Master’s degree studies gave Reetta Vahanen the tools to develop her own business

Service Design and Management combines business and customer orientation. Reetta Vahanen feels that the studies offered her the right approach to service design.

Text and photo: Mari Loikkanen

Working in service design gave Reetta Vahanen the spark to study the field further. In the conceptualisation tasks of a digital agency, Vahanen felt that he was doing service design without any training in the field.

− My own background education is a Bachelor of Beauty and Cosmetics. When I was studying for my degree, I was already thinking that I would like to apply for a Master’s degree, she says.

When Vahanen found out that it was possible to study service design in master’s studies at Turku University of Applied Sciences, she was immediately excited. However, the application period for the Master of Business Administration, Service Design studies for that year had just ended.

− I didn’t let it slow me down, but immediately started studying through path studies. When I got the necessary credits, I applied for a degree,” says Vahanen.

Service Design and Management combines business and customer orientation. Vahanen feels that service design provides a process for making validated decisions so that companies do not make decisions based on “guesswork”.

According to Vahanen, the studies gave her great tools for working with clients and dealing with different challenges. After the studies, even big challenges would no longer scare her.

Studies provide a framework for business development

Vahanen is an entrepreneur herself and runs her own company, Rohkea Creative. The company focuses on developing marketing and communications for various companies, organisations and associations. For example, Vahanen creates website content and helps to articulate the company’s message to the outside world.

− The knowledge and models acquired during the studies clarified and systematised the work. It was as if the experience gained from the work was modelled on why you do what you do, Vahanen describes.

Rohkea Creative had a pretty good start in its early days, but over the years its competitive advantage faded. Vahanen describes that her Service Design studies gave her the framework and tools to develop her business.

− I identified how I should change my range of services and marketing so that my company would have the same kind of competitive advantage as in the early stages. It paid off, as the effect was quickly visible in the number of customer customer enquiries I received when I started to put the insights into practice, she says.

Practical tips for self-management

Vahanen says she has always been entrepreneurial. What she remembers most from her studies is the course on self-management and resilience.

− It was a really good course and I don’t know how I would have managed without it. Entrepreneurship requires intense self-management andthe course provided tools on how to lead yourself sustainably and not in a way that burns yourself out quickly.

During the course, different recovery and wellbeing techniques were tried out in practice. Students were given a choice of different ways to make a concrete impact on their well-being. There were many options, including keeping a gratitude diary, ice swimming, forest walks, yoga and cutting down on caffeine. Vahanen felt that the practical tips had a huge impact on her well-being. The course also practiced the AAR method, which is used to work through and de-escalate difficult situations.

The majority of students studying Service Design in English come from abroad. At first, Vahanen was nervous about speaking English, but she quickly became at ease with the multicultural group.

− The best thing about these Master studies has been how well the whole thing fitted my own skills and interests as an entrepreneur. I have found the studies particularly useful and they have given me a framework for developing my business, says Vahanen.

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