We recently connected with Ivonne Perez and have shared our conversation below.

Ivonne , appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The trade school I went to, gave me the suggestions. One instructor during internship was my model, and out of nowhere she said “Ivonne, you have the touch, the hands, you’re set” I thought what? For me it meant, pressure, technique, didn’t hurt her? She wasn’t the only person that had mentioned to me how good my hands where for massage therapy. I was talking to another instructor on how to come up with a business name. I mentioned to her, people have told me I have angelic hands, but I need something that goes with angelic, she said ‘celestial hands’ and so I didn’t give it another thought. Celestials Hands Massage Therapy it is. I have changed my name after Covid because I ran into some issues when I tried to file under my name and my business name, and at that point I shortened it since massage therapy is such a long word, so now it’s CelestialhandsMT . I do identify myself as having angelic hands only because the clients I’ve had for 11 years now keep saying that I do in fact have angelic hands. I wish I could give myself a massage to see how my hands feel. My hands are my gift, that help people feel better mentally and physically,. Now that I am practicing Body Contour my company name might change, but I sure don’t want to make it longer than what it still is, for now I’ll keep Celestialhandsmt, I feel like changing the name will just won’t feel right to my clients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into massage therapy because honestly real estate and medical assistant school didn’t work out for me. I knew I wanted to help people, but to tell you the truth I didn’t know how, I thought medical assistant was a good way to help, but not my calling. Don’t get me wrong I liked taking vital signs, writing on patients’ charts, drawing blood. Unfortunately, I had one bad experience with a doctor that was ugly to me, so I thought naah I don’t need to put up with that, and with all the respect to doctors I decided look for something else. I thought of many different careers, for example phlebotomist, teacher, sonographer, but if I had to be in college forever and I really didn’t want that. I remember one day I was massaging my daughter and thought, it would be nice to learn the right and wrong way to massage, but it was just a simple thought. I went about my normal routine working a 9-5 job as a bilingual receptionist, but after 5 years with no promotion, I made the decision it was time for change. I went to medical school for the 2nd time because in the school I was attending to be an Xray tech you had to do medical school first, but coincidentally an instructor from my previous school saw me and asked me why I was repeating medical school again. I asked myself that same question, so I decided to drop it again and left the x-ray tech career all together. I knew I didn’t want to stay at the 9-5 job and somehow massage therapy came back to mind. I thought to myself, I wonder how that works? I decided to do my research and to my surprise there were no prerequisites, so I went for it and in 8 months I graduated. Thankfully I have now been a massage therapist for 11 years and counting! I love it as if it were day one. I haven’t gotten bored but did know I had to start doing something else I enjoyed, something to do with helping people, but no school please hehehe. I found that by now also offering body contour which involves helping mostly women, making them feel good about themselves and helping with their confidence. That’s a whole other story on how I got started with body contour, let’s just say it fell right into my hands, it was sent to me by an angel on earth.

How I provide and help people with their problems is by listening to them, listening to their body, paying attention to where they need it the most. I currently do not sell any products I just give a little extra during their massage which includes a little bit of hot stones, a foot massage with a hot towel and cannot forget the face cradle, it most of my clients favorite. Above all I listen to them when they need to vent during their session, they feel relief and appreciate that they had someone there to listen, just to listen, and not judge. But, if they want complete silence, I will make sure there is not a sound coming out of the room other than the relaxation music. That is one thing I am most proud of, of course besides being their massage therapist, I’m their hands, ears to listen. One thing I can guarantee my clients is my complete and undivided attention. During their session nothing or no one exist other than them on my massage table.

Without knowing it, I found my calling.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I currently have 11 years of massage experience and my clients are definitely the ones that have given me my reputation, without them I wouldn’t be where I am today. I keep my reputation as professional as I only know how, being myself and treating my clients how I would want to be treated and also what learned from previous jobs, That’s what they love about me, I take into consideration of their needs. I keep them updated of where I’m going, where I’m at and what is new. Staying flexible, and working 7 days a week. My regulars have seen me grow. I kid you not I use to put thumbtacks on my ceiling with curtains to make it more private for them. They are proud of what I have accomplished now by building a massage room in my own home. When I left my part time job as a massage therapist, to become an entrepreneur, all were proud of me for making that move and were happy I was going to be more available for them. I don’t like it when I’m not available for them, but I’m at a one woman business and well I can’t clone myself, so I do the best I can do to accommodate everyone. Some understand I must be by appointments while others are risk takers and text me to see if I have last minute availability, sometimes they get lucky.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clients has been word of mouth. In my 11 years I’ve have had clients that have brought me their relatives and friends. I even have a family of 8 that have come to me for many years. Some don’t come regularly, but they have kept my number all these years to set an appointment in their free time. I have also found clients through Instagram. I have friends and family that have referred me to either their own clients and/or friends. I don’t have time to stay active on Instagram to post every client, because I mainly am working behind the scenes, I do however make sure I post feedbacks of my clients so people can see I am working and stay busy all the time. My top priority is for a client to feel relaxed and really reap the benefit of the massage. I include a little bit of hot stone, aromatherapy and hot towel at no additional cost. Some clients think that feet and scalp is extra, but if you ask me if you don’t do either it will not feel like a complete massage. Our body is from head to toe, everything is connected, so when they ask, ‘Is it extra’? they are more than likely thinking of an enhancement and it is not. By doing these extra things I really feel is what makes a lot of my clients come back and refer me to their friends and family.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @celestialhandsmt
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ivonneperezmt

Image Credits
@christianfig.lens