Amazing Opportunity in the Midst of It All!

[jenny_lynn_23]

Ok, so many of y'all know that we're having "issues" with the landlord of the place we're leaving. We're moving to a fabulous brand-spankin'-new place with great landlords, but the place won't be available for 2-3 more weeks, and then there's waiting on the massage establishment license to be approved/arrive from the State, which can't be completed until we have the fire marshall's inspection report once the construction is complete, etc.. This means that we have to wait "X" amount of time before we can really get back to work again, which of course affects our bottom line. Thankfully, we have *fabulous* clients who understand and who are excited with us about the new place!

So, this leads to the title of this post. I've had the office phone forwarded to my daughter's cell phone ('cause it's the only one with a "local" area code ). This was supposed to happen next Tuesday, but she told me when I got home last night around 6 that someone had called for us about the business.

This turned out to be a pharmacist at a local pharmacy (next town over, about 5 minutes away without traffic). We already know most of their staff; this is a newcomer to the pharmacy. Anyway, he told me that they're opening up a Med Spa within the pharmacy, and that they are looking for estheticians and massage therapists who can come and help out over there. They won't charge any rent. They want to promote more natural health care options, as well as to increase traffic through the pharmacy and they are working on developing a line of "cosmaceuticals" (pharmaceutical-grade cosmetics that can be medicated if the patient needs it) and massage products (which can also be medicated if indicated). I asked if they would expect us to use/promote their stuff, and he said no; it would be available for us to try, and if we like it then we can use it and promote it, etc., but that they would certainly NOT expect us to sell for them. We'd be independent practitioners, not IC's or employees. I do no know whether they'd expect a perceneforum.xxxe, or if they truly are offering "a free place to work in exchange for the exposure/traffic". The reason why I'd trust this as a viable possibility, straight and above-board, is because I know personally one of the pharmacy's owners, and she is a straightforward, no-holds-barred, trustworthy person. If this were coming out of the blue from strangers, I'd probably run the other direction without even considering it.

From what I understand at the moment (only having had a phone conversation and not having met in person yet), this could be a *golden* opportunity for us, especially coming at this particular point in time. If things turn out to be as they seem, then Hubby would soon have a place to bring his clients during the "out of pocket" office time (operating as a solo practitioner under the pharmacy's license). I told the pharmacist that we would only be interested if we could be certain that they were up to snuff with regards to the State, etc., and he actually thanked me for mentioning it and said that they are already working on that. He said that they already have one esthetician, coming in on Fridays, and one massage therapist, coming in on Thursdays. That would leave us a choice of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Hubby and I could each take a day (or more, since he has clients waiting on him), get some work done in this interim, and probably continue to each take a day over there while working other days at the new place (since we only have one treatment room over there, this would enable both of us to work a little more without interrupting each other so much). It could also really give *me* the opportunity I need to build my own clientele, since I've been so out of pocket with our marketing for our own business and not available for massaging as much as Hubby over the past 2 years (ack! I just realized that I have had my own license for nearly two years now! Exciting!). He mentioned scheduling current clients over there (this is actually great for Hubby), and I think he was thinking of everyone scheduling around each other or something, but I'm going to mention that we'd prefer to just take a day of the week and be there for walk-ins, as well as previously-scheduled appointments. We aren't even going to try to dance around each other's schedules when our new office is open; we're going to each have our own days to work.

I woke up this morning realizing that while Hubby has a lot of experience in therapeutic massage techniques, I really don't. Then I remembered that I am certified in prenatal massage, which I can promote while I look for CE classes along the lines of whatever else I might find myself interested in learning (perhaps a cupping class? There is so MUCH out there to learn!). Anyway, that made me feel that I really do have something to offer.

We have to go out that direction today to get a few odds and ends to finish up at the old office anyway, so we're going to stop by the pharmacy and see what they have going on. If the guy is there today, we'll take some time and talk with him; if not, we'll schedule something for next week.

I know this is long, and rambling, and I apologize for that. I'm just very excited about this (Hubby is too!), and wanted to share with y'all. And yes, we WILL do our "due diligence" before committing to anything, and GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING!!! LOL!

 

[Pompal 09.]

Amazing Opportunity in the Midst of It All!

In my opinion, if it is a good fit, it never hurts to work at another place once or twice a week, or a few half days, or a weekend day - while establishing your practice.

Extra income can be a good thing, especially when things are slow.

 

[Door Knob.]

Amazing Opportunity in the Midst of It All!

Yes! However, we stopped by there this morning, and learned that my friend who is part-owner is... no longer working within the pharmacy itself (she is still part-owner). This might change things a bit. We will probably talk to her to get her "take" on the whole idea, and we still plan to meet with the guy I spoke with last night to see what the deal is. It could be a decent temporary thing for DH to be able to bring his current clients into for the interim, if nothing else. We'll see, and I'll let you know!

On another note-- we spent a couple of hours just driving around this afternoon, getting to know our "new" community a little better. In 2.5 years here, we've not done much exploring-- very sad, lol! We found out that the park at the end of Main Street is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and contains an air field for remote-control planes, as well as tons of awesome wide-open spaces our kids will really enjoy playing in. And down another road, we found a HUGE, extremely well-kept boarding stable. We talked with one lady there, who said that a massage therapist comes up from Houston a couple of times a month to work on some of the horses there. This could be really good news for us, since we're extremely local. We have actually met this Houston-based equine MT before, way back when DH was first starting out and we knew absolutely nothing and nobody. I would not want to "infringe" on her clientele; however, since so many in this area *know* about equine massage because of her clients, we may be able to benefit from that (especially being local and therefore better able to market to this area, if we can figure out how to do that). At any rate, it was neat just to be able to get a "horse fix" today!

 

[Mr.Answer]

Update 2/7/11

So after *everything* going "on hold" for a whole week due to the ice and snow last week, we finally got to meet with this pharmacist fellow.

So far, it seems as though my interpretation of the situation is correct: he is interested in providing access to extra beneficial services for the pharmacy's customers, and does not intend to charge rent OR commission for the MT's and estheticians who decide to work there. Free work space indeed. Clients would be ours (I'm personally thinking that *client records* would also be ours, since the pharmacy would only be providing the work space and not doing any booking or receive payments or anything for the clients whatsoever). He said that he'd like to review things in 3 months or so to assess how the setup is working for the pharmacy and the therapists.

I asked if they would require some sort of commitment of the therapist, and he said "No contracts". I know that he was meaning that he intended not to "tie someone down", but I told him that I was NOT interested in a "no contract" deal; I want whatever he's telling me verbally to be in writing! I think he got my drift (I did tell him this *nicely*, citing that we have learned our share of what happens when "convenient like-mindedness" turns out to not be what each party *thinks* it is). And if I was going to count on this deal as a branch of our business, I'd want some sort of assurance that they wouldn't suddenly kick us out in favor of someone else. I also think that they *should* expect the same assurance that if they're going to be telling folks that "we have massage therapists here for your convenience", they ought to be able to count on someone actually showing up when they say they will. I'm not looking for a long-term, tightly-bound commitment, but I do think that putting down in writing what is expected of each party is a good idea.

I also told him what is required of an entity to procure a massage establishment license in Texas; he appreciated this information greatly. He has one therapist already "declared" to come in; however, actual work hasn't yet begun due to the weather. One therapist I think is okay without the ME license, but as far as I'm concerned, DH and I would want to wait until that is up on the wall before starting to work there.

I'm not sure what, if anything, he would think about the fierce competition that tends to happen among MT's (around here anyway); IMO, each therapist would have his or her own days to go in, and the space would be *theirs* just as if they "owned" it on that day, and if any client was in the pharmacy on a different day and decided to see the therapist who happened to be there on that day, it's up to the client and would not be the "first" therapist's business (ie, no competition). However, I am not certain how such a thing would be put into writing in such a situation as this.

This guy is a marketing expert in his field, and I learned a lot just in the hour we sat and talked with him this afternoon. He is quite obviously "all about" making his marketing endeavors work. He told us that his favorite "philosopher" is Vidal Sassoon: "if you don't look good, we don't look good." Meaning, if this thing does get to happening, we would be representing the pharmacy and they would be representing us, indirectly. "High quality, professional, knowledgeable pharmacy seeks high quality, professional, knowledgeable massage therapists (and estheticians) for a win-win service and marketing relationship."

We told him we'd like to see what he's telling us in writing. It's understandably a challenge to get the 'thoughts" down on paper in a legible, legal-ese sort of format. They've never done this sort of thing before, and neither have we (how do we end up getting involved in these "first time learning experiences" all the time???). I do think this possibility has quite a bit of merit, but again, we'd need to see it in writing.

Okay, I know I've once again been rabbit-trail long-winded. Sorry (one of these days I *will* learn to write more concisely; this distracted all over the place writing tends to happen when I have 5 other people in the room talking all around me while I'm trying to think).

I am most interested in feedback, especially from those who have been part of a similar arrangement (if any such thing has ever existed before). I'd like to at least hear from folks who have had a "remote office" like this. What should we look for and/or beware of in getting involved in this setup, and how does one run a "remote office" (I mean the logistics, like paperwork, payments, etc)?

 

[Smart Guy]

Amazing Opportunity in the Midst of It All!

I only read your last post, so take this post with that info. I would not take a space "for free." Sounds too good to be true, is too good to be true. I would insist on at least paying some perceneforum.xxxe of each treatment for rent, or a flat rate. He will either quickly realize that he should be charging, or he will start to feel resentful...i Don't know, but it sounds like a recipe for trouble. I agree with you to get everything in writing. You have done a fabulous job of being forthright so far. And the way they have presented it, they may *want* to start charging rent once they see how much business you get.

You should DEFINITELY put in the contract that you will have access to the client records. Or put it in writing that he gets them. Anyway, whoever gets them is really important. Maybe both of you. As long as he knows ahead of time, and in writing, that you are mainly working for yourself and not looking for a spa to be employers at, you're probably okay. But the whole situation the way he has set it up makes it sound like doesn't know much about the spa business. Tread carefully.