Page 40 - BusinessWest May 15, 2023

“I just loved the idea of having a spa and building from scratch. My hobby is building; I like taking things from the ground up and just expanding from there. Seeing it from start to finish is something I really wanted to do.”
what she was thinking about when she was in college and planning and plotting to work for herself one day — and soon.
“I never thought I’d own a coffee shop ... I’ve never worked with coffee before, and I figured, ‘how hard can it be?’” Procon asked rhetorically, before answering the question by saying that every business, even an existing one with a core of loyal customers, comes with a complete set of challenges.
She said the partners split up the duties of running the business, with her mother handling most of the accounting and bookkeep- ing responsibilities while she tackles marketing, social media, and many of the day-to-day operations.
It’s a juggling act that was taken to a much higher plane when the two decided to double down, if you will, and take entrepreneur- ial plunge, this time with a new business, a spa they opened in Lud- low last September called Aura Day Spa.
Unlike Common Grounds, this was something that she aspired to do and has been thinking about for some time now.
“A spa has always been a dream of mine,” she said. “And when we realized how well we did with this place [Common Grounds] and how well we worked together, we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘let’s try to open a spa.’
“Neither one of us is in the cosmetology industry; we don’t do any of the services,” she went on. “But I just loved the idea of having a spa and building from scratch. My hobby is building; I like taking things from the ground up and just expanding from there. Seeing it from start to finish is something I really wanted to do.”
Having a dream and making it a reality are two different things, she acknowledged, adding that she did extensive research into everything from where her spa concept might work (Ludlow was quickly identified as a community in need of such a facility) to what types of services should be offered.
“I was all over the internet looking at spas; I went around here looking at spas, and just pieced together how ours would run,” she told BusinessWest. “We have no experience in the industry, but we did our homework, and here we are.”
That due diligence led to a former dance studio on Holyoke Street that the partners gutted and converted to a facility offering
everything from facials to massage; body contouring to a sauna. The venture is off to a solid start that Procon credits to hiring
the right people to provide those services, some aggressive efforts to get the word out about the facility, and continued work research- ing the industry with an eye toward best practices and the best avenues for achieving results.
“I’m always looking at other places — East Coast, West Coast, just seeing what other places are doing and how to stay up to date in the industry and what we can add,” she said. “I just like to stay on top of all that and find new ways to bring people and add more services.”
Procon dares to ponder where this venture might go next and perhaps the possibility of opening several Aura spas. For now, though, she and her mother have their hands more than full manag- ing these two businesses, as well as the ups and downs and emo- tional swings that are part of parcel to being business owners.
“It’s a grind,” she said, borrowing another term, sort of, from her coffee-shop business. “I love the idea of being a business owner, and everything falls on you at that point; I just knew that this is exactly what I wanted.
“I realize that the more I put into it, the more I’ll get out of it,” she went on. “I’m excited to get to that point — I know it will take a few years, but we’ll get there.”
Skin in the Game
When asked about the path she’s chosen and what she likes about being an entrepreneur, Procon said this life offers her every- thing she wanted and expected. Well, sort of.
“I like the freedom that it offers,” she explained. “I have very little right now — I’m tied to both of these places for quite a long time, but just being able to show people what we did and what we started and what our goals are, it’s really rewarding, knowing that I’m in here most mornings at 5:30 and then go over to the spa. Some peo- ple call me crazy, but it’s very rewarding.”
It is certainly that, and the woman who wanted to be the next Erin Andrews found something much better. BW
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40 MAY 15, 2023
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