It's fascinating to me how some of our best ideas come about. I know that I know that I know that I was led by the Holy Spirit on the anniversary of William Carey's birthday (he was born August 17, 1761) to the Cozy Christmas Cottage on the Lake. The exactly 2 1/2 years I was there was a special time of revelation and preparation for fulfilling God's interesting and exciting Call on my life!
A significant challenge for any business that offers services is scheduling, and so it has always been with me. When I moved my studio to the Cozy Christmas Cottage on the Lake, scheduling became my number one challenge because of parking.
Being on the lake was amazing! It was an absolute dream! Renting from my landlord was an absolute dream! She quickly became and has remained one of my closest and dearest friends. Everything was perfect about the Cozy Christmas Cottage---except the limited parking. But hold that thought! Have you ever had something that appeared to be a problem and then realized later that it was actually a brilliant blessing, you just had to look at it the right way? That is exactly what I had going on with parking on the lake!
I have an old yellow truck which I will tell you about soon. And at the time, I had a Prius. That is 2 vehicles, and I only had 2 parking spots available to me on the lake. My brother graciously allowed me to park my yellow truck at his house, so I would have 1 parking spot for my Guests. This created a challenge with scheduling, because now I had to be sure that Guest A was gone before Guest B could arrive. There wasn't any way for someone to arrive early because the parking was like a jigsaw puzzle, so I had to be confident that Guest A was gone in plenty of time for Guest B to be able to pull in easily when they arrived.
And that is how I solved once and for all my scheduling challenge! It's always darkest before the dawn! A new idea was about to dawn! It was in 2018, after I had been welcoming Guests to the Cozy Christmas Cottage for one year, and had been practicing massage therapy for 22, that the solution came to me. I still remember where I was sitting by the fireplace, and I remember my amazement as the idea came. The solution was simple: from that moment forward, every appointment would be 90 minutes, scheduled 2 hours apart.
I have always appreciated stores that have easy patterns to remember for their operating hours. For example, Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. Gardens are open every day between 10am-6pm, except during Christmas lights, when they are open every day between 4-9pm, and they are closed the entire month of January. That means their Opening Day every year is my birthday! February First! Their hours are easy to remember.
I didn't know how to apply that simplicity to my own business--until I did! Before my 90 minute epiphany, I was offering the traditional 30, 60 and 90 minute massages, and it was costing me time and money, especially as I had to allow more than ample time between each appointment. Welcoming a Guest, engaging with them as they arrive and depart (which is my delight to do! I LOVE people!) takes the same amount of time regardless of the length of their massage session, so scheduling appointments that first year at the Cozy Christmas Cottage was crazy!
It seemed I had an awkward amount of time in between appointments that wasn't long enough to get anything done, but too much time to not at least attempt to do something productive. As someone who values time, and seeks to "fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run" as Kipling says, I needed a breakthrough!
When my breakthrough came, like so many breakthroughs, it was so obvious, I wondered that I hadn't thought of it before! I simply made every appointment 2 hours apart, and began to encourage people to come for 90 minutes. This was also when my ministry to bereaved women began to take shape, and I made sure to gift 90 minutes to each woman who came to my massage studio and table with a heavy, grieving heart. More on that coming soon.
And so it was that I realized it was not only the best stewardship of my time but also assured each Guest would receive the most from their visit, if I made all my appointments 90 minutes. If 90 minutes was too long for one person, they could bring a friend and split the time evenly, with 45 minutes each.
Since my vision was that some day I would be working with other therapists and running Massage Marathons, it was important that I had a super simple schedule. Finally, it was! With this dilemma behind me, I began to wonder about the MEANING of 90 minutes. The first thing I thought of was Psalm 90. When I looked it up, I knew I had come to the right conclusion: the last verse of Psalm 90, verse 17, says, "May the favor of the LORD our GOD rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us--yes, establish the work of our hands." Perfect confirmation!
The next thing that came to mind is that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have a total of 89 chapters, making Acts 1 the 90th chapter in the New Testament, and in verse 8, which I have known from childhood, is the promise of the Holy Spirit empowering us to share the gospel to the ends of the earth! More confirmation! The Holy Spirit has put it at the forefront of my purpose to create a ministry business that refreshes those I serve, and that generates tremendous support for those who give their lives to share the Gospel all the way to the ends of the earth!
Psalm 90 and Acts 1 fit 90 minutes like a glove. But I knew there was more--what about the significance of (2) 45 minute Christmassages? Valentine's Day came to mind! It's the 45th day of the year in the 2nd month of the year, so there's my 45 and 2! Since Valentine's Day is 2/14, I associate it with Habakkuk 2:14 for 2 reasons. The name Habakkuk means EMBRACE which Valentine's Day is all about, and Habakkuk 2:14 is the same numbers as February 14. Habakkuk 2:14 says, "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the SEA." This absolutely de-lights me because Habakkuk 2:14 is the KEY verse for being what I call a SEA Shell Entrepreneur (I can't wait to tell you what it means to be a SEA Shell Entrepreneur!)
Now you know why all my appointments are 90 minutes! If you are in Hot Springs, or plan to visit, I would love to make a 90 minute Christmassage or Chair'tea Annointment Appointment for you, or for you and a friend! I will tell you about Chair'tea! and Annointment Appointments super soon!
To connect with me, you may text 60-PINECONE, that's 6-0-PINECONE, or look me up online at pineconepromises.com! I hope to hear from you soon!
