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• What's in store for Delta board?

• 'A clean place for them to come and eat'

• Lodi animal commission responds to allegations

• Galt man arrested on suspicion of threatening, robbing grandmother

• Galt congressman seeks role of minority leader

• Regional Roundup

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 7th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

• Lining up for flu shots in Lodi

• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks

• Daytime thieves targeting Lodi homes

• Lodi High School rally featured on 'Good Day Sacramento'

• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

• Regional Roundup

• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

• Regional Roundup

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Regional Roundup

• Group investigates reports of haunting

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (74)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (70)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (60)
• Universal health care solves big problems (54)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (35)
• Stuck in neutral? Hardly! (35)
• Words from our forefathers (27)
• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks (24)
• Majority cannot deprive the minority (24)

ADVERTISEMENT

Owners of Perfect Balance Day Spa celebrate 20 years of helping clients unwind

For 20 years, Jacqueline Davis and Jennifer Walth have been finding a balance between their home lives and their work lives. No wonder then, that they named their ever-evolving business Perfect Balance Day Spa.

When the duo first discussed providing a service that offered facial treatments and massages, they were met with doubting husbands, skeptical bankers and many other challenges.

And though Davis and Walth don't have to prove themselves like they once did, they still work hard to keep their services fresh and to keep clients coming back.

As Davis and Walth prepare for their 20th anniversary celebration on Dec. 6, they took a break from their planning to talk with Business Editor Marc Lutz about creating a business with longevity.

Q: What have you done to keep your business going for 20 years?

Walth: We change it up with the trends. We educate ourselves. Getting a good staff, then educating them as well.

Davis: I got some great advice from my mom who had a restaurant here for 25 years called Laverne's. She said treat customers as if they were your family, and look at them as people, not dollar signs.

The Angel Room at Perfect Balance Day Spa in Lodi is one of several massage rooms. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Walth: Most of our clients have become my closest friends.

Q: What are the biggest challenges of being not only a business owner, but being a woman business owner?

Walth: Balancing work and family life. A lot of times we shortchange our families, our kids. I feel bad about that at times, but we have to earn a living so we can provide for them.

Davis: What about when we went to get our first loan? That was horrible. We were going to get a loan for $5,000 when we were going to move from (Downtown Lodi) to (401 W. Pine). It didn't matter that we'd been in business for five years or that we had a good profit margin. They wanted our husbands for co-signers. That was just kind of a blow.

Q: How is running your spa different nowadays compared to when you first opened?

Walth: I think there's a lot of copycat businesses that want to do what we do. We find that people come to us and spy on us, and they copy what we're doing. It's flattering, yes, but on the other hand, we want to stay different. That's how we've survived.

Q: What are the most valuable lessons you've learned during the past two decades?

Walth: What it means to be a true partner and compromising. Being able to give and take and find out what each other's strengths and weaknesses are, and where we can overlap and fill in the gaps.

Q: What have been your greatest successes?

Walth: Probably our pamper packages and bringing women together. The other thing is our seminars. We do a lot of makeup and skin care seminars.

Davis: We do baby showers and bridal showers and we've had large numbers of that, so that's different.

Walth: I think our longevity is our biggest success.

Q: What have been the biggest disappointments?

Davis: Probably not owning our own building.

Walth: Yeah.

Davis: You can't do want you want to do.

Q: Any advice for young women seeking to go into business for themselves?

Davis: Don't do it. No, just kidding! (They both laugh)

Walth: It's a tough time right now. I think you need to do research and be educated. Take some business courses. Jackie and I did not, so we had to learn from the "school of hard" knocks.

Davis: See what other businesses are doing to be successful, and ask questions. And you have to have a deep desire to do it. And it takes great faith. Jennifer and I have relied on that.

Q: Do you have any clients that have been coming to you since you opened?

Walth: Yes! Quite a few.

Davis: Even before. She started over at European Facials, and I had my own place. We have our original appointment book from 1988. It's interesting going through there and seeing the names.

Q: Tell me something nobody knows about Perfect Balance.

Walth: That we really enjoy being together. It feels like a family here. We actually go out and have movie dates.

Davis: And pool parties.

Q: How do you envision day spas in the next 20 years?

Walth: No hands-on, and I think that's sad. It's probably going to be more mechanical.

Davis: I think there will be less touch. I don't think you'll have skin-on-skin contact anymore. That's the trend now, everything is gloved.

Walth: I think there's still always going to be a need for makeup and skin care.

Q: Who can benefit from the services at Perfect Balance?

Both: Everyone (laughs).

Davis: We have about 15 percent gentleman, and then probably 85 percent women. We treat children starting as early as nine. We have princess parties where they can come in, the age limit starting at six. We have physicians, business owners, we've had 49er football players, bull riders ranked fifth in the nation ...

Walth: Not just for women anymore!

Contact Business Editor Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com.