Managing a spa is a highly skilled, complex and demanding job. Many spa managers find themselves struggling to cope with the demands of the job after moving up the ranks very quickly or moving into an area they are not familiar with. However, spa management woodshedding can provide the answer to your problems. It’s about taking the time to invest in your future by broadening and deepening your skillset. Spa management woodshedding is also a great way for aspiring spa managers to competently move through the ranks and stand out at interviews.

By taking control of your own learning you can level up your skills, become more confident as a result, and offer real value to your employers or investors.

What is woodshedding?

‘Woodshedding’ is originally a term popular in the music industry. It means to perfect your music in private (in a woodshed), before being confident enough to perform in public.

Recently, the term has enjoyed a greater application. Educator and author Paul Jarvis coined the term ‘Internet woodshedding’ to describe how his audience and clients could shape their long-term futures by learning new skills. Although seeing the obvious value of this course of action, he also describes how people want to see results, but are often unwilling to spend time learning new skills.

Why ‘spa management woodshedding’?

After years of working in the spa industry, I’ve seen one problem come up time and time again: spa managers and aspiring spa managers often lack the necessary skills to do an effective job. This is often the result of circumstances. For example:

1. They may have moved from one spa to another, moving up the ranks very quickly but without having had the opportunity to invest the time to gain the right experience (this is very common in emerging markets where demand for local spa managers is high, hence the temptation to job-hop for a better position or better salary is high).

2. They’ve only had a few spa management positions, or been part of a pre-opening team, but assume they can now manage larger operations or become a spa director.

As a result, spa managers can feel frustrated, underconfident and overworked. In turn, their managers or investors blame them for being ineffective, but fail to offer the necessary training to remedy the situation.

This is where spa woodshedding can help: by taking control of your own learning you can level up your skills, become more confident as a result, and offer real value to your employers or investors.

How to spa management woodshed

Before you start

First, work out why you are going to start woodshedding. What is your goal? For example, do you want to become more effective so you work fewer hours per week? Do you want to become more competent at a certain aspect of spa management, like measuring and understanding the right KPIs of your spa, so you can justify asking for a raise? Do you simply want to learn a new skill (that you should have) so you feel more confident managing your team of therapists and don’t wake up feeling ill in the morning?

Next, pledge that you will take the time to woodshed because your future matters to you – and it’s in your own hands. Maybe your hotel group or spa will suddenly decide to send you on a brilliant training course – but probably not. It’s up to you to level up your skills because you want to start improving your career prospects now, not at some point in the future, possibly decided by someone else. Woodshedding can be a difficult process because it’s much more tempting to get bogged down in day-to-day operations and learn from you mistakes as you go along. You’ll need to be mentally prepared to take time to learn.

What to woodshed

Sometimes it’s obvious what you need to woodshed, perhaps because your job requires you to have a certain skillset and you know that you are very poor at certain areas. If you’re not so sure, or can think of so many things you need to know, or would like to know, then try out a few at once. It will soon become apparent which skills you’ll become really interested in and which you might leave until later.

How to woodshed

Take a course or learn online

You can decide to make a large time and possibly financial commitment by taking an established course by a university, business or organisation. However, this isn’t the only way you can learn new skills. There are many online courses that will help you learn new skills, particularly business, entrepreneurship, marketing and technical skills. Providers include Skillshare and Treehouse.

Woodshed on the job

A great way to learn is to put yourself in situations that require you to learn, which often means stepping outside your comfort zone. Perhaps try the following:

1. Work in a couple of pre-openings in different locations

2. Manage different types of spas in different stages of the growth cycle. For example: recently opened, 18 months into operation or a spa that has been open for over 10 years and now needs a renovation or change of positioning

3. Manage different types of teams with different structures

If you can manage to do all this, you’ll be well on the way to being a star spa manager, who can attract a salary to match their reputation.

Don’t give up

It’s never too late to learn new skills, so don’t be put off learning skills because you think you are too old or not the correct gender/age/culture. This Wall Street Journal article offers a refreshing take on the idea that it’s never too late to learn skills like skiing, another language or coding. You just need to admit that you will make mistakes; and that you can then learn from them.

Time is the most valuable asset you don’t own. You may or may not realise it yet, but how you use or don’t use your time is going to be the best indication of where your future is going to take you. Marc Cuban.

Learn when to stop

It can be hard knowing when you have actually ‘learnt’ something. However, speaker and coach Jason SurfApp offers some useful advice: you’ve finished when “you have less fear and more confidence.” He goes on to qualify that he doesn’t mean overconfidence – just genuine confidence that results from knowing how to do something. He goes on to say that another useful metric is knowing “when you can provide value for other people” and that “you feel like you’re going over stuff you remember”.

Repeat

Once you’ve decided that you’ve woodshedded a skill long enough, measure your success against your goal. Are you more efficient and hence working fewer hours per week? Have you secured a raise? Do you feel happier getting up in the morning? If the answer is yes, then congratulations! You are a successful woodshedder – you just need to decide now what other goal you want to achieve and how best to do it.

If you haven’t achieved your goal though don’t worry. You either need to woodshed a bit longer or perhaps learn a complementary skill. Try and make woodshedding a part of your life though. In one year, two years or five years time you’ll fervently thank yourself for it.

Conclusion

Spa management woodshedding is about investing in your own skills, thereby securing your longer-term career prospects. Done well, it can launch your career to new heights (or even lead to an amazing career pivot). However, woodshedding involves time, dedication and an ability to think strategically about your own life and goals. If you are serious about your future as a star spa manager or director, the benefits of woodshedding will far outweigh the downsides.

Over the last years, the spa industry has experienced a strong change regarding the way it implements its service offerings. Treatments for patients suffering from cancer are only one approach the spa industry has been considering as an additional option for expanding its services. Although there are still many obstacles to overcome in order to achieve proper integration between spas and these type of treatments, the health sector offers the spa industry a great opportunity for growth.

El sector del spa ha vivido durante los último años un fuerte cambio con respecto al modo en el cual está implementando sus servicios. Los tratamientos para pacientes que sufren de cáncer son sólo uno de los enfoques que la industria del spa ha considerado como una alternativa adicional para ampliar su oferta de servicios. Si bien quedan todavía muchos obstáculos que superar para lograr una integración adecuado entre spas y este tipo de tratamientos, el sector de la salud ofrece grandes posibilidades de crecimiento para el sector del spa.

Evolution of The Spa Industry

In recent years, the spa industry has been redefining its service offering approaches. In fact, little by little our industry has been moving away from the idea of ​​being a field targeted only to a privileged group of people. Thanks in part to the emergence of budget spas, the spa industry has managed to disengage from the idea of ​​exclusivity and luxury that has traditionally been associated with this sector.

Along these lines, the spa industry has also started to consider other options that go beyond the wellness concept playing a more active role in the health field. It is precisely in this context that treatments and services for patients with cancer have recently made their debut in the spa industry.

The Inspiritas Case

One of the pioneer spas offering treatments for patients with cancer is Inspiritas, a wellness centre located in the United States. Inspirita’s success is mostly based on its ability to deliver proven effective treatments provided by a network of well-trained professionals.

Thanks to the combination of traditional Western medicine with complementary therapies, Inspiritas provides services and treatments that not only tackle physical pain but also help the patient to improve his/her mental state. By helping patients to develop a positive mindset, which ultimately strengthens the immune system and accelerates healing, this centre provides patients with the opportunity to feel better about themselves.

Obstacles

Inspiritas’s success is largely based on the ability of this centre to overcome some of the obstacles that currently prevent the spa industry from incorporating cancer treatments into its service offerings.

Recently, Tracy Walton, owner of Tracy Walton & Associates LLC, listed some of these obstacles in Spa Business Online. The most important obstacle of all deals with the poor level of training and qualification in massage therapy. In fact, many massage therapists were trained with the idea that massage might spread cancer by promoting blood circulation.

This lack of training can also produce harmful effects for patients with cancer. For instance, if not properly applied, heat-based treatments or those dealing with detoxification and skin care can aggravate symptoms and produce lifelong complications.

Tracy Walton argues that massage therapists should work on increasing the knowledge of the patient’s medical history so they can adjust the type of massages provided. She also suggests a continuous education in oncology massage.

A different approach to deal with this issue can be a stronger collaboration between spas and alternative medicine centers in order to get more professional assistance where perhaps a therapist might not feel comfortable without the ‘go-ahead’ or ‘prescription’ of a practitioner.

Another obstacle is related to the business model that surrounds spas. According to Lisa Starr, a consultant for Wynne Business, one of the challenges is that of turning the spa business model into a more medical service less focused on economic revenue.

Along those lines, the current spa business model also offers an additional obstacle. Although the lack of uniform or global regulations regarding treatments has allowed the spa industry to maintain a certain level of innovation, this also means that one cannot control the quality of treatment (or education) promoting a lack of consumer confidence in spa services.

Opportunities

Despite the obstacles mentioned above, many professionals in the spa industry are optimistic about the integration of this sector with health-related services. Lisa Starr sees a future where the worlds of spas, wellness, and healing morph into a new type of business model.

In short, if the spa industry wants to successfully move into the realm of health-related services, which include treatments for patients with cancer, it should pay attention to two factors: The training of professionals and the review of its business model so it can move from the current retailed-oriented model to a more medical one focused exclusively on the patient. If the spa industry pays attention to these two variables, it will move toward a strong future in the delivery of health-related services including those for patients suffering from cancer.

In the end, the ideal scenario here would be to strike a balance between two extremes as we do not particularly want to face the stringent and inflexible regulations of the medical sector. However, we do need to embrace the need for raising the bar on the level of education therapists receive as well as the need for updating our business model and adapting it to the market’s demand.

Evolución del Sector del Spa

Durante los últimos años, la industria del spa ha venido redefiniendo su enfoque de servicios. De hecho, poco a poco dicho sector se ha ido alejando de la idea de ser una industria orientada sólamente a un sector privilegiado. Gracias en parte a la aparición del los spas de bajo coste, la industria del spa ha logrado desligarse hasta cierto punto de la idea de exclusividad y lujo que tradicionalmente ha sido asociada a dicho sector.

De la misma forma, el sector del spa ha comenzado a contemplar otras opciones que van más allá del simple concepto de bienestar para asumir un papel más activo con respecto a su participación dentro del sector de la salud. Es precisamente en dicho escenario en donde los tratamientos y servicios para pacientes con cáncer han hecho recientemente su aparición en la industria del spa.

La Experiencia de Inspiritas

Uno de los spas pioneros en la oferta de tratamientos para pacientes que padecen de cáncer es Inspiritas, un centro de wellness de los Estados Unidos. El éxito de Inspiritas se ha basado por encima de todo en su capacidad de ofrecer tratamientos con eficacia comprobada y suministrados por profesionales con amplia preparación.

Gracias a la combinación de medicina tradicional occidental con terapias complementarias, Inspiritas provee servicios y tratamientos que no sólo se enfocan en los dolores físicos sino que también ayudan al paciente a mejorar su estado mental. De esta forma, este centro le da la oportunidad al paciente de sentirse mejor consigo mismo ayudándole a desarrollar una mentalidad positiva que en últimas refuerza el sistema inmunológico y acelera la curación.

Obstáculos

El éxito de Inspiritas se basa en gran parte en la capacidad de dicho centro para superar algunos de los obstáculos que impiden actualmente al sector del spa lograr acomodar tratamientos para pacientes con cáncer dentro de su oferta de servicios.

Recientemente, en la revista Spa Business Online, Tracy Walton, propietaria de Tracy Walton & Associates LLC, enumeró algunos de dichos obstáculos. El más importante de todos se relaciona con la pobre preparación que existe en la aplicación de masajes terapéuticos. De hecho, muchos terapeutas de masaje fueron formados con la idea de que estos ayudan a propagar el cáncer a través del cuerpo de los pacientes que sufren de esta enfermedad.

Dicha falta de preparación puede además producir efectos nocivos para pacientes con cáncer. Por ejemplo, el suministro de tratamientos basados en el calor o encaminados a la desintoxicación y el cuidado de la piel pueden agravar síntomas y dejar complicaciones para toda la vida.

Tracy Walton sostiene que los masajistas de los spas deben conocer con mayor profundidad la historia clínica del paciente con el fin de que puedan ajustar la tipología de masajes suministrados. Igualmente, sugiere una continua formación de masajes oncológicos.

Un enfoque diferente para tratar esta cuestión radica en dearrollar una colaboración más estrecha entre spas y centros de medicina alternativa. De esta forma, se podría suministrar una ayuda más profesional dento de un contexto en donde el terapeuta no se sentiría cómodo sin el ‘visto bueno’ o la ‘receta’ de un médico.

Otro obstáculo se relaciona con la modalidad de negocio bajo la cual operan los spas. De acuerdo a Lisa Starr, consultora de Wynne Business, uno de los desafíos radica en poder adaptar la modalidad de negocio del sector del spa a un ámbito más médico que no esté enteramente centrado en la obtención de un rendimiento económico.

Siguiendo con lo anterior, el modelo de negocio actual de los spas también ofrece un obstáculo adicional. Si bien la falta de una regulación uniforme o global respecto a los tratamientos ha permitido a la industria del spa mantener un cierto nivel de innovación, esto también ha producido una falta de control sobre la calidad del tratamiento (o la educación) pronunciando de esta forma la falta de confianza del consumidor con respecto a los servicios que ofrecen los spas.

Oportunidades

A pesar de los obstáculos anteriormente citados, muchos profesionales de la industria del spa ven con optimismo la integración de este sector con la oferta de servicios encaminados a la salud. Lisa Starr vislumbra hacia el futuro un modelo híbrido en donde podrán convivir los spas, el wellness y los tratamientos de cura.

En resumidas cuentas, si la industria del spa quiere moverse con éxito hacia la oferta de servicios de salud, los cuales incluyen tratamientos para pacientes con cáncer, debe prestar atención a dos factores fundamentales: La formación de los profesionales del sector y la revisión de su modelo de negocio que le permita moverse desde un ámbito netamente orientado al rendimiento económico hacia uno más médico centrado exclusivamente en el paciente. Si la industria del spa presta atención a estas dos variables podrá encaminarse hacia un futuro sólido en la prestación de servicios de salud que incluirían como consecuencia los tratamientos para pacientes que sufren de cáncer.

Al final, el escenario ideal en este caso sería encontrar un equilibrio entre dos extremos de tal forma que no caigamos dentro de las estrictas regulaciones y falta de flexibilidad que cobijan el sector médico. Sin embargo, es necesario que aceptemos la necesidad de elevar el nivel de la educación que reciben los terapeutas, así como la necesidad de actualizar nuestro modelo de negocio y adaptarlo a las demandas del mercado.

The current state of the spa industry is creating additional room for the development of budget and low-cost business initiatives within this field. Moreover, taking into consideration past experiences from the airline, hotel and fitness industry, the implementation of budget or low-cost strategies has appeared as an inevitable step for any growing sector.

El estado actual de la industria del spa está creando espacio adicional para el desarrollo de iniciativas de bajo coste en este sector. Más aun, si consideramos las experiencias pasadas de la industria aérea, hotelera y de salud física, la implementación de estrategias de bajo coste se ha presentado como un paso inevitable para cualquier sector en crecimiento.

At some point, the development of time-based leisure industries has always embraced the implementation of budget services and products. In fact, during the last years, we have witnessed an unprecedented boom of budget and low-cost flights, hotels and fitness centers.

Now, it is a good time for the spa industry to explore even further this business opportunity. Budget spas represent an interesting alternative that can increase volumes, improve profitability, and expand the existing market for the spa industry.

The Entrance of Budget Services into The Market

Traditionally, the entrance of budget and low-cost competitors into the market is seen as a disruptive process that forces the market to readapt to a new environment. Although budget alternatives are usually disruptive at the beginning, past experiences from the industries previously mentioned have proved that the arrival of low-cost businesses provide markets with higher competition.

Thanks to this competition, existing players are forced to adjust prices and redefine their business models in order to compete against low-cost rivals. In this context, while the two extremes of the market remain fairly stable, the middle section of it feels the pressure and loss-making sites are either removed from the market or purchased by budget operators.

Current Conditions in The Spa Industry

There are some indications that suggest the time for the spa industry to embrace budget spas has arrived. All across the industry, the combination of high prices, low volumes, unstable profitability, and a large restrained demand, is shaping an ideal scenario for the implementation of budget spas.

One of the biggest problems that has affected the spa industry for years is the perception that surrounds it. Traditionally connected to a luxurious service, many spas have favored the high prices that the whole industry maintains in order to justify that connection. By doing this, the spa industry not only has shaped general perceptions about itself but also has excluded a big chunk of potential clients from its services.

The Impact of Budget Spas

Budget spas offering treatments and services at lower prices will be able to tackle the obstacles related to high prices. At the same time, budget spas will help the industry as a whole to move away from the idea that spas are available only to a selected group of people. In other words, budget spas offer the potential to unfold the existing restrained demand bringing into the market a large segment of the population that still see spas and their services as exclusive and luxurious activities.

As an extension of the above, budget spas will allow the industry to increase its low volumes. By bringing into the market additional customers who are able to pay and afford different services and treatments, the spa industry will significantly increase its overall transaction volumes. In the same way, a good combination of prices with a higher demand for services will allow the industry to improve its overall profitability.

There are already several successful stories in the spa industry related to the implementation of budget treatments and services. Companies like Massage Envy, Woodhouse Day Spas, and Skin Essential Spas, have been able to increase their markets, volumes and profitability thanks to a smart offer of services defined by convenient prices and a good knowledge of the customer.

All things considered, budget spas appear as a wonderful option to tackle some of the obstacles that have affected the spa industry in terms of pricing, profitability, market size, volumes, and business perception. It would be a mistake not to explore this business opportunity further.

Source: Spa Business

A un cierto punto, el desarrollo de las industrias del ocio ha siempre acogido la implementación de servicios y productos de bajo coste. De hecho, durante los últimos años hemos asistido a un auge sin precedentes de vuelos, hoteles, gimnasios y centros deportivos de bajo coste.

Hoy en día, la industría del spa está en un buen momento para explorar aún más esta oportunidad de negocio. Los spas de bajo coste representan una alternativa interesante que puede ayudar a aumentar los volúmenes de transacción, mejorar la rentabilidad, y ampliar el mercado existente para la industria del spa.

La Entrada de Servicios de Bajo Coste en el Mercado

Tradicionalmente, la entrada al mercado de competidores que ofrecen servicios de bajo coste es vista como un proceso disruptivo que le exije al mercado readaptarse a un nuevo entorno. Si bien esto es cierto durante las primeras etapas de dicha inserción, las experiencias de las industrias anteriormente citadas han demostrado que la entrada de negocios de bajo coste inyectan a los mercados una mayor competitividad.

Gracias a esta competitividad, las compañías ya existentes se ven obligadas a ajustar los precios y redefinir sus modelos de negocio para competir contra los rivales que ofrecen opciones de bajo coste. En este contexto, mientras que los dos extremos del mercado se mantienen bastante estables, la sección media del mismo siente esta nueva presión llevando a que los sitios de baja rentabilidad queden por fuera del mercado o sean adquiridos por operadores de servicios de bajo coste.

Condiciones Actuales en la Industria del Spa

Algunos indicios ya le indican al sector del spa que ha llegado el momento de darle la bienvenida a los spas de bajo coste. A lo largo de toda la industria, la combinación de altos precios, volúmenes bajos, rentabilidad inestable y una gran demanda reprimida, están definiendo un escenario ideal para la implementación de spas de bajo coste.

Uno de los mayores problemas que ha afectado a la industria del spa desde hace muchos años es la percepción que la rodea. Tradicionalmente asociados con un servicio de lujo, muchos spas han favorecido los altos precios que la industria mantiene con el fin de justificar dicha conexión. De esta manera, la industria del spa no sólo ha dado forma a la percepción general que existe sobre el sector, sino que también ha excluído de sus servicios a una considerable porción de potenciales clientes.

El Impacto de los Spas de Bajo Coste

Con su oferta de tratamientos y servicios a un coste accesible, los spas de bajo coste podrán ser capaces de hacer frente a los obstáculos relacionados con los altos precios del sector. De la misma forma, los spas de bajo coste le ayudarán a toda la industria a despegarse de la idea que los centros de spa están sólo a disposición de un grupo seleccionado de personas. En otras palabras, los spas de bajo coste ofrecen la posibilidad de liberar la demanda reprimida existente trayendo al mercado un gran segmento de la población que aún asocia los spas y sus servicios con actividades exclusivas y lujosas.

Como una extensión de lo anterior, los spas de bajo coste le permitirán al sector aumentar sus bajos volúmenes de transacción. Con la incorporaciàon de clientes adicionales capaces de pagar y adquirir los diferentes servicios y tratamientos, la industria del spa aumentará significativamente su volumen de operaciones. De la misma manera, una buena combinación de precios con una mayor demanda de servicios permitirá a la industria mejorar su rentabilidad a nivel global.

Existen ya varios casos exitosos en la industria del spa relacionados con la aplicación de tratamientos y servicios de bajo coste. Empresas como Massage Envy, Woodhouse Day Spas y Skin Essential Spas, han sido capaces de incrementar sus mercados, volúmenes de transacción y rentabilidad gracias a una oferta inteligente de servicios definidos por precios convenientes y un buen conocimiento del cliente.

Considerando todo lo anterior, los spas de bajo coste aparecen como una opción maravillosa para hacer frente a algunos de los obstáculos que han afectado a la industria del spa en términos de precios, rentabilidad, tamaño del mercado, volúmenes de transacción y percepción del sector. Por todo ello, sería un error no explorar más a fondo la oportunidad de negocio que brindan los spas de bajo coste.

Fuente: Spa Business