INTRODUCTIONA few years ago, a friend approached me about partnering with her in the purchase of a day spa. I've always wanted the freedom and satisfaction that comes from being my own boss. After deciding to move forward with my partner and purchase a day spa, I learned how to develop a business plan, staffing requirements, and marketing plan.1. REAL EXPERIENCEBefore purchasing the day spa, I learned through research that the spa industry is a growing industry more than at any other time in history; people lead very stressful lives. Due to this stress, they become more conscious of their health and wellness and are willing to spend their discretionary funds to pamper themselves with spa services. After purchasing the day spa, the first thing to do was to create a partnership. agreement between me and my partner. After reaching consensus on the terms, we met with a lawyer who formalized our agreement and incorporated our company. We decided to incorporate so that we would not be required to pay the company's debts if we were to become involved in litigation. The next order of business was to prepare a business plan. Many aspects of a day spa can be co-managed, but I felt that my experience as a paralegal and executive in corporate America qualified me to take the lead in writing our business plan. Our business plan would serve as a strategy moving forward, but first I needed to establish our mission statement. Basically, our mission statement was to provide excellent services to our customers while making a profit. When writing the business plan, I determined our target market and marketing strategy to gain market share. I also had a paper marketing plan that will form the basis of all your marketing activities. Today, there are literally dozens of ways to communicate your message to your target customers, from traditional methods like magazine advertising, newspapers and direct marketing, but one of the newest communication methods that was developed is the Internet. (Ebook) With the expansion and increasing use of search engines, many small businesses can now own and operate their own website profitably and successfully, providing them with unlimited visibility.IV. ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION Unfortunately, many small businesses fail or do not reach their full potential because the small business owner spends too much time working in the business and too little time working on the business. Works Cited Shahzad, Imran A. The Business Review, Cambridge 16.2 (Dec 2010): 161-166.