In the Press

Four-Town Journal — Thursday, June 6, 2024
House of Hearing opened up by Audiologist Chel­sea Stewart at 503 Main Street in Esterhazy was the recipient of the Women Entrepreneurs of Sas­katchewan Innovation Award.

WESK provides business advising, funding, train­ing, networking, and resources for women entrepre­neurs who are starting and growing their business in Saskatchewan.

They have recently announced a new rural am­bassador program to address gender entrepreneur­ship gap and empower women entrepreneurs across Saskatchewan. The goal is to ensure rural women have access to a comprehensive support network. This will help rural businesses thrive, which con­tributes to a strong and diversified Canadian Econ­omy.

Audiologist Chelsea Stewart shared, “I reached out to WESK about the possibility of starting my business in 2020. My husband had just started a job in Esterhazy two-hours away from our home town, Regina. I had a 3 year old, 2 year old and a baby and was on maternity leave from my dream job as a public health Audiologist. I had zero back­ground in business. I wanted to do more than create a job for myself. I wanted to do more than sell hear­ing aids. But I did have a vision. There are very few audiology clinics located rurally, so I spent several months completing a thorough business plan, re­searching, and connecting with people and organi­zations in the area to determine if there was a need for hearing services.I reached out to WESK and began working with a business advisor. I shared my vision to open an audiology clinic that was based on a care-focused business model with a focus on people over profit. Where the goal was to build con­nections rather than sales.”

There were over 100 applicants for five entrepre­neur awards- Community Involvement, Indigenous Entrepreneur, Innovation, Growth and Expansion, and Resilience. As well, one woman hand-selected for the Celebration of Achievement Award. 3 Final­ists were selected for each category and one recip­ient was announced at the 2024 WESK Gala in Saskatoon on May 15, 2024.

House of Hearing was selected as the recipient for the Innovation Award among 3 finalists. The Inno­vation Award is presented to the Saskatchewan woman entrepreneur who is pushing conventional boundaries. She is disrupting and reshaping her in­dustry through ground-breaking achievements in bringing innovation to market. The selected recip­ient has shown successful innovation, demon­strated vision in the development of new technologies, products, and/or services, and has demonstrated the ability to take risks.

House of Hearing is owned an operated by Chel­sea Stewart, audiologist, since January 2022. She shared, “As an audiologist in public health for most of my career, I never planned on opening my own clinic. I loved my job and was passionate about helping people and assessing, diagnosing, and treating hearing concerns in a medical setting. When my husband relocated for work, it posed chal­lenges for our family. As a mother to 3 young kids, and a husband on shift work, a long commute was not an option. Opening House of Hearing allowed me to continue to do what I love and have the flex­ibility to spend time with my family. Chelsea is pas­sionate about taking time for her patients, providing thorough and accurate audiology serv­ices, educating, and providing honest recommenda­tions.”

Stewart states, “Several strategies were utilized in the innovation of my business model and serv­ice-delivery. The first strategy was to connect to in­dividuals and businesses in the community to determine the needs for hearing services in the area. This included connecting with local medical offices, occupational health and safety, industrial companies, and people from the community. This allowed me to identify the gaps in services that I could address and challenges that I could solve with my business. Some of the identified needs included the inability for individuals to access services in rural locations, needs for individuals in care homes or individuals unable to travel, and needs for on-site employee hearing programs and hearing con­servation programs. Many individuals reported difficulty in finding a hearing professional that they could trust. Many patients had purchased hearing devices from clinics that travelled to Esterhazy; ho­wever, did not receive follow-up service and sup­port. I created a thorough business plan identifying a clear vision of what services weren’t offered in the community and identifying how my business could address those needs.

I differentiated my business by studying the competition to identify how my service delivery would be different. Many competitor clinics focus on sales and products (hearing devices); however, the goal of House of Hearing was to take the principles of working in a healthcare setting into private prac­tice where the focus is on the service and experience as a top priority rather than the product. I created my business model around reducing or eliminating the struggles that I consistently saw patients en­dure when I worked in private practice. For exam­ple, providing a thorough and accurate assessment, allowing patients time to make a decision, patient-centred and family-centred care, educating pa­tients so they understand the results of their assessment and recommendations, providing written materials and counselling tools, and focus­ing on building relationships with my patients and their families. I want all patients to have access to hearing devices and offer in-house payment plans at zero-interest.

Megan Menzel (left) presenting the Innovation Award which was sponsored by Farm Credit Ca¬nada to Chelsea Stewart (right).

I was able to identify my target market and make my services accessible. Audiology and hearing clinics located rurally are limited. I knew I wanted to make services accessible, so offering services in other locations around the province (currently: Ro­canville, Broadview, and Ochapowace) as well as providing home visits for patients that are in care homes or unable to travel and on-site employee hearing programs.”Chelsea said, “I innovated a business model and service-delivery based on my experience as an au­diologist and extensive research and planning prior to starting my business. This began with the space I chose for my busi­ness. I renovated a small home on main street in Esterhazy, into ‘House of Hearing’ because I wanted to ensure patients felt at home and comfort­able while receiving hearing services.
It was evident that in rural communities, building trust and having a strong reputation were very im­portant. The product or the device is only as good as it is fit by the hearing care professional. Of course, the technology of the hearing devices is im­portant, but the education, the support, the coun­selling, the accuracy of the hearing assessment, the fitting and programming of the hearing device is a significantly larger contributor in a patient’s suc­cess. Almost all hearing clinics have similar pro­ducts, but people choose House of Hearing because it is accessible or because they are choosing to work with me. They have seen first-hand, heard from a friend, or sense from my marketing materials that House of Hearing is focused on providing high-qual­ity and honest hearing care. The above goes hand-in-hand with the care-based approach I chose vs. sales based. I created a service delivery based on simplifying the hearing care ex­perience and creating positive relationships with my patients and their families. This includes allow­ing time for appointments, providing clear explana­tions and education, listening to the patients needs and working with them to generate the appropriate treatment plan and recommendations, long-term support. I innovated a business that addressed the specific needs in the community and differentiated my business from other businesses offering similar services and products.It is really an honour to have been able to build a business in rural Saskatchewan.”