Mumpreneur Profile: Elizabeth of Wiltshire Reflexology
Your Business Name: Wiltshire Reflexology
Your name and age: Elizabeth Freeman, 37
I live near Melksham in Wiltshire with my husband, our son aged 8 and daughter aged 6.
In my ‘conventional’ working life I was an Analyst / Programmer. I loved my career but wanted to be able to do the school run and be at home during school holidays.
Having always been interested in complementary therapies, I trained as a reflexologist from September 2005 to November 2006.
As soon as I qualified I set about preparing my website, leaflets and treatment documentation. I decided that the best way to make myself stand out amongst the competition would be to have a specialist area. I took a postgraduate maternity reflexology course so I could specialise in women’s health. It felt like a brave decision as I could be cutting down my potential market but I chose to see it as a way of becoming the market leader for a select group.
My training cost £2,000 in total, funded from savings. The only equipment needed to practise reflexology is a chair costing £90. With negligible ongoing expenses I earned back the cost of the course within months of qualifying and haven’t looked back since.
I mainly promote my business through my website. As a member of the Association of Reflexologists (AoR) I am listed as a qualified therapist on their website. I give leaflets to local antenatal groups. Overall, my website and word-of-mouth have been the most successful.
My biggest challenge has been accepting that my services are valuable. Initially I found it hard to promote myself and gave away treatments for free or cut-price. I began resenting this as I had worked hard for my qualifications and knew I gave good treatments. Once I stopped doing this I found I had more clients than ever and I learnt the lesson that if you give your services away, they are not valued.
My work is extremely family friendly. I mainly see clients during the day when the children are at school. I work occasional weekends and evenings for clients in desperate need. During school holidays I choose to work one or two days a week.
The best advice I could give to anyone else considering training as a reflexologist is to find a school accredited by the AoR to ensure you have thorough training enabling you to work in NHS settings and hospices etc.
