FeelGoodNow: Our Story

Starting a startup is chaotic to say the least. Sometimes in the rush of getting your product launched, new employees hired, marketing and the hundreds of other things on to-do lists, you can overlook key details. It occurred to me over the Thanksgiving break that we have done just that and worse, we’ve overlooked ourselves.

With this I mean that we have been so focused on conveying what we do, that we’ve neglected to highlight who we are and why we’ve created FeelGoodNow.com. So consider this blog a whack at setting the record straight.

FeelGoodNow.com was founded by Caley Van Cleave (my sister) and myself in 2010. After a few years of nursing the concept from brainchild to a functioning company, FGN has evolved into the website you see today. The concept initially began as an information portal. After a few false starts, lots of nail biting and tons of hard work, FeelGoodNow became a full-fledged, health-centric social network.

Why the evolution you ask? As we began talking to individuals in the health and wellness space, it became clear to us that quality content was just the starting point. People interested in trying alternative therapies could only find a limited amount of information about practices and had even more difficulty finding a practitioner. We quickly realized that these individuals (who we refer to as health-seekers) needed an online space where they could access quality information as well as find their perfect practitioner. However, we also wanted a platform for these health-seekers to share their experiences with practitioners through commenting and rating as well as a place to discuss a wide variety of health topics with other health-seekers and practitioners alike. We wanted them to engage with their health experiences and thus create a community.

Reaching this point was very exciting for us as a team. However, it didn’t take long to realize that focusing on the health-seekers was only one part of the equation. When we hit the road talking to practitioners about our idea the main question we heard from them was: “What about me?” Around this time, businesses were really beginning to participate in social media and the traditional approaches to marketing were shifting dramatically.

Small contingencies of tech-savvy practitioners jumped on the social media bandwagon immediately and have since emerged as thought leaders in the space. Taking advantage of the slower adoption rate among the majority of practitioners, we began developing our practitioner-only network and accompanying online marketing services. Ultimately our goal is to not only provide a place for practitioners to showcase themselves and their practices online, but also to really engage with potential clients as well as other practitioners. We are particularly proud of our practitioner-only network as it allows practitioners to interact with one another in a safe, private and secure environment where they can participate openly in professional discussions about the industry.

You might be thinking that all this talk about promotion and showcasing sounds like a marketing firm. We are not a marketing firm. Unlike so many other online venues, we are adamant about giving practitioners a place to learn how to promote themselves instead of doing it for them. The Internet isn’t going anywhere, which is why we believe in continuous education for practitioners about what the best practices for navigating the online space are and will be. Ultimately, we created FeelGoodNow as online extension of the vibrant health and wellness community that exists offline. FeelGoodNow.com is a space where practitioners and consumers alike can benefit from engaging and learning from one another, improving the the health of individuals and the wellness community. That's why we're here and I'm feeling pretty good about what we do!

FeelGoodNow Contributor: Whitney Van Cleave
When Whitney isn't penning poems and pounding out blogs, she spends her time taking photographs and dreaming of travel. She is an undeniable lover of owls, white wine, sci-fi (BSG!) and dresses.


Interested in becoming a FeelGoodNow Featured Contributor? Find out how.