Sole proprietor Suzanne Mayall has learned some hard lessons about business since starting up her own homeopathy practice 18 months ago - but she would not trade these experiences for the world.

She has just relocated her practice, the Homeopathy Centre, from its office in the Foot and Ankle Clinic in Cedar Parkade to new offices at 3, Canal Road where she will work alongside two other sole proprietors working in alternative medicine - acupuncturist Erin Moran and massage therapist Dana Spurling.

Her practice - for which she has a passion - is growing and stabilising but Ms Mayall admits she was somewhat unprepared for the many faceted challenges of starting up her own business.

"If I had to do it all again," she said cheerfully, "I would work more with the Small Business Development Company and develop a better business plan - which I didn't really have - right from the beginning."

Like many budding entrepreneurs Ms Mayall started up long on enthusiasm for her chosen enterprise but short on funds.

Even today she still works side jobs to stay on top of loan payments and keep her business afloat. But Ms Mayall said she would not have it any other way.

"I always knew I wanted to work for myself," she said of her decision to pursue studies in the alternative medicine. "And, from the first time I heard about homeopathy, everything about it made sense to me."

Perhaps the biggest misconception about her field, she said, is that it is a competitor to traditional medicine.

"To my mind, it is a complement to traditional medicine," she said. "It is basically a system of medicine which starts from your body's innate ability to heal itself. It starts with the idea that the body creates balances to rectify problems.

"It is mostly unconscious. Sometimes the body's response to a natural weakness or stress is to do the next best thing to try and achieve balance. It creates symptoms to help relieve the problem."

For example, the body will run a fever or create mucus which traditional medicine tends to see as something which should be suppressed.

"Homeopathy is coming from the idea that the body is working to find the best balance," Ms Mayall said. "Homeopathy tries to create wellness by working with the process. It uses the basic principle of similars."

To qualify for her profession, Ms Mayall spent three years training at London's College of Homeopathy.

At the moment, she is the only homeopath operating on the Island and she told The Royal Gazette that she sees approximately 200 clients, on an off-and-on basis.

There are two other Bermudians trained as homeopaths but both work in the UK, where Ms Mayall said, the profile of homeopathy is much higher and its workings better understood.

Most of her clients specifically sought out her services or came in through referrals.

"I have done very little advertising. I get a lot of referrals from the health food stores and from other practitioners of alternative medicines and a few referrals from doctors - which is very nice actually."

When a new client comes in, Ms Mayall generally conducts and in-depth 90-minute consultation with the client, for which she charges $95.

"I go through with them, top-to-toe, their symptoms, their body, aspects of their general health such as diet, their family medical history - it is very comprehensive," she said.

The treatments are very individualised, she added: "We try and treat the 'whole person', not the disease or condition someone is coming in for."

If three clients come in for the same problem, they might receive three very different treatments.

Generally she will see clients regularly for four to six weeks after the first consultation, and then less often.

But always the body's natural processes are incorporated into the treatment process which may also draw on natural remedies.

In moving to her new, more dedicated office in the former Alliance Francaise facility, Ms Mayall has many new initiatives she would also like to get off the ground.

She intends to start offering classes, such as "homeopathy for the home" and to begin a Saturday clinic for children.

But like any new business, she is still mounting challenges - from financial to simply better educating the community about what she does.

Being the lone local homeopath can be its own challenge.

"It is hard not having professional support," she said. "I need to rely on the Internet and professional bodies overseas for support with education and materials which takes a lot of effort.

"It's a little isolating being the sole homeopath out here in the middle of the ocean."

But she has big plans for the future.

"Ideally I would like the centre to grow and expand and to interact more with conventional medicine," she said. "And I definitely want to run more educational and outreach programmes about homeopathy."

She would also like the business to grow in a manner that would allow her to spend more time away from the administration demands of the practice.

Which is one of the reasons she would advise people thinking of becoming sole proprietors to carefully develop a business plan ahead of time.

"If you have a more clear vision of the business side, you can focus on what you do," Ms Mayall said.

"At the end of the day, (administration) is not what I want to do. I want to think about people's health.

"From that perspective, having a well developed plan is a good thing."

She would also advise that budding business owners not under-estimate the financial challenges of going it alone.

"You really need to think carefully about what kind of financial risk you are prepared to take on," she said.

Much as her profession harnesses the body's natural processes to heal and improve health, however, Ms Mayall is using the natural processes of her young business to adapt and grow stronger to meet the future.