In my opinion

It’s been a while! I never dreamt when I wrote my last blog post that two months would pass before I had a chance to provide an update on our law to spa journey! The time has flown by and we are just coming up for air now.

We opened on September 5^th and it has been quite a ride! There have been lots of challenges, a few missteps and many bugs and kinks to work out. But for the most part we feel as if our first eight weeks have been a huge success, considering the massive learning curve we have all been struggling to get over - Kate and I as much as anyone!

 
One thing that has come as a surprise is just how often people tell us what they think we should be doing. As lawyers, we are used to people consulting (and paying) us for our legal opinions. In the legal world, many letters, emails and conversations begin with the words, “In my opinion.” But we never imagined we would hear those words directed to us in the spa with such frequency.

Everyone has an opinion about what we should be doing, how we should be operating, what the staff should be wearing, what wine we should be serving and the list goes on and on. In almost every instance the opinions have been provided in a completely helpful manner, but a few have been complaints thinly veiled as “suggestions.”

Many of the recommendations have been welcomed and implemented to great success. Others have been immediately discarded, because even though Kate and I may be newbies to the spa industry, we didn’t get through law school without a healthy dose of common sense. Others have been put on the back burner until we have the chance to really sink our teeth into them and figure out how to incorporate them into our business model.

Of course, the problem with opinions, unsolicited or otherwise, is that the person offering up their advice rarely sees the big picture. So while an idea itself might be great, its application to our current situation could be disastrous. We often find ourselves justifying decisions to a variety of, for the most part, well-meaning people who have only seen a small glimpse of the big picture and who don’t know what the potential ramifications may be. Ultimately, Kate and I are the ones who have to make the final call on what we think is best for Infusion and as we’ve already discovered, it often involves difficult decisions.

But just because we don’t automatically take your suggestions and run with them, doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the thoughtful spirit in which they were offered. So keep them coming, we love to hear all the different ideas and perspectives. We are quite happy to be on the receiving end of the opinions for a change!

Welcome to Boot Camp ... now drop and give me 20

No, we didn't decide to run away and join the army! But we have just finished "boot camp" and I swear  that by Friday night I was feeling like a mean drill sergeant had been making me run drills 24 hours a day for the last week!

In the Aveda world, boot camp is an intensive training period conducted just prior to a spa opening. Kate and I and our team have been immersed in Aveda products, techniques and rituals since last Sunday. Every day we have gathered at Maritime Beauty on Barrington Street to learn various aspects of the spa industry as it relates to Aveda and to start to build our Infusion team culture. It has been total system overload and everyone was looking a little strung out by Friday afternoon. Our team has worked incredibly hard to learn everything they needed to know to be able to start providing Aveda services to our guests next week and we are so grateful that everyone has been so open and willing to push themselves.

On top of getting a handle on the product knowledge and business techniques, Kate and I have also been completely consumed with the last-minute details of finalizing the construction, purchasing and set-up of the spa. We have logged more miles between downtown Halifax and Larry Uteck Blvd. than I care to calculate - on Thursday I drove back and forth to the spa six times. Kate and Nicole, our guest services coordinator, have spent hours working with our as-yet incredibly challenging computer system. I have organized and supervised movers, shopped for the items we knew we needed but didn't have room to store (they are all now sitting in my living room!), driven back and forth to answer questions from tradespeople and tried to keep a handle on the paperwork. Kate has organized marketing, scheduling and dealt with staff questions and concerns. I think we have actually figured out how to be in two places at once.

We have lugged boxes, swept floors, moved cabinetry, run for supplies and fallen into bed at night, only to lie awake trying to remember all of the things that we had to do the next day. It has truly been a week of pushing ourselves to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion.

I guess the only consolation is that no one made us shave our heads or clean the floors with a toothbrush. Oh yeah, that and the fact that as of next, our hard work will have paid off and Infusion Spa + Salon will be open for business!

Back to black

In the not too distant past, lawyers in Nova Scotia were only permitted to wear black or brown shoes when they attended court - any other colour could have resulted in a tongue-lashing from the bench, which is never the way you want to start the day in court. While I don't know this for certain, I suspect that the rule was probably established sometime during the 60s or 70s when baby boomers started showing up for court in flashy coloured footwear, shocking the staid legal establishment into acting to try to maintain some degree of professional decorum.

I also suspect that this rule was finally tossed out as a result of lobbying by the ever-increasing number of female members of the bar. Because, while most women lawyers still tend to be relatively conservative in their choice of clothing (black, blue or grey suits continue to prevail), their footware is where they often make a personal statement - it is not unusual to see red shoes paired up with a grey suit walking through the halls of a downtown law firm.

The rationale for this shoe habit is that if they get called into court on short notice, the judge will be able to see what they are wearing on top - and it better be suitable, ie. conversative - but won't be able to see their feet, planted firmly under the counsel table. Even though the black or brown shoe rule may no longer be in place, it is not uncommon for a judge to frown down upon a lawyer who has taken too much liberty with the unwritten rule of conservative courtroom attire.

Needless to say, Kate and I both own a closet full of white blouses and black suits - when I left private practice to open my own legal research and writing business and started working from home, I swore I would never wear a black suit again.

In the spa industry, black clothing is also standard, but for entirely different reasons than in the law. Black in a spa is versatile, doesn't get stained from the products and makes the service team easily identifiable. What Kate and I have come to realize is that many spa industry professionals tend to use means other than their shoes to let their personalities shine through. We have met with - and in many cases hired - spa professionals with pink hair, plantinum blonde hair, shaved heads, nose rings, lip rings, eyebrow studs, tongue piercings (that one always distracts me) and a myriad of different and fascinating tattoos. The personalities definitely come through loud and clear and in most cases I didn't even notice their shoes because there was too much else to look at.

I'm getting used to the "body alterations" and I can appreciate the art in the tattoos. Tattoos and body piercings have become mainstream and  I suspect it's only a matter of time before this trend makes its way into the courtrooms in downtown Halifax, if it hasn't already. As it becomes more frequent, I can't wait to see whether the older legal generation - who were, by the way, the ones wearing the funky footwear in the 70s - decides it's time for new rules about professional appearance in court.

Decisions, decisions

In the legal world we all live for decisions - those lofty pronouncements from the bench that can make or break your day/week/year with a few short words - either "Case dismissed" or "I find for the plaintiff."

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my new job would rest heavily on decisions as well. Imagine my surprise then, when Kate and I found ourselves faced with dozens of decisions every day. The difference, however, is that rather than legal issues, these decisions involve every minute detail about our new business and in many cases they had to be made on the spot. We have dealt with decisions about staff, equipment, lighting, flooring, computer systems, cabinetry, ceiling heights and inventory, to name just a few. Oh and my favourite - toilets. Yup, toilets. Who knew that toilets came in different configurations with different functions? Well I certainly didn't until very recently. You may now assume that I am toilet expert.

The decisions are endless and for the most part Kate and I are managing to field the questions from contractors, suppliers and potential employees without any major catastrophes. Usually one of us will take control of whatever issue comes up and the other will simply say "I trust your judgment, you decide." So far we have tackled all of the questions and demands head-on, although I will confess that occasionally the decisions have been made by a quick eenie, meenie, minie, moe! We can only hope that we've chosen wisely, because unlike in our legal careers, there is no appeal process here. We will have to live with our decisions for a long time to come!

Putting the team together

Kate and I have gone through our fair share of interviews in our lives. Up to now we have always been the interviewee, sitting across from someone who had something we wanted. In other words, we were there hoping to make a good impression. At least we should have been, but it didn't always turn out that way. I will never forget my law school interview - I was sure I had blown it. Law school interviews tend to be adversarial, because they want to see how well you can argue a point under pressure. I had gone to-to-toe with one of the three panellists on several issues and in the process forgot to keep my poker face in place - anyone looking at me would have been left in no doubt that I thought the guy was a jerk. Obviously I was shocked when I got the call a few days later informing me that I had been given a spot.

Being on the other side of the table doing the interviewing is a very different perspective. We still needed to impress - we wanted the people we were vetting to love us and want to come work at Infusion! However, being in the position of asking the questions was an entirely different game and we had to remind ourselves that everyone reacts differently to facing prospective employers across a table. Most of the lovely people we interviewed rose to the challenge and really made fantastic impressions upon us. But the odd person was uncomfortable and nervous. Our hearts went out to them and we just wanted so badly to help them relax. What a difference from a law school interview where they try to throw you off and get you rattled! As a result of our many interviews, we have started to put together an incredible team and we can't wait to start working with these amazing ladies!


One unexpected thing I discovered during this process is that interviews for spa and salon employees have a huge advantage over any interviews I have ever gone through - as the owner you get to be pampered while you check out potential staff! When you are interviewed for a job at a law firm, you sit in a boardroom, on the opposite side of the table from any number of intimidating people, talking about legal principles and billable hours. How cool is it to go from that to lounging in a chair getting a pedicure while interviewing an esthetician? There I was, comfy in yoga pants with a Starbucks chai latte in my hand, getting my feet massaged and polished, while getting to know the amazing lady I was interviewing. It was perfect! I guarantee that professor at the law school never enjoyed an interview as much!

How many engineers does it take ...?

In a perfect world we would have had a leisurely time frame in which to get the spa ready to open. Construction should have been scheduled for several months, not six or seven weeks. We should have had a few weeks, not three or four days, to get the finished space cleaned and set up prior to opening. And we should have been able to order equipment close to the end of construction and have everything delivered directly to the spa. Woulda, coulda, shoulda!

We realized a few weeks ago that we couldn't afford to wait until we had a firm construction end-date to start getting equipment shipped. For one thing, if we waited to order things, we were taking a chance that some items might no longer be in stock. For another, we were concerned that shipping could take longer than promised, which it turned out was a well-founded concern, and we would be forced to open without the necessary equipment. We made the decision to start placing orders and we figured we would just load up our living rooms, attics and basements with furniture and gear for the short-term, until the spa was ready to receive it all.

Shortly before we took possession of our first load of equipment, however, we began calculating just how much stuff we had coming. In spite of our initial optimism, we started getting a little twitchy about spending the entire summer living as if we were in an episode of "Hoarders." After coming to the conclusion that social services might arrive and take our children away for forcing them to live in the midst of a fire hazard, we made the decision to rent a storage locker to house the larger items that were on their way from all over North America.

Fast forward several weeks and we are now on our second locker and I am on a first-name basis with the manager of the storage facility. I have become good friends with delivery truck drivers. Recovering from a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, I have swallowed my pride and I have taken to sweet-talking these poor guys into helping me get the equipment neatly stowed in the ever-shrinking available space.

However, last week we got the delivery to end all deliveries ... 1600 pounds of equipment that had made its way to us from Atlanta. Three of the pieces were double-sided hairstyling stations with floor-to-ceiling mirrors on both sides. Seven years of bad luck multiplied by six just waiting to happen! The driver couldn't wait to get "all that glass" off his truck. The only problem - the units are nearly eight feet tall and the opening to the storage facility is six and a half feet high at the most. After inspecting the space, the truck driver looked at my husband and I and just shook his head, making it clear that his job ended when he got the stuff off the truck.

My husband is a strong guy. I had no doubt that he could muscle these pieces into the locker, tipped up on an angle to get them through the doorway. Luckily for us, though, he is also an engineer and his brain works in ways mine doesn't. I'm a big picture person, while he is all about the details. He quickly realized that if we tilted the units, the mirrors would crack on the bottom. That thought never occured to me! After a few moments of deliberating, we left the pieces in the hallway in front of our locker (we weren't really worried about someone walking off with them), snaked our way through rush hour to Home Depot and rented an appliance dolly. I won't say it was easy from that point on, but after much shuffling and tugging the equipment is safe in the storage locker. I'm just not sure we are ever going to get it out again!

Backwash? Ew!

The things they don't teach you in law school! I've had my hair cut hundreds of times and never once did I stop to consider what the chair I was sitting in to have my hair washed was called. Turns out it's called a backwash. Who knew? I thought backwash was the little chewed up pieces of food my kids used to leave in my glass after they just had to have a drink of whatever it was I happened to be enjoying.

Kate spent months finding the right backwash units. We worked with our designers to create a calm and tranquil room where our guests would be able to relax and enjoy a scalp massage, away from the bustle and noise of the hair salon. We picked out a system that met our vision and included it in our plans. Then we hit the first of several backwash snags - the sinks we wanted, which were going to be integrated into custom-built cabinetry, were three times the price we had been quoted. That wasn't in the budget. Plan two was beautiful stand alone units that were in stock and ready to be shipped from a distributor in the United States. Until the distributor wanted us to hand over copies every piece of identification and personal information he could dream of, simply because the products were going to cross the border. Hello, identify theft? Plan three, similar units sourced in Montreal from a supplier who spoke so little English his emails were a welcome source of amusement during the weeks we were communicating with him.

Last week the backwash units arrived and we opened one up to have a look. They are gorgeous, sleek black leather and chrome. I can't wait to see them installed. Which brings me to yesterday. The plumber needed me to make a call on the positioning of the units within the hair washing room. He needed to know if the chairs should be evenly spaced in the room, if we required space between the units so the hair stylists could walk around the chairs and how much leg room we needed. The pipes were being laid in the floor as we spoke, so there was no time to talk to someone who had dealt with backwash chairs before - I was it. I was suddenly the backwash specialist. So, I did what you have to do in law all the time, I looked at the problem, made a snap decision and then told them what I wanted convincingly so they wouldn't think I didn't have a clue what I was talking about!

If you had asked me two years ago to solve a backwash dilemma, I would have told you to just pour out your drink and get a new one.

Lawyers and owners see construction delays very differently!

I worked for years in litigation, first as a paralegal and then, after I started law school, as a summer student and articled clerk. Construction law is a such a broad area of law that they offer a distinct construction law class in law school, dealing with issues such as tendering, contracts, change orders and delays. Many of the lawyers I worked for in litigation had thriving construction law practices. People in the construction industry seem to be highly litigious - it seems very rare for a construction project to go from start to finish without somebody suing somebody.

Now I am seeing the world of construction from the other side - as an owner hoping to get a construction project over the finish line on time and on budget. Construction started yesterday and already there have been problems, which = delays! To a lawyer this would be potential business and the lawyer in me automatically thinks "Who is responsible and what damages can we get?" But the owner in me wants to scream "I don't care whose fault it is, somebody just fix it!"

The two sides of me are warring with each other. The lawyer in me wants to dig into the contracts to find out who should have done what, the owner justs wants to get the job done. The owner is going to have to win - one thing I know from experience is that as a lawyer I would be dealing with this problem years from now as it worked its way through the court system. But as an owner I have to get this problem fixed today, because tomorrow there are other contractors waiting to arrive and get their work done. I'll put the fight aside. For now.

Here are a few pictures to give you some "before" views of the space. We will update the pictures regularly so everyone can see the progress! Keep your fingers crossed that things keep moving along!

Check out the incredible renderings of our retail + reception space, hair salon, manicure + pedicure room and treatment rooms!

Welcome to From Law to Spa! Follow Kate and Cindy as they branch out from the legal world on a new adventure! Stay tuned for updates as we build a fantastic team while we navigate construction of our beautiful new spa/salon.