Transcript for Ep12: 
Welcome to Every Mother Matters.  I’m Sharon and in this episode, I will be sharing with you how Moxibustion leads me to open a physical shop

Rest and warm after childbirth are the keys to good health.  My body was cold, I had wind in my body, I had lower backache so I thought moxibustion warm therapy would be suitable for me.  Four years after the birth of my 2nd baby, I asked my moxibustion trainer to recommend me a suitable spa where I could get the best price as I wanted to do it as long-term maintenance to strengthen my body.  The female therapist was my moxibustion course mate.  I only realised it when I saw an old photo taken some time back at the moxibustion training school.  She was just sitting behind me in the photo.  She is from China but she can type in English when I texted her so it is easy for me.

It was by chance that I got to learn about moxibustion while waiting for a friend outside her shop.  I was earlier and I was looking around.  The moxi training school was 3 shops away.  After completing the course, I knew I needed to do moxi and at that time, I signed the basic 3 months wellness plan.  Each session was about 2 hours but there were 2 therapists who attended to me at the same time.  I did a lot of body parts including facial moxibustion as well.  I knew that my body needed more sessions.  So finally, 2 years later, I went to the spa my moxi trainer recommended.

I religiously followed the wellness plan because I truly knew how it worked.  Initially, it was very intent.  There are 12 sets of products for various parts like kidney, digestion, liver, ovary.   I did a lot of parts including facial and breast moxibustion as well.  After childbirth, my skin was very dry, especially around my eyes area, there were wrinkles so I also did facial moxibustion to improve my skin elasticity and my dull skin.

I did breast moxibustion to prevent sagging breast, improve the lymph and blood circulation.  Doing breast moxi and to clear residual milk even years after I stopped breastfeeding were still necessary for a woman’s breast health.  After I stopped breastfeeding, my breasts were smaller but after the breast moxi with the improved circulation which brings nutrients to the breast, my therapist also noticed that my breast size was bigger.  Since then, I noticed that my breasts are firmer too. 

I was really serious about doing moxibustion to improve my health.  The warmth from burning the mugwort herb, which is the pure yang herb is very powerful.  The warmth helped to clear my meridian pathway to expel coldness, wind and dampness from my body. I signed up for many sessions.  Moxibstion warm therapy is not cheap as with all other natural alternative therapies but it was money well spent.

My memory index was so low that I was afraid that I might have dementia when I get older. So I did head moxi for early prevention. 

The therapist held the burning moxi stick at least 3 cm over the acupuncture points above my skin.  I felt a sense of very deep relaxation because warmth felt very comfortable over my cold body.  I tried my best to go for the session 3x in the first week before I continue to maintain at 2x per week.  My body was warmed up when I followed the wellness plan.  Very soon within the first few sessions in the first week, moxi warm helped me to expel coldness from my body and I started to feel that my soles of the feet were ice cold during every session.  It took me half a year to expel coldness and after that I no longer feel that my feet were cold.  The therapist covered me with layers and layers of towels for half a year.  She was sweating away during my moxi session because I asked her to switch off the air-con which was too cold for me at that time.  After my session, the warm continued to circulate in my body and I got to wear a sweater after the session.

This China lady is a few months younger than me. Many times, during my moxi therapy sessions, I told her that I wished to have a physical shop next time because I always hoped to teach group newborn preparation course and also provide moxibustion therapy.

One day, the female therapist informed me that the rental lease was expiring soon and she was moving out. She asked me to consider if I were keen to takeover the unit. It was not ready to have a physical shop then because I did not know much about how to manage a business if I had a shop.  To encourage me to takeover the shop unit, she came out with a lot of white lies.  

She told me that her fee would be higher in the new location and she would not be able to bring her old existing clients over to her new location.  She told me not to change the shop too much so that her clients could recognize the shop.  She wanted to test my moxibustion techniques on her so that it was easier to recommend me to her client.

So, she would pass the old existing clients to me when I took over the unit.  At the end, she only had one client with a few balance sessions from the package deal for me.

She told me that she would leave everything behind and only removed or disposed of those items that I did not want. At the end, I  realised that they also took away what they needed, especially those costly items like air purifier, expensive paintings.

So, in actual fact, they only left me those items they did not want, mainly old and used items they used for 3 years when they were there and some passed down from the tenant before them. It was obvious that they were not doing very well in the business. 

My first thought at first was that I was not ready.  The reception area was small and I wanted one partition for the massage room to be removed so that there would be a bigger space for me to teach group newborn preparation course.  The takeover fee was S$20,000. 


They also highlighted to me about the re-instatement cost on the rental contract with the owner.  After the end of the contract, I might need to reinstate the shop to its original state and it cost about S$2000.  The actual cost of that when I moved to City Gate at the end of the contract was actually close to S$4000.

Her male partner also helped me to buy a laptop.  He recommended me to a shop at Sim Lim Square, where he said he purchased a few laptops from the same shop before.  I paid S$1400 for a brand new laptop but later I realised that it was a second hand laptop. 

Moxibustion warm therapy is using pure yang herbs-5 years mugwort or ai herbs, which is therapeutic.  It is beneficial not only to our physical health but also to our mental and emotional health because of the deep relaxation of the warm therapy and the uplifting of our yang energy which is the positive energy.  Now, I am more confident, cheerful and positive.

I see great improvement in my overall well-being. My digestion improved and I no longer feel the heaviness and fatigue. My memory improved to within the normal range when I did the machine testing. My clients and my moxi trainer also noticed the difference in me. 

After I took over the shop, I continued to use the machine to do frequent health checks.

 

Key Learnings:-

To sustain a business and to grow, we need to advertise and apply what we were taught in the course. When we just started up, we are sure to have friends and relatives coming to support us by signing packages with us.  But relying on just a few friends will not be enough to sustain a business in the long-term.

With just good skill, techniques and certification are the basics.  There are a lot of things to learn in doing business.  We need to explore new things and ways of doing business.  

In difficult times, stay grounded and take small steps at a time.  

Takeover fee can be deducted when calculating tax if the business is incorporated already.  

Conclusion

As a mother we take care of our children and family, we need to first take care of ourselves.  We need to understand what is self-love.  Don’t be afraid to spend money on wellness because money, we can earn when we have good health.  There is nothing you cannot do, if you want to do it.  I moved out of my comfort zone and willing to take more risk to achieve what I want to achieve.  I hope my story will inspire you to follow your dream too! 

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.