Meet Laurie Banks

We recently connected with Laurie Banks and have shared our conversation below.

Laurie, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

I would have to say my generosity comes from struggle. Like many, I have faced many different struggles throughout my life and while we learn and grow through struggle, we also never forget what it felt like and who was there to sit with you in the dark and hold your hand until you found the light again.

I often catch myself quickly putting myself in the other person’s shoes so I can try to show up for them as others have done for me. And sometimes the biggest generous gesture is just kindness -taking a deep breath and meeting them where they are at.

I do believe you have to give it away to keep it. I would also learn when I first met my biological father in 2020, that my generosity also came from him. That’s a story for another day but in the three months I got to know him he was very, very, generous to everyone around him, and I saw myself in his kind gestures.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I opened The SoakingPot Infusion Spa in 2018 to get me back to my education and passion for the natural world, plants, and holistic healing. There was also a calling to get into my community and to make a difference in people’s lives. I had been working remotely in the corporate world for many years and was really starting to crave more connection and a means to reduce my own stress and anxiety.

The SoakingPot is a very unique spa concept centered around comfort, relaxation, and connection. We offer twelve signature foot soak blends made with different salts, herbs, and essential oils that have different properties to them. We have Soaks that are calming, invigorating, soothing, and balancing in nature.

From a comfy over-sized chair in a dimly lit room Guests Soak from the knee down in a deep copper pot. They can enjoy a moment of solitude or with their favorite people. We can seat 14 people together at one time which is great for bridal parties, family functions, and girls weekend.

Guests can add lite bites, tea, and other delicious bevies. For deeper relaxation they can add mini facials, head-neck-shoulder, lower leg & foot, and lower arm & hand treatments, that happen while they Soak.

We offer fun seasonal Soak & Sip packages to keep things fresh and to offer new experiences. This month we are launching a coordinated Soak ritual inspired by the Japanese practice of forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku). Each element in this package enhances the next, creating a mood-shifting experience.

Outside of the daily operations, I have been working hard to grow the business to something bigger! I can remember before I even opened my doors in North Conway, NH I was talking about the next location. Everything in my being said, this is it, this is something special. I decided that franchising would be part of our growth strategy as it gives us the means to bring The SoakingPot Infusion Spa to more communities without having to be everywhere at once, while also building a wider community of like-minded people.

With the right franchisee partners, I am confident that our concept will flourish and bring relaxation, connection, and wellness to more communities, coast to coast. Together, I am confident The SoakingPot Infusion Spa will bring a new and fulfilling concept to the spa industry. Being in a tourist location in North Conway, NH we have served a lot of Guests from all other New England and beyond and everyone wants a SoakingPot where they live!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Resilience. Resourcefulness. Passion. There are so many qualities that make me a successful business owner -who has defied the 5-year failure statistic. While knowledge and skills are important, most things can be learned. I often tell new hires, I can teach you the job but I cannot teach you work ethic, pride, reliability, etc. I truly believe that most businesses don’t actually “fail”, the owner just simply burns out with exhaustion of being and doing all the things.

Trust me, two and half years in I was burnt out and at my breaking point, then COVID came and gave me a much needed break and regrouping. It allowed me to come up for air -most business owners don’t ever get that opportunity until they are locking their doors for the last time.

I could talk (and digress) about this topic forever because I truly believe it is the make or break of every business owner. Owning a business is hard, being responsible for the livelihood of others is scary, and showing up vulnerable in all areas, for people to judge, is challenging! I lived by The Man in the Arena speech by Theodore Roosevelt, for many years, until I built my own business leader confidence. Because it’s truly not the critic who counts, “the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

At the end of the day you must live a resilient life… and your resilience will grow and change with the business, it absolutely has to. The things that would bring me to my knees and keep me up at night in my first year of business are much easier today and I would say it is because I learned to become much more resourceful and found a way to not do and be all the things. The show must go on, no matter what and that is made possible for my unwavering (on most days) passion for my mission to bring The SoakingPot goodness to more communities and share my experience and failures with other entrepreneurs and employees so they may also rise.

My business is only as successful as those that make it possible and those that we serve. I had to be open to feedback, willing to change and grow, and pivot on the fly. I turn to SO many audiobooks to learn more about areas where I fall short or things that keep me up at night. But at my core, I do not give up when things get hard, and they get hard, A LOT!

Those that succeed keep going, no matter what, but your heart also still needs to be in it.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I LOVE collaboration! I truly believe there is room for everyone to succeed. Coming from a place of bootstrapping I’m always looking for fun, innovative ways to bring people together and support other small businesses.

We often host Soak & Sip events that feature other local business owners to showcase their craft and get the word out for one another through cross-marketing. We’ve done events with Tarot Readers, Psychics, Sound Bath Healers, Local Herbalist, Ayurveda Practitioners, Kava Bar Owners, local artisans, etc..

Getting creative with marketing efforts can really help grow a business and it doesn’t have to cost more than some time and sweat equity. If you’re in the wellness space or have a unique product/service, I’d love to collaborate!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thesoakingpot.com
• Instagram: @thesoakingpot
• Facebook: @thesoakingpot

Image Credits

Cait Bourgault