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The Hot Box is a wellness enterprise that is growing in popularity. 

Located on East King’s House Road, near Barbican Beach in St Andrew, it employs contrast therapy using sauna and ice bath rituals.

It is a good way to relieve aching joints and improve circulation.

The main principals are Peter Lloyd, Senna Summerbell and Tari Lovell.

These three young men work out at the gym together and are friends. One day, they discussed the prospect of setting up a facility like The Hot Box where people could literally “chill” and set about making it happen.

The concept was proven in Ireland, where the brand was founded back in 2021.

One hears so many young people say they want “to be their own boss,” “corporate life is so soul destroying,” “I want to do it my way.”

That’s all very well, but do you have the courage and fortitude to build a business? Can you summon your talent and deliver on a deadline? 

What many of them haven’t grasped is the idea behind Bob Dylan’s You Gotta Serve Somebody.

Both Lloyd and Lovell worked at telecommunications company Digicel as senior executives for over a decade. They would have undergone the rigours of building and scaling brands. The corporate world is one of discipline and accountability. It is not whimsical.

In many ways, working in the corporate world is a good preparation for entrepreneurship. One knows the pitfalls and what to look for. At the end of he day, it’s about that balance sheet and Lloyd and Lovell would know all too well about that dynamic in business.

Both are marketers and will employ that skill diligently with this venture. Already the word is out, and they may very well be planning to place the Hot Box in Montego Bay next. There are requests to have the Hot Box in different parts of the country.

What these men have done is see a need for a unique service and met it. That is the essence of entrepreneurship. Now they have to create demand and ensure the quality of service does not fall off.

Entrepreneurs like the fellas at Hot Box must move from ideation to execution.

A good move was to keep the Hot Box open from 7 am to 11 pm, seven days a week. This means that people can use it before going to work and late in the evening. They can also use it during the weekend.

It would be easy to look to trim operating costs by opening up a few days a week for a limited number of hours. By going this route, consistency of service is expected, and it ensures a higher volume of customers.

The base of operations is not too extensive and is manageable, allowing for personalised attention.

This is not a transitory/fetish venture. Humans will always need to rejuvenate tired and aching bodies. Wellness is a growing aspect of the human condition, and more attention is being paid to it. 

The Hot Box is a good concept, and now it has turned into an operational business. Knowing Peter Lloyd, fear will not hold him back as it does so many would-be entrepreneurs. Starting and running a business is not an easy road, but you have to be prepared to walk it.

Every business is attempting to fix things for people. What better way than to fix the human body itself, a palliative for the stresses and strains endured.

So what makes a good entrepreneur/leader?

Speaking with Stephen Bartlett of Diary of a CEO, investor and CEO of Acquisition.com, Alex Hormozi said: “I think they have the power to influence, and that’s across lots of things. They have to be able to move people. You can define sales by the ability to get people to comply with your request. You can define leadership the same way.

“The same applies to management and marketing. Entrepreneurs need to have tremendous drive, and they need to have a big mission they want to achieve.

“The third piece is impulse control. You have to say no to things on a regular basis for an extended period of time. You have to boil down your business to inputs and outputs.”

Now the aim is to apply this approach to the Hot Box to ensure the business keeps cooking. 

Get to it, lads.