How Lin Mezori Is Transforming the Recovery Industry

Lin Mezori, the matriarch behind Pure Recovery, has transformed the wellness and recovery space with her vision of blending innovative therapies and personalized care. As a leader in this growing industry, Lin has faced challenges and opportunities head-on, creating a business that helps clients heal and inspires a loyal customer base.

SBS – What inspired the creation of Pure Recovery?

Lin – I work for two amazing people who are also in fitness. I own three gyms in Shanghai, China. I’ve been in fitness my whole life. I played basketball for Florida State University and know the importance of wellness and recovery. In this day and age, everyone is so consumed by the “outside” — what their face, skin, and body look like — and no one is really concerned about what’s going on on the inside. Muscle recovery and recovery from workouts or day-to-day life are so important, but people don’t realize it. Taking care of the inside of the body is something that I wanted to help educate everyone on.

SBS – What was the biggest challenge you faced when your business started growing?

Lin – There were several things. When we outfitted the space, tons of things came up. For example, the way that we built the saunas wasn’t correct. We’d never done it before, so certain things — like ventilation — weren’t done properly. In the first couple of months, we would get complaints that the saunas weren’t hot enough. Now, I’m so educated on everything that I could build it by myself.

This type of business deals with very vulnerable things. Health and wellness are new to many people, so they don’t know how to go about it, and if they do, they want to feel comfortable. We needed to create a safe and warm space for people to practice wellness and recovery and create a habit, and my staff is, honestly, amazing at that.

The entire journey so far — learning, growing, marketing, and educating people has been very exciting.

SBS – How do you see wellness and recovery services influencing the health and fitness industry in the future?

Lin – A dream of mine would be to pair a facility like this with a gym. People have to practice the habit, and they have to understand that you need to work out and recover from it. Most of the time, aside from not being educated about this, a lot comes down to timing — everyone is so busy! You go to the gym, then you have to shower and go to work. There’s no time for the recovery process.

I see this evolving and people becoming more educated, and I also see this becoming easier to access. These things can be quite pricey; therefore, it’s a luxury and not necessarily a necessity. I am trying to make it a necessity. People in the corporate world sit all day, and they need access to a place like this.

To make it more accessible, I recently lowered our prices by 40%. I want people to be able to treat themselves and their bodies for less than $400 or $500. Everything is so expensive now, and it deters people from taking care of themselves. Even groceries are super expensive, which deters people from eating right. I just want to meet people in the middle, give them a safe space, and also make it affordable.

SBS – How do you balance offering personalized service while having a scalable business model?

Lin – I’ve been working on corporate wellness plans for the last month. Corporate wellness is important, and there are many benefits for both sides — the company and me. For the company, their insurance will go down, there will be fewer sick days, and it keeps the company’s morale up because the employees feel appreciated. On my end, I get to service them. It’s a super low cost for them, but it’s the most important part of scaling for a company like mine. The more memberships my business has, the better we will do because it’s recurring monthly revenue. Then, I also get to help my community. They learn about wellness and get it for a fraction of the cost.

SBS – What are some misconceptions that people usually have about recovery therapies?

Lin – The number one misconception is that people think they need to be fit or work out to come here. Nowadays, everybody needs recovery, no matter if you’re sitting all day or moving around. You don’t have to be a gym rat or lift weights to come here. We have professional athletes, and then there’s my mom, who’s 74, who also benefits from the recovery therapy. It’s for all ages and all demographics. On top of that, you leave here happy because therapy helps release endorphins. Even if you have a bad day, I guarantee you will leave here with a smile on your face.

SBS – How do you create that seamless customer experience in your spa that makes your clients come back?

Lin – First and foremost, even if you look at our reviews, everyone loves my staff. Hiring the right people was important to create a welcoming experience. Every person who visits us feels loved and taken care of, and their experience will be seamless from the point they walk in until they leave. We also call to check in with them. 

When our facilities were in construction, I would go to some of our competitors to learn and see what they were doing. Those were people who had been in business for seven or eight years, but they were lacking was customer service. Yes, their facility would be beautiful, but I felt uncomfortable. I’m an easy customer, but if I didn’t feel welcomed, I knew that was probably happening often. Come to find out — we do get a lot of customers from that place come here saying they had a bad experience; the staff wasn’t warm, and they didn’t feel taken care of. My staff and I pride ourselves on being nice and welcoming, and I think more places should be like that. People are so disconnected these days. There’s not as much interaction. People are always on their phones. Here, it’s a safe space, and that’s, I think, what separates us from everywhere else.

SBS – How important is marketing for you, and how much has it evolved since you started?

Lin – Marketing is key, and I don’t think we knew how important it was in the beginning. We’re going on 16 months, but pretty much for the first year, my team and I did all the marketing — Instagram, all the content, all the events, everything — and we underestimated how important it was to grow. We did geofencing, but we are now working with a big company that will do proper marketing because, at the end of the day, my team and I can’t reach all the people we need. The more people that know about you, the better we will do. When you start, you need to have your marketing ready in order to let people know that you exist. That was a learning curve for us.

SBS – What is the value of creating a membership model for wellness services?

Lin – The membership is going to save the client money, but for us, it’s recurring revenue whether they visit or not. At the end of the day, people who come in once a month without a membership don’t help the business. That’s why gyms usually have a low-rate membership, like $30 a month. It’s not a lot for their clients, even if they don’t come in, but the gym still gets a profit.

SBS – What are some long-term goals for your business?

Lin – Opening up multiple locations is our goal. The more locations you have, the more people know about you, the more money you’re going to make, and the more you’re going to grow. I believe in this company, and I think our model is seamless. Obviously, we’re still learning, but we’ll open a new location within the next six months to a year.

SBS – What advice would you give someone who wants to start a business in the recovery space?

Lin – Do your research. Like I said, you’re always going to make mistakes. We made some mistakes that I felt could have been thought through more.

Also, if you want to do something, do it. Go after it, and put your best foot forward. I couldn’t imagine not doing this and looking back in regret.

You need to push through the tough times. There have been times I felt like we would fail, but you just have to be positive and work hard. If you’re positive about it, you can get through it.