What a blessing it is to have inspiration and purpose! 

Inspiration is something that comes from the external.  We are inspired by an idea, a motivational lecture, a need in the marketplace, or from any number of external circumstances.

On the other hand purpose comes from within and is internal responsibility that we have taken charge of.  Our purpose in life or in this moment may be to feed the kids, serve others, or accomplish something grand.

I’ve been thinking about these two things a lot lately and I have found that while inspiration comes from the external (as I just stated) it is not until we “internalize it” that we are inspired.  The reverse is true for “purpose”, while purpose comes from an internal place of responsibility; it is not until we take external action that the purpose gets fulfilled.

When we can combine both Inspiration AND Purpose we get a very powerful combination that drives us and feeds us simultaneously.  While many of the things we need to do in life don’t really inspire us, and many of the inspiring things don’t cause us to take action, there should be a thing or two in our lives that does both.

Think of this as “a calling”, something you have a burning desire to do, and as you do it fulfills you.  What a great joy it is to get up in the morning to do more of it, and when you do it gives you further joy.

I believe that this is what we all want in our life but often struggle to achieve.  So should we look for a purpose and then find inspiration to make it happen, or should we find inspirational way to fulfill a purpose.  I don’t think it matters… it only matters that we find a way to have both.       

I believe that we all have a song to sing and a reason for being here that is more than simply getting through each day.  I work on being inspired and living a life of purpose each day, I hope that you do too!

Best Wishes & Healthy Profits

Skip Williams

skip@resourcesanddevelopment.com

702-436-0371

I was just informed of the passing of a great colleague Ken Cassidy.  Perhaps a little better known on the salon side of the business but Ken was a sought after speaker on business topics and is a terrible loss to our industry.

I had the pleasure of having dinner with Ken when I passed through Long Beach on my Spa America Tour, and he emailed me the other day to ask if I was still on the road and could he retire his Spa America Tour bracelet that he faithfully wore each day I was on the road (thank you Ken).

A lifelong hairdresser Ken had seen it all, I often called him Warren Beatty, referring to Warren’s role in the 1975 film “Shampoo”.  He always had a way to make me laugh and always had a way to make me think.

I will miss you my dear friend as will an entire industry…God bless you for all you have contributed.

Before leaving Dallas last week I stopped in to see one of our sponsors, RD Management.  RD handles the distribution of two amazing Parisian skincare lines.  Both Matis and Academie Beaute are French line that have been around and well respected for over 75 years, so perhaps they know a thing or two about the science of skincare!

RD Management has a great team of professionals to serve, train, and sell Spas all over the United States.  I had a chance to tour the warehouse and the training center and then to sit and meet with the RD Team.  I was very impressed at how passionate each and every person in the team was about their own aspect of taking care of Spa Professional’s needs.

The meeting lasted an hour or so and everyone wanted to know what I’ve learned from Spa Owners across the USA.  They are genuinely concerned about Spas (Day Spas in particular) and what challenges, economic and otherwise they are facing, and how they might help and be of service to them.

I was assured that everyone at RD Mgmt was dedicated to working with Spa Owners to “weather the storm” with products that deliver extraordinary skincare results, and customer service that exceeds expectations.

I think that RD found it important to support the efforts of the Spa America Tour to deliver help and support Spa Owners says a lot about the type of company they are, and their amazing full line(s) of high tech skincare that deliver proven results say a lot about what they can do for you and your clients.

If you think your Spa could benefit from a great skincare line like Matis or Academie Beaute and some real customer service please give the RD Management folks a call at  972-771-0300 or visit them at http://www.myrdm.com/ .  Ask them how they can help your business and please tell them thank you for their support of the Spa America Tour.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting with Christine White of Scandle Candles.  Scandle was one of the first few sponsors to get on board The Spa America Tour band wagon and for that I will be ever grateful.  But even more exciting when talking with Christine was to learn that they have some new and innovative products that they will be adding to their catalog soon and in time for the holiday gift giving season.

If you have not seen or heard of Scandle Candles you need to check them out at http://abodycandle.com/index.php 

These candles are not the usual gift or spa candle; instead they are attractive AND functional.  When you light them they melt (at 2 degrees above body temperature) into fragrant body massage oil, which can be used to provide a warm massage to your guest.  The container resembles a small ceramic pitcher that is attractive and practical.

The Scandle Body Massage Candle is a fragrant hand-poured body massage candle that, when burned, melts to create a healthy body massage oil that can be used to enhance the healthy of your skin. Not only, is The Scandle Body Massage Candle healthy for your skin, but it is also healthy for the environment...emitting less soot and toxins into the environment than paraffin candles. 

The Scandle Body Massage Candle is perfect as a body moisturizer, warm body massage oil, or as a soothing Vitamin E rich lotion for manicures and pedicures.

So once again thanks to the gang at Scandle Candle for their hospitality and their support of the Spa America Tour. 

Best Wishes & Healthy Profits

Skip Williams

Recently I was contacted by a Spa Owner (let’s call her Jane) that was a victim of fraud and embezzlement.  It seems that for eight and a half years one of her most trusted and valued employees (let’s call her Sue) had been stealing monies and covering her tracks DAILY.

If you are asking “how did she do it, and how did she get away with it for so long” then read on, because those are the same questions I had…

Firstly, our thief Sue stole more than $200 of cash, products, gift cards, and services almost every day she worked for over 8 years.  This number was small enough each day that it was unnoticed, but when added up was quite substantial!

Sue eventually got caught and admitted what she had done and how she did it in her written confession.  Jane also had a forensic accountant try to reconstruct how the crimes were committed and how much was taken.  I have been given the privilege to read and analyze these documents for the purpose of writing this article and Jane hopes that YOUR business might be spared of the nightmare that she has encountered.

Even though Jane was armed with the report from the accountant and the confession from Sue she had a difficult time getting Law Enforcement and the District Attorney’s office to file criminal charges and prosecute.  And even though she might win a civil lawsuit it would be expensive and hard to collect.

There were obvious things that Jane did that probably go on in most every spa (or business) in the country like taking products home without paying for them, having services without paying for them or drastically discounting them, charging customer full price but using a discount code when ringing up the sale and pocketing the difference.

But Sue went much further than that, in fact she had it down to a science just how to “cook the books” each day so that no one would know.

Gift Cards:

Sue was able to do much of her theft by manipulating Gift Card sales and values.  She could find old gift cards unlikely to be redeemed to pay for one of today’s cash sales and pocket the cash.  She could sell a $100 gift card for a discounted price (on the books) and pocket the difference.  She could “reload” value onto a gift card and then use that gift card to pay for a client’s service and pocket the cash.  She could sell a gift card for cash and then void it after the client leaves and put the money in her pocket.  She could make comp gift cards for charities and then either sell them at full value or use them to pay for today’s clients and pocket the cash.  She could also use these gift cards as gifts for friends or to barter for goods and services elsewhere.

Packages:

When Sue sold a new package of services she would simply reloaded the old package and pocket cash.  She also used fraudulent packages she created, or old packages that were unlikely to be used, to pay for services that regular clients had and pocket the cash.

Voids:

Sue voided thousands of dollars worth of services, products, packages, and account payments and pocketed the cash.  She also “edited” these types of transactions to pocket a portion of a sale instead of the whole sale.

Refunds:

Sue refunded client sales (unbeknownst to the client) for cash even though the client paid by credit and put that refund in her own pocket.   She would also make refund to fraudulent client accounts (perhaps in order to avoid getting caught).

Client Accounts:

She used fraudulent client accounts to pay for services so that she could pocket the cash.  She used the owner’s account to pay for client’s services when she could get away with it.  Used client accounts to pay out tips and cash backs so that she could pocket the cash.  Sue would void client payments to their client account and then pocket the cash.

Editing Transactions:

Sue used editing even more extensively than voiding transactions to pocket cash.  It is my guess that she would edit out the product portion of the sale or account payments, etc to add value to the cash drawer that she could then pilfer.

Payment Type Other:

She would use payment type “other” to pay for sales and then pocket the cash.

Petty Cash:

She would alter the petty cash log to add cash to the register that she could then steal.

Donations:

When the spa would collect for a charitable event, monies went to Sue.

Opening Cash:

She would alter the opening cash amount in her register report to give her a plentiful stash of cash from which to steal.

Altering Reports and Activity Logs:

With help from her husband who was the IT guy that the spa used, Sue was able to cover her tracks, give herself administrative access, access to the system from home, encrypt data, steal data, and destroy backups (essentially to cover her tracks).

Because Sue was able to make sure that every daily reconciliation reports showed no shortage the bookkeeper never suspected any wrong doing, and Jane thought she had a model employee that she could trust.    

Sue’s own written confession tells (almost trying to sound noble) that she always made sure that employees got paid for the services they rendered; she never stole more than $500 in one day, and never cashed or deposited a client’s check.

The hundreds of thousands of dollars that Sue stole from Jane’s business is devastating indeed, but the years of trust that were violated is just as demoralizing.  How will Jane ever be able to trust anyone else that she puts at the front desk?

There are lessons here, and some are obvious.  We must be vigilant, we must check and double check, we must be more involved.  But some lessons are less obvious, for example we must work with our software vendors:

1. When buying our spa software we must not only look at the ease of use, and marketing capabilities, etc, we must also drill down to make sure that the software is secure and addresses these various ways of stealing.
2. Make sure we have the most up to date software versions so that we have the highest security possible. 
3. Work with our software vendors to make their product even more secure, call them when you find that someone has hacked, or stolen from you so that they can help plug that hole in their (yours too) system.
4. Turn on all security and alarm features and get full use of these features
5. Change passwords and check everyone’s security levels frequently   

Jane’s business and confidence are severely shaken.  She has legal and investigative expenses on top of the losses her business had already sustained, and little recourse but to retrench and rebuild.  She asks me to please make sure that you are more vigilant than she was, and even when you trust staff members (even family members) you must go to extraordinary lengths to audit and “verify” to make sure that you are not getting ripped off.

It is hard enough to make money in this business as a spa owner with all the sales accounted for, don’t let theft or fraud make your job impossible!

I am sure Jane is not the only one with stories about theft in their spa.  If you would like to write to me and share your story and diabolical schemes that you have found please do at skip@resourcesanddevelopment.com .  I would love to here commentary from software vendors as well telling us what they are doing to prevent fraud, what we should do, and what they have learned over the years.

Best Wishes & Healthy Profits

Skip Williams

As I write the post I have been on the road for 88 days visiting spas and talking to spa owners, and I see some danger on the horizon!  And I have found that less then 10% of spas are making profits so that means that 90% of spas are losing money each (or most every) month.

Revenues in most (these) spas are down about 30-40% from before the economy took a dive.  And as more and more spas close and the spas that are open have less and less work for their employees the rise of the “single practitioner” is on increase.

As our services have become little more than a ubiquitous commodity that can be purchased almost anywhere we find our very industry in a fight for our own survival.  Your may find that your future competitors are not the big spa down the street but instead your past (and possibly present) employees.

I don’t mean to cast a cloud of bad news here but rather to ring the alarm so that we can make adjustments in our business that will insure our survival.

Some of you will find the rise of the “single practitioner” a good thing and may also be an option for many spa owners that are also providers.  But for those who are not and for those that have a large, strike that – huge, investment this is not good news for you!

I have also seen the work of those spas that have done things right, streamlined their operation, made the switch to hourly based pay, and marketed solutions instead of commodities.  And they are healthy, making more profit now than before the recession, some on less revenue than before and them with slight increases.

I love this industry, I care about it deeply, else I would not be out here giving away help and support for free this summer and I wish I could instantly fix it, I wish I could shake the industry to wake up before it is too late, I wish I alone could save it.  But the sad fact is that only a select few will survive, it won’t be easy for them but when you consider the alternative of suffering through endless months of no profit, or closing their doors then the difficult changes that will be necessary seem like a small price to pay.

Are you at the end of your rope?

What will it take for you to turn things around?  Do you have the energy to turn them around?  Are you willing to do what it takes to turn things around?

I hope the savvy readers of this blog have what it takes, for it is to them that I dedicate this Spa America Tour.  It is for them I work my hardest.  And it is for them I hope that this tour has helped in some small way to contribute to their success.   

What makes me the “expert”?  Who am I to be the self appointed voice of the spa owners?  Good questions, to which I can only answer that I hope that I am not the only one that dedicates him/herself to the cause of fixing a (frankly) failing industry.  But my friends, I am out here in the trenches where you live and I see and feel your pain.  My heart breaks knowing what you face each day with the heavy load of debt, and operating expenses that prevent you from paying your personal bills or taking care of your family they way you would want them cared for and I can not sit still and keep quiet about it.

When I return home, I will be more dedicated than ever, I will be more knowledgeable than I was before.  For I have seen the challenges first hand, I have been to more spas and spoken to more spa owners than anyone I know, and I understand what works and what does not.  And what I have seen humbles me, and if you choose Skip Williams and Resources & Development to help you achieve your goals all I can promise is that you will get my best work, my best advice, and my best efforts to help you enhance your business…

Best Wishes & Healthy Profits

Skip Williams

PS:  If the Spa America Tour has meant anything to you thus far please write to me and tell if it is worth repeating next year.  Are you learning anything?  Have the blogs or the visits been helpful in any way?  Please let me know that I am not speaking to the wilderness…thanks!

Retooling Robert Frost

(Spa America’s… Promises to Keep)

By Skip Williams

This winding road I think I know.

Twisting, turning, going fast then slow;

My troubles in my rear view disappear

And up ahead the street lights glow.

The road is long and the future unclear

Far from home without a friend near

Shift the gear and squeeze the brake

Going fast and filled with fear.

The mission important, a lot at stake

Helping others for goodness sake.

Faith and trust before the leap

Are required to fix the ache.

The journey is lovely, dark and steep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

(With apologies to “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost)

A couple of years ago when the economy was going south many spa owners called me to ask if they should start discounting.  The concern was that if they did they might cheapen their brand and that when the economy turned around they might have a difficult time getting pricing back to normal. 

When I asked if they could survive on the volume of business they had at full price most said no that they could not… so the answer as to whether they should or not became self evident.

Well, the economy is far from recovery and discounting has become a game of “how low can you go”… so what is a spa owner to do?

I believe that “Loyalty Point” programs may be the answer!  More importantly Loyalty programs can change the behavior of your Clients to allow you to maximize profitability and here is how.

Let us say that we create a very simple and straight forward loyalty program that gives $1 of value for every $10 spent.  That means that your Clients would get every 11^th service for free.  Why I like loyalty programs is because they cost you nothing UNLESS customers are coming back, unlike discounts that first time Clients use and then never come back.

So how do we use these point systems to affect behavior the way we wish?  Let’s first make a list of what we would like them to do:

• We would like first time Clients to return
• We would like all our Clients to re-book before leaving the facility
• We would like them to come in on a slow day (Tues for example) instead of our busy days (like Saturday) so that we can open up some busy day slots for NEW Clients.
• We would like Clients to like us on Facebook
• We would like them to refer new Clients to us

Perhaps you have other things that you wish your Clients would do that would help you achieve your goals, just add them to this list (and send them to me too).

Okay let’s use our loyalty program to achieve these things.  What if we offer all first time Clients double loyalty points?  Those points are like cash in their pockets (burning a hole) that they can only spend in one place, and perhaps they will be less likely to be looking for the next coupon special from your competitors.  But even if they don’t come back, you didn’t discount, you got full price!

Same for coming in on a slow day, re-booking immediately, or new client referrals, go ahead and get generous with the points they don’t cost a dime unless they come back and that is a good problem to have.

Monthly specials could now be based around additional loyalty points instead of dollars off.  We could give a few points for “liking” us on facebook or writing a review for us on Yelp.  Go crazy with these things, use your imagination but always (just as in discounting) try to modify their behavior to do something that helps your business!

Bonus for those of you that have changed to an hourly based pay system; if you use these promotions to fill excess capacity you will not only level out the client demand but also increase your utilization rate which is like have services done with no additional labor costs.  This can help your bottom line in a huge way as we will discuss next week at the Spa & Salon Expo in Atlanta.

I would love to hear your thoughts, please write me at skip@resourcesanddevelopment.com

Best Wishes & Healthy Profits

Skip Williams

As the adventure continues my luck holds out.  While in Atlanta, remnants of tropical storm Lee came through town and created quite a scare with tornados landing all around me, but fortunately not where I was.  So a few rainy days of riding was a small price to pay to avoid such calamity.

Also as luck would have it one of the Spa America Tour Sponsors was located in Atlanta and I was invited to visit them.  Premier USA Dead Sea http://www.premierdeadsea.com  & Gratiae Organics http://www.gratiaeorganics.com . 

As Haya Gal showed me around the headquarters is was immediately apparent how passionate she was about skin care and specifically these products.  After several demonstrations I was impressed by not only how organic they were but also the amazing results that were obtained immediately from their use.

When I think of organic products I think of products that are luxurious, smell great, and are healthier.  Both Premier and Gratiae are all of those things but the results that can be obtained from only one use were astounding and exactly what clients are looking for to consider returning to the spa on a frequent basis.

I was also impressed with the very low opening order requirements which make these very attractive lines for Spa businesses with cash flow issues.  And who doesn’t have cash flow issues these days…

If your skincare business could benefit from an organic line that gets incredible results then you owe it to yourself to check out these two lines.  Oh yes and before I forget, make sure you check out their “Gold” line with gold suspended in the product it is very luxurious!

Better yet if you are planning on being at the Spa & Salon Expo September 17-18 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta then you can check them out at booth 300.

Speaking of the Spa & Salon Expo (and Rainy Nights in Georgia) would you like to go?  I am inviting you as my guest to this event and will even give you a VIP pass to the tradeshow floor for FREE if you just email me and tell me that you would like to attend.

Email me at skip@resourcesanddevelopment.com and I will send you a free pass… I look forward to seeing you there.

I have always enjoyed a good road trip; there is something about it that makes me realize what a small part of God’s amazing creation I really am.  While at the same time there is a certain explorer or even conqueror aspect to the travel as well.

But the motorcycle gives yet another dimension to the “spiritual” aspect of the road trip for me…  In addition to having the sights, I have the sounds, the smells, and the elements which provide me with an even more satisfying or complete experience.  Sometimes I feel a flying sensation as I speed down a lonesome road, and in my mind’s eye I see myself from a “bird’s eye” perspective, looking down on myself working the bike and the roads through nature’s perfect vistas.

Sure there is risk, but life itself is a risk, and if we always avoided them we would never leave the house.  Risk is where we learn lessons and have the opportunity for success.  Without risk there would not be successes, for it is the journey not the destination, right?  It is on the road, perhaps the road less traveled, that we find our bliss.

Personally I can’t get enough!  Even now after 65 days on the road I find myself trying to figure out how I can stay out here and keep rolling from town to town always in amazement of what I will find scenically and grateful for what kindnesses I will find.

Soon the road will lead to the Spa & Salon Expo in Atlanta September 17-18 where I will share much of what I have learned while visiting so many Spas and then reflecting on their challenges while riding and contemplating.  My Keynote lecture is called “What I Learned on My Summer Vacation” and I would love to have you there.  (You can register at http://www.spaclique.com/spa-and-salon-expos-registration.html )

My friends, you have all been very kind to me during this amazing trip and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support both on line as well as in person.  I can tell you that we are already giving thought about how to make this tour bigger and better for next year, and how we might reach more people and provide more help to spa owners throughout America.

If you have suggestions, please email or post them…  In the mean time I still have another month on the road and I can assure you I have been saving the best for last.

Best Wishes & Healthy Profits

Skip Williams

skip@resourcesanddevelopment.com