Growing Pains

My salon is going through some growing pains, some more painful than others. I’m switching out the skin care line to Eminence Organics for use in facials and as the retail skin care line. It’s a green line, so I think that fits better with the environmentally friendly story of my salon. I’ve set up a training session with Eminence for early September, and I’m trying to hire a new esthetician in the meantime.

 

I’ve realized that massage services aren’t going to work at my salon. I can’t compete price-wise against all of the Thai massage places on the block. I’m in the process of trying to figure out what service would be better for the former massage room.

 

It was a costly improvement, but I’ve improved the look and usefulness of the first floor by eliminating two of the manicure tables and replacing them with two pedicure spa chairs. Now, there are four of each downstairs (plus, the private pedicure spa room upstairs). It opens up the look and my employees can organize their services better. I used two Mondays (the day the salon is normally closed) to have contractors rip out the wall, add plumbing, redo tilework, and move the TVs. They were able to complete the project quickly.

 

The original salon manager I was working with wasn’t a good fit at the salon, but I’m happy to say that I’ve promoted the client coordinator, Toni Ciaravino, to the position and she’s been doing well. I’m glad I was able to promote from within. I now need to hire a part-time client coordinator to take over Toni’s original role.

 

Oh, and ROB|B is now “tweeting”. Yes, I started a Twitter account, www.twitter.com/robbsalon, for the salon. I was inspired by the phenomenon of the roving Kogi BBQ truck; following this food truck and seeing its fans around town made me realize how powerful Twitter is as marketing tool (seriously). I’m still trying to figure the site out, but so far I’ve been using it to announce appointment openings and the like.

 

—Robbie, ROB|B: An OPI Concept Salon, Studio City, Calif.