The monthly Award is “For the woman who takes risks, feels the fear, but does it anyway”
Hannah Cornell-Schroeder is the owner of Soothe Your Soul a healing sanctuary located in Oxford Michigan.
Web Site soothe-your-soul.com
FaceBook Soothe Your Soul
Here is the story of Hannah’s Courage
Do you remember the moment you decided to take the leap into owning your own business? How did it feel and what was it that made you take the leap?The moment it felt real was when I was sitting with my friend at Casa Real, having a Margarita Business meeting discussing my dreams and ideas and she supported all of them. It made it feel so real. We took steps to design a logo and develop a website and I felt official. Before that point it was all just a dream in my head. That meeting propelled me forward and gave me momentum.
How long had you been dreaming of your business? What inspired it?Soothe Your Soul grew out of my broken heart. Seven years ago, my first husband was killed in an accident. As I grieved and tried to begin to heal, I had a hard time finding resources to assist my children and I. I actually traveled out of the state several times looking for complementary healing and support in my grief. When I began to feel stronger, I knew I needed to give back the gifts that had been bestowed upon me and share what I had learned with my community. Out of that desire grew Soothe Your Soul, and now two years later we are growing. It makes my heart sing with joy. My goal is, always has been and always will be to serve in a genuine and loving way. To provide a safe and nurturing space for healing and wellness to unfold.
I always had a dream of creating a space where I could provide some peace for other women. My daydreams and visions over the years varied. When my kids were little it started out as a dream of a business existing that could provide healthy meals for my family that I could pick up after my long work day, this magic place also had a babysitter and child care referral book and a reading area. Maybe a mom hide-away?! Good quality kids toys that someone else had already investigated for lead paint & educational value. Then a few years later I wanted a store to share all the things I loved. Books, cds, home decor, knitting stuff, maybe offer some yoga, and I wanted my kids to each have a corner to share what they loved. I had an idea about a reading room where the local teachers could come and be a guest book reader for a day and read their favorite book, I would donate a copy of that book to their classroom. Lots of ideas came and went over the years depending on my hobbies and whims of the moment! I just never really saw how I would keep them in business because in most cases all the stuff was free in my mind! Ha!
Soothe Your Soul was a name I picked back in 2005. The name came to me in a meditation and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with it at the time, so I just held onto it.
Then in 2008 my Dad was building on to his law practice in downtown Oxford. He added a small cute space (aka garage or carriage house) that he was going to use for file storage. The construction started in the fall and I walked into the space one chilly night when just the walls were up and the space felt so great to me, like a hide-away or cozy tree house. I asked him if I could use the upstairs space to practice my Reiki on my clients and he said no. He was hoping to actually use it as a garage and park his car in there in the winter. I pestered him until construction was complete and he agreed to let me rent it. By then I had a logo, a website and my dream was marching on with very little effort. I decided to carry just a few products. I had no business loan, very little savings and 1 credit card. I ordered a few things and asked a few talented friends to drop off some of their art on consignment and I opened my doors on 2/2/2009.
How long have you been living your dream now?
2 years, 2 months and 20 days
Do you have any regrets? what has been the hardest part of taking the leap?
No regrets ever!The hardest part of taking the leap as a wife and mom is remembering that I’m the one leaping and they may not be as ready to jump as I am. I am always leaping in this adventure and trusting my heart and instincts (probably not standard business practice) and sometimes I need to slow down and share my vision with the people who are impacted by it. They are always supportive; sometimes I just need to slow down enough to share my ideas and vision with them. What part of taking this leap are you most proud of?
I am proud that I am in this business with and for everyone who walks in the door. We are all the same. We all want to feel better, learn more, stretch, grow, heal, laugh, dream and believe we are supported. I believe we have built that energy and that space here.
I love it when customers ask me “what do you do here?” The answer is simple…we help you to TAKE CARE OF YOUrself! We do that by providing a safe, comfortable, inspiring and uplifting space where you can…get a massage, try a Reiki treatment, explore the benefits of homeopathy, learn about how craniosacral therapy can help you, take an affordable and empowering class, meet other people who are making the most and best out of life, shop for gifts for yourself or others that have meaning and give back in some way. And that is just the start. We’d love to meet you, to get to know you, to hear your story and to leave you feeling better for having walked through our door.
