Five minutes with ... Erin Hawken
Erin, tell us a little about your practice.
I run Home. Chiropractic. I don’t call it a practice because it is not sterile like a practice. I call it a studio because that’s more conducive to describing what we do here. This is a centre that helps people build on their health and wellbeing.
What do you do for your clients?
We have people come in with a specific problem; for instance, migraines, headaches, back pain or digestive issues — most of the time it’s stress overload from the way we live. But generally we have three types of clients. I have people who come in simply because they like to do something preventive or proactive with their health. Then I have those who might come in with their kids, who might have a specific problem, and then they see the benefit the kids get and come in themselves. Then I have what I call my Ferraris — high performers, CEOs and business owners, very, very busy people who need to be at their absolute best to be able to perform in their life. For them, I do fine tuning to make sure they can handle all the bends on the racecourse of their everyday life. Most of our clients are from Paddington.
What’s your connection with Paddington?
I have been a small business owner in Paddington for 10 years and I live within walking distance, in Darling Point.
What do you see as strengths of Paddington as a suburb?
One of the biggest strengths of Paddington is that it’s a village. It has almost everything you need for your life, and by life, I mean a life lived really well and really beautifully, within walking distance.
What are you hoping to achieve for local businesses in your new role?
Local businesses are the cornerstone of the suburb in terms of it being a village. They enable people to live in the village in a low stress way. People in Vaucluse are always in their cars. Here they can walk everywhere. But we need to make sure we are supporting small businesses so that continues.
Why is walking so important?
I don’t own a car so I walk everywhere I go. I walk to work, home, all my meetings and appointments, everything I do is within walking distance. In terms of your health and wellbeing, so much research shows that people who have a village lifestyle live for longer and live healthier lives. We have it all here.
What do you plan to do for local businesses as president of the Chamber of Commerce?
I would like to see more collaboration between businesses and more sharing of resources through networking. There are 13,000 people in Paddington and for local businesses there’s little need to look outside Paddington for customers. I feel we can reach our community better together and that strengthens our experience in Paddington as well. I also want to bring back some great community events that haven’t returned since COVID, the William St Festival being one of those.
How do you plan to achieve results for local businesses?
By making sure we invite local businesses into the Chamber of Commerce so they are part of the network; by getting all of the grants we can for small to medium businesses; and by running proper networking events. There’s nothing more boring than going to a networking event and standing in the corner with a glass of wine and getting nothing out of it. We want to set businesses up for success in collaboration and help facilitate that otherwise it’s just a waste of time.
Why are small businesses important?
I really am a champion of small business and I understand the challenges as well as the wonderful opportunities that having a small business brings to someone’s life. It really is a lifestyle. Unless you have run a small business, there’s no way you can understand that.
Home. Chiropractic Studio
Shop 1/160-162 Hargrave St
home-chiro.net
visitpaddington.com.au