We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jesse Mendoza. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jesse below.
Jesse, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
As a child, I would always touch a part of a person if it was hurting. Although, that was not the best thing then, it usually hurt them more, I believe that was my natural healer coming out. I grew up around Reiki and most things you grow up around, you really do not pay too much attention to until it isn’t around you anymore.
So how did I end up doing Reiki for a living? I started a holistic shop. I had always dreamed of owning my own business. When I was younger, I thought it would be an art gallery. I was raised by “starving artists” traveling around the country on the weekends to sell at all of the art fairs, sometimes two at a time. So, I thought, how nice would it be if I could sell all of my friends’ art in one location, so they wouldn’t have to travel so much and work so hard. But I came to realize that part of the appeal for artists is being a little nomadic and although I still have a lot of friends that do create art, I realized that the world needs healing a lot more.
Things have shifted in our society. It isn’t necessarily safe or comfortable for healers to work out of their homes anymore. House calls are kind of a thing of the past as well for the same reasons.
So, I created a place for healers to work. This place is safe and comfortable for the clients and the practitioners. And I do Reiki here too. This may be a saturated field and I help with that. I think everyone should practice Reiki, so we teach it. I am very lucky to have had the connections and business training to allow me to create my first job in this field. Sometimes, that is what you have to do. If it doesn’t exist the way you think it should, make it.
Jesse, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
In our shop, Healing House Energy Spa, we have gathered together some great healers. We have a Shaman, a medical intuitive, an amazing Tarot reader that does a lot of other things as well, a medium and me. We all do Reiki. I do Aromatouch and teach Reiki as well.
So anyone who is looking to feel better, be more abundant, know themselves more, evolve into who they want to be or learn some new skills, we can help. We have the expertise and the knowledge to share to improve your life and well being in so many different ways.
We have one on one sessions, events, classes and tools. So many people have said they feel better after just being in the store because we keep the energy loving and healing in our space. So even a shopping trip can give you a little boost. If you’d like to know more, check us out at www.healinghouseenergyspa.com.
We have monthly group Shamanic healings, Intuition practice circles, Sonic Reiki (Sound Healng+ Reiki Events) and many other offerings. We have appointments available for Soul Readings, Reiki, Shamanic Healings and so many more. Not to mention, we have a lovely assortment of amazing crystals and metaphysical tools. The shop is open Tues-Sat 10am-6pm, drop ins are welcome.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
If you really care about the members of your team, it is a lot easier to manage. People have good days and bad days and you have to ride that wave with them sometimes. Set expectations are the key. If you tell people at the start what you expect, it is easier for them to know how to interact in the group. Then, if someone needs redirection, they already know they were not acting in alignment with your expectations. It takes the surprise factor out and causes less hurt feelings. Things aren’t personal if everyone understands the rules. Obviously, unexpected things come up. I find it is easier to look at individual situations than make blanket rules in these cases.
I have managed teams in other settings and “always treating people how you’d like to be treated” is a great base line. I am lucky enough to have created a space for other business owners, who are self motivated and independent of my business to “manage” now. I share my vision for how things will go and am open to suggestions, but these are not employees. It is more of a collaboration with many, than a management position. Certainly, there are still battles and you have to choose which ones are worth fighting, but maintaining a positive and loving environment is my first goal. I am amazed at all the healing and growth that I get to witness. We are all learning from each other and growing and healing as well at what feels like an exponential rate, so we are all better suited to help everyone else.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I have had a lot of pivots in my life. Sometimes, almost everything changed all at once and I was on a completely new trajectory. During college at the U of M, in one week, I crashed my car, was evicted out of my apartment, robbed at the new place I moved into and found out I was pregnant. So, first huge pivot from my plans was away from graduating and traveling the world into being a mother. I didn’t give up going to school. I was close to finished and I did graduate with a one year old. Tell you what, they do not make those auditorium drop down desks for pregnant people.
After a crazy drunken toga party baby shower in the new place (I obviously wasn’t drinking), I did decide to move in with the baby’s father, my future husband. My dad found me a van, but the brakes were bad and my baby daddy forbid me from driving it. So, I ended up sharing the family mini van with my new family. My husband lived with his sister, his mother and his niece in the trailer park. It was not the future I had imagined when I started my college career, but there were some really great things about it. I love my in laws, I was immersed in a different culture than my own, but there were so many similarities. People are people. I have the most beautiful daughter. She was so amazing, we decided to do it again and we gave her a beautiful sister.
But very soon after she was born, my husband decided to leave us. It was a year before the divorce was final, but in the meantime, I moved back to Wisconsin near my family, but still commuted to New Brighton each day for work. That was a hard pivot. I really loved my husband, I had planned on being a happy family forever. But pivot, I did, into single motherhood, working a lot to pay for everything and missing the kids.
I did end up eventually moving back to Minnesota so that I would have more time with them with no commute, but there were some snags with that too and after four schools and three different living situations, I met my current partner. We bought a house and made a final move and I was able to stabilize my children’s living situation. I had kept my job for nine years during all of this and had gotten a few promotions but after a couple years in the house, I was fired. Thank goodness, I probably would have stayed there forever. I had a few jobs after that, but soon after that point, I started setting my sights on being my own boss and here I am. Thanks to all those pivots, I made it here. I am blessed to be adaptable to change. I know everyone isn’t built that way. Even the seemingly negative changes open new doors and paths for our futures. So, I think change is always good.
This can be applied to business as well. I am only in the fourth year of business, so you can imagine, the model has pivoted a few times. Being flexible is important. When something isn’t working, you’ll need to change it. I love our current model, but it may change again. We’ll see.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.healinghouseenergy.com
- Instagram: healinghouseenergy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healinghouseenergy/
- Other: You can also find Healing House Energy Spa on Pinterest.
