Our Story
I didn't want to build software.
I just wanted one that worked.
Thirty years in the treatment room.
One terrible software acquisition.
Built by a bodywork practitioner, for bodywork practitioners.
BuboSoma is a practice management platform built exclusively for massage therapists and bodywork professionals. It handles scheduling, payments, and multi-location clinic management today, with clinical documentation coming soon.
The Founding Story
What Mindbody's Acquisition of Booker Actually Cost Me
For years, I built my practice on Booker. It wasn't perfect, but it was mine. My client records, my scheduling history, my business data, all in one place.
In 2018, Mindbody acquired Booker. Overnight, the pricing model for my practice changed. The entire time, my bill was $85 a month. Then one day I got an alert on my phone that a $1,198 charge had just processed. I called my bank to dispute it, only to find out it was legitimate: Booker's new owners had raised the price of my software. By then I had a second location, and each one required its own full subscription, so my bill had jumped to $1,198, $599 for each location.Needless to say, there was quite a bit of sticker shock. I called them to ask how my bill went from $85 to $1,198 overnight. The woman on the phone told me, "These are our prices now. If you don't like it, you're going to have to learn how to deal with it, because we're not going back." I will never forget those words. The platform I had trusted became a liability for any business trying to grow.
When I looked at returning, the model hadn't changed. Same structure. Same answer to the question of whether growth would be penalized: yes.
"Why should opening a second location mean buying another full software subscription?"
The answer I kept coming back to was: it shouldn't. So I started asking a harder question: why doesn't software built for massage therapists actually reflect the way massage therapists work?
I didn't have a good answer. So I decided to build one.
One clinic I worked with, True Massage Therapy, grew revenue by 45.7% in 8 months after I overhauled their online booking process. What I found during that process is what further convinced me BuboSoma needed to exist.
Who Built It
Built by Someone Who Has Actually Done the Work
I didn't build BuboSoma in a boardroom, and I'm not a product team trying to enter the wellness market.
I'm a licensed massage therapist who has spent over 30 years treating clients and more than 15 years teaching bodywork professionals. I passed the NCBTMB Board Certification Exam in 2005, hold a certification in Medical Massage Therapy, and a Diploma of Osteopathic Manipulation. My focus is primarily clinical, but I also hold certifications in Lomi-Lomi and Thai massage, have been teaching stretch therapy since 2007, and am a certified personal trainer. I've lived the daily realities of this profession from every angle: practitioner, educator, and multi-clinic business owner.
Every feature in BuboSoma begins with a single question:
"Would this actually make a therapist's day easier?"
If the answer is no, it doesn't belong in BuboSoma. That sounds simple. But it's a filter that most software built for wellness professionals has never passed through. Because most of it was built by people who have never worked in a treatment room.
What It Is
More Than a Booking Calendar
BuboSoma is not another appointment scheduler with a wellness skin. It is an integrated practice management platform designed for therapeutic clinics and bodywork professionals who need more than a calendar.
Our Philosophy
Growth Should Be Rewarded, Not Penalized
Opening a second location should be exciting. Hiring another therapist should be exciting. Watching your practice grow should feel like progress. Not a trigger for a larger software bill.
I designed BuboSoma's pricing around a belief that most practice management platforms have abandoned: software should support your growth, not tax it.
Adding a location in BuboSoma costs between $60 and $180 a month depending on your plan. Mine went from $85 to $599 to add one when Booker's owners changed hands. I believe the platform fee you pay on day one should still make sense on the day you open your third clinic.
Common Questions
What Makes BuboSoma Different
What is BuboSoma?
BuboSoma handles the daily work of running a massage or bodywork practice: booking, payments, client records, staff, and multi-location management. Clinical documentation (SOAP notes) is coming soon.
Who built BuboSoma?
I founded BuboSoma. I'm a licensed massage therapist with more than 30 years of clinical practice and over 15 years of experience teaching bodywork professionals. My credentials include NCBTMB Board Certification, Medical Massage Therapy, a Diploma of Osteopathic Manipulation, certifications in Lomi-Lomi and Thai massage, and certification as a personal trainer. I built it after a direct negative experience with the Mindbody acquisition of Booker in 2018, which dramatically changed pricing and data accessibility for existing users.
How is BuboSoma different from Mindbody or Vagaro?
BuboSoma is built exclusively for massage therapists and bodywork professionals. Not adapted from a generic wellness or salon platform. SOAP notes are coming soon and will be a core feature (not a paid add-on), multi-location pricing does not require a full additional subscription per location, and it was designed by someone who has worked in the profession for decades.
Why does BuboSoma exist?
BuboSoma exists because the software available to massage therapists has consistently been built by people who don't understand therapeutic practice, and priced in ways that penalize growth. I built BuboSoma to create the platform I wished had existed when Booker was acquired by Mindbody and my own practice was disrupted.
Ready to See It in Action?
No pressure. No pitch. Just the platform, built for the way you actually work.
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