owners input needed

[jh4kd]

I will soon be expanding my buisness. Not sure yet if I will rent or buy the building. I will have at least two rooms to rent to other therapist. For now it will be massage based no retail or spa type services. My question is to other owners ...  How do you set your fees with the other therapist. Furnished room ??

unfurnished?? linnens??? flat rate vs. % ???  I want to have it all worked out before I get started. Every one here is so helpfull. A person could start up easily with all the info on this board. Also what was your start up cost. And any thing you wish you had known before!!!!                    

Jessica/ Tranquil Touch

 

[Another Censored Enigma]

owners imput needed

I have only one suggestion, but I'll bet it'll help you to find the right answers for your new business all by yourself. Do a complete business plan with different scenarios:  perceneforum.xxxe (they might end up being employees so carefully consider if that's what you want) or weekly or monthly rental. Working those figures will tell you exactly what you need. Business planning software is everywhere. There's also help from your local Small Bussiness Associations (usually free assistance from retired biz professionals). They can help you to decide if your business plan is 'tight' or not, which will help the outcome of whether or not a bank will loan you your start up nestegg. Don't start up on a personal credit card or with personal savings. Keep a definitive separation between the two (your personal & professional finances).About 2 years ago, I was whole-hog going for it, trying to set up my own day spa/bodywork emporium. My business loan did not get approved, and it was a huge blessing in disguise. I had just started exploring my other options when I decided to rent a space from the salon next door to my little dream coteforum.xxxe for the interim. I found out that I was pregnant very shortly after that & I have to say, yes, things happen for a reason!I still have that business plan & will use a finer version of it when I am ready to tackle it again. I have a few dear friends who are owner/operators of salons or similar businesses. They are not shy about telling me how hard it is sometimes. If you're an owner/operator, at least you have your own personal income to pay your personal bills with. Breaking even feels great, but it doesn't buy school clothes or pay your mortgage, etc. If you're simply an owner, sometimes you're the money-hungry ogre that's always putting policies into play regarding timely rent, late charges, merchant services fees, etc. I guess what they keep trying to tell me is that what you are doing in an edeavor like this, is buying yourself the power to create your own work environment & do things the way you've always thought they would be best. It's hard to make much more than that. You probably won't be making the big bucks, unless you have built your own strong practice too. Especially if you are leasing the physical space. If you buy it, at least you have a tangible piece of property that will hopefully be a good investment. At the end of a five year lease with a property mgt corp, you may not have much to walk with, or necessarily have the right to be their tenant forever.I think that even stratingout with a blank notebook & jotting down ideas/scenarios & crunching numbers helps to really flesh out the whole scheme.Good luck to you. I hope you come up with a tight idea that serves you well & creates a great space for other MTs to work & give clients something extra special!Jill/Sagetherapist

 

[STEVEN]

owners imput needed

I knew you would be there for me Jill.I do want to make a good living.As well as provide a great space for other therapist to work. I need to change location for my personal buisness to grow. and how great would it be to offer a few other therapist a great place to grow thier buisness as well. Anny pros or cons welcome. As I said I still don't have it all worked out           Jessica/TT

 

[Guinea Pig Lover]

owners imput needed

My old biz plan had an initial sum that covered 6 months of rent/utilities/loan payments/insurances/licensing fees/salaries/furnishings & decorating/office equipment & expenses (like a visa machine). The salary part covered a receptionist and a salary for me, so that I'd have an income if my personal business fluctuated while I devoted extra energy to the big dream (like if I had to cut back to only a couple of days a week, etc). At first, I thought I would need a receptionist. Now I really don't think that I would include one.Anyway, that's ALOT of cashola! And that's just based on 6 months! In 6 months, would things be rolling along healthily enough to bring in that monthly nut?There are different ways to finance though. You could even have an investors group. Wild hypothetical here: say you want a start up of $60K, and you only get approval for $40K from your bank as a business start up loan. You could offer 10 investors ($2000 per) dividends on your projected profit and a year of bi-monthly massages or gift certs. You would have to do these massages, or pay out one of the MTs to do them. When you figure your quarterly or semi-annual status, write out a check to your investors for their dividends.I'm anxious to read more about my state's licensure changes (AZ, now state regulated instead of individual municipalities). I had always thought that if apprentice licensing was feasible, you could have carefully screened MT students doing internships & apprenticeships. That could help a biz run more efficiently and give them a stake in doing a solid job for you (that they could apprentice & then rent to build their clientele).If you sign a long term lease for a building or space, try to write in a clause for transfer of ownership. Say you want someone to buy out the business after 4 years & the lease still has a year to go. Your buyer won't have to renegotiate the lease conditions with the landlord until that original term is up. That could be a nice selling point to the next person wanting to take that risk, giving them X amount of months to plan on the same expenditures as you had.Hope you get lots of responses that help you sculpt a really great situation.Jill/Sagetherapist

 

[^_^]

owners imput needed

You may want to contact some local help.  Advisors in your area will know better then the rest of us what pitfalls may await you.  Some places to look.Local Chamber of CommerceSmall Business AdministrationSmall Business Development Center (part of SBA, but their goal is to educate.  They have proven businesses that get an education through the SBDC have a hugh advaneforum.xxxe over those who do not.  Over 90% of all businesses fail within 5 years.  Where only 5% who went through the SBDC training.)  Local Mentor Groups.  (others who have been where you are, and hopefully they are now where you want to be.)Just some starting points you may want to look at.Big Dog

 

[Banana Chicken Head]

owners imput needed

I too rent out rooms to therapists as IC's (they tecnically run their oun businesses & collect there own fees for services rendered & supply their own linens, supplies).  One thing that I have run into & have not exactly figured out how to handle...  gift certificates & coupons.I am curious to see how other therapists handle compensation for gift certificates that are redeemed - do you pay out the total amt of the cert to the therapist or a % of the certs value?  What happens when the cert is a donation to a charity?  I would love input!!

 

[ianvreugdenhil]

owners imput needed, gift certificates

When I was on my own, I never had a problem with gift certificates. I sold them; I collected; I did the work. The salon does have gift certificates though, and when people don't know exactly what gift to give (facial vs massage, etc), we encourage them to buy a salon gift certificate for an exact dollar amount. The salon owner pays us out for all of our visa transactions on Tuesdays (minus the merchant fees:  1.8% of total plus $.20 per transaction). Whenever I do a gift certificate that the salon had been paid on, they give me that money on Tuesday like all other monetary exchanges.When I took on a partner, things got a little more difficult, but we have been steadily working out all the details. If I do a gift certificate that my partner sold (or vice versa), we work it out at rent time. For instance this month I have done 2 half hour gcs of hers ($80), and she has done 2 of mine (totalling $135 in services). I will definitely be more responsible for rent this month. We decided to do things this way so that the recipient (remember, the recipient may not even be anyone you know... your 'client' bought the gift) is not limited in when they can book within the expiration policy. If I only work Thurs-sats, and they can only come in on Tuesday evenings, we are happy to book the appointment.I am the detail stickler on this. Once we did a package promo with an aesthetician who worked at the salon. I made all the special holiday gift certs, did the marketing campaign, etc. I collected all the monies. I put the money in a cash box & paid each of us out as we did the services, except I paid the aesthetician out up front. Mistake. She left. She was willing to honor her outstanding gcs (product purchase, facials at the client's home or hers, etc), even though she was 'in between' salons. To me, that's no problem. But the salon owner did not want to give out (refer out) her cell phone number. That opened up a big can of worms. The owner said they'd like to sell all gift certificates. that way they are responsible for holding monies & paying out to anyone doing the services, etc. Sounds good, IF you are starting out your policy that way. Then anyone who comes to work for you can agree or look elsewhere.I had a cow. A huge portion of my business is constant gift certificate promotion. I have always relied on my gift certificate sales to ease me through the lean moments. I was not willing to give this up, even though I would be getting paid for exactly what work I accomplished. It sounded too much like an employee/employer relationship to me. Yet, I am doing all of the marketing and laying the groundwork. My partner went along with me, as she usually lets me take the lead, as she says.To calm everyone's senses & meet everyone's needs, we compromised. I re-did ALL the gift certificates. They have my name (or my partner's), and are enclosed in a card that clearly states our policies to the recipient. The purchaser reads & signs a file card that has the same outline of policies, but also gives us their contact info if there's ever a problem that arises (I move, the gift cert goes unredeemed after expiration, etc, etc). This seemed to help everyone. We are constantly evolving in our business relationship.If you start out a new business, you might want to sell all the gift certificates, and pay out each one as the work is done. If you rent to MTs though, you are only renting the space & utilities. They get to run their own businesses as they see fit (and it might not be exactly in line with how you would do things).

 

[Brandie C]

owners imput needed

I would think it would all depend on the set up. If I rented space to a therapist and we used a common front desk and shared the walk in clients I would think the GS monie to be put in the owner of the establishments account untill redeamed. Then depending on who gets the client would depend on how much money or what. I guess it would also depend on if your renting per hour (use of room)or per month. I just dont know I think I ran on too much I hope yall can desifer the babble Jessica

 

[formerly_bob]

owners imput needed

You may want to check into your Independant Contrator laws.  If someone is an IC renting space then that is their own company and they have total say so how they work (hours, uniforms, prices, etc.)  Your landlord doesn't tell you how to do your job, collect your earnings, etc.  Here in Illinois if you are an IC you handle all monies...including gift certificate sales...for your business.  The IC collects the money is is responsible for honoring the GC.  It would be a big headache though to have separate gift certificates for each IC...And I was told (from a credit card processing company) that it was illegal for a group (owner & ICs) to use one credit card processing account (the company's/landlord's/etc.).  You'd have to set up an corporation with each IC listed as a partner to process everything under one account.  Otherwise, each IC would need their own cc account.  Not sure if this is true or applies in your state but something to consider.  You may be able to get around it if it is put into the lease and you have a "fee" that covers what you are charged.