Time blocking will help you get the most out of your day. As you practice this approach, set a timer for your self for each task you plan for the day. You start to get a clear sense of how long certain tasks take you and how long you should block for them which sets you up for success.
Adrienne Irizarry has always been passionate about holistic health. Her interest started in college when she discovered food is medicine. She had been diagnosed with celiac disease and nearly had to take a medical withdrawal from school because she had become so ill unaware her college diet of “ramen and pasta” was literally killing her.
Adrienne graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Master of Arts in Communication from the University of Maine in Orono. She has a Certificate in Nonprofit Management and her work with nonprofits had been fulfilling, but she always felt like she had missed her calling as a healer.
Her personal passion in college had been research in Chinese Medicine. This love later became a specialty in Chinese Dietetics. Her love of Chinese Medicine continues grow and now includes expertise in cupping and vaginal steaming.
Adrienne’s journey with vaginal steaming began with her own unexplained secondary infertility. She knew her periods weren’t normal and they never had been. They were heavy, irregular, painful. Acupuncture had been a game changer in her quality of life, yet she was afraid this unhealthy cycle might be the reason she and her husband were struggling to have a baby of their own. Vaginal steaming corrected her cycle and for the first time in her adult life she has a pain free regular period.
She was so astounded by her personal journey with steaming and how quickly it worked – she wanted to share this incredible practice with other women!
Adrienne is a certified Perimsteam Hydrotherapist through the Peristeam Hydrotherapy Institute in California. She works with women – from menarche through post menopause – to understand and live in healthier balance with their cycles.
Where did the idea for Moon Essence come from?
A person’s essence in Chinese Medicine is referred to as Jing. It is understood that if a woman doesn’t care for herself during menstruation she will lose this essence. I have never been comfortable with the word “period” for a menstrual cycle. Periods actually mark the start of the cycle – not the end, like punctuation at the end of a sentence. I like the term “moon time” because I feel it more appropriately describes how a woman’s hormone cycle goes through phases during the month, just like the moon. Put those two concepts together and you have my business name – Moon Essence.
I struggled with heavy painful menstruation my whole adult life. It was bad enough when it was affecting my productivity and quality of life, but when it resulted in unexplained secondary infertility when my husband and I tried to get pregnant I was desperate for a solution.
For the first time in my life I have a pain free, regular and moderate flow period thanks to vaginal steaming. It had such a profound impact on my health – not just menstruation but my immune system and ability to resist illness during the month – I had to share this ancient practice with others. I know what its like to feel helpless and have your period dictate your life – what you can wear, how active you can be, how productive you are at work from fatigue and the list goes on. No woman should have to suffer like that and there are thousands, like myself, who do (or in my case did.) I wanted to have a meaningful impact in the quality of life of others and from that Moon Essence was born.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
My day is all about balance. I am most productive when I start my day getting my Qi moving with movement and spend a few minutes of intention and gratitude. It is all too easy to see the negatives when things don’t go our way but spending 5 minutes in the morning and at night jotting down the things we are grateful for it changes our energy and mind set making us more productive. Time blocking is the ultimate productivity tool to maximize the demands of being a business owner and the schedule of being a women’s health practitioner. It helps focus the time you are spending thus increasing your productivity overall.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I learned a long time ago that I can use my head all I want but there is a fair bit of business that comes from intuition. I will brain dump new ideas and return to them later to see how they feel to me and if any ways of bringing them to fruition have surfaced in my time away from it. More often than not, I return to these ideas with deeper understanding or methods of execution so I can put a process in place to make the concept happen.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Women are actively seeking new ways of caring for themselves beyond medication and surgery. For so long, Western women have relied on hormonal birth control and surgery to control their cycles. More and more women are identifying that they don’t like how they feel with these methods and are seeking more understanding of their bodies and ways to live in better harmony with it.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Networking. Spending quality time learning about the work of others not only sets you up for referrals but strengthens your position in the community, whether it is local or in your field. I find that most of my referrals come from others in the holistic health community so creating meaningful relationships with my colleagues is a two-fold win.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Listen to your intuition – it never lies to you.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
The birth control pill is a scary thing. It has as many life threatening side effects as smoking. It is over prescribed with little counseling on the far reaching ramifications of taking it. Women need more quality education on their bodies and the options available to them so they can make fully informed decisions about what is right for them.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Say thank you. Thank your customers. Thank the vendors that support you. You are not an island. All too often people reach out when they need something but it really makes an impression when you share your gratitude for that help with those who help make you successful. People who feel appreciated will also continue supporting you and go above and beyond.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Identifying the right marketing channels for my audience. You can have the best message but if you aren’t getting in front of the right buyer persona for your business it doesn’t matter how good it is. Taking the time to create an ideal buyer persona for your business (so you aren’t just taking anyone who will pay you) pays off in the long run. You end up with the customers you want that will keep coming back for products or services.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I don’t really see anything in my business as a failure. They are all learning opportunities. Sure, have there been moments where I had orders and the supplies were backordered or my new scheduling software wasn’t sending me notifications – sure. All of these things help us hone our processes and create better systems.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Postpartum Support – An agency that brings together Holistic nutrition, other mothers in a network for emotional support and in-home postpartum doulas that can be in conducted a virtual format. Schedule your postpartum doula to come in to the home from your computer, get recipe ideas or order meals to be delivered to your house that help restore the body after childbirth and a sisterhood of women in the same phase of life to talk through struggles with is a huge gap in our culture to support women in the fourth trimester.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best $100 I spent recently was on Standard Process products. Clean food and optimal nutrition going into the body makes me operate at my best so that is both a personal and professional win! Your organic computer is only as good as what you put into it.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
I recently invested in plugins for Quickbooks that talk to my credit card processor and revenue channel software. I pay $15/month for the ones I use and it has saved me hours in bookkeeping time because when monies come in or go out of these channels the plugins move it all in and out of my accounting software automatically. I should have started using them years ago!
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. It’s a great way to create a productive headspace every day to get the most out of your day.
What is your favorite quote?
It’s hard to choose just one. My mentor said once “Leap and the net will appear” and as an entrepreneur this has proven true time and time again throughout my life. The other is “the cure for anything is salt water – sweat tears or the sea” because it is true. Releasing emotion, finding time for introspection and exercise are the quickest ways to get your head into the game for the day no matter what is going on.
Key Learnings:
• Time blocking will help you get the most out of your day. As you practice this approach, set a timer for your self for each task you plan for the day. You start to get a clear sense of how long certain tasks take you and how long you should block for them which sets you up for success.
• You are not an island – say thank you! Whether it is a colleague referral, an employee contribution or vendor support, you are successful because of the help of others.
• Trust your gut – your intuition never lies. We often put too much emphasis on our head and reason when our intuition will tell us quickly if something is a good idea or not.
• Read “The Fifth Vital Sign” by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack if you want to get a good understanding of how the female body works, how hormones can affect your cycle (supplemented or natural) and set you up for success in your life as a woman.
Connect:
moonessence.life
@moonessenceme – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.