Eulanda Saunders did not know all the benefits associated with massage therapy when she first considered opening her own business.
She was simply a customer who appreciated the relaxation element.
“I just thought it would be a really good job,” she said.
So much so, in fact, that in 2003, while working for a medical supply company, Saunders hatched a business plan – just for the fun of it.
“I don’t know why,” she laughs. “I thought about it and thought, ‘If I did, what could that look like? “
“It’s just who I am,” she continued. “I have to write down my ideas.
And once her ideas were on paper, she put them away.
It was not until 2013 that the idea came back to him.
She explained that 2012 had been a difficult year as she unexpectedly lost her son and her job when Mountain State University closed.
Without work and in mourning, she began to see a therapist who eventually recommended that she find a job.
“But I knew I couldn’t go to an employer and take all that sadness with me,” she said.
“So I thought, ‘Maybe now is a good time to go to massage school. “”
After graduating from the Mountain State School of Massage in Charleston, Saunders, encouraged by two local massage therapists, Yvonne Wilcox and Betty Fisher, put her business plan to work.
Anew You Massage & Spa, which celebrated its grand opening at its new location on South Kanawha Street on October 28, has changed a lot over the years.
When Saunders graduated, she began creating both techniques and clientele in a room above a local living room.
After six months on top of the show, Saunders said she believed she had enough clients to go out on her own in 2014.
Over the next three years, she said she ran the business as much as a “hobby,” slowly building and having fun.
She said she considers herself lucky that her husband is the “backbone” of their family in terms of finances.
“I didn’t have to work on (the company) to be successful and survive,” she said. “I was able to have more fun and enjoy it as he grew older.”
That’s not to say she didn’t have plans for the business, as she moved to a new location on North Kanawha Street in 2017 and brought in additional therapists.
The timing of growth, however, was not the right one.
“I tried,” she says. “I walked out thinking I wanted to grow the business, and I failed. But it was an education on how to do better next time.
That time, Saunders said, is now.
“It feels like it should be now,” she said of the growth. “I now feel better equipped.
While Saunders is quick to point out that Anew You’s address at 2401 S. Kanawha St. is “a new location but not a new business,” she said, there have been some changes. Saunders recently graduated from the Palm Beauty Academy at Cross Lanes and is now a licensed esthetician.
“It’s just something I can offer my clients,” she said, explaining that the services include skin care and body hair removal as well as body sculpting with cryotherapy. “Sometimes it just helps them feel good about themselves.”
For now, it’s just Saunders and a receptionist, but she expects to add a second esthetician by December and potentially more later.
“I want to work alongside women – and men – who want to hone their craft,” she said. “I just want to go with them and help them find their way and succeed like these women (Wilcox and Fisher) have helped me.”
And she said she wanted to teach people what she had just learned when she started her business in 2003.
“Massage is good for a lot of different things,” she said. “It helps with relaxation, pain and stress management, disease processes and more.
“… I just like it,” she continued. “It’s the best career change I’ve ever made.
Anew You Massage & Spa is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For appointments, call 304-731-5785 or visit www.massagebook.com/biz/anewme.
Email: [email protected]
