Welcome back to another episode of Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur Podcast, this special Brands Up Summit Edition episodes. Today, we have Crystal Peterson here, and she's gonna give us a quick little 32nd intro

Oh, boy.

About who you are and what you do.

Okay. So my name is Crystal Peterson. I am a massage therapist, Reiki practitioner, holistic wellness provider that's located in Laval. That's pretty much all that I have for now. So is that

That's that's perfect. That's exactly it. We're just letting the audience know who you are. So I'm gonna start with the first set of questions that we have here. My first question is, I'm always interested, what inspired you to start your brand and what was your initial vision?

So back in 2020, I had my first reiki session, like, that was performed on me, and it was really transformative. It really, really changed my life, and it unlocked, a gift in me that I didn't know that I had. Am I speaking close enough?

You're fine. If you're not, I would be like

Okay. So it really transformed my life and I realized that I had, like, this slew of gifts that were within me that I didn't realize that I had and, that's it. That's it. So that's what originally started that's what originally inspired me to do it. And so when I did the Reiki session, I decided to try my hand at Reiki and I got a diploma, but quickly realized that I have a talent for tuning into the frequency of the person and their body who was on my table. So like I had told you before, I started with a spare bedroom in my house that I had and I grew the company from there.

I love that. With growing that company, a lot of people use different methods to grow. Mhmm. I'm curious. How the the one that I I always enjoy is storytelling. And how has storytelling or what role does storytelling play in your brand to communicate your story to the audience?

Okay. So, storytelling allows me to be creative in ways that I didn't even know I could be, which I'm really grateful for because it allows me to pass pass on my story, my message in a way that I never even thought of. Especially with social media and, like reels and stuff like that, it gives me an outlet for creativity that I didn't even know that I had inside of me. And telling my story also allows me to be authentic with my clients and they get to know a bit about me before even meeting me in a way that isn't just like a professional mask. So, like, when things are hard in my life, I tell my clients and my followers and oftentimes it inspires them to feel safe with me. So if I'm going through something hard and I'm vocal about it on my social media, a lot of times people will realize that it's okay for them to be vulnerable as well. So I like getting my story out in that way. And it also gives me great exposure when my reels or if I tell a story verbally to somebody and it resonates with them, well, they they share it with others.

And so it gets my name out even more.

I love that. So storytelling is such an important part of brand building.

And it's really fun too.

Oh, yeah.

It's really fun, especially with, like like I said, reels. Nowadays, you have so much creativity. Yeah.

Speaking of that creativity, how do you stay innovative while staying true to your brand's core values?

So really what I do is I do my research and I see what matches up with my core values and I do that. So perfect example was that, and it's actually funny, that one of the women who is here today was talking about AI. So in the beginning I was really resistant to, like, any social media, any chat g p t, anything like that and I was like, no, I'm gonna do it the old school way by, like, knocking on doors and handing out flyers and giving out cards and then I was like, that's just gonna make me look like a crazy person in this day and age. Like, could you imagine being like, hey, do you want a massage? You know what I mean? There there

are a few people out there, I think, who may say yes to you but they may not be the clients that you want.

They are definitely not the clients I want. Do you hear that? Okay. But honestly, I was really glad that I took that leap and decided to move more online and to into a social media space and I won't lie. Now I do use chat gpt and AI, and it's very helpful. But I try out new deals, new ideas. And if I like it, if it vibes with me, then it stays and I keep doing that thing. And I like to do my research and see what I do enjoy and what I don't enjoy. I don't know if I'm answering your question correctly.

You're good. You're good. Yeah. Okay.

So Any answer is the right answer.