Do You Need A Career Mentor?

by Douglas Preston

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Estheticians and spa professionals all share a common goal: to become a solid success in business. That goal, while admirable and necessary, can be far more elusive than many professionals realize. We may have the required licenses and skills, even the experience useful in opening a spa or skincare practice, but business success depends on a longer list of capabilities than this. Here are a number of the more important ones:

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• Cost control and an understanding of profit margins • Marketing and social media communication

• Customer service excellence

• Employee recruitment and leadership

• Sales skills (service and retail)

• Organization and time management 

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Improve Your Treatment and Business Results Through Seasonal Client Home Regimen Reviews!

by Douglas Preston

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What do you do when you feel that you’ve already sold your client everything she or he needs for a personal home skincare regimen? Review the regimen every spring and fall! Think about it—when a client has been prescribed a home care plan that’s correct for warmer and possibly more humid months, will that approach still work as well when the air turns colder and drier? Of course not! So why wait until we begin to see environmental changes in the skin before addressing them? After all, our clients depend on professional Estheticians to not only improve the complexion problems they see, but also to prevent those we know are coming as the weather changes.

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Starting Your Own Spa Product Brand: 7 Reasons To Do It Now!

by Douglas Preston

Private branding of consumer goods is one of the hottest and most sensible strategies for companies that are interested in being more than just another place to buy commonly sold products. With mega-malls, supermarkets, and online retailers competing with spas and salons for the beauty product customer, uniqueness, and exclusivity of brand is proving to be a sound way to attract and keep a loyal retail trade.

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Pricing Your Salon Services:  A Formula That Makes Sense

by Douglas Preston

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You have a salon, spa or private Esthetics practice and want to know the best way to price your services. You’ve checked the local competition to find the “going rate” for facials, massage and other programs you’ll be offering. They’re all over the map, from low to high. You don’t want to price too cheaply, but not overly expensive, either.  Maybe the idea of being “affordable” appeals to you so you can be within reach of most consumers. This all seems to make sense, except it doesn’t, not if making money in your business counts for anything. There’s really only 4-things that matter in this decision. 

  

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Esthetician Career Realities

by Douglas Preston

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Congratulations! You’ve realized your dream of becoming a licensed skin care professional. This is an exciting but unnerving time for those who have earned the credentials for an esthetics position, yet lack the clients, confidence, and experience needed to compete for such a job.

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Spa Customer Service

by Douglas Preston

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Although customer service is a common term, what does it mean to those for whom it is intended? Despite the numerous definitions of what customer service is, it is not a claim inside a salon or spa brochure, a business philosophy, meeting the customer’s minimum expectations, simply serving a customer, or putting the business and employees’ interests first.

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Your Work Is Your Life—How Well Are You Living It?

by Douglas Preston

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I have a client on the line for her Friday 6:00pm business coaching call with me. She was late for the call by about 20-minutes, which isn’t so bad except that I’m in California and she’s in Florida where it’s three hours later. She’s late because it’s taken her over two hours to close the spa, double-check the receipts, make confirmation calls to all of tomorrow’s clients (since her receptionist had forgotten to), and she’ll still be working after we’re finished talking tonight. At least it’s been a better week than the last one was, she sighs.

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