I am a licensed massage therapist, certified nutrition consultant, and the owner of Healthwise Concepts. I provide therapeutic massage and nutrition consultation for wellness programs. When I consult with people, I talk with them about their goals, whether that would be to lose weight, manage a health issue or to become healthier overall.

EDUCATION | To become certified in massage therapy depends upon the regulations of the state in which you reside but typically requires a 6 month to a one-year program. To become licensed requires you to take a national exam and continued education classes each year. Most accredited courses require 650 hours. It is important to know where your therapist went to school and the quality of the education they received. It takes time to gain expertise.

HOW TO GET STARTED | First, receive a massage so you know what it's all about. Then, I would shadow somebody doing this profession. There are a lot of different settings you could work in, such as hospitals, large clinics and smaller practices.

MUST HAVE TRAITS | Genuine care of people: you have to be a people person. If you don't like being around people, this is not for you. During one-on-one sessions, your energy is exchanged with the other person's, and they will be able to tell if you're happy or not in your profession. Also, you need to be in general good health yourself as this is a very physical occupation.

how I got started | After I got married in 1984, I started working for a chiropractor, doing insurance and front desk work. After several months, I began shadowing the massage therapist, helping with the physiotherapies, such as ultrasound. I noticed a direct relationship with the speed of healing for those who received massage therapy as opposed to those who did not. Massage made for a markedly quicker healing. At that time, the chiropractor offered to send me to massage therapy school in exchange for my agreeing to work for him for a certain lenghth of time. I said, "No, not interested." Four years later, I was working for different chiropractor actually doing some massage therapy for some of the patients as prescribed by the chiropractor. I fell in love with massage therapy, so I did go to school to become a licensed massage therapist, while working and raising our children. I really kicked myself in the butt for not letting that chiropractor pay for my education when he offered to! After I graduated, I continued working in chiropractic offices until we moved to North Carolina, where I opened my own business. I worked part time in my own practice and part time at the Naval hospital until we moved back to Iowa, where I again opened my own practice. In 2000 my friend started a business doing wellness programs through the Mlis program. She worked with people who were overweight, suffering from fibromyalgia and other health issues, including drug addictions. We talked about going into business together, but by 2007 my friend was ready to retire. She asked me if I wanted to buy her business. I had missed an opportunity years before, when I didn't let the chiropractor pay for my education, and I wasn't about to do it again! So I bought her business and moved my shop into her spa.

why this job?| You get to be hands-on in helping people feel better and returning their quality of life to them. People drag into my office with no energy, feeling sick, and after working with them and educating them on proper nutrition while incorporating therapeutic massage and other natural health care services they start to come alive again with improved quality of life. There's no greater reward than helping people.

why I love this job!| The people: meeting the different people, working with them one on one and helping them improve the quality of their lives- that feeds my soul and improves the quality of my life.

my typical day| I'm usually in the office around 8:30AM. I'll see three or four clients for massage therapy with wellness consultations squeezed in between, as well as helping people with our other spa services and doing all the necessary paper work. I leave about 6 or 6:30PM.

what they are | The biggest challenge is dealing with employee issues- my staff is great and wouldn't trade them for anyone else, but there's a lot of work that goes with managing employees and making this a positive environment for them to work in.

all about growth | You can make this as big as you want to. I have a five-year goal which includes opening a center in another town because I want to be able to help more people.

my website| http://www.healthwiseconcepts.com/