Lyn Adamson & Lynne Manjengwa

December has been a little disappointing though business is ticking over it is not booming. The fish spa continues to stall then at time totally redeems itselfso it is difficult to decide whether we should restructure or keep going with the model we have?

One of our therapists keeps telling us we are doing much better than her previous employers so perhaps we are just unrealistic in our expectations. Considering the bleak news and the threats and realities of job losses should we just be happy with ticking over?

Fresh Feet will have been trading for one year at the beginning of January 2012 - we have learned a lot and have made so many mistakes but still know so little! Marketing is still our biggest weakness as we just do not know the best way to  promote ourselves - having tried just about everything we still find that word of mouth and passing trade gains us the most business.

Every time we start a marketing campaign our competitors seem to jump on the bandwagon and use the same marketing. This just seem to confuse the public who arrive at their shop or ours by mistake! Then again it's not surprising the public are confused since our competitors' names and brands are so similar to us. Perhaps they are thinking we know what we're doing which would be ironic :)

What we have learned is that owning a small business is stressful, challenging and at times exhausting. Tonight we were at the shop until 9pm. We were cleaning the filters and changing the carbon - this is really hard work and every time we do it something goes wrong. Tonight one of the parts snapped so we then had to catch 80 fish and transfer them into the other tanks until we can get the tank repaired. Fish are very quick to learn - the first 4 are easy then the rest know and can you hell catch them - it is surprising how 75 fish can hide in a tank with nothing in it. The last fish - clearly the fastest and brightest -is virtually impossible to catch!

We have also learned so much about ourselves - our tenacity, determination and our ability to learn new skills continue to amaze us. We have also had a great time - thankfully we both have a sense of humour and we can laugh about things that probably aren't funny - we're probably just deranged with tiredness and stress.

We're both in agreement that we're glad we did it - we're pleased we've got through the year - will we still be trading this time next year - we don't know as so much of this is out of our hands but whatever happens we're mostly having a good time!

It's been a very hectic and stressful time over the last few weeks. Ultimate Hair & Beauty is ready to go and Lyn has been delivering leaflets all over Hasland and the signage is going up tomorrow. Our takeover of the second shop coincided with the inflammatory press coverage of the HPA guidelines. This has had a hugely negative effect on business at Fresh Feet and we've had days when there is nobody using the fish spas.

Gradually interest is creeping back up but as the weather is also getting colder - feet drop off people's agenda so cash flow is down, down and down...

October 18, 2011

THT comment on HIV risk of fish pedicure spas

Following a statement from the Health Protection Agency on the risk of HIV transmission through fish pedicure spas, Terrence Higgins Trust released the following statement.

Lisa Power, Policy Director at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "The risk of HIV being transmitted through a fish pedicure is so small as to be almost impossible. HIV is a fragile virus once it is outside the body; it cannot be passed on via animal or insect bites. For transmission to occur, two successive clients would need open wounds on their feet and there would have to be huge amounts of infected blood in the water. The reality is, in this country, too many people are contracting HIV because they aren't using condoms, not because they're going for fish pedicures."

Will Harris
Press Officer
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7812 1629
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Kate Redway
Head of Media
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7812 1625
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