Hiya! What a wild 4 months we’ve just had at Connect Wellness. Welcome back. 

 

My intention has always been to send newsletters more frequently so they are short and sassy, not long and arduous. I don’t like taking up your precious time, but I can’t seem to get them sent any faster than once a quarter. The newsletters seem to be on their own timeline, and once they are ready, they pour out of me. If you are a first-time reader, be prepared: it might feel more like a love letter. My newsletters are deeply personal to me as the owner. I encourage you to read it only if you wish. Feel free to skim, ask AI to condense it, unsubscribe or just ask a staff member to fill you in the next time you visit. :) No hard feelings.

 

Here’s the news!

We took a significant chunk of our successful SMBX investment money to finish building out the original 59th Ave location of Connect and begin offsite building for the new locations. (But first, I paid down debt! Hooray!) At 59th Ave, we repurposed and added a hot tub, finished the cottage and turned it into a library/workspace, added overnight accommodations, built an outdoor community kitchen and completely rebuilt our cabin sauna. Our workhorse cabin sauna had operated daily, 16 hours a day for 2 years, and she was tired. The stove was replaced, the hearth was rebuilt, and new interior walls were installed with gorgeous, locally-sourced Port Orford Cedar. The benches were not squeaky; they were stout, constructed of Western Red Cedar by a local craftsman (thank you, Daniel!), and we finally got it operating hot enough with numerous adjustments to the burner. The cabin sauna operated beautifully for 5 full glorious days, and then……she caught on fire in the middle of the night. For reals. The Fire Marshall is not sure how it started, and the safety mechanisms in place should have prevented it. This heartbreak was a gut-punch.

 

I got a call from my neighbor at 1:30am, Monday morning:

“Michelle, your sauna is on fire. We’ve called 911. The firefighters just arrived.”

 

I pulled into the spa 10 minutes later not sure what I would see. It’s totally gone, just burnt right up. The firefighters said things to me like, “This was a really well-built sauna” and “we had trouble tearing the wood apart because it was so solid.” They said these things, and I replayed the past 4 months of building it in my mind. So much love and energy was poured into rebuilding this sauna. Because it was so well-insulated with very dry wood, she burned really thorough. Bittersweet. I want to laugh and cry at the same time. Grief is funny.

 

I’ve spent most of this week in a puddle of tears. The Connect community has done a remarkable job holding space for me as I grieve. It’s always humbling to be on the receiving end of love like this. It’s a very tangible reminder of the important work we are doing for others every time they step into our space and open their hearts to us. My team is amazing. They came up with a plan for cleaning and rearranging the saunas we do have to maximize occupancy. I’m really proud of their decision-making and their execution of a plan. At a time when I was too weary to lead, they took the reins. Thank you, team.

 

Before the fire, this newsletter was supposed to be all about our renovations, the new location and a sale on spa packs - all fun stuff! Life has a funny way of shifting the tide, and we are here for it, albeit reluctantly on this particular occasion.

 

As you can imagine, the uncertainty of the insurance process, the loss of revenue without the cabin sauna in operation and the time required to rebuild is a heavy load.Here are some ways you can help:

The staff started a GoFundMe at the request of some customers, and I’m not going to resist your generosity. If you feel called to give, we would appreciate it!

 

We are still planning a sale on both our egift cards and our spa packs, December 1st-26th. Consider us in your gift-giving season, and stock up on spa packs. These will work for any of our new locations and will have an expiration of 2 years.

 

If you’re a member, please be mindful regarding signing up for a session and not showing up or canceling at the last minute. With limited occupancy, every spot that goes empty is missed revenue. In the event you aren’t aware, we are waitlisted every evening and weekend session.

 

Here’s what you should know about the 59th Ave. renovations and adjusted operations:The upper spa is relatively unchanged, but the lower spa has gotten an intentional makeover (and a not-so-intentional one). We moved our small, wood-burning mobile sauna, Gypsy, right next to our large mobile sauna, Ivan. This is very similar to how we operated a few years ago. We’ve cleaned up the fire mess in front of the cabin sauna and sectioned off the fire damage. There is some damage to the yurt, the cold plunge and the fence, but the deck is fine, and the charred remains of the cabin sauna stare you right in the face. I have no idea how long it will be in this sorry state.

 

We added a hot tub in the lower spa, tucked into a corner between the library and the yurt. She’s cute.

The old private spa area with the historic Red Lion wood panels is now open to everyone and home to an outdoor community kitchen and more showers. We plan to add a composting toilet to this area soon.

The smaller shipping container near this space has a comfy leather couch, perfect for reading, a wood-burning stove and an eating/work space. Our new overnight accommodations are incredible and really round out the back corner of the spa.

Chris’s Custom Truck Cabin and a vintage 1948 Airstream will be up for grabs shortly! Here’s a link to our current rental on the top floor of the main house.

If you have dates in mind for overnight stays and act quickly, we can block out those dates on our Airbnb calendar before we list. We will arrange payment outside of the Airbnb system and save us both some money. Email info@connectwellness.biz, and let us know your preferred dates, which units you’d like and how many are in your party. Pro tip: rent all 3 spaces, and invite your friends. :)

 

If you can’t tell, we are changing the vibe at 59th Ave. with the addition of dedicated work and lounge spaces, as well as the overnight accommodations. My hope is that you start thinking of us for longer stays and soak up some deep rest and rejuvenation. Our spa day passes are $70 and available M-F.

 

Let’s keep rolling on the exciting and happy news, shall we?! We are very close to signing the lease on our next property! New location options were pressure-tested the past 4 months. We almost went with locations in Tigard and North Portland. In the end, a property to the north of us stole our hearts and is proving to be ideal. It is located off I-5 at Exit 9. It’s going to be a rad transformation with so much nature, expansive spaces, lots of parking and, of course, creativity. We can’t wait to start building and sharing it with you!

I’m getting really tired of writing this newsletter, and I have a feeling you’re tired of reading! Hallelujah, we’re almost done!

 

Behind the scenes of all this building and location scouting, I have been building a dream team of staff, working on the Connect Wellness rebrand and figuring out website development to flow with multiple locations. For our brand update, we partnered with our talented spa member, Eleazar Ruiz, who owns Odd Notion. The whole branding process was new to me, and I have enough thoughts to write a blog post. I LOVED it. Here’s a sneak peek at our new logo, typeface and colors. I will likely start rolling out this new look slowly…? Not sure yet.

 

I hope to share in my next newsletter the nuts and bolts of how we will adjust into a network of spas, versus one location, but I will leave it up to the newsletter gods to sort it out when the time comes.

Can’t wait to see you when I see you!

As always, thanks for supporting our small business and for your continued prayers.

 

Specific ways to pray for us:Prayers for renewed spirit, as the fire has taken the wind out of my sail. I’m very low.

Prayers for my team’s wisdom as we continue to scale this business in real time.

Prayers for our many customers who come to us for rest and healing.

Much love to you this holiday season!

xo-Michelle