How I Got Started in My Essential Oil Journey

You will learn how I went from LEARNING about essential oils to TEACHING others how to use essential oils safely. You will find out what I was doing BEFORE getting into essential oils, and you will see how God was orchestrating this plan for me behind the scenes to take care of myself and my children after a domestic violence incident that would change my family's lives forever.

Hey, everyone! I'm Lea Jacobson, And if you use essential oils, you come to the right place. As a certified clinical aroma therapist with over a decade of experience. I'll be guiding you with practical information without learning complicated chemistry. This will ensure that you and your family stay safe while enjoying the benefits of essential oils.

Enjoy Season 4 of the podcast as we read through my latest book, Using Essential Oils Safely.

This is Lea Jacobson, empowering you to use essential oils safely. I hope you learned something new! Tell a friend about our podcast so they can learn, too. All episodes are available at LeaJacobson.com/podcast

To get a signed copy of my book, or to access the course which contains even more information, jump on over to my website LeaJacobson.com/BOOK or /COURSE

Transcript

Podcast Intro: 0:26

Hey everyone! Do you use essential oils or maybe you're just curious about using them and you want to make sure you know how to use them before you get started? Then you have come to the right place! My name is Lea Jacobson, a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist, essential oil educator, speaker, author- and all of that good stuff- but most importantly, I am your go-to when you have a question about how to use essential oils safely- no matter which brand you use. Now, let's get started on today's podcast.

Lea Jacobson: 1:00

Hey everyone. Welcome to my very first podcast! I am super excited to be here with you and start out on this new adventure of podcasting. You will learn today how I went from learning about essential oils to teaching others how to use essential oils safely. You will hear what I was doing before getting into essential oils and you will see how God was orchestrating this plan for me behind the scenes to take care of myself and my children after domestic violence incident that would change my family's lives forever. My story began exactly six years ago in January of 2013, so it's kind of timely that I'm starting my podcast in January of 2019. I started out blogging over NourishingTreasures.com, my natural health, clean eating, cloth diapering type of blog(that's not currently up right now)- but basically I was raising a couple of kids, goats, chickens, making every meal from scratch with wholesome ingredients- and I was sharing with others what I was doing to lead a natural health lifestyle. Suffice to say, I had no time for another interest. So when I had a popular essential oil company rep approach me I told her I was curious about essential oils- I kind of heard a couple of people talk about them- but I was absolutely not ready to check them out. My plate was full and I knew if I started to look into them, it would open up a whole new world and I had no spare time. Like any good company rep, she gently kept nudging. She wanted me to join her brand. Finally, I started peeking around because if I was going to use essential oils, I wasn't going to do so without first making sure I was buying from a good company. I mean that is the most important decision, right? After carefully googling many websites, I came to the conclusion that no matter which website I went to, they were the best. They all said that! So after dozens of hours, over as many days, I decided that I needed to look outside of the companies. Meanwhile, in January of 2013, I posted on my natural health website asking if anyone was interested in learning about essential oils. I almost didn't do this. I mean I had such doubt that anyone who followed me would be interested, but after much hesitation, I figured it didn't hurt. I went ahead. The interest was absolutely overwhelming with my first facebook group gaining about a thousand members in just a few days. So I continued my research and I realized that the only way to know if an essential oil was truly pure was through GCMS testing. Although the previous summer I tested the bacteria levels of Sauerkraut in 14 different jars just to see which jar made the best sauerkraut- results of which, which were surprising to many and the information of which has been used by professors in colleges- I realized that GCMS testing was something I just couldn't do at home. My audience agreed and funded the first ever third party testing. We tested Myrrh from Aura Cacia, Young Living, DoTerra, Essential Vitality, and Mountain Rose Herbs. The testing revealed, although all five brands tested similarly, Essential Vitality had the edge. It was the only organic brand. Although we went on to do a couple more rounds of testing- we did tea tree and peppermint- boy was that a crazy one? I was satisfied that yes, most brands out there really do purchase from the same few distillers and the major difference between brands is the marketing. Of course, since then hundreds of new brands popped up, many of which would not pass GCMS testing. It does pay to do your research- and that will be discussed in another podcast. On this journey, I discovered Aromahead institute. At the time the only way to learn about aromatherapy outside of the website selling them was to get certified. I nearly didn't even go through with it. I emailed Andrea, the owner of Aromahead institute because I had some questions about the course- but was like really ready to take on something so big? After much contemplation and an exchange of emails, I took the plunge. I enrolled in May of 2013, officially hooked. My suspicion of being sucked into the essential oil world became a reality. There was no turning back. Because my posts about essential oils were quickly overrunning my natural health website, I started a new website, Learning About Essential Oils. This was the same name as the facebook group I started and it was becoming very popular. Thousands of essential oil users were joining every single week, including aromatherapy professionals who were doing aromatherapy before I was even born! My first blog post released on July 22nd- and that was a third party testing results for tea tree essential oil, which generated much global interest. A week later, I graduated from Aromahead's Aromatherapy Certification Program and I became a Certified Aromatherapist. September, came around and so did our third party peppermint testing. This was a much bigger deal as 10 out of 13 bottles were found not in compliance, and two of the brands contained a synthetic additive, ethel vanillin. This same month I met Robert Tisserand who we can credit for bringing aromatherapy to the English speaking world. I was at the Alliance for international aromatherapists conference. It was here I got one of the very first pre-release copies of Essential Oil Safety, and I had it signed. On October 20th- now this date's important as I'll explain later- of 2013, I graduated from the Advanced Graduate Program of Aromahead Institute. Before the end of 2013 I had created a new facebook group Using Essential Oils Safely, gaining 8,000 members in the first two months. My passion for sharing what I have learned with others was spreading. Now, I told you I was hooked. I was all in. I went to complete even more studies at Aromahead Institute and I earned my title of Certified Clinical Aromatherapist when I graduated from the Scholar's Program on January 27th, 2013. Now I- although I exhausted my studies at Aromahead, I hadn't stopped learning at all. I guess you could call me research addict or a lifelong student. Are you like that too? Do you eat up information? Now going back to my roots, I took the Herbal Academy of New England's Introductory and Intermediate courses, graduating as a Certified Herbalist in April of 2014, but it was clear- essential oils was my passion. The facebook group was gaining 10,000 members every couple of months and I was having so much fun...and then a crazy thing happened. After reaching 70,000 members, facebook decided to delete our group. I literally woke up one morning and it was gone. I contacted facebook about it, and although I never received a reply, I found out that other very large groups had also disappeared. It surprised us by coming back a month later, but meanwhile we started a new one because everybody was panicking and wondering, what do we do now?! Where do we go for answers?! And 2.5 years later, we now have over 160,000 members just by word of mouth. Beyond running the facebook group with the help of various admins over the years. I also wrote guest posts on blogs, magazine articles, had several interviews on websites and podcasts, and reach many through my weekly emails and various other social media. I was hired as a consultant for natural health bloggers and essential oil companies, cohosted teleseminars, invited to speak at live events, and formulated blends for companies, designed labels, and so much more. What began as a hobby started growing into a small business. Now during all of this that was going on publicly behind the scenes, there was a period of time where I went into hiding- literally. Now I told you to remember the date of October 20th, back in 2013- remember that was the date that I got certified. Now, exactly one year later, a domestic violence attack would have me calling 911, and it landed my kid's and I into safe houses for nearly a year as my now ex-husband was being formally charged with his assault on me. The trial end divorce dragged on for over two years, finally resulting in my ex landing behind bars. During this time, I was challenged as a wife, as a mother, as a business woman, and as a child of God. I saw other moms in my position also in safe houses, and some had given up. I decided that this was not going to stop me- and not only was I going to survive, I was going to thrive! Although this could have shaken my faith, instead it actually solidified my faith in a way that probably not much else that could have happened to me, could have done during this time. I realized just how present God was and always has been in my life and how much that he was working in my life to bring me to where I was today. I was so grateful that I had something to focus on- my love of essential oils and the community that was there, continually asking questions and keeping me busy to distract myself from all of the court stuff that I had to deal with on a weekly basis for the better part of two years. Most importantly, I found myself as a sole parent to two children who needed to see that I was strong, that I was a survivor and that I could take care of them and pay the bills. Now I share this personal part of my story because it has everything to do with how I started. I might have never made it. My life could have ended that freezing night in October where I was waiting outside for two hours for the police to arrive in nothing more but thin pj's. I could've given up on aromatherapy and called in my victim card and completely lost my passion. But through all that, I began to see just how God orchestrated all of this: the out-of-the-blue posting from accompany rep encouraging me to look into essential oils.... the research leading me to getting my certification- which I nearly didn't even do...and to graduate one year before the domestic violence incident. Looking back, I can see that as a sign that God was already working to take care of myself and my kids through a pivotal moment in our lives, causing me- a relative newbie in the essential oil world at the time- and just a few short years to becoming the go-to for essential oil information, causing my business to grow so I could take care for my children on my own, create courses, books, and resources to help all essential oil users regardless of brand, and finally blessing me with a wonderful man in my life who treats me like an absolute queen and as a real father to my children. This month marks the six year anniversary of my start into essential oils. Many of you consider me an expert, a title I've been slow to accept, but I want to remind all of you that I have come as far as I have in my knowledge of essential oils because of the consistency of my learning. It has helped to sear the answers into my brain. The resources you have requested have pushed me out of my comfort zone as I created apps, ebooks, courses, and print books so that you can have the same knowledge available to you as I use myself-and wish I had when I first started. Look, if I can do it, you can do it too. I may be an essential oil expert, Certified Clinical Aromatherapist, author, speaker, teacher- but I'm also just a mom, a wife, someone who- just like you- simply wanted to learn how to use essential oils safely for my own family and I am honored that you have invited me to let me help teach you how you can use essential oils safely, too.

Podcast Outtro: 13:21

Thanks for listening to this week's podcast. If you'd like more information about using essential oils safely, you can visit my website over at UsingEOsSafely.com. Have a suggestion for another podcast episode or have a question for me about using essential oils? Go ahead and shoot me an email. My personal email is Lea@UsingEOsSafely.com.