By the time her primary career was cut short, Tammy Renaud already had spent more than a decade as a licensed professional massage therapist alongside her full-time job. When the on-duty assault left her unable to continue as a jail detention officer, Renaud quickly realized that it was time to focus on developing her sideline massage therapy practice into a sustainable full-time business.
She got there thanks to help from the Vocational Rehabilitation Services division at Iowa Workforce Development and the Drake University Entrepreneurship Center.
Renaud, a former Warren County detention officer, sustained lasting physical injuries from an inmate’s attack in 2023. She now operates her Rebel Wellness massage therapy business out of a building in West Des Moines.
It took a lot of help to get going.
“I honestly would have closed my doors within the first six months if I hadn’t had the outside support,” Renaud said. “It helped a lot to have somebody who would listen when I said, ‘Hey, I’m dealing with this… Can you give me some suggestions?’ ”
Self-employment Counselor Yvette Clausen said the Vocational Rehabilitation program is designed to eliminate barriers for Iowans who are able to contribute to the economy but who, due to a disability, may be unable to do so in a traditional 9-to-5 setting. The program provides equipment and technical assistance to help entrepreneurs get started. Where practical, it also refers them to resources like the Drake Entrepreneur Center.
The center and organizations like it provide a cost-effective way to educate large groups of Voc Rehab clients, Clausen said. “The other really good benefit is that its starts connections for them that they will be able to continue to go back to and utilize after their time with Vocational Rehabilitation has ended.”
The Self-Employment Program helped Renaud strengthen and expand her massage therapy practice by providing guidance with business planning, location and structure, as well as helping her purchase adjustable equipment to accommodate the physical restrictions caused by her 60 percent disability. After IWD referred her to Drake, Renaud was able to get hands-on assistance with nuts-and-bolts questions about things such as establishing good bookkeeping practices and tips for how to pitch her business to others.
Chase Spencer, program manager at the Drake University Entrepreneur Center, estimates that 60 to 70 people each year contact the center for free business assistance. Groups meet every Monday night for two weeks to listen to a presentation and talk in peer groups with a mentor.
“A lot of people come in with passion,” Spencer said. “You can’t really manufacture that. But it’s also necessary to channel that passion into actual steps that you can take to serve more customers… Tammy knew what she wanted out of her business, and she wasn’t afraid to work.”
Renaud said her business is continuing to evolve. Current plans for the future involve creating deeper roots in the community, strengthening client relationships, and promoting the mission behind Rebel Wellness.
Renaud describes the business as “not your average massage,” with a “trauma-informed approach to massage therapy” that moves away from the belief that clients must walk away sore for the therapy to have been effective.
“I think a lot of people assume that the only way they can release that tension… is to essentially be beaten up by the massage therapist,” Renaud said. “I slow down and actually pay attention to what the body is saying.”
For more information about the Self-Employment Program, visit that program’s page on IWD’s website. For more about Rebel Wellness, visit https://www.rebelwellness.site/.