We love the facials ($90 and up), which involve ingredients including local honey, glacial mud, herbs, and Combat-Ready Balm. Owner Tori Paide has drawn raves for her fertility-treatment acupuncture.

Post-treatment, guests can relax on the spa’s sunny porch with a cup of tea. A boutique offers a carefully curated assortment of jewelry in addition to organic spa products.

Bottom line: Our pick for the area’s top holistic spa.

She decided to try the latter and leased a space in Takoma Park. New to the practice, she had a small client list, a space bigger than she could fill alone, and clients who were interested in additional wellness services that she couldn’t offer. What she did have were friends and contacts who were trained in massage therapy, rehabilitation, nutrition and other wellness practices. So Paide opened her space to some of them and agreed to split the rent. And then it dawned on her — she had hatched a new business model. By allowing several practitioners to work under one roof, the group could afford valuable support services and offer clients a full range of services.

THE PITCH
Paide calls her business The Still Point, a holistic spa and wellness center in Takoma Park. It provides wellness services such as massage, acupuncture, herbal medicine and nutritional counseling as well as natural beauty services and a natural and organic skin-care boutique. She is also environmentally conscious, running 100 percent on wind power and offering only organic and naturally produced products for facials, nontoxic nail polish, paraben-free massage cream and innovative eco-makeup lines.

Paide
“Since we opened in July 2007 we have seen positive growth every single month, despite the economic climate. Our main business model is based on ‘renting’ space by the hour to our practitioners as opposed to setting a ‘split’ that is standard practice in most spas. We believe this has attracted us the best practitioners who are also entrepreneurial enough to fill out and maintain their own practices. We encourage Still Point practitioners to build their own practices and emphasize retaining clients while staying faithful to our model that enables success for everyone.

“My question: Where do we go from here? Our physical space is only so big, and I’d like to expand. What’s the best way to go about this? How do we choose between opening a new store or franchising?”

THE ADVICE
Asher Epstein, managing director, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
“You need to ask the question ‘What’s the end goal for expansion?’ Think about what you’re trying to accomplish by growing this business model. Growth just for the sake of growth doesn’t always work.”

Paide
“I am really committed to helping industry practitioners earn a very good living in a collegial work environment — to replicate what we currently have with The Still Point.”

Epstein
“Having that greater motivation — beyond just growing your revenue — to improve the lives of service providers in this industry will help keep you focused in making the right decisions as you scale the business.

“In terms of how to scale the business, opening another location is one option; franchising is another. With the franchise model, you have the benefit of someone else putting up the capital to open another location, but there’s the trade-off of losing some of the control. You can provide an operating book, but you also run the risk of someone replicating your business model.

“The franchise model works well if you think about a company like Panera Bread or Starbucks — when you have large-scale relationships with coffee growers and other suppliers that an individual store owner wouldn’t have access to without the franchise benefits. Those franchisees are paying for the infrastructure that takes a lot of time and resources to build.

“Without a lot of infrastructure, you could work with partners in a quasi-franchise — essentially a partnership where you retain a controlling interest and make sure the quality of the experience and service is there for customers and practitioners. If you want to think about rapid growth, you will need to develop a step-by-step playbook that documents every single aspect of how you operate and how you deliver that service that sustains your business.

“I do think you’ve got the right model. In any business, if you put the right incentives in place to drive the practices you want. People do what’s in their best interest. You’ve set up a model where it’s in your practitioners’ best interest to ensure their clients come back month after month, and the lifetime value of a customer getting massages or acupuncture on a monthly basis is pretty high.”

REACTION/NEXT STEPS

Paide
“In addition to opening an annex in Takoma Park to include coaching, psychotherapy and other counseling services, I’m already looking at working with a partner to open a new location in the D.C./Baltimore area. We’ve done the market research and things look good — and we’ve come up with a list of practitioners who would be interested in joining us. We’re planning to move forward.”

Dewaynia Wilson, The Still Point's premiere esthetician

In the heart of Takoma Park (only 15 minutes from downtown DC) sits a hidden DC gem. The Still Point is a small, women-owned holistic spa that offers a range of eco-friendly health, beauty and wellness services and boasts the DC-area’s leading organic beauty boutique.

The Still Point stands apart from the rest due to their all-natural, cutting edge beauty techniques that are not only effective but gentle on the body. 100% wind powered, organic facials, non-toxic nail polish, paraben-free massage cream & eco-makeup are just a few of the ways The Still Point stays true to their earth and people friendly motif.

A home away from home, The Still Point is an oasis of comfort and tranquility. And every twenty something needs a different de-stress option other than pounding back a few at the local pub. So before an interview, a hot date, or just because you need to get away, make an appointment at The Still Point for a signature facial or any other service your heart desires. You’re welcome Twenty Somethings.

Star Service: Organic Treatments
The spa uses fresh herbs from its front-yard garden and certified organic skin-care products made of vegetables, fruits, and other natural ingredients. Owner Tori Paide even adds in locally made honey for the sweet masks whipped up on-site for the Hydrating Facial ($115). Relax in a cozy, over-stuffed chair for the Signature Pedicure ($50), which includes an exfoliating sugar scrub with mineral salts and an application of nontoxic polish.

The wholesome ingredients use in each facia are tailored to your individual skin, but because natural products benefit many skin types, “anyone can get the hometown works,” says owner Tori Paide. “Honey has great antioxidant properties, and it’s good for collagen production and combating age spots. The lactic acid in yogurt tightens skin and refines pores, and it’s high in natural antibacterial and anti fungal properties which are great for acne,” she notes. In addition to local honey and yogurt, The Still Point also incorporates herbs from its organic garden and seasonal fruits into its treatments.

Post-facial, your skin technician can give you a list of natural products to try at home. But if you prefer your lemon squeezed in tea for flavor instead of rubbed on your face as an exfoliant, peruse The Still Point’s collection of carefully selected beauty products available for sale. “All are handcrafted, organic, or 100 percent natural, and nothing is over $40,” Paide says. “They all work and are more convenient for some than using the honey out of your kitchen cabinet.”
-Stacy Brooks

This is Acupuncture Happy Hour at the Still Point, a spa and wellness center where customers can get their chakras balanced and indulge in pedicures with herbal foot baths and formaldehyde-free nail polish. A licensed acupuncturist, Tori, 37, started the Still Point in 2007 because she craved exchange with other practitioners. For customers, the result is a spa that’s more Zen center than Red Door, with an array of treatments that Paide says attempt to nourish as they beautify.

“We really are a place where you can go and get healed,” Tori says.

Like organic produce, the Still Point appeals to a nature-centered, health-conscious ethos. Exercise and yoga classes are held in the big room upstairs, along with Acupuncture Happy Hour, which is offered twice a week for $30 a session ($20 if you book in advance). The boutique sells bath salts, locally made soap and wildflower honey from Bali. All the merchandise is natural or organic, and nearly everything is priced under $40.

Raised in Silver Spring, Tori joined the Peace Corps and worked as a development consultant with Chemonics International, but the stress and long hours gave her insomnia, headaches and mood swings. She visited an acupuncturist and was amazed by how much better she felt. Within a week, she was researching acupuncture-training programs, ultimately enrolling in a three-year program at the Tai Sophia Institute in Laurel.

After graduating, Tori set up a private acupuncture practice in Takoma Park, where she lives with her husband, Andrew Chapin, an international development consultant, and their two children. When a larger space opened across the street, she and her husband took out a home equity loan and spent $30,000 on improvements, a new Web site, equipment and massage tables. Tori invested another $30,000 in business income to expand the space, and the Still Point broke even last July. Since then, Tori estimates, the business has grossed more than $200,000, with a net of about $43,000, from which she has been paying herself about $800 a week.

Beth Giunta, a 34-year-old nurse and mother of three from Hyattsville who visits the Still Point for regular acupuncture, says her training in Western medicine made her initially skeptical about the benefits of the Eastern therapy.

“After a year and a half, I don’t have any doubts,” she says. “I’m definitely more able to relax, more able to focus.”

The Still Point started with five practitioners; now there are 19, including massage therapists, acupuncturists, a nutritionist and a personal trainer. Practitioners receive full pay for their services, paying Tori a flat rent. She has a more traditional arrangement with the nail techs, who are spa employees. She plans to add an organic cafe and child care for mothers undergoing treatments, and she wants to expand to other locations. Although Tori works 80-hour weeks, she says she draws strength from her acupuncture practice, as well as the growth of her business.

“I think it’s because it’s what I’m supposed to be doing,” she says. “It’s not a job to me.”

A better idea? A trip to The Still Point’s new Sole Door. The annex to the holistic wellness center is dedicated to feet, taking pedicures to a new level with leg massages and treatments to moisturize and brighten worn out dogs. Prep your peds for sandal season with herbal scrubs, a clay masque, and reflexology.

The spa uses natural and local products where possible. And polishes are nontoxic. The bright blue room features plush chairs with comfy cushions so you can sink in and chill out. In just a short time, your feet will say, “Oui, oui, oui,” all the way home.