From Stressed to Stressbuster
Financially, Eaves has made it work by living simply and always putting money away. In addition, she had saved carefully before heading off on her own, built up a healthy 401(k), and accumulated a respectable amount of Fannie Mae company stock.
Energy boost. After two years, her practice is pulling in more revenue than she was making at Fannie Mae. But she owns the business, so she has to keep plowing money back into it. There are marketing expenses, rent, paying a bookkeeper, shelling out for health insurance, and funding her retirement.
Her fertility work developed naturally. "That's just who was finding me," she says. Today, Eaves sees about 30 patients a week, in addition to her Mind/Body workshops. "I coach these women," she says. "Acupuncture is just the tip of it. It's not just a physical treatment. You really tap into people's energy and their spirit. It's a little lightning rod to the human spirit."
In her workshops, she teaches stress-reduction techniques and ways to harness inner strength through meditation, yoga, and nutrition.
The group discusses stress hormones that are in the bloodstream when a woman is going through fertility treatment. "It's right up there with people having been diagnosed with cancer and other life-threatening diseases," says Eaves. That anxiety "challenges everything you have ever thought about yourself and your marriage, your spouse, your relationship with God, and who you are. It's a very isolating experience that brings everything to the surface. My goal is for them to be at peace, whatever the outcome is."
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