Rene sits with Matt Williams, Director/CEO of Professional Beauty Solutions, to talk business and the key to the success of Temple day spa
Beauty and skincare industry giant, PBS, recently conducted an interview with Rene Herald, Temple Skincare & Spa Owner/Managing Director, reflecting on the successes of Temple day spa, plus the company values and culture that ensures that their clients become part of the Temple Family.
With skincare salons or day spas (Sydney especially) a dime a dozen, there is a unique few where service to clients are impeccable and where the behind the scenes operations stand out. Rene’s more than 25 years experience in the industry and her 17 years of running the Temple day spa, she has managed to steer the company though many successes along the way. Her tireless passion as a therapist and in business is infectious. It is easy to see why many new salon owners and even peers see her as a mentor.
Now we’re here to talk about all things business, but I want to open by saying, one of the things I love getting together with you and talking about business, and you are one of our standout panel members, in our recent Skin Summit, you got so much praise for your, you know the word that kept coming up was? Authenticity. And for every idea that I can give you, I feel like you give me two back, which I love. So we were discussing where people should really start… And, one of the things that you mentioned, is that sometimes when you’re mentoring clients, you begin with the mission, the vision and the values of the business. So tell us why that’s important.
If you’re running your day spa business without a clear vision of where you want it to go or even what your core values are behind your business, you’re kind of running by default, and going round and round in circles. You don’t really have a clear picture in your mind what your brand needs to become, so how can you then instill to your staff members how you want them to behave, what your brand to reflect, and all the other behaviour that goes with that, to kind of stay true to who you are as a brand.
I would start by writing a vision first. And your vision could be from four years from now AND, and then you write the story of actually where you’re going to be. Because if you are writing as though it’s already happened, you’re feeling it, you’re living it, what does it look like, what does it smell like, you know… how does it feel to be successful where you want your day spa to be, then it is more likely to happen than if it was a fairy tale as such.
Think to yourself, what is your purpose? So why am I actually in business? My purpose is actually clear to me now. And it never was before, it never was before, it was just kind of, “oh I just feel like it…,” I didn’t quite see. My purpose is probably not as magical as other people’s but it’s real from my distance. So mine will be basically, the first reason why I’m in Temple day spa, why it’s important for me to hit targets and make money every day and every year is because I want to be able to have money to be able to give my children and my family experiences. So I want to now, be able to be on the holidays that we can afford to do. Like I’ve got an amazing family, and I’ve mentioned on the panel that this is my second marriage and you know, I love the husband that I’m with and I love my children and I want that unit to be able to enjoy experiences in life. So to do that, I have to make money.
The second thing, part of my purpose is I want to make money because I want to be able to provide for people that have less than me. So 10-20% of all my turnover in Temple day spa then goes towards charities, in supporting things like Hawkesbury’s Helping Hands, B1G1, Hands Across the Water, whatever it is that I choose to support. That’s kind of giving to people that are in less situation. And then the last part of my purpose why I get up and do what I do, and why it’s so important to me to make money is to empower my team. So I love to see everyone around me grow as much as I do. So that’s empowering them with education. It’s empowering them with rewards. And motivating them like they’re amazing and worthy therapists that they are. So that’s definitely three reasons why I have a purpose in doing it.
I like that. In fact if I think about the salon owners watching, to break that down — money, meaning and freedom as well. Because sometimes, people can get a little funny about, oh should money be the motivator. And it shouldn’t be, like money is important, but as long as you’re backing it up with meaning. I think that’s one of the really nice things about having money, is being able to give back and being able to change lives with what might seem a little bit to you, but can be life transforming for them which is also what a charity is for as well.
The thing is with your purpose is that it has to be bigger than just you. It can’t be just about money. ‘Cause when the money is gone, then your passion for your business is gone too.
It has to be a bigger driver. For me, it’s about helping others around me. So now, if I make money, then I can help people like my family. I can help my loved ones in my circle. I can help other people that may need a little bit of help. It’s not about me so I can sip pina coladas somewhere. It’s about giving me the tools that I can then spread to other people around me. And then also having the money to help charities and people in need.
And I think that’s where also your vision comes down to where you want to be. And then, how do I get there?
I like that you jump forward four years? Why four?
Jump forward four years. Because I feel like that’s not too long that it becomes like a fairy tale. And it’s not too close that I panic, holy cow, how do I do that in a year?!
It’s kind of like, between two and four. Sometimes when I write my vision I will change it to two. Because every now and then in Temple day spa, I’ll get a little bit…itchy feet, where “I think now, I should to do this idea, now I should do that idea…” And then, some of these things that come up are actually really great and viable income streams as well. So I’ll do it, which means that my vision will have to slightly change. But four years is a really good benchmark.
Now, that final point of this vision, mission is, the values. Tell us about your values at the Temple.
We write our values down obviously and it’s part of our induction period. It’s part of my hiring process even, and then the induction period, because I can train you to become excellent, skill-sets that you need to do a job. But I can’t train you to be kind, to be nurturing, you know, that sort of thing. So it’s really important that you do hire for values. But you can’t hire for values if you don’t know what they are.
I write my values down and with each value they become a behaviour as well because every value that you have you want then your staff to behave a certain way to reflect that. Does that make sense? So you can write it down as well. My values for my business is definitely Family is Everything. That’s our first one because everybody that knows me will understand that from the day I open my doors, I want my clients, I want my staff members, I want my family, I want my friendship circle… I like, I’m a very relationship person… I want people around me to feel like they’re family and make them feel worthy and loved and so Family is Everything is our first value.
Second thing is professionalism. Professionalism is very important at Temple day spa, obviously because that comes with the behaviour I want my team to treat their clients. Love and kindness, is another one. And again, anyone that knows me knows that I say this all the time especially to my kids, “Love and kindness! (laughs) so and so…”
Love and kindness is definitely one of my values and then, honesty and integrity. And they’re values that come from my personal values because you can’t pretend to be something that you’re not. Honesty and integrity is one of my values, but what does that mean for the business? It means that when my therapist is sitting with a client they’re prescribing skincare, they’re not selling them something that they don’t need.
They’re not telling the client, just sign up for a package that is not needed for their skin, they’re being honest, they’re acting professional and they’re doing everything with integrity.
I love what you said, how can [salon or day spa owners] get more information on that?
Business Beyond Beauty is a mentoring program that my husband, Justin Herald, and I do. He’s been in business for over 20 years, he’s done great work for Attitude. He’s a business owner with me as well and it’s for the hair and beauty industry. Having 26 years in the beauty industry and having had my business for 17 years now, I’ve attended loads and loads of, business courses as well as industry courses, made huge wins and huge losses in business and through that becomes growth. And in the business basically, we are mentoring clients in the hair and beauty industry to be the most successful and sustainable business that they can. A lot of the therapists will be amazing at their craft will start their own day spa business and unfortunately no one’s ever taught them the art of business and the skill set that it takes to actually have a long term, profitable business where they are not just churning the wheel all the time, you know?
Nobody teaches you that. And so Business Beyond Beauty just takes you to that next level. Maybe you’ve got a great business already and just don’t know quite how to get to that next level. It can be anything from pricing and profitability, to policy and procedures, manuals and assistance, systems, issues…Anything that they need so they’re living their purpose and they’re actually reaching their business goals.
And there’s one other thing, which I think is an absolute treat, but well, pardon the pun there but let’s talk about Temple Retreats.
Temple Retreats is for women in business, women who have professional roles in a business so CEOs, CFOs, managing Directors, that sort of thing. And it’s basically what we’re doing is five-star experiential retreats. The first one is in September in Spain and the next one will be next September in Spain because we have such a high demand of people wanting to enrol in that one. All the things that basically, you want to do on holidays that your husband winges about. [We’re] doing a personal stylist consultation with amazing day spas all through Spain, starting in Barcelona, then Valencia, and then Madrid. We’ve got an Arabian bathhouse, magnesium pools. We’ve got shopping. We have a chef that’s coming in to teach us how to cook Spanish paella and we have a catamaran that’s taking us on a half-day sail. Beautiful stuff. Day spas, massages everyday… it’s like, heaven!
We’ll only take a maximum of 12 people. We’ve got a few people who’ve already put their names down and first in, first served for next year.
Not just salon or day spa owners, female, business owners…
Yeah, female, business owners or you don’t even have to have your own business, but a professional working woman… Somebody basically who wants to enjoy luxury, and experiences, and travel, and downtime and self-development. We’ll talk about different self-development and mindset… We’ve got a lecture from an amazing specialist on gut health and mindfulness and all that sort of stuff.
I think it’s an inspiration that anyone, even if it is a small salon, they can scale their business up get it to a point where it’s operating really well, and it’s predictable, and it’s profitable, then they can start to say, well alright, how can I then apply some other dreams or heart goals that I have inside me as well. And I think it’s extraordinary what you’ve done.
Thank you.
Watch the full interview here: Rene’s Secret to Spa Success