Off-Topic - National Adoption Month

It's #NationalAdoptionMonth, again. If you're thinking about starting a family, your child might already be waiting for you. @AdoptUSKids

— Jessica McCormick (@GesundhtMassage) November 1, 2013

In business classes, we're cautioned about mixing personal and professional interests.  We'll inevitably step on someone's toes, at some point, and that's bad for business.  My business is too new for me to say, "I don't care," but here it is:  I don't care.

November is National Adoption Month.  I come from a very blended family.  My paternal uncle is adopted, my grandparents helped raise me and my brother until my father remarried (it takes a village!), said marriage giving us a great step-family, and I can't count the number of "uncles" I had growing up in the military.  The holidays were a blast.

I had the opportunity to share this with a class while attending UW-Green Bay.  The assignment was to present our respective heritage.  I could sum it up with "military & geek culture", but that wouldn't fly.  I went over the usual stuff, proclaiming what a typical American mutt I am, but the two most important factors were my military and step family.  Nobody in either of these camps had any obligation in my upbringing, but they were there, they're part of who I am, and I can't imagine my life any other way.

Following my presentation, a classmate caught up with me after class.  Her boyfriend had two children from a previous relationship, and she wanted to hear more about what it's like being a step-child.  We chatted for a bit, and my answer to her final question sums up the experience for me.
Q:  Do you get along with her?
A:  She's my mom.  We have our ups & downs, but she's my mom.

I could have said, "Oh, yeah!  We're like this!" and done the little finger-linking thing, but that would have fallen short of the truth.  I wouldn't risk providing any false hope or horror, and the military provides a special form of strife to add to the teenage years.  And you know what?  My friends had similar issues with their own families; biological, military, or other.

I don't have the 1950's, white-picket fence, 2.5 (point five...?) children image of what makes a family.  That certainly isn't what my family ever looked like, and I won't tolerate any insult to my mom insisting that "it isn't the same" unless I bear the child myself.  I don't know if I'll have 2 children or 5, but I don't plan on taking 9 months out to make one.  If it happens, my husband and I will be happy, and we'll be especially curious as to what sort of creature our genetics will create, but this isn't a prerequisite for family.  For all we know, our first child might be waiting for us as I type this blog.

Learn about adoption and foster care:
Adopt.org
AdoptUSKids.org
- How to Foster
AmericanAdoptions.com
LittleCity.org/foster
NationalAdoptionDay.org (November 23rd)

Employed or Independent?

The last step in establishing my business was contacting Santa Clara Weekly, sending them a copy of my "Fictitious Business Name Statement", and paying a fee for them to run an ad in the paper for 4 weeks.  On the outset, I found all of this very intimidating, but now that it's over, I'm not too daunted by the task of promoting myself.

As stated in a previous entry, I had no interest in running my own business.  Not for lack of ambition, but rather, lack of experience.  While I'm generally of a competitive nature, I couldn't see what I'd have to offer as an independent MT vs joining a team.  I enjoy having a team.  Weighing all the positives and negatives, I even loved having roommates!  Working independently held no appeal for me.

Then the job hunt began.

One of the reasons I decided to study massage therapy was because of the job market.  The roommates and I had given up cable, so I wasn't seeing any of the commercials that promised big money in the profession.  I just knew that it was something that I would enjoy, and I could support my oft-mentioned programmer husband during the perceivable starving-artist phase of his career.  After an extra year in formal education, thanks to a lovely overlap, I could support the both of us while he built his code and resumé and whatever else he needed to do.  I was going to work for a local hospital and single-handedly revamp their dwindling massage department!

Tell God your plans, sit back and listen for the giggles.

My husband was recognized for his talent and contacted by one of Silicon Valley's many start-ups.  Neither of us were finished with school when these interviews started, but it was pretty clear that we'd be moving.  My in-laws were a reasonable distance from Rasmussen, so I resided with them for a few months while I finished school.  They're pretty awesome, like that.

I took a few months off of life when I arrived in California.  After twenty years in the education machine, it felt warranted.  I searched job listings on-and-off until I found a clinic that seemed to best fit me.  I interviewed, I got the job, enjoyed it, worked there a month, and was laid off.  Remember that job market complaint?  I was assured that my work was stellar, but they couldn't afford to keep me.

I took a few more months off, during which time I obtained my certification from the California Massage Therapy Council.  Now I can work anywhere!  If I can find the right atmosphere.  I was set for an orientation with one company before I realized the chemistry wouldn't work.  My dad gave me plenty of grief for this because "it's a job!"  As MTs, we know how important it is to have the right chemistry between ourselves and clients, as well as with colleagues.  If I needed to be the primary bread-winner, I might have "sucked it up", but it was better, this way.

Knowing not what else to do, having been spun in circles by hospitals, having no direction whatsoever, I applied at Massage Envy.  I know people who've worked there for years, but I walked away after a month.  What a spotty resumé I was building.  At least this neat little used bookstore was hiring, and they liked me!

I think everyone needs to work retail, at some point.  I've always known to be kind to baristas and cashiers, but being on that side of the register opened my eyes.  After years of writing lofty essays for a "four year" university, my intelligence was insulted, time and again, because my math skills have waned.
"You mean you can't do it in your head?"
"Where would we be without computers?"
So much for that lofty BA.  But here's a word to the courteous:  Don't shove more coinage at your cashier as they're handing your change back to you.  When we ask, "Out of $5?" we're confirming that you don't want to pay with anything else.

Aside from learning to deal with cranky people under pressure, I've also learned a lot from my boss and manager about owning an independent, small business.  I'm still very young in the business world, and I'm doing my best to learn as much as quickly as possible.  I don't feel so overwhelmed now as I did in the beginning, despite seeing no end to this growing mound of work, but I feel an equal to the task.  With resources such as Massage Book, Massamio, and Massage Therapy World at my disposal, I'm feeling a little more equal to the task.

Why "Gesundheit"?

At some point, you've all probably heard some story about an English-speaking minister who went on a mission in Germany and said gesundheit to everyone they saw.  Whilst we English speakers use gesundheit interchangeably with bless you (despite secular tendencies), they do not mean the same thing. 

Google's dictionary tells us that this term is "used to wish good health to a person who has just sneezed".  There you have it.  Good health.

But why did I choose this as a business name?  Not just because I wish good health for my clients; there was a little bit of pressure involved.  If my instructor reads this, it's also a bit of a confession. ^^;

Yes, I use emoticons.  Heavily.

You see, I went through a two-year massage program at Rasmussen College in Green Bay, Wisconsin (program now defunct).  If I remember the experience correctly, we took three business classes.  The first one I took was a Business 101 class required of all students, the third an annoying thing I'd rather forget, and the most relevant was Business & Wellness, where we learned all about marketing massage and prepared for our certification exam.

Mid-quarter, one of our assignments was to design our business cards.  I hadn't been planning on working for a chain, but I hadn't planned on running my own business, either, so why would I need a business card?  For this week's assignment, I was planning on cashing in all of my good student points and saying, "Sorry, I got nothin'."  It wouldn't save me from a failing grade, but my dignitas might stay intact.

I couldn't even think of what to call my hypothetical business.  Everything has been done.  "Healing Hands", "Loving Touch", "I Knead You", and so forth.  I ran a few lame ideas by my husband, and he shrugged at the ones that didn't make him laugh.  Looking at my diploma, I asked, "How about 'gesundheit'?"  He nodded, agreeing that it had potential.

I pulled out the assignment criteria:
- Business name
- My name
- Certification
- Contact info
- Website (if you have one)
- Snappy Logo
- Snappy saying

The snappy snappy saying is supposed to sum up everything your business stands for.  While RELAX DAMMIT! provides generous space for other information, I couldn't see it being well-received.

Back to my original plan: cash in those good student points.  But being a good student (or, at least, being perceived as such), I started to feel guilty.  Sitting across from my husband a half hour before class, I flipped my macbook open and started filling in a business card template.

1) My name
2) My business name
3) E-mail for contact
4) Google Voice for phone number
5) Silly Saying
6) Website...

If the actual card was going to be pitiful, I needed a little extra flair.  It would be several months yet before I'd purchase gesundheitmassage.com.

Twenty-five minutes to class and closing.  Luckily, I resided within walking distance of the little commuter campus.

"I could just use twitter," I said aloud.

"I would.  Couldn't hurt," my husband replied.

If the snooty programmer approves, it's good enough for me. ❤

I played around with the lettering, working within the character limitations, and decided on gesundhtmassage.  This left me twenty minutes to print and stroll leisurely down to class.

Unfortunately, I knew my classmates would come in with actual business cards.  I saw that some of them had long since ordered theirs from Vista Print or some local shop.  I couldn't just bring in a flimsy print-out.  My only remaining option made me feel like I was back in kindergarten (another German word!).  I pulled out a couple label sheets and light blue construction paper, which I'd received from a friend who was working at a paper mill.  I later thanked her for sharing. 

My husband helped me cut my little art project out, and I had five minutes to rush to class, where I sat wishing that I'd just taken an F.  This feeling built as I watched my classmates pass their cards around.  My mouth was dry as I passed my cards out, which were received with admiration.

Say wut?

I heard terms like "good card stock" passing between my classmates as I moved through the rows (short trip; small class) and returned to my seat.

"So, why 'Gesundheit'?" one classmate asked, getting right down to business.

I told them that I'd finally finished my BA at UW-Green Bay for German and Humanistic Studies the previous October.  "It seemed suitable to incorporate that into my practice.  Gesundheit isn't just a word for sneezing.  It's referring to your health."