Ronda Gates is using cyberspace to help you get healthy. She got her start using technology by developing a diet oriented software program. At that time (1994), she explored the Net and found very few health resources online.

Since she had a best friend who was a "computer junkie" (a label she now applies to herself as well) Ronda says she is always looking for the latest wave. She got " hooked up" to a local server, CompuServe and AOL. She says "On Compuserve, I quickly learned about the Health & Fitness forum and began visiting there daily. It wasn't long before I was having online conversations with other professionals." Soon she was asked to be an online consultant on that site. She has also been involved in similar projects for AOL, and is now a consultant on both Health & Fitness and Weight Management forums for Compuserve.

Since search engines revealed more activity but very few active sites, she says "I knew I'd have to do my own. "

Her "computer junkie" friend (the one who got her on-line originally) now offered to help her create a web site. Ronda says her business mission has always been, "to provide health promotion programs and products to support lifestyle change" and she realized along the way that the Web could help her realize this, online.

How does she promote the site? She uses personal and on-line contacts to get the word out. Anyone who hears her speak receives a humorous bookmark that lists her web site and email address, and her stationery also lists those addresses. When she published a book with nutritional biochemist, Covert Bailey, (just released in paperback), she insisted the last page list her site's URL!!

She offered a free fat finder to anyone who would register at the site in the fall of '96. She had 300 fat finders, and Uh-oh -- 12,000 responses! (She attributes the huge response to the fact that someone listed her on "freebies on the net!") She is still in the process of resolving the dilemma of satisfying customers who registered and want fat finders or, her more recent offer, low fat recipes.

Another of her strategies is to make constant change, in order to get folks to come back. She'll be sending an on-line newsletter to people who have already registered at the site. The first issue goes beyond the education the site itself provides. New visitors will get a password that entitles them to several free issues.

Ronda says her goal is to generate 30% of her income using her web site to sell products and attract clients. She explains, "Ultimately my goal is to work with a weight management company and offer at-home weight management consulting on line. I currently offer Heart Start, a personal weight management service in the Portland, OR, metropolitan area that I believe would lend itself to on line opportunities for folks to become their own best exercise, nutrition and weight management consultant. I have not, however, formulated a business plan for this idea." Ronda has a healthy sense of ambition, and the energy to carry it off!