“Health scare can inspire start of business - Tucson Citizen” |
| Health scare can inspire start of business - Tucson Citizen Posted: Denise McQuillan beat back breast cancer. Valérie Orsoni vanquished her brain tumor. Tom Bonney triumphed over Hodgkin's lymphoma, as well as a subsequent heart attack. They all overcame major medical issues, but this trio have another powerful attribute in common: They each harnessed what they learned during those daunting times — empathy, perseverance and the reminder that everyone's days are numbered — to forge a more fulfilling, entrepreneurial life. In each case, that meant becoming their own bosses. McQuillan opened a franchise of Hand & Stone, which offers massages and other spa services. Orsoni launched MyPrivateCoach.com, which provides consultations with fitness, diet, relationship and workplace coaches. Bonney created financial consulting firm CMF Associates, which specializes in recruitment, reorganizations and mergers. The transition from patient to business owner shouldn't be surprising, says serial entrepreneur, 38-year cancer survivor and Who Says I Can't? author Jothy Rosenberg. Those who survive a significant health scare are given the gifts of perspective and enlightenment. Many learn that life can be fleeting, so rather than procrastinate on entrepreneurial dreams, they jump in. "Having both of those (ailments) happen back-to-back forced me to think about what I really liked and wanted to do," says Bonney, who left a company CFO post to launch CMF in 2002. "The cancer, in particular, solidified for me that life is really short and to do things that make you happy in your work," he says. "Working for someone else wasn't going to do it anymore." Path to healing CMF is centered on Bonney's financial and entrepreneurial acumen. He already was proficient in accounting and financial analysis when he set up shop. But other sickness survivors, such as McQuillan, have diverted to unexpected routes. "I was your typical corporate gal. I worked in banking and insurance for most of my career," says McQuillan. "I enjoyed what I was doing, but then I got that phone call after a mammogram." The diagnosis: stage 2 breast cancer. Then 43, she had a mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstructive surgery. "They say cancer changes you, and it does," says McQuillan, now 47. "I decided that I wanted to do something that helps people." In December, she used money from her investments and savings to open a Hand & Stone franchise in Cherry Hill, N.J. "I know from personal experience how traumatic it is to go through chemo and radiation, and how soothing massage therapy can be for cancer patients," she says. Communications major Loren Brill never thought of owning her own cookie company. But then she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 22. Between treatments, she took culinary classes to occupy her time. She soon realized that there were limited options for sweets lovers who didn't want butter- and sugar-laden foods. As a cancer patient, "you care about everything you put in your body," she says. After beating lymphoma in 2006, she took several jobs in the food industry, but harbored the desire to launch her own firm. By December 2009, she gathered the confidence to focus full time on Sweet Loren's, which sells all-natural frozen cookie and brownie dough. "I want to add value to the world in any way I can. I think Sweet Loren's can do that," she says. "The product isn't going to change the world. It's not going to stop war. But cookies do make people happy." Getting more control Sometimes, it takes a health scare for an employee to fully realize the mental and physical drain of a toxic workplace. For those who feel beaten down, self-employment can look appealing, says Penny Damaskos, a social worker who leads the post-treatment resource program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. "If they have their own business, then they have more freedom and more control," she says. Others don't have the opportunity to leave on their own. In some cases, an uncaring or uninformed manager will fire a sick worker. For instance, in 2009, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a case in which a breast cancer patient was terminated because her employer assumed she couldn't keep up her normal role. A manager may try to push out an ailing employee if they're worried about company health care costs going up — or that the worker's productivity will go down, says Damaskos. Some managers are simply uncomfortable with sickness and disease, so they slowly begin to phase an employee out of meetings and group projects. "You'd think employers would be sympathetic and understanding, and many are. But some are not," says Leslie Silverman, co-head of the Employment Law Counseling and Training Group at law firm Proskauer. Makeup artist Ramy Gafni says his once-amicable relationship with management at a high-end salon became uncomfortable, and eventually contentious, after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1997. Soon after he lost his hair and gained weight due to medication and chemotherapy, he began to feel alienated and marginalized. He and top management had differences about his role, and while he was still undergoing treatment, he was fired. To earn money, Gafni offered cosmetic services from his New York City apartment. As his clientele grew, he pulled together enough money to launch his own makeup line. "I remember thinking 'I'll show them, and they'll realize what a mistake they made,' " he says. "That was a huge motivator." Twelve years later, Ramy Beauty Therapy has become a multimillion-dollar company with products sold around the country. Stars such as Renee Zellweger, Taylor Swift and Britney Spears have been clients. And while the anger about being fired gave Gafni an added entrepreneurial spark, he says that situation also opened him up to his true calling. "Much good came out of that very rough year," he says. "On a deeper level, I believe I was on a path I was supposed to be on." Wake-up bite The impetus to grab control of one's professional life doesn't necessarily have to come from a long, lingering illness. Any severe health scare can be a wake-up call. Bill Douglas' enlightenment came soon after a coral snake's venom entered his body and attacked his central nervous system. "In a matter of minutes I went from alive, well and healthy to paralyzed and near death," says Douglas, who was bitten while building a deck on his parents' Fort Lauderdale home in 1991. He was given anti-venom, then spent several days in intensive care. There, he had lots of time to reflect on his life. "I emphatically decided that the corporate life wasn't for me," says Douglas, now 46. "There were too many dreams within me that had yet to be pursued." After he was released, he promptly quit his job at a Florida utility company. "I realized that I didn't want to be the guy in the corner office in 20 years," he says. Instead, he wanted to make his own schedule and live life on his terms. He has since launched firms in areas such as sales, service logistics and information technology. The health scare "was the jump-start of my entrepreneurial career," Douglas says. But even more than that, it taught him to value those around him, to say 'yes' when unexpected opportunities appear — and to have perspective when things go wrong. "Life is a gift, meant to be enjoyed, pursued and shared," he says. "Failure happens, but life and health are worth so much more." 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