Fitness fortune
MY BIG IDEA/JYOTSNA TIWARI
| The venture paid off "" today the turnover is around Rs 1.2 crore a year, which was enough to fund the second branch in Delhi. A fitness and health freak herself, Jyotsna says she never feels the need for an extended vacation "" which is just as well, since she and her husband work seven days a week. |
| "I was born in Delhi, the eldest of three sisters. My father was an architect and my mother an interior designer. After completing my schooling I did B.Sc at Delhi University but my heart wasn't really in it; I was more interested in marketing and so I switched streams. |
| A few years ago, I got my first job marketing for the Jaypee Group of Hotels. It marked the beginning of my association with the hospitality industry. It was also thus that I met my future husband, Vijay, who is also from the industry and owns properties in Manali, Guwahati and Bangalore. |
| We got married three years ago, but such is the nature of our work that we rarely spend an extended period of time together. No complaints though, we like it that way "" I think we'd both get bored if we stayed together too long! We are both accustomed to working on Saturdays and Sundays. In fact, when we were both in Delhi we would go every Friday to Manali (a 12-hour drive) where he had work at the Banon Resort. |
| Soon after our marriage, I moved to Kolkata to do some work for Radisson on their spa, Fort Radisson while Vijay stayed behind in Delhi. By now, I was confident enough to do something on my own. My idea was to start a spa in Kolkata "" until then, people had had to plan a holiday (to Guwahati, for instance) if they wanted spa treatment. |
| I started by researching various oils "" I went to a university in Vizag that prepared base oils for cosmetics and learnt about the different requirements of different types of people. I then got together a staff of 30-odd people, most of whom had done a basic physiotherapy course, and trained them myself in more specialised areas like Swedish massages. I had picked up a lot of this knowedge during my trips abroad while marketing for hotels and spas. Of course, I'm constantly learning myself "" I have a 100-page manual on various therapies that I have to keep going back to. |
| In a sense, my personal disposition had always prepared me for this venture. When I was young, my idea of a fun holiday wasn't trekking but going to spa resorts to refresh my body and mind. In fact, even today I never feel the need for a long break "" because after just a couple of days at a spa I feel so re-energised that I want to get back to work! |
| In June 2001 the first Touch & Glow spa was opened in Kolkata. As I had anticipated, it became popular because people living in the city came for treatment more frequently than they would have if they had had to travel a long distance. Our treatments range from spa baths, hair care and aromatherapy to meditation and yoga. But we specialise in skin care treatments. |
| Following the success of the Kolkata spa, I opened a branch in Delhi last month. Conscious that awareness of spa treatments is not high here, we have not gone in for conventional advertising. |
| Instead, I invite people over for preview treatments and explain our concepts to them. This works very well "" a good spa treatment is addictive and people keep coming back for the experience. We will open the next branch of Touch & Glow in Jaipur later this year. |
| Around 50 per cent of our customers are men "" we make it a point to invite couples together for trial treatments and try to debunk the myth that these kinds of treatments are meant only for women. We even get couples to fill in survey forms, with the husband filling in details for the wife and vice versa." |