MANY people are concerned about how they look. They want to look charming and youthful always and they could go the extra mile to achieve this. The desire to look good and healthy, therefore, makes spa a good business.
According to the most recent statistics from the International Spa Association, there were approximately 136 million spa visits made in the United States last year. The business, according to the association, is a growing industry that generates over $11 billion per year in revenue.
The fact that the business is yet to gain ground in Nigeria makes it a great prospect.
Spa is in classes: Beauty, Health & Wellness. For beauty and health, there is normal facial treatment, which is to freshen the face, remove stress and tension, lessen the oils, and rejuvenate the face to make your beauty products work better; Reflexology is a massage technique that focuses on the foot; Manicure/Pedicure is to rejuvenate hands and feet. Body treatment also helps with skin which becomes dirty, dead and blocked due to accumulated sweat, especially during the summer months; Body polishes is to rehydrate and moisturise your skin if it becomes dull and lifeless or dries after the cold winter months. Body Butter Hydrating Wrap involves the use of body butter or oils that are slathered on the skin to vanish dry and flaky skin.
Who can do the business?
To begin spa business, you must have a genuine interest in it; be charismatic and level-headed. You must not easily get irritated by things you see as some of the skin diseases that will be brought to you for treatment may not be all pleasing to touch.
Start-up cost
Start up cost for spa business solely depends on the scale at which you want to start. Tens of millions may be insufficient if you are planning to start big while just N10,000 is good enough to set you on the track of facial treatment, if you are starting small.
The essential things you need to start on a low level is a clean room (which may even be one of the rooms in your house); a towel which costs about N1,000; mirror for N500; two plastic chairs N1,500; a pack of treatment products, which costs as low as N2,000 and a local steaming plate, which costs between N5,000 and N6,000. But to start on a large scale, you either build a house or rent a good apartment, lasers and beauty equipment.
Whether you are starting small 0r big, you must ensure that you provide customer satisfaction by operating in a clean, relaxing and friendly environment. Also, endeavour to use the best products that will give your clients quick, best and no side-effect results. Try out the products yourself — so you can rate their potency.
Learning
Learning the basics in the business is paramount to your success in the business. This is because the business involves the health and wellbeing of your clients. Your academic level will determine the period you need for training. While a graduate may spend just two to three months, a secondary school leaver may spend between six months and one year.
Fees are determined by period of training, what you want to learn and who is teaching you. Professionals with recognised certificates charge between N150,000 to N170,000 for three months training; between N200,000 and N220,000 for six months training, and between N250,000 and N300,000 for a year course.
Planning and research
Do a detailed survey on the spa needs of the people in the area you are locating your business outfit. This will help you to know the aspect of the business you can start with.
List your regional spa competitors. Find spas within the city where you are situating your outfit; visit each one, and observe the spa’s décor and overall customer service practices.
Analyse spa service menus to identify nationally recognised services that are not available in your jurisdiction. For instance, you can include specialised massage modalities, aesthetician-provided facials and unconventional wrap treatments.
Costs and potential earnings
Cost of materials you use is determined by the quality and effectiveness of the materials. Actually, people pay for the effectiveness of your services, and propagate the gospel of your services to many others. Your charges, therefore, are hinged on your expertise, the materials you use and the value you placed on your services.
While spa operators who use local materials, like honey, aloe vera, et al for normal facial treatment charge between N1,000 and 2,000, those who use imported and more efficient beauty products charge between N3,000 and N15,000 for normal facial treatment, depending on what the clients want.
THE age-long burning quest of the Chief Executive Officer of D-Ril Spa, Hassan Street, Imalefalafia, Ibadan, Theodora Obajemu Omisande, to ensure that Nigerians enjoy good skin led her into establishing a spa outfit.
The Business Administration graduate of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State said: “God so blessed me with good face and skin that my friends and colleagues in school always asked for the kind of beauty products I was using. My desire to make sure they also enjoy this kind of skin, face and find solution to skin and facial problems, infused my interest in spa business.
“After my graduation, I travelled to India on holiday and decided to visit a spa shop for facial treatment. The way I was attended to further inspired me to build a career in the business. Shortly after I returned to Nigeria, I had to travel back and enrol myself for training at 18 Beauty Salon and Spa, Mumbai, India. I came back to Nigeria to start the business with just a chair, mirror and a steaming plate in one of the rooms in my house. Then I went back to TenderSkin International Cosmetology and Laser Academy, Mumbai, India for my Postgraduate Diploma, for machine and superficial surgery training, which is used for the treatment of scars, stretch marks, among others. Now I have a standard spa outfit.
“I can say that my passion for the business and proper training in it make me an expert in this business, while most of my clients rate me as one of the leading professionals in facial treatment, hair spa, face polish, body wax, pedicure and body massage in Nigeria. They might be right, but as for me, I am still going far, because whatever my clients are seeing now is not yet the picture on my mind.
“Spa business has exposed me, made me meet a lot of people and also boosted my financial status so much. It is a business you can make millions from in few months, once you are good at it and your clients see good results. This is because people are willing to go the extra mile to get good beauty and health care,” Omisande said.
The Business Administration graduate of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State said: “God so blessed me with good face and skin that my friends and colleagues in school always asked for the kind of beauty products I was using. My desire to make sure they also enjoy this kind of skin, face and find solution to skin and facial problems, infused my interest in spa business.
“After my graduation, I travelled to India on holiday and decided to visit a spa shop for facial treatment. The way I was attended to further inspired me to build a career in the business. Shortly after I returned to Nigeria, I had to travel back and enrol myself for training at 18 Beauty Salon and Spa, Mumbai, India. I came back to Nigeria to start the business with just a chair, mirror and a steaming plate in one of the rooms in my house. Then I went back to TenderSkin International Cosmetology and Laser Academy, Mumbai, India for my Postgraduate Diploma, for machine and superficial surgery training, which is used for the treatment of scars, stretch marks, among others. Now I have a standard spa outfit.
“I can say that my passion for the business and proper training in it make me an expert in this business, while most of my clients rate me as one of the leading professionals in facial treatment, hair spa, face polish, body wax, pedicure and body massage in Nigeria. They might be right, but as for me, I am still going far, because whatever my clients are seeing now is not yet the picture on my mind.
“Spa business has exposed me, made me meet a lot of people and also boosted my financial status so much. It is a business you can make millions from in few months, once you are good at it and your clients see good results. This is because people are willing to go the extra mile to get good beauty and health care,” Omisande said.
- Written by Olaoluwa Mimiola
- Source: Tribune
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