Dee Baron

Dee Barron runs The Natural Clinic in Crieff, a wellbeing centre that offers a broad range of complementary therapies provided by a team of experienced practitioners. Some of the treatments and therapies available at the clinic include osteopathy, massage, homoeopathy, life coaching, modern stress management, facials, craniosacral therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling and psychotherapy.

Getting started

Dee first started her own business as a complementary therapist over 25 years ago. She had been working in a busy legal practice in Edinburgh as a secretary, which she describes as being “a little stressful”, and went for an aromatherapy massage one day after a friend suggested she try it.

Dee says: “It was amazing and I felt so much better. I started to use essential oils at home and the Bach flower remedies and they really seemed to be effective and I wanted to learn more about them and their health benefits so I decided to go to night classes.

“I really enjoyed the course and decided to have a change of career. I started my aromatherapy training at Telford College in Edinburgh and did my reflexology training with the Scottish School of Reflexology. I went to Oxford to train in the Bach Flower Remedies at the Bach Foundation.

“And then when I qualified, I began working from home in Edinburgh.”

The enterprise journey

​Over the last 25 years, Dee has continued to improve her skills, knowledge and training with professional development courses in other therapies such as craniosacral therapy, a light touch therapy that works with the nervous system.

Dee moved to Perthshire from Edinburgh over ten years ago, and initially rented rooms in other clinics in the central belt. However, this meant that she was doing a lot of travelling and often getting home quite late, and so she decided to look for premises in Crieff.

She explains: “My aim was to have a centre where local people could come for treatments, without them having to travel to Perth or Stirling or wherever.

“I wanted to create a clinic with a group of professional therapists who would offer a range of various well-being treatments from advanced massage, homoeopathy, nutrition, counselling, craniosacral therapy and more, and we now have a friendly group of well-trained therapists based here.”

Support

​Dee says that her family and friends have always been very supportive and helped in any way they could, and that her trainers and teachers have all been “first-class” and “inspirational, particularly in terms of the wealth of knowledge they have passed on”.

She has also received support from community-based enterprise support organisation GrowBiz. Dee first contacted GrowBiz on the advice of a colleague when she was looking to develop her business.

She explains: “My colleague had found GrowBiz very helpful and friendly so I went along to some of the meetings and found it good to chat to other people who were running small businesses.

“I have also been to some of the learning sessions - the workshops on digital marketing and using social media have been very useful as it is a significant part of our business now as clients often get in touch via social media or follow us.

“I have also had one-to-one meetings, which are really good. I am thinking about changing things a little at the clinic - re-branding a bit and encouraging some more clients to visit us by using online marketing – and my enterprise facilitator is very kind and patient!

“Every time I have contacted GrowBiz they have been so helpful and I would definitely suggest anyone with a small business contact them.

“Often a small business is running on a tight budget so professional business advice would perhaps not be possible due to the costs, but GrowBiz has lots of different resources and people with a business background who can help you grow your business.

“And in the current economic climate it is even more challenging to run a small business, particularly in rural areas, so having a resource like GrowBiz is even more vital.”

Looking to the future

​Dee says that they are always looking for new therapists to join the team, and is keen to hear from anyone who might be interested in renting a room.

And with 25 years of experience under her belt, she is well-placed to offer guidance and support to others setting out on their own entrepreneurial journey.

For further information on The Natural Clinic see the website at www.scottishnaturalclinic.com