Ready to muscle in on physio expansion
FROM a solid business core, PhysioFlex has an eye on stretching out its model across the Gold Coast.
Southport-based PhysioFlex was founded in 2009 by trained physiotherapist Ben Mack. Eight years later his sister, Prudence Gracio, a lawyer and management consultant, stepped in to take over the running of the business when Mr Mack moved to Sydney.
Fitness, despite her background, is not alien to Ms Gracio.
She was a champion 800m and 1500m runner during her high-school years at Aquinas College and competed at the Pan Pacific Games.
“Ben had stepped out, he had wanted to explore other segments of the physiotherapy industry after living on the Gold Coast his whole life, although he has remained a consultant in the business,” she said.
“I really wanted to become involved. Something I enjoy is starting from nothing and realWhat
ly quickly coming up to speed.
“That is a skill I have developed.”
Between 2007 and 2009 Ms Gracio worked as a senior business analyst at A.T. Kearney, which is a global management consulting firm that focuses on strategic and operational CEO-agenda issues facing businesses, governments and institutions.
“It is providing high-level analysis and advice to the large corporates – senior management of large companies,” she said.
“I learned to drill into difficult business problems, cut them down and then analyse them using lateral and strategic thinking to provide answers and deliver results.”
followed was a stint at Bras N Things setting up its eCommerce arm before some independent consulting work and then a role as national franchise business manager at the Bank of Queensland.
She said it was always in the back of her mind to have her own business and when her brother stepped away from PhysioFlex, she saw her opportunity.
“Growing up on the Gold Coast I have always had that entrepreneurial spirit,” she said.
“I’ve always had that desire to own and run my own business.”
Ms Gracio said the key was building the right team to take the business forward.
She said between Mr Mack leaving the management of the business and her starting, there was another manager appointed on an interim basis that did not work out.
Ms Gracio said the first thing she did was recruit an experienced physio to take over from Mr Mack.
“What I focused on was building a really great team. They each have their own qualities and personalities,” she said.
“That was a pivotal moment when we brought (physiotherapist) Joe Faalogo on board.
“We wanted the experience and the leadership from a physio. He is a leader and an amazing individual.”
Ms Gracio said she had experimented with other services
in the past, however she decided to stick to the “core business” of physiotherapy along with acupuncture, massage, pilates and yoga.
She said she had focused on cementing the company’s foothold in the northern Gold Coast area, however believes the time would come to take the business further.
“That would mean opening new clinics , which would suit my strengths, because I have been a lawyer and worked in a number of different businesses,” she said.
“I am also looking for opportunities for innovation within the physio and healthcare industries.”
PhysioFlex recently partnered with the Gold Coast Triathlon, providing services freeof-charge to the triathletes
“It is not often our physiotherapists get to work alongside each other,” she said.