growing bigger, expanding business questions

[NHK]

Okay, so the thought of expanding my business. But how to go about doing it?

For one thing, I could not expand in my current location, so that is out.

Do I want employees or do I want indies? I do not want to lose the prominance my business name has. I sell gift certificates online and have people coming in off the street to buy gift certificates too.

For those of you who work independently with other therapists, how do you handle gift certificate sales?? Do you pool them together or seperately? Do you share a common phone number? If you cannot take a client in who has a gift cert, do you hand them off to another therapist in the building and then pay them??

I think it would be easier to get an employee instead of an indie. As an indie, they would be responsible to get their own clients and pay for thier own stuff and space. An employee doesnt have to do that, they have nothing to get ready upfront except their massage education.

I dont want to confuse people who would come into my business.

Please pass along tips and advice for me to concider.

TIA

 

[nirmal]

I recently "expanded" my business. I moved to a bigger and nicer office (all of the bills are in my business name). I have three other therapists in my office and we are all independent. We have had the following problems in less than one month:

Who pays what - do we split it evenly into fourths? Well, not everyone is full time. So how do you decide fairly what every one should pay.

Furniture/supplies/and all the other countless things you don't expect - who pays for that and how much?

How does the cleaning (bathrooms, vaccuming, etc).

Advertising - all together or everyone separately.

Gift certificates - do we put the money in a special pool and split it up later if the person does not request a specific therapist up front. Even though some therapists do not wish to do the office work necessary to sell gift certificates (answering phones, returning phone calls, checking email, being at the office even though you do not have a client in order to sell to walk ins, etc)

Treatment menus - do we all offer the same things- the list goes on and on and on and on..........

What is boils down to is that your name will be on everything (most likely) and at the end of the month you are responsible for paying the bills on time regardless of the working arrangements. So, to make things simple, have employees and make sure they sign some sort of an agreement so they can't walk out on you without notice. It gets very complicated having multiple independent contractors working together. Especially when everyone wants to put in there two cents and they have every right to do so - as they are independent contractors. My personal experience has a been a total nightmare - I recommend you think over your decisions very carefully and then budget extra cash flow for all the hidden and unexpected things that arise.

 

[Jac]

Thank you for the reply.

Personally, I dont think I would be happy sharing space with other indies. There are benefits to having employees as well as having indies. I am leaning towards having employees because I like those benefits and dislike the negatives about having indies.

 

[Keith H]

Pete, you have the set up that I thought I was going to have. I have an office with three rooms (4 therapists). Two of us work full time and have our own room. The other two are "part time" and share a room. We split rent and utilities into thirds (so far) and the part timer's split the third (so they are actually paying 1/6th of rent and utilities). I think the part time people have it very good considering that the two of us who are "full time" are paying twice the amount of rent and splitting all of the other misc expenses down the middle and providing receptionist services. But, no. One of the part time people (who works a total of 2-5 hours a week) is the worst - she is very vocal about what she feels "we" need to do and of course she doesn't want to pay for anything or work for that matter.

As far as GCs, the two of us who are full time have decided that we will sell gift certificates for other therapists only if the client specifically requests that therapist. Otherwise, it will be every man for himself.

 

[Frances_Simonds]

Well folks, I think I found the perfect location. The location is currently a big open space torn down to the studs. It is about 600 square feet, a nice sized bump up from my current 193, not including the shared waiting area, hallways, and bathrooms. Everything would be private. Private bathroom, private waiting area, two entrances, off street parking, and my very own store front too. Heat, water, and garbage are included. I would be responcible for electricity. It has hot water heat and central air. It would have two treatment areas, one a quite large space, about 12x14. The smaller would be about 12x9. I will have a say in every aspect of the remodeling project. Which will mean: the treatment room walls will be insulated, there will be speakers in the ceilings, electrical outlets on the floor, cabinets for clients clothing in the treatment rooms, a linen room, closet space etc... Anything I want!! Of course, the more I want, the more the rent will be!! lol

How much you ask?? Well, only about $200 more than than I am paying right now. I could swing that without getting an employee. Of course, I would eventually get an employee, but the nice thing is I know I can afford it on my own easily. My current rent is $350 a month.

I need to give my current LL 3 months notice, so if this happens, it will happen in February. The owner of the new space said I could move in February and not worry about paying for that month. Cool huh??

I am not to keen on moving in February, but I dont have a ton of stuff to move, so it wont be that difficult. I will know for certain in two weeks. Two weeks from now, I will know if I am taking this spot or not.

So, what I am doing now is compiling a list of improvements I need the new owner to put in. I have already mentioned some. Any other suggestions?? Please let me know.

TIA

 

[DavoJo]

Congratulations!!! :dancingparty: