# From Groupon Deals to Multiple Business Lines: How One Spa Owner Built Tocar From a Single Room An episode of [Do Small Business Like a Big Boss Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1860975420), 1 Apr 2026, 47 min. Audio: https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/0cafe7795a1ae845d2b01a885205a36127e4ece85fda992d3bdeb3c4082560bc/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiIxNzlkMjNiYy1iYTkyLTRkNGEtOTU5MS04MjUwOWQ1MTJkOTgiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiIwN2NhY2I0Mi03YzBmLTQ0ZDQtODg0ZC04YmUyMzA0MzEyNGUiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2ODdhZjZjNWY1MjhmYzVlMDY2ZTc2ZmQiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNjljZDMyMTI1YmQ1OTI3NTdlNzhlNmFhL2Fpc2hhLW1hc3NlbmdpbGxzLXN0dWRpby1jb21wb3Nlci0yMDI2LTQtMV9fMTYtNTYtMTgubXAzIn0=.mp3 In this episode of Do Small Business Like a Big Boss, host Aisha Jorge Massengill, Founder and Principal Attorney at Sedgwick Andrews Legal & Consulting, LLC, sits down with Stephen Conti, Founder and CEO of Tocar Spa, Tocar Sport, and Tocar Corporate Wellness. Stephen shares the remarkable story of how he went from running a small spa with Groupon deals to managing a multi-division wellness business in Howard County, Maryland. He reveals the real-life challenges, wins, and valuable lessons from his entrepreneurial journey, offering insights every aspiring entrepreneur can learn from. 🎧 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: How Stephen transitioned from a marketing career to owning a thriving wellness business The ups and downs of using Groupon as a launch strategy and what he would do differently The importance of word-of-mouth referrals and leveraging networking through the Chamber of Commerce How the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program helped accelerate his growth The importance of hiring for cultural fit in a service-based business How to scale a business without losing loyal clients, including transitioning them to other providers ⏱️ Episode Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction 01:27 – Stephen’s life before Tocar Spa 07:17 – The side hustle: working at a massage franchise 09:27 – Early days of Tocar: no systems, just Groupon 11:20 – Networking: word-of-mouth & social media 14:47 – SCORE, Goldman Sachs, and finding the right CPA 17:18 – Funding the business and bootstrapping 18:35 – Identifying the revenue ceiling and scaling 20:27 – Hiring for culture fit 23:45 – Transitioning clients and leadership layers 32:40 – AI & robotic massage tech 40:35 – Advice to his younger self 45:14 – What Do Small Business Like a Big Boss means to Stephen πŸ‘€ About the Guest: Stephen Conti is the Founder and CEO of Tocar Spa, Tocar Sport, and the newly launched Tocar Corporate Wellness, all located in the Columbia, Maryland area. Starting from a single treatment room and Groupon deals, Stephen has grown Tocar into a multi-division wellness company with 20+ team members across three business lines. He is also the creator of the Healing for Healers program, which provides free massages to caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and dementia. Connect with Stephen: Website: www.tocarspa.com Location: 10630 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, MD (by the mall) | Appointment only πŸš€ Ready to Make Your Business Official? Join Aisha’s FREE weekly webinar, Make Your Business Official, and learn how to build, brand, and bulletproof your business with confidence. πŸ‘‰ Register here: Make Your Business Official πŸ‘‰ Grab your FREE Legal Guide at: Sedgwick Andrews Legal & Consulting πŸ”— Stay Connected with Sedgwick Andrews: Follow us across all platforms for legal tips, business strategy, and boss-level motivation: πŸ‘‰ https://linktr.ee/Sedgwick_Andrews_LC Podcast Mantra: Build the dream messy, build it scared, just don’t build it small. If this episode helped you, don’t forget to subscribe, download, and share it with another boss who needs to hear it. ## Transcript Aisha Massengill: In any service-based business, the big thing is word of mouth and referrals, right? Like that is the, that is gold. That's what I can tell you that you'll tell your mother to come in or your grandmother or your sister. So that was the biggest thing is asking for referrals and sharing stuff on social media, posting a little bit here and there. I wasn't consistent. I wasn't great at it, but then I joined the Howard Chamber of Commerce and that helped a lot with the visibility with other business owners in the area. But mostly I would say the biggest kind of mover was word of mouth. Because at that time I had no concept about paid ads or how it worked, how to track it, any of that. It was just like, you, here's a little thing. Can you give this to your friends and give this to five of your friends who need a massage? And it worked out pretty well. Welcome to Do Small Business Like a Big Boss, where we explore the real stories, hard-earned lessons, and game changing strategies of entrepreneurs who've moved beyond the side hustle and built businesses that scale with confidence. This show is proudly sponsored by Project Icon. I'm your host, Aisha Jorge Massengill, your Small Business Legal Guide. Let's dive in. Welcome back, bosses, for our latest edition of Do Small Business Like a Big Boss. Today we have Stephen Conti, the founder and CEO of Tokar Spa and Tokar Sport. Located in Columbia, Maryland. Welcome, Stephen. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I do need to add also, we have a new division, Tokar Corporate Wellness. So that's the new one. That's we're still working on the name. It just doesn't flow Tokar Spa, Tokar Sport, Tokar Corporate Wellness. just it's shot. We're working on that. We're figuring out our branding on that. But so that's totality of it. Yeah, we're workshopping it. OK, well, you keep workshopping that and maybe the Maybe the folks who listen to the episode will have some feedback for you and they can hit you up. Please. I'm open to all Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.