When Jan was 16, she had the opportunity for a month long European trip with her older brother and his wife. She chose instead to buy a horse.
She tried college for a semester, but quit to pursue her love of horses. Making a living with pleasure horses was almost impossible. Jan met a harness race horse trainer at the barn where she boarded her horse. There was opportunity to work with horses. She got a job as a groom at the Harness Race Tracks in Chicago. Living in a barn and waking up to nickers and whinnies was her idea of heaven.
Night racing in one Chicago winter was enough to inspire 20-year-old Jan to head to California. She bought a new car and shared the trip with a fellow groom. The day after arriving at Hollywood Park, she got a job caring for Standardbreds.
Until racing started, she spent six mornings a week driving and caring for her two horses and afternoons at the beach. Jan met the love of her life who became her husband a year later. They worked hard, played hard and enjoyed the 24/7 horseracing way of life. From California, to Florida and back to Chicago they lived a young nomadic lifestyle.
Horses took a backseat to raising children for a while until horses re-entered her life. Jan’s three-year-old horse suffered laminitis, painful swelling within the hoof capsule. Veterinarians offered only painkillers to ease her mare through the debilitating condition. Pain medications can actually cause damage because the horse spends more time standing instead of lying down. This could cause permanent coffin bone rotation.
Jan’s research taught her that her mare had Insulin Resistance. Management of food and exercise were key to controlling the condition. Acupressure is effective for laminitis flare-ups. Jan studied Traditional Chinese Medicine and became a Certified Animal Acupressure Practitioner.
As with all discoveries, this didn’t stop with one solution. Jan discovered her power of Reiki. She uses energy to help people and animals to heal themselves physically, mentally, spiritually.
Her journey to a healthful lifestyle progressed. She started using organic food, homeopathic remedies, essential oils, flower essences and supplements. Staying healthy and preventing dis-ease in bodies, minds and spirits is possible because of habits and in spite of heritage. Jan strives to share Ben Franklin’s message, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Through her life, Jan sought to make her living by writing. Since she loved fiction, she studied and wrote stories, but had no success selling them. She turned to non-fiction articles with limited success. She learned that copywriting could both challenge her and earn her a living.
American Writers and Artists Inc., AWAI, provided copywriting courses. Jan studied top marketers: Bob Bly, Michel Fortin, Clayton Makepeace, Dan Kennedy and Perry Marshall. These added marketing knowledge depth.
Jan worked for seven years writing SEO web pages, blog posts and emails. Her responsibilities as Marketing Manager showed her the diverse challenges that position involves. She was also office manager, so she understands how difficult it can be to create successful marketing materials every week.
