I Turned My Office Into A Swim Spa Business Which Is Generating 800% YoY Revenue Growth
Hello, my name is Richard Horvath and I’m the founder of Custom Backyard Spaces LLC, better known as Epic Hot Tubs & Swim Spas. I started this company in 2021 because I believed I could reach the market in a way the current spa stores could not. Plus, it was a great time to take the risk as it was during the height of the pandemic, a time when pools, hot tubs, and other home leisure activities were booming.
Our flagship products are hot tubs and swim spas we sell in North Carolina. Our sales manager, Johnna likes to say, “We sell fun for a living”. These spas can be great for parties, quality time with friends, family, or a significant other, and can also be used for personal relaxation, therapy, and exercise.
Some spas are good in one aspect, and some are great for all three. The goal has always been to offer quality products with unique options, and so we’ve been very picky in selecting the brands and products to sell at Epic Hot Tubs.
Epic Hot Tubs has been rapidly growing since we opened, with year-over-year revenue growth of almost 800% during peak months. I think more importantly, this growth has allowed us to open two new locations.
You can learn a lot from your competitors, but your goal should be to provide a better service than what already exists.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
My experience comes from previous business and management experiences, mainly the successful marketing agency I run, TheeDigital, which I started in 2004 and still operate successfully today.
I created my first website in 1999 and wrote a thesis about doing business online in 2001. My goal has always been to constantly attend management and internet marketing-related courses and seminars, improving my management skills as the years have gone by.
Because of my experience marketing for hundreds of companies, I knew the importance of having a strong online presence, especially in an industry that I believed relied on outdated sales tactics and depended on walk-ins to make sales. I knew that I could create an online lead-generation machine in the spa industry that would not only target and capture those interested but also educate the market on our products and create new potential customers.
Describe the process of launching the business.
Interestingly, due to the pandemic, my marketing agency had gone full remote, which meant I had a building in a prime location that was now empty. This was the perfect opportunity to open a showroom. Initially, we had planned to also sell grills, saunas, and potentially swimming pools, so we had gone with the name “Custom Backyard Spaces”.
I contacted a few manufacturers that I believed offered good products, hired a manager who had been in the industry for 20+ years, and with his guidance we scored a few sauna and spa manufacturers. With this, we only needed to buy a few models to show on the showroom floor, and the rest we could order after receiving deposits from customers.
What ended up helping significantly during this time was the fact that our manufacturers had products. Many of the other local dealers had brands experiencing manufacturing issues, and due to increased demand, they couldn’t serve all of their products. What this meant is people were coming to us almost instantly, and buying solely because we had stock. This became the cornerstone of our early-day marketing, and we emphasized online and in-store that we could deliver products in just a few weeks and used that to grow quickly.
Utilizing my agency, we started a website at this time and focused heavily on creating and growing our Google My Business profile, quickly earning ourselves a spot in the Google Map Pack.
Image of the original site:
After learning the logistics, margin, and complications involved with building swimming pools, we decided to focus on hot tubs and swim spas and ultimately began doing business as Epic Hot Tubs and Swim Spas. Changing our name from Custom Backyard Spaces to Epic Hot Tubs seemed to have immediate benefits, as customers instantly knew exactly what our business did.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
First and foremost, I believe that one of the best ways to attract customers is by offering the best products, at great prices. With hot tubs, you don’t want “cheap”, you want something quality that’s going to provide great value for years to come. We made sure our spas came with the basics. Steps, a cover, a cover lifter, starter chemicals, and white glove delivery. This makes our prices and customer experience extremely smooth, preventing any surprising costs and delivery headaches.
In terms of marketing, we went with the educational approach. We started by creating high-quality blogs that answered every question our customers could have. Not only did these begin to rank on Google and bring in search traffic, but they established Epic Hot Tubs as an authority on hot tubs and swim spas. In addition to blogs, we began creating weekly educational videos on each of our products and blogs.
Example Video:
These videos can be quickly taped, edited, and uploaded but still provide customers with incredible value. I can’t tell you how many customers have seen a member of our team in a video, come into the showroom, and expressed excitement upon seeing them in person. I think there’s a lot to be said for providing valuable information, as it builds trust with customers and it has led to us closing a lot more deals.
Another opportunity that helped us grow is the use of Google Ads & Facebook ads. We’ve consistently run ads on both platforms. We’ve found that Facebook ads that perform best are blogs, not sales events. We find blogs that answer common questions like “Which hot tub is the most luxurious?”, “How much does a hot tub cost?” work best. We make sure these blogs thoroughly answer those questions. One of these blogs generated 38 leads in July of 2023 with under $9,000 of spend.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
Today we continue growing, we recently opened our third location in Charlotte, NC, and are focusing on scaling and growing that location in the same way we did in Raleigh & Durham.
We estimate a 25x monthly return on investment in SEO. Year over year we have seen an 800% increase in revenue, a 3x return on our PPC investment, and currently generate over 1,000 quality leads every 6 months. We rank #1 on Google for over 150+ traffic-driving keywords.
We are constantly refining our business, offering new products as they come out, and have even recently begun working with new manufacturers we are very excited to bring to our markets.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
One of our main selling points is that we offer in-house service to our customers, and we’ve been trying to expand that service department to serve the entire area. Due to our high standards, we have had trouble finding the right fit for our service department, and we haven’t been able to grow our services as we had hoped.
I think the influx of new spas during the pandemic created an imbalance as there were not enough trained servicemen to handle the increased maintenance and repair workload. We are very confident that we will be able to help solve this issue and grow a new branch of the business that is focused on spa maintenance and repair.
Looking back over the last few years I would accredit a lot of our success to the mentalities adopted from “They Ask You Answer”. Every day I strive to continue to become a better owner and manager, and we’re constantly learning how we can improve our process and customer experience, and provide as much value as possible.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
Our two main tools for the team include Hubspot for CRM and Quickbooks as accounting software and POS. We use JustCall as a cloud phone and SMS system, and Birdeye for reputation management.
Our website uses WordPress and Woocommerce. With custom sliders, we’ve made it easy for customers to browse our products online before coming in, and we’ve also made it easy for them to check out online. Believe it or not, we’ve made a few sales online by combining this with email outreach campaigns through Hubspot.
For marketing purposes, we use a wide variety of tools. We utilize a wide variety of SEO tools to tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, SEOSurfer, and Frase. We use Hubspot for email outreach and Mailchimp for weekly and monthly newsletters.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan, encourages companies to operate with a consumer-centric mindset. I had my entire team read this book, and this philosophy became the pillar of Epic Hot Tubs. We focused on addressing customer fears and creating educational content that presented our hot tubs & swim spas as solutions to problems.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
My advice to entrepreneurs starting out is to not just stick with industry norms. Yes, you can learn a lot from your competitors, but your goal should be to provide a better service than what already exists.
Something else to consider is to be transparent with your customers about potential issues, problems, pricing, etc. Those are the questions they will be asking, and in my experience, it goes a long way to answer those questions honestly and provide solutions rather than pretending they don’t exist.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are mainly looking for hot tub technicians in North Carolina. We are looking for an experienced spa technician for repair projects. The ideal candidate has a hot tub, swim spa, and/or swimming pool repair and/or maintenance experience. The main responsibilities would include performing routine spa and pool maintenance and water treatment and repairing and troubleshooting spas.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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