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Director of Brand Content Strategy
Stacey Soble has been involved in the conversation of salon business for more than two decades—as a reporter, a consultant and as the editor in chief of SALON TODAY. She has been responsible for growing the brand's celebrated recognition programs, SALON TODAY 200 and SALONS OF THE YEAR, and has launched two new competitions in recent years--STAMP (SALON TODAY's Annual Marketing Program) and the SALON TODAY Total Makeover Competition. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of salon business at industry events.
After the North American Hairstyling Award winners excitedly claimed their trophies Sunday evening at Cosmoprof/PBA Beauy Week in Las Vegas, MODERN's Maggie Mulhern and SALON TODAY's Stacey Soble showed them how to leverage the opportunity during a class held Monday morning.
I truly loathe those necessary trips to California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). When I moved to this state two years ago, it required three separate trips and a total of six hours of waiting in line to get our family's three cars registered. But, it was the seemingly unfriendly, uncaring attitudes of the DMV staff that sent me over the edge. Realizing that another long wait, a written test and more crankiness was in my future, I've been resisting going in to get my actual driver's license changed.
Over the past year, the SALON TODAY team has had multiple opportunities to interact face to face with salon owners, including Serious Business, ISSE, America's Beauty Show, the Premiere Orlando Beauty Event, and most recently the Harms Millennium UGC. Each time, we've solicited feedback from owners regarding the big changes we made to the SALON TODAY 200, and we addressed questions from owners about how the can improve their chances. In an effort of fairness, I wanted to share my advice with everyone!
As a group, the 20 finalists of the 2010 SALONS OF THE YEAR breathed some new life into the beleaguered construction business, spending a combined $13 million on renovation and build-out costs. The average design investment was $652,186.
Calling all competitive stylists eager to showcase their creativity! Studio Wish Salon and Colour Cafe, owned by Rowena Yeager, is organizing and hosting, "Hairy Affair," a charity runway competition to be held at the Anatomy Nightclub in Cleveland, Ohio. Three grand prizes will be awarded at the end of the competition—paid trips to Beauty Week 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada, including tickets to National Hairstyling Awards, PBA Symposium and Cosmoprof North America.
When it comes to solid business education, financial gurus, motivating consultants, and even iconic stylists are great. But sometimes, the best business education comes from other owners just like you--those who fight the same daily struggle to continue to build and grow a successful salon business. Owners, who have developed their own little area of expertise along the way, simply by experimenting, sometimes failing, and eventually perfecting an idea.
As part of "National Small Business Week," Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the Small Business Tax Equalization and Compliance Act, which would allow the salon industry to enjoy the same tax rules on tips paid to employees as is ...
It's not just the hairstyles that are making waves at the Eric Alt Salon in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey. A new interior design element has changed the salon experience for the clientele and has them really talking—to each ...
I had the opportunity to help kick off the recent International SalonSpa Business Network (ISBN) Conference by doing what I do everyday—asking industry thought leaders for their opinions on a variety of topics. But, this time I did it live and in front of an audience, as I was invited to moderate the conference's State of the Industry Panel.
This year the National American Hairstyling Awards introduces a totally new competition category, the Salon Master of Business Award. Designed to allow business-savvy salon owners show off their labors of love, the Salon MBA Award encouraged owners to submit information on their salon's demographics, existing and new business strategies, retail promotions and sales, marketing and community service strategies, and current financials and future plans.
A few weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, I interviewed about a dozen salon owners, service providers, and industry leaders who lived and worked in the region—many of whom had lost their businesses and their homes. The feature, which I wrote for MODERN SALON, focused on the positive—on how salon owners and stylists, who were typically competitors, were stepping in and helping one other out. I'll never forget any of those interviews—they were the most intense, passionate, and heartfelt conversations I've ever experienced, and I believe the resulting story exposed the true beauty of this caring industry.
Fueled by continued improvements in service and retail sales along with higher customer traffic levels, the Professional Beauty Association's (PBA) Salon/Spa Performance Index (SSPI) hit a record high in the first quarter of 2010. The SSPI—a quarterly composite index that tracks the health of, and outlook for, the U.S. salon/spa industry—stood at 10e.1 in the first quarter, up 0.5 percent from its fourth quarter level.
When was the last time you picked up the Yellow Pages to search for the number of a local business? OK, when was the last time one of your young staff members accessed the Yellow Pages? Do they even know what they are?
It's always a pleasure to interview the Doves. Their artistry is legendary, their work is sure to inspire, they always have a marketing tip handy, and yeah, I always get swept away by those great British accents. Now you can, too, as you listen to my audio interview with Sonya and Christopher Dove, owners of the Doves Studio in Santa Monica, California, and the creative directors for the North American division of Wella.
For years, I've watched Robert Cromeans educate and inspire stylists from the stage. With his fabulous artistry, sexy Scottish brogue, unique rockstar sense of fashion, and 'I walk your walk' attitude, he really rocks their worlds. But, each time I sit down with this JPMS global artistic director and owner of five salons and two schools, it's his intense passion for business that really rocks mine.
