We recently connected with Charmaine Benjamin and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Charmaine, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

Mama Me Time was created back in June of 2021. We began our journey with concierge services and within weeks decided to move into our first studio space. We began seeing clients July 26, 2021 in single 150 sq ft suite and on July 26, 2023 we received our keys for our new 1,650 sq ft spa location.

These past two years have not been easy, but it has been worth it. We built our clientele from Groupon, referrals and word of mouth. Our success has come from finding our true niche and truly helping the maternal community.

Here at Mama Me Time, we specialize in providing clinical massage with spa comfort. Each of our services our customized to the needs of our guests and our clients will soon love us even more in our bigger facility with it’s very on drop-in childcare services.

The advice I would give to anyone interested in opening their own massage spa, would be:

1) Find a mentor in your industry who you connect with and work as an intern for that person.

2) Develop your niche and clientele as early as massage therapy school.

3) You can learn far more about the real ups and downs of opening your own massage spa one day when you work for a small business/private practice.

Charmaine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and left home in 2009 to attend Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. It was there I received my B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. I moved to North Carolina in 2013 after receiving a job offer that I just could not refuse; a job I thought would retire from but after kids became clear to me that it was just a job and not my work. A job can be replaced and you can easily be replaced to fulfill that job, but your work is your purpose; no one can take that away from you.

I serve as a birth coach, childbirth educator, and licensed massage and bodywork therapist with a specific focus on clinical prenatal bodywork. The vision of Mama Me Time is to be a leader in improving the health and wellness of our community by providing top-quality treatments, teaching our clients healthy practices, and fostering wellness education. Our mission is to provide a world-class spa experience for our guests and members. A safe environment where self-care, comfort, knowledge, and personalized attention create the most memorable and rejuvenating results.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

It’s not just the service you provide, but the way you make a person feel before, during, and after the client’s experience. Here at Mama Me Time Spa, it’s not just a massage but a customized spa experience. Our most effective strategy for growing our clientele is to focus on one client at a time. The most important client is the client we are serving at that very moment.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

As a birth worker and bodyworker, my primary focus has always been directed toward helping the mom. From the education and resources I provide to my marketing, and even the continuing education and techniques, it all aligns with the clientele I serve. We have built our reputation through positive public reviews, referrals/ word of mouth, and of course excellent customer service and client experiences. Mama Me Time Spa is the only spa of its kind and we believe our positive reputation speaks for itself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.charlottemassagespa.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/mamametimespa
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/mamametimespa
• Other: www.mamametimespa.com