Meet the REELS Queen & Posture Princess.
Meet Ally and a Physiotherapist with a passion for preventing injuries and pain associated with device use. From yourperfectposture.com.au
She first caught my attention when I was flicking through instagram reels one day. Then I saw an video that educated me in the short life span of a reel and inspired me to purchase from her store to literally save my kids necks. After a back and forth DM chat I found out she is new in town but was killing it with her reels! I asked her to share a bit of her story with us and some insight into her reel success.
She has 17 years’ experience in occupational rehabilitation and ergonomics and she loves teaching women ways to reduce their risk of injury.
She is also a mum of two young busy boys, and she is seeing the long term effects that device use is having on our children’s growing spines.
She started when the pandemic hit, with the aim to bridge the knowledge gap of makeshift DIY home set-ups and the knock on affects.
There was and still is a massive knowledge gap for people who are working from home and how to set themselves up to prevent pain and an injury. Her mission is to empower women with the knowledge to make better health choices for the whole family to improve their posture and their home setup which in turn prevent an injury or pain.”
- How did you get your business idea?
When we were all just locked down last March 2020, I was getting quite bored after a few months as I had lots of free time to think about what I wanted to do with my life and reassess what was I was currently doing. I had been performing workplace assessments/ ergonomic assessments for corporate companies for years and realised that everyone was now working from home. I knew I wanted to help more people who didn’t have access to workplace assessments, and so I enrolled myself in the online Lady Start Up course with Mia Freedman. This was the best decision I ever made!
The course taught me how to make my own website, and then I started advertising myself as performing virtual home ergonomic assessments. This was really out of necessity, as everyone was sent home to work and no one had any knowledge of how to set themselves up! I saw a massive information gap especially for those women who work for themselves like sole traders, who didn’t have access to HR or workplace safety assessments.
I was also getting a lot of questions from my family and friends about how to have a good set up at home and they were also wanting recommendations into good budget friendly chairs, laptop risers etc. So after starting my Instagram page in March 2021, I quickly realised that I could teach and educate women by doing reels with quick and easy tips to improve their home setup. I could also educate them on injuries and ways to prevent pain with my physiotherapy background. It soon became clear to me that people now knew how to set themselves up at home, but they needed a place to buy the equipment. So I rapidly pivoted my business to being a supplier and seller of fun and colourful ergonomic equipment!
I saw the problem that I would recommend a product say from a large company E.g. Officeworks./ Kmart but then I wasn’t able to follow up with if they had implemented the equipment correctly. At least now if they buy something from me, I can help them how to set it up correctly (and send them my free home set up guide) and they can always have access to me after purchase! Often they would send a photo to me of the set up, and I could give them feedback. I also offer contactless delivery for those people who live in the ACT, and this has been great with our most recent lockdown as a lot of the shops were closed or out of stock!
- How do your products/services solve your customers' problems?
My products are not only good for your health, but they make you smile! I am constantly on the lookout for the most ergonomic products that looks good too! I’m not your average Officeworks with the stock standard black and white keyboards and mice. I’ve managed to come across some beautiful vertical mice (Pink and teal) and keyboards that look like a lipstick palette! Every piece of equipment that I sell in my store, solves an ergonomic problem for someone. E.g. like raising the laptop to a great height to prevent tech-neck, or repositioning your forearm into a more neutral position to prevent carpal tunnel which a vertical mouse will achieve.
I also sell ergonomic pillows for adults and children, and believe that sleep is the foundation of life and so having a great sleep is so important for this. I also sell mini Bluetooth keyboards and tablet holders for children, and I’ve found that there isn’t a lot of research out there about how to interact with tablets ergonomically. Simply by using a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with a tablet will greatly improve your posture as opposed to just reaching and touching the screen. I’m so concerned with children’s posture as we are starting them so early on devices.
My 4 year old was home learning on an iPad and so if we count the number of years they are on devices, it can be up to 20 years that they are using some form of device until they get to the workforce! This number scares me, as there is nothing out there helping parents to improve their children’s posture while their spines are growing. Health professionals I speak to are already seeing teenagers with a complete reversal of their neck spinal curvature and I can only imagine the long term affects that this will have on the rest of their life. Simple tips like raising your phone up to eye level when you are scrolling can help prevent this, or raising up your laptop to eye level by using a laptop stand, external keyboard and mouse.
- Why did you decide to go into business.
I started this business initially to help friends and family who were working from home. Then I wanted to help busy women who were business women/ mumpreneurs who were working for themselves and didn’t have access to a workplace assessment (sole traders). Then I realised that I wanted to help women so that they could then help their children’s set up as well.
My absolute long term goal is to have Ergonomics in the Curriculum at every primary and high school in Australia.
When I was growing up, we didn’t have the devices that we do today (phones, tablets, switch, PlayStation, TV) and we are desperately needing our children to be educated on how to interact with all the devices safely and ergonomically. We know that we need these devices to learn or play or interact with loved ones, but using them in way that won’t be detrimental to their body is my ultimate aim. I’m also keenly interested in digital health and the statistics are alarming when we look at the length of time we are spending on our devise.
Children are experiencing eye problems, such as Myopia whereby objects in the distance are blurred due to the amount of screen time which is scary and will affect their future. Teenagers are also reporting impaired sleep as they are scrolling their phones in bed at night and this is impacting their ability to wind down and get a deep sleep, which we all know that sleep is the elixir of life and sets us up for the day! If our next generation are going to be sleep deprived and hunched over needing regular Physiotherapy treatment to correct their spines.. then parent, we need to act fast!!
- What has been the hardest part in your small business journey?
The hardest part – there are so many hard parts!
The constant learning about social media and how to get the word out in the right way.. knowing when to get help… working out what products aren’t selling… sourcing the right products…finding enough time in the day! Learning when to switch off for the day!
- Your reels are really great. How did you learn to create them?
I just worked them out by trial and error! I am certainly still learning every time I do them! I was so scared of them so I avoided them initially, but then I worked out that I could combine my love of music and lip syncing with my ergonomics so it was a win/win situation for me!
You can teach a lot in a 7 second video!
I find them much easier than writing a long post with a photo or talking it out on a story.
- Have you noticed a benefit in doing reels?
Yes I found that because I enjoyed doing them, this was showing through and people were commenting more with positive comments! When people purchase something from me, then often tell me how much they love seeing my reels!
I learnt that entertaining people was a great conversation starter and breaks down a few barriers.
If you can laugh at yourself, then just do it! The response has been so positive that I’m addicted now!
- What words of advice do you have to anyone about to begin creating their own reels?
Just do it! Doesn’t matter if you look or feel silly. Have a look at what other people are doing and just try and work out what you feel comfortable with. I find reels much easier than actually talking on stories as it’s like playing a character or like acting.
- What do you love about running your own business?
Everything! I love being my own boss and dictating my own work hours. I love fitting in my work with my family’s schedule. I love being creative. I love connecting with amazing people along the way! It’s amazing how many people will tell you their story. I also had such a fabulous time being nominated and then being a finalist in the health and wellbeing category for the Ausmumpreneur award this year! This was a great way to connect with other women and made me feel so fantastic, that I was helping women! I am growing as a person and businesswoman everyday. My confidence is growing! I’m doing podcasts, speaking with other businesswomen and I’m loving it.
- What does success look like for you?
Feeling excited and proud to be doing the work that I am doing every day. To be able to help as many women and their families prevent pain or an injury. To make someone smile when they receive a delivery from me. To improve someone’s current pain when they use my product.
I just want to help and make people’s life journey more enjoyable!
We aren’t on this earth for long, we need to spread more positivity and laughter around.
- What advice would you give to someone just starting out in their own business?
Go for it. If you are passionate about what you want to achieve, then just start small. One foot in front of the other.
Don’t compare your step 1 with someone else’s’ step 30.
Keep moving a little bit every day.
If you'd like to check out her REELS and online store check the links below.
Online store