This month’s Spa of the Month:

The Narrow Road of the Entrepreneur

Mary Turner Skin Care & Day Spa, New Castle, PA

By Mary Turner

The sign that hung on the wall of the old country diner stated: "The only thing more overrated than Mom's apple pie is owning your own business."
I laughed and shook my head, but then gave it some thoughtâ€¦is owning your own business truly overrated? Are the long hours, risk, commitment, sweat, finances and tears poured into your endeavor really worth the effort? As I questioned myself, I came to my conclusion out loud: "Most definitely."

Humble beginnings

My journey as a self-employed esthetician and eventually a full-service day spa owner began many years ago. As the daughter of a self-employed man, I saw firsthand how hard work can pay off. My father at one time owned the largest truck driving and diesel mechanics school in Detroit, MI. I grew up feeling immensely proud, watching his TV commercials or seeing his ads in the Yellow Pages. The sign on his office door marked "president" made my heart swell, and I remember looking around his office and thinking that one day, this would be my business.

Success can be a narrow road, which at times is not easily navigated, but is manageable if you are willing to work hard and make the sacrifices necessary to obtain your goals.

Beauty bug

As fate would have it, I found another loveâ€¦makeup! I could not get enough, and voraciously read every beauty magazine while attending cosmetology school in the early 1980s. I began doing makeup for photo shoots and runway models, and freelancing around the Detroit area.
The beauty bug had bit hard. Despite a long hiatus from the beauty business to stay home and raise a child after an out-of-state move, I started to run a business out of my house. This is when I learned the fine art of marketing and sales, which has become very useful in my skin care practice.
Being self-employed for most of my adult life has shown me that success can be a narrow road, which at times is not easily navigated, but is manageable if you are willing to work hard and make the sacrifices necessary to obtain your goals.

Making it

In 2004, I started work at a large day spa as an esthetician and eventually moved on to a medical office. I began purchasing equipment one piece at a time in anticipation of realizing my dream of being a solo esthetician. My living room resembled a spa warehouse.
After three and a half years of working for others, I knew I was ready to venture out on my own. I rented a small room near my home for a reasonable price. As my client base and skill level grew, so did my vision of what I wanted to accomplish.
As a very visual person, I imagined owning a beautiful day spa where busy men and women could receive affordably priced services. After 10 months into my first rental and solo venture, a charming 1930s home that formerly housed law offices became available, and I knew that I had found the new home for Mary Turner Skin Care & Day Spa.
It was terrifying, but I decided to "do it afraid" and follow my heart, and I am so glad I did. My solo practice grew from a staff of one person to nine, and earned more than six figures in sales during the first year. Now the day spa has expanded to offer a wealth of services from peels, facials and various massage therapies to LED, facial fillers and permanent makeup services.

Owning a business without an Internet presence is like not posting a sign on the outside of your business so clients can find you.

Owner to owner

When running your own business you notice many things. Some of the most important guidelines implemented have come from simply observing, asking questions and trial and error.
Staff your weaknesses. Take an honest and critical assessment of your personal strengths and weaknesses as a business owner, and find people who are good at what you are not. This will save you untold stress and headaches. I despise math, but I love my CPA.
Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves. Make it part of your job (or someone else's) to constantly be on the lookout for the best pricing on quality supplies and equipment for your business. I have learned that those pennies saved during the course of a year can add up to many dollars.
Start every year with a fresh vision or plan. Every January I would make a "wish list" of what I wanted to accomplish or see changed in my business. It sets the tone for the year. Keep in mind that if you set a high goal, even if you do not hit it, you have probably reached higher than if you had not aimed at all. My goals were always a bit of a stretch, but reasonable, and I was able to hit most of them by year's end.
Network! My community is filled with terrific businesswomen and I have had the privilege of networking with many of them. I love to support and do business with other entrepreneurs, and they in turn do business with me. Joining business organizations and participating in expos and local events allowed me to make many great connections.
Educate yourself. One of the biggest contributors to personal growth as an esthetician and spa owner is online message boards. Having access to a great group of professionals has had a huge impact on my success. It has been the best go-to source for questions, venting about frustrations and camaraderie that I have ever experienced. I highly recommend this resource for any skin care professional, no matter your level of expertise. Taking classes, attending shows and continuing my education has also kept me motivated and focused.
Keep the fires burning! Just as your facial steamer will run out of vapor when the glass container is dry, when you stop marketing and promoting your business, you too will eventually run dry of clients and leads. I jokingly refer to myself as a "marketing tramp" but I have spent many hours building my own website, finding free sites to advertise on and looking for affordable advertising opportunities. In my area, the newspaper does not work well, but local events do.
The Internet and word of mouth have been our biggest new client recruiters. Having an informative, easy-to-navigate website with online booking has been a huge plus, since it has earned many compliments and business. If you do not have a website, that may be the reason for your lack of new clients and sales. In my opinion, owning a business without an Internet presence is like not posting a sign on the outside of your spa so clients can find you. It is the equivalent of having a hot towel cabbie unplugged. Be sure to plug it in, turn the heat up and make it work for you!
Get in on your share of Internet traffic. Being a native Michigander, I was practically born with a fishing pole in my hand. This is how I view marketing and sales. As a solo esthetician, I would cast here and there trying to catch a good bite of business. As a larger business, we can go "trolling" (using multiple poles while cruising the lake), facilitating many marketing venues at once, allowing us to pull sales and leads from various sources. Be consistent, persistent and do not give up. Just cast your line in a different pond if you do not get a bite where you are, and have faith that the fish are out there.
Cross train yourself and your staff. Call it job security. I can perform just about any service in my spa. My years of experience as a technician before I was a spa owner gave me a great bird's-eye view of both sides. I also prefer to hire technicians who are dually trained or experienced. Both of the spa's estheticians are also trained in nail services and massage therapy. We are constantly "upping our game," learning to do our jobs better and more efficiently.
Seek potential income. Many technicians are uncomfortable about offering add-ons and up-selling spa services, but they are missing out on potential income. Never assume that your client cannot afford or does not want one.
I prefer a soft-sell approach. I simply ask if clients would care for any of our add-ons, and I get told "no" as much as I get told "yes." But what would my sales ticket look like if I had never asked at all? Some spas feel it is more tasteful to hand the client an à la carte add-on menu before their service and allow them to read and choose to do so if they are interested. One of our most popular facial add-ons is an exfoliating foot scrub. Clients get their feet cleansed with hot towels, then feet and calves are gently exfoliated with a sugar scrub. Hot towels are again used to remove the scrub, then a rich lotion and paraffin foot treatment is applied and left on for the duration of the facial.

Many technicians are uncomfortable about offering add-ons and up-selling spa services, but they are missing out on potential income. Never assume that your client cannot afford or does not want one.

Strife and sweet success

With every business endeavor, no matter how sweet, there is always the sour side of things. I have encountered my share of challenges in the spa business. Several bad experiences with sub-tenants not honoring their lease agreements left me to pay their share of the rent and utilities. A new landlord who was difficult left me frustrated and stressed. Juggling a home life of three teens, a busy executive husband and running a business sometimes left me drained and exhausted. This is when I kept my focus on my goals and objectives and stood fast, asked for help, worked harder and kept the faith that everything would work out...and it did.
Mary Turner Skin Care & Day Spa is proudly a debt-free business and we have no intention of ever changing that. A long-term goal is to acquire a bigger, historic home for the spa and offer a larger range of services and a more elegant ambiance.
So, at the end of all my musings, I am a proud business owner who firmly believes that owning your own business is most certainly not overrated. And I think I will enjoy a slice of mom's famous apple pie too, à la mode and just the way I like it.