Saunapreneur
Ojas Sauna
- From opening to leaving her corporate career
- 10 months
- Weekend capacity a year in
- 60 to 70%
“Within 10 months, I was able to leave my corporate career entirely. The sauna became my sole, meaningful income stream.”
Before Ojas, Amelia spent more than ten years in construction project management in London. The sauna started as a passion and became a plan.
“I highly recommend launching the business alongside your current job. That let me reinvest profits straight back in without stressing about cash flow.”
The surprise was the demand. “Customers were actively searching for me, not just on social media, but ‘sauna near me’ on Google Maps.” Communal sessions outsell private bookings: “a natural social hub where people leave happier than when they arrived.”
Within ten months she left her career entirely, now operating full-time Wednesday–Sunday. Her advice: “Stop over-planning in Excel, just start. The market’s only growing, and the time to enter is now.”
In their own words
Tom · Sauna Box
What were you doing before Ojas Sauna?
Amelia
So before I set up the sauna business, I was working in project management in the construction industry. So I was commuting into London kind of four or five days a week working on commercial office redevelopments. And that was something that I had done for over 10 years prior to setting up the sauna business.
Tom · Sauna Box
How did your first customers find you?
Amelia
I would say it surprised me the number of people that were seeking a sauna and ice bath experience, that I didn’t necessarily have to be doing paid kind of marketing or seeking these customers. I would say in the first couple of months, when I asked people how they found me, they said that they were searching sauna near me on Google Maps.
Tom · Sauna Box
When did you know you could leave your corporate job?
Amelia
Seven months after setting up is when I gave my notice. So because I was on three months notice that took it to the 10 months. So yeah, I would say probably at the five to six month mark was when I realized that it would be possible.
Tom · Sauna Box
What advice would you give someone thinking of buying a sauna to start a business?
Amelia
I would just say to just absolutely go ahead and do it and I think you can sit and maybe like crunch data or numbers or plan different scenarios that you could find yourself in of thinking projections and forecasts and sitting in Excel. But I think the best thing is genuinely just getting started and it sounds easier said than done.
Tom · Sauna Box
Would you buy again?
Amelia
I would absolutely buy again and I really hope I will be very soon.
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