The spa industry has shown annual growth of 9.9% during the past few years and it is expected to continue growing during this next decade. The services offered by medical spas are constantly expanding, reaching a larger public and interesting more clients. Therefore, this could be a great investment if you are interested in the wellness industry.
However, before opening your business you need to make sure you understand the basics of this process. This includes understanding what you can offer, building a business plan, and making sure you have the right equipment and are prepared for what is to come.
Understanding What a Medical Spa Is
A medical spa is not like a regular spa and this needs to be one of the main things you keep in mind. These businesses offer a perfect mix between medical services and classic spa treatments. The goal is to target a wide audience including men, women, and most age groups. The services should be focused on relaxing treatments such as massages, acupuncture, and facials as well as medical treatments provided by professionals such as a dermatologist. In general, these types of spas are owned by medical professionals.
Therefore, the space needs to follow all local regulations established by the government body in question. Home remodeling in Las Vegas can take a bit of time so make sure you have planned accordingly for any renovations and changes you will need to make to ensure your medical spa is compliant.
Preparing for Opening a Medical Spa
As mentioned before, medical professionals are the ones who usually open medical spas. Furthermore, you should make sure you can provide the services required or that you hire the right people to do so. Financial considerations are also a must as you need to build a realistic business plan to be successful in this endeavor.
Other things you should keep in mind include but are not limited to:
Vision
You should know what you want your spa to look like and what it should represent. This overall vision should be a part of every decision you make, from the services offered to the guidelines followed by all employees.
Location
This is one of the most important things to consider. A business with a bad location is going to have a hard time taking off. The ideal place will be easily accessible, safe, and next to services people will be interested in.
Creating Your Business Plan
Having a business plan should be one of the first things you do. This will allow you to set your budget, projections, and to communicate with any investors or partners.
Creating projections involves researching the market, analyzing your financial statements, and based on those things, making realistic projections of what you can expect to spend and what you might earn. You can estimate expenses by observing what other medical spas regularly spend. In addition, you should establish your fixed and variable expenses.
Fixed expenses are set costs such as rent, equipment maintenance, and other items. Meanwhile, variable expenses include those that are dependent on how much business you are getting such as utilities. These should always be a part of your budget.
These projections will be the main thing any investor will be interested in and it is the same case if you are getting a loan from a bank.
You will need a balance sheet, cash flow statement, and income statement to build the annual projections.
Hiring the Right People
You can be the best at what you do but if your employees are not providing a good service, you will have a hard time making your business a success. Those working at the medical spa are the face of your business as they are directly in contact with the clients. Therefore, they should go through a rigorous vetting process before they are hired.
Your employees should be in alignment with your vision and they need to be highly qualified. Medical professionals are preferred for medical spas, and only some very specific services should be performed by non-healthcare workers.
Your employees need to be motivated, knowledgeable, friendly, and responsible. Plus, you should make sure that eventually, someone can be in a position to supervise when you are not there.
Offering the Best Treatments
While medical spas can offer some of the services provided by traditional spas such as massages and hair removal, you will want to focus on the medical treatments your team is going to offer.
These services can include laser treatment, facial plasma treatments, botox and natural dermal fillers application, medical peels, and more. To make sure you are offering the best option in the market, you should do some market research and see what the competition is selling. Is there anything you can add to that? This would make your business stand out and become the best alternative for many potential clients. Make sure you can create a unique experience for your customers, from the ambiance of the spa to the quality of the treatments.
Equipment Needed
The equipment you will need is going to depend on the services offered. Some general things you are bound to require include massage tables, reclining chairs for facial treatments, a shower, towels, robes, and a sauna. If your spa will offer other basic aesthetic options such as manicures and pedicures, make sure you have provided for these as well.
Then, there are those more specific items such as laser machines, mesotherapy equipment, advanced facial equipment for cosmetic peeling, among others. In addition, you need to consider the items that will need to be constantly provided for such as the medical products used. Equipment prices can go very high but it is an investment that will pay for itself in the long run.
Regulations
These include any licenses required and how to get them. In addition, there will be regulations regarding the services offered, the number of people that can be inside the spa at the same time, and more.
If you do not follow these established regulations, you run the risk of being shut down temporarily, which would be a big hit for your business, or even permanently. This is because healthcare concerns are involved when it comes to medical spas, making the regulations for these businesses stricter than usual.
Establish guidelines and protocols to make sure everyone is following all the rules and make sure you educate your team and provide reminders of these at their work stations.
Author’s Bio
Claire Zimmerman is a content marketing specialist at Allstate Service Group. Having almost 9 years of experience in home improvement, Claire is keen on sharing her knowledge on home design and renovation with others, especially hvac, air filtration and water damage issues. Claire’s articles are informative and entertaining, written both for homeowners and experienced contractors.
