Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Colleen Fletcher, Owner of Wholistic Beauty, located in Boise, ID, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I am a somatic wellness guide in all things wholistic beauty. Through energetic healing, somatic bodywork, Reiki training and services, natural skin care products, and mindful meditations, I support women that hold the long-term keys to healing themselves, their families, and the world.
Tell us about yourself
As I peer into the past, my supple hands glow. 1994, Salem, OR: A newborn baby in my arms opened my eyes to the ever-changing churn of the world. On the night horizon loomed a divorce, but the morning poured light into my new career as a massage therapist. Instinctually, I knew I could help others, so I began to define my guiding force toward inner and outer beauty for all. I could feel the energy bound in people's bodies and sense when actions would ripple throughout the generations. With this ethos, I set out to cultivate a humanities foundation for a mindful and beautiful existence.
Through the art of massage therapy, I learned to traverse the aches and pains of others — healing them and healing myself. The physical ailments my clients suffered blocked them from their fullest potential, so I mended the gap confining them from their prized lives by listening to their bodies. My healing hands hummed, but I needed them to sing. Training in postural rebalancing gave me the freedom to adjust muscles manually, which allowed my clients to be healthier for life. With the ability to release bound muscles, long-held miseries on a deep physical level vanished. This unique perspective on body mechanics broadened my client base — musicians, plumbers, stay-at-home moms, other massage therapists, and bookkeepers were all welcome. My guidance initiated the change for those that washed the world with a song of their own.
While massage has a way of opening doors to alignment and tranquility, I was led toward energetic pains — emotional bottlenecks blocking true, deep recovery. Reiki brings an energetic release into the body, as spasms of the physical self reveal themselves as spasms of the energetic self. So I saw my clients’ pains and used reiki to connect to their severed energetic and physical well-being. It became integral to my work the more my hands harmonized physical massage and energetic reiki treatments. I reconciled both aspects of healing my clients to hear the harmony within them all. With my ever-present curiosity to expand my understanding of the healer’s way led me to undertake the path of becoming a metaphysician, a hypnotherapist, and an ordained minister. Blending symbiotically with the bodywork and the energy work at the heart of my practice, I shined more light on whole health. I became a voice of power and guided holistic wellness by encouraging my clients to find and polish their hallmark characteristics.
But I was missing something. I wanted to continue being a voice of power mentally, physically, and spiritually and I needed another way to do it. How could I take my guidance one step further and help fully elevate my clients? I had to look to my own past. Since I was a little girl, I accepted the solace that meditation gave me. Now that I was aware of my capabilities as a modern healer with continued business expansion, I tied together meditative healing as the next piece to the triangular approach I had to offer. Now, I could relieve immediate tension, retrain my clients’ postures and help them to retrain their minds. My healing hands transcended physical, mental, and spiritual bounds.
My husband, son, and I moved to Boise in the winter of 2006. Our journey to Idaho led me to a sabbatical from my healing work, which allowed me to actualize my teachings in my personal life. I had a teenage son to raise and a body I wanted to rejuvenate. However, as my son grew older and wiser, once again, I felt compelled to build my business with my healing hands leading the way. I learned an important lesson while I was gone, that my actions will ripple for generations to come. My business wouldn’t be around to see the full force of my impact, but regardless, I needed to think conscientiously. I ran for Mrs. Idaho under a green living platform and continued to help steward my family, friends, and world with the concept of the next seven generations. Massage, energetics, and mindful connections still drove my business, but now I was ready to embark again with more care toward the world's future.
So I decided to incorporate holistic beauty products into my healing ways. I sought beauty and body products that were all natural and healthy for my business, the environment, and, most importantly, my clients. Unquestioning the stewardship of our shared habitat, I furthered my practice with conscious thought toward the products I offered and used. But once again, knowledge was at the forefront of my mind. So I endeavored to learn more about esthetics. Esthetics has a powerful thread in human history, and in 2014, I set out to weave that thread into my own tapestry of what I wove: The pure outward expression of health and wellness, coupled with my mastery of inward wellbeing. Esthetics filled my gap in education. Working in harmony with body, mind, spirit, and skin, the full support I offered allowed my clients’ best beauty to evolve. Esthetics gave me more ways to guide my clients to a glowing, delighted life. I was honored to merge being a licensed esthetician into my practice.
My trail of guiding others through massage therapy, energetics, conscious thought, and esthetics is far from over. My career is driven by mindful actions because I know how far those actions will ripple in time. Throughout the past 24 years, I have realized that I want only to mend the world one person at a time and see their true beauty shine. My holistic healing nurtures my clients, nurtures the world, and nurtures my family. It nurtures me. With the mind of an Esthetician, I am honored to see the transformation of inner and outer beauty, guiding and caring for those choosing to grow in their dazzling lives. As the odyssey continues, I am elated to have these guiding forces in my journey to esthetics. My benevolent, healing hands are happy.
All these years later, it is the smile on my customers' faces, knowing that I have changed their world, that keeps me going.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
As a solopreneur, still being in business through all of the ups and downs the world has seen (I have seen a great deal happen). Beyond that, it is knowing that I have saved lives, changed lives, and brought a smile to others.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
When the chips are down, to keep going, removed from fear, with a smile and love.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Remain flexible.
- Love yourself and your business without ego.
- Take care of your body, mind, and spirit.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Ask for help when needed, accept that help when offered, wake up the next day and do it all over again.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://colleen-fletcher.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colleendfletcher/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleen.d.fletcher/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-fletcher-0413758/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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