Question for you solo estys or business owners
I've been on my own for 1.5 years, renting a small room in an office-type space and doing well. I am branching out now, and about to start renting a retail space that has 3 rooms in it. I will occupy one room and will be looking to rent out the others. I have a ton of questions, but I'd love to hear from others who do this and what pitfalls and issues to be on the look out for?
A few of my questions:
1) I think I want it to be a straight 'room rental'- the other person is their own business. I don't want the hassle of employees or 1099 contractors, and I don't have the clientele to do a commission type employment. With this scenario, do they work under their own business name or mine? Do they work under my business' establishment license? If so, do I get fined for their state board issues in their own rooms?
2) If they are straight renters from me, what's the best way to handle things like retail items that are out and about? We'd have separate retail, I would think? Or do I provide all retail and they get a commission on sales?
3) Should I not rent to others who are doing services like mine? Or, if I do rent to others who have like services (facials, peels, etc), how do we not confuse clientele with different menus or product lines... different prices?
I may be thinking about this all wrong... I think I want their rooms to be separate from my business, but that may not be a) wise or b) easy to do.
Thoughts? Input? PLEASE :)
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by NBSkinCare on
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Having a short lease at first for testing the waters, sounds like a good idea. I like your set up, it's definitely what I'm hoping for in my new place.
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Permalink Reply by Denise Ivers on
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Hi Nicole
How large of a retail space are you talking about? Is the focus on your business retail or skin care?
Heres my situation. I'm a sole practitioner who rents a space in a suite (old converted dental office) with five other estheticians and one nurse who does electrolysis. Four of us do similar services, one gals does lots of waxing with very few facial treatments. In our case we are all separate business with our own business names and licenses and we each have our business names listed at the front entrance. We are all by appointment only, don't take walk-ins and don't have a receptionist. We are in a professional business park with dentist, labs, massage and other related practitioners. The "owner" who is one of the estheticians does have her rules and we each have contracts that specify hours of operation, rent and rules like "no candles". I don't feel that we are competing so much for clientele. We have all been in the business for at least 4 yrs ( i'm the newbie) and there is good chemistry and we share a lot. Our "owner" charges a bit extra per month in addition to rent if we decide to display retail products outside of our treatment room. No charge if we keep our products in our treatment room. Three of us have retail outside of our rooms, we just physically keep the product lines separated. Before I moved in with this group, I looked around for a place to rent and so many landlords or owners wanted so much commission or a flat rate like $100 a week to retail my own products.
There is no confusion for our clients as far as who does what services. We each have our menus or brochures in the spa lounge area for clients to review. As far as products, we all carry different lines and if I had a client who was using a product line that I don't carry and not willing to change to my retail line then I would be happy to sell that line for my co-worker. I'm the only one in our group who sells a bath and body line and some of my co-workers clients have purchased from me. If I'm not there that day, they leave a check or cash in my room and write up a receipt. Yesterday I got a call from a potential client who wanted to schedule 2 facials treatments at the same time. I was happy and glad that I could accomodate her and her friend after checking with one of my co-workers. I'm also happy to refer my clients to this gal for threading, since that is a service that I don't offer. It's a win win for us.
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Thanks for the info!
The space is 1250 sqft, 3 treatment rooms (there is a floor plan attached up the thread). The facility is going to be a Skincare and acne center.
Sounds like you have a good set up and it works well. That's what I'm hoping o accomplish :)
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Thanks for all the info, everyone. It's given me a lot to think about!
One more questions,tho... Since my new place will be in a retail/storefront center (though not a high traffic one), how should walk ins be handled when they occur?
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Permalink Reply by Jodi on
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When you say retail/storefront center, what exactly do you mean? Is it just the space itself that used to be a store, or is it an open, active retail store with the spa rooms in the back?
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I guess I just mean that my place has a store-front (open to the parking lot). Its in a retail/shopping center, so there's a potential for people to see my sign and wander in.
It is not an active retail store (just the 3 of us, and we sell to clients only). Our retail is kept in the back with us, not in the lobby.
I imagine the lobby will have all of our brochures and business cards, so that people who walk in while we are working on other clients can pick up information or leave their name for appointments (we all work by appointment only). I will leave the lobby open for this purpose (its separate from the rest of the place and the rest of the place is locked). At some point, I imagine I'll need to hire a receptionist, but I won't be doing so for awhile.
Does that make sense? I think my brain is on vacation, lol :)
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Yes, thank you. Now I have a better picture. I'm just soaking all these comments in as I want to open my own place someday but have no idea where to begin. This is a great topic!
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