Day spa delight: Rashel Pouri hopes to franchise her Medi-Spas concept, which adds doctors' services to the traditional manicures, facials and wraps.

It's easy to envy those who make a living doing things they'd be doing anyway: the artist who can feed her family selling her work, the professional golfer.

Then there's Rashel Pouri, who used to take a room at the Beverly Hills Hotel for monthly pampering sessions of massages, facials and the like.

One day a friend came with her and saw how pleasant the experience was. That led to one referral and another and soon, a business was born.

In the two years since she opened Medi-Spas, an Encino day spa that provides services ranging from facials and body wraps to dermabrasion and laser therapies, Pouri has opened an adjoining surgical center and last fall added a second day spa in Calabasas.

Medi-Spas has more than doubled in size over the past year, and while it remains small, Pouri has been at the forefront of change in the day spa industry.

What began as a touchy-feely way to decompress from the daily grind for an hour or two has turned far more elaborate, offering services until recently only available in a doctor's office.

"We've gone from spas being a pampering experience to stress relief to results-oriented treatments," said Linda Kossoff, managing editor of DAYSPA, a publication of Van Nuys-based Creative Age Publications.

Pouri's path from Iran to Encino ran through England and Italy, but as she passed through those diverse cultures there was a common thread: a passion for the good life.

The fashion industry, where she worked on the business side, brought her out of Iran and, eventually, to Beverly Hills, where she became an account executive for exclusive jeweler and watchmaker Cartier.

Spa junkie 

A self-professed spa junkie. Pouri also believed there was a market for a day spa that combined some of the aspects of health care with the penchant for pampering.

"I believe a spa isn't just taking care of your body," she said. "We have a doctor on premises, so (I called it) Medi-Spas.'"

Traditional spas offer facials, massages, body wraps, manicures, pedicures and hair styling, usually in an environment replete with soothing fountains, aromatic candles and overstuffed furniture for lounging.

But more people are looking for other appearance-enhancing services. The advent of Botox and the use of lasers for treating wrinkles, skin discolorations, acne or scars, once the domain of the dermatologist's office, have made the transition to more attractive environments.

The change is most readily apparent in startup costs and the far higher price of equipment to provide some of these newer services.

"Back in the Early '90s, when we started doing this, a $50,000 or $60,000 project was a large investment," said Ken Krebs, a partner at Beneficial Capital Leasing Inc., a St. Louis-based company that provides financing for salons and spas. "Now we'll do transactions in the $300,000, $400,000 range. The average transaction has tripled in the last three years."

The addition of new equipment and services has been costly, but it has also expanded the market these spas serve. Whereas women were the primary consumers or feel-good spa services, men are increasingly, visiting spas for the treatments that change their appearance.

"Men are more results-oriented," said Kossoff. "I'm hearing more and more reports of men comprising anywhere from 25 percent to 40 percent of spa clientele. And they are the most loyal clients."

Medical partners

Pouri bankrolled the first spa by taking out a loan, but then she struck on the idea of adding the spa with a surgical center. The notion grew out of an experience she had when she went into the hospital for a surgical procedure that should have required an overnight stay but instead resulted in a month-long visit, most of it in an intensive care unit.

A surgical center tied to a day spa, Pouri reasoned, would not only provide a comfortable alternative to hospitals, it would also provide clients a one-stop shop for increasingly popular makeovers that can include everything from Botox and laser lace]iris to tummy tucks and breast augmentation.

She put together a group of partners who took 50 percent of the new business, Pacific Ambulatory Surgical Center, at the same Encino penthouse location. Now the surgical center feeds business to the spa and vice versa. "They bring a patient for a tummy tuck and then they come back to Medi-Spas for scar therapy," said Pouri.

Besides the opportunities for synergy, the tie-in also helps to distinguish the company from the many other day spas in Los Angeles.

And Pouri has developed other points of distinction as well, including the decision to locate on the penthouse floor of an office building instead of a storefront site typical of most spas.

"I like the name of the penthouse," said Pouri. "'Plus we have a lot of celebrity clients and they don't want everyone to know they are getting Botox.'"

The expense of opening a full-service spa like Medi-Spas, coupled with the need for specially trained personnel to operate the sophisticated equipment, has kept many operators from expanding into these newer businesses.

But Medi-Spas has also found that the investment--it cost $300,000, [or instance, to open the second location in Calabasas--helps the company to compete against much larger chains with deep pockets.

PROFILE

Medi-Spas

Year Founded: 2002

Employees in 2002: 2

Employees in 2003: 13

Revenues in 2002: $70,000

Revenues in 2003: $160,000

Goal: To franchise Medi-Spas. "My goal is to see Medi-Spas on every corner."

Driving Force: The desire for services to improve appearance and relieve stress