From life coaching to owning a marina, entrepreneurship is a way of life for Iowa City native Kristen Stephens. In 2006, Stephens bought the Eastwind School, an institution that taught eastern and western massage and other alternative healing techniques. Stephens, an Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award winner, wanted to change Midwesterners’ attitudes about eastern medicine and massage therapy. She was passionate about educating the community on alternative healing techniques such as massage and other techniques that enhance the body, mind, and spirit.

Shortly after purchasing the school, Stephens changed the school’s name to The East•West School of Integrative Healing Arts and moved it from downtown Iowa City to its current location in the Core Fitness Facility in North Liberty. The School offers a range of educational options, including a six-month program where students can become licensed massage therapists. Students can also learn other therapeutic healing techniques such as aromatherapy and healing touch. Massages are also performed by students at moderate rates to the general public.

While Eastern theory and massage is routine on the coasts, the Midwest is a largely new market for eastern healing techniques. “My goal is to mainstream massage and other holistic healing modalities such as healing touch, reiki, aromatherapy and other Eastern types of energy medicine,” says Stephens. Educating the community offers substantial growth opportunities for Stephens and her students, but obtaining approval for student loans has been difficult as a result of the recent financial crisis. Stephens stresses that with these challenges come opportunities, and working harder to find solutions for these problems is paramount.

Stephens started refining her business acumen a dozen years ago when she enrolled in the University of Iowa Small Business Development Center’s FastTrac program. In the program, Stephens received help on QuickBooks and producing brochures, as well as advice on marketing. With this knowledge, Stephens opened her first business, an interior design consulting service. Within two years she surpassed her financial goals.

Throughout every phase of her business development, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) gave Stephens advice and helped her make productive business decisions. “Every one of my businesses has benefitted from the services at the SBDC,” says Stephens. “I have 12 years of business experience and the SBDC has helped me formulate a recipe for success.”

Stephens is quick to point out one of the more important lessons she has learned from the Small Business Development Center, which is that a business needs a team to be successful. “Sometimes people fail when they try to do every role,” says Stephens. She has taken that advice to heart and has 15 independent contractors on her team who all have a role in teaching the school’s curriculum.

Stephens spends her time thinking of new marketing strategies and imparting the techniques that she has learned from the SBDC, such as how to create a business plan in the business classes required at The East•West School. Stephens has been so successful that she has been asked numerous times to be a guest speaker for the SBDC’s FastTrac classes. “I always leave the FastTrac students with my motto for doing business, and that is to always exceed people’s expectations,” said Stephens.

Since 2006, The East•West School has graduated more than 50 students and according to 2007 statistics, these graduates have achieved a 92 percent passing rate on their state massage therapy board exams. This is outstanding compared to a state average of 68 percent. According to Stephens, most graduates start their own businesses as independent contractors after they earn their massage therapy license. The University of Iowa SBDC continues to benefit The East•West School by counseling these new therapists on how to start their own businesses.

The impact of Stephens and her graduates can already be seen by the incorporation of Stephens’ newest project, A Massage Oasis. According to Stephens, 15 minutes of chair massage drastically reduces a person’s stress level. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics agrees with her and starting in January 2010 A Massage Oasis will offer massage therapy to over 8,000 faculty, staff, patients, and guests at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. “This is a huge step in incorporating eastern healing modalities and western medicine,” says Stephens.