If you hang out a lot on Twitter and Reddit there are always people trying to “hack” their bodies to be healthier and give themselves hits of dopamine.
Influencers are plugging all sorts of things, cold plunges, saunas, cryotherapy, meditation, etc.
There is mixed research on whether any of this stuff actually works. In Finland, everyone swears by saunas, and 90% of the population uses a sauna once a week.
This sauna craze has increasingly spread to the United States. Google Trends data shows a steady rise in searches with the keyword sauna, with the peak in January 2023.
Any time you can see something that looks like it has steady and consistent growth then that is an excellent sign.
It’s much easier to rise with the tide, instead of fighting against the receding waves.
How exactly can you capitalize on this rising tide?
We’ve talked often in this newsletter about how riches are in the niches. Start small, and expand your business bit by bit by stacking revenue streams on top of each other.
If you are a general contractor or handyman already, adding sauna builds is a great additional business stack.
If you are just starting out and looking for a niche, then building custom saunas is a great way to get started.
But wait, isn’t there a glaringly obvious question?
What if I don’t actually know how to build a sauna?
You’re going to go at this like a general contractor. You build the marketing funnel(more on this later), go out and meet with the prospective client and help them make their plans. Where do they want the sauna? In the basement or in the backyard? Do they want to add a shower next to it? Find out all the details of the project, take measurements, and tell them you’ll need some time to put together the quote.
If they are wanting to build a backyard sauna meet with contractors that can help you pour a foundation and run electrical to the site. If they want a shower meet with a plumber and get quotes from them to install the necessary fixtures.
Once you have those details use a service like Home Sauna Kits to quote all the wood, insulation, and heaters necessary to build the sauna. These pre measured and pre cut packages are totally legit and can be put together with basic tools and skills.
Once you have all the numbers you’ll add a percent on top of all the services to cover your labor and costs so you can make a profit. Here’s an example for an outdoor sauna:
The owner wants a sauna built next to their back porch on a 320 square foot rectangle.
Quote for digging and concrete pour: $3,489
Electrical for heat and lights: $891
Sauna Kit: $6,012
Insulation and siding: $1,490
General Contractor Fee: 15% or $1,782
Total: $13,664
The Marketing Funnel
The key to any business is finding the best way to acquire customers. Make sure your marketing strategy includes essential touch points like awareness, consideration, familiarity, and conversion. For a refresher on the marketing funnel read this post:
Understanding the marketing funnel
When I first began as an entrepreneur, there were certain words and acronyms that I heard and just pretended to understand. Burn Rate Seed Round Bootstrap Angel VC CAC MVP Product Market Fit You know the words. As a 20 something year old who dropped out of college I just never was exposed to them or had them explained to me.
A great opportunity to target potential customers are owners of houses that have been recently purchased. These homeowners are desperate to make their house feel like home and are 10 times more likely to do remodels than more established homeowners.
To access these homeowners check out our product recentlysold.co, a service that notifies you every day on the homes that have been sold in your target zip codes.
And finally, if you are still nervous about diving into a new industry, reach out to
.The opportunity is there! This tweet got 45,000 views and hundreds of comments.