Happy New Year to everyone!! I have been pretty lazy when it comes to writing new articles for this blog over the last week. Our family has been in a sugar coma since Christmas Eve and I think we are all just beginning to  come out of it now. Of course, tonight is New Year’s Eve and who knows what will be ingested, but for this very moment I am ambitious enough to add some massage chair content for your perusal.

I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday. At the Weidner home, we love this time of the year because, as alluded to above, we eat like crazy, we have the kids and grandkids over for festivities, we watch Home Alone and It’s A Wonderful Life, and I get to go sledding with the kids. Not only have I been in a sugar coma, but I am also exhausted from staying up late every night trying to eke every drop of joy from the season with my family.

Tomorrow begins a new year for all of us. I love New Year’s, not because of the celebration and food, but because I always get so excited about what can be done in the massage chair industry and in our business to make it even better than the year before. We’ve got lots of plans for 2014 and I will share them with you as they come to fruition throughout the year. I have some nice surprises and some exciting programs that will benefit those who are looking into buying a massage chair and those of you who have already purchased, or will purchase, a new massage chair from us.

Massage chairs are becoming more and more popular in the USA. Early in 2013, I was having a chat with the President of one of the major massage chair companies over dinner. He mentioned that the problem with the massage chair industry is that although more and more chairs are being introduced into the market, thus further dividing the “pie” amongst the massage chair companies, there is not a proportionate number of new massage chair shoppers coming to the table. In other words, more chairs and more companies are showing up, but not a proportionate number of consumers. The pie is not growing in size.

I have thought a lot about that comment over this last year and have come to agree with it, for the most part. Of course, there are always new folks getting introduced to the market, but not on a grand, concerted scale. Some of our plans for 2014 include ways to “spread the word” about massage chairs to the US market to find new customers…folks who suffer from pain and stress and have no idea that massage chairs are a viable therapeutic alternative. You’ll notice that at the end of most of my YouTube channel videos I say something about using Social Media to help spread the word about massage chairs. This is a strategy, in part, to help grow the pie, albeit a small one.

We hope to introduce some things during 2014, and beyond, that will continue to help make massage chairs a therapeutic mainstay of the US health culture and a prominent,  adjunct to the health psyche of the American public.  Of course, I invite you to participate in this agenda by telling friends and family about the wondrous benefits you are enjoying from your new massage chair. That is one very big way to “grow the pie.” And we will make it easier and easier for you to do that if you purchase your massage chair from Massage Chair Relief.

If you have been following me for any amount of time, whether it be my article library, mailing list, our Social Media platforms, or our YouTube channel, you know that I am big on massage chair education. I always try to objectively educate the public about massage chairs through every point of contact. I have some ideas for 2014 that will further that ambition and expand on the work we are already doing in the education department.

Whatever we do at Massage Chair Relief, it will be announced on this blog, on our Social Media, or through our email list. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog and/or joint our mailing list so that you don’t miss out on anything. Here is a link to join our mailing list:

https://www.massage-chair-relief.com/noplunge.html

We will be continuing our Make-A-Wish Foundation project in 2014. I love this program and am thrilled to see how much money we have already donated to the pot since November, 2013, when we began our partnership with Make-A-Wish. At the time of this writing, we are at $2725…well on our way to granting Samantha her wish to have an outdoor space where she can sit on a swing in the shade and enjoy the outdoors.

http://friends.wish.org/042-000/page/Alan-Weidner/Massage-Chair-Relief-Grants-Wishes!.htm

I’ve got kids and grandkids and when I read of these kid’s tender wishes, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and a desire to help in any way possible. Earlier this year we granted a wish to a child in Pennsylvania who has a very severe muscular dystrophy and the only thing that helps her feel some relief in her muscles is a massage chair. We arranged for her to get a chair. Awesome!!

(As you may or may not know, we donate a portion of every chair sale to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But, even if you don’t buy a chair or buy one from us, you can still go to the link above and donate anything you feel impressed to donate. Anything is appreciated.)

Well, that’s about it for the State of the Massage Chair Relief Union address! I hope you all have a super new year and a wonderful 2014.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com