Since it was Christmas Eve yesterday, I will publish the post about my business week now on Monday instead (usually always publish on Sundays otherwise) you may not know it anyway but if any of you against all odds sat on Christmas Eve yesterday and thought that "Helena have forgotten their business week this week ”so I can tell you that was not the case;)
First of all I have to say WOW what a week at the salon! It has been such a cozy atmosphere with gingerbread, Christmas decorations and happy customers who buy Christmas presents and gift cards and book treatments to spruce up for Christmas and New Year, and in terms of business we have had a real record week!
Diploma to Ida!
Ida is no longer an apprentice but has met the knowledge requirements and gone up to level 4 in our apprenticeship program which means that you are a "Certified professional artist" with at least 1 year of experience and at least 600 treatment hours! Ida is up for about 700 hours even :)
Ida is thus completely independent and Annika does not have to be available at the salon when she does tattoos, therefore she will soon also be bookable online!
We surprised Ida by receiving this diploma with applause and shouts of joy at our staff meeting last Thursday and she was so happy! Really fun!!
New slippers for customers
Our cozy slippers have always been appreciated by customers at the salon, but over the years have become very worn and began to look a little itchy. But now we have invested in brand new slippers that are so cozy and nice !! I walk around them in the salon all the time haha.
We really focus on that little extra in our service, now in the winter we have blankets, slippers, heat lamps, lit candles, gingerbread and chocolate, two massage chairs with heat in the waiting room and for those who are extra early we have a worst massage armchair man can be in. It is a small investment in gadgets but we think it is very important!
Fina va? :)
Record!
Last Thursday we had a record at the checkout! I do not like to write so much about money because I do not want it to sound like we are just thinking about tilting products and breaking sales records haha, but it is actually a yardstick for our hard work giving results and how many satisfied customers we have that are recurring, I was completely fully booked with my regulars now before Christmas, all our makeup artists were in place and our barber worked even after closing to catch up with everyone who wanted to book before the weekend! And in the middle of it all, Miska was full at the checkout with everyone who came in and bought products and gift cards on a conveyor belt :)
It is such a warm and fantastic feeling in the body when the whole salon is full of life and movement and everyone is happy and satisfied, think that we have built up all this I said to Miska when we sat in the car on the way home. It's absolutely incredible actually.
Update - Back itching
Speaking of gift cards, I thought I would give a little update on our new treatment "get itchy on the back", the gift cards for this go like butter in the sunshine! It's so much fun! Mia has opened up her schedule every other Saturday and already after 2 days, half of the first working day was booked! This will be a success, I hear it! ;)
Christmas presents for the staff
On Thursday, the whole force was at the salon and at our staff meeting in the morning, everyone was welcomed by a table with mulled wine, Christmas candy and Christmas presents! We do not have like most companies that everyone gets the same thing but everyone had selected makeup and beauty products and got a small kit with good and mixed :) So cozy!
I have such decision anxiety so it took me over an hour to choose what everyone would get haha, but everyone seemed so happy so I think I succeeded well!
Pavlock - get electric shocks from bad behavior
This is not really part of my business, but it feels almost like that because I have had so many customers this week that I talked about this with, so it has sort of characterized the whole work week anyway :)
My colleague Annika is a real nerd when it comes to biohacking, the brain and behaviors and I borrowed a fun gadget from her called Pavlock that will change one's behavior to get rid of bad habits.
My bad habit that is both a health thing and a beauty thing is that I bite my lips. So the inside of the lips and always has sores in the mouth, not so deep that it hurts but sometimes the sores turn into blisters and then it hurts a lot. But in addition to the fact that it may not be so good to always bite wounds inside the mouth, it is also the case that I sometimes bite too far out so that it becomes visible when I talk. But above all, I start to get jaw problems as I not only bite a little gently in the lower lip but pull the jaw to the side and bite on the edges of the cheeks and all the places I access haha.
I've been doing this since I was little, for as long as I can remember, so it's a deeply ingrained bad habit.
Anyway - Pavlock is a bracelet and in order for the brain to get rid of the behavior pattern and learn that it is bad, I press the bracelet every time I bite my lips and then I get an electric shock haha! It is connected to an app where you can choose different strengths, I have a middle-evil but have tested the highest and it really hurts so then I would not dare to press so often haha.
It is also connected to an app so if I do not notice myself biting (which I often do not) then Miska can have the app in his phone and he can electrocute me through it instead, dangerously worse;)
So you who visit the salon and wonder why I stand and snatch at the checkout sometimes, it does not ticks it is real electric shocks haha!
It is now possible to book apprenticeship treatments at Ämma!
Otherwise, I have worked a lot this week to complete Ämma's schedule, prices and the whole set-up with how we present our apprenticeship structure in a simple and easy to understand way. Because in January we open her schedule for apprenticeships for permanent makeup!
First, all times must match Annika's schedule because she must be present during all treatments, then it must be changed at the checkout, website, booking system and it is clear what is the difference between Annika, Ida and Ämma who all do permanent makeup but have different prices based on degree of experience. It's a bigger puzzle to put together than you can understand, but I will not bore you with the details;)
I feel a bit chatty in this post but I'm a bit caffeinated and the energy is flowing so I hope it has been a fairly fun read anyway! :)
Soon I will have a make-up customer who comes home to my studio in Gimo, in addition to that I am free these two red days and will rest up properly and just cuddle with the family.
And do you know what else? Miska and I celebrate 8 years together today ♥♥♥
Hope you had a really wonderful Christmas too!
Hug!
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