SUNBIRD OILS

Sunbird Oils has taken over in February 2010 from Caromatics.
Originally, Caromatics took over from Common Scents, which operated from 1994 to 2004.
And Sunbird Oils is run by Chris Callaghan, who started Common Scents in 1994!

Chris Callaghan has an Honours Degree in Biochemistry (York 1973), and worked for 20 years as an Industrial Chemist doing work including Quality Assurance using Gas Liquid Chromatography. He started Common Scents in 1994 after having been made redundant twice in 3 years..

In 2004 he sold the business to Carol Collins, who has run the business for over 5 years - with Chris acting as Consultant Biochemist to advise on technical issues. Although pretending to be semi-retired, Chris kept busy with a new project, setting up a small Business Consultancy called Sunbird Management. The purpose of this was to help other people to set up their own businesses - especially people involved with complementary therapies.

Chris had decided to avoid all forms of hard work, having previously gained a hernia at Common Scents whilst moving large drums of oil. Instead, he opted for anything that involved sitting on his backside in front of his laptop.. He therefore decided to learn website design.

The first incentive was the prospect of having to pay someone vast sums of money for them to design a website for Sunbird Management. So his first project was just that - a website for the Business Consultancy. Although his first attempts looked as though they had been bolted together with Meccano, Chris persevered until his website creations were slightly easier on the eye. His speciality has become Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), the black art of designing websites so that they rank near the top of Google searches. What he calls "Websites That Work".

Now that Carol has decided to step down from running Caromatics, Chris has decided that he doesn't want to see the original essential oils business fade away entirely, so has agreed to come out of retirement to keep it going. As long as that doesn't involve getting another hernia.. Or actually doing any hard work at all.. Or being distracted from his new love of website design..

For that reason, Sunbird Oils is going to be offering customers an inexpensive web design service. So if you are a working therapist and think that your business might do better with a simple website, look here: Sunbird Website Design

Coming out of retirement and thinking about Aromatherapy once more, Chris has also had a bright idea. All the same problems about promoting aromatherapy are the same in 2010 as they were back in 2004. Or back in 1994. So Chris has started the 'Oil Profiles Project', which is an attempt to provide therapists with honest advice about what are thought to be the best ways to use Essential Oils, but without being lynched by the MHRA. If this website isn't updated regularly, maybe they have got him..

But why the name 'Sunbird Oils'? Well, after Sunbird Management obviously. It means that Chris can answer the phone "Sunbird" without worrying too much whether it is someone ordering oils, or someone wanting web design, or someone asking for business advice. (Or whether it's the MHRA wanting an appointment to string him up.) But why Sunbird in the first place? You may have noticed that it is extremely tricky these days choosing a business name and a domain name to match. Chris was on holiday in Dubai in 2005 and trying to think of a name for the new business consultancy. (See picture right.) Names of relevant things back in the UK weren't available.. Apple? No, taken already. Cherry? No. There were some friendly little birdies like iridescent starlings flitting around, but 'bulbuls' didn't seem like any easy name in English. However, The Gulf does boast some brightly coloured little birds called sunbirds, and much to our surprise the name hasn't been used too much before. So Sunbird we are! The picture on the left is a proper sunbird. The Sunbird logo was one of Chris's first attempts at Photoshop.. Doesn't really do them justice, does it?

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