Complexions has been open for 21 years. During this time, I have tried every form of advertising from newsletters, television, radio, newspaper print, magazines, mailings, you name it, we’ve tried it. When it comes right down to it, the most beneficial is the recommendation from a friend or word of mouth. Since our move into our new location I have attended many charity events and fund raisers. The exposure has been wonderful. I can’t tell you how rewarding this has been for my business. I think when I meet people and get to talk about my business, it’s like giving that personal referral to a friend. It has really helped us to grow the business in our new location. I have seen many of the people that I have talked to come in for services. It has been great. To solidify this type of referral business, I have taken it one step further and now we have a structured referral system with all of our employees. Part of their business building monthly goals, they need to have “so many” referrals each month. We’ve provided them with referral “spa dollars” for them to hand out to their guests, (we refer to clients as guests). The spa dollars gives the new guest a discount off their introductory service and the referring guest receives a thank you for the referral card along with their own “spa dollar” to apply to their next service. It is really working well. It brings new business through word of mouth, and the service providers take a little of the responsibility to build their business. Try a little networking, it works!
At one of our SAIC and NYSERDA meetings we learned about the NYSERDA LOAN FUND. It was an opportunity for us to reduce our mortgage rate by 4 interest percentage points. In order to move on this we had to fill out an application at the start of the project. We also had to have the bank preapproved and they also submitted an application as our bank. As the project proceeded we had to compile all of our expenses and supporting documentation along with receipts for the total cost of the project. Everything that we used in an effort to attemp LEED certification qualified under the loan fund. This included consultants that we used, cost of construction as well as the materials cost. We were able to apply approximately $800,000. of our costs to the loan fund.
We scheduled a final meeting with NYSERDA and presented them with a completed binder categorizing everything for them. It took several weeks for them to review all the documentation and receipts. They asked some final questions and then we waited. ….. We finally got word from them and we have been approved. It is amazing. They sent a check to our bank and reduced our interest rate 4% points. This greatly reduced our monthly mortgage payment and greatly eased the strain of expenses for us. This will save us thousands of dollars over the life of our mortgage. The loan money comes from fines that are paid by the companines that are penalized for not following the strict rules and regulations that protect our environment. It then goes to help companies like Complexions, do the right thing and to set an example for others to follow suite. I feel strongly that opportunities like the one that NYSERDA offers are wonderful incentives for businesses to persue.
I began the project of building Complexions Green after going to a business meeting with my sister in law in Florida in May of 2006. When I returned, I discussed my ideas with my brother Tony who is a structural engineer. He was interested with the concept and knew just who to contact. My father has also been in construction for more than 40 years and knew the challenge that lay ahead. I didn”t have a huge budget to work with so the thought of adding more to our costs was not what he wanted to hear. He was in the commercial side of construction and had a very good handle on the cost of construction. He managed very large commercial buildings like the Albany Airport.
My brother arranged for a meeting with SAIC and our architect. When I walked into that meeting and saw the number of people sitting around the table, interested in our project of building Complexion Spa Green, I immediately knew we were on to something very big. There were people from SAIC, NYSERDA, Taitem Engineering, Karpman Engineering, our architect’s office, my father, my brother, and myself. Our initial meeting consisted of them asking many questions about how Complexions was run and operated. We then went through a cheret where we evaluated the possibilities of the 5 different categories associated with LEED certification and what was entailed. We learned about the incentives available through NYSERDA’s Loan Fund and what we needed to do in order to achieve those incentives. That meeting took several meetings and my brother, father, and myself left there a bit over whelmed. Most companies who “go green” and attempt LEED certification have a team of engineers and architects who work together to accomplish this process. We gave it much thought, and with some resistance from my father, the numbers guy knowing this would blow our budget, we decided to move forward.
If I did not have a brother who was an engineer and a father with as much experience as he has managing construction projects and budgets, I would never have been able to complete this as a small business with a limited budget. The added costs of consultants, engineers and architects would have been cost prohibited. For this I am eternally grateful to my brother Tony, who handled most of the documentation and research as well as my father who managed the day to day operations of the construction to be sure the contractors where holding to the strict requirements of going green. This was very challenging because there are not many people well versed in what is required. Trust me when I tell you every detail had to be paid attention to. From the paint cans being used, the adhesives, the waste removal, the air quality during construction and more.
My next blog will be about how we managed this for the next 7 months of construction.
Wow, does it become extremely exhausting at times. The day to day tasks that are so routine. I love my boys so of course they come first, but then there is the pressure of getting everything done at the spa. My days are so regimented and planned out. I get up, I get the boys up, breakfast for them and my husband, and off to work. I have a little time to get myself ready to face the day at the spa. It takes me 15 minutes to drive to work. The minute I walk in, it’s ‘non stop busy! If it’s not an employee asking me a question, it’s a sales person on the phone, a customer that wants to see me, and phone calls that need to be returned. So many people ask me how I balance it all. I am truly exhausted. When I finish work, I have to get to my boys school to pick them up, then make dinner, prepare lunches for the next day and get them to bed. There usually isn’t much time left over for me. I do somehow manage to work four workouts in every week. They are a special break for me, just me. When I do sit down, at the end of the day, I can feel my self sigh slightly with relieve that the day is over and I can rest for a few hours. The crazy thing about this all is that I love my work. I only wish there were a few more hours in the day. Every minute is accounted for and there isn’t much wasted time left over. When you own your own business you never really leave it when you walk out the door………
Image by McCart42 via Flickr
Two years ago I had the honor of hearing John Wooden speak at an ISpa conference in Los Vegas. He slowly walked out onto the stage with a cane and sat in a wing back chair and spoke for about 90 minutes. He spoke of the life lessons he taught his basketball players. There was not a dry eye in the house as he talked so passionately about his coaching philosophies that apply to really any situation in life. Whether it is playing on a sports team, using it in business, or simply daily living. What really stuck with me was his discription of what success means. ” It isn’t the winning or the loosing that matters, but whether you gave it your best shot” The outcome isn’t what matters but how you got there that does.
I was in my sons school the other day and I spotted the VSH tape on the shelf in my sons guidance couselors office. He offered it to me to borrow. I watched it with my sons and husband. I really enjoyed hearing him speak once again. He talked about his pyramid of SUCCESS. When I heard John Wooden speak in Los Vegas, I bought his book for my son. I hope one day, as he matures, he will read that book and find those inspirational words as encouraging as I did. Each block of the pyramid has a special meaning. Simple meaning, but very powerful!
Yesturday, I used that VHS tape one more time before returning it to the guidance department at my sons school. I used it during our monthly staff meeting and we talked about the fact that we are only as good as our last client we take care of… Are we doing the best we can each and every time we have the privilege of performing a spa service for one of our guests! It was a motivating meeting. I plan to use Mr. Wooden’s book for future meetings. I think we can all learn very valuable lessons each step of the pyramid.
Image by ShashiBellamkonda via Flickr
We’ve been open for 21 years and now more than ever, we have to plan for the future growth of our business. I like to section out my year quarterly and develop marketing strategies for each. Based on the success of the previous quarter, we can modify and make adjustments for the next quarter. With the slowing of the economy, we have to watch this even closer and get more creative with our strategies. Fortunately in the beauty industry our clients still choose to get a hair cut, take care of their skin, and unwind with a relaxing massage. They do however have a choice about where they want to go and what they are still willing to pay. At our monthly staff meetings, we have discussed the importance of top notch customer service. We need to, more than ever, make our guests experience with us a memorable one, that leaves them wanting to come back for more. You are only as good as your last client… Are we giving them our best?
Complexions has been open for just shy of 21 years. During this time, I have tried every form of advertising from newsletter, television, radio, newspaper print, magazines, mailings, you name it, we’ve tried it. When it comes right down to it, the most beneficial is the recommendation from a friend or word of mouth. Since our move into our new location I have attended many charity events and fund raisers. The exposure has been wonderful. I can’t tell you how rewarding this has been for my business. I think when I meet people and get to talk about my business, it’s like giving that personal referral to a friend. It has really helped us to grow the business in our new location. I have seen many of the people that I have talked to come in for services. It has been great. To solidify this type of referral business, I have taken it one step further and now we have a structured referral system with all of our employees. Part of their business building monthly goals, they need to have “so many” referrals each month. We’ve provided them with referral “spa dollars” for them to hand out to their guests, (we refer to clients as guests). The spa dollars gives the new guest a discount off their introductory service and the referring guest receives a thank you for the referral card along with their own “spa dollar” to apply to their next service. It is really working well. It brings new business through word of mouth, and the service providers take a little of the responsibility to build their business. Try a little networking, it works!
I had a meeting with NYSERDA last Wednesday to submit the application and supporting documentation for the Loan Fund. It was a tremendous amount of work. At the beginning of our project we submitted an introductory application along with our bank being approved and also filling out a section of the application. Basically there are two parts to our application. The first is in the energy savings and the second is our “greening” efforts. Basically all of the money we spent in an effort to become energy efficient and to “go green” qualifies under the loan fund. Every thing must be supported with documentation proving the energy savings and “green” materials as well as the costs associated with each and every item. It was a very time consuming and detailed process. When we are finally approved and this all goes through the Loan Fund will potentially save us thousand of dollars in interest by reducing our interest rate. Not only does “going green” do wonderful things for our planet, our environment, and future generations, there are wonderful rewards financially.
We entered a contest sponsored by Energy Star this past June. We heard from them recently and learned we were selected as one of ten small business across the country to be recognized for their energy efficiency. We were the only small business in the spa industry to have won this award. It will be announced nationally throughout the media on September 16th. We are very excited to receive this award. Just last night my husband and I listened to Barack Obama and I felt very proud to have completed this task especially after hearing him and Mr. Gore speak about Global Warming. Going Green has been a huge undertaking for my small business. Even working with NYSERDA and the US Green Building counsil, they are not set up to help the small business. If I didn’t have two family members who graciously worked on this project with me, this would not have been possible. My father has a long history, more than 40 years in commercial construction management and my brother is a structural engineer. Together with them we formed our own design team and researched almost every item ourselves. It was not easy and there were definitely times when we almost gave up. Going forward, with my experience I would like to help other small businesses to ” Go Green” . As I said to NYSERDA, there are many,many small business and together if we all made an effort, that would equate to a very big business with a major impact.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f0b5d73b-a6e5-4090-806f-462832a583dd)
My teen age son is going to be 16 years old soon and it’s hard to believe that I was only 4 years older than he is when I opened my business. The kids today have such a different kind of work ethic. It’s funny for me to see the 20 year olds of today and imagine if I were born later if I would have still opened my spa.
I remember it as if it were yesterday. We did not have the technology we have today to do research. I had to depend on trade journals, publications, trade shows, and traveling to do my research. When I recently built the new “Green” Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness, I not only used the previously mentioned resources but I also used the internet a great deal.
My research led to the development of my business plan. I had to figure out how big of a space I needed to design enough treatment rooms that would generate enough income. All of this was done with pencil and paper and a good calculator. From there I went to the bank and solidified my first business loan for $50,000. Because of my age and the fact that I had no collateral, my father had to co-sign my loan. He had a lot of faith in me and has always been my biggest fan. He taught me a great deal about working hard and doing what it takes to make things happen.
From there, construction started and we opened for business on November 27, 1987. Since then we have expanded 4 times and are finally in a beautiful new “GREEN” facility. It only took me more than 21years to get here but we made it and I love it!
This past weekend, we set up our Barber Spa just inside the front entrance into the Saratoga Race Track. I was there with Greg, our third generation master barber offering men’s haircuts, and traditional hot shaves. It was really well recieved and we had a line both days of men waiting to get an old world, traditional hot shave. The men loved it. We featured the Art of Shaving products which you can purchase from our website.
We were joined by Scott from Habana’s Cigar Shop on Central Avenue, Mark Thomas Men’s Clothier, Tri-City Luggage had a display of beautiful pen’s, Northeast Fine jewelry had an incredible selection of fine men’s watches, and there was even a sampling of distinctive scotches. It was really a nice assortment of fine things for men to preview.
It was great to be a part of this event. It was wonderful exposure for our Barber Spa and I was thrilled with the positive feedback and interest there was for old world fine men’s grooming.
We plan to do it again next year at the meet and this fall again down at Belmont Race Track.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ef094896-7e45-4b6e-9eb7-3f80aa6b6fae)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e615cc33-baae-42d3-97d4-a02026d1c0e9)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c63f4c65-6466-4fe3-b79c-7c3cc21c8468)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d3c892ef-8169-4308-a163-706b54ac7a38)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=92a3a17b-4fbe-464a-8507-b31d1fad48ae)
