Self-employment
Go mobileGone are the days when business owners just opened their shop doors and waited for customers to walk in. "You can't sit back; you've got to go to your customers if you want their business," entrepreneur Latoya Dickenson says. ROGER PIERCE |
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 [ 2005-10-12 ] |
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On the move
Dickenson owns Ambiance Onsite Spa Services (www.onsitespa.ca), a mobile spa business that brings massage, manicure and reflexology services directly to the client's location.
WORK AND HOME
"We primarily serve companies that want to implement stress management and workplace wellness programs," Dickenson says. "Our secondary market includes in-home spa parties."
Taking a small business mobile is a simple idea that many entrepreneurs fail to embrace, opting instead to make people travel to a store or office location to buy products or services.
"People are working long hours, commuting great distances and may be juggling multiple responsibilities," Dickenson says. "You've got to fit into your customers' schedules instead of forcing them to fit into yours."
Other businesses that are prospering by going to their customers include online grocery stores, personal shoppers, car rental agencies and drycleaners.
"A spa service is much more convenient in the comfort of your own home or office," Dickenson says. "If a customer must decide between one spa service that is stationary and another that is mobile, they're much more likely to choose us."
Dickenson originally started off doing spa parties as a hobby and for friends, but switched her strategy to take her business to people at work. "Stress is a big issue in the corporate workplace, and employers are realizing how stress can interfere with an employee's performance," she says, adding that massage can also improve employee morale.
With 35 practitioners working for her company, Dickenson says she can accommodate a client request "anytime and anywhere." She says she maintains a large number of practitioners in order to serve the growing number of stressed-out Torontonians.
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