The business that I have had a passion to start up was one in the food industry. I always thought that the best way to provide for the needs of the next generation was to make getting them what they wanted as easy as possible. Thanks to the Internet and companies like Amazon, people no longer want to go out and shop. They want to have their goods shipped right to them. However, people still want that human experience at the end of the day: they want to go somewhere whey they do not have to deal with computers or technology. People need people after all. So I wanted my business to be people-oriented—not something online. I began to think of the types of services that people need and that is when I talked to a friend, who was a new mother of two young children. Like most moms she appreciated time away from the kids and she loved going to day spas for a massage, a facial or a foot scrub. Yet because she always carting around kids, she felt like she never had the chance to go to a spa anymore. The idea came to me: a Mom Spa—a place where moms could go, drop off the kids for an hour or two while she treats herself right. Mom Spa became the name of the franchise I envisioned, and ever since I have been passionate about pursuing this project and thinking up all the ways I could deliver a unique spa experience to people today.
One of the ways in which I imagine I can redefine the spa treatment is by taking a page out of Amazon’s book. While I want to have the traditional brick and mortar location, I also think it would be a great idea to have Mom Spa’s on the go—so that Mom’s do not actually have to leave their homes to get their desired manicure or pedicure or facial. The Mom Spa would have a team of professionals whose sole job is to deliver the spa treatment at one’s home. Each member of the team would have his or her own van, own supplies and would set each day making the requisite house calls. It would be like Grub Hub for spa customers: a Mom Spa on wheels.

My passion to be an entrepreneur basically came from seeing others do what I thought I could always do: branch out on their own and succeed for themselves with a great idea, a great pitch, and a vision. For example, one of the biggest motivators for me was Michael Dubin. Ziobro (2016) describes how entrepreneur Michael Dubin “turned a funny video into $1 billion”—a reference to the start-up Dubin founded called Dollar Shave Club for Men. The video that Dubin created was one that he shot with the help of some friends while trying to get funding for his company: he was not getting any love from venture capitalists or investors whenever he would make his board room pitch—investors were not picking up on his vision or the possibilities Dubin himself saw so plainly. Then he began showing them the video he had made (the video was posted on YouTube six years ago and went completely viral with over 25 million views). The video conveyed Dubin’s vision excellently, and Dubin got his seed money—and the video once it went viral got him clients who were ready to pitch their Gilette razors in favor of the funny Dubin’s kitschy shave club.

Dubin thus became one of the world’s great entrepreneurs by showing how an original idea communicated in a fun, light-hearted way that appealed to the core audience of consumers could take on a giant in the industry (Gilette, which has since turned off even more of its own consumers by accusing them of spreading toxic masculinity in a now notorious ad campaign that backfired badly recently). Dubin recognized that if other guys were anything like him, there was a market for a razor blade subscription service, which would allow men to...…sales.

While the product model puts a lot of trust in the rationality of the consumer, the marketing model is a better one because it is far more well-rounded, particularly when one uses the 7 P’s of marketing. I believe, however, that the product and the marketing must both be stellar in order for the business to succeed. The product model trusts that consumers will always be motivated to buy the superior product so long as they feel it is priced appropriately—but the marketing mix implies that there are other factors that play a part in the consumer’s decision to buy. These factors include convenience, the type of customer service one has, where the product is located for purchase (is it only available online or must it be purchased in stores exclusively?—these things are what matter in the marketing model). The marketing model looks also at price and product, so it does include the two main aspects of the product model—it just expands on that model and includes a number of other aspects—five of them to be exact if one is using the 7 P’s marketing mix. Simply by the fact that the marketing model includes these additional aspects or considerations, it is typically recognized as the superior model and anyone in business should use it when considering how to move its products. Place, packaging, positioning, promotion—these things do matter and do help to drive sales; it is not all just a matter of product and price at the end of the day.

I become passionate about being an entrepreneur when I think about all these factors and all the ways they can go into making my business successful. I define success for myself and my actions are what will determine whether my business succeeds. Thinking over the various strategies, paying attention to the needs of people, looking at the community and identifying what is missing—this is all part of what I want to do and why I love doing it.