Today we’d like to introduce you to Mariah Tritz.
Hi Mariah , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story really started with having to begin again. I went through a divorce, lost my job, and suddenly had an opportunity to ask myself what I actually wanted the next chapter of my life to look like.
I have a BA in Business, so entrepreneurship and business planning weren’t completely foreign to me. But I wanted a career where I could work directly with people and make a tangible difference in their lives. I had originally been interested in physical therapy, and that eventually led me to massage therapy.
When I decided to start Intrepid Bodyworks, I absolutely had a business plan. I researched the industry, looked at what other practices were doing well—and what I thought they could do better—and developed an idea for the kind of practice I wanted to create. What I didn’t know yet was just how much running a business would teach me that no classroom or business plan ever could.
Intrepid began with a massage table in a spare bedroom. From there, I slowly grew the business, first moving into a small office and eventually building Intrepid into an integrated healthcare practice in Thornton offering massage therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic care, physical therapy, and sports and mobility work.
The journey has definitely not been a straight line. I’ve navigated COVID shutdowns, expansion, financial setbacks, insurance challenges, hiring mistakes, leadership growing pains, and even a point when I seriously considered selling the business. Every stage forced me to become a different kind of leader and taught me that a successful business is about much more than having a good plan. It’s about being willing to adapt, listen, build relationships, and surround yourself with people who believe in what you’re building.
Our work with veterans and first responders eventually exposed me to gaps in their access to care. That inspired me to create Hands Helping Heroes, a nonprofit focused on helping veterans and first responders access alternative healthcare when other resources fall short.
As Intrepid continued to grow, something else happened that I never anticipated: other healthcare practitioners and business owners began coming to me for advice. I found myself sharing what I had learned instead of guarding it as some kind of competitive secret. I realized that helping another practitioner succeed didn’t take anything away from Intrepid Bodyworks. If anything, it created better providers, stronger businesses, and healthier communities.
That philosophy became the Intrepid Independent Practice Alliance and eventually inspired my book, Why Help the Competition?
Today, I’m a business owner, author, nonprofit founder, mentor, and entrepreneur. I’m proud of how far Intrepid Bodyworks has come, but I’m even more excited about how the lessons I’ve learned along the way can now be used to help other people build something meaningful of their own.
If there is one idea connecting everything I do, it’s that success means more when you use what you’ve learned to help someone else succeed.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I sometimes joke that entrepreneurship is just solving one problem and then waiting to see what new problem shows up tomorrow.
Intrepid Bodyworks has survived a lot over the years. We made it through the COVID shutdown, followed by the challenge of rebuilding and expanding during a time when many massage therapists were leaving the profession. I took a major financial risk moving into a much larger commercial space, only to have our front door literally fall off shortly after opening and then discover a major plumbing problem that required tearing up our brand-new floors.
There have also been much harder challenges that weren’t nearly as funny. I’ve made hiring mistakes, dealt with difficult employee situations, navigated legal and financial disputes, and learned some painful lessons about trusting my instincts as a leader. We also experienced significant losses from commercial insurance claims that were never paid, which ultimately changed the way we structured the business.
There were times when cash flow was incredibly tight. There were times I made sure my employees were paid while I wasn’t. And there was a point when the pressure became so overwhelming that I seriously considered selling and walking away from everything I had spent years building.
I think one of the biggest lessons has been learning that having a business degree and a solid business plan doesn’t mean everything will go according to that plan. A plan gives you direction, but entrepreneurship requires you to constantly adapt.
I’ve also learned that leadership isn’t about preventing every problem or always knowing the right answer. It’s about how you respond when things go wrong, learning from your mistakes, building a team you can trust, and continuing to move forward even when the next step isn’t completely clear.
Looking back, some of the most difficult moments in the business ultimately shaped the way I lead today. They also helped me understand that resilience isn’t about never wanting to quit. Sometimes it’s about deciding that what you’re building is still worth showing up for tomorrow.
We’ve been impressed with Intrepid Bodyworks, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Intrepid Bodyworks is an integrated, medically based pain-management practice in Thornton, Colorado. We work with people dealing with chronic pain, injuries, mobility limitations, post-surgical recovery, and other issues that can keep them from doing the things they love.
What makes Intrepid Bodyworks different is our approach to care. We offer massage therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic care, physical therapy, and sports and mobility work under one roof, but simply having multiple services isn’t what makes us integrated. Our providers communicate, review one another’s notes, and work together so that a client isn’t starting over with every person they see. We look at the bigger picture and build care around the individual.
I’m incredibly proud of the team we’ve built and the culture we’ve created. Intrepid Bodyworks has grown from a massage table in my home into a multidisciplinary practice, but growth has never been about becoming the biggest clinic. I want us to be known for the quality of our care, the experience of our providers, and the relationships we build with the people who trust us with their health.
I’m also especially proud of our work with veterans. That work opened my eyes to needs that extended beyond what one business could solve and eventually influenced some of the other projects I’ve gone on to create.
Brand-wise, I want people to know that Intrepid Bodyworks isn’t a spa. We are a healthcare practice for people who want to understand their bodies, address pain, improve how they move, and have a team that actually communicates about their care.
After more than a decade in business, one of the things I’m most proud of is that Intrepid Bodyworks has become bigger than me. We have an incredible team, and I’ve learned that building a successful business isn’t about being the person who does everything. It’s about creating something that allows other people to become exceptional at what they do.
Your path to pain-free living starts here.
What matters most to you? Why?
People matter most to me—my family, my team, the people we serve, and the community around us.
As I’ve gotten older and built my businesses, my definition of success has changed. There was a time when success meant working hard, growing the business, hitting the next goal, and proving that I could do it. Those things still matter, but they aren’t what I value most anymore.
What matters to me now is whether the things I’m building actually make someone else’s life better.
That might mean helping someone get back to an activity they love, creating a workplace where someone can build a career, supporting a veteran or first responder who needs resources, or simply being willing to share something I’ve learned with someone who could benefit from it.
My family has also been a huge part of keeping that perspective. They’ve supported me through some of the hardest seasons of entrepreneurship and reminded me that a business can be incredibly important without being the only important thing in your life.
At the end of the day, I don’t want my legacy to simply be that I built successful organizations. I want it to be that I built things that mattered, treated people well, and left my community a little stronger than I found it.
That’s become the question I come back to again and again: Does this make life better for someone else?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.intrepidbodyworks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intrepidmassage
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intrepidbodyworks
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/intrepidbodyworks
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/intrepidbodyworks
