Solace Wellness
Address: Blk 203 Hougang Street 21
#01-81 Singapore 530203
(Near Kovan MRT Station)
Contact: +65 6288 2993/ +65 9695 4475
Operating Hours: Mon – Fri: 10.30am – 08.30pm
Sat: 10.00am – 07.00pm
Sun/ PH: 10.00am – 06.00pm
Do the best that you can, regardless of circumstances
Business is not always about passion. Sometimes, it is driven by practical needs, such as money and fame. For Ms Yolanda and Mr Edward, it was the former that led them to found Solace Wellness, a beauty massage business.
“We used to be in the jewellery industry, and one day, I decided I wanted to start out on my own,” Ms Yolanda says. “And I felt that starting out in the beauty industry would require less capital as compared to doing another jewellery business.”
Another reason why she decided to go down this path was because she felt that she wanted to do something more “hands-on” and earn from that. In fact, it took her around 10 years to be able to acquire the skills needed to start and work on this.
Solace Wellness offers a variety of beauty services, which include doing nails, something that Ms Yolanda picked up just a year ago. “I ventured to do nails because one of my customer’s god-daughter was looking for someone she can trust to pass customers from her previous business over,” she explains.
Not surprisingly, Ms Yolanda has a very humble outlook with regards to her business, as well as when relating to her customers. She finds that this allows her customers to feel very comfortable with her, which helps them to walk out from Solace Wellness happy.
“When I do up my customers’ faces, I will think about how they returned home feeling happy, and I will do my best at the work,” she says. Having happy staff is essential towards this end, and she makes sure to treat them very well, too.
“I won’t manage them too much. My employees will ask me how come I’m so relaxed with them, even when they want to go on vacation, or if they’re giving birth soon, and so on,” she recounts. “This is because I treat them as equal human beings, just like myself. I never ever see myself as a boss to them.”
Ms Yolanda’s philosophy towards life and work is the same: the more she gives, the more she will get in return. “If I am not stingy with others, I believe I will reap the rewards afterwards,” she explains. “We should not be too calculative. If I’m calculative with my employees, they will be calculative with the customers too, and I don’t want that.”
Because of this, she estimates that only about 20% of her customers don’t return after a visit. Her goal is to make sure those other 20% also come back, and she aims to do this by being even more sincere in her service and offerings.
When asked about the economic downturn, she responds in a manner befitting of her character:
“This is something I learned from my previous boss – If we believe that the economy is bad, and we cut corners, the consequences of the bad economy will definitely come to us. I believe that regardless of whether the economy is good or bad, we should continue to perform the same. Do our best, and naturally things will still be good.”