We had the good fortune of connecting with Toni Biggerstaff and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Toni, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
As I look back at my life, I realize that the times I have taken a risk, I haven’t regretted it – but that comes with a caveat. I tend to have a fear of failure. There are many times I can think of when I was afraid to set a certain goal for fear of not doing well. I wanted to know I would succeed. I simply wouldn’t start something at all to protect myself from feeling like a failure. This means that by not starting a goal at all, left me with a lot of regrets. I recall making the decision to not pursue becoming a doctor because I was afraid I couldn’t make the grades to succeed. When I think of this now, I know I will never find out whether I could have become a doctor because I never tried.

If you look at the definition of the word ‘risk’ in the dictionary, the meaning is as follows: ‘To proceed in the knowledge that there is a chance of something unpleasant occurring’. Sounds a little scary to me. When I was in my early 30s I started to re-evaluate my life. I decided I no longer wanted to live in fear. I wanted to do all of the things I kept thinking about. I was sick of talking myself out of at least trying. When I was 30, I moved to Texas from Illinois with a job transfer. My mom, whom I had a very close relationship with, had passed away two years prior to the decision to move, so I felt there wasn’t really a lot of reason to stay in Illinois. This was a big deal for me. I knew no-one in Texas – not a soul. I walked into a new job with new people. As I met new friends, I started to look at the bright/positive side of things. I started to see the glass as half full instead of half empty. Before my move, I had desires of running a marathon, owning my own business, among other things. I always seemed to be talked out of those things because of the RISKS of not finishing, not succeeding, losing a business. But, how would I know if I didn’t try? One day I decided I was going to make some changes for the better. I looked up local running stores to find out if they had a running club. I found one in downtown Fort Worth and signed up without thinking about ‘what could happen’. I had to wake up at 4:10 a.m. every Saturday morning to meet the group and get their training plan. I had to intentionally not think about anything and be like the Nike slogan and ‘just do it’.

The program started with running 6 miles at 5:45 a.m. to beat the heat of Texas. The mileage increased from there. I kept meeting new friends, running longer miles, learning to be in tune with my body and how to succeed in running a marathon. At the same time, I was feeling miserable in my job. I felt like I wasn’t helping people. I started to feel like I wanted to make a difference and not be at a desk in the corporate world. But, what and how on earth was I going to do? I used to work out in the fitness center at my work when I would talk to Stacy, the fitness instructor. I watched her work with clients and I would think, ‘wow, that’s cool she knows so much about fitness and helping people get healthy. That looks FUN!’ We would talk for a long time about what she did with her work and I would try to talk her into running a marathon. One day she asked me if I wanted to substitute teach the fifteen minute ‘abs class’. I thought, ‘well certainly I could do that, it’s only 15 minutes and I take the class all the time. What have I got to lose?’ I was nervous the first time, but after stumbling through the first class, I told myself I could do it. I realized this is something maybe I could do for a living. I was making such good money at my corporate job, so the thought of being a trainer seemed financially risky. Then I stopped myself from going to the bad risky place. I kept telling myself to stop this nonsense and take a leap of faith. I continued to work at my corporate job, went back to school and got my Personal Trainer’s Certification. I started working part time at a local gym, getting paid very little, while I still had my full time corporate job. I loved personal training so much. I felt like I had purpose. It felt rewarding. It was socially fun and I loved the new people I kept meeting. I was helping people and loving what I do at the same time. I started to not care so much about the financial aspect.

In the meantime of working two jobs, I found out I was pregnant. I was so tired, I wasn’t sure if I could continue working two jobs. So, I took time off of the part time job at the gym and continued my corporate job. I kept thinking how I was going to pursue my dream of helping people. I felt I couldn’t just up and quit my corporate job. I felt that was irresponsible to leave a job where I was doing so well financially. One day my manager pulled me into her office and informed me that our group was being outsourced to China and our jobs were going to be affected. In other words, this meant I would go on maternity leave, come back and sign separation papers and receive a severance package. I was so happy to be getting laid off! If I hadn’t taken the risk of going back to school to become a personal trainer, I would have been freaking out about what I would do for a job once maternity leave was over. I’m so thankful I took that risk of going back to school and getting my certification. It was the backup plan I didn’t even recognize at the time.

After my son was born, a sweet girl from my church asked me if I was interested in heading a boot camp for a group of women. I said, ‘yes’ before I could even think about it. It just so happened we lived in a house that was on a half an acre and a cul-de-sac. I was able to teach boot camps in my back yard and have the women run up and down the cul-de-sac. I could still be home with my son and teach classes. I started my own business, which originally terrified me. I was terrified because I was always told that it was too risky to have your own business. I felt I had nothing to lose at this point, so I filed a name with the state and it was approved. My business was official and I taught boot camps until my spouse passed away from battling cancer since our son was seven months old.

As one could imagine, I was in a very bad place emotionally when my husband passed away. I continued to teach boot camps, but I realized I wouldn’t be able to do this forever. I started feeling called to do something more for people. I started to get tired of referring clients to people who had overuse injuries from running marathons or just every day functional movements in life. I wanted to start helping people by physically manipulating and potentially correcting their issues. I took a risk and decided to go back to school to become a Licensed Massage Therapist. Once again, I was afraid of school and scared I wouldn’t succeed. So I prayed for God to lead me and guide me with what He wanted for me. I told my son that he would have to take more responsibility and make his own breakfast and help me out with more chores around the house because we both were going to be in school. I studied like crazy. Because of the determination and risk, I managed to make the honor roll throughout my studies. Now I had to take the state exam called the EMBLEx. I was TERRIFIED. But again, I prayed. Taking the EMBLEx consists of going to a testing center where you wear earphones to cancel out the noise and get on a computer with walls around you. You get an hour and a half to take the exam and then you find out if you pass or fail when you’re finished.

Half way through the exam, I started to panic. I thought, ‘Oh Lord, I think I’m failing!’ I prayed again and felt a peace to just finish. I got done and went to the waiting area. After what felt like a day, a lady called me up and handed me a folded piece of paper. I opened it up and I saw the words, ‘PASS’. I didn’t love any other word in the English vocabulary more at that moment! I got into that elevator and cried tears of joy and relief. I called my boyfriend and he was relieved with me. If it hadn’t been for the risk, I never could have had this joy.

I started working as a contractor for a massage therapy business and I liked it, but felt like something was missing. I wanted my own clients, my own space. I ended up talking to the massage therapist named Benny Vaughn. Benny has been my massage therapist since the early 2000s. He is very well known in the massage therapy community. I didn’t realize how well known he was until I was in one of my classes where I opened up my textbook and saw his face on one of the pages with a lecture. I was floored! I told him I had been talking about moving that way from my town down near downtown Fort Worth. So, we went back and forth for a few months and finally one day he asked me if I was ready to move because there was a therapy suite available in his location to lease. To no surprise, felt scary to me. I started thinking about the risk it would be for me to sell my house and move away from my area. I would also lose most, if not all of my clients due to the distance away from where I was moving. I prayed about it again and I told Benny, ‘YES’, I’m ready! Benny has been a great mentor for me. If I hadn’t taken the risk to move to Fort Worth, I never would have had such great opportunities. The risks I’ve taken, whether I failed or succeeded, only brought me to bigger and greater things through growth. As my dear friend Jennifer McAlister always says, ‘the pain of doing, or the pain of regret – you choose’. The biggest lesson I have learned is to take a risk – or you may regret it.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I was able to use the recent quarantine to change and rebrand my business. I felt I needed to portray my personality more. I also wanted people to really understand who I am and about my values. My passion is to help people, whether it’s in my business or in a personal setting. That coupled with my education, training, my own athletic experiences, life trials, and growth, I believe my practice is set apart from others. I am able to have empathy and help get to the root cause of the client’s pain. I have learned that everything in the body is connected. For instance, if someone comes in complaining about a specific pain, many times the root cause of that pain is coming from something or somewhere other than the site of their pain. My job is to find that root cause and help them correct it. The name of my business, Olive Grove Therapy has a very special meaning. The olive grove, tree, branch and olives, all represent peace, healing, anointing among other biblical significance. I believe that helps me get across that I am a product of our Creator who has a purpose for me in my work, which I know is also my ministry.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
Funny you ask this question, when I moved to the near Southside of Fort Worth a little over a year ago, my best friend from 5th grade came to visit from Colorado to celebrate our birthdays. I took her to all of our favorite places. For food, Grace in downtown Fort Worth is one of our favorites. We love to sit at the bar and enjoy the Lamb Belly Dumplings appetizer followed by their delicious ground tenderloin burger. We think it’s the best burger in town! Heim Barbecue has a friendly staff who serves excellent brisket. We have ordered so many items on their menu, I don’t think we could choose a favorite. Kent and Company on Magnolia Avenue is great for a glass or two of wine. It has an inviting atmosphere that we enjoy. For dinner and a little dessert, Lili’s Bistro on Magnolia Avenue is a quaint little restaurant. Lili’s is known for their excellent Doughnuts & Coffee Ice Cream. Fixture on Magnolia Avenue for Sunday brunch, I believe has the best bloody marys in town. They are known for their Chicken and Waffles. Woodshed Smokehouse is a great place to sit outside overlooking the Trinity River and the Trinity Trails. And our favorite ice cream is Melt Ice Cream. Our go-to there is the Salt Lick Ice cream. Besides food, The Trinity Trails is were I love to run, walk and cycle. The people on the trail are friendly and courteous. Another fun spot is Paddle Boarding at Panther Island Pavilion. This is also where they have live music on the weekends. It is the only waterfront stage in Texas. They cater to events such as concerts, festivals, runs, bike rides and more. The Water Gardens is a great place to see for it’s architectural and engineering. There are three pools of water: the aerating, the quiet and the active pool. Lastly (but not least), Fort Worth Zoo was just nominated the number one zoo for USA Today’s “10 Best Zoos” in North America.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my Shoutouts to the following: -John Riley, my fiancé for all of his support and love since we met in 2018. -My son Adam Biggerstaff who was so supportive of me going back to school, even if it meant he had more chores! -Benny Vaughn for being such an encouragement and great mentor to me. -Luke’s Locker in Fort Worth and their coaches. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have believed I could run 26.2 miles multiple times and have the opportunities to run the Boston Marathon. I also wouldn’t have met some of the greatest lifetime friends. -My teachers and mentors throughout my life who were encouraging and helped me believe in myself. -To God I give the glory to whom gave me the gifts and the calling to do what I do and have the passion to help others.

Website: www.olivegrovetherapy.com
Instagram: @olivegrovetherapy
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonibiggerstaff262/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/olivegrovetherapy

Image Credits
Business photos courtesy of Wendy Burns, Photographer Bike photo courtesy of John Riley, Freelance Photographer

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