Transcript for Ep11:

Welcome to Every Mother Matters.  I’m Sharon and in this episode, I will be sharing with you why I prefer to have a physical shop instead of doing home visits.

Many mummies do not understand why I want to have a shop to pay rental instead of continuing to do home visit services.  Some of my clients are business owners themselves and have a physical shop but they also asked me the same question because it is more popular to do home visits for my services.

I had a lot of training in body massage.  However, I never see myself as a masseuse.  My purpose was to reach out to the new mothers and the easiest way was to do pre and postnatal massage with belly wrapping.  I received many nice reviews from clients on my massage too. I had clients who trusted and loved me so much that they felt so comfortable with me that they wanted me to massage them during their labour in the hospital.  I had prenatal clients who needed the prenatal massage during pregnancy because it was difficult for them to sleep well with the growing fetus inside them.  Normally, they would pay me first and after the massage, when my client dozed off, I would cover them with a blanket, switch off the light and quietly leave the room. I could spend 7 hours travelling and doing 5 hours of work. 

I remembered one day, there was a sudden downpour of rain but I needed to walk to my client's house and when I reached there, my pants were all wet.  After the prenatal massage, my pants were dried.  When I walked out, it rained again. 

I was very hard working then. Sometimes, I reached home past midnight.  It was a very rewarding and fulfilling experience.

I personally did not go for body massage. My first massage was postnatal massage with belly wrapping after childbirth. Even those who don't like to do massage know about postnatal massage and will find masseuse to come to the house to do it.  There is high demand for home visit pre and postnatal massage. 

For home visit massage, many want it cheap and good. So, it is very easy for me to turn away clients.  I once had clients who kept asking about promotion and 1st trial when I was doing home visit services. When I checked her address on “how to go” aps, I realised that the place was at Sentosa.  It is very time consuming and more costly to go to Sentosa because it is far.  I had another client asking for promotion and when the taxi driver asked me was the address at a condo or normal HDB flat.  I said HDB.  We could not find the block number.  To my surprise, my client who was asking for promotion was living in a condo with 2 maids.  

When I just had a shop, one prenatal client asked me about home visit  postnatal massage after childbirth.  I did not want to quote her because she wanted to compare prices.  I just turned her down.  I did not want to get into the business of engaging home visit masseuse and also the coordinating work. So, right from the start when I have a shop, I did not employ masseuse under my business.

I still do home visit services for lactation breast massage and moxibustion warm therapy.  Only in rare situations that I do pre and postnatal massage for clients in the comfort of their homes. My focus is no longer on massage.  With a physical shop, I want to fulfil my dream to teach group newborn preparation course and I also specialised in doing moxibustion warm therapy.

I always felt the need to “get out” and could not station in one place for long.  Home visits used to work out very well for me.  After doing various alternative therapies over the years, it was a breakthrough that I had the thought of settling down and stationed in a place to have a physical shop.  Now, I enjoyed being alone in my shop.  I love the peace and my personal space.  My previous shop at bugis cube was at level 3 where there was a window at the back where the sunlight shined in.  It felt so warm and comfortable.  After 2 years when the contact ended, I moved to City Gate basement 1 where it is really enclosed.   It was really a breakthrough! I feel very comfortable and I no longer feel the need to “get out”. 

I make it a point that I will only consider doing home visit when my client trusts me and knows me long enough. If not, I have heartache when I can understand a baby cry and when I tell my client what to do based on the cry, my client does not trust me and I can’t do anything for the baby.  Sometimes, clients trust their confinement nannies more.

It is much easier for me when my client trusts me.  I visited my client for postnatal massage and moxibustion warm therapy for her husband.  Every time I went to her house, I heard one of the twins crying the need to-be-burp cry.  I suggested that the nanny burp the baby.  She did not take my word seriously.  She carried the baby in the upright position without burping and after a while she put the baby down.  The discomfort was still there and soon the baby cried the same cry again.

Then the nanny told the baby’s daddy that the baby was spoiled already and always wanted to be carried.  My client asked me if it was true because she also thought so.  Because every time when someone carries the baby, he would be quiet but once put down on the cot, the baby would start crying again.  When the baby cried more, there was more air ingested and it eventually caused the little belly to be bloated.  So I explained to my client about the situation and that the baby was not spoiled.  I also helped to massage the baby’s belly to relieve the gas to prevent colic.  If not, eventually with growth spurt, baby would become fussy and difficult too.  I was glad that my client trusted me so that I could help the little newborn baby.

Life is short and when I have found what I want to do with my life after the birth of my 2 children, I need to use my time and resources efficiently.  I need to stay focused and keep chasing my dream to get more signed up for my newborn preparation course and doing moxibustion warm therapy for clients.

At times when I need to take care of my kids, I can bring them to my shop. Supervise them while I work. As a business owner, it is hard to have a balance of work and family life especially the first few years when I spend a lot of effort at work. Without a shop, it is hard to work then go back home for half an hour or 1 hour then travel to work again. 

As age is catching up and I become more mature, I also feel that home visit, given Singapore weather,  will make my body weaker.  After I strengthen my body over the years with alternative therapies after childbirth, my next phase is moving toward menopause.  I did not rest well after childbirth and I missed the golden opportunity  to strengthen my body at that time.  Now, without the travelling time for doing home visits, I can plan my time better and I make it an effort for self love and self care.  The health and well-being of a mother is important to her family and children.  Because the health of the children is entirely dependent on the health of the adults in their lives.  Our job as adults is to support the continuation of life.  We do this by taking responsibility for our own health and wellness.

Key learnings:-

Conclusion:

-Having a physical shop increases the business expenses but it is really awesome that it helps me to stay focused and work towards achieving my dreams.  

You can connect with me through my facebook, instagram and Linkedin and my links will be in the show notes.  I look forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will be sharing with you more stories and tips.