Lucas and CJ Jansen stand in front of the sign for CJ’s new tanning and massage business in Blue Earth.

Candy “CJ” Jansen was already running a successful cleaning business in the Blue Earth area when she decided to open up another business with her husband.

Called CJ’s Tanning and Massage Therapy Beds, it is located at 105 N. Grove Street (Highway 169) in Blue Earth.

“I got the idea last spring,” Jansen says. “I wanted to start getting a tan for summer, and do it when I could on my schedule. And, I have always liked getting a massage, but I didn’t always have time. Plus I had tried out a hydro-bed in the Twin Cities and loved it.”

So she and her husband, Lucas “Luke” Jansen, decided to buy their own massage chair, hydro-bed massager and upright tanning bed. And then open it up to the public as a new business.

“We opened this past Aug. 19,” CJ Jansen says. “And it is becoming very busy.”

She says the attraction is that their prices are kept very low and the time spent getting a massage or a tanning session can be very fast in and out.

“We offer a low walk-in price, and an even lower package price,” she says. “And we have specials from time to time.”

They are getting clients from Blue Earth as well as the surrounding communities.

“We have a group of ladies from Wells who are regulars now,” Jansen says. “They make the trip together and love how the massaging helps them.”

The massage chair covers the person’s backside, arms, legs and feet – all at once. It can be set for soft or hard massage and also includes heat. A regular session is just 20 minutes long and a client does not have to get undressed, which Jansen says many people like.

Same thing for the hydro-bed. The client lies on the waterbed material and powerful jets massage the whole body, all at once. Again, there is no disrobing and a regular session is 20 minutes long and very thorough.

Her clients all say the massaging helps their sore muscles and joints tremendously.

The stand-in tanning booth is also becoming popular and not just among women.

“We have a lot of men who are using it, too,” Jansen says. “It is a commercial grade tanning booth and everyone likes that they can be in and out of the tanning room in about 10 minutes.”

An added plus, Jansen says, is that she provides an array of tanning lotions her customers can use at no extra charge. Another reason the stand-in booth is so popular is that the client’s body does not touch the lights or a bed surface.

“Several of our clients don’t like tanning beds that are not cleaned well after use,” she says. “They like that here they never touch the surface and they also get a very even tan.”

CJ Jansen is a relative newcomer to the Blue Earth area. She grew up in the Big Lake and Monticello areas. Lucas, meanwhile, is from the local area.

The couple met while both were working for a road construction company in Monticello.

The couple moved to the Blue Earth area in 2010, and were married at the County Courthouse in 2012.

“I have two kids from a previous relationship, and they are grown up and live in the Monticello and Big Lake areas,” CJ Jansen says. Her son has a construction business and her daughter’s fiancee has an electrical business.

Lucas Jansen has an adult daughter from a previous relationship and she works at Blue Earth Embroidery.

The couple now lives on the Jansen family farm place, just south of Elmore, a quarter mile into Iowa.

CJ Jansen says she did not have the best life when she was young.

“I was in foster care a lot as a child,” she says. “And I was adopted three times. Then at 17 I took custody of myself.”

She became a single mom with two kids to take care of and always had to work hard.

“All that made her a very determined woman,” her husband Lucas says. “And a hard worker, too.”

When she came to Blue Earth she worked at the Americinn Motel, cleaning rooms and manning the front desk, as well as attending Phoenix University online. She took classes for business and social work. Her husband worked at Winnebago Manufacturing.

She thought of becoming a probation officer, but she instead became a case manager at Y.S.I. in Elmore, which eventually closed.

She started her cleaning business, doing houses, and then her first business customer was the Faribault County Register building.

Now she does cleaning at many businesses, including First Bank Blue Earth, Bevcomm, two eye clinics, an ethanol plant and many, many more.

“I had to get licensed and insured to do the businesses,” she says. “And to do the ethanol plant I had to take a 10-hour OSHA training course, which I did.”

Like her husband says, she is very determined.

With her cleaning business having taken off and grown larger than she ever thought it would, and her new massage and tanning business growing fast, CJ Jansen is one busy lady.

“But I like staying busy, and I like what I do,” she says. “And I like that my new business helps people feel better.”