The Lakeside Hustle
The Lakeside Hustle dives into the real stories behind the businesses shaping the Newfound Lake region. Hosted by Corey Caza, each episode features local entrepreneurs, makers, and doers who turned vision into reality—right here in our backyard. Whether you're a curious local, a business owner, or just love a good hustle story, tune in to get inspired, learn something new, and celebrate the people powering our lakeside community.
The Lakeside Hustle
Ep.1 - A Newfound Spa: From Zero Clients to Community Hub: The Spa That Could
When Stacey Barnard and Katie Robbins decided to open Newfound Spa in Bristol, New Hampshire during August 2020, they faced all the challenges of the pandemic plus an added twist – they were creating the first spa ever in their town with absolutely zero initial clients. What gave them the confidence to take such a bold step?
Their story reveals the transformative power of friendship-turned-business-partnership, built on a foundation of exceptional communication. "It's like a marriage," they explain, sharing how their connection formed instantly when they met at a previous spa. Both seasoned estheticians with a combined 30 years of experience, they left behind frustrating environments where management wouldn't listen to their insights. Today, they create the supportive workplace culture they always wanted.
What truly distinguishes Newfound Spa is the feeling clients describe upon entering – "this feels like home." This isn't accidental but intentional, cultivated through remembering personal details about clients' lives and creating a stress-free environment. As they beautifully articulate it: "It's not so much the actual work you're doing on them. It's making them feel good and making them feel better."
Beyond services like facials, massages, and Reiki, the spa actively engages with their community through hurricane relief efforts, charity galas, and career days at local schools. This commitment reflects their values while strengthening their business through authentic community connections.
While hiring qualified staff remains challenging, they've developed comprehensive training programs to maintain their exceptional standards. Their journey shows how taking calculated risks can transform intuition into success. As they prepare for their five-year anniversary celebration this August, their advice resonates powerfully: "Trust your heart, your intuition... Make that leap."
Ready to experience a spa that feels like coming home? Follow them on Facebook or Instagram @anewfoundspa or book your appointment through their website. Your self-care journey is waiting!
so today I am joined by stacy barnard and katie robbins, co-owners of Newfound Spa in Bristol, new Hampshire. Stacey and Katie, her business partner, didn't like how things were going at their previous spa, so they created their own, and they did it during one of the hardest times for small businesses COVID. Together, they've built a thriving spa grounded in great communication, strong values and incredible community. In this episode, we're diving into what it takes to launch a business from scratch, impressive, what it means to truly take the leap and why women in business are forced to be reckoned with.
Speaker 1:So thank you, katie and stacy thanks for having us yeah, so why don't you tell a little bit about yourself, about your background and how you got into wanting to start your own business?
Speaker 2:Well, I actually started aesthetics almost 10 years ago and I was actually at the time working at a nursing home and one of my most popular activities was the spa day. And one of my friends was actually an esthetician looked into it and went to a tour of the school, fell in love, signed up, quit my job and told my husband I was going back to school full time and I said within five years I wanted to own my own business. And in less than five years that dream came true that's awesome and Stacy and I have done amazing together.
Speaker 3:Yep a lot of communication. That's good.
Speaker 1:It's like a marriage you guys um friends before all this?
Speaker 3:yes, how long you guys know each other well, it kind of goes back a little further than that. Before we even actually knew each other, we knew of each other. So we both worked at an establishment, or I worked at an establishment. I ended up leaving, because I moved up here and met my husband and I was at the previous previous place for about 10 years and when I left that place she actually took my spot at the spa that I was working at and I knew about her and I was working at a local spa around here and my manager at the time said, hey, this, do you know this girl Like she worked at the spa I used to work at and I'm like no, I don't, but I know of her and I heard she's wonderful, so it's worth an interview.
Speaker 3:And the second I met her it was literally like friends at first sight, like not love at first sight, but friends at first sight, and we got along instantly and we just had the same goals and like what we wanted to do in our own professional career, basically, um, and then we just yeah, we hit it off. And I've been an esthetician for about 20 years. I'm still actually really good friends with my educator that taught me this and she's been my mentor for 20 years.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Speaking of mentors, how important do you think it is to have a mentor? Oh, my gosh, it's huge, huge, huge. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Life changing, life changing and we have, like it seems like such a big community when it comes to, like, estheticians and cosmetologists, but in reality it's actually really small, like a lot of people know each other in the community to aesthetics community in the state of New Hampshire. There's a lot of educators out there that know educators and then they know this person and that person, so it's really cool.
Speaker 1:So the aesthetics community? Is that something that's rather smaller than other industries? For the state of New Hampshire it has grown.
Speaker 3:I would say, since I started doing it, self-care is huge. I think that happened. Self-care really started booming in 2008, too, and then even more during COVID.
Speaker 2:Yeah, People were ready to take care of themselves after COVID hit and we saw it. Yeah, yeah, we did, which I think benefited us too.
Speaker 3:People were ready to take care of themselves after COVID hit and we saw it, yeah, yeah, we did, which I think benefited us too, and nevermind that. And then opening up a spa for the first time in the town of Bristol. There's never been a spa that's ever opened up here before.
Speaker 1:Oh, really yeah.
Speaker 3:So we started off with not having any clients either. None, we had zero clients.
Speaker 1:So how did you get clients? How did you advertise? How did you market? Is it word of mouth?
Speaker 3:Definitely, social media started and people were so excited. The feedback we got within, I would say, two hours was incredible. That's when we knew we made the right decision, because, going into opening up your own business during a pandemic, you're like, is this going to work or is this not going to work? But we got to start somewhere. We wanted to and we were willing to take that risk and, luckily, within hours we knew we were like yes, this is it.
Speaker 2:Both social media and word of mouth got out pretty quickly, which was great.
Speaker 3:And I feel like too, with Katie being a native of Bristol, she grew up here. She has a lot of friends, family, extended family, so I think that was huge, too Awesome. You know a lot of her friends shared posts and you know a lot of. My family lived down in the southern part of the state Not really southern, but you know so which was still supportive, but they're not around here In a different way, different way. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:A lot of people were obviously cooped up. The pandemic couldn't leave my hair got way too long. Being military anything longer than this. I just can't stand it and. I imagine people saw you guys open and were like I need to leave. I would have paid $200 for a haircut.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no doubt. Yeah, we had jokes with our clients Like if this ever happened again we'd have, like some sort of bathroom.
Speaker 1:Back door, yeah, like a speakeasy spa.
Speaker 3:Like you got to press?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to press a button or have a code or whatever, yeah, Right, right, luckily the last, I think you said the last two spas you guys worked at which really kind of made you want to start your own spa. Was it the environment? Was it the clientele, was it the management? Like what made you move out of that into wanting to create your?
Speaker 2:own, I'll let mainly the lack of communication between management and estheticians. The management was not in the industry, so unless you were hands-on, you really didn't know what was happening in the rooms, unless we told you. And even though we would mention like, hey, if we switch this or if we offered this, we get a different feedback, they didn't take the time to consider that and things never got changed. So Stacey and I knew, all right, if you listen to your clients, if we can offer them something that they suggest, there'd be more up to coming back. And that's exactly what's happened for us yeah, it's huge.
Speaker 3:Um the spas previously I worked for, I was just like kind of like um, work, work, work, work. You know, like it was never the environment, um, I would say like co-worker wise, like we, they, we kind of had a bond um, and you know, it's still to this day. I miss all my old co-workers because we just we just had each other's backs and we just knew what we were doing.
Speaker 3:We all worked great as a team, but it's just it comes down to like how it trickles down the management and stuff like that, which has also helped Katie and I tremendously when it comes to being employers and knowing what we expect of them, and we really appreciate their feedback and taking consideration just different opinions of like hey, like can we do this, can we do that? And we're always like, absolutely, let's look into it, let's get it, let's do it. We're always up to offering new services and you know different donations and charity work or whatever. So that's what we're really huge into, right?
Speaker 1:now.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's, and I think that I will never regret those 10 years or six years that I've worked at these places. It just really helped guide me to who I am today.
Speaker 1:Built a foundation? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I don't think I would ever be able to do this like by myself. Either. I don't think I would ever be able to do this like by myself, either, or five years ago or I mean, excuse me, 10 years ago, you know, opening up my own spa. I needed that, needed that whole experience, real life experience in my career, definitely.
Speaker 1:So starting during?
Speaker 3:did you start during the pandemic, or like right in it A little bit after we started August of 2020.
Speaker 2:So we were still in COVID, but everything had been lifted. As far as being able to go out into establishments, you still had to wear a mask. Wait at the door. We had dividers, we had to take your temperature, we had to ask you all the questions.
Speaker 3:So there were things that we had to do to be able to open our business and follow the rules of the covid guidelines which was hard to navigate too, because you know we're not medical professionals and it's like hard to ask new people that we've never met in our life like can we take your temperature? Have you traveled out of the country in like 20 days? Right because it's uncomfortable for us. We just want to take care of you, you know, but that's what.
Speaker 3:Can we take your temperature? Have you traveled out of the country in like 20 days Because it's uncomfortable for us? We just want to take care of you, you know. But that's what we had to do and that's what we signed up for and we were willing to take that step. Like we had plastic partitions on our manicure stations, Like we didn't even know what our clients looked like for months. They would walk in and we were like we don't even know.
Speaker 1:Were they, they would walk in.
Speaker 2:We were like we don't even know whether to stick their nails into the plastic. Yeah, okay, what gave you guys the the confidence to start?
Speaker 2:a business in in covid in the pandemic that's crazy, so we both believed in each other first of all correct, and you know we knew we were good at what we do as estheticians, so that confidence was already there. As far as the business part of it, I think, we just kind of went with it. You know we knew there was going to be ups and downs but we were together so we got to feed off each other and we just kind of flowed yeah, we definitely did we're still learning, like we always still, you know the business part of it we try to like dive into it.
Speaker 2:We give ourself one day a week to kind of focus on the business, but again, that's just something that we keep learning every day, right, a lot of our successful business owners and mentors that I've had.
Speaker 1:They say you know you should work on your business, not in your business yes there's obvious as a point when you're starting out, you're working in your business.
Speaker 2:Yeah you have to build it.
Speaker 1:You know you're gonna build systems and processes and then eventually you can hire the people that do that work and then you can work on the business to grow it.
Speaker 3:Right Yep.
Speaker 1:So I imagine that's in the plan. I'm aware of that, yeah.
Speaker 3:Finally, we did definitely, probably about a couple months ago we did take the Wednesdays off to really just focus on certain things that we were doing too much at home or, you know, taking away from our family time. It's really helped too and honestly, I'll be honest, katie's one of my best friends and you. It's like a marriage too. You know, we we have to keep that communication open and still remember our friendship and our goals at the same time. So that's really helped us.
Speaker 1:Okay, I know you mentioned communication. The communication at your last establishments wasn't great. You mentioned that you and Katie have amazing communication. Why is that important in business? Why is it important to have great communication with your business partner?
Speaker 3:I think too, as Katie and I were empathetic most estheticians are, anybody in our industry is so it's really reading each other and kind of you know understanding, hey, like we're a little bit overwhelmed, or you know, um, hey, you know we just need a little bit of break, or uh, and then we just kind of talk to each other about, hey, like what's bothering you, this that you know, or let's figure this out. You know what's the best way to do this? Like the other day we finally we're laughing about it because we're trying to be super professional Finally made it a point to pay ourselves for vacations because, we were not doing that and we were just laughing.
Speaker 3:And that is the biggest thing is to make something that is professional, but we laugh about it. Not a joke, but just I don't know.
Speaker 2:It was almost like that, another step of like wow, we are business owners, we should probably start doing some contracts between us Like pay ourselves. That would be great for vacations after almost five years in business.
Speaker 3:So keeping it open the communication. Laughing, making each other laugh, it literally is a relationship.
Speaker 2:And we hang out outside of work, not just at work. So we definitely already had that friendship from the beginning. You know we worked together but then we also were able to hang out afterwards and I think that has a huge part of being able to be successful too and that communication is always there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I've heard of people before doing business with family and friends. It can be difficult because you guys have such a different look or outlook, outlook or mindset on how the business should be run.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it seems like you guys don't have that issue at all.
Speaker 3:No, and you know there's. I'm not saying it was like smooth, because no relationship is smooth. It's just like a friendship too.
Speaker 3:I mean it's either, like I said, I keep bringing in marriage, but it's true, like if you have an issue, you talk about it, you resolve it. How can we make this better? You know, it's never been like this huge blow-up thing and like when I started, when we first started, I'd have nightmares about her and I get into fights and be like this is it, that's it, and I'd wake up it's fine, everything's fine. It was just a dream, because we want it so bad. I think that's why we want it to succeed so bad, and we want our friendship to stay alive and our partnership to stay alive, that we just keep moving forward. We make it work. Yeah, we make it work.
Speaker 1:It seems like you guys, in the short time I've known you in the last few days, that you guys, it looks like your friendship would be more important than the business.
Speaker 3:Absolutely yes, hands down For sure.
Speaker 1:Like you'd get rid of the business for the friendship.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, yep, yep. We Like you get rid of the business for the first time. Yeah, yes, yep.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:Yep, it's a marriage. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm married to Katie and I also have a husband, alex. I love you, alex, but it's true, josh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, josh, there you go, tell me about the community events you guys do in the community. Ooh Go ahead.
Speaker 2:We do a few that we're involved with right now. The Voices Against Violence Gala that was just held in Plymouth was about two weeks ago. We attended that and that was a silent auction dinner to help raise awareness for domestic abuse violence. So we attended that. What else have we done? The hurricane relief?
Speaker 1:Oh that was huge In.
Speaker 2:North Carolina. We took in supplies and met up with a company out of Holderness, holderness, yeah. Granite State.
Speaker 3:Stonework Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they were able to drive everything down and distribute it, but we were the main hub to have everybody come here to drop off and that was amazing.
Speaker 3:It was a huge success. We had clients in that day that were running around finding us bins, because we wanted it to be very everything separated so that the volunteers down there didn't have to go through like, oh, there's food in here and like tylenol. So we had like a baby bin, we had diapers, we had like non-perishable foods, we had a huge first aid kits and people were going out getting us rubbermaid bins, because that's what we really wanted, and then it would be easier for people to open them and the people that were down there would take a bin with them. This whole spa was covered with donations for days.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised I didn't get more coverage than it needed.
Speaker 2:Seriously, that's a whole different story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:We were. We actually Katie and I were. We were very close to leaving and going down there. Yep very close to leaving and going down there. Yep, yeah, we were. Our husbands talked us out of it so close and shop yeah, we were gonna do it. We were gonna pick up a trailer somewhere and just go, because we just we had it was we had to do something and that's it was very um, last minute and, I think, the donation period was like two days maybe possibly, and this whole downstairs was filled with donations.
Speaker 3:I had one of my good guy friends come up from Hooks it with a huge bed. His whole truck bed was full of water and wipes and food and it was just incredible.
Speaker 2:We've done food drives for the— yeah, food drives.
Speaker 3:Toys for Tots. We do a lot of donations for charities around here. Career Day at BHVS. Career Day at Empire Beauty School.
Speaker 2:We're doing one this year for the first time at the middle school Career Day. Okay, Right here, Right here in Bristol. Oh, awesome and also Bridgewater or Pasquani now New news to me Communication.
Speaker 1:So what makes you guys want to do all that stuff?
Speaker 3:Oh, my gosh Community is huge Involvement. We have the best community around here.
Speaker 2:We really do they support us? We want to support them, yeah.
Speaker 3:The kids too. The kids around here are just amazing, amazing, ttc, ttcc. We donate to. Yeah, just getting our names out there too and helping as much as we can. It's really the biggest thing.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So we've talked a lot about you guys and your community events. Let's talk about what you guys do here. What do you offer?
Speaker 3:So we are. We do facials. We have a wide variety of facials pedicures, manicures, gel manicures, full body waxing, massage, eyelash and eyebrow tinting, and we have a beautiful infrared sauna that has taken off this winter. Everybody loves it.
Speaker 1:And Reiki. We also have Reiki healing, which is amazing Reiki healing.
Speaker 3:So it's non-touch healing, which is fabulous. Kind of balances your chakras. Energy healing, Energy yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:It's amazing Reiki the needle stuff?
Speaker 2:No, I don't know, what it is.
Speaker 3:I've heard it I don't know what it is um like, um.
Speaker 2:She like touches, and it's your chakras yeah, so each area of the body, you know it uses energy to kind of um eliminate, cut cords move, yeah, energies out of the body, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, some are a little bit spooky about it, but it's pretty cool. I can't relax very often, but she can put me to sleep.
Speaker 1:Maybe I need that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. So what's your current focus now for the business? Are you planning to grow? Are you going to open another spa somewhere?
Speaker 2:We are doing a little additions here as far as revamping the inside look of the spa, but that's also kind of a little bit of a surprise. Until it's completed. Stacey and I have definitely talked about another um location again. That's still just talk. For now no definite.
Speaker 3:Yeah, probably another five years yeah, yeah, but um, yeah, definitely hiring more people. We are looking to hire? Yes, we hiring. Send your resumes to a newfound spot. Nice, Thank you. And that's hard too. Is just trying to find good work or good workers that really want to do this. It's hard these days.
Speaker 1:Or good work and then keep them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's hard Chugging along.
Speaker 1:Right. What advice would you give to people looking to start a business looking to, I guess? Take that leap and leave what they're doing and start a new business. Trust your heart.
Speaker 3:New intuition Huge. And start a new business. Trust your heart, mm-hmm. New intuition Huge.
Speaker 2:I think you also need to be mentally prepared to not financially be stable for a bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because there's no guarantee of your day and that's day to day, so you can have a full schedule one day and not see anyone the next two. So I feel like our new estheticians coming straight out of school. That's like the biggest thing that we are upfront about is the like clientele, like you have to work hard and get your clients to be able to come back to you.
Speaker 1:So do you feel like there's a like, a false expectation of the new estheticians?
Speaker 2:coming out of school that they're going to make a whole bunch of money and then make yes, and they're going to be super busy from the get go, and that's not the case. Like you basically have to sell your soul Every person you get in front of.
Speaker 3:You know you got to sell yourself you know they're looking to you like.
Speaker 2:You're the person that they want to come back to see. So you need to be representative of like that. You almost have to morph. You know what I mean To like, get them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you're doing stuff to their face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's probably important not. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, yes, yeah. But luckily we're good mentors. So with the new you know, incoming estheticians that we do hire, we do extensive training with them for about two weeks, which, I will add, I've never had that in my previous.
Speaker 1:Like before they even touch another. Correct, oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Because we want it Correct, oh yeah. Or you're there with them, yeah, yeah, because we want it. Well, even if, like, say, like one of our clients that's been coming to us, you know, and then they just couldn't get in with us and they go to see the new person, we want to make sure that they're getting the same service as we provide, you know. So everybody's on the same page. Basically, that's huge to us. I mean, people come here because they love it, you know, and we just, our reputation is huge and it is a small community, so word does get around.
Speaker 1:Reputation is huge, you know, word does get around.
Speaker 3:If somebody you know, susie comes in and she gets a bad pedicure, she's going to be like, oh no, newfound spa, never go there, you know. So we got to make sure that our girls are trained well and comfortable. Comfortable with being around people, comfortable about meeting or, you know, having somebody come in and that's new and meeting them and having striking up conversation. That's huge to the younger generation. Right now they're having a hard time communicating with I wonder why. I know I'm like.
Speaker 1:Cell phones yeah.
Speaker 3:Yep the cell phones.
Speaker 1:And we have a landline here too, that's interesting let's see, you're always afraid to pick up the phone back there too.
Speaker 3:I wish we did.
Speaker 1:I'd love to beepers no what's the most common positive feedback you guys get from your clients? Oh my, gosh, it's.
Speaker 3:oh, I would say. We hear all the time this is like home. That is what we were going for from the get-go.
Speaker 1:I walked in here and I was like this has good energy I can hang out here all day.
Speaker 3:I'm going to come down here and work.
Speaker 2:Yes, we have people that are like can we just come and hang out with you, girls. Absolutely, absolutely we hear that all the time. Yeah, we just love the feel, the energy. Yeah, the positive.
Speaker 1:It's a very inviting space Always.
Speaker 2:We're always smiling, always happy.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know they, they look forward to being able to be here and comfortable and relaxed. Yeah, there's no stress once you walk through that door.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's gone, they leave it. They leave it at the door and that's the best bet. You know. The good thing is, too, is that knowing having that relationship with your client is huge. And they know what my daughter's name is, they know that you know, like, what we did and what we're doing, and they ask questions like, oh, how is this, how is that? And it's nice to know that. And then vice versa, like, hey, how's your husband doing? Like you know, how are your grandbabies? You know, and it's just that bond that you have with your client is just it's priceless honestly.
Speaker 3:It's unmatched. Yeah, really. Uh, that's a good word, he, I like that it's true, though, our clients.
Speaker 2:I tell them they probably know more about me. Vice versa, I know more about them than some of their own family members. Yeah, it's like they've been with us a lot of them since the day we opened you guys probably get a lot of the tea, huh yeah, oh, we know it all. Yeah, we love the tea local tea our uh side gig is, you know, therapist therapist. Yeah, we are therapists, we are natural therapists we are you know, as part being an esthetician, that goes hand in hand, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know, we also know when our client is not having a very good day and that's kind of hard and that's when our job comes in to make them feel better and that is where we thrive here. That is our best and I know we know our clients. They walk in. I'm like, oh, what's up? Something's not getting in my facial bed right now.
Speaker 1:So it's not so well. In my opinion, it's not so much as the actual work you're doing on them.
Speaker 2:It's making them feel good and making them feel better.
Speaker 1:Get rid of the stress. They can leave knowing they look better, they feel better.
Speaker 3:Correct.
Speaker 2:Absolutely A hundred percent. That is so true though. That is it in a nutshell. Yep, Right there.
Speaker 3:Yep, that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1:I think it was. I could be wrong. Deion Sander.
Speaker 3:Love him.
Speaker 1:He said you look good, you feel good, you feel good, you play good, you play good, you get paid good.
Speaker 2:Yes, love it. Oh, I love Dion. So true, dion, dion, all right.
Speaker 1:Football.
Speaker 2:Football girls over here. We love football, we're patriots.
Speaker 1:Oh, here's a good one. What has your experience been like as a woman in the entrepreneur wellness space? Positive or as an entrepreneur in the wellness space.
Speaker 2:I think it's definitely been a positive experience for us. We definitely feel respected and almost not that people are in shock, but it's a whole. I don't know the word I'm looking for. Stacey, help me out.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I guess it is just the respect thing, you know. Empowering yes, that's it, thank you Whoa, we did it. See, see.
Speaker 3:I just got to look at her eyes she drilled it into your head.
Speaker 2:Intuitive, yeah, intuitive, yes, no. But I think overall it's been amazing. Yeah, definitely positive we know a lot of women, not specifically in you know our industry, but a lot of women entrepreneurs yeah they're all empowering. Yeah, you know. Yeah, all of us are. You know, it's not. Oh, you work for a male anymore.
Speaker 3:It's like no, we are yeah you're the boss yeah and yeah, yeah, one of our regulars has been a really great mentor to us too. She's in medical coding. We love you, robin Love you. She's helped us tremendously with just certain things, and you know she's been in business what like 20-something years, yeah, something like that, but she's fabulous. She's right down the road you know um in Bristol, so she's been our client for years, even at the other spa.
Speaker 2:And it's nice to like bounce back and forth like ideas like the business standpoint like obviously we're. We were the first spa, so we don't have much to go on as far as another spa in the area. But as another woman to a woman business owner, it's nice to have that sense of um comfort. You know, they understand where you're coming from, you know if something comes up or there's an issue, you're like oh, I don't know how to do this. They're like oh well, try this yeah, here's some books.
Speaker 3:Yeah, read this.
Speaker 1:This has taught me so much yeah yeah, for sure which is look at this, uh, tiktoker yep, tell me about some some challenges you guys have had. Obviously covid, you know that was a challenge to get the business started. But aside from that, what are some business challenges you guys have had? Obviously COVID, you know that was a challenge to get the business started. But aside from that, what are some business challenges you guys have had?
Speaker 3:Hiring employees for me.
Speaker 1:Overcome them.
Speaker 3:Hiring employees yeah that's hard, that's the biggest one. There's a lot of trust that goes into that too with, I'm sure, with any business. Katie and I take super pride in this place, like this is our baby, like we built this place up and, you know, like we really are having a hard time finding people that appreciate it, which, again, no one's going to appreciate as much as Katie and I, but just the clients, the environment, the us being there, you know, and you know doing things that they want us to do, meaning like, oh, can you get this? Can you get this? Can you get that? That's been our for me.
Speaker 3:I don't, I can't, you know, talk for katie, but for me it's been probably just finding someone that fits in our team, and we did recently find um one that she's been here since october and she's been fabulous. Like, if we could clone her, we would. You know, hands down, hands down, and especially our massage therapist she's been again. Can we clone her like we would be great? Or down, hands out, and especially our massage therapist she's been again. Can we clone her like we would be?
Speaker 3:great or katie and I clone us. You know I'm fine with that, um, but just you know having or letting, that you know people work here, that you, you know that you trust and completely trust you have to completely trust them, because there's we don't. We're not here 24 7. We have to make sure that they can work here with other people and we can trust them, just letting go of some of that control part of it.
Speaker 2:That's huge, Not only just the employee part, hiring and keeping it's like. All right, I can back off a little bit now and not take as many.
Speaker 3:That's really hard, that's hard.
Speaker 2:Because we're like no, give me all the.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a part of it. Yeah, yeah, right, right, right, yes, right.
Speaker 2:I would say that is definitely a challenge for me personally, yeah.
Speaker 1:That was one of my biggest challenges too, because Amy and I we have the real estate team and I was doing everything. Well, I mean, she, she was helping, obviously, but, like for my own transactions, I was doing all the coordination work, all the you know, talking to the lenders and the title company and their agents, and since then I've hired an assistant and I've hired a transaction coordinator, you know, and then Amy does her own thing, but letting go of that control, it's hard.
Speaker 1:It's so hard Cause I like I'm just, it's probably just a military in me. I like it needs to be like this, like this follow this process.
Speaker 3:Why didn't you follow it? That's probably why we works. I feel like we're kind of control freaks too, yeah, and I think that kind of works too, cause I mean we both can be to an extent, but it's still like this is the way we want things run. It's got to be this way.
Speaker 2:It has to be this way. It's like you didn't make it up yesterday.
Speaker 1:It took you 20 years to refine that process. Right, exactly?
Speaker 2:And it's nice having Stacey and I on that same mindset too. You know like we're never like oh god, that didn't work, so oh, stacy's still gonna do it and katie's gonna do it this way. It's never been like yeah, no, it's always been like, yep, this is working, this is how we want it, yeah run yeah it's just huge you
Speaker 1:need that yeah, systems and processes are super important, yeah overcoming.
Speaker 3:Like you, like you know those. Yeah, just I don't know what I was going to even say Sorry.
Speaker 2:I'm like overcoming yeah, it's gone. Sorry, just let it go, it's the brain fog, I know Okay.
Speaker 1:So tell me how important to you guys is it to be resilient in business when you have a setback Like, how important is it to you guys to, or for anyone listening, anyone starting a business to keep moving forward after an adverse event or a failure, if you will?
Speaker 2:You've got to bounce back. Oh yeah, you have to. What else are you? Going to do You've got to pick yourself back up Day by day.
Speaker 3:I mean we haven't had huge setbacks, but I mean we haven't had huge setbacks, but I mean the ones that we have. I'm like what are you going to do? You know, like, if it's out of our control, like we just got to keep moving forward.
Speaker 1:You're going to close the doors, right? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We can't do that. We're not doing that. We can't do that.
Speaker 3:We are not doing that. Not allowed for a new found spot.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no so just moving forward day by day, basically just learn from that, like if there is a setback, obviously there's something that happened and there's a reason so learn from that and try not to do it in the future. Yeah, figure it out change things and we adapt pretty well. Anyways, you know, both Stacey and I are pretty positive people, so if there is anything that sets us back again, we just go with it. Adapt and move on. Yep.
Speaker 3:Communicate too. Yep, there we go Back to communication.
Speaker 1:We got this down. Yeah, it's our superpower.
Speaker 3:I think it is our superpower.
Speaker 2:Oh, besides Stacy's, furniture making, oh yes.
Speaker 1:You make furniture.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, well, no, well, put it together. See those, she did help, katie did help, but those, I put them all together.
Speaker 1:Where do you find those Wayfair yeah?
Speaker 2:Gotta love Wayfair, yes, wayfair, yeah, gotta love Wayfair, yes, yeah, we love to shop too. So let's?
Speaker 3:A client said to us the other day, speaking of shopping. She's like, oh my God, every time I come in here there's something new. I'm like, yep, you just wait, we'll surprise you next week. We love shopping, but that's another thing too is like rebranding. We've been in business almost five years. We're done with the Blue Lake. Guess what we're going to do? Gold we're going to do gold, green and black. Not too much, not too much. That's it. That's all you need to know.
Speaker 2:Rebranding we got surprises coming.
Speaker 1:What's with the cat out of the bag?
Speaker 3:Almost. Can you edit that out?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well this has been awesome. You guys are awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you, you're pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:This is great. Thanks, corey, this is great.
Speaker 3:Do you have any more we could do? No, we love podcasts, we can do another one, whatever?
Speaker 2:We're going to do weekly. What the hell was I going to say?
Speaker 1:I told you I could go off the rails a bit. You're going to fuck me all up. What? Yeah, okay, so where can clients and customers find you Social media?
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, Facebook Instagram.
Speaker 2:We did have you on Lake Street.
Speaker 1:Is it Newfound Spa?
Speaker 2:A Newfound Spa, a Newfound Spa Just one word Facebook, yes, and Instagram.
Speaker 3:Yes, and Instagram yep.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:We do have online booking. A lot of people don't have that these days and it is very convenient for people that, hey, we get bookings at 3 am. They probably wake up. Look at their phone. You know what? I want a pedicure today. Scroll, scroll, scroll, oh, I have there's availability. Click, scroll, oh, I have there's availability. Click, there you go. You get your appointment. So convenient, so convenient.
Speaker 2:Um, instead of calling and being like waiting for, waiting for someone to call you back or yeah, so we only have a receptionist, one one day, on tuesday nights, and then every other saturday. So between stacy and I returning phone, it's done in between clients. So it is best to go on social media. Everything is up to date on the website. Social media or all of our posts, are up to date as much as we can. Yes, wednesdays is also the day for our social media ideas. Or at 2 am, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to put you guys on the spot.
Speaker 3:Okay, oh great.
Speaker 1:What sets you guys apart from other spas in the area?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a good one. Environment, environment, that's what first comes to my mind. Community, community, I mean, I think that it's just Our openness. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know we thrive on cleanliness.
Speaker 3:Yes, that is yes we are very.
Speaker 2:I will get here an hour and a half early, sometimes before work, just to clean, clean, clean, clean.
Speaker 3:Yeah so, and we are yeah, that's huge too, though, while coming, I mean just the feedback we've gotten from our clients again them walking through the door and feeling like they're at home. We want people to throw their coats on the couch and they're like what, I can't, I'm like go ahead at home.
Speaker 2:We want people to throw their coats on the couch and they're like what I can't, I'm like go ahead. And they do, why not? And they do Take their shoes off at the door.
Speaker 3:Yeah, grab a drink, some snacks.
Speaker 1:What kind of drinks you got in there?
Speaker 2:What do you want?
Speaker 1:I just want hot white water.
Speaker 3:We're going to have a huge party this August. Are we going to do August for our five-year?
Speaker 2:Five-year in business, anniversary party. Customer appreciation anniversary.
Speaker 1:Are you doing that here?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, free food. We'll have some cocktails hors d'oeuvres, free giveaways.
Speaker 1:What was the date on?
Speaker 3:that we're going to do August 9th, august 9th yeah.
Speaker 1:August 9th yeah. Just nice, yeah, save the date Save the date you guys going to get kegs and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:We don't do kegs. We do offer alcohol. We do have beers in our coolers.
Speaker 3:The guys are always out grilling over here. I was actually thinking about off topic, but maybe Keen could let us rent a tent and have it it back in the um field.
Speaker 2:Ideas More sitting areas. Ideas are flowing, here we go.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You came on a Wednesday. This is our ideas, our ideas Bouncing off ideas, all right. So yeah, let's wrap it up. You guys are awesome, like I said. Thank you.
Speaker 2:You're awesome. We're going to do this again, definitely.
Speaker 1:If each of you were to give one piece of advice to the listeners anything, it doesn't have to be business-related, it can be business-related. One piece of advice what would you give them?
Speaker 2:I would definitely say your goals and your dreams do come true. Okay, wow.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm again. I'm going to say it again Trust your heart, your intuition, Um, go for it. I know, am I going to cry? No, I might cry. Anything can change. You know, life changes all the time. Make that, make that leap.
Speaker 1:Do it? Believe in even yourself. Believe in yourself, oh god, that's huge yeah, definitely take that step.
Speaker 3:Um don't be scared, I mean you. Why hold back? You'll never know unless you do it right and that's exactly what we did. We were never hesitant about it no, ever.
Speaker 2:New challenges were gonna come and you have to be mentally prepared and be able to just keep going.
Speaker 3:Yep, yeah, that's it. Move forward Like a tracker.
Speaker 1:What does a tracker sound like Nice?
Speaker 3:I could do like the dumb and dumber thing, but I'm not going to go there. I'm supposed to be professional.
Speaker 1:Thank you both. You're welcome. This was so fun.
Speaker 2:We enjoyed it very much. Thank you and we look forward to doing this again absolutely yeah, maybe you can come live when our five-year yeah yeah that would be so fun.
Speaker 1:You're gonna be there all right, thank you again, appreciate it thank you listeners, thank you cory.