Interview with our Founder Ran Janda

We picked the brains of our founder Ran Janda to find out how Holistic Room came about and what her plans are for the future. Read on to reveal what we found out…

How did you come up with the idea for Holistic Room?

Gosh, I had the idea for Holistic Room over 10 years ago! I’m a trained Homeopath and Acupuncturist and I remember after qualifying, I was a bit like…what now? I wanted to be able to advertise myself and my services online but didn’t know how or where to start. I didn’t have any technical knowledge so the thought of creating a website just scared me. I basically wanted something like Holistic Room to be available to me back then.

I managed to find a couple of co-founders and between us we got a website built and started a therapist directory. Technology wasn’t what it is today back then, so we ended up with a custom built, clunky site that basically wasn’t great. It was very pink, which I loved at the time, but it could hurt your eyes if you looked at it for too long!

We somehow managed to attract over 250 practitioners with zero advertising over 10 years…whether that’s impressive or embarrassing, I’m not sure!

Meanwhile, I sort of fell into the world of technology, which is now another passion of mine. I’ve had various roles in early stage tech startups and gained new skills in an exciting industry which is very far away from natural health but being able to combine them both has allowed me to finally launch Holistic Room 2.0. A site that actually works and delivers on my 10-year-old aspirations.

Aren’t there already other ways of finding natural health therapists online? 

There are yes, but the main differences are that other’s offer only a static directory, whereas we offer a marketplace or what I prefer to call it, a community. It’s not just search, locate, contact and book, it’s search, engage, connect, receive advice, make a balanced decision, book and review afterwards. Holistic Room is unique in its offerings compared to what’s currently available, we promote communication and engagement between our practitioners and our users so both can make the most of either offering their services or deciding what service is going to be best for their needs. 

How do you feel now it has launched?

Excited! We’ve had such a positive response so far and I just want it to continue. I want Holistic Room to become the only place to go when looking for natural health services in your area. We have therapists from a wide array of disciplines, I’ve learned about some amazing treatments I had never even heard of, that’s how diverse our therapist community is.

What’s next on the cards for Holistic Room?

We are talking to our users on a regular basis because we want to shape and develop the site to meet their needs. We take on board every suggestion, and if it is doable and something other users are requesting, we will schedule this into our development timeline. I’m not saying that there are going to be any major changes in the short term, but we have plans that we want to implement as we continue to grow. We love hearing about what users would like to see to develop the ‘community’ and will work on creating a platform that all our customers love.

Thanks Ran, this was very revealing! If any of our readers would like to see all the pink from Holistic Room 1.0 we managed to dig up a few images which we’ve copied below. I’m sure we’re all in agreement about Holistic Room 2.0 being much easier on the eye!

As always, if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, email us at hello@holisticroom.com, we love receiving email!