Why Your Spa is Ripe for Meaningful (and Profitable) Change

The chaos that is the weeks leading up to Christmas: trust me, I know the feeling. Between having your business (and it being hands-down one of the busiest months of the year for spas) and family obligations, even the most seasoned of spa owners may catch themselves thinking, “Holy cow, let me just get through this month and then I’ll go back to puzzling out how to improve my spa business.”

However, what if I told you that you don’t need to wait until New Years to start the process of simplifying and growing your spa business— and that you can tap into the fact that your spa is ripe for meaningful and profitable change right now, with much less legwork than you think? 

Today, I’ll be hitting the three main steps to reevaluating your spa systems: your spa’s structure, why you’re so much closer to profitable change than you think, and the new way you should be viewing what it means to have an “entrepreneurial spirit”.

Do You Have Proven Results, but Lack Structure? 

The moment when you first hung your spa business shingle and proudly announced that you were open for business was the moment the real work started. As much as I’m sure you felt your spa business start-up was a seriously heavy workload to power through, I know that you have since realized that there are entrepreneurial and leadership skills that you’re still missing because your spa business growth has stagnated.

Part of the problem behind why spa owners hit this “growth ceiling”, as I call it, is that most of us began our careers as service providers and rose through the ranks to open our own facilities. When spa owners progress like this, they usually bring with them similar organization and growth tactics that they saw our employers use— tending to mimic what their employer did for marketing, which services their employer rolled out, their employer’s website layouts, even the employer’s recruitment process for new hires.

Subconsciously, most spa owners are in a “thinking rut” and are repeating the same lackluster growth initiatives year after year because they’ve fallen into the trap of familiarity… but are still wondering why their clientele and sales aren’t growing faster (or at all!) Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth: Why Most Business Don’t Work and What to Do About It” even cites this as one of the key errors new entrepreneurs make.

If you have been a spa business owner for a few years, you have likely experienced some level of success but keep hitting that “growth ceiling”. I guarantee that you’ve provided fantastic results for your clients, so why isn’t your growth reflecting that? The answer? You simply haven’t defined or developed the spa systems you need to provide consistent business results, which leads me to…

Why You are Closer to Meaningful and Profitable Change than You Think

Why is your spa business ripe for meaningful change? Because you have already done the bulk of the work by developing a safe facility, great services, and exceptional outcomes. The thing holding you back? You have blind spots in your current spa systems that need attention.

While many of you do have a system of operating your spa business, the likelihood is that the majority of it is stored in your head. I see this happening a lot with solo spa owners, since, as a solo, you are the only one who can hold yourself accountable. By not documenting your Guest Experience System, Recruiting System, or Marketing System, you are setting yourself up to not be able to repeat those great results you’re seeing— or, even worse, creating huge gaps in your process that may make those results tank.

Whether you’re a team or a solo spa business owner, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I have my SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) documented for the client experience, recruiting, and marketing? 

• Do I have my SOP for my spa business’s social media? (No? No wonder you’re frustrated with creating all the content yourself!”

• Do I have a system for tracking meaningful change (such as client retention metrics)?

• (For teams) Do I have a staff handbook that outlines the relationship between you and your team members and your spa’s code of conduct?

• (For teams) Do I have an operations manual that details how your spa is run?

If the answer is “No” to any of these, then make this your springboard for reevaluating your spa systems. It’s extremely difficult to retain clients, attract aligned team members, or have engaging digital marketing content when your spa systems have holes in them— and hit-or-miss spa systems will, inevitably, lead to hit-or-miss sales, poor staff retention, and low brand visibility. 

So how can you make your entrepreneurship easier? Easy: look at all aspects of your spa and document each process. 

While this is the biggest slog when reevaluating your spa systems, one tip I speak about frequently is to catalogue each system as you’re moving through it. For example, if you are currently recruiting new team members then open a Word doc and make bullet points of each step you take and each tool you use to do so. Be sure to add in your “ah-ha” moments and adjust the process as you go to learn how to implement the system more effectively each time you go through it.

If I could sum up how to create meaningful change in your spa business it would be this: get clear on your goals, organize how to get there, and then continually optimize your systems until they are fine-tuned machines that produce sustainable sales, client retention, and a iron-clad team culture.

Side Note: How You May Feel as an Entrepreneur 

Let me start by saying that, if you haven’t been able to hit your financial and/or purpose-driven goals, it’s not your fault. It’s not that you’re a horrible business person, and it’s not that you’re not cut out for this. In fact, this self-deprecating mindset will be your first and biggest hurdle to overcome when you do choose to organize, systematize, and optimize your spa business. Believing that you’re not cut out for being a spa business owner will build mental blocks that will prevent you from finding solutions.

Instead of adopting this defeatist mindset, adopt the mantra, “I’m not exactly sure what to do now, but I know I can find my solution with some research.” Your next step towards that solution may be easy to find in a blog post (and those answers are what I answer in my blog series), a DIY online course, or an instructional YouTube video. 

Feeling overwhelmed with where to start or what to prioritize? I teach how to design and implement custom systems via both coaching and providing access to my treasure chest of customizable templates, checklists, and spreadsheets so that you can finally get your spa systemized— and reap the rewards of increased booking and sales, strong leadership, and collaborative team efforts. Reach out today to start up a conversation about what we can do to take your spa business to the next level.