Time is Money

As many of you may know, I travel quite a bit. I service over 100 different spas, varying in many different sizes. As my business grows, each minute of each day becomes more and more valuable. The saying that time is money, begins to form a true sense of being, and as my available time becomes scarce, I start to appreciate those who understand the true value of excellent time management.

It’s a topic I have been considering as a blog article for several months, although, until this moment, when I am stuck in an airplane between a screaming toddler and a snoring man, I haven’t had the time!

Wasted time is a resource that never comes back, it can’t be regained, and if you live from appointment to appointment, it can’t be extended. Time can be used as a negotiating tactic or a form of power. It can be abused, and it can be gifted.

So as a business owner in the spa industry, one must treat time as preciously as the clients that walk through your door.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm:

Being early to work, appointments, and any obligation in life is advantageous. From beating heavy traffic, to staying in good standing with clients and employers, being early is always the best bet. If you make it a point to be early to most appointments in your professional career you will find that accomplishing tasks and negotiating with others is much easier and your credibility stronger with colleagues.

Here are a few examples of early advantages:

Ø  People who arrive to work early exhibit a sense of organization, self-control, and professionalism

Ø  Arriving early to a class, especially one you have paid for, guarantees you a better seat, increasing your knowledge retention

Ø  Many businesses offer discounts for early hour appointments.

Ø  Having a reputation for being early or prompt will earn you preferential consideration when asking for a raise or a promotion.

Ø  If you and your client are both early, you might be able to add on an extra service to their ticket

Ø  When you have an unexpected event that causes you to be late, your reputation for being punctual will allow for more patience when things do go wrong

There Is No Such Thing As Being Fashionably Late In The Working World

In my career, I have to juggle interstate travel, rental cars, luggage, flights, hotels, and customers with their own agendas, yet I manage to stay on time or early 95% of the time.  I am always perturbed when employees whose place of work never changes, still manage to be late to (sometimes every) training. 

Nonchalantly, shrugging off being late as just another part of life, is irresponsible and very expensive. If you chronically run late, it means that certain decisions you are making are causing your tardiness. Hitting that snooze button may be costing you hundreds of dollars each year that you may not even be aware of.

As a business owner, late-comers are a drain on spa revenue and on other employees. I think of chronically late employees and colleagues as thieves, because by their own free will they are choosing an option that can cost you more than the occasional shoplifter!

Consider how much your business makes per hour. Let’s say $200 per hour divided amongst two therapists. Both therapists average 6 scheduled hours a day. Therapists #1 is punctual and arrives on time every day. Therapist #2 is chronically late 25% of the time by 15 minutes. 

Let’s do the math:

In a four day week:                 Therapist A brings in $2,400             Therapist B brings in $2375

In a four week month:             Therapist A brings in $9,600             Therapist B brings in $9,500

In other words, therapist B costs your business $100 a month when compared to Therapist A, due to her/his own personal choices.

Another way to look at it is how much is customer service worth? Late starts can push all of your appointments back, upsetting good customers who have every right to look elsewhere for esthetic services. When you lose a customer due to a service issue such as running late on appointments, it costs much more than $100 per month in referrals.

Professionals with trouble staying on time, seem less apt at their jobs. In our industry, being chronically late gives people the sense that perhaps you are irresponsible on a fundamental level and that maybe you are not 100% in control of yourself. Take a second to think about somebody you know who is consistently late, and then consider what you or other people might privately assume about that person. Would that be something you would want anybody to think about you or your employees?

The Good News

The best news about time management issues, is that they are simply habits. In the end, you can actively change any habits that might be costing you precious minutes. Thousands of books and tools are available for those who need help or advice on more effective use of their time. Just type time management into a google and there will be plenty of help at hand.

Employee Turnover- The Not-So-Silent Business Killer

Turnover- The Not-So-Silent Killer

The skin care industry has been plagued with high turnover in the United States for decades. It’s a sad state of affairs that weakens our industry, prevents economic growth, and continuously frustrates customers. There are many causes for the high turnover rate and this blog will address the most common ones as well as offer dynamic solutions for preventing this nasty trend.

Before I launch into the “whys” and “hows”, I want to take a moment to define high turnover. I would consider turnover high when the average employee stays employed with a business for less than a year. Severe turnover is when the average employee only stays an average of 3-6 months. This represents the AVERAGE employee, meaning that if you have a large staff, let’s say more than 10 therapists, new employees come and go on a regular basis, without necessarily indicating high turnover.  I’ll have to do a little more research before I can look into what percentage that average should represent. For now, let’s just say that if your staff is less than 10 and you find yourself having to replace important members of your business every 3-10 months, turnover is an issue for your business.

Additionally, it is very important that I communicate to you that if you experience high or severe turnover, the spa community knows. I know which of my accounts has high turnover rate and so does everybody else in the city.  Trust me, the grapevine is short in the esthetics community, and news travels fast.

So, what causes this phenomenon? Here are a few reasons you might be having a problem:

Educational Systems:  Let’s face it, most state-approved, educational institutes for esthetics absolutely fail at preparing therapists for the real world. Students in schools are given false information and ideas regarding what the workplace is really like. Schools do not instill discipline, or professional behavior in the students. Students are left to self-teach, make their own rules, and create their own personal expectations of what the spa industry is really like.  If an individual doesn’t have an innate business sense, or cannot draw from some professional experience, she encounters a rude awakening when confronted by the real world. Additionally, students may pass esthetics programs with poor performance marks and schools will admit unqualified candidates just to receive government money. I was recently at a TDLR (Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations) meeting where a state representative opening admitted on record that schools were receiving government funding despite a 0% graduation rate! WHAT??? I almost fell off my seat.

Poor Business Management: This is truly where the heart of turnover lies, there’s no way around it. While a substandard school system creates weak employees, counter-productive management of spas causes good employees to quit. And this hurts us all.

I will break this down into categories for easier reading:

Poor payment structure: Money makes the world go round, and nobody pays for an education in order to live near the poverty line. Pay your employees well and if they can’t survive off what you pay them, restructure your compensation program and reevaluate your business model. You get what you pay for in life, and the same goes for quality employees. Things to avoid:

·        Deducting a fee for supplies from commissions

·        Offering promotions or discounts to clients without employee permission first, if it also reduces their commissions paid

·        Not paying commissions on products

·        Paying less than 30% commissions on service

·        “Comping” services and not paying staff for performing the service

·        Pooling or keeping any tips belonging to therapists

Hostile Work Environment: Sadly this is more common than one would think. There is a distinct line between being a strict, disciplined leader, and being the “dragon lady,” spa director. Also, inappropriate management behavior puts your business at risk for lawsuits. Here are a few things to do that will start the healing process:

·        Evaluate any sources of resentment you hold towards your staff, competing businesses, and life in general. Chances are if you are resentful about something, you’re not very pleasant to work for.

·        Understand that your personal beliefs on what is right and wrong, true and false, and fair and unfair, may not be conductive to good business. This includes religious and political views. Take a few business ethics courses at a community college or tradeshow to better understand how the business world runs.

·        Remember that your employees are your equals who work WITH you for the growth of your business. They are not at your disposal, instead you are there to serve them as valuable assets to your business.

·        Avoid using the business profits towards personal luxuries or as a personal ATM. If you do plan to reward yourself with a large bonus, share some of the extra earnings with staff in the form of a small bonus, or treat them to a group outing.  I have personally worked for an individual who abused of his business profits this way, while the staff struggled from paycheck to paycheck. His average employee lasted 3 months.

·        Quickly terminate negative or toxic employees, even if they are top performers.

·        Review job responsibilities and make sure you are paying fairly for the volume of work assigned. Would you be willing to do the same work for the pay offered?

·        Include your staff in the financial workings of the business. Being stingy with the financial status of your business creates a sense of distrust and a feeling that you are undercutting your staff. Conduct company meetings where you share forecast goals, action plans, and areas of opportunity. Pool the collective brain power of the people who drive your business on a day to day basis and you will be surprised how many amazing ideas will bloom from this. Create clear fiscal goals that everybody can work towards. Money doesn’t grow from trees, but it grows from teams!

Be Present in Your Business: Many owners or spa directors choose to work part time, more like a hands-on investor. However, every business still needs to feel the support of leadership. Upper management must remain available to resolve conflicts, conduct periodic one-on-one evaluations, and monitor business progress. Here are a few tips if you choose to be an off-site owner/director:

·        Assign an employee as acting supervisor and require a progress report to be emailed in at the end of each business week. This report should include employee performance, weekly revenues, customer incidences, and overall business standing.

·        Encourage staff to make appointments with you to discuss concerns or problems they may be experiencing in a safe and open communication environment.

·        Be wary of “bully” employees or deceptive staff members that may be enforcing their own agenda or policies without your approval.

·        Schedule one-on-one 30 minute meetings with each staff member once a month. Congratulate their successes, work through concerns, and empower them to grow your business.

Appropriate Hiring and Firing: Proper staffing of a business can be a challenging endeavor. It is difficult to evaluate long-term employee performance from a 30 minute interview and it is also difficult to terminate an employee without creating a negative back lash. There are countless books and articles written each year regarding this particular challenge in business.  Here are a few tips to find excellent candidates:

·        Require a minimum of 3 professional references and actually call them. Ensure that they are legitimate references and ask for qualifications.

·        Do not allow your new employee to work even five minutes without a clearly written and signed contract, approved by a legal professional. This will usually scare away unscrupulous candidates and allow you to terminate an employee when necessary without legal repercussions. By the way, I would guess that over 50% of estheticians work without a written agreement of some sort. That is what I call “risky business.”

·        Have a no-nonsense job description including all responsibilities to be read after an application is signed. Verbally outlining the job is not enough during an interview. Individually and clearly list each and every task that will be required on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Clearly define expected sales numbers, customer policies, and services offered. Openly communicate that these are non-negotiable in order to hold the offered position.

·        Do not allow interviews to be conducted by anybody who is not a member of upper management. 

·        Hire only those who fit every necessary requirement of the position. Do not compromise due to being short-staffed or limited in time. Choose who is best for your business, instead of who is available.

Thank you once again for reading! I hope this information is helpful and as always, you are more than welcome to contact me with any questions.

Signing out,

The Skin Lady D

dianaskincare@gmail.com

The Infamous Gentle Cleanser

The truth about gentle cleansers!

In the skin care community, there exists a cleanser that has become infamous as the “go-to” recommendation by dermatologists for compromised, sensitive, or post-procedural skin. This cleanser is touted to be hypo-allergenic and an all-around “safe” choice for problematic skin. It is sold from the shelves in every grocery store, pharmacy, and strip-mall department store in America and comes in at a whopping, $8-12.

As I’m sure some of you have guessed, the cleanser in question is Cetaphil.

I would like to dedicate this blog article to analyzing the full ingredients found in Cetaphil to further educate and empower estheticians on why it’s so “gentle” and why there are better options.

Let’s begin with the ingredients and what they actually do to the body or skin:

1)Water- Makes the product soluble and cheaper to manufacture. Allows the cleanser to be liquid.

2) Cetyl Alcohol- An emollient that makes hair and skin “feel” smooth. Gives the product a creamy texture and when added to an ingredient like #4, allows oil and water to mix.

3)Propylene Glycol- A form of mineral oil that prevents evaporation in the skin. It breaks down oil and is also found in antifreeze. It is a proven cause of liver and kidney damage. Banned in hair products in Europe.

4) Sodium Lauryl Sulfate- A surfactant and proven irritant. This is the only true active ingredient as it is the only ingredient that cleans skin. Studies show that this ingredient may increase hypersensitivities.

5) Stearyl Alcohol- Very similar to cetyl alcohol.

6) Methylparaben- A preservative that is very effective against fungus and yeasts. It is linked to breast cancer due to being found in high amounts in breast tumors. Studies have also indicated that it can interfere with the endocrine system due to its estrogenic effects. Two independent studies in Japan even show that it accelerates skin aging when activated by UV rays.

7) Propylparaben- Same as methylparaben.

8) Butylparaben- Same as methylparaben

So, now that we know there is only one active ingredient, sodium lauryl sulfate, and then a lot of unscented fluff and nasty chemicals, why is every dermatologist in the world recommending this product???!

I think there are three answers to this riddle:

1)     Simple ignorance. I don’t think many of the doctor’s offices who recommend this cleanser honestly know what’s in it. I also don’t think that many medical office managers or physicians understand that they are losing money by recommending grocery store labels, but I’ll leave that for another blog. Additionally, many doctors believe that the anti-chemical movement is all just hype.

2)     Simple simplicity- Another common reason for recommending this product, is that it’s an easy solution. Given that the product does very little for and to the skin, it’s a safe bet. Recommending parties are choosing easy instead of BETTER.

3)     Fear- You would be surprised to know that most medi-spas lose retail and home care sales because they are scared of client sticker shock. Since intensive corrective procedures usually come with a high dollar price, practitioners feel that it’s adding insult to injury to tack on an extra $100-200 in quality home care.

So, what are your options when you are trying to cheaply clean compromised skin?

Under $50

1)     Stone Crop Gel Wash- A pea-sized drop with clean and whole face and neck. At $39 a bottle, it can last up to 3 months. Awesome!

2)     Coconut Milk Cleanser- Half a pump will cleanse the face, neck, and chest, plus offer a naturally anti-microbial and skin softening boost. Perfect after peels, dermaplaning, and burns. $39 for about 4 months of supply.

Under $20

1)     Coconut water or green tea mixed with honey and cinnamon- Scoop out a small amount of honey and add a pinch of cinnamon into the palm of your hand. Slowly add coconut water or tea, until you have a soft gel and cleanse. Add a drop of tea tree for any inflamed skin or infected lesions.

2)  If the skin is really raw, just plain coconut oil will cleanse and protect. Warm a small amount in clean hands and massage into the skin. Remove with a soft, wet cloth and moisurize.

 

Happy facialing!!!

5 Ways to Drive Customers Away!

Five Ways to Drive Away Customers

My last post discussed wonderful ‘dos’ to grow your business. I thought today’s article would serve as more of a “don’ts” list.

My career with Eminence, year after year is becoming more and more of a consulting position. With over six years under my belt as an educator and support resource for over a hundred spas, I can quickly identify ‘red flags’ that commonly come up over and over in businesses that are struggling.

I am held accountable to the success of my spas, and many of my partners have noted a shift in my trainings and communications. I now openly discuss goals, business plans, and forecast numbers with those whom I feel would be receptive. The benefit gained from making ‘numbers’ an open topic has been surprising and rewarding, and it is my goal to address sales numbers with each and every one of my partners.

One can naturally conclude that if I have a business meeting with a client who’s numbers are progressively dropping, a trouble-shooting session must follow. I have decided to share the top five mistakes that are I frequently encounter. For those of you reading, please understand that if you find yourself practicing some of these not-so-great habits, it doesn’t necessarily mean your business is sinking, but it could hi-light an area that can be improved. And as we all know, businesses should be ever-evolving, growing and learning!

Please note that these “bad habits” are not listed in any particular importance:

Five Ways to Drive Away Business:

1)     Don’t answer the phone or put aside hiring a receptionist. This is a surefire way to lose new business. And yes, I know many spas offer online booking, but there is still a need to offer call-in appointments.  Returning client calls still doesn’t recover the lost new clients that may not have had the patience to leave a message. Here’s a simple exercise to understand how this impacts your business: Count how many missed calls you have in a week from new clients or possible new clients, include those who left messages and those who didn’t. Then count how many new client appointments you actually made that week. Compare that to the total amount of missed calls. This will give you a ballpark idea of how many potential customers didn’t schedule appointments. Remember that when a customer calls, chances are they have already surfed your website and are ready to book. All those missed calls, stack up over time and so does the lost revenue.

2)     Allow high turnover in your spa. This is a terrible thing to happen to your business! Customers, colleagues, and vendors catch on quickly, creating a word-of-mouth nightmare. Once your business has established a reputation of high turnover, recovering the faith of your customers and future business associates can be very difficult.  The root cause of staff turnover lies within the owners and management of the spa, and not in the ever-revolving employees. I will say, in my personal experience, this is also the most difficult problem to confront, as usually it requires that I advise a business owner that her/his fundamental business ethics make people want to leave. I feel however, that this problem is a profound concern for some of my clients and for all businesses everywhere. I promise to dedicate a new blog in the near future to addressing this in more detail. For now, spa owners that are experiencing frequent turnover, take a day to revise your workplace behavior, communication style, management style, and commission structure. These are the top complaints from staff members who leave high turnover spas.

3)     Become a bargain shopper’s haven.  The basic mistake here is the idea that offering discounts arbitrarily, giving lots of free samples, and having a generous return policy will grow your business. It will not. In fact, these kinds of business maneuvers will bring low quality customers with very high demands. Consider the message that you are sending the customer, “I’m just not worth paying full price.” Even a clever discount promotion can backfire. When I was just starting out as a single esthetician, I offered $50 facials on Mondays, to fill the usually slow day. I adopted the policy at the spa owner’s advice. Within a month, I was booked solid on Mondays, and customers complained that I couldn’t fit them in for their discount facial.  Clients who were previously happy to pay full price, began to try to fit themselves in on Mondays to save money. Monday clients who could not be fit in, began to insist that they be fit in on any available day but pay only $50! They felt entitled to the discount simply because they had come in on a Monday before I was completely booked. It turned into a disaster that I had to cancel.

4)     Blame the economy. If I had a $10 for each time I’ve heard a business owner use the economy as a scapegoat for their business’ decline, I’d have enough for a month vacation. The economy is just another variable in the ever changing world of business. It is not the reason any business fails or grows. Simply, it forces us to change our tactics and seek out new strategies. Trust me, dear readers, I work with many businesses that have done better in the past few years, than ever before.

5)     Focus on the competition and resent their success. If your business is doing well, why do you honestly care what the neighboring spa is up to? Competing businesses are not a threat, instead, see them as a resource for new ideas. Additionally, consider that the poor attitude and contempt one holds towards competing businesses will inevitably shine through to your staff and customers. Negativity like this is poisonous to the heart of your business and can easily create a hostile environment. Drop that nasty baggage and tune into what your neighbors are up to. It’s good to know community trends, and what customers are saying about them on Yelp/Citysearch. Consider it an extra source of business research.

As always, I am happy to chat with readers regarding any of these issues and am open to any insight you would like to add. Feel free to email me at dianaskincare@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading!

Top 8 Spa Business Practices to Grow Revenue

Hello there, fellow spa professionals!

With the blazing summer heat under way, many of you may find that your spa traffic is slowing down. Your clients are dealing with the typical summer activities, such as vacations and children no longer spending the days in school. It happens every year, the slowest season of our industry.

As I conduct my quarterly trainings with my spa partners, I see the panicked look in their eyes when I ask how things are going.  So I thought this blog should be all about some of the most important business practices that guarantee growth.

These fantastic habits are not organized in any particular order, so keep in mind that numbering them is arbitrary and solely done for easier reading.

1) Schedule your business year. This one ties in directly to the summer lull. One should have a full year planned out ahead with quarterly revisions to stay ahead of the game. Each spa director/owner should know what promotions they are planning for Christmas before summer even hits. Know when you will hire your next therapist. Know when some will go "on-call" during which months. Anticipation means you will have a leg up on preparation and you have plenty of time to be ready for any event. Vendors, media, and clients can be given a heads up with enough time to help you. Meetings and trainings should be planned year round to avoid that pesky therapist who always claims she wasn't aware of any mandatory meetings. I will go further to say, that as a vendor, this is one that affects me directly. I often receive requests for event support less than a week from the scheduled event. Sadly, I usually have to turn these requests down, due to lack of sufficient preparation and a fully committed schedule.

2) Know your forecast and make it a goal. It never ceases to amaze me that there are many business owners out there that have no goal or approximate forecast of how much they plan to revenue each year. If you are flying by the seat of your pants, going month to month, wondering how much money you might make each week, YIKES!!! This is a sure way to lose money. Of course, the first few months of any business are guesstimates, but once you have a full year under your belt, you have a starting point. You need a clear percentage of growth you want to hit each year and each month. Working forward towards your goal will make every business decision you make have a purpose. You might think twice about an impulse buy, when your costs affect that forecast. Clarity comes from goals, and reality stays with you. For those of you who are my clients, call me if you want help with this. I have my own forecast, and my team pushes towards it every day!!

3) Know your philosophy. Amazingly, this, along with your forecast, should be an integral part of every decision you make in your spa. From who you hire, to what services you offer, there should be a clear sense of who you are and what you do. For example: If you are a "natural spa" and you start offering injectibles with a doctor, your clients may feel like your business is drifting from what brought them in in the first place.

4) Hire the best and treat them like the best. Try to hire somebody better than you, without fear that you will be replaced. Trust me, if you hire an awesome employee, pay her well, and treat her like family, she will be less likely to quit. Sure, in a few years, she might take what she has learned and branch out on her own, but that reflects well on you. I would rather have an ex-employee  succeeding out there and pushing me to improve my business, than a reputation for high turnover. And, by the way, everyone in town knows who has high turnover!

5) Treat your vendors well. I like to give people stuff! Eminence lets me give people stuff, but only a limited amount of stuff. Who gets to decide who gets this wonderful extra stuff and attention? Me. Point taken? Joking aside, most vendor representatives are independent contractors with heavy say on when and how they work. If you want your representative to go the extra mile, be kind, give her advanced notice, and respect that she is a human being. She can be one of your biggest business assets and source of support for your business. Also, be respectful of your vendor corporate policies and choose one that fits your philosophy, otherwise you will be continuously trying to shove a round peg in a square hole!

6) Don't do anything out of fear!!! Afraid that the new spa across the street is going to take your business? Don't discount your services! Afraid that your best employee is quitting? Don't cut her off of trainings and hold resentment. Afraid that raising your prices to match the increase in business cost will drive away clients? Don't give old clients a break out of fear of losing them. Trust me, these are knee-jerk reactions from a debilitating emotion. Change happens, all the time. Clients leave but new ones come. Breathe and continue on with the challenge!

7) Invest heavily in retail! This is where the money is in our industry and sadly, where many spa businesses lose money. If I were to run a spa, I would evaluate and give preference to my top selling employees. Those with the "I'm a therapist, not a sales person," attitude would find themselves without a job quite quickly. Magical hands in the facial room, but a low sales to service ratio means the therapist is actually COSTING you money to employ. Unacceptable. Also, make sure your retail shelves remain stocked and bursting with eye-catching decorations. Make them shoppable and fun to explore!!

8) Follow up with customers. To this day, after touring around and experiencing the most amazing spas in the country, I am still pleasantly surprised when I receive a follow up call after a service. I love it and wish more of my partners did this on consistent basis. Keeping a close relationship with each client makes them feel special and part of your business. Complaints aren't the only reason to pamper a customer. Bring them back to your business with each call, even if it's in their mind. Your retention will sky rocket!!

I hope these tips will help your business! I am always available and open to helping if you have any questions!

Flourishing Through The Art of Service.

The role of an Eminence educator and representative is one of many challenges and triumphs.  As an Eminence vendor, I have a much heavier responsibility than other representatives in that I also hold the role of a business consultant and educator. To some, I am a mentor, to others a verbal punching bag, and then, to my most successful accounts, I am a true business partner.

Allow me to define a business partner for a moment by narrowing down on the word, PARTNER. A partner is somebody to walks alongside you, who works with you through the rough roads, gives you support both morally and practically. Appreciation is reciprocated between you and a partner, as does honest respect. Communication flows easily creating understanding, negativity is not focused upon, and problems are conquered together. But amongst the most important attributes that are exchanged, service to each other is king.

A perfect example of this is my wonderful experience with a true business partner, The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island. Daisy and I had the immense pleasure of assisting them with a Farm to Table event this past weekend. Two years ago, The Ritz-Carlton had begun promoting the green and sustainable practices used in their hotel restaurants by hosting local farmers, beekeepers, and other representatives of sources of culinary delights to a Farm to Table dinner.  These amazing folks would talk before an audience of hungry guests, introducing and educating them on the available and healthy sources of sustainable, eco-friendly foods.  Then an amazingly fresh and delectable dinner was served.

Daisy and I were invited to represent Eminence, as of course, we are the greenest company in town!! I was given the humble honor of speaking to the press during the champagne reception, and explaining how the Ritz-Carlton’s dedication to responsible farming and eco-culinary practices fit so well with the Eminence partnership. It was a great success for the spa, and Daisy and I spent the entire following day conducting skin analysis for guests and sending them home with the appropriate (and yummy) Eminence products. Daisy and I made it a point to try to clear their shelves, to give them a fantastic revenue day, and to beef up the therapists commissions. We happily handed over our weekend off before a week of travel, to serve this partner, to secure their success, and to let them know, we would be there for them!

This is above and beyond the requirements of our already demanding and multi-faceted career.  So why would we give up our precious personal time to go sell Stone Crop products to hotel guests?

The answer is simple. The wonderful people from The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island treat us like valuable business colleagues and also as customers. They give freely with a sense of joy and abundance. There is no sense of entitlement, or a “what’s in it for me” attitude.  Courtesy comes first, and it is interwoven into every facet of their business.  Our response? We can’t help but give freely as well! The positive, nurturing environment makes us want to work harder for them. Even after a 10 hour day, we were happy to keep on trucking for them. Their success becomes ours, and not just in a monetary sense, I personally want their spa to do AWESOME!!!

Daisy and I would like to say thank you to all the wonderful business partners who we are so grateful and lucky to have as clients in all of our territories. You make this job a pleasure and we look forward to many more years of service to you with overwhelming business success!!!

Communication Within, Success Throughout

Greetings Spa People!

Today I had the privilege of training an amazing team at a beautiful spa in San Antonio, Texas. From the moment a therapist reached out to me to show interest in Eminence, I noticed something special about this business.

The difference is a camaraderie that is rarely found in large spas such as this one. From owner, to massage therapist, every member of this business works together in the mutual push of success and excellent service within the spa. Every communication shared with me has been brimming with honest care and interest. And this same consideration is openly shared with each other.

What I love about this team, is that they all work together, at all times, to create a culture of sincere respect and positive energy. I could not detect one iota of resentment, frustration, or friction between them. How do they do it? I intend to ask the owners how they established this delightful environment, but for now, here are a few observations I noticed:

1) The owners project a feeling of warmth and open communication with their staff. Both of them project a sense of authority, however distinctly missing, is the ego behind it. They are humble, kind, and respectful. You instantly want to do your best thanks to this wonderful vibe they project!
2) Therapists engage with the owners and vendors in the decision making processes of the spa. New protocols and products are brought in with a team consensus. In order to earn my position as a vendor, several of the therapists had the opportunity to ask me about my products. It was not a quick decision made by the owners with the expectation that therapists would just "deal" with the change.
3) There was absolutely no back talk or negativity between any of the staff members. I mean NONE. This is sadly a rare phenomenon in our industry, especially in large resort spas. Not one person complained about scheduling issues, commissions, or product selection.

The key, I believe is simple: open communication and direct hands on participation of upper management/owners. By being available to their staff, I truly believe that these two heart-first leaders have created a nurturing place that their employees can call home. The staff works hard with a pleasant, service-oriented demeanor and I believe this is because they feel welcomed and appreciated.

I am happy to welcome this fantastic team into the Eminence family of partner spas. It's been a pleasure so far, and we're only just beginning!

Skin Business!

Greetings new readers!!

First of all, thank you for tuning into my first professional blog!

 My goal for this blog is to provide a window to the outside world of esthetics as seen through my eyes. Having been in private practice myself, I know how easily one can acquire "treatment room tunnel vision" as I call it. Day in and out, estheticians work in dark, soothing environments. Estheticians in booth rental situations might spend hour upon hour, holed up in a small treatment room, isolated to one on one interactions primarily with clients. Do you ever wonder what other estheticians are doing? Do you ever wish you could peek through the tradeshow displays and marketing, and really SEE what is working for others in your field?

My career offers me the bird's eye view of hundreds of spas. I am allowed to observe and consult with huge resorts as well as small practices. I see what works, what flops, and most importantly, I notice the lessons to be learned from each experience.

For those of you who don't know me, I have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and an irresistible urge to share that knowledge. This is why I work with Eminence! They let me share my brain and the brains of other super professionals, whom I am humbled to call colleagues. Eminence believes that knowledge is power and invests heavily in making sure their partners receive the best in personalized education. I love that and so I was thrilled to become a part of it.

So, dear estheticians, spa directors, and business owners, allow me permission to share this fabulous world with you. Know that this blog is not directly tied to or mandated by Eminence Organic Skin Care. This was a choice I made for my business and for my clients. It may hit close to home for some of you or maybe unravel new ideas you hadn't considered. You might disagree or even reject my thoughts completely. But know this: I do this to help you.

I have always and will always believe that skin care is a powerful, professional field, full of surprises, innovation, and quirky human nature. Enjoy your career, forgive my type-os, and know that you are never alone in your journey!!!