“ If you are going to start your own business, do something you absolutely love. You will eat, sleep, and breathe your business when you are the owner. It takes much more work, dedication, and resources than working for another person or organization so if it isn’ t something you love, you will burn out quickly.”
— IRIS SHELTON founder and Spa Consultant, Shelton Management Solutions
Venturing Out on Your Own For Iris Shelton, founder and spa consultant at Shelton Management Solutions, entrepreneurship was a long and winding road. The year 2005 was when Shelton first realized her life calling was in the spa industry. Two years later, she left a career in corporate America and accepted her first job in the industry at a luxury spa in Michigan. When the economy began declining, she relocated back to the Washington D. C. area to help manage a spa until 2010.
“ In these roles, I noticed the trend of high turnover rates in the front desk operations, issues with customer service, and challenges to overall business operations,” Shelton says.“ During my time working for other companies and managing spas, I found myself identifying methods to continuously improve their overall business, maximize their revenues, reduce their risks, and drive overall efficiency levels.” By determining the needs of the spas she worked for, she identified a niche for starting her own consulting company.
As a way to gain broader knowledge of the spa industry and prepare herself in her role as an entrepreneur, she joined ISPA in 2012 and attended her first ISPA Conference & Expo in Kissimmee, Florida.
Then, in 2015 after being accepted into the Launch Hampton Road Entrepreneur Program( an initiative that provides tools to aspiring entrepreneurs), Shelton officially launched Shelton Management Solutions.“ I identified my opportunity to become a spa consultant and [ founded the company ] to offer solutions, including hiring and empowering staff members, creating and updating training, developing employee handbooks, and creating spa best practices and protocols,” she says.
As a new entrepreneur, Shelton admits to learning valuable lessons.“ When I started my consulting business, I was focused on business roadmaps, networking, sales, marketing, and developing my service plans. I did not create proper financial plans. This oversight caused me to spend more than what was necessary,” she says.“ I learned, first, to monitor my financials
very closely and, second, that it can be more costeffective to hire someone and outsource operations that are outside of your expertise. Hiring experts to run certain segments of my business enables me to successfully oversee the entire operation and create accurate forecasts or projections.”
The Entrepreneurial Journey For Sue Harmsworth, founder of ESPA International, entrepreneurship runs in the family.“ My father mentored me on a daily basis, encouraging me to be independent and free thinking,” says Harmsworth.“ He was an entrepreneur himself and, through him, I learned many lessons. My childhood and upbringing meant I understood the real value of money, how to control costs, and how to make profit. For that, I am forever grateful to him.”
Harmsworth opened her first business in 1970 at the age of 25: a day spa in Toronto, Canada.“ Within three years I’ d grown it from one to three floors and our turnover was $ 3
“ Always be as honest as you can be with clients and your team. It takes years to build a reputation and moments to destroy it, so never overpromise on anything, always aim to exceed expectations and don’ t try to avoid difficult situations or conversations.”
— SUE HARMSWORTH, founder, ESPA International
million, which was a lot, especially considering this was the 70s and it was a cash-only business.”
She sold her Toronto Day Spa in 1979 before moving to France to run a thalassotherapy spa for eight months, and then returned to the United Kingdom so her sons could attend school there. She ran Grayshott Hall( the U. K.’ s foremost health farm) in Surrey for four years. From here, she was headhunted as managing director of a major cruise line company, designing spas and overseeing 1,100 therapists on board.
After working hard for other companies, she eventually felt the urge to get back out there on her own.“ In 1988, I decided to start my consultancy business,” says Harmsworth.“ I worked on a visionary new spa project for Turnberry in Scotland, which opened in 1991, creating a collection of holistic treatments as well as formulating all the products
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28 PULSE ■ January / February 2017