Recently my daughter was hired as a full time receptionist at a spa here in Edmonton. She was so excited to be back in the salon industry and doing the job she so loved in my salon. I knew on her first day that this would end in disaster but my daughter is 19 years old and I knew I must allow her this experience.

On her first day of training she was given a contract that released her of any monies she would earn in exchange for training, which I find to be slave labour, she accepted. She never did get a copy of the contract she signed or a policy and procedure manual to outline conditions of employment or the operations at the front desk. The first day of her official “on the clock” shift, she opened the spa and due to nervousness she forgot to punch in the time clock. When she told her supervisor about this they told her there was nothing they could do and she lost those hours. I have to mention that this happened with another new hire who had children at home and was paying a babysitter.

She continued to stay because she has bills to pay and after 1 month and a total of 47 hours on the clock in that month she was laid off because the employee she replaced decided to take her job back. Turns out she was hired because the owner wanted to prove a point to the employee that left and hired my daughter to show her that the company would still go on without her.

I am sharing with this today for the simple reason that when I was new in business I considered this company to be an icon because they had a few locations and I assumed that meant success. But because my vision and mission was unlike my competitors' and because I lead my team with my own interpretation of leadership I stopped paying attention to other salons and spas and focused on my intention.

My point is that I hope you too don’t make the mistake of assuming success means grandiosity because true success is how your company resonates with you at the end of the day. Ask yourself the following:

• If I asked your employees if they were treated with respect would they say yes? (Remember respect doesn’t mean they don’t get mad or that they like you)

• Can you say with confidence that your clients are being served with the excellence because you know your employees are trained to do so?

• Would you feel confident with your employees being asked if they thought you were able to lead the company with the vision and mission you created?

If you cannot answer these questions with a solid yes than you have work to do because we all know that the success that brings pride and dignity is what makes this industry a better place to be. There is bleed through when money follows people who take advantage of others to achieve success.