Rachel Flowers emailed a massage company to ask about opening a business in Austin. When she hadn't heard back two weeks later, she sent it again. The reply arrived as The NOW was completing its franchise paperwork. Rachel went to a discovery day in California and became the first person to sign up.
By then, she had already owned a salon and built a career in the beauty industry. Corporate work had brought opportunities, travel, and the experience of living in New York. She also missed the freedom of creating a business of her own. Her original vision included massage, a blow-dry bar, and a coffee shop. A conversation with a spa marketer helped her narrow the idea and introduced her to The NOW.
Tab wants to understand the experiences behind those decisions. Rachel takes him back to Ohio, beauty school, and a salon owner who introduced her to spiritual practices that became part of her life. She explains how she thinks about intention, manifestation, and the people she believes appeared at the right time. Tab shares his own experiences of pursuing opportunities and wondering how a single introduction can change a person's direction.
Their shared work as educators brings up a more personal question: what makes someone feel qualified to stand in front of a room? Rachel remembers questioning whether she had earned that place because her life hadn't included the dramatic story she thought an audience expected. Tab recognizes the feeling. They talk about the experience, effort, and ordinary lessons a person can bring to teaching.
Opening the Austin boutique gave Rachel another set of lessons. She describes staffing, the learning curve of a new franchise system, and discovering how much involvement an investment could require. At the time of this recording, she was running the business alongside her job with L'Oréal. The ownership she missed was back in her life, with real decisions to make and people depending on her to make them.
