Many people who start a spa for skin care spend most of their time inside the business. Often, they obtain very little information about the competition in their area. Also, they don't attract new customers other than people walking by their shop.

However, one underutilized resource that spa business owners can used to expand their business is to regularly attend trade shows in their region.

Trade shows may seem like a waste of time to a busy owner but if you are running a business and not just managing a job that you created then trade shows allow you to very quickly ramp up your research.

Research is needed to grow your business, because this allows you to really understand the latest trends that customers want as well as what your most successful competitors are doing to grow their businesses.

Trade shows are also a great way to find partnerships and vendors that can help your business grow faster as well.

Even if you have attended trade shows in the past I want to encourage you to think about paying for booth space at a trade show. Having a booth at a trade show put you behind the curtain of The Great Oz. It allows you to really see the secrets of the businesses who are having the most success as well as make contact with vendors and dealers who can give you even better pricing than if you are just a random person walking around at the trade show.

Another benefit of having a booth at a trade show is that you have an opportunity to access potential sources of new prospects. You can do this by speaking with other booth managers who specialize in marketing. Often these people have inexpensive ways of providing you with prospect information you can contact to try to obtain their business.

The other good thing about going to a trade show is the incredible amount of competitive intelligence that you can obtain just by walking around and stuffing plastic bags with brochures from different competitors, suppliers, or software vendors.  Once you go through all of the information that you receive it is almost assured that you will find something that can help your business.

Business owners are responsible for growing their businesses. If your business is not growing, then eventually it will probably die. One of the ways to keep your business is growing is to continually research new ways of doing what you are already doing. Being more efficient at the processes that you utilize to gained a new customer or serve that customer allows you to earn more money in the business. Earning more money allows you to grow the business. Growing the business will allow you to eventually cash in on selling the business if you choose to do so.

Another cool thing for those who are able to pull it off, is the ability to seek out the Press and get your business entity mentioned in a newspaper or magazine article.

In order to drive sales to your business in an automated way, you need to have a brand that has some authority.

In order to gain authority your brand must be generally recognizable at least in your local area. One of the best ways to become a strong brand in your area is to focus each month on providing some type of service that is noteworthy to your local area.  

You could speak at the Chamber of Commerce, or with your local Kiwanis group, or perhaps to high schoolers who are thinking about going into business one day.

If you focus on providing some type of community service, which doesn't have to take a lot of your time, then when you have an opportunity at a trade show to meet someone from the press, you will have a wealth of information that you can share with them about how your business is truly making a difference in your local area.

Let's face it, no journalist wants to write a story about a mundane business that does a great job with its customers. That is what the ad department is for. Journalists are paid to write about news. If you can convince them that your business is helping create good karma throughout the community then you have a very good chance to get mentioned in any news articles that may talk about the trade show that you are also a part of.

If you can get your business mentioned in news articles or press releases a couple of times a year, you will build a very strong local brand that will help you grow your business.

And if your business is legitimately doing things to help others in the community, there is absolutely no reason that your business would not qualify as newsworthy when the opportunity arises.

So even though trade shows may only come around once or twice a year in your local area, if you are doing small things on a monthly basis to help your community out while learning more about what your customers want and need, then when a trade show does swing through your area you are able to take complete advantage of the opportunity.

So make a calendar of events that will be happening in your area for the next 12 months. Then try to figure out ways to tie your business and your community service into these events.

Once you are able to make your business a part of these events be sure to document or capture whatever recognition your business gets because of this activity.

Keep it in a folder. Once you have an opportunity to talk with journalists (or even bloggers) you will be ready to present your business in the best possible light which will make a good story for them.

Would you like to start your own spa?

Do you have an idea how it might work but are a little bit unsure how to go about it?

Are you currently working for a spa or are you in a school for estheticians but want to be your own boss?

I can help you figure out the answers to some of these questions and guide you to resources you can use to continue to help yourself.

I had a lot of help when I decided I wanted to open my own skin care clinic and now I'd like to continue to help others.

I started on my skin care clinic ourney back in 2015 and it has been quite a ride.

Previously, I had worked in a variety of small businesses in my city but I had a passion to be an entrepreneur, so I joined Mary Kay as a consultant. I learned a great deal about how to run a business from Mary Kay, but I also realized that I could probably do better in my own business.

However, there were quite a few things that neither school nor Mary Kay could have taught me about running a business. My background as an accountant along with some really solid information from books I read really helped me get through some confusing situations.

Like many business owners during this pandemic, I've had a lot of time to think about what made my business successful as well as what will make it more successful in the future. Now, I have added coaching other entrepreneurs on how to set their businesses up for long-term success as we come out of quarantine.

So, I'm going to list a few skills that I believe all entrepreneurs need to succeed going forward.

The first skill that you must develop is the ability to focus. Most people can be focused when they really, really want something. The problem is that most people don't know what they want in a detailed way. They might have a vague notion, but no micro-level details.

If you want to be successful, I mean really successful, then you will have to properly learn to set a goal.

Here is the methodology you should use to practice this skill. The goal should be an important item that you feel you can complete in less than a month or so.

Once you set the goal then you should try break it into 5 or so tasks that you need to complete to make the goal a reality.

When you have created the list of tasks that you need to complete, then you should order them from most important to least important in terms of how vital they are to accomplishing the goal.

Take the most important task on the list, and do everything in your power to complete that task, working only on that task. Minor distractions happen, but focus on completing this item. Try hard not to get distracted. Work on it until that task is complete.

Only when you have completed this task can you move on to the next task. It doesn't matter how long each task takes. Just keep attacking them nonstop on a daily basis.

Once you have completed the next task, look at your list then move on to the next.

Doing this exercise in a serious way you will work through the list and, voila, you will meet your goal.  The real benefit of doing the exercise will be to show you the unbelievable power of focus.

Learning to focus on activities to the exclusion of all other distractions and working on the next logical step within your goal until it is complete is its own education.

Do this exercise and you will be utterly shocked at how much you can get done and how little time it actually takes to do it.

You will soon realize just how much time we waste by pretending we can "multi-task".  You will now chuckle to yourself anytime you hear some go-getter talk about how great they are at multi-tasking.

The next skill I believe you should have is not really a skill, but more of a mindset.

Your mindset should be that no matter what happens you can have what you want in life. As long as you have your health, and you live in a free society, then you should be able to map out where you want to go in life and get there.

Some people call this a positive mental attitude and others think of it as Law of Attraction. Law of Attraction feels good as a concept but I like to be a little bit more realistic about things. I like control.

If you allow any and everything to make you feel negative throughout the day and do not take control of your mental attitude, then you might as well see yourself as a puppet of life. Puppets are not in control of their actions, something else is in control.

Some people may not believe it but you can have a positive attitude even when there is a storm of negativity all around you.

This means that you are in control of your reactions, thoughts, and end destination. The ability to stay calm in the face of an angry customer, or in the face of a pandemic recession that threatens to take your business under is usually the difference between success and failure.

Most people wake up and start the day in neutral.  Then, they allow whatever environmental activities come their way and hit them in the face to affect their attitude for the day.

They don't realize that when a person cuts us off in traffic on the way to work and we begin to fume about how insensitive people are that we are going to carry this attitude into the rest of our day. It becomes a filter that only allows us to see other negative things while not allowing us to see neutral or positive things that also happen.

By the end of the day, we are a basket case, and will very likely want to continue the fight with our family, binge on our favorite vice of choice, or veg out in front of the TV.

An SBA study on small business failure rates called “Small Business Facts” found that the first few years of a small business' existence were critical to whether it would survive or not.  

About two-thirds of businesses with 5 or fewer employees survive at least 2 years and about another third don't survive to year 5. This means that less than one half of small start-up companies (less than five employees) were still in business after five years.

There are many factors for why this is the case.

But very often, I believe that one of the main driving factors is that the owners of the businesses were not fully in control of themselves or their emotions, and therefore could not be fully in control of their businesses.

If you are not in control of yourself, you will have great difficulty setting and meeting goals, meeting deadlines, and gaining the trust of customers, employees, or vendors.

If you cannot do these things because your mind is constantly being pulled off course by circumstances, you will very likely crash the business whenever a really harsh situation presents itself.

So you want to start your own spa? Even in this pandemic?

Well, people still like to look good, and spas provide a valuable service. This article will help you think about the things you need to do to get ready to have your own business.

Small businesses like spas have plenty of challenges to stay afloat these days, especially with all the social distancing rules.

Many new business owners think that all they need is a product, or idea, and some passion, and the money will start rolling in. But if you have ever run a small business, even just a home-based business, you are quite aware that it takes a lot more than that.

In order to ensure that your business is going to be a success, the first thing that you must do is research. What do I mean when I say research? I mean that you must know the landscape that you will be competing in very intimately.

For example, let's say that you wanted to go out and hunt wild elephants. Please note that I am not a hunter nor do I endorse it. However, if you just walk out into the African Savanna with whatever weapon you think is the best choice, but have no idea about the terrain and other risks that you will face, it is very likely that you will not return from this hunting trip.

You must approach starting a new business in exactly the same way. There is an incredible amount of danger to your money or the person's whose money you will be borrowing to start this business. If you do not know the lay of the land nor understand the risks that the money will be facing in its quest to multiply, it is very likely that the money will not be returning from this adventure.

So one of the first things you must know is who wants the service you will be selling. If you are operating a spa then you need to have a good understanding of who will be buying from you.

Often, we gain this knowledge by working for other shops. But if you do not have this information you need to get it.

The next thing you need to understand is exactly how much it will cost to have the business of your vision. You need to understand the cost of rent, supplies, furniture, energy costs in the summer and winter, as well as other utilities. You also need to understand the payment structure that you will have for any people who will be working in your business with you.

By researching and understanding the cost structure of the business you will be able to understand exactly how many customers you will need to have in order to cover those costs on a monthly basis. If you do not know this information or only know a part of it or are guessing when you try to go into business, this is like taking a box of fishing lures with you on your trip to the African Savanna to hunt the elephant. Once again it is very likely that the trip will be a disaster.

Do you want to start a spa?

I run my own skin-care spa and I can tell you that an essential part of my business growth came from having a website that Google likes. I was also aware of the need to keep contacting new customers to get repeat business.

Some people thing that if they start their business, word of mouth advertising will take care of bringing in customers.  They may assume that all they need is a FB page or and IG account and that should do it.

This is not correct if you actually want to create a business and not a just a job you control.

In order to build a business that can operate without your daily input you need a systematic way to drive customers in, service them, and keep them coming back in an ever-growing way.

There are two main ways to do this, and they are having a professional website and a customer relationship management system (CRM).

Email and CRM: In order to get customers you need to get prospects.  In order to find a prospect you have a variety of methods available to you depending on your business.  You could hand out business cards wherever you go.  You could leave flyers in stores or mail them to homes in your area.  Or you could drive online traffic to a website which then gives you the opportunity collect their contact information.

Only one of these options is not dependent on your will, ability, or energy level for that day.  Also, only one keeps your business from looking desperate. If you are approached by someone on the street who gives you the feeling that they are desperate, what is your natural reaction?

A properly set up lead capture system on a nice looking website, combined with a coupon or some other type of offer sends a message that is the opposite of desperation.  It is an invitation to do something special, like a giant welcome sign.

Give Away Useful Information: People like useful information. We all have a bottomless need to learn more about things we are interested in. You can create lots of short articles that can be posted on your website, FB page, IG account, or even in article directories. If you are not shy, you can substitute videos and podcasts that share information.  The information must be of interest to your potential customer.  If it is, and you successfully get the information in front of them, they will keep coming back for more until, soon enough, you have a customer.

Solid, helpful information will grow your authority positioning to your prospective customer.

As you gain their trust, you will build the relationship. You can then leverage this relationship to sell useful products and services to your customers over and over.

Consistently providing appealing content is the key to getting more customers and prospects.  It is also the key to getting Google to notice you.  If Google sees that people love what you are giving, Google will send even more people your way.

Contests: Face it.  People like free stuff.  If you have a small customer base and want to grow it, figure out how to motivate people to enter a contest. By making some valuable item available to potential prospect you make yourself far more likely to pick-up new customers.

By making sure that you "stuff" is valuable, you create excitement, buzz and interest around what you are doing. Don't think small just because your business is small.  Give away something that you would say "WHOA, that is HUGE!".  It might be something that costs $500 or $2,000, but it must be of sizzling interest to your perfect customer type.  

If you set it up right your business will be overwhelmed with contact information and email addresses you can use to grow a relationship.  Not only that, but you can also use this to get free publicity from your local news outlets, driving even more potential customers to give you their information.

Let's say that last part again: Do something that will get your business noticed by news outlets.  If you think hard about it, you can do many things in your community that will draw attention to your brand like:

*Volunteer or donate time to a charity.  
*Give speeches at your local chamber of commerce.
*Sponsor college activities such as a team.

Whatever you do, be sure to contact your local news outlets and let them know! It may lead to nothing, or it may lead to an interview or mention.  If you do it consistently and build a relationship with a local news outlet, you can learn to get thousands of dollars of free promotion for your brand.

These techniques work together to build your brand both online and offline.  It is your job to make your brand attractive to the public as well as your perfect prospect.  

Your next best move is to set up your lead capture system so that you have the maximum opportunity to get a person's information if they visit your site.

Next, use your noggin to come up with ways to make your brand known in your local area.  Do things that get attention from news sources or have the potential to light up social media virally.

Remember: This is your business, not your job.  Don't approach it like other people approach jobs, giving the bare minimum effort.  

If you want to grow the business to the point you could sell it, you have to have customers that are grown, serviced, and kept coming back in an automated, repeatable way.

Without this system in place, you have a job, not a business.  

A job will not get done, or not be done well without your presence. Sure, this can pay the bills, but it will have a hard time making you wealthy.

So let's say you do choose to get serious about using online assets to build your business. (When I say build your business, I mean build your customer database so that you can contact them whenever you need more revenue.)

There are really only 2 things to think about here:
*Communicating What You Do Differently That Solves Your Customer's Need Better Than The Competition and
*Collecting Prospect Contact Information By Giving Them Ethical Bribes

Without properly communicating what you do in a way that speaks directly to your perfect customer, no one will know who you are, what you do, and who you do it for.

If you don't collect prospect information you have no chance to build a relationship, build a business, and convince them that you are the best option.

Remember: when people visit your site, you have a tiny window of opportunity to get a new customer, so make sure your site is able to deliver.

What next?

Now you've got to find a designer or do it yourself.  Find some example sites to help you determine the styles you like.  Then, go on Fiverr or Upwork and ask for samples from a variety of designers. This helps you determine how much your preferred style will cost if you want to pay someone to do it.

Befriend Google - This search engine is the world's most visited website, with multiple billions of searches each month. In order for YOUR site to benefit from it, though, you have to learn their rules. Then, your site will have to play by those rules if you want them to reward you with traffic and eyeballs.

No one can guarantee that you will get any traffic at all from Google. But if you play the game correctly you can reach potential customers nearly for free, and in droves. Learning to optimize your site for search engines can save you money, make you sales, and build your brand locally very effectively.

Are you thinking about starting or buying your own Spa?

Do you know the most important thing to focus on during your first year of ownership?

Well if you don't know, it is customers. You need to be thinking about how to acquire new customers and keep current customers happy.  

Anyone who has been in business for more than 5 years will tell you that it is far easier and cheaper to keep an existing customer than it is to obtain a new one.

So the most successful companies in the world integrate customer acquisition and satisfaction into their daily business routines. So what are some of the things that you can do that will help you get and keep customers?

I believe it all starts with having a solid customer database.

A database is a file that allows you to store information about whatever you may want to analyze at a later date. The best businesses are always combing through the information in their customer database in order to see where the trends are that can help them get in front of customer demand.

For example, if you go out to eat regularly you'll notice that the largest restaurant franchises want you to enter your information into a birthday club or a VIP Club. The reason they do this is to be able to reach out to you in the future to entice you to come in for your birthday or anniversary. This simple action adds additional revenue to their income without additional advertising spending.

A VIP Club also just makes customers feel better about the business which often increases loyalty and makes them want to come back more often.

You can use a customer database to find other ways to keep in touch with customers such as creating a monthly specials specifically tied to your previous customer's purchases.

If you have the customers telephone number and have the ability to text them, then you have yet another way that you can encourage them to come back to your business, perhaps with a coupon.

Another thing that you can do with a customer database is determine which of your customers are your cream-of-the-crop. Your cream-of-the-crop customers are the ones that have the ability to give you even more sales and are the ones most likely to respond to your deals pitches and coupons.

By focusing on your cream customers, you can spend time talking with them, give them surveys, or figure out other ways to analyze their behavior. With this information you are now armed with perfect data for advertising and marketing that will target, appeal to, and find even more versions of your perfect customers.

Imagine your life if your business was made up of close to 100% awesome customers. Do you think that your business would struggle even in a recession? Do you think it would be easy to sell this business in the future for multiples much higher than average?

This is the power of having a customer database and understanding exactly how it is supposed to be used.

There are plenty of solutions available for a small business owners to be able to capture customer information and also reach out to them. However it is up to the business owner to deem this activity important enough to put it high on the to do list and put it into action.

Technology today is very powerful, and now allows us to make each customer feel as if we are thinking about them on a weekly basis. If you can figure out a way to make your customers feel more special you are well on your way to having a crazy successful business that will grow based on word-of-mouth.

One of the best things that you can do when customers come into your establishment is to have a system that sends a text to them and captures their information in your database.

By doing this, your business can become a much more familiar brand to your customer and you will get to know the customers far better than you have in the past. And by knowing the customer better, you can serve them better.

One way to expand your knowledge of your customer and most efficiently build your relationship with them is to practice the ASK Method.

The ASK Method is a way of surveying custoemrs that is designed to draw out their most emotion driven wants and needs. The ASK Method was created by Ryan Leveque who used the method to start successful venture after successful venture.  

He credits his success to being able to draw out the language that his best, most rabid customers used to describe what they wanted from their interactions with the business. Then, armed with that information he was able to create ads that attracted people just like his most enthusiastic, engaged customers, even though they had never been a customer previously.

Knowing exactly what they were needing and being able to talk their language through his ads was similar to a fragrant flower drawing honey bees in.  

When you can connect with people like this through your marketing, you cannot help but grow your business larger and faster than you ever thought before.

Once again, the key is to be able to mine for the gold in their deepest needs and desires, then communicate it back to them.  You can only do this if you keep and track your customers and take action to dig deeply through the information they provide you to find the gold.