We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Noemi Martinez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Noemi below.

Alright, Noemi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?

Besides being a business owner whom also took care of others as a business model, I was also a single mom and dating a gentleman at the time who seemed “healthy” from the outside but was riddled with stress inside and was not taking care of his High blood pressure issues. One day, as I finally had my own building, creating partnerships with other healers in the community, renting space to others to expand their businesses and about to have other practitoners work in my space and provide more modalities of care for my clients, my boyfriend had a hemmhoragic stroke and I became his main care giver. I was able to juggle all of this for a few months and quickly learned that something had to give. I meditated and prayed on it for a while and the answer I kept hearing was to give up my business. I thought…”no way, why that? I was finally where I wanted to be. Surely all that work coudln’t be in vain.” It was devastating. How could this be happening to me right now? But I ended up closing my business several months later and selling the building to caregive for my boyfriend and relieve some of my stress. Otherwise I knew I wouldn’t be able to show up for work the way I needed to in order to care for others. At the same time I had to make a decision, I had a local colleague who owned an Acupuncture practice reach out to me and offer me an opportunity to work in their space not knowing what was happening in my world. It was another sign that I was doing the right thing.

What I learned later after reflecting back on it and forgiving myself for the choice I had made is that I did achieve what I wanted eventhough I didn’t have it for long and eventhough I didn’t let it grow to where I wanted to see it grow, I still achieved that goal.

I also learned that when you aren’t attached to an outcome, there is less disappointment. We often set all these expectations on ourselves and are often our own worse critic when it doesn’t happen.

Additionally I would say that evaluating what success meant to me (not what society had taught me it was) also helped me with my being able to let it go.

Also being an entrepreneur I have failed many times or created partnerships with people that later didn’t work out and I was able to start over.

Since then and as time goes on I get better at continuously evaluating what I’m doing, why I am doing it and who’s it serving? And asking myself is it making me happy? Is it bringing me joy? If it’s not, then how can I shift it so it feels more aligned.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I have been practicing Chinese Medicine, which includes Acupuncture, Chinese Herbs, and a manual therapy called Tuina. We have to get our Master’s in Chinese medicine, so herbs are studied ALL throughout school, and then a bachelor’s of science training us in the basics of Western Medicine understanding pathology, pharmacology, anatomy and phsysicology, psychology, etc. so that we may understand the diagnosis most patients come in with. I had my first experience with Acupucnture when I was pregnant with my daughter in 2003. I was 42 weeks pregnant and planned to have a home birth with a midwife, but there were no signs of me going into labor and my midwife and I had exhausted all the possibilites she knew. So she sent me to an Acupuncturist and 24 hours after a treatment, I went into labor. I was so intrigued by how and why this worked.

I had studied martial arts for 5 years in middle school and most of high school and so I understood some of the Chinese theory. But when I found out there was a school 20 minutes from where I lived and they had a modular program where I could go to school in evening or morning I signed up two years after I had my daughter.

I originally got my licese in Florida and then later got licensed in South Carolina. We are required to take 60 hours of continuing education every couple years for recertification of our license. So over the years I have taken many continuting education courses which has given me the ability to help many clients. Some of my favorite continuing education has been in Facial Rejuvenation and Scalp Acupuncture to help with Neurological disorders. I’m currently looking at doing some more training in the area of Tuina (the manual modality to chinese medicine) to help the body let go more through the power of touch.

I rebranded my business a year ago in 2021 to Anew Healing LLC because I had also become a Reiki Master and become certified in some other energy modalites such as Dimensional Dowsing (which allows me to use a dowsing rod and very specific language to help remove energy blocks from different energy fields of the body, outside of the body and even lifetimes). I work with Essential oils, crystals, and sound therapy to further help my clients with their sessions.

I additionally have had training in the last year to become a cacao facilitator to assist clients in navigating their heart space and letting go of energy that is hold them back from experiencing their essence again. My journey with cacao has allowed me to forgive myself and make space in my heart so I can continue connecting with clients with so much presence. I have also had ceremonies for my community, helping them navigate things on their heart that they were ready to release.

I am able to look at my clients with many different lenses. I explore all aspects of them: Emotional, spiritual, physical (including lifestyle, nurtirion, exercise, etc.) and energetic. It’s a holistic view of the person and not one person is the same. They may have similar condiditons, but everyone’s history of how they arrived there is different and how their body responds is different. So each patient is treated individually. I also have incredible presence with my clients. There are no distractions. We rarely get that in our busy world.

Last year my business created a program for ten first response officers in one of the largest precincts here, to help them with their stress response. Police were getting a lot of publicity for police brutality and this was one way I felt I could contribute to the solution and not the problem. Aspire, Heal and Grow is a branch of my company that I created to do work with the community. I had some other healers help me in carrying out this program for 12 weeks. Officers received acupucnture every week (a protocol I created specifically), Reiki and then we taught them Qi Gong, Meditation and Breath work. They had to engage in one of these 3 modalities per week once they learned all 3 throughout the program and learned about journaling.

Officers that never believed in meditation, started to understand its benefits. Some were able to take what they learned and apply it to their personal lives and de-escalate situations calmly. 100% of the officers in the program noticed a shift in how they responded to situations and work and in their personal life. Their stress levels decreased, their awareness increased, they slept better and could tell they had benefited.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Entrepreneurs are a rare breed and they are for sure risk takers, unafraid to fail, because they know they can start over. They are constatnly seeking new ways to make things better, easier for their business.

I have been contracted with others now at 3 different locations. The first contract lasted a year, the second 3, the third a year and a half. I have rented space from now 3 different locations and owned my own buidling for a time.

The changes have been due to me not being apprecitated, not vibing with other people’s energy, outgrowing my space, and for personal reasons. Whatever the reason was, I had to start over except for the clients that followed me.

This for sure makes me resilient and unafraid to take risks. I’m also okay with making changes when they feel right for my business.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Most of the time I’ve been in business I’ve done it all myself: the administration, the creation, the setting up appointments, the servicing of clients, the cleaning, the marketing/advertising, etc. I was always scared to hire someone out of fear that I wouldn’t be able to pay them. I thought having help would hinder me financially. However, I can say confidently, that I hired an assistant who has helped me with my social media, helping me recreate my website, checking out clients and setting up appoitnments, refreshing the treatment rooms and helps me with tasks to help me free up some of my time. I pay him a good wage, because I see it as an investment to give me more time for the things I know I’m good at and needed for.

So paying someone else to help you, allows you to grow the business in ways you couldn’t before without their help.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @anew_healing_
• Facebook: Anew Healing LLC
• Linkedin: Noemi Martinez, BS, MSOM, LAc.

Image Credits
LaQuan Sumpter