2020 Tough For Sudbury Spa Owner, But High Hopes For 2021: Letter

Note: The following is a letter to the editor and does not reflect the views of the Sudbury Patch.

It was a Sunday afternoon when I was looking at the beautiful horizon while the sun was setting. I was looking down on my wedding band with the infinity sign, sipping on my martini and there came the idea! My lifelong dream had a name: Infinity MedSpa. This is where it all started. Not only enjoying, but also loving the field I was in for over 10 years, I decided to take the next step and continue my passion of helping people feeling healthier and happier. That is the mission of Infinity MedSpa.

2018 was an exciting and long year, with many hours of research, roadblocks and finding solutions to find the right way to open my medical spa. From choosing the right bank, filling out thousands of pages for the SBA loan, to the right town, the right place, the right staff to the most painful process of obtaining our medical license from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) to finding a contractor, going through the buildup and all the necessary inspections, training, etc., bringing us into 2019.

The life lessons, ups and downs, problems and solutions continued all the way through the end of October when we finally arrived at planning our grand opening. We were granted our license on Nov. 3, 2019, and shortly afterward celebrated our grand opening with 153 friends and supporters. We were so excited to finally start our services. Getting close to the holidays, and being new in town, we figured we would need to give it a good 6 to 9 months before we got up and running.

Happy 2020! Hoping that by this time some advertising would start kicking in ... and it
did! In February, we started to take bookings; it was so exciting! But March 14 changed everything. COVID erased our bookings from the schedule. Although we were lucky, in that we were offering essential services such as the Bio Identical Hormone Therapy and IV Therapy to boost up the immune system to fight the coronavirus, per the governor’s decision, we stayed open offering those services until we heard from the DPH on what was considered essential, so we shut down.

While being closed, we tried to do our share by giving out 600 masks to the community and have continued to do so by offering a 20 percent discount when our guests donate $20 to the Sudbury Food Pantry. Fundraising has not been unbeknownst to us; from the inception of Infinity, we have given to Skilled Women Artisans in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, Baypath Humane Society in Hopkinton and Friends of Ugandan Orphans. For our one-year anniversary we had planned a fundraising gala at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury for Alzheimer’s which, needless to say, we postponed to the next year.

Just like so many other small businesses, it was a painful task to stay open and alive, once allowed. Instead of spending time on future marketing and running the business, I was spending endless hours on finding grants and loans to apply for additional funds to keep the doors open. I and my foremost mentor, believer and cheerleader, my husband, decided to put our entire life into Infinity to keep it going. Our attorney recommended shutting the doors and not wasting any more funds as he thought it was too tough of a battle with coronavirus, since we were so new, but we refused. Not only was I not going to give in to coronavirus, but I was not going to let our dream not turn into reality. After all, this is what we believe in, this is why we created Infinity, and this is why we want to share everything with our guests!

One year and one month later, we are proud to still be here, and we will be here for a long time to not only service our guests, but make them live healthier and happier as we all continue the walk of life.

With two weeks to go until 2021, I want to recap this very different year. As hard and difficult and challenging and scary this year has been, it has also brought us some incredible life lessons to appreciate what we have accomplished, what we have, our family, our friends, and not to take this life for granted.

I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart, my husband, my son, my friends and family, my incredible team, my business associates and of course our wonderful guests for all their support, belief in Infinity and helping me turn this dream into reality.

It is Sunday evening, watching a cold, dark and snowy night, sipping on my martini, thinking of all our guests so far who have thanked us for helping them with a healthier and happier life, that gives me the strength of wanting to do this all over again. I am feeling blessed and thankful for being given this opportunity to contribute to the betterment of our community!

I promise you all, it will be a much easier year for everyone, just keep the faith! Happy 2021!

—Jasmin Taliadouros
Owner, Infinity Medspa, 365 Boston Post Road, Sudbury