HERE IS my confession: I have a huge soft spot for entrepreneurs who choose that exciting and challenging career path.
One of the post-secondary courses I teach is called Introduction to Entrepreneurship. It is a favourite of mine because it provides an opportunity for young people to eagerly explore the world of owning their own businesses.
One such new business caught my eye as I was driving down the Bedford Highway the other day. The business is called SunME Swimsuit Spa and is across from Sunnyside Mall in the middle of Bedford.
I went to their website, www.swimsuitspa.ca, to learn more and then connected with owner Crystal Saulnier to explore how her new business was doing.
"We’ve been open for six months and we are starting to get busier," Saulnier said. "It’s been exciting, but, like many things in life, it’s been a little tougher than I thought."
According to the website, this location is a new destination that merges two concepts into one experience. Saulnier feels that her retail operation links the experience of swimsuit shopping with a spa. Her feeling is that traditional bathing suit shopping doesn’t offer the relaxed beauty experience in one environment that all women deserve.
When asked why she started this business, she replied that it was something she always wanted to do. Previously, this mother of two (ages 8 and 12) had worked as a paralegal and had spent a few years as a stay-at-home mom.
"I wanted to start my own business. I saw a need in the marketplace and went for it," she said.
Every business has to have a competitive advantage for long-term existence, something that your company does as well or better than your competitors. She feels hers is the combination of the swimsuit retail operation and the spa. Plus, this location’s tanning procedure is a one-time, 15-minute airbrushed tanning application that is sprayed on. The business does not use tanning beds.
"It’s been exciting to get one’s own business started, but it’s scary. It’s not easy to build and maintain a block of business. But I do like being my own boss and I enjoy that positive feeling that occurs when a customer is satisfied with your products."
A team of four employees offers clients the styles and tools necessary to improve their overall swimsuit experiences.
Saulnier is also realizing one of the fundamentals of business — the challenge of finding new customers. Like many operations, once you land a customer, you must quickly learn what it takes to make him or her satisfied so the person will return.
In the early days, you also need a strong promotional strategy. Recently, the store was featured in a clip with Maria Panopalis on CTV’s highly rated regional news magazine Live at Five. Now, Saulnier needs word of mouth to kick in. No matter what promotional tools you use, word of mouth has always been powerful. In our wired age, its influence is increasing. Some now call it "world of mouth."
I will be asking this entrepreneur to speak to my class in the coming weeks. I love it when reality and academia run into each other. It forms a wonderful blend of theory and application that many of tomorrow’s business leaders can observe and, hopefully, put into practice.
Our economy needs it.
Bedford resident and volunteer Ed McHugh teaches business at several post-secondary institutions.
