Advice on working with family

[lashed11]

Hello Geeks,

I am opening up a 4 room therapy studio in a couple of weeks. My sister in law is a yoga instructor and will be renting the big room for 3 hours/week for yoga classes. I am planning on renting all of the rooms out to various different therapists.

I feel like I'm in an awkward position. Does anyone offer discount when renting rooms to family members?

I have looked up the other yoga studios to check what their prices are for room rental, and it obviously depends on size and location but the cheapest was £15/hr for day time and the most expensive was £24/hr for an evening 'slot'. My sister in law asked me about how much I was thinking of charging, and I said I hadn't finalised my decision, but it will be between £12-£15 for a 1 hr day time slot. Baring in mind that the studio is in the most affluent area of the city and is brand new with all of the necessary equipment included in the price. And her reply seemed a bit 'off'... I quote 'Hmm, £12 is ok, I pay £10/hr at 'x studio' and they are amazing at getting me clients' etc... Basically I got the vibe that she is expecting the room to be £10/hr because she keeps going on about this place and how good they are. Yes they are well established and busy, but physically, the studio is tiny, can fit 6 people at a squeeze, and the location is a bit awkward.

She also said to me 'you need to understand that the instructors won't be able to afford the rent for a few weeks until they build up clients', apparently she paid half price rent for a year at her current clinic to build up clients, which I think was overly generous of them! I feel like she is expecting me to foot all of the bills (literally) whilst she builds up her classes.

Now I'm panicking about everything. Am I expected to offer her a discount? Is it the norm to offer a discounted rent period, say 6 weeks, to allow therapists/ instructors to build clientel? And is it unnecessary to feel like I have to lower my room rental because it's a new studio and they will really need to work to build their clients, as opposed to walking into a busy studio? I wasn't panicking about any of this before but her reply has really bothered me. The studio can fit 10 people, which would mean £100+/hr for her, minus the rent, I will be doing alot of promo on social media etc for her too. I just feel like she doesn't understand how much I'm paying for everything already.

Any advice on how to tackle this would be great, I don't want to make a stupid decision that I'm going to regret in a few months!

Thank you

 

[FlawlessBeauty]

I would choose your price per hour and stick with it regardless of whether they are family or not. You're running a business not a charity and they need to understand that.

Be firm but friendly from the start so they know they can't mess you around.

3 hours a week won't make you a tonne of money and you might have someone who wants the space all day.

If the other place was so amazing she wouldn't be leaving them. I would text a friendly reply saying that you are renting the room for £x per hour but you understand if she can't afford it and doesn't want the space. You won't be offended.

Some places do offer a reduced rent for the first month or so but that's upto you.

Good luck xx

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[squidgernetball]

Totally agree.

I have given my lessees a free period but we were well established and they weren't. They appreciated it.

I have said on here many times, I do no mates rates. Even my closest friends pay full whack. I also employ my daughter who works her socks off for me. There are no free rides.

I personally - as a good will gesture - would either do a free period or an intro price - but for all,not just family. If you are all new businesses, then having people around looks good and helps a new class/therapist find their feet.
If people sit down and work out what your room generates they will be annoyed as they will see it as money for nothing.
I see it as we are the ones taking the risk. If no one rents our rooms, or if they all walked out tomorrow, we still have the rent to pay!

Good luck x

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[AcidPerm]

Assuming she wasn't your sister in law, how would you take this forward?
Would you be more confident of your response?

If so, you need to be very firm and tell her that you appreciate her comments but as this is a business arrangement, she will be offered the same terms as any other tenant.

If she complains that you should be helping her build her business, point out that equally she could be helping you build your business and perhaps pay extra rent until your rooms are booked 80% of the time.

This is also one of those occasions where you really must get legal advice in drawing up contracts. You don't want other members of the family getting involved in disputes further down the line.

Personally, I wouldn't mix business with family especially in-laws!

 

[RED STAR]

Once bitten, twice shy.......As already been said, if the other salon was so great...she wouldn't want to leave it!
I recently had a similar issue, offering a nail station to include all product's etc....RENT FREE for 2 months.....as soon as the rental was about to kick in, guess what.....she 'changed her mind', and went back to working from home!
Sadly, people 'forget' the risk us owners have taken on when opening a salon....
There has to be something in it for us, otherwise, what on earth do they think we do it for!!!

 

[AcidPerm]

Once bitten, twice shy.......As already been said, if the other salon was so great...she wouldn't want to leave it!
I recently had a similar issue, offering a nail station to include all product's etc....RENT FREE for 2 months.....as soon as the rental was about to kick in, guess what.....she 'changed her mind', and went back to working from home!
Sadly, people 'forget' the risk us owners have taken on when opening a salon....
There has to be something in it for us, otherwise, what on earth do they think we do it for!!!

That's awful. You were probably too kind in the first place.

Obviously, there could be other reasons involved, but do you think that if you'd only offered a small percentage discount for two months whether she'd have put more effort into building her business?

I honestly think from some of the posts I read that some people genuinely expect clients to magically appear when you open your doors for business.

 

[squidgernetball]

I honestly think from some of the posts I read that some people genuinely expect clients to magically appear when you open your doors for business.[/QUOTE]

This is so true.

I always say 'why would they come to you?'
Assuming they are going somewhere, why would they change?

I'd be really interested in finding out if previous posters who have asked about setting up business have gone on to do so and if the businesses are successful.

Vic x

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[lashed11]

Hello geeks,

Thank you for your replies. It's an awkward one. The place that she is renting for £10/hr, she is still going to be renting, but just dropping one class and relocating that one to my place. I feel like if she wasn't my sister in law, I would be fine with saying "this is the price of the room, it reflects the location, size, equipment etc". In fact I have had other therapist etc e-mail me and I've had no problem telling them the set up (for the treatment rooms, not the yoga studio)...

I was thinking about a rent free period but that would be my exact worry- that someone would take advantage and then bugger off as soon as they have to start paying! And I worry that people might not try as hard to build up business if they have to rent to pay at first. I think I'm going to offer a discounted rent period instead.

She's helping me paint the place today and I guess I feel that because she's helping me, I'm obliged to "help" her and give her a family discount! It's very awkward. Your right though, people sometimes have no idea how much we have to pay out.

As my sister said to me, your already doing her a favour by letting her have first "dibs" of what times and days she wants the room, which is true. I think I'm probably worrying about this too much just because I'm a tad stressed with everything I have to do. Everyone will have contracts and if they aren't happy with them then they won't sign them at the end of the day!

Thanks geeks x