Conversations with Gini Maddocks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gini Maddocks.

Hi Gini, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Looking back upon my life and career, I find myself wondering how much had to do with my uncertain start in life–when I came down with Polio at age 2. Even with a supportive family, I have always felt “different”. I developed self-defense mechanisms that have not only protected me, but perhaps allowed me to function in life as I made it up– as I went along–adapting to my specific issues and learning to live outside of the box that most people comfortably rely upon. Maybe those formative years set me up to fashion a life on my own, as only an entrepreneur has the freedom to do.

There is a theory that entrepreneurship may be inherited. My father was a self-starter of an excavating company–perhaps I got the gene. At an early age, I was often left to my own devices as my family had to work while I was left at home with my grandmother, a busy woman with a farm to work–so she would place me in a play-pen for hours at a time. Maybe that’s where I learned to become inventive and to amuse myself. I put a great deal of value on amusing myself!

By the time I finished college, I realized that my chosen profession–social work–was not really for me. After 3 years in the work-force, I decided to follow a “holistic health” path and took a massage therapy course in Mt. Desert, Maine.. It was 1981–I was 30 and pregnant, looking for something that could sustain our family while allowing me to make my own schedule.

The science of how the body works ignited my interest and making my own schedule while practicing in my own way suited my independent nature.

Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle–not a job and we often blur the boundaries between home and work. Most of the time, that suits me just fine but there are trade-offs.

Being an independent contractor, I offered massages in our house, while my daughter napped. At that time, there were few laws governing massage therapy so we formed a massage guild –a great way to share information, stay current, and provide validity for our work.

Maine was a challenge. Business was great during tourist season but staying the course was difficult, not to mention how much I really don’t like to be cold.

When I was 38, I had a malignant lump in my breast which I found while grieving for my father who was dying of lymphoma. Soon after, we moved directly from Maine to Hawaii where I had a good friend. A fresh start seemed in order. And by that time, massage was becoming more mainstream and licensing became necessary in most states.

I attended the American Massage Therapy School on Oahu and studied for my license at the beach while healing from surgery–and the fear of the big “C”! It felt idyllic until I realized how little massage therapy paid in such a competitive climate–oh dear.

After 2 years, we decided to move back to my home state of Ohio–where I was required to go back to massage school because licensing is not reciprocated among states–oh dear–again.

Ultimately, Ohio’s strict rules for massage therapy served me well. I became better educated and the information clicked like never before. I grew into my profession and I am growing still. One of the blessings of medical massage therapy is how innovative the field can be. What is often referred to as “alternative medicine” adds a broadband of options which I am currently exploring for my practice–such as using micro currents, biomagnetics and/or light therapy.
Having worked in this field for over 43 years, I am still hungry for the next best addition to helping others and myself as we live longer and find ways to help ourselves.

In 2003, I wrote a book, R&R: Rescue and Relief for Computer Users. It won an award, and the information is still relevant.
I began teaching that book to employees and office staff in corporations and businesses around the Cincinnati area. I was featured on several TV morning shows as well as interviewed on radio a few times. I was even considered for an Oprah show, but I was told my website was not able to handle the potential load.

Times have changed. Self-care with companies has been reduced to on-line services and the human-interaction that I once participated in has diminished in the main-stream of business. Once massage was being considered to become covered by insurance companies but they have backtracked on that in recent years.

BUT WAIT–there’s more…
I continue to do massage locally, in my home town but I have added yet another entrepreneurial endeavor to my lifestyle.
I opened an “upscale resale” business–Snazzy Boutique–to the mix.

I have always had a passion for fashion–and at one point my daughter, who was looking in my closet, asked me if I thought that I might be a hoarder? Hmmm… I gave it some thought. Then I became excited and realized–“no! I could sell this stuff!”. And I began hosting a “pop-up shop” monthly, in my apartment. I hung clothes, added a mannequin and slowly turned my living space into a fashion place. My young grand-kids were not so happy about the mannequin which freaked them out–so they were glad when I decided to move my “wears” into a brick and mortar shop next door to my massage studio which is in the same building that I live in.

And that is where I am today. I have been lucky enough to travel–mostly Europe, where I scout out the resale shops to bring back to support my own shop–and that’s where I meet women, doing what women love to do–we shop.

I still do massage therapy 4 days a week–and open my boutique 2 days a week.
I often imagine how nice it must be to retire–or perhaps have 2 days off in a row, consistently.
But I am grateful to have enough business to enable my lifestyle.

To me, SUCCESS is defined as, what creates more energy than it takes and what gets me out of bed and into the day with a hopeful attitude.
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I’m 74, I still have passion for what I do–all of it–so I’m not done yet.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? I would not call my road smooth–but interesting? Oh yes!

Struggles: Education and licensure not reciprocated among states.
Often setting my own schedule, means that I work earlier, later and more than a 9-5:00
My exposure depends on me–how much effort I take to make my self known until work-of-mouth begins to create momentum–the turning point
Family issues. Often, when trying to create a business, my family suffered from my lack of time and attention
T I M E : I seem to always have more to do than time to do it in
Publicity and awareness: It’s difficult to enlist help and afford it when you find it
It’s tricky feeling peace of mind because there always seems to be more that can be and should be done.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My entrepreneurship is two-fold but both are included in being a “Holistic Practitioner” –as I see it. To me, Holistic means that the body and mind are interactive. When you address physical issues, you are including the mental aspect, via the nerves, the hormones and how they affect the brain (mind).

In this way, Massage therapy addresses the physical and the mental aspects simultaneously.

The “resale clothing” aspect: ‘How we dress’ affects our mental outlook which influences our physicality. When we feel a certain way, the nervous system signals specific hormones which affect our body as well as further effecting our attitudes (emotions). When we “choose” what to wear, we are influencing that feedback system.
My mantra, is “Dress the way you want to feel”, rather than dressing how you might be feeling at the time. When we feel good–our attitude influences the hormones that are released and the chemistry helps our attitude.

Specialize: My specialty is tuning into people–which I do by listening–whether it’s during a massage or while they are looking for something special to wear.

Most Proud of: I’m proud that I have started over in 3 different locations and have made it support me and my family. And I am proud that my goal is holistic as well–support for my business begins with my support for the client/customer. Win/Win

What sets you apart: I am having a great time–it keeps me nimble, at least mentally and it affords me a way to keep going even as post-polio is slowing me down. I also believe my “holistic” beliefs may be more prominent, allowing me to help others see that when we feel good ABOUT OURSELVES, we are happier human beings. Another WIN/WIN

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Seth Speaks is a book from my past that continues to serve me well by helping me to believe in myself.

I stay current on the new advances in Light, Magnetic and Microcurrent therapies–along with the personal healing of touch.

I watch fashion but the older stuff still makes me appreciate not only style, but quality.

Pricing:

• Massage Therapy: $95/ hour
• Snazzy clothes: less than retail by far!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shopsnazzyboutique.com/
• Instagram: snazzyboutiqueandgifts
• Facebook: snazzyboutiqueandgifts
• Linkedin: ginimaddocks
• Other: www.holisticmattersandmassage.com