From Preston Inc. to you!

Dear Professional Friends, I am happy to report that IECSC events has positively responded to my suggestion that education for the independent esthetician become a fixed feature of their class lineup! This is truly exciting news for our under-represented but important professional segment of the esthetics industry, and a badly needed resource for those of you that feel educators and vendors mostly pay attention to larger potential customers. Having begun my career as a solo esthetician and, other than many years as a spa owner/employer, I too knew firsthand the special concerns and needs of independent practitioners. I also know how difficult it can be to find the time to check out all possible educational resources when you personally manage the responsibilities of both treatments and business. No small task! The IECSC asked me to submit a selection of presentation titles for the solo esthetician training track, which I enthusiastically completed. These programs are designed to help you advance your careers, locate and build clientele, improve client/practitioner communication and many other important business growth skills. I sincerely hope that you will attend as many of these classes as possible so they can be included in IECSC events long into the future! I congratulate the organizers of the IECSC, and my friend and colleague Nancy Griffin in particular, for having the foresight and generosity to provide presentation time dedicated to the many independent estheticians that attend their wonderful shows! Meanwhile, be sure to check out The Preston 100 Club for esthetics career mentoring guidance. The special members of this one-of-a-kind program will certainly be tomorrow's high achievers in the increasingly competitive world of professional skin care. See you there! http://www.spaclique.com/component/option,com_groupjive/task,showgroup/groupid,12/ My best, Douglas Preston Preston Inc. The Preston 100 Club

Hi friends, Lisa, I and the Preston product team have been overwhelmed by the many, many e-mails and telephone calls of support regarding the unfortunate and illegal promotion many of you received from our former partner Keith West recently. The confusion and anger that ill-conceived move created among our loyal clients and colleagues has been thoroughly expressed and gratefully, if regrettably, received by us here at Preston Inc. Many of you in the spa industry have felt the sting of losing or dismissing an employee only to find that they are working overtime to attempt pulling your hard-won customers away, sometimes by stealth or deception. This is why we use non-compete clauses in our employee contracts, a means of trying to protect our valuable client relationships from this unethical activity. Preston Private Label and Preston Inc. has been and always will be an original product, supported by caring and generous individuals that are dedicated to your business health and future. We stand by every claim and believe that nothing less than complete honesty and integrity should be offered to our industry and those among you that depend upon us and it. We've been in this field of business for 26 years now and have worked with a great many of you over that time. Our credentials are real, our history is solid and documented, and our accomplishments are neither manufactured nor inflated. We're the real article! Please make sure when dealing with others that their business values appear wholesome right from the beginning, and do not trust claims and promises that are untested and possibly not up to the quality promoted. Cloaking an advertisement in spirit and conservation does not prove anything in and of itself. Logos and photographs can be cut and pasted from anywhere. You need to know fact from fiction and should demand authenticity when you require it. We know better here and we care about you! Thanks again for the kind letters and messages of support. Believe me, all of us here greatly and deeply appreciate every word of it! You're the best doing the best!

Hi friends,

Soon I'll be offering my services as a career mentor for success-minded estheticians (as I have been asked to do countless times!) but, in the planning stages, I'm curious about two things in particular:

November 12, 2007 -  Bought a new Jeep Cherokee in Santa Fe for the trip to California and are already back at a San Jos, CA dealership trying to get the high-tech computerized navigation/audio system to work correctly. Service manager says, "Yeah they won't let any of us touch those things. We have to call an IT department somewhere and ask what to do..." And that's probably in India! But, one day we may be booking spa appointments via a friendly voice in Bangalore by a person genuinely happy to have that job and do it well, such is the state of American spa concierge help today. A few McDonalds are already testing such a program at their drive-up ordering speakers. You talk to the voice on the outdoor microphone and get a processor clear across the world! This just for a happy meal.