A sure fire way to build your business: Portasauna - the UK’s leading portable sauna!

As a pioneer and trailblazer in the UK sauna scene - in the context of the lone-wolf entrepreneur - there is no voice more qualified to advise you than Jesse Inferno - the Inferno Wellness Warrior who took Brighton beach by storm!  

In a nutshell, Jesse moved to Brighton as a sweat-loving Bikram Yoga teacher and avid cold water enthusiast - two passions that had spanned the last decade. The move was inspired by the pandemic that changed our lives back in 2020, and with the London lidos also succumbing to the lockdown, and thus a powerful medicine and mental-health tonic becoming inaccessible, there was no option but to move to the seaside! It was here Jesse discovered the mobile sauna movement, back then in its very early days. As an advocate of the heat, Jesse was offered a job as a sauna host. On offer were cute horsebox saunas on Brighton beach, where you could sit and stare at your knees for 90mins for the princely sum of £30 a session. In true working-class warrior vibes, Jesse thought we can do better than this - knowing the power of the hot and the cold, the power of connection and community, the power of gathering on the beach at to activate the bodily systems all whilst the sun rose - we needed to make this more accessible to the people. Thus Inferno Wellness

Warrior was born. A high-vibrational offering starting around the fire-pit at 7am with a short meditation, followed by a seafront kettlebell workout, a bracing sea-dip and then into the sauna. However this was more than ‘simple sauna’, Jesse was jumping in too, but not to sit and relax, to continue the ‘coaching’ with in-sauna offerings. Think simple breathwork, gentle stretching, lithuanian leaf whisking, sound healing, massage, foot scrubs, plus a whole load of motivational and spiritual philosophy. It was a powerful offering - and the creation of a new concept that would later appear in saunas across the land - the guided sauna session. 

Unsurprisingly the Inferno Wellness Warrior movement, cheekily tagged on to an existing business, operating before it opened at 9am, became too big for its base and we were told to move on. Stay with me - this is coming full circle to the sauna-tent, I promise! So now faced with a loss of a base, no family wealth or large assets to buy a sauna, Jesse did a crowdfund, aiming to raise 10k. The Inferno community raised 12! And with this a long-term sauna rental was taken out on a huge 18-person sauna trailer and The Sauna Corner® was founded! That £12,000 didn’t go far with the deposit, and the monthly rental fees, not to mention our ground rent at the new site, a massive monthly insurance fee for this huge top-of-the-range sauna trailer and also the ever-present wood costs. In hindsight, this was not a great business model and it took blood, sweat and tears to make it work, but that we did. The Sauna Corner® operated successfully for close to a year in its new location - with the bread and butter of the revenue coming from the guided sauna sessions, but wow it was hard work for one lone wolf. Eventually the time came to end this venture. The ending didn't happen quite as simple as that - let’s just say it was extremely stressful and pretty traumatic but alas here we are. 

But hindsight is a great thing and a lot was learned in this process - so now with the backstory out of the way - let’s get into why the Porta-sauna mobile sauna would've been a solid business model for the saunatrepeneur, free from all that stress and high pressure. 

Firstly, affordability, for the relatively low set-up costs for the 10 person tent, this is a really accessible way to get going. Having the space to accommodate 10 people, let’s say offering guided sauna sessions at around £20-£25 a pop, the revenue will very quickly add up, bringing a fast return on the initial investment. No overheads, no rental, no pressure each month to turn over upwards of £2500 just to break even. With the Portasauna tent you are very quickly making a profit - and using your newly acquired sauna master skills. As a sauna master training provider, The Sauna Corner prides itself on the comprehensive nature of the training, and after undertaking the initial 25hr entry module ‘Hosting A Guided Sauna Session’ all trainees are fully equipped to begin leading their own sessions. Of course you need a venue for this. With 600+ mobile saunas across the UK, this is achievable, but of course then you have to rent the space, or split the profits. With your own Portasauna, it all goes into the purse! No sauna hire, no commission, just hard earned cash, quite deservedly in your pot! After all with the investment of training, and purchasing a tent, and general living costs, creating a lucrative business is the aim. This has to be sustainable and economically viable after all. 

Secondly, accessibility in terms of location. You do not need a permanent site for a portable sauna tent. You do not need a licence from the council. You do not need permission to chase your dreams and make them your reality. Take the training, get the tent, off you go. If this had been an option back in the early days of Inferno Wellness Warrior, we would have got two and aimed for the moon. It’s a sure fire way to success, that feeling is so strong, it feels like a fire surging through the veins. If only we could turn back time…..but again, you live and learn and life is like that, sometimes you have to do things the wrong way, to find the better way. Fear not Jesse Inferno has already walked that path and is here to save you those tribulations. 

On top of that, there is the ease of operations. Once you become a sauna operator you quickly learn how demanding it is of your time in terms of firing up the sauna and reaching the temperature required for your sessions. Running a session at 7am, be prepared to be on site at 5, 5:30am. Evening sessions? That’s afternoon arrival for you. Sauna trailers with large stoves often require a fire up time of around 90mins. Those who boast they fire up in 45mins, good luck with the longevity of your £4500 stove. These things take time. Not the Portasauna stove, the very nature of the insulated fabric which forms the structure, plus the powerful radiant heat kicked out from the wood-fire stove, your sauna space quickly reaches temperatures of 90-95 degrees fahrenheit within just 20-30mins. Hugely impressive. Your time and energy all the better saved for your guided sessions, your community building, your work-life balance. Better believe it, it’s important. 

Furthermore, the flexibility Portasauna offers you is second to none. Want to shut down your business and go wild for the summer? Easy. Fancy trialling it out in a totally different area? Let's go. Got the opportunity to serve multiple locations and grow a mycelium network across the county? You can do it! The Portsauna doesn't tie you down, it doesn't create a shackle around the ankle, in fact it does the opposite, it opens you up to possibilities and opportunities, maybe to places beyond where you could ever imagine. The sky is the limit, shoot for the stars! As you can tell this is a topic we are very passionate about at The Sauna Corner, and no doubt at Portasauna - about transformation, personal evolution, daring to dream big dream and have outrageous self-belief. 

Between The Sauna Corner® and Portasauna we can help you on that journey. If you want to read more about The Sauna Corner® Training click here, for outstanding client testimonials head here or to check out the Portasauna products or have a call with Portasauna Commercial Director Harry click here - Say hello from us!