BLVD: Austin City Limits Battle of the Bands

The Sound and The Jury

Help us win a spot at The Austin City Limits Music Festival!!

Round One Voting Deadline is August 22

It is all about the votes!! We don't move to round two without your help now! Use all your e-mail addresses and ask your friends to vote...we need your help!

Click here to vote now!!!!

Thanks for your support and friends, please pass this on!

I'm Co-Writing for the Cartfly.com Blog Now!!

Here is a sneak peak!

Cartfly Gets Bands Selling on Social Networks
Selling your unique band merchandise and CDs online can be a huge opportunity to make money and increase your band's visibility. Using Cartfly.com as your store gives you mobility and the beauty of replication because we all know you can only sell so much at your live shows.

Let's look at the Livetronica band BLVD from San Francisco. They have a website, a blog, a MySpace, a Facebook page and an Imeem page. So right off the bat, BLVD has the ability to have 5 copies of their store in 5 different web locations. Their Cartfly store enables them to sell to 15,000 fans right away.

Click here for the full story.

"I'm Voting Republican"...Crazy Hits On The Web!

Hi All!

Take a satirical look at dedicated Republican's reasons for voting their party.

This was a independent film I was involved in here in AZ with SyntheticHuman Pictures.

This was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday 6/10 and has already received 1.5M+ hits and the very informative website has received 468K+ hits since it launch on Sunday 6/8!

It is currently on the front page of Google Video, the top of the Alternet heap, featured on BuzzFeed, Wired's Blog Feed and even on Talking Points Memo. Today it was on MSNBC news!

If you have not seen this already, do yourself a favor and do so!!

www.imvotingrepublican.com

Thanks for your support!

P.S. I am the lesbian!!

Staffing Your Spa for Success PART II

How do you know where to start?  As a spa or salon owner or manager, the first thing to look at is any consistencies in turnover.  After years in the club and spa world, it is obvious to me that turnover is contagious.  When one disgruntled employee starts complaining on the job, they all seem to get on the band wagon.  This could be due to many in-house issues; low morale, no clear career path, lack of recognition and even poor employee-manager relations.

If you were a fly on the wall, what would your staff be saying when you were not around?  Are your employees happy and feel this is the best work environment they have ever been in?  Or do you have back-stabbing employees, consistent fires and daily drama?  These are two extremes and hopefully you spa's staff is relatively drama free and content.  Many managers don't even realize or care about how their staff feels.  This is the difference between an effective manager and a manager with ongoing staffing issues.

To be an effective manager you need to give your staff the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings so you know when problems exist and how to put them to rest as quickly as possible.  A weekly, mandatory meeting is necessary to keep the lines of communication open and to keep any egos in check.  This is also a great way to develop trust and give your staff a time and a place when they know problems and issues will be addressed.

I hope you take the time to do an environmental evaluation of your spa and give your staff the chance to vent before it is too late.  Remember it is less expensive to keep your existing staff happy and on board, them to find new ones!  

Staffing Your Spa for Success in 2008

With the new year upon us, it is time to take look back at what we did great last year and what we could improve on.  Staffing is an on-going issue that most of us could use a helping hand with.  Was the difficulty staffing your manager and department head positions, or was the challenge in the hourly and part time positions?  Do you have high turn over in your existing staff?  Are you getting qualified candidates for your open positions?

There are a few concepts to consider when looking to improve the staffing program for your spa or salon.  A better retention program, an applicant tracking program and an employee referral program.  I will delve deeper into each one of these in my next entries.  If you can find a way to dial in each idea to fit your spa or salon, you will be able to hold on longer to your current staff and have more luck when hiring new ones.

It is important for companies to position themselves more competitively - having more efficient, productive staff and keeping operating expenses low.  An organizations biggest asset is its people, and also its biggest expense.  If you want to increase your staffing success, might you consider using SpaandSalonJobs.com?

Spa Employment Compensation Plan (Part II)

In my previous post I hit on the average hourly/yearly rates that therapists, support staff and managers are getting paid.  I wanted to touch on the pro's and con's of the actual compensation plans.  As I said, there are three ways in which therapists get paid:

1. Hourly Pay Rate

2. Commission Based

3. Combo of Hourly and Commission

As far as hourly pay goes, therapists are paid for each hour they are at work, whether a service was performed or not.  Hourly pay rates usually differ state to state, but as stated earlier the range is from $8 to $12 per hour.  The pro's to being paid hourly, you know how many hours you work in a week and how much you make an hour.  This is the way to have a steady paycheck and no surprises, no matter how busy or slow the spa happens to be.  The con's, you get paid the same amount whether you are busy or not and if you provide above average service or not.

Now for the commission based therapist.  This is the most commonly used plan where the therapist is paid a predetermined amount for each service performed.  Again, the average rate is 30% to 40% of the full service which equates to $25 to $40 for a one hour treatment. The pro's, therapists are compensated for experience and education as well as their up-selling abilities and building up of clientele.  This is a very simple formula, the more hours you work, the more treatments you perform, the more you can make!   The con's, very simple...no traffic, no money.  Watch out for newly opened spas or spas off the beaten path.

Last but not least, there is the combination plan of hourly pay plus commission.  In this plan the therapist receives their hourly rate with a commission for each service provided and is normally offered at newly opened spas.  The pay is about $10 to 12 per hour with 20% to 30% commission on each treatment provided.  The pro's, security of an hourly rate, even when it is slow, but also the motivation to build repeat business.  No real con's to this structure, only that your pay structure will eventually move to commission only.  It is simply used to maintain happy employees during that on-again, off-again start up phase.

I hope you find this information helpful and for all your staffing needs, remember SpaandSalonJobs.com.  Find qualified candidates fast at an affordable price!

How Should I Be Getting Compensated as a Spa Employee?

You may be a veteran of the spa world looking for a new job or for that bump up into a management position.  On the other hand, you may be brand new to the spa industry.  What ever group you may fall into, the bottom line is, how should you be getting compensated?

As far as Spa Technicians (Massage Therapists, Skin Care or Body Treatment Therapists) go, there are three options.

1. Hourly Pay Rate

2. Commission Based

3. Combo of Hourly and Commission

They each have their pro's and con's (which I will delve deeper into in my next blog).  Depending on your personal motivation and monthly monetary needs you have to decide which structure fits your lifestyle best.  Since the spa industry is becoming so competitive, you may also want to consider a spa with benefits like insurance, ongoing education, bonuses, sales commission, tips, raises, provided uniforms, vacation and retirement plans.

Now lets look at the average pay rates* and commission percentages based on each position...

Aestheticians - Hourly rate of $10 to $12, plus 20-30% of each service provided and 10-25% of retail sold.  The gross hourly rate calculates to $22 - $40 per hour or $25K - $65K per year for a full time employee.

Massage Therapists - Same as above or NO HOURLY RATE but 30-40% of each service provided and 10-25% of retail sold.  Same yearly income as above for a full time employee.

Front Desk, Reservationist & Housekeeping Positions - Hourly rate or $8 to $12.  This equates to $15K - $23K per year for a full time employee.

Remember, employers usually base their pay scales on experience and longevity.

As far as Manager and Director positions go, salaries* are based on the type of facility you may be working in.  These positions typically include insurance, bonus plans and vacation.  They usually do not include over time (you know you will be working more than 40 hours a week!), commission or tips.

Day Spa - $40K to $50K per year

Hotel/Resort Spa - $40k to $50K per year

Destination Spa - $60K to $90k per year

Multi Facility Position - $7K to $100K per year

I hope this was helpful in giving you a better idea of the "going rates" these days.  This will help you when negotiating your rate for your new position.  Don't forget to check out SpaandSalonJobs.com for the newest jobs in your city today!

*All rates and salaries listed were found at virtualspa.net