Well six months have gone by and past since my business partner and I have started our business Heavensent Massage Clinic 1012 W hebron Pkwy Carrollton, TX 75010 www.heavensentmassageonline.com. My first six months being an entrepreneur has been an up and down experience but one I wouldn't change one bit. The past six months there's been success, stress, grinding, just about as much of a roller coaster there is lol!!!
You know to do something extraordinary in life you have to work hard and have a mindset that's outside of the norm. Now there's nothing wrong with doing the norm, which is for most people graduate high school, attend college, get a degree, start their career, and move their way up. Again there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But my mindset has always been a little different because it's what my dad instilled in me. My father was a former Senior VP for Pro-line Corporation which was founded by one of the most successful entrepreneurs I ever had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know, the late Comer J. Cottrell. My father eventually went on to become CFO for African Heritage Network based in NYC. After my dad left there he started his first of 2 business which was a movie theater in Carrollton, Texas. Eventually moving forward from the movie theater he opened up a restaurant in Garland, Texas. When my dad started his business I was only 14 years old. I took it all in. I was just a 14-15 year old kid but I was well beyond my years in grasping the process of business operations. How many 14-15 year old kids know about marketing, organizing payrolls, gross revenue, net profits. My dad molded the mindset I have. by time I was 16 I knew I wanted to own my own business. I always remember my dad telling me "There's nothing wrong with getting a good job making six figures that's a blessing and you can have a great life doing that. But remember no matter what job your doing if someone is paying you six figures for a job its because their making seven figures off your work. To get that next level of success you either have to be a star pro athlete lol or a successful business owner." Once my dad told me that I already knew what I wanted down the road.
When my partner and I decided to get this business off the ground I was very excited. From what my dad went through I already knew it would take a lot of work, time, money, and sacrifice. Getting it off the ground at first was a good learning experience for me because even though I've seen it with my dad, actually going through the process yourself is still different. Starting everything from scratch from my partner negotiating the lease agreement, from me applying for the LLC license, getting the occupancy license, Massage business license, applying for the EIN its not a simple process especially in the state of Texas lol! Not to mention the sign for our building. (The sign process was a very stressful, and strenuous process that cost us a lot of money and stress. I'll get into detail about that situation in the future down the line in another blog post. ) It took us about 2 months from the moment we first discussed the business to the day we actually opened it.
Now mid June came around and we officially opened our doors. the first few weeks were obviously slow mainly because were a new business and we haven't fully executed our marketing campaign. With the business infrastructure we had in place I knew we had something that would work. Our infrastructure had already been proven it worked as my partner had a massage clinic in Hawaii for 7 years. I knew with the prices and profit margins spa's and massage clinics had ours would be good. We offered one flat fee for all of our massges $50. With that price infrastructure we had a service that was better than our competition that was cheaper than our competition. I knew the only obstacle we had to cross was just aggressively market our business the right way. To aggressively market the way we needed to we need a bigger marketing budget which was our immediate obstacle.
We had to hustle in the very beginning handing out flyers and having friends and family use word of mouth. We also used our great location to our advantage as were right next door to a Just Fitness gym. We met the GM and owner of the gym and they allowed us to give out chair massages to their gym members during peak gym hours. Which was a great marketing tool for us. We really appreciated Just Fitness management for allowing us to do that. That is what got us started having a first flow of clients walk through our doors. We than started using Groupon. Groupon was a great marketing tool that really worked but the disadvantage of it was because their back end percentages were so high it cut into our margins really hard. We made little to no money using Groupons as a marketing tool. We eventually terminated that campaign. But what was really crazy was after we told the account executive weeks in advance we needed that campaign terminated it got re-activated which caused a little bit of a mess. It angered me because we had discussed a new campaign with Groupon. Once everything was cleared up I told our account executive lets roll with the new campaign than he tells me its no longer available. It took a lot of energy to not go off. Once that convo ended I knew he did that because he messed up and must've gotten in trouble with his bosses. So as of right now we are currently not working with Groupon at the moment.
As time went on we started growing. Each month during our first six months being in business our gross number have increased. Which shows me the exact thing I already knew. Our infrastructure will work. We did get our first big break that will truly open doors for our business. We got a contract to do chair massages that will give us a guarantee cash flow. Not only will this contract put our business in the black but will allow my partner and I to have more money to re-invest into our business and expand on marketing. Once we organize our marketing and execute our strategy with a bigger budget we can really focus on increasing our clientele. Our goal is to get to the point where were damn near fully booked every day. I know we can get there.
During the first few months it was really a struggle. Mainly because my partner and I was putting in so much time, energy, and money into the business while still working at my other job. It really got tough to balance both because with any new business your not making money right away it takes some time to get to that point. I still had bills to pay so I couldn't just up and leave my job. There were a lot of days were I got up at 7am got to the massage clinic at 8:30 am would work there until 2-2:30pm and go to work at my job for 3:30 and work until possibly 1am than do it all again the next day. My partner was doing even more than that. It was very stressful and tough at times for the both of us. But all of the work will pay off in the end.
The first six months of being an entrepreneur has been a roller coaster I've learned a lot about myself. my biggest weakness is that I'm a very laid back easy going person. I had to learn to be much more assertive and aggressive being a person in charge. That was out of my character but I had no choice. I had to develop that skill which I'm still working on now. I always knew that businesses fail for a number of reasons but I learned that they all go back to one thing REVENUE. Simply put it business succeed or fail simply because your business did or did not create enough revenue. When it comes to marketing I had to learn not to look at marketing as a business expense but as an investment. I really had to look at marketing as I'm going to spend money to get more money in return not as I'm just spending money to get clientele. There is a big difference.
The last thing I didn't have to learn but I already had in my mind was VISION. Without vision you can't succeed. From the very first day I got involved my partner was telling me how much she made in Hawaii which was very good and highly successful. But my vision was bigger than that. My vision was to not just run a successful small business but to grow this business into a million dollar franchise. Also not just stop there but to form a capital group Kev/Jon Capital group that will be the entity over the Heavensent franchise and expand into owning and investing into other franchises and business. That's my vision. I know the obstacles in my way and the risks that I'm taking but life in general is a risk that we take everyday so why not take the same risks in business. God has opened a door for me at a young age and I don't intend to waste it. I have major goals and plans for this business. I just have to put in the time and sacrifice to get there. The one piece of advice I would give to any new entrepreneur especially a young one that's just starting out. Be prepared its going to be a big struggle at first it will get to a point likely where you will second guess if you even made the right decision. But don't give in because if you beat the odds it will all be worth it.
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