Nurture your business with God

In 2017 I suffered a break down at work. I was not coping or functioning well. I was second in charge of a busy surgical, orthopaedic ward and the load and responsibilities were hectic. My Nurse Unit Manager was hard, and tight with budgets which put extra pressures on us. I had a melt down at work and could not stop crying. 

I took time out for stress leave to gather myself again. During this time a doctor approached me to contract to him doing cosmetic injecting at 2 beauty clinics. I had learnt this and worked with a cosmetic Doctor in 2012-2014. I didn’t think that I would ever go back to it again. But this time I found it so rewarding and experienced a new passion and love for it. 

I was enjoying treating clients again and found a new level of confidence with how I was treating my clients that I didn’t have before I did this for a few months and the doctor approached me saying he was planning on opening his own clinic and that I was no longer required as a contractor, but if I like I could continue working in the two beauty clinics but as a sole operator. Essentially branching out on my own. Oh man nothing had really changed but it also had in a big way. Now I was responsible for stock and invoicing. For some reason I was scared. I had no big vision. I was just providing an income for myself outside of the hospital setting. 

For 12 months I worked part time at the hospital and my 2 days in the beauty clinics. At the end of 12 months, I had built quite a regular following. One of the beauty clinics was going through a tough time internally with two owners having DVO orders out against each other. Although i wasn’t caught up in it, it was not a very good atmosphere to be a part of. I found that more and more clients were asking about skin health treatments advice. I was restricted in what I could do for them in someone else’s clinic. It was frustrating as I could see there was a gap in the treatments being offered. 

2018 came the big leap of faith. I really felt that it was time to open my own clinic. I looked around and found a cheap commercial space in a medical building. It was old, uninviting, and disheartening when I saw it. But I also could see with a fresh coat of paint, new blinds, and furnishings we could turn it into something nice. My husband lent me $20,000 to get started. To me this was a huge amount of money to be responsible for and must owe it back to him. This time really taught me to surrender everything to God. I resigned from my 20 years with the private hospital and stable income. And fully trusted God for my income and business to grow. 

Every week was a new steppingstone, a new faith step or trusting, leaning in and just surrendering everything to God. It was quiet initially. I trusted and understood that we need to build. It wasn’t going to happen overnight. I needed to do what I could, love and care for my patients the best I could with what I had, market it well and trust God with it. People shared their experience with their family and friends. Word of mouth got out. Our socials FB and Instagram were growing. I was seriously happy as long as I could pay the bills and pay myself an income. Each week this happened. Each week we made profit, albeit small in the beginning. I left it there and the account grew. 

It wasn’t easy, there were adversities. There were people discrediting me. One of the salon owners was not happy that I had left and had opened my own clinic on the other side of town. She held onto my last takings for the day which was over $2000. I never saw it again. I was being sued for medical negligence. It was truly a scary time. But it was also an exhilarating time. This season brought me closer to God than I had ever felt before. I was talking to him non-stop. I was praying all the way to work; I was praying on the way home from work. I found my strength and security in him. He would warn me, would wake me up and I would see visions of his shield around me and that none of the spears being thrown at me would hurt me, but they would bounce of the armour. He was my protector from the enemy. 

Having a Christian friend was a huge support. I would say it’s quiet, and she would remind that although it was quiet God was providing for me. I was in fact doing okay. And that although stuff was happening which wasn’t pleasant, I could also trust God to carry me through. It reinforced to me when the devil was having a field day that I really must be a thorn in his side, and I was a child of God he was trying to discourage.

How do you condense 5 years of growth and learning into a few paragraphs? Only I have seen and felt Gods faithfulness. We continued to grow from strength to strength. We were able to introduce new treatments to meet client needs. We’ve expanded from 2 rooms to 6 treatment rooms, from one staff to 11 staff and thriving. God has blessed our little business immensely, beyond what I could ever dreamed or imagined.  From small faithful steps, big things grow. Find your passion and purpose and surrender it all to God to outwork his plan through you. I look forward to sharing with you at the Christian Women in Business conference.