Time-poor, stressed and heavily reliant
on other people to achieve results, Stephen Wayne-Smith decided to cut loose
from his highly paid corporate role as a senior architectural designer to
pursue his passion for fitness, health and natural healing.
Turning his back on what he describes as
an 80's career that, "didn't have any meaning in the end," Stephen
began a series of courses in natural health, with the aim of combining his
interest in this area with his ambition to work for himself.
"I wanted to do something that was
worthwhile," says Stephen. "It's so rewarding when people walk out of here
without pain. It's all about a personal sense of worth."
Now, he spends much of his time soothing
and healing clients seeking reprieve from the corporate treadmill through
massage, aromatherapy, acupuncture and holistic counselling at his clinic,
ZenLiving, located at Surry Hills in Sydney
's inner city. The clinic, which is a three-storey terrace, doubles as his
home.
Marketing
Established in 1999, ZenLiving is
thriving. But going solo has been a lesson in patience for the former
high-flyer. Stephen started out by hiring a treatment room in an already
established health clinic while he was still studying. This gave him the
opportunity to keep costs down and allowed his main marketing strategy,
word-of-mouth, to gain momentum.
"Initially, I never advertised and I
deliberately did that because I wanted to determine the types of clients I
have," says Stephen. "If your business is generated through word-of-mouth,
then these clients are likely to have nice friends."
Six years on and the challenge for
Stephen is to encourage new clients to come through the door, which requires a
cost-effective marketing mix. This includes leaving brochures outside his
premises, outlining the types of therapies and services he offers, with a link
to his website, so potential clients can pick one up as they walk past and
read more about the business in their own time.
According to Stephen, another
marketing-must is getting into a good online directory. But he stresses a
website must be well presented, have compelling information and be easy to
navigate for this to have the biggest impact. For Stephen, developing an
e-newsletter has been another useful way to communicate with his clients.
Web presence
Marketing your business can be
expensive, says Stephen, but if you do much of the work yourself, this can
minimise costs. For example, Stephen developed his own website and creates and
writes his own marketing material.
But the one area Stephen says cannot be
compromised is your professional image. This should also be considered as
marketing because it's a reflection of you and your business.
"It's like any marketing," explains
Stephen, "If I came down to treat a client wearing a singlet and was unshaven,
people would have no respect for me or what I do."
Creating an edge
In a society where people are searching
for greater balance in their lives, there has been a sharp rise in interest in
natural therapies and those who practice it since Stephen first started. But
he is comfortable with the increase in competition.
"I've studied and have become
multi-disciplined so I can offer a lot of different therapies which compliment
each other," he says. "I work out what's going to resolve a problem the
fastest."
It's a win-win situation for Stephen,
and the business's bottom line, because the happy client will come back and
they'll tell their family and friends about the treatment too.
Diversification
There's a limit, however, to how many
people Stephen can treat each day. In an effort to expand his business, he's
now branched into selling a range of 100 percent natural essences, which are
already proving popular.
There's nothing Stephen misses about his
old life in the corporate world. Being a small business owner means he's got
greater control of his life and it's been a surprisingly stress-free
transition.
"It's all about lifestyle, you have very
little stress unless you are doing something wrong," says Stephen.
Want to work from home?
Stephen's top tips
- Create an atmosphere that is
beneficial to you specifically. Avoid bad lighting, noise or
air-conditioning that will affect you physically and may be detrimental to
your productivity.
- You are number one in the
decision-making process and this eliminates any stress and tension involved
in the chain-of-command. In the natural therapies industry, dealing with
clients on a one-on-one basis means I'm totally responsible for the quality,
content and delivery of a service.
- You control the amount of leisure
time you want. This balance is also a key factor in an individual's
wellbeing. With some careful planning you can have plenty of leisure time
and cash to be able to cover any time you take off.
- Combining a workplace with a living
space is not a problem if you love what you are doing. It reduces your costs
and means that if you have a spare hour or two you can do other things,
which can contribute to the smooth running of your life.
- Running a small
business doesn't mean you're making a small contribution to society and the
realisation of this by dissatisfied individuals accounts for the continued
growth of small business today.
