Serving People Through Wellness: Maintain You Spa’s Journey to Entrepreneurship with the Help of TEDC Creative Capital
Table of Contents:
Forging a Career Path with Few Models
A Surprising New Vision
Getting on Track for Business Ownership
Finding Footing with the Right Guidance
Bringing a Doodle to Life Through Nontraditional Financing Options
Pushing Forward Toward Greater Success
Having a Strong Support System Is Vital
If someone had told Claudette Wallace that she would one day open her own business in the heart of midtown Tulsa, she wouldn’t have believed it. As the owner of Maintain You Spa, located in the Southroads Shopping Center, Claudette loves pursuing her entrepreneurial journey with the help of mentors and financing through TEDC Creative Capital. But it wasn’t always that way. Growing up, she didn’t have a concept of what work really meant. She had to learn it through determination and faith.
Forging a Career Path with Few Models
Claudette’s journey to becoming a spa owner was long, with several curves in the road. She grew up in a family that received welfare assistance, so she didn’t have a model of entrepreneurship. “I wasn’t around people who went to work,” she says, “and I got caught into that trap.”
It took a mindset shift to find her way beyond welfare, and for Claudette, that came through a spiritual change. She became a Christian, she says, and then found her first job assisting people with disabilities. It was a role she held for 10-15 years as she learned about herself and what she was capable of.
During that time, she had to grow a lot. She even taught herself to read in her twenties by reading the Bible. Then, feeling led to make another shift; she studied to become a nurse assistant and found herself doing home healthcare. Yet she didn’t feel nursing was her true purpose in life. So, as she had learned to do at every crossroad, she prayed about what she should be doing next.
A Surprising New Vision
One day, while praying and thinking, Claudette began to doodle a building with many rooms and realized God was leading her to create a spa. It was not something she’d ever considered before. But it felt right, and the idea had come to her just as her current employment contract was coming to an end.
Claudette knew she had a lot to learn if she would be successful in her new endeavor. She went to school for massage therapy and has worked in the field for 16 years. “I love what God has used my hands to do to heal people’s body,” she says. “After you get off my table, you know you have had a professional massage.”
Getting on Track for Business Ownership
But even though Claudette had found her calling in massage work, she hadn’t yet achieved all she had in her heart. For many years, she got caught up in the routine of working for others rather than striking out on her own. Then, one day, her vision of working for herself arose unexpectedly with a client.
“I was doing a massage,” she explains. “And after the massage, the client said, ‘You should have your own business.’ After she got off the table, she gave me a $400 tip. And she said, ‘I want to be the first one to buy you your first massage table.’ I said thank you, and I thought, oh yeah, I’m supposed to be a spa owner.”
Inspired to pursue her dream again, Claudette started her LLC, took the $400 tip, and opened a business account. Maintain You Spa officially opened in 2020—right as the Covid pandemic was ramping up, and with an owner who’d never run a business before.
Finding Footing with the Right Guidance
She realized she needed help to make Maintain You Spa a success, so Claudette took steps to gain entrepreneurial know-how. “I knew I needed someone to help me do this,” she says. She discovered the SBA and the Oklahoma Small Business Development Centers and found an advisor there named Edward. He was a great mentor who was open to listening to Claudette’s dreams. He provided her with a business plan template and advised her to write down everything she wanted Maintain You Spa to do.
“He helped me along with things that I did not understand,” she says. “He helped me with the figures. After we finished the business plan, he said, ‘Now it’s time for me to do my part, Claudette. It’s time for me to find the money.’”
The process wasn’t always easy, and sometimes, she thought about giving up, but her dream of owning her own business stayed firmly in her mind and kept her going. With her mentor’s assistance and a fellow business owner she’d talked to about finding funding, Claudette soon connected with TEDC Creative Capital.
Bringing a Doodle to Life Through Nontraditional Financing Options
Working with TEDC was just the right step Claudette needed to jumpstart her spa into life. Acting on her business mentor’s advice, she researched the equipment and supplies she needed, compiled lists and prices, and used the total as a guideline for the loan she applied for. TEDC made the process easy, removing the pressure of finding a traditional loan.
“TEDC is not like a regular bank,” says Claudette. “Having a perfect credit score was not their main focus.” The nontraditional approach to financing freed her up to focus on her strengths—her entrepreneurial drive, her commitment to fiscal responsibility, and her passion for helping people be well.
Through her financing process, Claudette had a hands-on learning journey in business ownership. With TEDC’s help, Claudette could obtain everything on her list to start the spa, and then some—which was good, she says, because as a new entrepreneur, she did not know what she did not know. There were things she didn’t factor into her financial plan initially, such as the cost of renovating her spa space and obtaining a sign to advertise the business.
“All of this was new to me,” she says. “I searched all over Tulsa until I found this spot I’m in,” she says. The building owner was willing to do the build-out without adding to her renovation costs. Now, Maintain You Spa has seven rooms and three other therapists in addition to Claudette, serving Tulsans to be well.
Pushing Forward Toward Greater Success
With a new storefront location that’s just a year old, Maintain You Spa is still gaining its footing, letting people know it’s there and ready to serve them. “I want to find my tribe,” says Claudette. “That’s what I’m looking for—people who want to maintain their health and wellness. That’s why the spa is called Maintain You.”
Through the continued growing pains, Claudette stays focused on the bigger picture, the difference she and her team can make in people’s lives. “One of the things that I have always found pleasure in as a massage therapist is when people get off the table, the life in their face as they notice a real difference in their body. I have people experiencing that, and it’s under my business. I’m doing that for my business now. People come in, and then they tell other people, ‘Go to Maintain You Spa.’ That keeps me going.”
Claudette remains excited about what the future holds—whether that’s bringing in new therapists, expanding her clientele, offering new services, or anything else that God has in store for her and those she helps. Maintain You Spa offers memberships to help clients make massage therapy a lifestyle, as well as various services such as cupping, body contouring, and much more.
Having a Strong Support System Is Vital
If Claudette could offer one piece of advice to people like her who are launching a business for the first time, she would say finding partners who will stand by you is vital. She couldn’t have made it without support from clients, family, her business mentor Edward, and the team at TEDC.
“You need a good support system because there are times when things will get scary, and you may want to give up,” says Claudette. “Every time I have picked up the phone and called the TEDC team, they say, ‘We’re going to get you the help you need.’ With TEDC, they’re not just giving you the funding and saying see you later. They care if I succeed or not. You cannot do it by yourself.”
TEDC Creative Capital is a community-focused, nontraditional financing organization assisting startups and small businesses in Oklahoma to find their footing and thrive as a part of their local economy. Through educational programs for entrepreneurs and various funding options, the caring, knowledgeable team at TEDC makes it easier for businesses to find success and give back to their community.