Spokane massage therapist Katie Wilcox says she’s created a new mobile platform called Knead It Now that’s designed to help self-employed massage therapists reach new clients, build their businesses, and recover losses from cancellations.

Wilcox, who has been a massage therapist in the Spokane area for nine years, says the idea for the app started as a project for a class she was taking at Whitworth University.

“We were asked to make something that would solve a problem for an existing business,” she says. “I know it can be challenging for self-employed massage therapists to schedule same day appointments, so I came up with an idea to help.”

Wilcox says Knead It Now enables massage therapists to post any same-day openings they have, and cus-tomers seeking those spots view them online and connect quickly. 

“As we all know, when you need a massage, you can’t wait days or weeks,” she says. “And it’s a major inconvenience to call around to find those who have same-day appointments.”

Wilcox says she funded the development of the app herself, working with a Chicago-based company to create a website wireframe.

From there, she worked with a freelance developer based in China to create the first version of the app, which is now available for download and use on iPhone.

“The app is only available on iPhone so far, and we want to perfect this first version before making one for Android,” she says. “As we get more user feedback, we’ll improve on it. We’re hoping to do an official grand launch in September.”

Although the app only has a handful of users so far, Wilcox says she’s excited for more users to try it.

“I’m excited for people to learn about it, and to see how it helps people to grow their massage business,” she says.