We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Olivia Hendren. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Olivia below.
Alright, Olivia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Honestly, having a business like mine in the South sometimes feels risky in and of itself. Sure there are more liberal areas of our city and state, but for the most part, there are a lot of people in this area of the country who still have a disconnect between “alternative” or “holistic” health practices and having those contradict their religious beliefs.
This mindset was what catapulted me into starting my own business. When I first started as a Reiki Practitioner in 2020, I was working at a local salon and spa just after the Covid lockdown had been lifted. People were still wearing masks and social distancing in public places. Fast forward to eight months later (early 2021), I’m having a post-session discussion with a client about a crown chakra imbalance (which is the chakra that governs if you believe in a “higher power”), and a few weeks later I found myself without a job because someone overheard parts of this conversation and it went against their personal beliefs. This person had reported that I was “a witch” and “anti-Jesus” when I was merely educating the client to dig a little deeper to find their faith, no matter what that might mean to them. Needless to say I was very surprised, hurt, and disappointed but I knew deep down this was all for a higher purpose.
I have found time and time again, that people fear what they don’t understand. And some individuals will even make up their own story to fill in the blanks. So, after this incident at the salon and spa, I knew it was time to start my own business and never look back. It was the nudge I needed from the Universe to start my business and educate people on my own terms without feeling like I had to walk on eggshells to get there. Was I terrified? Absolutely. But every month, I kept putting myself out there, full of fear and anxiety and falling flat on my face. But I started gaining word of mouth, taking my travel table to people’s houses and showing them that Reiki, meditation, and healing chakras have a lot more merit than society gives it.
Here we are four years later after I completed my Reiki certification, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world. Every month I surprise myself and others by putting myself out there a little more and educating people that we are all made of energy and we should treat ourselves as such. We’re embracing a new era in wellness. As a society, we’re finally learning how our emotions and energy can be repressed and blocked which causes imbalances in our body. And I’m so excited and thrilled that I’m right in the thick of this evolutionary time in health.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’ve been fascinated and curious about health and wellness almost my entire life. It’s something that impacted me at a very young age when my father fell ill with cancer at 31 years old. He was originally given six months to live after his initial diagnosis, but managed to live four more years until he passed away at the age of 35. Being that I was only thirteen at the time he passed, I was left with a lot of questions but also reflected upon a lot of observations that I had made in his final years that would eventually serve me well later in life.
Determined not to follow in his footsteps, I explored health and wellness careers in high school and really felt a pull to enter the healthcare field as an adult. I tried a few occupations but eventually felt really at home being a Chiropractic Assistant. I then spent the next decade on a journey to explore what “health” truly meant. However, in my mid-30’s, I started to struggle with anxiety and depression; and it was at this time that I was introduced to Reiki by a good friend. Thankfully, my life would never be the same.
It took me about a year, but with the help of multiple Reiki sessions, consistent meditation, proper diet and supplements, and learning about chakras and energy, I started feeling like myself again. I had taken the first steps toward a path of healing my mind, body, and spirit holistically. I was so proud that I did all of this without any influence of traditional Western medicine. My mom even made a surprising comment after this year-long self-healing journey and said, “I don’t know WHAT you’ve been doing, but keep doing it. My sweet, vibrant daughter is back, and I really missed her.” Then I thought to myself, “Holy cow. If I can do this, anyone can. More people have to know about this.”
About two years later, the Universe pushed me to become a Reiki Practitioner. It was January 2020 and I kept getting sign after sign that I needed to do this training and I needed to do it fast. Well, little did I know, I would birth a healing business in the middle of a pandemic! (Obviously we know now why I had to act so quickly.)
A few months later I started my business and now, using my acquired knowledge and experience, I show other people how to do the same thing I did by leading them on a journey of healing and self discovery. It is my mission to keep empowering people to play an active role in healing their lives, embracing their bodies, and living authentically. It is not easy work, but it is definitely worth it.
These days, I have a few additional trainings and certifications in my “tool belt” that help to guide my clients alongside Reiki and chakra-healing. About a year and a half ago, I became a certified Meditation Coach and shortly after that, I became an Akashic Records Reader.
The integration of all these practices has really led me to a path that I could have never imagined. Clients love having a multi-faceted, non-traditional approach to getting back in touch with their “true self” and learning that their time here on Earth is so much bigger than what we’re taught to believe.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Summers are notoriously slow in the service industry since everyone is away on vacation and they get out of their routines so I had to find a way to combat that. My second summer in business I got the idea to run a “referral sale.” Basically, from Memorial Day through Labor Day I advertised to my existing clients that when they referred a new person to my business, that both parties would each get 20% off their next Reiki session. This accomplished two things for me, it rewarded my existing clients (who were then referring me as a “vetted” practitioner) and lowered the barrier to entry for anyone new who was nervous to give Reiki a try. Everyone loved it and now I do it every summer because it benefits us all!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think the biggest thing that sets me apart from most other Reiki practitioners in the area is that I give my clients “homework” after each session. Reiki is definitely a wonderful healing modality all by itself, but unless the individual understands what got them out of balance in the first place, they will be in a perpetual cycle of healing. You must integrate their lifestyle and habits into the picture going forward. For example, someone who has had a lot of difficult, maybe one-sided romantic relationships will definitely benefit from having their heart chakra replenished and balanced during a session. But unless they change their lack of boundaries, tendencies to overgive, etc., then I’ll be seeing them multiple times a year for the rest of their life working on the same old issues. I avoid this by making suggestions on how to maintain balanced heart chakra energy for as long as possible once their session is over. This may mean reading certain books, journaling, meditating, acquiring certain crystals that embody the heart chakra energy and keep those nearby… whatever works well for that person. After each session, the clients goes home knoing exactly where they were “blocked” and how to best move forward. With me, it’s not just a Reiki session, it’s a coaching session, too. And people appreciate that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jupitersoul.com
- Instagram: @jupitersoulreiki
- Facebook: facebook.com/jupitersoulreiki
Image Credits
The picture of me holding the Chakras book is credited to Kimberly Matthews Photography.