The long and short of it....

If you want to know the long and short of it….

           In 2008, Erin was living at home with my parents after graduating from Olivet College with a Sports Recreation Management Bachelors Degree. I was in my last year at Olivet College, where I completed a General Business Bachelors Degree.  The idea originated as an after school program. We wanted to give kids a place to go after school that would give them positive activities to put their energy into. This was also when we (USA) were starting to see the health and physical education classes disappear from the classrooms. We decided that we would provide a program that kids would receive an hour workout out and then the remainder of the time they could work on homework while they waited for their parents to get out of work.  Originally we wanted to start as, Minds in Motion. We attempted an open house in Alpena, however it was not the turn out you are looking for when you are starting out. So as discouraged as we were, we didn't give up, however we didn't press forward either. We attempted to regroup and figure out what to do next, but life seemed to keep getting in our way. In 2008, we lost our biggest support system. Our mother, Gloria Elizabeth, was diagnosed in 2005 with breast cancer and taken July 3, 2008. Craziest time of our lives. Seeing first hand how short life can be inspired Erin and I to chase our dream, one that my mom supported with everything she had. She knew it was what we were meant to do. 

           We had grown up playing sports and being active on a daily basis but it was my mom getting sick that sparked both of our interest in nutrition. Growing up, we ate pretty healthy. Going out to eat was a "treat" for us, even in our hundreds (and I mean HUNDREDS) of miles traveled as a family growing up we RARELY got to eat out. We grew up in a household that ate dinner together, at our dinner table EVERY night possible. My mom was a great cook and my dad had a good job, so this allowed our meals to always be well balanced. Even while we were traveling, the cooler was packed with all the necessities! This wasn't something we as kids were overly enthused about, but looking back that was one of the best things my parents did for us. (I feel the need to mention here that we also have a little brother, he is 3 years younger than me, Kevin) So back to where I am headed with this, my dad and we as kids always ate well, but my mom never seemed to eat much when we sat down. Nor do I remember her eating breakfast, unless it was something small as we were walking out the door to school/work. I also remember her snacking a little bit when we would get home from school and that was about it in the evenings. So in our journey to further educate our selves about optimum nutrition Erin and I agree poor nutrition may have had a big impact in her struggle to beat such a violent disease. I am not saying that my mom died because of her nutrition, but after almost 5 years of research I am certain it did not help. This being the case and watching as the world started to figure this same thing out, Erin and I knew we needed to continue full speed ahead. We were brought to this journey for a reason and we were going to see it through. The buzz that was starting to stir up about child obesity and how our food is processed just continued to confirm that we were headed down a path that was going to change the world. But could we handle that, were we really meant to be women entrepreneurs in this tough and crazy world?! 

             June 2009 we were living in Battle Creek and we finally made our first official move. We got our LLC, naming it Minds on the Move. Minds in Motion was already taken, but looking back at this it worked out in our favor, our new name fit our new direction. We were ready to take on the child obesity problem head on by providing a program for kids that would educate and support them in living a healthy and happy lifestyle. Our focus is not on how much weight a child does or does not weigh, we focus on the fact that every child needs adequate physical fitness and nutrition DAILY. They not only need it daily but also need to understand WHY they need it daily. As parents you can't always be at their side, at some point they will have to make a decision on their own. We can't expect them the make the right choice if we do not educate them on what that is, especially when it is a decision as important as what they are going to feed their bodies. We live in a world where they are telling us that our children are going to die before us. What is that?! I am 27 years old with no children yet, however I can't even imagine bringing a child into a world that I would have to see them leave just as quickly. It was hard enough to bury a parent, and that is the natural sequence of life. Absolutely scares the heck out of me to think about the effects that will be brought on this world if we don't do something now about how we eat and process our food. We needed a space and we needed a space fast. Time was here to start educating our children so that they could live healthy and happy lives or at least have the ability to make educated decisions for themselves.

             We got a space in Marshall, Michigan next to a nutrition club that was just opening up. We traded working hours in the club for the use of the building, doesn't get much better than that. We had 5 clients going within just a few short weeks. We went strong for a year and a half, eventually moved down to a building on the main downtown strip of Marshall. There was a lot of cliental turn around, but we did have one young lady who stuck with us from start to finish. They were a great family that we will always be grateful to have been able to work with and get to know. Then life got in the way one more time. I had been working at a daycare since I was a junior in college and Erin was an adjunct professor at Olivet College teaching yoga and Pilates. Both of us were also coaching volleyball at Olivet High School. Then my boss’s husband’s plant closed and they were off to Oklahoma so I was out of a job. Olivet College was no longer going to offer the yoga class, which made it impossible to keep seeing how bills have to get paid. Erin being the adventurer that she is decided she was off to California and I was on a job hunt. MotM took a back burner. Erin was home from California by the end of the summer and shortly after the holidays I finally got hired in at a gym in Battle Creek. Of all the places, I truly did not seek this job out. One day my friend came walking through the door with an application telling me that her gym was hiring. Within a few days I was the newest front desk receptionist at Blue Moon Fitness (When I got hired it was actually Gold’s Gym) and Erin was waiting tables. Not where either of us wanted to be but we were paying the bills and had food on our table, which is important. After a year and a half, we realized that I had actually been once again given a valuable tool in our journey. I suddenly had a whole network of people interested and supportive of our innovative program and they encouraged us to press forward.

          So here we are in 2012. What a great but rocky year it has been. Erin and I found a building and quit our jobs for several reasons. Mostly because we decided that we were going to put everything we had into MotM and if it didn't work then and only then we would move on. We knew neither one of us would be satisfied until we did it and did it right. We had an opening date, we had all the materials we needed to open, we had people ready to check it out and then just like that we lost the building. The long boring details of it aren't necessary, but lets say that scary world they warn us all about with the shady people, it really does exist. We didn't let it hold us down though, within 24 hours we had another building lined up and what we thought would be ready to go quickly. After almost 2 months of monkeying with this building in a not so great neighborhood it still wasn't ready for us to go. The frustration was wearing us down and you could tell we were losing steam. After a few very quite days at our house I couldn’t take it I had to tell Erin that something didn’t feel right. She didn't really surprise me when she agreed. I think we both knew it all along we just weren't ready to give up and didn't know where to go if we didn't have this building. The next building to fall into our laps was perfect, except that our landlord totally pulled our chain for a month and a half. After claiming the building was “ready to go” we found out that the cement blocks that made up the foundation of the building needed to be fixed. So that took two and a half weeks. Then when it was finally truly ready to go and we were getting ready to sit down and sign a lease we were hit in the gut again. Our landlords were not only trying to make us pay for the two and a half weeks we couldn’t get in the building, but they were also trying to up our rent payment after the first year (we did agree to signing a two year contract for one price). Neither were things that we had agreed to and neither of those things were we going to commit to. So once again we bounced and were left buildingless and what seemed hopeless.

            Since it was right around the holidays we decided just to get through Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well January was here before we knew it. December 31^st Erin and I were sitting around and decided that it was time to make some decisions. We knew that financially we needed a change; personally and professionally. We knew we needed to reevaluate choosing the structure of an LLC. We are learning all of this as we go and looking back now we know that we probably should have gone the nonprofit route. This would allow us to receive grants and make our program available to EVERY child out there. After all that was the whole point of our program to begin with to make it affordable and environmentally friendly.

            My dad being the amazing man he is offered to help us write our grant proposals, which he has a lot of experience in. So the clear option seemed to move home and find some part time jobs while switching Minds on the Move around to a nonprofit. YIKES. “I haven’t lived at home with my dad in 10 years” was all that kept running through my brain. Not that I don’t love my dad to death, but everybody knows living with the parents at the ages 27 and 30 is not exactly what Erin nor I had dreamt about growing up. But onward we would march, so we called my dad he agreed it was a reasonable option. We moved forward at full steam giving our landlord a month notice. My first phone call after that decision was to my best friend. Since she knows me better than 95% of the people in my life, she knew that this wasn’t the option I was looking for but I was desperate for a change and to keep moving forward.

            That’s when the offer of a lifetime was given to Erin and I. My bestie offered us a free place to live with her and her hubby and my 3 wonderful nieces for 6 months. If y’all could have seen the face I made when she offered it you would of thought that there was no way it was ever going to happen. That’s pretty much what was going through my brain at that point. Then it was like I got a serious smack in the face (probably from my angel mother), why wouldn’t we take her up on this offer. We still could spend the time getting MotM switched around, while getting a chance to get out of the draining state of Michigan. So off to Oklahoma we would go.

            We got down here March 10^th and so far so good. I have started a blog, but decided to move the host location, which resulted in a revamp of my first post. This is an up to date post and at this moment we are working on continually educating ourselves and spreading the word to all of you. I have gotten certified in Nutrition Advising and by the time I am done I hope to have my Nutrition Consultant certification.

We need your help to spread the word so please add yourself to our email list to receive our latest posts dealing with kids fitness, kids nutrition, family activities, family friendly recipes, superfood facts and much much more. Find us on Facebook and “like” us please. Share our page with your friends and family. Email us and visit our blog frequently, we promise you won’t regret it.  It is time to make a move and correct the obesity epidemic while we still have a fighting chance. If you don’t take action for yourself, how about for your children or grandchildren?!

Love to you all and wishes for a healthy and happy lifestyle,

Lori :)