It has been quite a first year of operation for Dynamic Chiropractic and Sports Therapy Centre in Steinbach. The Chamber of Commerce this week named the centre its Small Business of the Year and also presented co-owner Krissi Peters with its future leader award.

Peters, an athletic therapist, explains what led her and chiropractor Ben Townsend to leave good jobs and risk opening their own business.

"It was a time in our careers where we wanted to progress to the next step in an athletic therapist's journey and a chiropractor's journey."

Chiropractor Ben Townsend says there's no doubt the first year way exceeded their expectations.

"We set some goals in the beginning and we far exceeded those goals. This Chamber of Commerce award was just a cherry on top, so it's been amazing so far."

Peters is quick to share the credit for their early success.

"We've been very overwhelmed with the community support and the chamber's support as well. Having mentors in the community, in the business world, has been amazing."

She adds they have also worked hard on communication with customers and staff to strengthen their team.

Townsend says they are already starting to contemplate new goals for the business.

"When we took this space, we didn't really know how long we'd be here. The success has caused us to re-think if it's going to be big enough for the long term. We're always looking at ways we can get better and expand, so those talks will probably intensify a little earlier than we had originally planned."

As for the Future Leader Award, Peters shares her reaction.

"I am very overwhelmed. It's an honour to be recognized. I was amongst a lot of other amazing people and just to be put alongside of them was very flattering."