The first year it generated almost 1.1 million and then the second year already hit 1.45 million. Welcome back to How Much Can I Make? The podcast about jobs and careers. I'm your host, Mirav Ozeri. Today I talk with Nuta Goutier, founder of Sabay Thai Spa. She came to Canada from Thailand and turned a deeply personal idea of wellness into a million dollar business. What started as one spa quickly grew into a thriving multi-location brand and eventually a franchise. Let's turn to Nuta. First of all, thanks a lot for coming on the show. I'm happy to be here. Good. I read a little bit about you and I read that you grew up working in potato fields in Thailand. So tell me how did you get from the potato fields to open the Sabay Thai Spa and other spas, the franchise which we're going to get into? Yeah, definitely. I did not imagine that for sure when I was a kid. I would not imagine what I am here today at all. Let me bring you back when I was a kid. I grew up with pretty much 200 people in my village and we have no power, no running water, no electric city. We don't even have a car, by no TV, nothing. We're hunting for food. Every day, just go hunting for food for survival, right? Just that's what we do and that's a life. And then the nature of care for yourself, natural healing, and that is part of lifestyle, part of routine. We just care for ourselves, eating good food, good herbs. All we do is my good thinking, mindfulness, loving kindness, community, and people caring for each other. And then every kid in the village, as soon as you go up, maybe six, seven, you're able to work. Everyone has to go and help the family in the farm. It's a part of going up. It's just normal. But in the year, the kid is not allowed to work until the, what, 16? So at what point did you have the idea to move to Canada? After I finished elementary school, I go to the city and I started to learn a little bit more. I learned beauty, the hair, the beauty, the massage, facial, beautician school. And then after that, I go back to the village, open my salon, and then I said, oh, there's something out there in the city. In the 15, I just moved to Bangkok, right? After I moved to Bangkok, now I start to meet people from all over the world, working to different companies, different spa, different hotels, different resorts. And then maybe when I was 20, 21, I said, huh, I want to go to see the world. And then I got a job offer in Canada. Did you get a job in spa, in wellness? Yes. In spa in beautiful British Columbia. That's not exactly what I imagined. I imagine that I'm going to the North America. I come to see the future. I'm here to see future. I come here to see rocker ship, flying car, talking machine. I just, that's what I imagine. I don't know anything about the world, that's what I see on TV. I just like that, what I'm going to get to see. But when I got here in Canada, that's very not what I see. I see horses, cow, pig, and turkey. And then I got a job in a resort in the middle of nowhere in the forest. It's a private resort with a beautiful view, stunning view. And I love it there. It's so beautiful. I learned how to ride horses and go panning, fly fishing and just do all the Canadians stuff here and we're enjoyable. So at what point did you decide to open your own place? Yeah, after I get married, I want to have a life and then I said, oh, let's move to the city. And then after we moved to the city, I come to work in a few hotel spa, different clinic spa, different independent spa, I work a few of them. And then I see the gap that time. It's a little weather is cold here. The culture a little bit cold, but I just, I want to create something that's more warmth for people. I want to create not just a transition in spa. I want to create a sanctuary for people that come in. I want people to feel like they're transport to Thailand without getting on airplane. I read that you said that spas in wellness business, they focus on relaxation, but you focus on renewal. So what is the difference? Explain to me a little bit. It's just the, into a five senses, right? It's just the sight that you come in, you feel like you're transport and the sound, the music that we have our own custom music that follow with the heartbeat, the flow in and flowing out and just have a different layer of the path that help you to suit in that environment. And then the touch, the technique itself that we have, we teach a signature technique to our therapist. We apply the signature and then the whole journey and then the test as well, that we just combine the whole five senses. I talk to my team that, you know, it's truly careful either like a form your heart, right? Just work from your heart and truly care for each person that coming in here. They value the time that they come to a spa and then just treat them well beyond excellent and just truly careful for them the way you want to be careful. So your first customers were Canadians or were they Thai people that live in Canada? It's all mixed people. Like in Canada, we have different culture of mix. Everybody just every country is multi-cultural in Vancouver. If you could just give me a short list of what services you offer. You offer massage. We offer the flow massage. It's just more relaxation, slow. And then we offer the fusion massage. It's a combination of the oil massage and Thai massage and then combined with a little bit of stretching, long stroke massage. It's feel excellent. And then we offer the Thai massage or Thai stretch that, you know, people can, Which is excellent. I did it a few times. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. We can, we have an option people that they can do more with the pressure points or they ladder to do more with stretching and that we can, it's a Thai stretch. It's amazing. Like someone doing yoga for you while you're getting massage at the same time. Yes, I agree. It's a benefit of that massage. It's amazing. If you do regularly, you literally get your joint movement, your pressure point, your tension release. Just amazing. A service that was possible routine that bring me back to the village that even real farmer, we get a massage quite often. We legal massage is possible routine. Parts of life, herbal steam, care for your skin. We sometimes we put turmeric. I remember when I was a kid, covered with turmeric and whole body and we go to a steam room. And when I come here and they notice people feel guilty to take care of yourself. They feel guilty to go and get massage. And I said, oh, what? This is not right. It should not feel guilty. Taking care of yourself is not a bad thing. It's actually responsibility to take care of yourself. So I know, but this is what I want to know. How did you market it and explain to your new customers, the Western customers, your philosophy and your way of taking care of your body? It's what's challenging right from beginning because it's new people here. Oh, I only go once a year on my anniversary. I only go on in my birthday. I know my whole life I never get touched before. I never get massage. And I said, that's not right. You need to go every single week. Yeah, from now on is taking care of yourself. Don't feel bad that you are careful yourself. When you're taking care of yourself, you become a better version of yourself. You become more kind. You become a better mom. You become a better dad. And actually more important for you to take care of yourself, that you can take care of the person beside you. You will go home. You will speak kinder. You're not going to yell at your kid or not snap at your husband or the wife. You just actually become better. The name is Sabay. Sabay is relaxed. The contentment that we get is when we take time to pause to reconnect to ourselves. How much did it cost you to start your first spa? I started less than a thousand bucks. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah, I did not have money and then I moved to the city. And the only thing I just have only the vision and I have the belief that what people need and this is what I do, what I would like to do to add value to people's life. I want to help people to become more healthy, longevity. My interest is just in people. I just want people to become a better version. I want them to experience this. I did not think anything like about how to run the business or how much money you have or anything marketing. I have no idea. I don't know anything about that because I did not go to the business school. So did somebody help you with a business decision? I just tried with my husband. We worked together and we started business together. Oh. So how long did it take for the first spa to be fully functioning and profitable? It surprisingly is very fast. I started with a thousand bucks. I get a key in July, I think in August, September, I try to do the work while we are renovating at the same time. And I just, same thing the landlord said, you don't have the money. How are you going to start your business? I said, I'm young and full of energy and I believe what I'm doing is going to work. And if you trust me, I will make sure I never miss your rent. And that's all I said to him and he just hand over the key. Okay. I don't need to run. I do not need to run the space for you because I already have someone pay two years ahead. Oh. He pay for the space. But I believe in you. He hand me over the key and when I got the key, what I'm going to do with this. I have no idea how to start the business, but you know what? It's a stranger come when you need help. And I just told people, I said, I want to start this business. I want to do this. And the lady come and she said, oh, I'm a lawyer. I can help to cover your company and just give me two massage. And then I have the person who set up the book, the website. And then I told the guy, I want to make it look like a tight house that, you know, like an ancient tight house. And he said, oh, I know how to do that. Just give me 10 massage and then, but I don't know how to pin it to look like T. But I know someone. He said, okay, they come in, two of them come and they'll give us 10 massage each. And then people, oh, I can help you run away or I can help you clean and can set up your book. And the whole thing is people just come. It's a stranger come and help. And then that's what the business started from nothing, but just a lot of kind of people out there. What year did you start the first place? Do you remember? In North Vancouver in 2005. And by October, I already have a team of therapists working with me by December. We have 10 people on that location on a team. After that, I said, oh, actually, I don't need to do a massage to be able to, to grow the business is come across my mind in that time. But I'm still young. I still, okay, I still want to travel. I want to go to Thailand. January come, I just hand the key over to the receptionist and then here I'll sing you in three months. And I just fly to Thailand and I'm not coming back until the end of March. Actually my business, it just opened for three months and then already took up three months. And then that teach me something too. Like actually when you trust your team and then just empowering to do a better job, actually they do a better job than me. And I just learned, actually people are pretty good. Like actually when you allow them to grow and to learn, actually they become very good very quickly. When you empower them, yeah. Yes. And then that will come back. And then the business still here is still making money. It's from a thousand bucks that we start three months. We already have like over 60,000. Wow. For three months and then already, yeah, pay up everything already making money from the first three months. The people are really supportive beginning. We knock on every door. We tell people what we're doing. We're opening. We walk around the community. And then that's another part of me is because where I grow up, the community of the village is the key of everything. We support each other. We know each other. And I just love that being community based. Yeah. I'm just joined with every event, every group we show up in the team sport and the school and everything we saw in. I'm so involved with the logo and then people get to know you very quick. And that's how I grow a first location. And even now we involve with the local, local school, local sport, local, every event, no sign auction, donation. And then to bring people together for me is that is, is life is make it more meaningful, not just we just have a spa. You come in, you can have a transition. No. And what we have the program here is in a school, you can fundraising for your school. And now we have that here, the supply, keep certificate or keep card. You can sell to the event through your school and then they can raise the fund and then we give it 20% back. It worked very well because a lot of school is so happy because usually we just try to sell a donut. You have to sell many, you might get 20 back for the school. And then for the spa, you only sell a few gift certificate. You get like now $600, $700 for your school. Every massage, we also planting a tree, just many thousand of tree being planted as well. Every massage that you give, you plant a tree? Yeah, every massage that we give, we plant a tree. Including in the franchise? Yeah, yeah, everywhere you go, every franchise, more franchise that we go, more expanding, it's more tree being planted as well. And actually this story is just more like my husband, he actually want to be environmental before. Oh, okay. Environmental business. And then he helped me. I said, oh, I like your dream. I like your vision to open the supply. And he said, okay, I'm going to come and help you for a couple of years, how you set up and then I'll do my own thing. And then he never did. And then after that, we said, no, let's mush your dream and my dream together. Every massage, we plant one tree, one tree to honor your dream. And every one massage is honor my dream. And that's how we do it together. That's very good. What gave you the idea to start franchise? After we have multiple locations, our side track for do many different things as when you're younger, you don't have mantra, you don't go to school, you just try and earn and just make a lot of mistakes, try so many things. I think 2017 that when I said this business is literally can scale because I'm not even in the store. And this isn't the first one. Like I said, it's in the first location. I already be away a lot and then I create a lot of protocol, a lot of system to free me up that I don't have to be in the store. 2017 I lead down again to create it. We're going to scale on that time. And then with the COVID come, we actually open one template location on 2020. This is the template. This is our module. Here's the floor. And then we're implementing the new system that we create on 2017 and the works after they're working has said, wow, maybe I should try two more. And then 2022 I open two more location and then implementing the system again and then both working again and keep improving and getting better. I said, okay, I think I'm ready for franchising. The reason why I want to do franchising because I want people to be able to access what we offering because so many customers. That's why when the first location people said, I love what you're doing. I just so appreciate it. We love it. We need to see you more over there in my neighborhood. I drive so far to come to see you here. How can I be everywhere? The only way to be everywhere faster is to go with a franchising route. For me, if I go to franchising route, I can help a lot of people to become more healthy. I can implement it to people, pass up their routine. How do you make sure that they keep up with your standards, with your wellness philosophy that they don't change it? How do you keep sure that's what happens? It's system, right? I built all the systems. I'm 20 years, I'm five so many times. We have cultural plus system. We have mindset system. Usually we're teaching people more like a philosophy because for me, I didn't see the spa at the spa business. I see more like a lifestyle. I see we are part of people's life, part of routine. That what I've been teaching to a team member is just we are part of their life. We are responsible for their health and then our job is to make sure they get healthy. That's it. We work in one go to help that person to have longevity. How many places do you have now? 8 locations that have been opening and then we sold 13 territory on franchising and then it's a few more coming. So if I want to buy a franchise, how much will it cost me? To open one location is between $650 to $1 million per open one location. Wow. You have to have a physical location to build. You have a sink in every single room. We have the room inside the building and then we have a beautiful lobby and the quality of the build that we build. We have a good installation. Sometimes we even put the installation. You build the different facilities for the franchise? We do not build them but we have the guideline for the construction person what to do. We have specification, the tire using the wall, the color, the light, the stuff, everything and then we decide all the flow, the customer traffic flow, the staff flow and then just on beyond and then every build that we build, how can we build it last? What do you think is the average? If I open a place in Canada for now, what can I estimate I could make in the first year or what a branch can make? For me, when I look back, when you open an independent business or mom and pop shop, you average probably 500,000 to 600,000 a year. That's what I've done and I've done so well and that's what I achieve when I just have one or two shops and I just don't understand. I don't have the system. I don't have everything and after I get multiple locations, I'm implementing a different system, implementing different marketing and then the number just went up from five to six. Wow, we hit a million and then the last location that we opened, okay, let's implement it. In 2022, we spend more time again, how to make it more efficiency, how to make it better and that generate the living new. The last location, the first years, it generated is over almost 1.1 million in the first year of living new. I spent that location, I spent a million bucks to build it and then the second years already hit 1.45 million in the second year. Wow. And then a third year, we just gone to the third year of this location. Sorry, hit 1.7 million, just 1.7 million. Four years of this location that we expect going to be 0.8 and then by the year fifth, we probably will hit 2 million on this location. Wow. What's the biggest moneymaker, massages? Massage and facial. Yeah, massage is the main one. Yeah, massage. Massage. And the facial is secondary. How many employees do you have in each location? Each location is about 25, part time and full time and usually you have eight treatment room or 10 you want to have, if you have 10 treatment room, you want to have 12 therapists on hand and then you have two front end people like a front desk. And you open seven days a week? Yeah, seven days a week. Right now it's 10 to eight every day, but our goal is to be able to open from nine to nine or eight 30 to nine 30. We're still not just trying how to make it work because if you do that now you have all your team. Right. It will be too cheap. What does success look like to you now? My success, I just did the same that 20 years ago. My success is when I see people smiling and then what I can help people to become healthier. That's my success and then my team. If I can see people come to work together in the location and then become a friend, they go hang out after they're working, they do things together and that is so successful for me. That's just satisfied. Excellent. And it's a lot to say for somebody that cares about the wellness of others, especially with planting trees for every massage. That is a fantastic concept. I want to thank you for sharing all this information with us. Thank you for having me. It was very important here. Excellent. Bye for now. Thanks, Nuta. This is an incredible story and this is it for today. If you're interested in more healthcare jobs, we have many shows in our healthcare category head to our website. How much can I make that info? And you can hear a lot more episodes about people working in the healthcare industry. And I will see you next week on How Much Can I Make?
