Working for a Fortune 500 company in the 1990s, Judy Masters saw first-hand how stress and poor personal care could affect someone’s well-being.

“I watched people falling apart, and I was one of them,” she recalled.

To counteract the ill effects of her job, Masters became interested in over-the-counter health remedies. But what started as a hobby quickly developed into much more.

Masters opened Judy’s Goodlife Emporium in 1998 and has been serving Logansport and the surrounding areas ever since. She got to celebrate the business’ 10th anniversary in a unique way Thursday when she was named the existing business winner of the 2008 SUCCEED Business Planning Competition.

Masters will receive $5,000 in CEDIT funds, $500 in advertising from the Pharos-Tribune, $600 in advertising from INfo/Existential Media and a leather binder from Cardinal Office Supplies.

The award was announced during a Logansport-Cass County Chamber of Commerce networking luncheon. Judy’s Goodlife Emporium is the seventh business to be recognized with the award since its inception in 2005. Tom Nelson of Servant’s Heart Home Health Services, which won the recognition in 2007, presented this year’s award to Masters.

Masters’ business is the second to be recognized this year by SUCCEED, which stands for Stimulating Unlimited Cass County Entrepreneurs and Economic Development. Marchese Photography was named the new business winner in June.

The goal of the SUCCEED program is to create business opportunities and stimulate entrepreneurism in Cass County. The award aims to recognize the efforts of small businesses looking to grow.

Amy Beechy, business development manager for the Area Five Agency and a member of the SUCCEED committee, said the business plan competition was broken down into two segments this year to make it easier to judge and also “to spread out the excitement.”

Masters’ plan was chosen by a panel of judges from among six applicants.

“Judy made a real effort to streamline her business last year,” Beechy noted. “... There were some real positive attributes and she had some great goals for the future.”

In accepting the award, Masters shared credit with her long-time employees, Charly Sholty and Diana Brown, along with her parents. Betty Masters, Judy’s mother, said she and her husband offered both moral and financial support for the business.

“They knew that was the hard part,” Judy said of her parents.

She also noted that her father and grandmother had owned businesses locally, so she also benefited from that expertise.

Through the years, Masters said the business has created a reputation for having a knowledgeable staff, and that has led to much of its success. Masters has been a certified natural health professional for several years, and Sholty and Brown both earned their certifications this year.

Brown said area practitioners had referred customers to the business because of the knowledge of the staff and its willingness to work with people to find the right remedies for their problems. All three women said that would remain a major focus for the business in the future.

“We want to continue educating the community on health care and ways to be proactive with their health,” said Brown.

Masters and her employees also talked of offering additional services and possibly opening satellite locations in other communities.

Carla Knapp can be contacted at (574) 732-5150 or via e-mail at carla.knapp@pharostribune.com