Help with Baby & Child Health & Wellness Based Business Idea

tinkabell2002uk

Hi all!

I am in the process of setting up a business that focuses on baby / toddler / young children's health and well being. Initially the focus will primarily be baby massage and baby yoga in the Essex and East London areas and I was wondering if anyone could help with the following:

- Catchy business name ideas - I am finding this quite difficult as I want it to be quite obvious as to what the business entails at a glance, but at the same time, I don't want it to be limited to look like baby massage and yoga are the only services we provide as we will be expanding in the future.

- Advice on premises - Obviously, as a new business one of my main goals is going to be to keep costs down as far as possible and I estimate that this is going to be my biggest cost by far. I was wondering if anyone may have any ideas on how to keep this overhead as low as possible. Are there any organisations that offer cheap or even free space to health focused businesses?

Any other advice or ideas would be greatly welcomed x

DomRavioli

Hi OP,

I doubt you will get free space as you are a profit making enterprise.

Have you also considered the costs of overheads? - DBS checks for you and staff, insurance, heating, lighting, water, council tax/rates, subscription to an awarding body are just a few.

You would also want level access so those with pushchairs don't have to lug them up/down stairs, as well as car parking facilities (either onsite or nearby with competitive rates) and/or close to local transport (bus/train).

Technically you aren't a health business; you're a lifestyle business (there's no scientific studies to show what you do is beneficial to health in the medium or long term, as well as NICE not providing coverage); and as a lifestyle business, you will have to pay for everything, unless you speak to local groups/nurseries/early years providers and partner with them?

Bantex_2

Could you rent some space in an existing alternative treatment place?

tinkabell2002uk

Thank you both for your comments and responses

I am a qualified baby massage and yoga instructor and the course that I have undertaken is accredited by The Royal College of Midwives. My background is within health and social care so I am fully CRB checked and insured as is standard for my role.

In terms of the possibility of using space for free, the reason I thought of this is due to the fact that the NHS actually provide baby massage courses to parents for free, mainly as it has been proven to relieve symptoms of newborn colic and aid post-natal depression. The only problem for people wanting to use the NHS is that, on average, in most areas there is a 3 - 4 month waiting list and colic in babies doesn't usually last over 3 months so by the time the parents are at the top of the waiting list, the need that would have originally been registered with the NHS is no longer a factor and the NHS then view it a complementary therapy and will not fund, so this leaves parents in a bit of a catch 22. My aim is to use the business to cover the health and wellbeing factor, as well as catering to those that do want to use the course as a bonding exercise. With this in mind, attendees will have the option of booking onto a group session or have one of us visit them in their own home. I will definitely be contacting some local centres that offer treatment as I think this would be a good avenue to go down!

Thanks again guys for your comments, its always great to have another perspective on things and if you can think of anything else in terms of advice etc that may be helpful, that would be amazing

x

Mrs_Soup

So would any of your local childrens centres be willing to hire you to put on classes or use their space cheaply. Round here (not London but south east) some church and village halls are very cheap to hire eg around a tenenr an hour which is good if you are doing a group class as a lot of baby things cost the particpant about £6 an hour or 45 mins.

double_mummy

after a quick google there are more than 100 providers within the london area alone for these services many of these well established and known by reputation - mums talking is the best kind of promotion in this area. what makes you different to them? what is your unique selling point? what would make a potential customer choose you over another provider?

with the NHS section most areas just dont have the budget at the moment for things like this, hence the long waiting lists, so you can give it a go but i bet you wont be making any great profits from this area of the business