown
Because with, with that demographic, you can have a lot of people who have diabetes or their, you know, the sugar will drop. Oh, sure. So protein bars, trail mixes. So she said, okay, you're going to take one item of each place it in this, in this Bluebell container. And, and I'll be on this side tying a ribbon around every single one.

00:18:06:03 - 00:18:36:11
Unknown
So when we would pick you up in the beginning of the trip, you have this cute, original little gift snack box there for you. And seeing people light up over a bluebell ice cream container with a bunch of snacks in it that, that just a little that little thing, that little something added to the experience. And that's what she was known for.

00:18:36:13 - 00:19:02:18
Unknown
The what was her name? Margaret. Margaret. Yep. So that's what she was known for. If it was your birthday, if it was your anniversary, you can be guaranteed she's not going to forget it. Yeah. We had a couple celebrating a 50th anniversary. They were not aware that she knew. And that night, she. And granted, we're a thousand miles away.

00:19:02:19 - 00:19:32:22
Unknown
She had flowers delivered. She had a cake. Happy anniversary. She had, she had, a song that was significant to them. I can't remember the reason of its significance. She had the restaurant play that song. I it was just one of those, like, some Barry Manilow or something. Oh, I did, I have no idea. I just remember thinking and everyone was crying because it was just the sincerity and the surprise and the sincerity behind it.

00:19:32:22 - 00:19:50:05
Unknown
It was just like, who's spending their time thinking about people? Yeah, they've already paid her pay y'all for what they wanted. Exactly. That. Is that above and beyond that is like almost what you do for family. Some people don't even do that for family, you know what I mean? And she's doing it for these people. If I just met.

00:19:50:09 - 00:20:12:08
Unknown
Yes, it's I so it's it seems to me that like between your dad and your grandparents, like, you're learning through their example, just watching them be, Why? Obviously the business fell on hard times. Eventually. It seemed like there's such a great recipe there. What happened that required kind of Tori to come back and help man the ship?

00:20:12:14 - 00:20:30:17
Unknown
You know, dad also. Yes. So, So, Clark, travel chart started this transition of, there is a big need for private charter service, especially in the Austin area at the time, this was in,

00:20:30:19 - 00:20:55:17
Unknown
Oh, gosh. In the early 90s, I would say Clark Travel started transitioning from just tours to private travel. And and they still were running tours. But when your tours were not happening, when it wasn't tour season and there's a season for that, when it wasn't tour season, then the busses are sitting there and not making money. Yeah.

00:20:55:19 - 00:21:30:13
Unknown
So they began, you know, hiring them out. And that's where the charter service came in. And eventually zero two was all charter service. Okay. So so we would provide transportation to, to schools, universities, corporations, military, anyone who needed to move a lot of people from one place to another. That was that was our specialty. We would even provide transportation service to other tour companies.

00:21:30:13 - 00:21:59:02
Unknown
So they would write and sell out their tours, but use our vehicle and our driver to transport. So, it really evolved over a span of, I'd say 5 to 8 years after my dad passed. I think what was really missing is a focus on driving new business and innovation. So after my dad passed away, I just think there was some mismanagement.

00:21:59:02 - 00:22:02:10
Unknown
And,

00:22:02:12 - 00:22:35:06
Unknown
That drive that, that my grandparents had when they first started versus post loss of their son was just diminished. And there were a lot of financial difficulties there. When I came in, I was 20 years old, when they called me back. And at 20, I wasn't paying attention to the financial health or anything like that, that that was kind of above my pay grade, as they say.

00:22:35:08 - 00:23:01:17
Unknown
I always just expected that things were things were fine until I noticed they worked fine, which was, you know, there were, there were days where my grandfather would say, hey, payroll is today. I need you to ask a few people not to cash their paychecks because that's going to bounce. And, at 20, that's a pretty difficult conversation.

00:23:01:19 - 00:23:28:09
Unknown
Yeah. To, to to have, we got through those times, by the skin of our teeth. It was tough. And then both of my grandparents passed away within 11 months of each other. And, by that time I was 24. And what, what I thought about the financial strength of the company, what I thought it had improved, had not.

00:23:28:11 - 00:23:56:07
Unknown
And again, I didn't really have access to to that. So once they passed, I discovered a pretty insurmountable amount of debt. And, And this all fell to you because you were like, the heir apparent? Is that what happened? I was the the, the sole beneficiary for for both of my grandparents. Got it. Blessing and a curse.

00:23:56:07 - 00:24:17:19
Unknown
I always say. Definitely. Yeah. That's it. We, we had a saying in our family that I'll share with you. And, you know, though there were hard times, my family did see a lot of success in the, in the, in the bus industry. And we had a saying it was thank God and Greyhound because if it wasn't for Greyhound when we would have ended up there.

00:24:17:19 - 00:24:50:03
Unknown
Yeah. So I always I still say that sometimes I think I'm Greyhound. So I miss the versus man. So flash forward 24 years old. I just discover all this debt and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, we're not we’re not gonna make it where we're going to go under it was that much huh? Millions. Yeah, yeah. And I, I, I my undergrad degree is in psychology, not finance though.

00:24:50:03 - 00:25:18:04
Unknown
And so I just thought, oh my gosh, what am I, what am I going to do. So I, I hired an attorney who was recommended to me by, by my CPA and she said, talk to this gentleman. I think he can help you. And, he said, Tori, you have a few options. One of your options is you can sell off all of the assets of the business.

00:25:18:04 - 00:25:45:16
Unknown
And you may you may be be be able to pay off the debt. You can file bankruptcy. That's option number two or number three is or or you can try to make this work. And I said, well, hell, if I have to do number one or do I might as well try number three. So, so I, I chose door number three because I'll still get door 1 and 2 with 3 if I want it.

00:25:45:18 - 00:26:27:00
Unknown
three door number three doesn't work out then I'm in for the three for one deal. Potentially. Yeah, not just the one. So it's oh, so I went with door number three and and I had just a fantastic team. We, we worked together, we restructured, I had a, a great manufacturing partner. And in the bust world, when you think of a manufacturer for a car, say, say a Ford, a Ford F-150, when you go purchase a new Ford F-150, you're purchasing it from a dealership, not from the manufacturer.

00:26:27:02 - 00:26:53:18
Unknown
And and secondly, when you're purchasing it, you, sometimes typically have a trade. So maybe you're trading in your old truck for a new truck, or maybe you don't have a trade, but generally you're only going to trade one vehicle for one new vehicle, right? Right. Well, I see I see it coming. Yeah. So, so we had some busses at the time.

00:26:53:18 - 00:27:23:05
Unknown
They were getting pretty old. Yeah. And I, I remember I called up, a couple bus manufacturers and, and I said, this is my situation. I've got these busses and, I, I need to make a deal. I need to get rid of some of the older ones, get some new ones. And the problem was the utilization of the busses was just poor at best.

00:27:23:07 - 00:27:53:05
Unknown
So at the time, we had a fleet of 35 and I needed to bring it down to 2025. But how do you do that? Selling off one one bus is $550 thousand dollars so that's how much a bus costs that's how much one charter bus costs who It's more than that now. But, about seven, eight years ago, it was that. So I would venture to say they're probably pushing 600 now, but $550,000 for one bus.

00:27:53:07 - 00:28:20:10
Unknown
So I thought, okay, who who is going to believe in me enough to to take on a deal where I say hey, JC, you, you're feeling pretty good today, so I've I’ve got got I got 15 busses over here and I want to trade them in for 10 ten. Well, think about going to a car dealership and saying, I want to buy ten brand new f-150s.

00:28:20:10 - 00:28:47:16
Unknown
And I'm going to give you 15 old F-150. Yeah. It just doesn't happen So, I worked with the company Motorcoach Industries, and we owe them a ton of money at the time, that was probably the largest debt holder, for Clark Travel. And, I called the. I called our sales rep. His name was Rob lesser. And I will venture to guarantee Rob is going to see this.

00:28:47:18 - 00:29:12:10
Unknown
And I spoke with Rob and then his boss was Pat Zylka, who's retired since then. And I said, Rob, if if we don't do this I'm not going to make it And, and there's nothing like someone you owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to saying hey I'm im im 28 years old and I don't really know a lot right now, but if you stick with me I promise it'll be worth it

00:29:12:12 - 00:29:45:16
Unknown
And and and they did the deal They allowed us to trade in way more than what we purchased. And that effectively lowered our debt. Cleared it, lowered our debt payments, increased our cash flow, eliminated the debt that that we owed to to to that manufacturer and created a, a company in long partnership. They believed in me. I believed in them.

00:29:45:18 - 00:30:13:19
Unknown
They always treated me well. Why do you think they believed in you? What would Rob say? Charisma? I don't know, I don't know. Yeah. The funny thing is, I had known Rob since I was a little kid because my family would purchase busses, from, you know, the different manufacturers. And Rob was just always a solid guy.

00:30:13:19 - 00:30:37:10
Unknown
I remember meeting Rob for the first time when I was probably 9 or 10 years old. So I known him for an extensive amount of time, but never in an ownership position. And I think that he knew she's grown up in this. She knows what to do. I'm going to fight for her so that she can continue doing this.

00:30:37:12 - 00:31:01:23
Unknown
I was also one of the youngest motorcoach business owners at the time. Yeah. No doubt. Yeah. And only 10%, only 10% of charter bus company owners are female. So it's a very male dominated industry. And I think that I was a bit of a unicorn. And sometimes people like unicorns and thank God they like this one. Yeah.

00:31:02:01 - 00:31:26:12
Unknown
And and I think Rob knew that he was betting on a on, on a racehorse that maybe needed some TLC, but we'd get there and thank God they did. You were his Seabiscuit. Yeah. Like, this is going to win. What? What do you get? So it sounds like also from a business perspective, you were like, we got to do am I reading it right?

00:31:26:12 - 00:32:02:20
Unknown
You were. You had to do less. Better. Correct. Like we're managing all these busses and the whole fleet and maintenance and all this stuff do less better. That was the thought. My mind is so less can be more. And when you have a when you have a bus, it's sitting on the lot. It's losing you money. Yeah. So how can we make sure those wheels are rolling as much as, as much as possible and still maintain safety and and be able to hit all of our maintenance goals, be efficient in that way.

00:32:02:22 - 00:32:19:14
Unknown
What are your team think of you? What am I? I know what Rob thought of you, I guess. What is your team thinking? You. When you took over at 28 year old, 28, 24, 28 years old when you took over and, you know, grandparents passed away and you're like, I'm the new boss, I guess. Yeah, I was 24.

00:32:19:14 - 00:32:56:00
Unknown
Yeah. And and eventually sold when I was 28, but I was 24. The, the, the demographic of employees in, in the bus industry is, is typically a little bit older. Sometimes you have people who have retired, you have some school bus drivers, maybe truckers, who they don't want to be over the road anymore. Generally speaking, you're looking at drivers who are in their 40s, typically kind of the younger of the bunch, 50s, 60s.

00:32:56:02 - 00:33:27:02
Unknown
So you can imagine what it's like for a 24 year old female with a psychology degree to come in and say, hey, you guys, I'm your new owner. It, it had challenges in the challenges were, well, you're young and you don't know what you're doing, so we're going to leave em. And I had a few people leave, but I would say the majority, 90% stayed.

00:33:27:04 - 00:34:06:18
Unknown
And they believed in what we could do together. They believed in the process and the mission. And thank God they did, because I had the best team I had, I had some amazing leaders. One in particular, her name is Nona, and I swear, if Nona could morph herself into various industries, I would have taken her every single business I've opened loyal, very analytical, and was just a key player for me.

00:34:06:18 - 00:34:27:23
Unknown
It sounds like she offset you. She did the skills and talents she did. And, she would sometimes take on that big sister role for me. Too important. Yeah. And she would say, you know, let's rethink this. Or if I had, if I had some harebrained idea, I'd say, no, no, this is this is what we're going to do.

00:34:28:04 - 00:34:56:21
Unknown
And she's I always knew when she was questioning it, she'd say, all right, Tory, you're the boss. And I knew at that time she she does a great job. She's that kind of setting it. Really? Yeah. But she's going to keep going. Yeah. And and sometimes at the end, the saying you are right was not something that anybody sometimes likes to say, but the saying you are right, her and I would go back and forth on.

00:34:56:21 - 00:35:04:10
Unknown
Yep. No, no, you were right or. Yep. Tory. All right. You're right this time. Yeah. But I would say.

00:35:04:12 - 00:35:38:14
Unknown
Knowing you have a good team is walking into a team meeting when something has gone wrong. And just saying the words. Guys, I'm just really disappointed in everyone putting their head down and just nodding their head. And you can see that you're a disappointment is their disappointment. That's how you know you have a good team because they've taken on that same love and passion that you have.

00:35:38:16 - 00:35:57:10
Unknown
And it it's sitting right here and I just had the best team. If it wasn't for my team, we would not have gotten through those rough times. Yeah. At Clark Travel did you say something? Do you remember thinking, all right, I got to pump them up or something, like when you first took over, like, what would I why did the 90% of.

00:35:57:10 - 00:36:14:09
Unknown
Obviously they believed in the mission. They obviously probably I would imagine, fill in the gaps here that, you know, your grandparents and father being good people kind of established, you know, a reason to believe. Did you say anything, though, to help kind of add on to that, just, do you remember saying anything specific to them?

00:36:14:09 - 00:36:49:05
Unknown
They just think you got 90% of them to at least hang on? You know, that's a good question. I don't remember I don't remember having a big team meeting or anything. I remember, business as usual. And a lot of the difficulties were not known to the majority. So the difficulties were known to mainly my, my admin, my operations team.

00:36:49:07 - 00:37:23:12
Unknown
They knew the struggles that, that we were trying to work past. And of course, you know, some of our, some of our, you know, motorcoach operators knew that too. But I think they just knew that that was the natural succession succession plan. A lot of them would always joke, we're going to work for you one day, worry and I, I didn't plan on living my whole life and Clark travel, and I just would laugh when they would say that, and that reality hit a lot sooner than I expected.

00:37:23:17 - 00:37:47:11
Unknown
Yeah, it thrusted right in. What? What you said you guys end up selling what ended up happening at 28? Oh, gosh. Cold call. I, received a cold call from a competitor in Dallas, and they said, hey, we want to break into the Austin market in order for us to do that successfully, we need to acquire Clark Travel.

00:37:47:13 - 00:38:13:20
Unknown
And I my my original response was, well, guess you better find somebody else because it's not for sale. Yeah. And at the time, Clark Travel, which is in its prime doing fantastic. We, we, we were seeing the fruit of our labor and we were having the best year. And I thought, there's just no way, I'm not doing this blood, sweat and tears into it already.

00:38:13:20 - 00:38:42:14
Unknown
Like, yeah. And they said, well, it's not for sale. Are you sure? I said. Pretty sure right now. Yep. Give me a couple days, I'll call you back. So I reached out to, I reached out to a transportation, M&A company, that I had met very, very briefly. But, the Tenney Group is their name.

00:38:42:14 - 00:39:04:20
Unknown
And I was working with Charles Tenney, and he and I met very briefly at, he was at a, some conference, but he and my grandfather knew each other pretty well, and I'd heard his name over the years. Many times I reached out to him, I said, hey, I had this company call me. They're, they're interested in purchasing Clark Travel.

00:39:04:22 - 00:39:31:09
Unknown
I don't know if that's the right route for me. We went through a, evaluation, and I remember I received the evaluation and I laughed I said there is no damn way There's no way you you're you're math ain't math. And and what? That it’s worth that much? Yes That it's worth that much Oh you thought it was worth maybe way less than that

00:39:31:09 - 00:39:52:04
Unknown
Yeah Oh yeah Oh yeah I say your math. Same math. And you're adding some numbers here that they don't need to be added Dude there's something wrong That's the absolute problem for most owners Yeah They don't think it's enough No no you're saying heck no I was like there is no way So, so I said, you've got your add ins, there's something wrong.

00:39:52:06 - 00:40:16:01
Unknown
And he said, no, I don't think so. Okay, let's go through it. Let's talk about your EBITDA and, and and I'm looking at it. And I said, well, actually, that's, that's not right. That number is a little bit higher. So by the time of the end of the conversation when we done some, we finished some fine tuning adjustments.

00:40:16:03 - 00:40:49:02
Unknown
We were we were even higher than when we started the conversation so. Oh, so I said, do do you really think these numbers you're showing me are marketable? And he said I think they're more than marketable I said, well, I guess we should just see what happens. And, I thought it wasn't an immediate thing by the way. I said, well, I guess we can see what happens.

00:40:49:04 - 00:41:16:13
Unknown
Let me think about it. And anyone who knows me long enough knows that I'm not good at immediate decisions. I like to think things through and come up with what I think is going to be the best, you know, the best decision. So I thought about it, I prayed about it. And I knew deep down in my heart that I loved Clark travel and I loved what I was doing.

00:41:16:15 - 00:41:54:02
Unknown
But the the charter bus industry, it's it's a difficult one. It's a blood, sweat and tears. 24 seven news busses are rolling all throughout the night. Yeah, and I all I always had just this feeling in my gut. If anything happens, if, if an 18 Wheeler, you know, trucker is is intoxicated and slams into the side of a bus, those type of things as, as a bus operator you think about and they would keep me that those thoughts would keep me up at night.

00:41:54:04 - 00:42:26:10
Unknown
We took kids to camp for four years for the Young Life organization, and we would drive kids in the middle of the night. Those were the nights I would not sleep. And it's not because I don't believe in my team. It's because you can't control everything else. So I thought long and hard about it. I spent a few weeks kind of mulling it over and the second thing, outside of outside of the risks and liability, the second thing I thought of is, what would I do after this?

00:42:26:10 - 00:42:44:17
Unknown
What is life look like for me after the bus industry? And I couldn't think of what that looks like. So I knew I needed to make a decision and I decided, let's see what happens. So we put it on the market.

00:42:44:18 - 00:43:06:04
Unknown
Ended up in a in a situation where I think we had, eight offers. And so you just didn't go back to the Dallas folks. You just say market it. What we did let them know we're going to we're going to put the business on the market. We can provide you all the information you like. Yeah. So of course.

00:43:06:05 - 00:43:39:16
Unknown
Yep. They wanted a seat at the table. They, they made an offer there, all their competitors in offer. I mean, it was is a very interesting time. Yeah. So, we looked over. Looked over all the offers. We immediately narrowed it down to, I want to say was the the, to two operators, one out of Dallas and, and one out of Houston, narrowed it down to two and ultimately settled on the original really cold call.

00:43:39:18 - 00:44:09:18
Unknown
Okay. Yes. And was there anything about them that you just made you go, that's the right move? Yeah, there's stability there. Their reputation in the market, their growth strategy and their plan moving forward. So it wasn't just a house number. You're thinking about your teammates too? Yes, yes. And, and speaking of teammates, it was important for me that my team once, once acquired, they wouldn't lose benefits.

00:44:09:20 - 00:44:39:23
Unknown
They wouldn't their pay wouldn't decrease. And that they would keep their positions. Yeah. So as the deal went on, I was very open and candid about that. And they agreed. They said, you tell us what you want us to keep, what you want us to do, and we'll do it. So they were showing me we want to continue that culture.

00:44:40:01 - 00:45:11:20
Unknown
So that was important. And ultimately, both of those final offers came in very close to each other. But Roadrunner is the company that we sold to in Dallas and ultimately Roadrunner the Will's family who, who owns Roadrunner. They said we'll, we'll do that. We'll make sure that what you want your team to have after your exit, that we make that happen.

00:45:11:20 - 00:45:46:10
Unknown
And they held true to that. So I was very grateful for that. My my team, you know, I, I, I don't think that a lot of them knew that was the behind the scenes workings, but my team ultimately benefited from that. And, and that made me happy, made me able to sleep at night. Yeah. Knowing that not only would this be, a good financial opportunity for my family and I, but also I'll be able to keep the same financial strength for every employee that's still working there.

00:45:46:12 - 00:46:07:04
Unknown
So, yeah, I feel pretty good. It made me feel good. Yeah. Yeah, it made me feel good. What happened is like they buy it and then you just didn't get what it was that day after feeling, oh gosh. So you accidentally go in buy, you know, like you've been doing it for so long and I don't know all the I can only imagine, especially out of why you did it.

00:46:07:04 - 00:46:28:20
Unknown
I'm still in all the fact that, like heck, Heck Tori in like six action packed years you went from like holding this heavy thing from going out of business bankrupt into building this thing into a place where you're making now demands about how you want to treat your employees before you head out It's kind of crazy. Rodeo. Oh it was insane

00:46:28:20 - 00:46:54:22
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, it was it was insane. I went from crying every night not knowing how. How am I going to make payroll? How how am I going to make bus payments? How, you know, a payment, a payment on a, on a car is, say, depending on the type of car, right? Three, five, seven, $800, whatever your car is can be more than that, right?

00:46:55:00 - 00:47:20:07
Unknown
Well, payment on a bus is anywhere at the time it's increased since, of course, but at the time, a payment on a bus was anywhere from $5500 to $7500 each? Each Yeah. Yeah, each. So, Oh, man, you're paying six figures a month for your fleet Yes Yeah, yeah. And then, on top of that, you have insurance.

00:47:20:12 - 00:47:53:21
Unknown
Yeah. Your insurance is, you know, at the time for, for our, the fleet of our size, our insurance was, I don't know, say $80,000 a quarter. So, hey, you paying some big money? Yeah. But we we we say the course and made it through. And ultimately, a lot of the team members that I had at, I'm 37 now, so it's been almost ten years.

00:47:54:03 - 00:48:20:04
Unknown
And I would say that a lot of the internal staff is is still there. No, no, she's still there. Yeah. Still there. You guys get jobs too? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Nona has just a big piece of my heart. Just good person. And, Yeah, I see her. I, I, I wish I saw her more often, but, I generally we'll see her around the holidays.

00:48:20:05 - 00:48:57:03
Unknown
Yeah. So but she's, she's still there a lot of the, you know, operators are still there. They are still pretty happy. It sounds like, you know, I, I, I, we don't discuss, a lot of that, you know, there's always going to be happiness and unhappiness, depending on the season. Sure, but they're staying busy. Their business is running well, and, and usually you see operators, motorcoach operators in the industry, sometimes you'll see them hop from company to company, which is also popular in, like, the trucking industry.

00:48:57:05 - 00:49:19:23
Unknown
But I've noticed that a lot of those operators are still with the Clark Travel brand. Yeah. Which is positive. That is good. Yeah. I mean, the person putting. So I'm getting back to my question that I, I realize I went down a rabbit hole on us, so that's all me. But what was the day after feeling like just curious day after.

00:49:19:23 - 00:49:52:12
Unknown
Gosh. Or even the week after the I remember the announcement, we the funny thing is, is I didn't announce when I took over ownership, but but you announced when you were announced when I was out. So, at least I can't remember the announcement of ownership. So, the exit announcement was tough. Was very emotional for me.

00:49:52:12 - 00:50:16:10
Unknown
And I think that the main reasons are because, you know, that's that's my family's name on the, on the, on the side of those charter busses. It's like a moving billboard going down the highway. And that was the end of an era for my family and I. And it was a legacy that would continue to live on, and I felt would continue to live on in a, in a positive way.

00:50:16:12 - 00:50:50:19
Unknown
But standing in front of, you know, nearly 100 team members stating, hey, guys, you know, my time is done and I'm moving on and I want to introduce new ownership to you. And, of course, a little bit more elegant than that. Right. But that was the gist. It was a tough day. It was a tough day because that that family feeling that we all had, that we all had this connection was being severed.

00:50:50:20 - 00:51:21:15
Unknown
And there were some team members who were upset, by the cell, not because they didn't think, that the, the new owners would take care of them or, you know, run a good operation. But because we had committed to this vision the past four years and we were in it together and it kind of felt like a divorce, a divorce where neither one of you really did anything wrong.

00:51:21:17 - 00:51:54:19
Unknown
But it's it's not. You've heard the term when when some people divorce, it's just not working anymore. And, and things were working fine. But that's what it felt like I still get Merry Christmas, happy birthday. Happy New year from a ton of my travel team members. So there is still this, this love and and admiration for each other and respect and trust that still comes through a decade later.

00:51:55:00 - 00:52:15:16
Unknown
Yeah. Testament to, I think, your family and you and I recognize if you didn't feel that way, might be something wrong. So I think that in a weird way, that bad feeling is a good thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Looking back on it now, Tori, do you feel that's still the right call? You know, I miss it.

00:52:15:18 - 00:52:38:10
Unknown
You do, I miss it. And if someone called me today and said, hey, you want to get in the charter bus industry, I'd think really hard about it. You would. And I've had a few opportunities. I've had a few opportunities here and there that that some I've explored, some I did not. But it's it's a fun industry.

00:52:38:12 - 00:53:00:03
Unknown
I would think really hard about it. You would? Yeah, I would, it's, it's an industry that if you have inside and and and past background in, you would do well in, like most. Right. But, but you grew up in it serving red wine and white wine, and, I mean, like, there's no more in the industry you can get.

00:53:00:04 - 00:53:28:06
Unknown
Oh, yeah. I remember, on a tour once. I'll tell you this funny story. I almost fell off a cliff at the Grand Canyon. Trying to take a picture for a couple. It was a special trip for them. I don't remember if they were celebrating a birthday or anniversary. And. And that particular day, we were at the Grand Canyon, and they wanted to take, a shot, a nice, beautiful shot with the Grand Canyon behind them.

00:53:28:08 - 00:53:58:17
Unknown
And I have no idea what what I thought was a good idea at the time. Absolutely not. There's a bar that, you know, stops you from going, from getting too close to the edge I I Jumped over the bar so that I could get this great shot of them. And I had, like, the the heel of my shoe is pretty thick, and I slipped and literally almost fell off the side of the Grand Canyon just trying to get a picture.

00:53:58:19 - 00:54:17:09
Unknown
But what I can tell you is, the tip that they gave me at the end of the trip was pretty good was it was worth the risk. Yeah. Pretty good. So, so, yeah, you sometimes you you do a lot of things to, you know, make people happy. Don't risk your life there. I learned that, yeah. This bird that.

00:54:17:10 - 00:54:36:15
Unknown
Well, it sounds like that kind of leads into. I mean, speaking of going above and beyond and like, doing that, it seems to me that's kind of what led us to where you're at now. Running Spa Luxe. How does somebody go from the bus industry to the spa industry? Oh, God. There's don't seem related unless there's a hot tab on a bus or something that I'm not thinking about, but I mean, I'm just curious.

00:54:36:15 - 00:54:40:09
Unknown
Like, they just seem worlds apart. They they are, they are,

00:54:40:09 - 00:54:58:20
Unknown
So Spa Luxe is, you know, a wellness spa offering massages, facials, nail services, waxing and soon medical spa services such as injectables are coming soon.

00:54:58:22 - 00:55:17:13
Unknown
But spa is a whole body experience for us and sometimes you think spa as you think hot tubs. Funny enough, when we first opened, we had a gentleman leave us a one star review saying that we didn't have parts and stock.

00:55:17:15 - 00:55:41:00
Unknown
We had to sadly let him know that we are not a hot tub company. But, but we are. We are a true, head to toe day spa. And when I explain it to people in a, in a two second conversation, I'd say we do everything except hair. So it's all encompassing of of what you would need for a true spa experience.

00:55:41:00 - 00:56:10:16
Unknown
I had a friend, a friend of mine, I was Teddy and Teddy, nine, met through a spa franchise that we were we were both sort of affiliated, with at the time. And, he, after his time with, with the franchise ended, he said, you know, I've always wanted to open a distribution company for the spa industry.

00:56:10:18 - 00:56:38:11
Unknown
And he had a pretty significant background in that. I said, all right, well, what does that look like? What kind of products do you think we should offer? You know, tell me more about your business plan and your vision. And he said, you know, in the spa industry, there is not a distributor who is distributing through an e-commerce platform very successfully, he said.

00:56:38:11 - 00:57:07:07
Unknown
I think that I can do it and I think we can distribute products, equipment, eventually services to help, you know, new owners design and and equip their location and, I helped him launch that was, that was the spa part, was part of that for, for a couple of years and then sold my off to Teddy.

00:57:07:09 - 00:57:41:23
Unknown
Super proud. Of of him. They just landed, Inc. 5000 a couple of years ago. Nice. So up and running. Fantastic. Good people. And working with Teddy opened the door for me to the small industry. I met a ton of great, spa owners and what I notice being in and out of a ton of spa's, here.

00:57:41:23 - 00:58:12:17
Unknown
And, you know, in other places in the nation, being in and out of a spa, I could see the the operations, the processes they had and and what I call the ugly side of the beauty industry there. There are things in the background that as a customer going into the spy, you don't see. So I was just slowly every day learning little by little of what it looks like and what it takes to run a successful spa or an unsuccessful spa.

00:58:12:19 - 00:58:40:17
Unknown
Because setting I would walk into a lot of spies that that we, we could tell right away, either they were struggling or they've got a a really well-run organization. And just over those two years, I was taking these mental notes of what's working, what's not working. So at one point, I mentioned the spa franchise. I was part of a spa franchise.

00:58:40:19 - 00:59:31:10
Unknown
Things did not go well. So I exited. I exited the franchise. Ended my agreement with them, and when I was a part of the franchise, I had signed a lease for our Georgetown location under the franchise name. And I remember, we know we got into a little bit of a legal battle for me, too. You know, I was trying to exit, and and when I ultimately exited successfully, part of our agreement was that the franchise would a give me back all of the resources that I'd put in, but B allow me to open spots if I wanted to.

00:59:31:12 - 00:59:56:04
Unknown
So that was a tough one. And that was where I was at a crossroads was, okay, I've got this lease space. The landlord, the Novak family, they, Jeff Novak in particular. I said, Jeff, you know, I've got this lease space and I want to put a spa there, but I've never built a spa, and I'm a little nervous.

00:59:56:04 - 01:00:15:13
Unknown
You know, I went the franchise route because I thought that's a proven process and structure that I can build off of. He looked at me and he said to me, if anybody can build a successful spa, I think it's you. And I said, well, if you think I can do it, then I'm going to give it my best.

01:00:15:15 - 01:00:39:23
Unknown
So I once I lost the backing of the franchise, I also lost all the backing of any bank that wanted to fund me. So I went to bank after bank after bank. I had one banker and I won't say his name, but I had one banker look at me and say, you should have just stuck to busses. You were really good at busses, I said.

01:00:40:01 - 01:01:04:13
Unknown
I said I was, but I'm going to be really good at spa. Yeah, the you have to believe that. I can see this isn't going to work. I'll go to another bank. So, so I did, and I was a bank after bank after bank and. No, after no, after. No. And I went to Jeff and I said, Jeff, I can't get a bank to say yes.

01:01:04:16 - 01:01:28:04
Unknown
I've gone to at least 10 or 12 things. He said, I've got somebody you need to talk to. So he connects me. He connects me with a banker he knows. And, his name was James Kligman. And Doug LeBlanc. Those were the two bankers that I use. And that's a good name. And, Yeah. Great name.

01:01:28:05 - 01:01:49:07
Unknown
Great. So Doug came out, met with me. I told him the plan, and he said, I have I have finance, you know, some of the best bars in Austin. And I think that your business plan is excellent. I love what you're doing and what your vision is. And I want to help make this happen for you. And he did.

01:01:49:09 - 01:02:18:07
Unknown
But it took someone understanding the industry and what it can be. And the vision of the innovation that we had behind it. And that was the key aspect that was missing from every other banker that I spoke to. So, you know, Doug. Doug funded the loan, and we were off to the races. We had a great, great construction team.

01:02:18:09 - 01:02:43:11
Unknown
A spa typically takes 6 to 8 months to build out. I think we did it in five. It was fantastic. Great launch. Spa luxe has just been a phenomenal success, and it has hinged on people and hospitality. Yeah, you told me something. We were catching out of that. It's actually, it's, I think. How did you say you said it's a hospitality company posing as a spa?

01:02:43:12 - 01:03:13:03
Unknown
Yes. Or something like that. Right? Yes. Can you explain that? So our corporate name is Clark Hospitality Group. It doesn't say anything about spa, that name. So we knew that our secret sauce was we could bring we could bring people in all day to have a massage, a facial, manicure, pedicure. But you can get that on almost every street corner, it seems.

01:03:13:03 - 01:03:41:12
Unknown
That's right. You can you can go to a lot of you can go to a lot of great spas, especially especially in Austin. There are great spots in Georgetown, great spas in Austin, but something that I saw over the years that most spa's had a real difficulty with were were two things. Number one, hospitality and number two, consistency.

01:03:41:14 - 01:04:12:03
Unknown
When you walk into when you walk into a spa and you have a massage, say, say, say your massage therapist name is Jill. And and Jill gives you a fantastic massage and then you rebook and let's say you work with someone else. Let's say you end up booking with, you know, with, with Karen, you come in three weeks later, you have your massage with Karen completely different.

01:04:12:04 - 01:04:43:03
Unknown
And it's not because of the style, it's because of the process. So when you come to Spa Luxe, we have a very specific outline of how the flow of that massage should go from start to end. Start with this aromatherapy. There's, you know, there is, you know, our hot. You know, foot compresses. We do we start at this at this point on the body.

01:04:43:06 - 01:05:22:12
Unknown
We move to this. There's a flow. Oh, interesting. And when you say process this thing in like you check in probably you're talking about I know the actual. Yeah. The service service has a process. Yeah. So that is the luxe experience. And it starts from the moment you're solidifying your appointment. Everything is scripted not to take away your individuality, but to create consistency and when you're when you're leading a team and you're leading a culture, it's really important that they understand the consistency of it.

01:05:22:14 - 01:05:54:19
Unknown
And our team at Spa Luxe has just done an incredible job of holding on to that consistency. When you enter our brand, either as a front desk team member, a massage therapist and esthetician, even even a laundry specialist, we are showing you and putting you through our spa Luxe boot camp of, I'll take laundry as an example.

01:05:54:21 - 01:06:21:09
Unknown
A laundry laundry specialist is an entry level position for us, but if you are in that laundry specialist position, we're showing you everything from this is how much detergent we put in each load of laundry. This is how, this is the wash cycle that we use. This is how long it takes to dry. When you fold the towels, we we do a hamburger fold hamburger fold, two hot dog folds.

01:06:21:11 - 01:06:56:22
Unknown
There's a very specific way. And it's, it then becomes a seamless, seamless transition. So if one person is doing it this exact way, the next person does it the exact way. It just makes things so much easier. Yeah. And in the in the spa world, those processes, are lost. Something as little as folding a towel makes a big difference because the way we fold a towel is so that it will be efficient for our team members are in the room.

01:06:57:03 - 01:07:27:08
Unknown
So the way we fold towels that we use in a facial, it's easy for them to open it and put it on the table, or open it and place it on the guest. There's no let me open it and fidget with it. It's seamless for them. There are so many little things that over the years we have fine tuned to make sure that guest experience is the same, no matter if you're going to Jill or Karen.

01:07:27:10 - 01:07:55:23
Unknown
And while each therapist has usually a very unique style, especially when it comes to massage, we don't want to take away from that, but we want to make sure you hit every key point that makes you memorable, gives the guest the best value we can give them, and provides all of the key aspects of the luxe experience, from the touch and aromatherapy, the hot towels, the care that we put in.

01:07:56:01 - 01:08:35:06
Unknown
It's it's highly consistent. And those those protocols are what make it that you'll go through two weeks of intensive training before before you even get to, hey, hang out with someone. Now, it's something I've noticed about whether it's luxury or just highly immersive experiential tap places. There is a almost militaristic regimen that happens behind the scenes. We actually get to see this really incredible boutique wilderness, based, kind of lodging area, the behind the scenes of what it's all the experience behind the scenes was as pristine as it was in front of the scenes.

01:08:35:06 - 01:08:55:11
Unknown
There wasn't like brushed something under the rug. And I think they recognize that the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. And so just kind of that level of consistency, I can see that I also wonder, one thing, as you were saying, that is like when people decide to come to Yale or any spa, it seems to me that folks are much more sensitive.

01:08:55:11 - 01:09:27:07
Unknown
And now becoming more aware. Right? So like, they can probably tell when something is off. Or normally if I'm walking to somebody's house, I'm not looking at their towels. You know, but if I'm going into this experience, I feel everything to include one thing you had mentioned, which I think is just such a world class move, I would love for you to talk about kind of how you also give, in addition to the regiment you provide in the systems in the process, it seems like you also give your teammates permission to go above and beyond without having to like, you know, ask necessarily, or I'm not sure, maybe you can talk about that.

01:09:27:07 - 01:10:04:00
Unknown
So, sure. So, absolutely. We, I'll tell you a fun fact. I, I have a lot of respect for the Ritz Carlton Hotel group. They have a the last time I checked a lease, they have a rule where each team member has the power to solve an issue for a guest and make sure that they're happy within a certain cost range.

01:10:04:02 - 01:10:31:15
Unknown
It's an extremely high cost range. It's Ritz Carlton. Yeah. And Tori does not have Ritz Carlton money, but Tori knows. Tori knows. The $20 bouquet of flowers goes a long way. So we are currently piloting, a director of Delight position, where we have a team member who their focus. And how would you love to have this job?

01:10:31:18 - 01:10:54:03
Unknown
Their focus every day is how can I make the guests experience even more amazing? Or as we say, awesome. How can we make it even more awesome and memorable? All of that. So if if you give us a call, you say, hey, it's my wife and I, you know, 10th anniversary. I want to do something really special for her kind of flowers.

01:10:54:03 - 01:11:27:00
Unknown
So she, like, you know, with things that she like to do, you know, outside of, you know, work or family. So you may say, oh, she loves roses. Okay, well, we want to work with you and not just make your spa luxe experience memorable, but make you a hero at the same time. So in that type of situation, we say, hey, Jesse called and it's in his wife's 10th anniversary, and he wants to do something really special for her.

01:11:27:02 - 01:11:51:18
Unknown
So, we'll make you look very good. Our team will go out, buy some flowers. They can, put them in her locker so when she comes in, there's just beautiful, you know, dozen roses in there with a little card. You know, whatever you wanted to say. Love you, babe. Love Jesse. And then, you know, hopefully you, you take credit for it.

01:11:51:20 - 01:12:18:15
Unknown
But but we've we've done things like that. We've, Most recently, we had a teacher come in. Teachers really have a heart. We had a teacher come in, and and she, we heard a story about this teacher that she, one of her students, I think she taught third grade is remember, it was little kids.

01:12:18:17 - 01:12:43:09
Unknown
She taught third grade. And there was a really bad incident at her school where one of her students actually attempted to beat her up for lack of better terms. And the school district just didn't have her back. She was going through a really rough time. I mean, this child literally jumped on top of her, started punching her.

01:12:43:11 - 01:13:05:13
Unknown
And so we we heard this story, and, one of her family members scheduled a spa service in for her and shared that story with us. And I told my team as well, you have to do something. We have to do something very special for her. Being a teacher, number one is incredibly difficult and challenging. Takes a lot of heart.

01:13:05:15 - 01:13:35:11
Unknown
It's definitely a thankless job. And to to go to work and, and not be in a safe environment and have an administration that doesn't have your back has got to be very frustrating. So they put together a sweet card for her and, and had a gift bag and everything prepared for her. And in the card they wrote something to the extent of basically, don't give up, we need you, we love you.

01:13:35:13 - 01:14:05:21
Unknown
And she was so grateful for that. Posted it all over social media. But above anything, it made her feel seen and valued and understand that we need you and there little opportunities that we get like that, that gosh, that's why we do it. I mean, that's that is my favorite thing, is hearing someone who is maybe going through a rough time or even a happy time.

01:14:05:23 - 01:14:33:00
Unknown
Yeah. And being able to, to celebrate or lift up that, that is just the highlight. Honestly, that's the highlight of my day when when we can do something like that for somebody, I can imagine how infectious that is. Oh, it's it, it is. Yeah. And those moments, you know, those are not the moments that you hear about on social media.

01:14:33:02 - 01:14:59:05
Unknown
You know, you don't hear about those moments, and, and you may think, well, how do you hear about someone going through a rough time? Sometimes their family may call in, like I mentioned, and schedule service and say they're going through this or that. But oftentimes when when you're receiving a massage or a facial, it's a very vulnerable moment.

01:14:59:07 - 01:15:44:21
Unknown
I always tell people you're naked in front of two strangers in your life, your doctor and your massage therapist. So when you're naked on a table, sometimes you just feel like spilling your heart out and, and in those moments, we capture a lot of what that particular guest is going through. Good, bad and ugly. And maybe they share, they share something that they just they got a promotion or, or they're, you know, they're expecting their first child, or I just got engaged or so we love celebrating those positive big life milestones.

01:15:44:23 - 01:16:13:21
Unknown
And at the same time, we will also help lift you up during those life events that are not so fun. The loss of a loved one, the loss of a pet, losing a job, you know, transitioning. You know, maybe you're new in town and and it's been difficult for you, and this is your moment to have some relaxation and be able to maybe decompress from from a stressful moment.

01:16:14:03 - 01:16:42:15
Unknown
Yeah. Those are all things that we're able to touch, touch someone's life, not forever, but in that moment. And we have a scene at Spa Luxe, especially if we're if we're in a situation where we have a difficult guest and a difficult guest is someone who you can just tell they're having a bad day and they're taking it out on anybody that'll listen.

01:16:42:17 - 01:17:06:13
Unknown
And unfortunately that happens. And behind the scenes we're saying, yeah, you know, it's pretty difficult today. But thank God he found he found his way to small looks because our hope is that JC may come in and maybe he's not happy right now. And he's going through a rough time. And someone just backed into his car in the parking lot.

01:17:06:15 - 01:17:31:15
Unknown
But by the time JC leaves, he is re-energized and renewed and his body has calmed down and he's a happier person. So thank God you find your you found your way to smaller. Yeah, well, I mean, what an incredible mission. And like you talk about that we used to have is saying, you know, we train or whatever. It's like run through the finish line and you guys are thinking way beyond the service itself.

01:17:31:15 - 01:17:51:20
Unknown
And you can you can see that. Yeah. I mean, definitely makes you want to you can definitely tell these businesses in general, but people in general are not, always thinking about that being it's kind of this trying to wrap this thought. It's like it's like meeting somebody who's cool, but they also aren't trying to be cool.

01:17:51:20 - 01:18:11:03
Unknown
It's like when you go, you know what I mean? That's why they're cool, you know? And it's so it's a little bit like that with a spa, imagine. Or any business like y'all are doing that because your genuine heart's there. It just probably just so happens to also be the ingredient in the business that allows y'all to continue to grow in a way and be infectious and referrals and all that stuff.

01:18:11:05 - 01:18:28:03
Unknown
Yeah, I just you can see it there. Tori. One thing I want to make sure we capture before we, like, let you get back into work and stuff. I know that one of the things kept tinkering in my brain. I know, I mean, this goes so perfect with the way you think of people and what your team thinks of people.

01:18:28:05 - 01:18:44:23
Unknown
You mentioned community being a big part of and giving back, right? Like giving back and being somebody who kind of just looks, kind of always looks behind you and just wonders how you can kind of keep pushing people forward. Just for anybody listening out there, especially folks who are looking to get into this world of ownership and you just things you want to share in particular about that.

01:18:45:04 - 01:19:16:21
Unknown
Sure. The you and I were, were, speaking a little bit earlier today and, and I share with you that my, my heart is really in the place of, of giving back in my community, and how I can and how I can make an impact. And I've got some amazing mentors who, have really led me in, in that direction when I was a was I call a baby business owner.

01:19:16:23 - 01:19:48:04
Unknown
When I first became a business owner, I really and granted, I was very young. At 24, I really did not understand the point of, the point of being so intertwined in your community. I was also just focused on trying to turn around a business and keep things alive. But but once you can get out of that hustle mindset, which my advice would be, get out of that as honestly, as quickly as you can.

01:19:48:04 - 01:20:17:21
Unknown
And what I mean by that is I don't mean a hustle mindset of I want to create a successful business and, you know, be able to provide for my employees and my, you know, and my customers. What I mean is all you can think about, eat, sleep and do is on your business. You have to to get away from the business for a moment and say, okay, I'm helping my business, how can I help my community?

01:20:17:23 - 01:20:43:11
Unknown
And someone told me a story, I guess it was a couple months ago. Generally, when you meet somebody, one of the first things you ask, especially in a professional setting, is will tell me, you know, tell me what you do for a living. A gentleman asked a friend of mine, what's your contribution to the world? And that really stuck to me.

01:20:43:13 - 01:21:02:14
Unknown
And, and ever since I heard that a few months ago, I questioned myself, what is my contribution to the world? And I think that contribution is giving back in any way that I can. And,

01:21:02:16 - 01:21:33:04
Unknown
I've had so many people pour into me that my, my cup overflows. So how can I pour into someone else? We all should be asking ourselves that. I, my friends kid me about this sometimes, but I have a saying, and it's that everyone should be like a domino. And you should think, how can I push the next person forward?

01:21:33:06 - 01:22:02:21
Unknown
How can I make an impact on the person sitting in front of me? And it could just be by one small, little encouraging word, but a domino. When you push it, it falls and it pushes the next domino, but it continues. This chain reaction of positivity and impact. If you if you're doing it from a positive place and a place of I want to help change this person's life.

01:22:02:23 - 01:22:29:02
Unknown
And again, it literally could just be something small, some words of affirmation for me, what that looks like is how can I be involved in my community? I'm very passionate about underserved kids, so how can I how can I help support, you know, you know, this nonprofit, how can I help children over here who, you know, maybe they need a leg up.

01:22:29:04 - 01:23:03:10
Unknown
They need some positive advice. How can I be involved? So moving throughout your professional world, if there isn't something you're passionate about outside of your business, you have to find it. And for me, it's kids and giving back in my community in that way. So I have a gift for you. Okay. And, you know, you have been you've been a bit of a domino and an encouragement for me just in our short time of knowing each other.

01:23:03:15 - 01:23:20:23
Unknown
So I brought you a domino to remind you to continue being the amazing domino that you are. Wow, Tori, it means a lot. I appreciate I appreciate the story. I appreciate the thought. I, you said you gave me a gift. I was like, you're on our show. You're you don't give us. I told you it was small things.

01:23:21:00 - 01:23:38:09
Unknown
Now. Yeah, I told you it was all it is. Often anybody who knows me well, my wife will tell you if the house ever burned down. It's funny what you end up grabbing on my behalf. If I'm not around, it'll be things. It's worthless to anybody else. Sure, but means the world to me. I literally have this wallet that I've had since I was 13 years old because my father gave it to me.

01:23:38:11 - 01:23:54:10
Unknown
And so it's not an expensive wallet. It's just a small one. I've just had it forever. So these kinds of things mean a lot to me, I guess is what I'm telling you. And I just love the story about being a domino. I don't think I've ever heard it that way. Where it's about creating, not just helping the one person.

01:23:54:10 - 01:24:08:16
Unknown
But think about how do you create a chain reaction. Thank you for that. This is great. You're welcome. You're welcome. And it's, it adds up to seven on the domino. And see that there's a five on top and a two on bottom. I guess depending how you look at it, seven and eight are my lucky numbers. All right.

01:24:08:16 - 01:24:22:20
Unknown
So I had to pick a domino that was either 7 or 8. Well I liked the number seven. So that's perfect. Yeah Tori. So good. And I will cherish this. I gotta find a good place to put in my live in the studio for a little while. I like when we have great owners on which is every single guest we have.

01:24:22:20 - 01:24:37:07
Unknown
I like putting it in for a little while just to kind of give folks a little bit, something about the person that we were on here, at least they kind of make a rotation behind here. Sure. People who watch but also don't want anybody to snatch it up. So we'll see. I would encourage you to keep it in your pocket.

01:24:37:09 - 01:25:04:18
Unknown
Okay. And that way, you know, every time you reach in your pocket, maybe for your keys or wallet or phone, just your hand brushing up against the domino is going to remind you every time that happens to look for ways to make a positive impact, you naturally do that already. Well, I, I believe we can all use a reminder that will that will, be the reminder of the positive impact that you, you continue to have.

01:25:04:18 - 01:25:21:15
Unknown
I appreciate what you're doing. Well, I appreciate you. My domino is civil. Thank you. In that. And I told you it was a small gift. No. It's great. And for folks who can see it, it's a blue five. And these are both my great blue five and green two. These are also the colors of my wife's and eyes eyeballs.

01:25:21:15 - 01:25:44:02
Unknown
If you don't want to get creepy with me for a second because it's weird, but it's cool is what two colors I enjoy the most. Tori. You're awesome. Really, I, I could talk to you for another 17 hours. Seven hours? I will, I'm going to put in my pocket right now, so don't forget to. But yeah, I'll say this as we close out, like, I've not only I always enjoy the combos I have with the folks who sit in that chair.

01:25:44:04 - 01:26:04:06
Unknown
I will tell you, though, if there is no example of somebody who gets thrusted into something at a necessity and can still find a way to win and still find a way to do it, the right way and take care of people along the way. Your story is action packed full of those examples. And I think that's why I gravitated towards you over some breakfast tacos pretty quick.

01:26:04:06 - 01:26:21:09
Unknown
I just realized is a good human. So thanks for all you do. Keep doing your saying. We'll be rooting for you over here. And it sounds like my wife and I need to go find our way over to Spa Luxe and see how you guys do business over there, I am. I think the part I'm probably worried about is that it's going to ruin other experiences down the road.

01:26:21:11 - 01:26:39:12
Unknown
So we might be resetting the new bar, but thanks for coming in today. We appreciate the words and thanks for being you. Thank you. I appreciate you having me on. And, you know, I can't I can't close out without telling you that Spa luxe is coming to Austin, so you won't have to travel that far. That's what I hear when we when can we expect it to be live it up.

01:26:39:14 - 01:27:15:04
Unknown
So, three weeks. Okay. November 1st. Where y'all are kidding? Where y'all going to be located? Just for the people who are listening in in the Grove here in Austin. So great spot. Oh, yeah. So 45th in, in MoPac. It's great location. We're acquiring an existing and existing spa. We're super, super excited, great people there. And they, I know that they will will latch on to the small lux experience and and make it unique to Austin.

01:27:15:04 - 01:27:25:13
Unknown
So I'm excited. So you won't have to travel far. That's love it. Well, we're going to, I'll put three weeks on the calendar and we'll go keep in touch and we'll we'll, we'll celebrate y'all. So thank you, Tori, for coming in. Thanks so much for having me.

01:27:25:13 - 01:27:51:19
Unknown
Thanks for tuning in to the American Operator Podcast, where we celebrate the backbone of America small business owners and operators like you. If you've enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss out on more of these stories and insights from people who keep our community strong. Until next time, keep building, keep operating, and keep America moving forward.