I haven’t posted a blog entry in a long time, mainly because I’ve been going through the machinations of learning to develop our company’s websites for DAYSPA, NAILPRO and Beauty Store Business magazines (with more to come). After 20 years of working as a writer and editor, I now hold the title of e-Media Director. Sounds impressive, right? But for a “legacy editor” (nice way to say “old”) like me, the fit isn’t exactly glove-like. Translation: I spend a lot of time feeling stupid.

You spa owners who remember Captain Kangaroo or the Captain and Tennille Show know what I’m talking about. It isn’t that we’re too stupid to learn computer and online technologies. They just don’t quite fit us. But for better or worse, these technologies have permeated virtually every business operating today. No doubt you’ve been bombarded with info on the wide array of computer and software systems and Internet marketing strategies now available to enhance your spa operations. (I know for a fact that DAYSPA magazine hits the topic two or three times a year.)

So which type of owner are you? One of the savvy who invests confidently in the latest budgeting software and booking programs, whose fingers manipulate a computer keyboard like Mozart pounding out a piano concerto? Or one of the “raised on the IBM Selectric” set who spends the first 5 minutes in front of a computer cursing while looking for the “on” switch? I guess you know to which crowd I belong. And if you’re with me, I bring you hope.

Your computer software programs, online services and websites are only as valuable as the level of business knowledge they deliver. And who has the most knowledge about your own business? Young, old or in denial, that’s you. To achieve success with any of these vehicles, there must be a brain trust of information. Only until you establish the content, goals and imperatives for your technical venture can the technically trained professionals work their own personal magic.

So let the communication commence. Ask your IT guy to slow down and talk to you like you’re four. Read a slew of the “For Dummies” books (with plain brown covers over them). Put down those messy appointment books, time sheets and P&L statement pages and embrace those talented men and women who can tell a megabyte from an overbite. We need them.

Just don’t ever forget that they need us too.

Can you relate? Respond here or drop me an email at lkossoff@creativeage.com.

A couple of days ago, I received a startling email from a licensed esthetician and cosmetologist from a small town in the Midwest. According to this practitioner, there are several spas in her area offering treatments that they’re unauthorized and/or unqualified to perform. Examples: A massage and nail spa where facials and chemical peels are being done; a medical spa that prescribed retin A, plus performed a same-day chemical peel and microdermabrasion procedure to a client with rosacea.

      This woman, who has practiced esthetics and cosmetology legitimately for many years, and continues to train and learn her profession on a regular basis, is understandably upset. She claims that a friend’s report on a spa business violation to the state’s Board of Cosmetology yielded no results. She feels that because she lives in a small town, no one cares about this issue and is quite frustrated about it.

She wondered if DAYSPA could do anything to help.

This is my first blog entry and I have only one message: If it’s on your mind, it’s worth talking about. I decided this after having had the privilege of reporting on the spa industry from its early progress toward mainstream popularity in the 1990s to its current status as a true social and economic force. When I started at DAYSPA magazine, the playing field was wide open. It seemed like anyone with the desire, training and a few hundred square feet of marble flooring could open a day spa and become reasonably successful. But as editors reporting on a fledgling industry, we found ourselves working in newly dug trenches, scratching to uncover the stories (not to mention the pictures!) that would reveal how these current startups and quietly established spas were finding their way with so little in the way of sources and networking. “Talk to us!” we urged, and eventually you did, more and more each year. And before we knew it, we were buried in our own trenches of information! Today, increasingly sophisticated business models, persistent competition and the astounding growth in product and equipment technology seem to have captivated all of us. Gone is the easy dialogue as we try to keep up with the information that we must all process, and accept or dismiss, depending on our specific situations. To me, the biggest casualty in all of this growth has been the human connection. I miss the leisurely, impromptu conversations I used to have with readers over the phone or at trade shows. Ironically, the more I learn from press packages and newsletters, the less I hear directly from the people who are  the true heart of our industry—you, the spa owners. Have you found your “person to person” contact getting lost along the way to becoming successful? When was the last time you heard someone’s story, and when was the last time you shared yours? If you had all of the time in the world, what would you want to say about your corner of the spa world? Here’s your chance to say it. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking and it doesn’t have to lead to world peace. If it’s on your mind, it’s worth talking about.

Write to me at lkossoff@creativeage.com and let’s get the real stories! Linda Kossoff, managing/online editor DAYSPA