Choices

Posted by Mary on June 30, 2009

Mom - An Independent Woman

Mom - An Independent Woman

 

One of my mother’s key values was the importance of “Choice,” her underlying principal was for women to be independent, strong and employed. “It’s important to work hard and get an education” she said, typical values growing up in Minnesota during the 1950’s and 60’s. I lived my life believing this until I became a Director several times over and learned that budget cuts are painful choices and that we let people go even though they had an education and worked hard.  It’s been two years since I “chose” to leave my corporate job and reinvent myself, I’ve moved away from health care management and sales management in private industry back to healthcare but from a holistic health and wellness perspective.

 

I’ve made lots of choices, trying on different ideas based on a holistic perspective and building from my healing practice foundation.  I’ve experimented the past two years thinking through what type of business I wanted to create until something became clear and the clarity came through personal discomfort.  What are my strengths, what work is satisfying and can I evolve the business into an eventual retirement practice? 

 

After my father died last fall I realized I used my nursing skills to manage his medical care over several years, I did the same when my mother died from cancer and subsequently other family members requested my support.  When my sister died recently I organized the work that needed to be done with my remaining sisters, closing out all her final affairs.  Having assisted with end of life activities for both parents and a younger sister I learned a lot through very different experiences and it became clear that being a daughter, sister and friend with a health and healing background could be helpful to others.

 

Some choices are obvious and other opportunities come to us unlooked for but life is an interesting journey and I have a myriad of choices. I consider myself a strong independent woman, I learned from my Mother.

 

Mary

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Don’t forget the value of Bartering

Posted by Mary on April 8, 2009

Barter, trade, exchange, swap, etc. 

In it’s simplest form to Barter means “to trade goods or services without the exchange of money.”  In these tough economic times I look at what I need to build a business and Bartering has become a viable avenue to access needed services.  We all have something to offer in trade and before I give away my talent and skill I now take the opportunity to ask my fellow business associates to consider an exchange of services that has a fair exchange value for both of us.  It’s funny but when I talk to my friends and associates we tend to under value our gifts and yet the reality is that we all have some skill or talent  that someone else admires and needs.  I have acquired many talents over the years and recently I’ve learned a lot about social networking; LinkedIn, Facebook and most recently how to use Word Press for blogging or posting articles on my business or various life interests.  I have friends and associates that want to incorporate these tools to build their small business and I realize that I can teach them how to get started in these areas and in exchange they can help me in some other areas.

I think of my business as viable and worthy of the investment I have to make to nurture steady growth and I love helping collogues look for similar opportunities in their own business.  This week I had a couple of business associates with valuable skills that I needed and I have some talents that they need, all it took was asking the question “would you consider a barter?”  You might be surprised at how open people are to the fair exchange, I’ve watched my friend Lisa at Call That Girl Computer Repair consistently recognize her talents and speak with confidence as she barters her way to business success.  Think about it, you have nothing to lose but an opportunity.

Recognizing talent when I see it,

Mary

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