Art and Science!

I love to talk about the blend of "Art" and "Science" and how vital it is in our daily life and in our business. Almost everything starts as art but doesn't become marketable until someone turns it into a science. An example of this is writing a book, which most would agree is an art, but publishing it and making it available to the public is a science. Writing a song, creating a movie, or inventing something is an art but making them a saleable product is a science.

When we make a science out of the production of the art we also make it simpler and more efficient to reproduce that art. When writing a book, if we force ourselves to sit down at a certain time of the day, work for a specified period, and utilize tools such as computers, spell checkers, and printers to create our art, doing these things will turn our creative process into consistently reproducible results.

A Spa is full of creativity; many would say that we are artists when we perform our services; however it is the conversion of that Art into Science that will truly give us our success in the Marketplace. This is why turning all the many things that we do each day from answering the phones, to performing the services, to cleaning the facility, to closing the sale into a logical process is so important.

We do not have a true business and we can not achieve brand building without consistency in the way we deliver our products and services. This is achieved through the creation of a process and then working that process until results are achieved or adjustments become apparent.

How do we achieve this critical conversion from Art to Science? Through the creation of systems, operational procedures (see our Ready-to-Use Tools) and through the commitment to continuous daily improvement in our businesses. We should always be seeking to do it better, deliver it more efficiently today than we did yesterday, and demanding the consistency from out employees that our business and our clients depend on.

Skip Williams, the author of “The Reluctant Spa Director and the Mission Dream”, is a recognized speaker and author in the spa arena, recently voted “Spa Person of the Year”, with over thirteen (13) years of experience in the Management, Financial Development & Operational fields, in the Spa and Hospitality Industry as Spa Director, Controller and Business project Consultant. He brings his previous years of analytical business experience in a broad variety of manufacturing, retail and service businesses to studying Resort Spas, Day Spas, Medical Spas, Wellness Centers, and Salons: their profitability, how they operate, and what makes them successful. Skip is also Vice President of Resources and Development.