Exceptional team culture with Miranda Bofenkamp from Nickel & Dodge is today’s Spa Business Mastery topic!

While having a team behind you can unlock opportunities for easier scaling, new ways of generating revenue, and, of course, getting you out of the treatment room and into the office so that you can focus on more high-level spa business matters, it also has the potential to make running your spa business stressful and inefficient.

What makes the difference between a worthwhile team and a team that’s only going to poke holes in your proverbial ship? Two words: team culture!

I sat down with Miranda, the owner of skin care clinic Nickel & Dodge, to hash out what makes a truly exceptional team culture (and what common team-related pitfalls spa leaders should be avoiding!)

How Miranda Built Up Nickel & Dodge’s Team Culture

Starting out in unrelated fields (bartending and working in the oil fields), Miranda first started out in the spa industry due to her desire to stay rooted at home vs. being off working for sometimes months at a time out of town. She began as an esthetician in 2008 and established Nickel & Dodge in 2017.

Miranda agrees that the question, ‘What does team culture mean?’ is a common one amongst those who work within the spa industry. “Team culture, to me, is the environment that you create for your employees to work in every day,” she says. “It needs to be employee-centric and have a focus on not only the reputation and profitability of the business, but also the happiness that coming to their job every day brings your staff.”

“For me, it became important to prioritize my team culture before I even opened Nickel & Dodge,” she continues. “When I was solo, I knew that I wanted to have a team at some point because being solo was not bringing me joy; I had to say no to too many clients and I was just too busy when I was by myself. I’m such a ‘yes’ person! Having a team, for me, was the opportunity to bring on those clients I wanted and also have the chance to train estheticians and, in turn, elevate their self-worth and expertise in our industry.”

The Common Mistake Spa Owners Make When Building a Team Culture

In my experience as both a former spa owner and, now, as a spa business coach, one of the fundamental mistakes I see spa owners make when building a team culture is blindly base their ideal team culture on ones they have worked in before as employees or independent contractors. 

As a spa owner, you have the opportunity to morph your spa’s team culture into one you would have liked to work in earlier in your career. Common points both Miranda and I agree on include:

• Banning gossip
• Offering benefits (if desired; benefits are not a common perk in the spa industry)
• Training estheticians in relevant and valuable services
• Doing your cost-per-treatment numbers so that each staff member is making their money back after taxes
• Having a clear-cut spa team handbook and spa values

“A point of pride for me,” Miranda says, “is that I can say that my girls only work four-day weeks, that they get paid time off, and that they get benefits. We have estheticians who are 19, 20 years old come in and we say that we’ll retirement-match them because if someone had done that for me at that age… well, I’d be retired already!”

Why Spa Values Are the Foundation of Any Solid Team Culture in the Spa Industry

Miranda ensures that her processes run smoothly due to having her onboarding guidelines be set in stone.

These guidelines include: every trainee having the same level of education, which means that Miranda and her team are comfortable letting any staff member work on any client; the clients are taught early on that each staff member is equally trustworthy, which provides more flexibility for staff sick time or paid time off; education and coaching from Miranda is ongoing and is based on staff feedback; and ensuring that client notes are updated every session so that each and every staff member is kept in the loop. 

Having these spa systems in place makes it so both the staff experience and the client experience is kept positive and streamlined. Nickel & Dodge’s spa standards are simultaneously maintained with little-to-no interference from Miranda.

“I think of myself as as much of a leader as a ‘chaos controller’,” Miranda says. “So one of my top pieces of leadership advice would be, if you think there’s a problem, just ask about it! I’m a big fan of calling in team meetings when I think something’s wrong. For me, being a leader means coming in, recognizing if, sometimes, things aren’t running smoothly, and then resolving it either during a one-on-one or a bigger meeting. When in doubt, ask!”

Looking for direct team culture inspiration? I love Nickel & Dodge’s team culture statement which reads as follows: we offer small town hospitality while delivering world class service and results. It is our mission to empower you, our guest, through education – offering knowledge about your skin, ways to improve its condition, and which skincare ingredients will help you achieve your dream skin. Our team wants you to be as passionate about taking care of your skin as we are.

If you’re seeking hands-on help for how to get your spa’s team culture off the ground (and make it truly exceptional!), reach out today to set up your coaching session.