Big Announcement - part 4

When I left the Trust company in August of 2001, I had been dating Joe for a year. I had enough savings to carry me for a few months and immediately began working on studying for my real estate license. I had developed quite an interest in this area through managing estates and trusts that owned real estate. Most of my clients were local and occasionally they would sell their homes that were owned by trusts, or held as assets in estates. My mom had been a mortgage lender briefly so I was familiar with that end, and I had already purchased my own home, so I had some knowledge from that angle as well. It seems completely crazy now, but at the time, it made sense.

In September of 01, the terrorists brought down the twin towers. On 9/23 Joe and I got unofficially engaged and on 9/26 we got officially married. The real estate biz was hard at first. I was a buyers agent on a team of realtors which was great from a learning perspective, but it was hard in other ways. I sold a few houses and thought it was not at all what I expected and hoped for, so I retired my license. Since Joe and I were married and his job paid the bills, I decided to really do something different. Very different.

I set aside the Financial licenses.

I set aside the Real Estate license.

I went to school for 1 year to learn about skin and obtain an Aesthetics license. Why? Well, I had always suffered with skincare problems. I had a few facials in my lifetime at that point and felt like that would be an incredible way to help people, a solid way to earn an income, without the corporate headaches, and without the inconsistency of real estate. I was right.

I got my first job as an Esthetician in a spa. I worked there for about a year when I heard from my former teacher telling me there was a great position open in a physicians office to do "clinical" skincare. I jumped at that chance and I got the job. I worked there for nearly 3 years. (All the while I had continued to sell real estate part-time). It was in that job that I learned more about skin than I had ever imagined possible. I learned about the value of building relationships with the people I encountered day to day. I learned about the importance of quality products and proper usage. I learned that most women don't believe they are beautiful, even when they look like cover models. I learned that doctors don't know much about business. I learned that marketing is a key ingredient to success. And I learned how to sell products that I believe in. It was also there, where I was on straight salary, that I realized I really appreciated working on commission. Real Estate obviously pays on commission per sale. But also, the spa where I worked would pay me a commission to sell products. It amazed me how much larger my paychecks would be if I actually would sell products.

After 3 years there I was let go. I knew it was coming because I had been warned that I needed to increase business, but I had not been given a marketing budget. I still don't know how to increase business without marketing. It was a bittersweet split. My husband had lost his job one month before. He worked for a restaurant that had been bought out by someone who thought his brother would make a fine Executive Chef. Joe worked the late and long demanding hours of Thanksgiving and was let go at the end of his shift. One month later, a week before Christmas with a 12 month old baby at home, I lost my job too. But it was sweet because we knew God well enough to know that through no faults of our own, we were being forced into God's will and he would take us on an incredible adventure.

...to be continued....