Latest / Glovisor Podcast / She Couldn't Find Answers for Her Health. So She Built the Solution | Saha Collective Story [Ep 80]

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She Couldn't Find Answers for Her Health. So She Built the Solution | Saha Collective Story [Ep 80] · Glovisor Podcast

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Speaker 1: I just went through a series of health issues. I
0:02
Speaker 1: wasn't finding answers in conventional medicine. And so what I
0:05
Speaker 1: did was, out of sheer frustration, said, hey, there's a
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Speaker 1: better way to do this. And I built out a
0:11
Speaker 1: matchmaking system that looks at who you are as a
0:14
Speaker 1: whole person and then gives you recommendations for non-covered by
0:18
Speaker 1: insurance providers.
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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Glowvisor podcast, where we explore business growth, communication,
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Speaker 2: and personal development through real conversations with people who make
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Speaker 2: an impact. Our guest is an entrepreneur and former corporate
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Speaker 2: software professional who turned her own challenging health journey into
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Speaker 2: a mission to help others find answers. She created an
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Speaker 2: online platform that uses personalized matchmaking to connect people with
0:46
Speaker 2: holistic experts. Glowvisor welcomes Alenka Kislik. Hi, Alenka. Hey. All right.
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Speaker 2: I'm excited. So Alenka, please let us know a little
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Speaker 2: bit more about what you do. Yeah.
0:57
Speaker 1: So my background is in corporate on the tech side.
1:01
Speaker 1: And I just went through a series of health issues.
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Speaker 1: I wasn't finding answers in conventional medicine. And there's no
1:07
Speaker 1: system really to find answers outside of that if you're
1:10
Speaker 1: trying anything out of pocket. And so what I did
1:14
Speaker 1: was out of sheer frustration said, hey, there's a better
1:17
Speaker 1: way to do this. And I built out a matchmaking system.
1:21
Speaker 1: that looks at who you are as a whole person
1:23
Speaker 1: and then gives you recommendations for non-covered by insurance providers.
1:27
Speaker 1: So it could be anything from like DNA testing to
1:29
Speaker 1: Pilates to a gut health coach to a therapist. It
1:32
Speaker 1: just really depends on what you're going through and where
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Speaker 1: you're at. And then we match you with someone who
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Speaker 1: can help you.
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Speaker 2: Were you exceptionally techie before you started this?
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Speaker 1: So I spent 15 years in the tech world. I'm
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Speaker 1: not a software developer, but I speak the language and
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Speaker 1: I know how to design systems. based on, you know,
1:49
Speaker 1: how software works. It just, it's one of those things
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Speaker 1: that when you come from, like, you know, engineers find
1:55
Speaker 1: solutions to the problems via their engineering brain. I found
1:59
Speaker 1: solutions to problems via my tech background. And so that's
2:03
Speaker 1: how it happened.
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Speaker 2: I guess one of the things that makes individuals most
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Speaker 2: successful is when they look around and they can't find
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Speaker 2: a solution to the problem they have. How long did
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Speaker 2: that process take you?
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Speaker 1: Two years by the time I put my foot down
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Speaker 1: and was like, I'm going to do something about it.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
2:21
Speaker 1: But just, it's not just two years. It was, I
2:24
Speaker 1: stopped counting at $ 10, 000 American and about 50, that's five,
2:29
Speaker 1: zero different types of treatment. And that was the moment
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Speaker 1: where I was like, this is not okay. We're doing
2:34
Speaker 1: something about it. But now we are almost five years
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Speaker 1: from the initial, like, When I've went back and been like, oh, yeah,
2:43
Speaker 1: that was the thing that started it from a health perspective.
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Speaker 2: So now that you find a solution to your personal
2:48
Speaker 2: issue first before you embarked on this journey.
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Speaker 1: Well, I found a series of things that helped. Right.
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Speaker 1: I think that a hard thing that we look at
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Speaker 1: right now is the health issues. experiences we have in
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Speaker 1: terms of conventional medicine are like, oh, here's a pill
3:05
Speaker 1: or here's a surgery to fix your problem. The reality
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Speaker 1: is there's often a lot more nuance to that and
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Speaker 1: there's a lot of layers. So did I find a
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Speaker 1: direction in a series of things that I had to fix? Yes.
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Speaker 1: Am I perfectly fixed?
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Speaker 2: No.
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Speaker 1: But we are, you know, years down the road, but
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Speaker 1: it took me decades to get here. So I'm trying
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Speaker 1: to give my, right? Like it's, I'm doing exponentially better.
3:27
Speaker 1: I'm not wearing a brace. My leg is not visibly
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Speaker 1: atrophied where you can see that there's less muscle, right?
3:33
Speaker 1: I'm doing a lot better, but this is what I've
3:35
Speaker 1: learned is an entire lifestyle change, right? If you have
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Speaker 1: high cholesterol and you're really prone to have a heart attack,
3:41
Speaker 1: you could like take blood thinners, but really you need
3:43
Speaker 1: to make lifestyle changes, right? And that's a bigger conversation.
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Speaker 2: Once you decided to embark on this journey, what was
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Speaker 2: your first step?
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Speaker 1: I would say my first step was getting over myself,
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Speaker 1: getting out of my way, because I am so grateful
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Speaker 1: my friends who put up with me talking and brainstorming
4:00
Speaker 1: and getting excited about what I was wanting to do.
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Speaker 1: But it took me a good six months before I
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Speaker 1: decided to like, OK, let's create the legal entity. Let's
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Speaker 1: actually start building the thing. I think the biggest thing
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Speaker 1: is like you have an idea. You need to validate
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Speaker 1: that idea. Make sure people are actually willing to pay
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Speaker 1: for it. which is very different than building something. You
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Speaker 1: need to make sure people are willing to pay for
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Speaker 1: it and then you need to start building it.
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Speaker 2: Once you hit the button and it went live, what happened?
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Speaker 2: I mean, was it like it just validated everything you've
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Speaker 2: done to that point? Or was it like, whoa, I'm
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Speaker 2: going to have to start doing something else or a
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Speaker 2: little extra marketing to make things happen?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a really frustrating part for a
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Speaker 1: lot of people because we're usually either good at building
4:47
Speaker 1: or good at selling and generally not good at both.
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Speaker 1: And so you have to learn the other thing, whatever
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Speaker 1: it is for you. Just because you've built something amazing
4:55
Speaker 1: doesn't mean people know about it, right? And most of
4:57
Speaker 1: us don't have thousands of dollars to throw at advertising
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Speaker 1: or hiring somebody to do that. So that has been
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Speaker 1: the biggest amount of work is just how do people
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Speaker 1: learn that it exists and it can help them.
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Speaker 2: Now, as people are signing on, did you start to
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Speaker 2: notice any challenges or any issues? Because very often, once
5:18
Speaker 2: we go to market with something, that's when we start
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Speaker 2: to find all the holes in our processes.
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Speaker 1: My background in software actually has a lot to do
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Speaker 1: with processes, which helps. Not saying you catch everything. You don't.
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Speaker 1: Like there isn't, you will never, no matter how perfect
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Speaker 1: you think something is, there will always be something that
5:33
Speaker 1: surprises you. That's just the nature of building anything, right?
5:37
Speaker 1: You renovate your house and all of a sudden you're like, oh, well,
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Speaker 1: that color doesn't match that thing. Or like, this is
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Speaker 1: now in a place I didn't want it to be.
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Speaker 1: That's just how the process is and you have to
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Speaker 1: embrace it. Um, there are some things that I learned, like,
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Speaker 1: for example, um, not to get too nerdy, but I
5:53
Speaker 1: wanted to offer this to companies as a benefit for
5:56
Speaker 1: their employees. And I was like, great, they'll just sign on.
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Speaker 1: They'll give me money. That money will be like a
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Speaker 1: credit that the employees can use and, you know, book
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Speaker 1: at home massage or acupuncture, whatever they feel like.
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 1: It's not how it works. And that's the sales part
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Speaker 1: in that benefits companies want it to be easy or
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Speaker 1: like the benefits team doesn't have the time to do
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Speaker 1: some sort of integration. So then I had to go
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Speaker 1: back and see, okay, could I make this eligible with
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Speaker 1: the benefits they already offer, like health savings accounts, HSAs
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Speaker 1: or FSAs, flexible savings accounts. And that meant I had
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Speaker 1: to restructure my plan to go live from the financial
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Speaker 1: architecture standpoint. And so that to me was like a big,
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Speaker 1: Now it's an opportunity, but at the time it was
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Speaker 1: a big frustration.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. So now is that available to HSAs and FSAs now?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, we're almost there. We're like, give me a couple weeks. Great. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Now, would you be able to share a client case
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Speaker 2: study that someone who signed onto your site has had
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Speaker 2: an amazing transformation?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there's a few different people. So I
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Speaker 1: think the biggest thing is when you go through frustrations,
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Speaker 1: in your health and you're not finding answers in the
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Speaker 1: information that is available to you, right? Whether that's through
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Speaker 1: your doctors or your friends and family who make suggestions
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Speaker 1: or whatever. The hardest part of that is feeling like
7:18
Speaker 1: you're lost, like you don't, like you're at your wit's end.
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Speaker 1: And I think the biggest part of this is like
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Speaker 1: giving you back options and saying like, hey, here you go.
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Speaker 1: We have people who have gone through this process and
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Speaker 1: all of a sudden they are hitting the things that
7:33
Speaker 1: they want to do. So they're sleeping better. They have
7:36
Speaker 1: more energy. They're able to function better with their family,
7:39
Speaker 1: with their friends. I think what that looks like and
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Speaker 1: how those individuals get there looks very different because we
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Speaker 1: are at our core individuals. And what you need versus
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Speaker 1: what I need is different. And that's what we are
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Speaker 1: trying to address is how can we give individuals individualized
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Speaker 1: care instead of dumping them into a pool with all
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Speaker 1: of the options and saying, this is exactly what everybody
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Speaker 1: else does, so it should work for you. And then
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Speaker 1: you're like, well, it's not, and now you have no option.
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Speaker 1: So we're doing the opposite of that.
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Speaker 2: One of the things that I wanted to know is
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Speaker 2: how do you handle the providers and then the customers?
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Speaker 2: Because they seem like two separate jobs all on its own.
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Speaker 2: And it seems like they both bring challenges because you
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Speaker 2: need the customers in order to have the providers and
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Speaker 2: the providers to provide the services for the customers.
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Speaker 1: This is called a double-sided marketplace, right? Where you have
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Speaker 1: supply and demand. there's a really interesting book called The
8:33
Speaker 1: Cold Start Problem that I think I'm on my second
8:35
Speaker 1: or third time reading now, listening to. I don't know why, but,
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Speaker 1: you know, business books put me to sleep. But what
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Speaker 1: it talks about is there are two sides of the network, right?
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Speaker 1: And one side is inherently going to be harder than
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Speaker 1: the other side. What is really interesting to me is
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Speaker 1: people are like, oh, how many providers do you have?
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Speaker 1: And then they're so impressed. And it's not really hard
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Speaker 1: for me to get providers because providers understand the value
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Speaker 1: and they're motivated because, they want more clients, right? Experts
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Speaker 1: in what they do, they're generally not experts in sales
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Speaker 1: and marketing. And if someone else could fill their calendar,
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Speaker 1: they'd be very grateful. The customers are the harder side
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Speaker 1: because you have to find them in the right moment, right?
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Speaker 1: You have to find them in the right moment where
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Speaker 1: they're willing to try something new, where they are going
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Speaker 1: through something so acutely, like they're just really in it
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Speaker 1: and they really need help. That's the harder side. So
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Speaker 1: what I'm doing instead is I'm actually not doing a
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Speaker 1: traditional direct to consumer approach. I am working on partnerships
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Speaker 1: with other companies and doing referral-based revenue systems that allow
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Speaker 1: us to leverage their existing audience and then bring in
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Speaker 1: more people through that flow. And for me, I think
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Speaker 1: the most important part of that is partnerships is something
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Speaker 1: naturally that I enjoy doing that I'm comfortable with versus
9:53
Speaker 1: some people love doing social media and they have a
9:55
Speaker 1: great personal presence and that works for them. It's just not...
10:00
Speaker 1: my jam. You can like, if you look at my
10:01
Speaker 1: social media, it's mostly me recording like in selfie mode.
10:04
Speaker 1: If I'm lucky, I put a camera on a tripod
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Speaker 1: and I record something quickly, but I'm not going to
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Speaker 1: edit it like crazy. You know what I mean? Like
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Speaker 1: some people love doing that. It's just, I did it
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Speaker 1: for about a year. I spent two hours a day
10:14
Speaker 1: for Instagram, did not. work the way that like it
10:18
Speaker 1: was intended to. And I followed all the things you
10:19
Speaker 1: were supposed to. And I was like, okay, let me,
10:21
Speaker 1: let me switch. Let me do something a little different.
10:24
Speaker 2: Now, if someone wants to work with you, what is
10:28
Speaker 2: the step-by-step process? Do they go to the website? Is
10:31
Speaker 2: there a membership? How does that work?
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Speaker 1: So I felt really strongly about not charging a membership
10:38
Speaker 1: by default. And I say that because I, A lot
10:42
Speaker 1: of people, you don't want to charge a membership and
10:44
Speaker 1: then not be able to serve the clients, right? Maybe
10:47
Speaker 1: there isn't like exactly the right practitioner for them. They
10:50
Speaker 1: want something in person. They live in a remote area.
10:53
Speaker 1: Like we're not going to be, we're not going to
10:55
Speaker 1: have that. So what I do instead is the providers
11:00
Speaker 1: set their prices and we take a percentage of each
11:03
Speaker 1: appointment booked. And so, and that's a flat percentage that
11:07
Speaker 1: goes towards covering the costs of the platform, the.
11:09
Speaker 2: Marketing, et cetera. So now if I'm a brand new
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Speaker 2: customer and I live somewhere where you don't provide services currently,
11:20
Speaker 2: would you be able to help to source people?
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Speaker 1: I can definitely source people. That's like I said, the
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Speaker 1: easier part is sourcing the providers because the providers, they
11:29
Speaker 1: understand the value of what we're providing. I think one
11:32
Speaker 1: of the biggest things is we try our best to
11:35
Speaker 1: avoid a potential mismatch between a provider and a client.
11:38
Speaker 1: For example, you have really bad back pain. And you
11:42
Speaker 1: are just in so much pain that like the idea
11:45
Speaker 1: of doing Pilates to help with your back pain is
11:47
Speaker 1: just not going to happen, right? Like for some of us,
11:49
Speaker 1: that's the case where we just need someone to give
11:52
Speaker 1: us relief. Pilates is not an option. Maybe you need
11:55
Speaker 1: acupuncture instead. We might have the Pilates person. We might
11:59
Speaker 1: not have the acupuncture person. But if you tell us like, hey,
12:01
Speaker 1: can you find me someone? We could do that for you.
12:06
Speaker 1: Separate from that. There are a lot of virtual services
12:11
Speaker 1: that didn't, like this is now becoming more of a standard.
12:14
Speaker 1: You can find someone who can probably help you. Sure,
12:16
Speaker 1: if you want a massage therapist, that's an in-person thing.
12:19
Speaker 1: There's only so much we can do with that, but
12:21
Speaker 1: there are likely going to be other people that can
12:24
Speaker 1: help you that you didn't know existed.
12:26
Speaker 2: Now, based where your business is currently, who should be
12:29
Speaker 2: contacting you right now?
12:31
Speaker 1: People who have gone through or are currently going through
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Speaker 1: chronic stress, chronic fatigue, and chronic pain.
12:37
Speaker 2: Also providers, I would imagine.
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Speaker 1: Providers who serve those conditions, yes.
12:42
Speaker 2: And no venture capitalists?
12:44
Speaker 1: That is a rabbit hole that I am happy to
12:47
Speaker 1: go down. What's really interesting about this space, there's a
12:51
Speaker 1: new study that came out from the Global Wellness Institute
12:54
Speaker 1: that looked at providers of what's called complementary and alternative medicine.
13:00
Speaker 1: And they broke it down per area in America specifically.
13:04
Speaker 1: We're just talking about America. That is currently a $ 41
13:07
Speaker 1: billion per year market. But a lot of people I
13:12
Speaker 1: talk to are like, oh, this is such a niche business.
13:14
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, it's not. Cardboard, which by the way,
13:17
Speaker 1: makes more than all professional sports combined, which I thought
13:20
Speaker 1: was a fascinating statistics. But it is big and it
13:24
Speaker 1: is booming and it is growing, especially with the way
13:26
Speaker 1: that healthcare is in the States. If somebody in venture
13:30
Speaker 1: wants to talk to me, I am happy to talk
13:32
Speaker 1: to them.
13:33
Speaker 2: What is the single most important takeaway that you want
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Speaker 2: our listeners to remember from this conversation?
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Speaker 1: I think the most important thing that you need to
13:41
Speaker 1: remember when you're going through something like this is it
13:43
Speaker 1: probably took you years to get here. And it might
13:46
Speaker 1: take a little bit of time to get answers. So
13:48
Speaker 1: give yourself some grace. So whatever you're going through, it's okay.
13:53
Speaker 1: Like it's tough. But meaning if you don't find that
13:57
Speaker 1: one person, that like one appointment that gives you all
13:59
Speaker 1: the answers, maybe... that is because it's only part of
14:04
Speaker 1: the solution. Part of the solution could be multiple appointments
14:07
Speaker 1: with that person, could not be two, but it's going
14:10
Speaker 1: to take some unwinding of all the work you've done
14:13
Speaker 1: to get you.
14:13
Speaker 2: To this place. Great advice. Now, where is your business
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Speaker 2: headed to next? Are you just servicing U.S.? Are we
14:21
Speaker 2: moving into all of North America, South America? Where are
14:23
Speaker 2: we headed?
14:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're focusing primarily on the U.S. market in
14:28
Speaker 1: terms of clients. We do have providers in other parts
14:31
Speaker 1: of the world. And the reason for that is there
14:34
Speaker 1: are tons of people who have amazing expertise and often
14:36
Speaker 1: can offer for a lot cheaper what you are looking for.
14:40
Speaker 1: But yeah, we're just focusing on the U.S. market for now.
14:43
Speaker 1: That's the primary focus.
14:45
Speaker 2: Now, where can people connect with you, find out more
14:48
Speaker 2: about your work and continue this conversation?
14:51
Speaker 1: The easiest way to find us is sahacollective.com. You can
14:55
Speaker 1: send us an email at info at sahacollective.com. And then
14:59
Speaker 1: we're on most social media at sahacollective.
15:04
Speaker 2: Well, Alenka, thank you so much for joining us today.
15:06
Speaker 2: And thank you so much for sharing so much information
15:09
Speaker 2: about your business and the value you shared today.
15:12
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me.
15:13
Speaker 2: You're welcome. Thanks everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you,
15:18
Speaker 2: make sure you share it with someone. And don't forget
15:20
Speaker 2: to follow the Globalizer podcast for more conversations that make
15:23
Speaker 2: an impact. Till the next time.