She Didn't Wait Until She Was Ready to Start Her Business

Natalie Maike will be the first to tell you she was not ready when she left Radiant Wellness Center to start Green Alchemy on her own. Her books were full. The timing felt forced. The financial commitment of running her own space was daunting. And yet something — she describes it as the universe giving her a push — made it clear that staying put was no longer an option.

So she looked up co-working spaces in downtown St. Pete, called Thrive first, toured a second place that felt too sterile, and came back. Four and a half years later, she has not left.

The office she occupies upstairs at Thrive was not designed for a wellness studio. There is an L-shaped nook, exposed brick, no electricity running to the back wall, where a desk would never make sense. It looks, to everyone who sees it, like it was built exactly for her. It was not. That is sort of the whole point.

Natalie's path from solo massage therapist to the founder of a multi-practitioner wellness studio is not a story about having the perfect plan. It is a story about moving before you feel ready, making smart decisions about where to plant yourself, and then tending the garden with everything you have.

The downtown location was intentional. She wanted foot traffic, walkability, the energy of people already moving through their days. A co-working space offered something else she had not expected: a built-in community of professionals who would become clients, collaborators, and eventually a referral network she never had to manufacture.

What she did not anticipate was becoming the seed for something larger. Natalie's presence at Thrive quietly sparked an entire wellness dimension to the space: a nap room, a meditation room, an acupuncturist who followed, sound healing events, and monthly wellness programming.

None of that was in the original plan. It grew because she was here, doing work that mattered, and the people around her noticed.

The lesson she carries forward, and would tell any woman starting a business: make sure what you are building can stand the test of time.

Be willing to start very small. Tend that one thing with everything you have. The rest follows when you are ready, and sometimes a little before.

Visit Green Alchemy Wellness to book your session, and while you are here, book a tour at Thrive DTSP to get started on your business journey.