We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Miller. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.
Emily, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.
As a licensed practitioner for 15 years I’ve had the greatest joy watching my industry adapt new ideas and ancient modalities. When I started Haven in 2018 I had just sold my first business, a licensed medical marijuana dispensary, I knew the approach I wanted to take was educating and breaking the taboo of Hemp and Cannabis with my clients while still offering them clinical bodywork in a Spa environment.
I have always had a passion for plant medicine and I saw the perfect artisinal blend that allowed clients to dip their toes into the phenomenal healing of Hemp and Cannabis by offering complimentary CBD and THC in a 1:1 blend before their session begins with a full body hemp extract topical. We didn’t invent the wheel but we strive to perfect it by always updating our menu and always infusing it with knowledge, healing, hemp and cannabis.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Haven Spa VTA was established in 2018 by Emily Miller who started as a sole practitioner and eventually has grown into the thriving practice that it is today with talented and highly trained therapists who love what they do and are great at what they do!
We stand apart because we are rooted in community first and healing second. We heal our community by healing ourselves and here at Haven we believe in the healing power of hemp and cannabis. It is a joy and privilege to watch peoples lives change with physical freedom!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Like many, COVID altered my reality and my business plan drastically! I shut my one door on 3/17/20 with the intention of re-opening in a larger location but with shut downs, city politics over massage establishments, and personally becoming pregnant with my wonderful son I wasn’t able to reopen a physical location until 6/13/22. When I re-opened I did so with three treatment rooms, no therapists and only the money I was making as a practitioner to get me by. We speak of resilience as linear but there are ebbs and flows that come with working for yourself and you have to be ready for anything!
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
As a business that sells CBD topicals in the form of massages and physical products there are several “hoops” to jump through to do so legally and not be a dispensary. One of the biggest hoops was a merchant processor who wants to work with CBD selling merchants because we are classified as a “high risk merchant”. These are politics of the industry and we are proud to be complient through the City of Ventura, the State of California and the Federal Government when dealing with our credit card processors.
This background is relevant because most companies will not work with anyone selling CBD so our options were limited to a company who since 20018 approved our CBD application and therefore controlled our website, online booking system, checking and savings account, client retention and marketing information…all things that are priceless to a small business. Due to a glitch no one in the company could answer, my small business “fell through the cracks” and was banned and deleted in a matter of two hours. All information, all funds, everything was frozen and no matter who or what I tried to do no answer was coming besides you are permanently banned from our system.
What a pivotal moment where a thousand deaths were died in order to right the ship that was sinking from a rogue and unrelenting wave. I did what every small business owner with a family to feed does, I found and was approved by a whole new credit card processer, I built an entirely new website, I pieced together client information from over 6 years of emails and integrated them into a new system, I paid everyone but myself to the point of almost losing everything. Blood, sweat and tears.
All while this was happening our clients watched and loved and healed us just as much as they saw we heal them. Nothing in healing is linear and it’s especially true when talking about a business based in healing. When people tell me what Haven has done for them I always feel the same; this is truly a labor of love and a path I would choose again and again.
Contact Info:
- Website: discoverthehaven.com
- Instagram: havenspavta
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discoverthehaven
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/haven-ventura