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As a part of the Morning Lazziness collection highlighting empowering girls who’re making a exceptional influence with their concepts, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Anna Kowalczyk-Ord.
Dr Anna Kowalczyk-Ord (FRACGP) is the founding father of Hermona Well being. A UK-trained physician with over ten years of expertise, Dr Anna is dedicated to enhancing girls’s therapy in healthcare, and is very devoted to menopause and hormone well being.
She takes a holistic, whole-body strategy and is keen about empowering girls to reside their greatest lives.
On this interview, she affords a candid take a look at the realities of entrepreneurship, sharing each the challenges and the victories that outlined her path.
What impressed you to start out what you are promoting, and what downside have been you keen about fixing?
My very own well being journey was the catalyst. I used to be recognized with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and shortly realised how little mainstream drugs needed to provide past prescribing thyroxine as soon as the thyroid stops functioning. That have opened my eyes to the significance of trying deeper at root causes, prevention, and the way interconnected our programs actually are. No organ exists in a vacuum, and I grew to become fascinated by the hyperlink between thyroid well being and feminine hormones.
As I progressed in my medical profession, I noticed the identical gaps in girls’s well being: girls struggling to entry even primary menopausal hormone remedy, being dismissed or gaslit, and sometimes struggling unnecessarily for years earlier than receiving enough assist. That frustration grew to become my motivation. With Hermona Well being, I needed to create an area the place girls are heard, validated, and given entry to evidence-based, integrative care that appears on the complete image and invests of their long-term well being.
How has what you are promoting advanced since its launch, and what key choices have helped drive that development?
Hermona Well being started very humbly! I began by subletting a single room in a wellness centre, relying totally on restricted, natural visitors. At that stage, I couldn’t even provide Medicare rebates, and many ladies didn’t know the clinic existed. It shortly grew to become clear that if I needed to create actual influence, I wanted to assume larger than simply myself.
I made the choice to rebrand and spend money on knowledgeable presence that mirrored the imaginative and prescient I had for the clinic. That included creating a wonderful web site, securing my supplier quantity so I might provide Medicare rebates, and making the service extra accessible to girls who wanted it most.
This shift wasn’t nearly development; it was additionally about which means. After years of working inside the 10-minute seek the advice of mannequin as a Physician, I felt disillusioned. It wasn’t fulfilling to hurry by care; I needed to make an actual distinction. Creating Hermona Well being gave me the prospect to decelerate, pay attention, and assist girls really feel extra like themselves once more. That call has been an important driver of our development.
In your view, what actually units your model aside in right this moment’s aggressive market?
I feel what makes Hermona Well being completely different is the way in which I strategy care. I don’t simply hand out a prescription; I look deeper into issues like deficiencies, intestine well being, and life-style adjustments, as a result of all of them play a task in how girls really feel. I see menopausal hormone remedy as a preventative measure, not only a fast repair, and I take time to elucidate that to my sufferers.
I additionally don’t rush. Girls should be listened to, and I be sure they really feel heard and supported. I’m approachable and open, and since I’m going by among the similar well being challenges myself, I can genuinely sympathise with what my sufferers are experiencing.
What has been your only advertising technique to date, and why do you assume it labored so effectively?
The simplest step was investing in skilled assist from Bloom Digital for branding, advertising, and my web site. Earlier than that, I used to be attempting to piece issues collectively myself, but it surely didn’t have the identical influence. Having a cohesive, skilled on-line presence fully modified how Hermona Well being was seen; it gave the clinic credibility, made it simpler for ladies to search out me, and helped them really feel assured reserving in.
It labored as a result of the feel and appear of the clinic lastly matched the standard of care I used to be offering. That consistency constructed belief, and it allowed me to concentrate on what I do greatest: taking care of sufferers.
How do you keep related to your ideally suited viewers and perceive their wants or behaviours?
Proper now, Hermona Well being continues to be very a lot a one-woman band, so I personally deal with all the communication. My sufferers message me instantly about their signs and issues, and so they know I’m the one on the opposite facet of the cellphone in the event that they want me.
That’s vital as a result of it doesn’t really feel like a company, impersonal setting; it’s very tailor-made. Girls really feel they will attain out and be heard, and I can reply shortly. That shut, direct reference to my sufferers is what helps me perceive their wants greater than any advertising survey or social media ever might.
What’s one branding transfer or marketing campaign that helped elevate what you are promoting to the subsequent degree?
The most important step was creating a powerful, cohesive model identification for Hermona Well being. As soon as the clinic had knowledgeable look, from the web site to the emblem and the way in which data was offered, it stopped feeling like simply me in a room and began to really feel like a correct clinic with a transparent goal.
That shift constructed belief. Girls might see immediately that Hermona Well being was a spot devoted to them, not simply one other generic medical service. It gave me the boldness to place the clinic out into the world in a much bigger means, and it gave sufferers confidence to guide in.
What does success appear like for you, not simply in numbers, however in goal or influence?
For me, success isn’t measured in numbers; I’m working with girls who’re greater than only a statistic, they’re human, so figuring out I’ve constructed one thing that makes an actual distinction of their lives issues most to me.
Success can also be about stability, having an excellent work-life stability with the liberty and choices that come from operating my very own clinic. And it additionally means having fun with my work and feeling happy on the finish of the day that I’ve genuinely helped somebody in a significant means.
It’s not nearly constructing a enterprise; it’s about making a profession and a life that really feel fulfilling, the place I will be my very own boss, do work I imagine in, and nonetheless have time and vitality for the issues exterior of medication that matter to me.
How do you personally outline success, past income and development metrics?
Success means feeling pleased with what I’ve created, having fun with the work I do every day, and figuring out it aligns with my values. To assist enhance girls’s lives and to do it long run with out burning out is success to me.
It’s additionally about having freedom within the potential to decide on how I work, who I work with, and the way I form the clinic’s future.
Are you able to share a problem or setback that finally grew to become a turning level on your model?
One massive problem was when myself and the opposite practitioners within the clinic have been advised we needed to vacate due to a landlord dispute. At first, it felt like an enormous setback! I all of a sudden didn’t have a base for my sufferers.
However in hindsight, it was the push I wanted. It made me realise it was time to swim in larger waters and take Hermona Well being to the subsequent degree. As an alternative of simply renting a room, I began specializing in creating a correct clinic area of my very own, with a much bigger imaginative and prescient and long-term safety. That tough second truly gave me the braveness to assume larger and spend money on the way forward for the enterprise.
What each day habits or rituals preserve you centered, inventive, and grounded as a frontrunner?
I like to start out my day early so I don’t need to rush. Earlier than the remainder of the family is up, I’ve time to learn, meditate, and do some mild train. That quiet time units me up for the day by clearing my head, serving to me focus, and offering me with the vitality i have to look after others.
How do you strategy innovation and threat in what you are promoting technique?
I attempt to stability being cautious with being brave. In healthcare, every thing needs to be evidence-based, however I additionally imagine in being open to new instruments and approaches that may make an actual distinction for ladies.
With regards to threat, I do know it could be safer to plan every thing all the way down to the final element, however typically you simply need to go full hog whenever you imagine within the trigger. Even when it feels terrifying, there are moments the place it is advisable discover braveness, again your self, and take that leap. That’s how actual progress occurs.
What recommendation would you give to somebody beginning a enterprise in right this moment’s fast-changing digital world?
It needs to be one thing you actually imagine in as a result of that perception is what is going to carry you thru the robust occasions. Seize alternatives, even when they appear terrifying, and don’t be afraid to push your self out of your consolation zone.
The digital world strikes shortly, and you’ll’t plan for every thing, however if you happen to keep true to your goal and have the braveness to take the leap, the remaining will observe.
The place can our viewers join with you and study extra about your work or choices?
One of the best place to search out me is thru my website. You’ll discover details about the clinic, the providers I provide, and how you can guide an appointment.
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