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Featured Salon November Spa Scotta
Posted 10-28-2009 5:17 pm by

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Spa Scotta: November’s Featured Spa 

Spa Scotta is an amazing skincare destination, recognized  for their excellence by Seattle Metropolitan, Seattle, American Spa, New Beauty and was TWICE named in the Allure yearly A-List.  Salon Services has been lucky enough to have a wonderful working relationship/friendship with Spa Scotta. In fact, owner Jessica Campbell has recently taught a few Brazilian waxing classes at our Renton, WA headquarters. This month we served Jessica up a barrage of rapid-fire questions to gain some insight into her successful and much-acclaimed business.  

What did you do before you go into the business?
I worked for a health insurance company looking at doctors’ credentials to see if they were good enough to be on the plan or not.  

How did you get into the business?
When I was a kid I always wanted to be a hairdresser.  But going to college was the thing to do in my family. So I moved out to Seattle, but the economy kind of sucked so a friend said “why don’t you go to beauty school?” I started at Joico and finished up at Greenwood. Then decided I wanted to go back and get my cosmetology license.  

Why did you choose skin over being a hairdresser?
It just resonated with me more. Quite frankly I wasn’t a good hairdresser, but I was a really good esthetician.

READ ON!

What is your favorite service to perform?
Definitely the Brazilian, because unlike working in an office you have a definite sense of job completion. When it’s done you can see the job, that it’s totally completed and that you’ve done a good job.  

How long were you an esthetician before you started your own business?
I started at Spa Scotta in 1998. I was their first employee; the business was not even fully built out yet.  I left that interview wanting to work for her so bad.  I started as their esthetician, then managing, then being the spa coordinator. After that I began to think that I didn’t want to turn 40 and work for someone else, and as it turned out (the previous owner) decided to sell the business around that time. It couldn’t have been more time wise perfect. I bought Spa Scotta on July 1st, 2006.  

As a business owner, what is the biggest challenge you’ve had to tackle?
You know I think for myself the biggest challenge has been the finances. I’m not a money person so understanding profit/loss, cash flow, inventory…  I FIRMLY believe in having a business coach. I’m a big proponent of working with people who are smarter than me; especially in the areas I am weaker.  

I know you’re spa includes the Chic Boutique – how do you decide what products to carry?Well it’s definitely been a process and I’ve learned that I can’t necessarily carry what I want. I have to carry what other people want. It has been a lot of trial by fire. I have a lot of input from my staff members who talk to the clients and have major input into what comes into the spa now. They will tell you in a heartbeat what products aren’t selling. They’re usually right so I trust them. 

How does your staff feel about retailing?
Our attitude toward retail sales is that we recommend we don’t’ sell. We find out what clients see as issues and address that. It takes the sales out of it and totally becomes a recommendation.  We’re always especially comfortable recommending Dermalogica products because they offer us the support to take something back if it doesn’t work out the way it should. It definitely makes us even more confident in our recommendations.  

You have an ecommerce element to your website – how’s that working out?
You know it hasn’t taken off to quite the extent that I’d like it to. The thing that I’ve learned is that ecommerce takes on a life of its own; it is its own business and takes a lot of time to make it work.  

Salon Services follows you on Twitter. Do you ever use Twitter to fill open spots in your books? How successful has that been?
Yes. It’s been tremendously successful. We utilize Twitter, Facebook and send out emails, using everything in conjunction. We’ve had such positive feedback from our clientele. We try to keep our tweets to a minimum. I can’t stand tweets telling me what you someone had for breakfast or the weather. We try to keep them so that they’re beneficial to the people reading them. We keep it to things like “we have opening an opening at X o’clock.” We also tweet our product sales for the week and sometimes employee accomplishments or recommendations.  

What is your most popular service?
Probably our Signature Pedicure: We soak your feet in a warm bath, smooth calluses, give you a foot massage, coat feet in a hydrating mask and wrap them in warm paraffin. Our pedicure polish often lasts a month or more – so we’re pretty famous for that.  

What is the average Spa Scotta client like?
Female. 90% female, running from 25 to 60 and definitely educated. We get a good mix between the moms and the career woman, we see both worlds.  

How do most new clients here about Spa Scotta?
We have a pretty significant online presence, people have found us on CitySearch or Yelp and we have fantastic word of mouth. Advertising has been the least effective way of gaining clientele.

Your awards in Allure probably don’t hurt…
No, I’d say that helps a lot. Helps our egos too! 

You’ve been teaching waxing classes @ Salon Services recently – how is that going?
I love it. It’s been great. First of all you guys are really easy to work with and I’ve very passionate about what I do and I love having an outlet where I can share things with people SSS has always been so supportive of me and my business, and I definitely support (thm) it’s a mutual admiration society.  

What inspires you to teach others?
I love sharing my knowledge with others and helping them succeed. 

STAY TUNED: Jessica Campbell will be teaching Brazilian Waxing classes in Salt Lake City, Spokane and Portland.  

How does Spa Scotta prepare for the holidays?
We’ve started to increase our inventory, and have changed our inventory mix. We’re focusing on small gifts stocking stuffers and hostess gifts, things that are $40 and under. 

Do you do any holiday decorating?
We keep it extremely simple minimal. Maybe some lights and fresh poinsettias at most, we want to be respectful of different religious groups.   

How have gift card sales been for Spa Scotta during the holidays?
It’s our biggest season. The holiday season and mother’s day are great for gift cards.  

Any events planned for the holidays?
We actually do a lot of fundraing event.  This year we’re doing work to support BAHIA Street, which is an organization in Brazil providing services for the afro-Brazilian population of girls. Their lives are pretty bleak, they’re part of the lowest economic class, Bahia Street provides them a place to shower and eat, offers them extra school work and educates them about pregnancy. This population has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy. 

Bahia Street is run by the local people in Salvador. So far there have been no further pregnancies and three of the girls have gone to college – which is UNHEARD of.  We’re going to do a Brazilian night and have drinks and have a samba dancer – we try to have an event that is fun for the attendees but also is beneficial. 

This will be on December 10th, but we’re still in the beginning stages of planning. We’ll have a giving tree and people can outright donate if they want.  $22 provides two girls with backpacks and shoes for the year it doesn’t take a lot to make a massive difference.  

For more information on Bahia Street, visit www.bahiastreet.org.
To learn more about Spa Scotta, visit www.spascotta.com.


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