Is this a viable business idea? (aimed at mums!)

[desperatehousewife21]

I've had this idea in my head for ages now please don't steal it

It would be a place mums can come to when they're feeling particularly worn out and need a break. it would have relaxation rooms with a bed and sofa. they could have the room for an hour to do whatever they feel would relax them I.e sleep/ rest/ read/ even have a cuppa tea while their children were being looked after in another area/ room by childcare assistants.
The rooms would obv only be allowed for one person to use at a time!

Is this viable or am I living in a dreamworld!?

I would have DEF paid for this when mine were babies.

All thoughts welcome

No not if it was a spa place but was trying to get round if they wanted to go shopping/ have a coffee.

Would the rooms be sound proofed?

Yes to treatments, no to a sleep room.

Yes to it being next to shopping, and it to be occasional drop in sessions.

Yes for of to be an older child place- couple of wii type things, a tv with DVDs, drinks machine etc.

Little kids find it hard to settle....I wonsef of it would be cost effective?

I've tried to leave my dd in the ikea crèche- no way will she go in w-out me!

I guess it depends on the parent leaving them. we could do all we can to settle the child and distract etc. children cry and cling when leaving them for a whole day as this would only be an hour or so they might not feel so bad.

If I had a hair, threading, nails etc place with childcare facilities I would be there with bells on!

Relaxing for an hour really doesn't have the same appeal to me

OK steering towards the spa element then.

Will do some research into it all!

God, I would have loved that when ds was tiny. Dh worked long hours and no family nearby , it was an effort to get the hairdressers back then.

That's where I see a gap in the market. people with no family nearby who work while DC are at school or have young DC.

Definately spa/salon type place. Once your child starts to move and requies more attention/entertaining it is really hard to get to a salon for anything and feel comfortable doing so even if they say it is ok. Same with the dentist tbh.

For about a year I found very hard to do any of these things. I've had to wait until DD is nursery.

Plus it's easier if you can get hair/nails done on one place. *You should be able to sit in a recined chair while you get a good seeing to like a car does in a F1 pit stop. Then everyone disappears and you get to just relaxx in the room with tv - and heavens drink a hot beverage!

Could you talk to a big salonike Toni and guy and tack on to their existing business?

haha I love that idea! have everything done at once like models do backstage and come out looking a million dollars!

Yes that's an idea too or there's a posh department store near me with a salon at the top that do all those services just not the childcare so could see about that too.

I live in the Middle East and there a small neighbourhood spa here which has a team of nannies in on Tuesday mornings (only) so mums can leave their little ones while they have a treatment. I'm guessing it's not financially viable to offer it all the time though.

I see your point. I'd need to offer it 7 days a week to appeal to everyone or at least tues-sun or something.

would childcare assistants want to work weekends??

Would it be too niche? I'm worried that its pinpointing only mums with small children although there will always be mums with small children.

Its not too small a market?

No sure, think you could have 2 rooms-
creche type room
then a 8+ room with consoles, pool table, magazines, tv, cds and head phones
then be next to the salon for treatments?

you could have organized timed craft/making sessions that people could pre-book and sign up for?

Simple kid things like- crochet, knitting, bead necklaces, make your own....something, pottery painting, bunting making, loom bands, salt dough and charge a premium for them?

why just 'young' children? its never the older ones who get considered in things like this

No sorry I would be aiming at children up to sort of 12/ 13 when they're old enough to possibly leave at home on their own but there wouldn't necessarily be an upper age limit.

I would prefer a coffee shop with secure sleeping booths for little ones to nap in while the parents can socialise. I imagine it like a tesco cafe but instead of trolley lockers, baby lockers with little beds in and soft music, projected lights shows etc.

(DD2 used to sleep for 3 hrs every afternoon and it dominated my life and isolated me-if she didn't sleep she would be a total nightmare)

Spa and hairdressers with childcare would be brilliant. I wonder if you could do a deal with a local activity? Say if brownies runs in the church hall you could have a mobile spa/hairdresser in a room next door.

Yes or within a surestart centre? I just need to work out how Id earn money from that!

I this this is a good idea if the detail is right. I used to think about something like this for office workers who really need 20 mins horizontal in the middle of a tough period at work. I imagined not actually enclosed rooms, more like sort of banquettes or pods or something. maybe in bunks. so it isn't true privacy or a true bed, just a dimly lit place with headphones and a sofa. (so no sleazy shenanigans). What made it valuable - as opposed to just lying on your own sofa - would be having access to a sofa in the town centre within striking distance of your office. I would imagine paying easily as much as a mani for a half an hour lie down; would those margins work?

For SAHPs, why would this be preferable to their own sofa? I think I would have preferred casual access to a really good, really flexible, bank of mother's helps. So they come over and play with your child but you just slope off and go to your room and do whatever you need to do - lie down, do a bit of o/s freelance work that you have been too shattered to get to, whatever you need. I think it's basically having casual access to the staff that rich people take for granted. So you can have a couple of hours off without having to engage a nanny or a night nanny for a year.

For most NT typical children, once they are no longer newborn, professional childminders / nannies / babysitters are really good at making them feel comfrotable and distracting them from "I WANT MUMMY" by knowing how to make use of their novelty value, and other tricks of the trade. So the "will they settle?" thing is a bit of a red herring. I guess that still leaves: how do mothers of newborns get a break? No idea.

It's a sweet idea but it'd need a huge financial outlay. Are you seriously thinking about this or is it more of a dream of yours? Do you have any beauty or spa/salon or professional childcare experience?

Eilis- yes all my thinking too, about the half an hour lie down etc, except I wouldn't want to get up again! Mothers of newborns? well if it was to be a spa/ salon type place I don't think they'd worry about leaving the baby for an hour tops, they'd know when they needed to be fed etc and time it around that.

Cleanlines- this was what I initially wanted to find out, I know the finances would be crazy, Ive potentially got access to a business partner with a sum of money sitting doing nothing but its whether they want to venture into it.
Its def a dream of mine and Id love to own/ part own a business instead of working in a crappy part time low paid job Im in now so if I can seriously get it off the ground Id def go for it.

There's having a nice idea and then there's having a viable profitable business. A central location is big bucks, well trained and qualified staff is big bucks, decor and equipment, insurances and health and safety regulations coming out of your ears and for what? Ad hoc childcare with beauty appointments? It's very niche. The only way I can see it being workable is an uber exclusive members club lifestyle spa, with an annual membership fee so that you have a guaranteed income.