Name of your website?Philippines: Spa, Massage and Wellness
Your name?
Eunice Estipona
Your Location (city, etc)
Quezon City, Greater Manila Area
Please give us a short summary of your website?
This website group is composed mostly of people in the field of healthcare, spa, wellness and other branches of alternative, complementary and integrative medicine so those who wants to enter the field spa and wellness, those who need their questions answered regarding its practice here in the Philippines will be able to connect with people who can help them.
What inspired you to launch your this website?
I realized that good help is hard to find when it comes to queries about therapies on spa, massage and wellness in the Philippines. So this website is composed of group members who would be able to point you to the right direction or the right people to get in touch with if you have any queries on those fields.
When did you launch this website? And what are the progress to date?
This website (online) community started way back in 2004 and there was little or scarce information online regarding spa therapies, indigenous therapies, alternative therapies, therapeutic massage and similar subjects focusing on the Philippines. It grew from five individuals to more than 150 members who does not only meet online to date but we do have activities from time to time. These activities may be a seminar or a workshop, a trip to the park, a gathering, etc. It is more than a social group now.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
As the name implies, we would like to be closer to what we are called for- closer to the people who would really like to know more about Spa, Massage and other Wellness options here in the Philippines.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Aside from being absolutely FREE to join. Part of being an online member will give you these networking privileges: If you are looking for employers or if you are looking for applicants and employees, you may be able to meet them here. If you want to promote your business, profession, product or services in these fields- you can expand your network and platform here. You can bring along your collaterals: flyers, business cards, media kit, marketing materials, etc. If you want to distribute give-aways, you can get in touch with us. If you know someone who can be our resource person or you yourself can volunteer to be one of our resource person. If you want to volunteer, you have a venue in mind; if you want to sponsor one of our events- please get in touch with us. As long as you are an active and a member in good standing, you will be included in our meetup directory (which will come out this coming March 2008). Referrals, online exposure and word of mouth is a very powerful medium. Our group has those to offer and more.
What is your eventual goal? What do you wish to accomplish?
I would like each of us to leave every meetup with lessons learned and friends earned and become sources of strength instead of wells of weaknesses. Let us use up our energy not in looking for the plank in the eyes of another person but be able to extend a helping hand. Let us stop the poverty mentality of Filipinos, stop the gaya-gaya system (copy cat), stop the crab mentality. By attending our meetups and learning sessions, we wish to accomplish that. Everyone is encouraged to post online if you need an answer, if you need information regarding these fields, this is your forum. For experts and professionals in the field, please do not hesitate to join, get in touch with us or answer queries that you think might be able to help someone. We hope we can come together in unity and help those seeking information to provide them with intelligent and responsible answers, relevant advice, insights and information that would help them find the solution or answers they are seeking for. Thus, self-regulation is a must. I am always driven by a passionate desire to make healing, healthcare and alternative choices be made accessible and affordable to everyone- we hope to at accomplish that in our own little way.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
It is my life-long wish to be able to help as I can afford financialwise. As this community is not for profit BUT we would like to encourage entrepreneurship within the Filipino community especially in health and wellness. Balancing between time. money and career is difficult but attainable. A lot of passion and dedication goes into it.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would employ people who are genuinely interested in SEO's (Search Engine Optimization) but are also interested in the field of spa, massage and wellness to do SEO's activities- and provide jobs. I would also be promoting on magazines,radio and TV stations.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Definitely.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Quite a lot: growing pains of this sunrise industry.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Being able to invest time, money and energy to my beloved countrymen and those who needs it the most.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Word of Mouth, Search Engines and Public Relations
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Its variety as opposed to the notion that if its online,its got to be monotonous or its got to be too technical. well, some are but as long as you are willing to learn, I think that has kept me going too.
How long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
Until we are needed we will still be here. But then we will be putting up another separate website which is for profit so find our not for profit websites- so you can expect that we will be here for loooong time.
What parting words would you like to share?
The meetup group is your professional and social family, with circle of friends, associates, teammates and even competitors whose members will be rooting for your success and not your failure and who would have your best interests at heart. We are here to help you grow your business and your profession. We believe that collaboration is better than competition and one way to achieve immortality is to share what you know.
What is your website address?
Philippines: Spa, Massage and Wellness
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