From Start-Up To Award-Winning In Just 8 Months
Updated: Jun 21, 2022
Written by: Karina Stephens, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The 7 key strategies for helping your business become an industry leader faster and with less effort.
80% of new business fails in the first 12 months. Many entrepreneurial business owners follow their passion, only to end up a statistics. Most are looking for a formula that can guarantee success in challenging times. In this article Karina Stephens, Co-founder of enRich Retreat & Spa (Winner of the Australasian Spa Association, 2012 Best Day Spa – Rural, and her husband Ian, share how they went from the stresses of starting a new business, to achieve the industry award in only 8 months.
The business was sold in 2016 but the strategies continue in our current businesses to this day.
1. Get Great Advice from a Mentor/ Coach
The best of the best always have a coach. We set out to get great advice from people who have been there and done it. I have 30-plus years of experience in the wellness industry and whilst Ian may have 40,000 plus hours of experience in coaching and training business to succeed, we still enlisted the advice of industry icons. We consulted with and modeled the best of the best. You don’t have to have all the answers; you just need to ask good questions, listen and have an open mind; then balance implementing ideas that will work for you and allow you to.
2. Stay Authentic in who you are, and know your target market
We made a decision before even moving to the property that we were not going to be the party house. enRich was a secluded Balinese day retreat. We were small, intimate, and promoted a 5-star customer experience designed to enrich and affect our client’s life well after the bliss experience wears off. We made a decision about who we were and who our ideal client was I could describe her down to every last detail. This made it so easy to know which marketing strategies to employ.
3. Set a Clear Intention ‒ Intention activates ‘attraction!’
We live by the mantra that ‘what you think about and thank about, you bring about. Before we opened, we had a clear intent that enRich would be an award-winning spa. We wrote that goal down in our one-page business plan, and even created a fake award certificate and put it on our vision board. There’s nothing woo-woo about the laws of manifesting. We walk the talk of what we teach as Napoleon Hill said “The universe has a way of making room for someone who knows what they want”. The key is showing gratitude in advance every day. The 2012 Best Day Spa Award had no chance but to happen in reality, it was manifested in our minds well before it physically occurred. All we had to do next was.
4. Set up solid systems
We take ‘working on the business vs working in it’ very seriously. The last thing we wanted was a business we were shackled to. We developed systems and procedures around everything. Our team knew what to do and how, so were freed up to oversee and strategize. As the business grew, it’s the small things that will bring you undone; for example, if the light bulb in the steam room blows, there are always a minimum of 3 in reserve and the team knew what to do and how to replenish the stocks. It’s getting all the little things right even when things go wrong that allows you to provide.
5. “Red Carpet” Customer Service
We trained all team members in the 7 immutable laws of serving others (as contained in Ian’s book ‘Now-Powered Customer Service’). Our aim was not to come from a ‘servant mentality, but that of a ‘service mindset’. Every client left feeling like they had been the ‘Centre of our universe’. Part of the ASPA Award finalist process was a mystery shopper. We were not worried or stressed, knowing the team would give the mystery shopper exactly the same VIP experience everyone gets.
6. Value-Add and go the extra mile
The key to creating ‘Raving Referral Resources’ (people who talk about you) is to go the extra mile and value-add. The modern-day ‘Spas and Retreats’ added an education component to the experience. Our clients left educated about our ABC Wellness philosophy and a free 10-minute DVD entitled ‘How to Continue the Bliss, Back in Reality!’ Call to action: revisit your value proposition. Are you going the extra mile? This has been our major word-of-mouth marketing strategy which is already getting results, as is our decision.
7. Walk the customer journey regularly
As often as possible we walked the steps that the customers took, from the moment they turned into the driveway and drove up the long steep hill, and stepped out of the car. Our aim was to reduce stress everywhere possible. We knew the driveway was stressful for some people so there was always someone waiting for them up the top to direct them and be of assistance.
Our ‘escapes’ as we called them were a minimum of two hours long, we would book ourselves in and act like a guest so that we could experience exactly what they experienced. That way we knew if there was something that could be better. This meant regular massages and body treatments but hey, someone had to do it.
Ian & Karina Stephens were co-owners of the former, enRich Retreat & Spa, a day spa, and Wellness Executive Retreat in the hinterland of Tweed Heads, Australia.
Karina took the concept of the retreat and created an online experience called retreatment. It includes 7 mini retreats containing wellness advice, yoga, recipes, and meditations. And the best thing is it's open 24/7. https://karinastephens.com/retreat-me/
Ian is a multi-award winner who has been voted one of the top 20 motivational business speakers in Australia by Speakers Bureaus. He is the ‘Sales & Mindset Guy’ – a productivity amplifier in the areas of sales, customer service, and advanced leadership. www.ianstephensspeaks.com
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info!
Karina Stephens, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Karina Stephens is an award-winning entrepreneur, author of The Pace of Grace, and creator of The Modern Day Alchemist Academy. She founded the award-winning enRich Retreat & Spa in 2012, winning the industry award for the best day spa in Australasia after only eight months. In her book, The Pace of Grace, Karina shares her personal story of completely healing from Adrenal Fatigue and guides readers on how to transform their energy in order to avoid being burnt out, stressed out, maxed out, and checked out. She is a transformational speaker and writer, sharing stories, philosophies, tools, and strategies on living life from an energetic perspective, focusing on frequency, vibration, and life force.
