This past Friday (January 23, 2009), I sat down with Diane Lee – co-host of FOX 23’s morning show – to discuss winter skin care do’s and don’ts. Considering how cold it’s been these past few weeks, I couldn’t ask for a more perfectly pertinent topic.
I think the most important piece of winter-related advice will always be the benefits of a milky cleanser with alpha hydroxy acids that gently exfoliate over a standard bar or face soap.When ever you exfoliate the dead surface cells, any hydrating ingredients applied after penetrate much more efficiently. It is like removing a blanket of dead skin and allowing the serum to penetrate to where it is needed. I recommend using lactic and citric acid rather than glycolic acid, especially during the winter months. Glycolic acid is a very well known alpha hydroxy acids however, it is better suited for an oilier skin type.
After exfoliating with a gentle cleanser (not soap;), I recommend using a hydrating serum with hyaluronic acid, or sodium PCA to add and bind moisture into the skin. This should be followed with the appropriate day cream which has a sun protection factor of at least a 15.
I had fun during the interview and hope to do more in the near future! I’ll leave all thoughts pertaining to my on-air performance for later this week – if you have any questions regarding some of the ingredients or products I mentioned to Diane, by all means, let me know either by comment or email. Stay balanced
Recently, Paul Krugman wrote in response to President Elect Barack Obama’s planned tax-breaks for small businesses that
First, Mr. Obama should scrap his proposal for $150 billion in business tax cuts, which would do little to help the economy. Ideally he’d scrap the proposed $150 billion payroll tax cut as well, though I’m aware that it was a campaign promise.
Dr. Krugman thinks that I’ll just horde the money away – well guess what …
That’s just not true!
Here’s what I will spend all money generated from either tax breaks or energy savings:
I would purchase new treatment tables for the remaining rooms that need them, I would purchase furniture for our relaxation lounge for our clients to have lunch or dinner at and I would send our department managers for additional advanced training. That money would go directly back into business building tactics and because we would be using it to purchase equipment and necessary supplies, it would help stimulate the economy.
So Mr. Krugman please think more clearly and consider what you are really recommending and how it will effect the small business owner and it’s employees……..
We closed on the new Complexions building in November of 2007 and immediately began demolishing the existing building. Many – my sons especially – think of demolition as a super-fun activity. If only that were true with Green construction! Long story short – we had to be very very careful every step of the way.
First and foremost, we had to have asbestos specially removed by an independent company. They had to have special air filtration throughout this process. While they were doing their part, my father and I sought out salvage companies that would take some of the construction waste, diverting it from the land fills. They provided the dumpsters and we sorted the waste. We separated electrical wire, electrical parts, lighting fixtures, and steel studs. After it was all sorted, it was weighed and sold. We were able to sell ceiling tiles and the old plumbing fixtures too. For one of our LEED points, we had to measure the square footage of the original walls that we took down. This helped with the point that determined how much of the original building was being re-used. We actually salvaged the entire, original exterior shell of the building and diverted 75% of our construction waste.
The next step was to chop up much of the flooring to lay down the necessary plumbing. The layout of the plumbing was very difficult. We had to mark out all the rooms and walls with spray paint on the concrete slab to determine the proper location of all the pipes. It was like guessing where the pieces of the puzzle would eventually end up. This was especially difficult because of the circular design of our reception area walls and salon. The plumbing had to be layed out very carefully and perfectly. We did have to chop them up a few times to get it exactly correct before we could close the floor and begin to construct the walls. After some re-search, my father located a company where we could purchase the steel studs made from recycled steel. With the walls going up it was very exciting to see the Spa start to take shape. Once the walls were up, the plumbing in the walls was finished, and we could then proceed with the duct work for the heating and cooling and the air filtration system. When all of this was completed, the ceiling went up using ceiling tiles made from recycled material, the walls were sheet rocked, and we moved on to the next design phase.
Calcuating year end revenue is kind of like solving a circle (given three points on it
After relaxing for the first day of the New Year, I went into work today, anxious to print out our month end numbers and our year end totals. I tell you, if you totally focus in on the negative tone of all the media, you would expext the year to have been a disaster. We had an amazing year! We had a 33% increase in our gift certificate sales alone for the month of December. Not bad for only being in our new location for six months. It pays off having Complexions located in an “A” location verses a “D” location. We spent a quarter of what we spent in previous years on advertising and still came out way ahead. We focused on our internal marketing and I feel strongly that worked really well for us.
I studied our yearly totals and have some thoughts and plans for the new year. I need to focus on our retail sales and I want to continue to work on our loyalty programs and new business. Annually you can expect a loss of about 20 % fewer customers for reasons out side of our control. Each month we need to focus on getting and keeping New Business. Getting more and more creative with our “word of mouth” advertising and strong referral programs, in my opinion, work the best.
Next week I want to re-evaluate all of our expenses and really tighten up our effeciancy and cost control. This way we might be able to pass along some of those savings to our guests for the new year. Over all we had appoximately a 27% increase in business over last year. I am very pleased with our growth during this economic time and I am excited for the new year. Next week I will also have my monthly goals done, budgets in place and I can work on our advertising and promotional calander for the year. I love what I do…….Happy New Year!!
While it did cost a bit more money on the front-end to make Complexions Spa an energy efficient facility, it appears more and more likely with each passing month that our year-over-year energy savings will take care of the initial investment far sooner than originally forecast. And that’s with oil being sold at less than $50 per-barrel. I really can’t wait to reach that milestone because after that, every single dollar saved gets to go right back into where it came from – the spa!
Before breaking ground, our goal was to save approximately $10,000 in relative energy-costs in 2008. And while our early estimates were a bit overly-conservative in regards to future energy prices (though not as much now given that they have come down some 50% from their late summer highs), six months in (we soft-opened in June), I’m pleased to report that our new facility at 221 Wolf Road has passed its first major test with flying colors It certainly wasn’t easy cutting our watts-per-square-foot in half – you essentially have to put a lot of little pieces together in such a way as to generate a whole whose output is greater than the sum of its many, different parts – but doing so allowed us to double in size, without doubling in costs. Long story short, the initial costs paid up front will be paid for in less than three years!
For anyone out there interested in the brass tacks, don’t fret – I putting together several posts for the very near future on the types of products and construction materials used. Right now, my list includes washer-type, reasearch on low flow water faucets, florescent and LED lighting fixtures, efficient heating & vent systems, the importance of glass, flooring, insulation, and more. So stay tuned
Eco-Embedded Spas: A Deeper Shade of Green: Back in 2005, SpaFinder identified the eco-spa boom, crystallizing the first industry definition, still widely used today. In our 2007 forecast..
I have to agree with Suzie regarding what it means to be a real Green Spa………I have recently completed a year long project of building our new facility, Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness. This was a lengthy and detailed process of making our entire facility as eco-friendly as we possibly could. It all started with a desire to provide wellness services in an environment that supported that same philosophy to maximize the experience for our guests. This process was far more detailed than simply using florescent light bulbs. Everything from how we diverted 75% of our construction waste from going to the landfills to the type of glass for our windows. We even have quality clean air control, motion sensors in work rooms, low VOC paints, adheasives, wall paper and more. I do think the consumer will become more knowledgeable about what “Going Green” really means and they won’t be fooled by people just trying to jump on the band wagon. We didn’t just say we were green, we are green. ♠
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.
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