In The Know
50 Life Lessons Through Noëlle
If your service menu features body treatments, massages or facials, some credit is due to Noel DiCaprio, who frequently is credited as the Mother of the day spa movement. Although the great Noel lost her battle with cancer more than a decade ago, the business she founded stands strong and celebrates 50 years this year.
by Stacey Soble
Take Back Your Clients!
Tired of watching your clients stretch their appointments further and further apart? Hate hearing how they're trimming their ends and touching up their roots at home? Wish they'd fill their counters with products off of your shelves? Well, join the rallying cry that's being voiced around the country—Take Back Our Salon Clients!
by Stacey Soble
TV Time
When I went to journalism school at the University of Missouri many years ago, we were required to pick a focus of study. Many of my friends chose the broadcasting sequence, but I had grown up in a newspaper family—in fact, my parents still own a community newspaper. While I wanted to do something different, I still found myself drawn to the written word, so I chose the magazine sequence. Over the years though, I enjoyed watching the careers of my broadcasting comrades blossom, first at the university-affiliated television station then at networks where they landed their first jobs.
by Stacey Soble
Raising Skincare Standards
A few months back I received a call from Susanne Warfield, the executive director of the National Coalition of Estheticians, Manufacturers/Distributors & Associations, or more easily referred to as the NCEA. Although Susanne and I had worked together on skincare-related feature stories for SALON TODAY in the past, I honestly admitted to her I knew little about the coalition, its mission or its political initiatives.
by Stacey Soble
Down to Business
There's no doubt that today's salon and spa owners are more focused on business than ever before. As evidence, Neill Corporation's Serious Business 2010 witnessed one of its largest attendance records, with more than 1,000 owners and managers rolling up their black sleeves and diving into business topics headfirst.
by Stacey Soble
Strut Your Stuff!
FEBRUARY 1—the deadline for the SALONS OF THE YEAR for 2010 is fast approaching! Those with their fingers on the pulse of the decor market feel that renovations and remodels were down in 2009, so that may improve your chances.
by Stacey Soble
Bruno's New Purpose
After the death of his brother Guy, Bruno Mascolo embarked an a personal journey which is leading him to re-engineer TONI&GUY into the Couture of Hairdressing
by Stacey Soble
More Love for Haiti
Within 24 hours of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, I began receiving e-mails from owners, first asking advice on how they could help victims, then sharing stories of what they were doing. This is a story that continues to evolve daily, so I've been keeping a running a post of how those in our industry are reaching out. Don't have time to read a story this long? Then simply scroll down and feel the love:
by Stacey Soble
Quietly Lead by Example
On a whim, I hit the after-holiday sales table at my local Barnes and Noble and picked up a half-priced jigsaw puzzle. My kids made faces and my husband piped in with a Grandma joke at my expense, but I just smiled and bought it anyway.
by Stacey Soble
Turning Our Attention to SOTY
This week, the entire SALON TODAY editorial staff breathed a sigh of relief and felt the glow of satisfaction as we shipped the 13th Annual SALON TODAY 200 issue to the printer. Expanding the competition beyond growth to focus on a variety of business practices added multiple new dimensions to what was already a strong competition. I trust the additional statistics and owner ideas will fuel salon plans around the country throughout 2010.
by Stacey Soble
Do You Have What It Takes to be an ST200 Salon?
In a just few short weeks, the January issue of SALON TODAY will honor 200 salons for their growth and their best practices. But that dream of becoming a top salon lies within many of us. Knowing that owning a salon isn't an easy or quick route to success is good, but actually becoming one of the ST200 salons is a bit tougher. What follows is a list of entrepreneurial traits common in many of the ST200 owners.
The Magic of Makeup
If your clients come in for a great new cut and transformative color, but leave with a bare face, they are missing a huge part of the beauty experience. Add a cosmetics line to your retail offerings—you'll not only boost your retail potential but you'll help your staff members add a new layer to the relationships they've formed with their clients.
by Stacey Soble
The H1N1 Toolkit is Live!
I'm preparing myself because I know my 11-year-old son will be coming home from school today incredibly angry. Although he objected strenuously, I signed him up for the H1N1 vaccine his elementary school was dispensing today. Across the nation, we're all taking precautions to protect ourselves and our families. But it's also a great idea to implement some simple steps to protect your salon employees and clients.
by Stacey Soble
Part 3: Designing for a Brand
Have you ever seen a bad Aveda salon? They all speak of beauty. Beautiful interiors, beautiful packaged products, beautiful materials, beautiful graphics. Of course, this identity of beauty is not by chance. It’s their branding that is expressed in everything they do. Aveda inspires and that’s just what they did to Zona Salons & dickermanDesign.
Publicity in the Brave New World
A few weeks ago, in our MODERN Style Watch Daily newsletter, I wrote a story on how Chicago's Genacelli Salon creatively organized a makeover event to raise funds for renovation of a community park. Recently, the salon's owners, Cynthia Porcelli and Joseph Cartagena, shared both the results of the event and the images through the social networking site Flickr.
by Stacey Soble
Lessons from the Theater
One of the best parts of my job is the ability to meet and interview a variety of people that I would normally never come across in my everyday life. Naturally that includes some of the top talents and best minds in the professional beauty industry, but more and more often it includes great thinkers outside our industry as well.
by Stacey Soble
Spa wins Small Business of the Year
When Faces DaySpa of Hilton Head, South Carolina, captured the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Small Business of the Year Award for the Southeastern United States, Owner Patricia Owen never dreamed it would lead to a trip to Washington D.C. and an opportunity to meet the President. But in mid-October, Owen found herself sharing her spa success story with attendees of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's launch event for its American Free Enterprise, Dream Big program. And a few weeks later, that opportunity led to a trip to the White House and an introduction to President Barack Obama.
by Stacey Soble