Our Story
My name is Adam Driggers. My family owns Alpha School of Massage and I want to tell you, our Alpha story.
Alpha School of Massage was founded in 1992 by Michael Lamb, but our part of Alpha’s story begins in 1995 when Edward Driggers, my dad, went to Alpha to learn massage therapy. He was in a financial meltdown that was beginning to stir a mental and emotional breakdown. An investment gone wrong put him in a bad place and he needed something to do to keep his mind engaged on positive things. Learning to help others relax sounded like a great idea. He enrolled at Alpha School of Massage.
Not long after Dad enrolled the school was acquired by Gilbert Weise, Sr. A local pharmacist and holistic health practitioner. He acquired the school not really knowing what to do with it but he knew if fit his growing business of holistic health. He soon realized he needed help, and someone told him about a student they called “Driggers”. He could help. After a few “Not interested” answers to Dr. Weise’s offers, Driggers bought in and began to manage Alpha with the help of Michael Garcia, RN, LMT. Garcia was the lead instructor and still is today. He is also a graduate.
For 12 years the school ran smoothly, took great care of its students and clients, and made modest profits. That’s where I come in. I was working for a small real-estate investment company and doing very well for my family, a wife and two sons, when the housing market crashed in 07/08. My income plummeted, I lost my family’s insurance benefits and my wife had to return to the workforce. Like my dad before me, I was mentally and emotionally drained and unsure about my future. I took a job at Alpha working the front desk. I had no plans of staying. I thought I was simply in transition. I was in debt, losing my home and had to file bankruptcy. I was devastated and felt the pressure of failure. I wanted to give up, but I had sons to take care of and a wife that was willing to jump into the fight with me.
At first, I had no interest in the business, I simply wanted to do my job and collect a paycheck, but like most jobs, you begin to learn things and I was intrigued by the business model. Alpha’s largest competitor was a trade school that was charging over $21,000 for its massage program. Alpha was charging students less than $2000. It had to be explained to me several times. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. How was that possible? It had to be that their graduates received a different license. They had to be able to do more, earn more., but not so. Their students graduated and received the same license to practice as Alpha’s students. Alpha Grads were Licensed Massage Therapists just like their graduates.
I later found out that I had a friend that graduated from our competitor. Several years after graduation he told me he was still paying off his loan and he graduated when tuition there was just $16,000. Being in great debt and faced with losing my home, I fell in love with Alpha’s option and how well they could serve their students with this debt-free option. Alpha’s students would never face long-term debt because of their choice to go to school and better themselves. They didn’t need perfect credit or cosigners. They didn’t need to worry about what might happen if they couldn’t find work. Which has never been a problem. What an amazing concept. I was sold.
I entered into an agreement to buy Alpha School of Massage from Dr. Weise, who was extremely generous in his dealing with me and 5 years later, in 2017, I owned Alpha School of Massage after doing every conceivable job in the place, except for teaching massage. Since then, we have added an esthetics program, built two spas, survived Irma, a devastating hurricane that destroyed our student clinic, opened new locations in 2022 in Orlando, Tampa, Waycross GA and the Space Coast of Florida. My wife and both sons, Christopher and Adison, whom my wife and I worried about providing for in the early stages of my involvement at Alpha, work for Alpha and our spas thrive today.
Let’s go!
Alpha is a blessing to myself, my family, our students, clients, and spa partners everywhere we go. It will be one for you too. Become the pipeline!
