An Estetician approached me...

[Taken nme :)]

I have a nice office space with a rectangular reception area with 2 square rooms off of it. One room is my 'working office' with my desk supplies, jewelry materials and sewing materials. The other room is the treatment room.

An estetician approached me to see if I would be willing to let her use my space to build her practice. She recently worked at another day spa but did not like the pressure to sell all of the products. She wants to build a clientele based on the treatments, using Dr. Jeff products (not retail).

She doesn't have a client base yet since she hasn't advertised without a place to practice, but she also doesn't have the money to pay rent (single mom with baby on the way).

I am still in the red - starting in a new town in the spring but I want to keep the space that I have. Right now, I don't want to clean out the working space to rent to someone else because I am not comfortable with doing that yet and I love having the workspace. So this might work for me, but I don't know how to set it up.

I would supply the sheets and the space and she would bring in her supplies. She also waxes, so I am not sure how to proceed. Waxing can be messy and the rate can be low for a perceneforum.xxxe deal.

Would you just rent one day a week At $25 ($100/month), or go for a perceneforum.xxxe and work around my appointments? I also thought that we should have a trial period to make sure that we can work around each other well. If it works, we could advertise packages together for clients. Would you check with the day spa that she was with?

I have always been a sole proprietor, so this is new to me. I am game if we could both benefit. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Paperlilly]

If she can't pay rent how will she pay advertising? Working around each other in the same room seems like there could be a lot of scheduling issues. An esthetician that doesn't want to sell products may not have the best understanding of the business. Product sales are a way to help clients at home. Similar to stretching, drinking h20, ect.. for MT's. I would not do it.

 

[BEASTMODE]

An Estetician approached me...

I am still in the red - starting in a new town in the spring but I want to keep the space that I have.

Most important part of that whole post. Unless the "deal" comes with cold hard cash, in contract, at fair market value for the space, and predictable (as in you can build it into your business plan and budget,) it's not a viable business strategy for you.

You say she has no client base, how do you know she is capable of developing one, and running a business, and turning a profit... so she can pay or benefit you?

It's great if you can help another fledgling business, but it's a bad idea to try and do this before you are even running a profitable business. The last thing you need is to be worrying about how you can make someone else's business strategies work.

she also doesn't have the money to pay rent

Second most important part of that whole post.

If she wants to "use your space," she needs to rent your space. If she can't afford to rent your space, the good business answer is, "no thank you."

 

[Jizzflakes Jr.]

I have to agree with the PP's and just say no thank you.

You have a great thing going for yourself, you don't want to clean out your other room, and you're likely not going to make much money. Sounds like more trouble than it's worth, IMO. Also, she's a single mom w/ a baby on the way, so there's a chance she wouldn't return to work for a long period of time after the baby is born.

Also, since you're just starting out yourself, you don't want to run the risk of giving her the space, then having clients not happy with her for whatever reason, then having that bad business reflect on you, know what I mean?

If you were more established, and she had clients, it would be totally different.

 

[gamblingsucks]

Thank you naturalhealing, Breathe, and PinkLotus,

This is just what I was looking for.... very sound advise. I do want to help her and thought that it might be a good addition for my practice. But it really doesn't make sense until my practice here is more established and I know what I am working with. I don't want to start a practice affiliated with someone else and that would probably be how it would work out. I must be p a t i e n t !!

Thanks for reading my long post. I appreciate it.

 

[Peter G]

Kinda sounds to me like she is hoping to glean her living off of your existing client base also since she has none of her own - which could end up making the clients choose between your services and hers and they would perhaps split their services with you.

If she had a client base, it could be fair and profitable for you both.

 

[Ask and Answer]

Just for the record (as it looks like you've already reached your conclusion), I agree. That does not sound like a good thing to get into.

 

[redapples]

Thanks Timedess and Dragonfly,

After thinking about it, I have been considering renting the treatment room to her for $20/day for a specific day (say Saturdays) without doing joint treatments or advertising. It it commonplace in my town to rent your room out on days that you might be working at a spa. And it would be $80 to $100 a month. She might not be willing/able to pay that, but if she isn't then it would not be worth it to me.

I keep going back and forth! I am going to say no and bite my lip. I could use the help on the rent but it could just be an energy sucker for me.

Ahhhhrrgh!

 

[DonkeyDiddler]

I would offer to rent the room to her on your days off and see what she says. She may go for it. You'd charge her based solely on the days that SHE works, and you'd not be working those days ANYWAY, so you really have nothing to lose (just make sure that you don't leave anything valuable lying around when she's there and you're not).

If she doesn't want to do that, then no skin off your nose. You are not financially ready to be *helping others out* yet; that can come later, once your own business is self-supporting and stable. The time will come, but not if you aren't careful to protect your own business first. Just be honest and let her know that you are not willing (or 'in a position') to allow her to use the room rent-free, but that you'd be happy to discuss the small daily rate mentioned here or whatever.

That will actually also help HER out- having to be responsible for her OWN business from the start will help instill good work ethic and business practices from the get-go. (Not saying that she's a bum or anything.) But getting "something for nothing" tends to breed expectation of the same. Where would you draw the line to where she WOULD pay rent? If she weren't completely honest with you about how well she's doing, she could filch from you for a very long time.

 

[Shikha]

Yeah, I am throwing the idea back and forth. Like Breathe said, if the deal doesn't have cash and contract, then it wouldn't be worth it.

My thought is that she would be responsible for payment of $20/Saturday which would be $80 to $100month. If I have interest in a Saturday booking that I could fit in and she doesn't have an appointment, I would give her a break on that day.

I would lock my working office (it has a separate key) and place her equipment in the treatment room on Friday night so that she would have it.
If she doesn't have an appointment for the whole month, she would still be responsible for the rent.

I am still going to think on it and make sure that I feel right about the decision. Thanks for your ideas. Let me know what else comes to mind.

 

[BAMF]

Gonna throw out that you may want to charge her more like $150 for Sats. only (if you don't work them) -- as I figure you are using a lower than what you'd really appreciate "payout figure", because you are trying to be helpful.

And, I'd suggest if you do that to make her pay up front for the whole month, not weekly.

Just a few thoughts, since you sound like you are leaning in that direction.




12/09/08: edited for typo

 

[Taboohunter]

Thanks Pueppi. The average going rate around is $25/per day, so I was reducing that to $20/day - mostly because I thought that $25/day was tough when you have no client base. I did that when I first moved here. The space was nice and had a private bathroom too, but it was tough! My building does not have hot water and my monthly rent is more reasonable than the other space.

If I do it, I think that paying upfront is definitely the way to go.

Thanks for chiming in!!

 

[hownwhy]

If you are feeling kind (and it seems you are), you can start her off at a $20/day rate, but definitely get it paid up front each month. Once she has hit a production target and/or deadline date, the rate would increase to $25 or more per day, also payable up front each month.

For this situation, I like the flat daily rate because it's easy to remember and gives her an incentive to maximize client traffic on those days. It also guarantees you a certain level of income regardless of how her business fluctuates.

I strongly recommend setting up a term agreement, with everything spelled out in detail. Don't rely on verbal agreements, and get a lawyer to look things over before signing anything.

 

[ocean blue]

Thanks Jason,

I like the idea of graduating the rate of the room. I will print up a contract to cover the bases. I have a IC contract to use as a guide.

I will let you know how it goes.

Have a great day