Woaw...
So... It comes to no surprise to you that I am... Well... Occasionally a little flighty. However, I am taking that into account when I tell you that my life's aspirations are changing. While it is true that I enjoy massage therapy, I am getting exceedingly nervous about my personal safety when it comes to my profession; did you know that an estimated one in six Americans have one form of herpes or another and that even without genital contact, it's crazy-easy to spread? Moreover, despite the statistical probability that tells me otherwise, [small number]told me on their intake health forms that they have herpes, so that I may take added precautions while massaging them.
Did you also know that last year, the U.S. ranked 9th in the world for highest number of rapes per capita? I can only wonder how much I have elevated my personal risk by having a profession where my potential aggressors are already naked and may have the assumption that I am a prostitute.
I had a pretty good idea about all this a mere three years ago when I decided to attend massage school, but I felt a little more invincible than I do now. The Trish who was impenetrable to disease and would gladly rip off an aggressor's arms and legs with her bare hands has somehow transformed into the Trish who, you know, might like to have herpes-free biological babies one day and no longer holds any illusions about her own herculean strength. Can't open jars. Probably can't fend off perverse deviant evildoers.
This hurts. I absolutely love working in the salon. I love chewing the fat with my regulars while I shove my elbows into their occiputs. My landlord/boss/coworker has become one of my best friends. I don't want to let her down by moving on. But being one of my best friends, I think she knows that I am an uncontrollable sphere of molten-hot, attention-deficit energy who cannot be contained! I think she knows I need more. I just feel bad because it's hard to find reliable, year-round, certified help in the beauty/spa industry.
I am not jumping into anything just yet. I obviously need to take my planning and soul-searching very seriously before I do anything. I will continue to work at the salon for quite some time while I plan my next step (and figure out how to tell my boss) (hopefully not while getting raped and/or contracting herpes).
That next step being...
Here goes: My boyfriend and I would like to open a small used bookstore/coffee bistro/gift and gaming store/social venue. That's sort of a mouthful, I realize. I'm hoping, though, that diversifying several goods and services under one roof will spell success for us in an economy where most just-coffee-shops fold in towns like [My town]. As of now, all but two in the area have. Yep... Diversity... Everything from comic books and memoirs to espresso and grilled hummus wraps to Magic cards and Dungeons and Dragons miniature figurines to pine cones with googly eyes glued to them (you know, for the tourists).
This seems like an unconventional way to follow my dreams of being a writer and cross-country traveler, being tied down to a business and all. I understand that. However, I have come to realize that no matter how busy I've been in the past, writing is one thing I have always made time for regardless. Writing will always be there for me, just like my unwanted arm hair. I seem to even write more when I have limited time to do so. And as for the traveling, people keep telling me to do the traveling when I'm young. I wonder on what funds. The career of massage therapy, or at least my career, is not nearly as lucrative as salary.com led me to believe (What kind of massage therapist really makes $70,000 a year?! Not the legitimate kind, I'm guessing?) I don't think I'm that horrible at what I do, but according to them, I am in the lowest 5% of massage money makers. I do not live an overly-frivolous lifestyle, yet I have no real savings or travel fund to speak of, despite my usually having a second job. I get by on a month-to-month basis. I know that starting a business won't make me rich. Heck, even if it succeeds, which it statistically only has only a 50% chance of happening in the first place, I probably won't have a comfortable living for the next five years. But, hopefully, a few years down the road, I will be able to afford travel. It might not be the case, but the uncertainty of maybe earning money trumps the certainty of not having it with a career in massageville.
As you can imagine, I have a lot of work ahead of me. I just spent eighty bucks on a variety of Idiot's Guide books, I've been brainstorming like a felon, and I've been researching how to write a business plan. I know I will need to look into grant writing and funding strategies. I need a time line, a location, education, bookkeeping knowledge. Everything. I need to learn and do everything that needs to be known and done to have a small business. It is an understatement to say that I am in the most preliminary phase of the planning. This is why I am writing this email: I am desperately begging you, my sage and wonderful loved ones for any advice you can send my way. At this point, I do not know what I am doing. At all. You are getting this email because I sincerely value your opinions and wisdom.
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