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 Backing their own vision
FELICITY WOOD, founder of the health website badbacks.com.au, is proof that you never know when inspiration might strike. “I‘d always wanted to run my own business but I’d never had that elusive ‘idea’,” she says. It wasn’t until her career in advertising led her into consultancy work at CSIRO that she settled on the concept of a web site dedicated to products and resources designed to alleviate back pain.
SalesBuild your business networksUnlike other types of sales prospecting, networking involves making contacts in situations that don’t present any obvious expectations of business + Managing your businessOpportunities to make more profitsThe beginning of a new financial year can be the perfect time to assess the financial reporting in your business. + Greening Your BusinessGoing green on the webOne SME that has moved beyond words into actions is the web hosting company ilisys that has brought “true carbon neutrality” to its 18,000 customers’ websites. + Business SuccessBoosting its share of the marketFOR MANY young people, mobile phones are more than a convenient means of keeping in touch. + My Business OnlineOnline service for working parentsonline business CareforKids.com.au provides access to more than 10,000 child care providers across Australia + My Business TechnologyBatten down the security hatchesSecurity experts say that the evolution of new computer virus threats means securing your business is more important than ever + Wood herself was a long-time sufferer: “I had a skiing accident when I was about 18 that left me with a bad back. Over the years, I tried a number of products and therapies and became fairly experienced and informed about ways of managing the pain.” But she had little or no experience of the internet, only a passion for the potential of new technologies. In fact, her first encounter with email had been during her time with CSIRO. She decided to complete her consultancy work and then take some time off to formulate a business plan: “I knew nothing about e-commerce, I wasn’t a health professional, so it literally involved starting from scratch.” But she was confident that there was no one offering the service she envisaged. Her personal experience gave her invaluable insight into the kinds of products and services consumers were looking for. With her husband, she invested in developing a website and in 2001, she set up shop in the bedroom her daughter had recently vacated. “I sourced a range of about 40 products from local suppliers, at woeful margins,” she explains. “It was really slow to start with, but I really enjoyed the endless challenges. I’d work away at it day and night, but I had no commercial success for probably the first three years.” Eventually her hard work began to pay off. She added pages of medical information designed to help people better understand their condition and launched a regular newsletter. But the biggest increase in traffic came with the introduction in 2003 of a discussion forum. + |
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Painful backs are one of the most common ailments that people suffer. Now a popular website is arming people with information and products to address this problem. By Andrea Toal.