Working out of a back room at Banchory Business Centre, Felicity Crone started her own business after borrowing money from her dad to buy a bench.
Fast-forward 12 years and the chiropractor has built her practice into a million-pound spine centre, the busiest of its kind in Scotland.
Banchory Spinal Health has since expanded its workforce to 19, drawing practitioners from around the world to treat patients in Aberdeenshire and beyond.
It has chiropractors, osteopaths and massage therapists all under one roof.
They have been pulled in from as far afield as California, Kenya, Malaysia and Germany.
Felicity said: “Everyone thought I was a witchdoctor when I first started. They didn’t know what I was all about.”
Seven-figure business
Now operating out of larger premises at Tillybrake Estate, more than 10,000 patients have been through its doors.
In a move to help protect this legacy, Felicity, 38, has joined the boom in firms transferring ownership to their employees.
She says the business, valued in the seven-figure region, will continue to grow to meet demand.
And making the switch to an employee ownership trust model will give her team more buy-in, fostering a “collaborative and sustainable workplace”.
Members of staff who work at the clinic for more than 12 months can be a part of the employee-owned trust.
“I’ve got a really good team around me, and I wanted to make it a more inclusive structure,” said Felicity.
“I felt it was a nice opportunity to keep the clinic going long after I am gone.
“Just building something that would last is an important concept for me.”
Emotionally attached
For Felicity continuing to expand remains the goal.
She said: “I hate the statement, but it’s true, if you’re not growing you are dying.
“It’s my plan to grow, that’s always been my ethos, every year I would expect to grow.
“But it is getting to the point where we are bursting at the seams a little bit.”
Right now, Felicity says the only thing holding the clinic back from further expansion is finding suitable commercial property to move into.
“We are struggling to find somewhere bigger that we would really like to set up in,” she said.
“Commercial property is a bit of a challenge in Banchory.
“People have said to me, why don’t you just move?
“But I grew up here, I’m local, I’m emotionally attached.”
A lot of people are struggling with pain, says Felicity.
“The NHS is massively overwhelmed by people with musculoskeletal conditions, and it is becoming progressively more unable to do anything about it,” she said.
“We offer an alternative to drugs and surgery and living in pain with our chiropractic, osteopathy and massage therapy that we do here.
“We are getting busier and busier because the NHS is becoming overwhelmed.
“It is just completely unable to offer any solutions to these problems.”
Conversation