In this episode of The Best Dam Podcast, Jill sits down with Penny Walton, owner and master hairstylist of Cielo Salon and Spa in Henderson, along with her daughter Kennadie McGovern, a senior hairstylist, and master hairstylist Liz Ladd. They share how an apprenticeship program, built because new stylists leave beauty school without today's technical skills, grew into a full salon and spa in Boulder City when their landlord offered the space next door.

The team explains how junior, senior and master tiers work for hair, nails and skin care, and why clients can book with confidence at any level. They walk through services from men's color and pedicures to lash lifts and advanced facials, share why they want clients buying professional products in the salon instead of on Amazon, and preview their fall specials. Along the way, listeners hear about first jobs, favorite books, life lessons, and Penny's new U.S. citizenship.

DISCUSSION

1. Why an Academy: Penny explains that the state cosmetology curriculum skips men's cutting, foiling, blonding and corrective color, so she built an apprenticeship program. About seven apprentices have come through in two years.
   
   
2. A Daughter's Path: Kennadie earned her cosmetology certification through SECTA, a technical high school in Henderson, then trained with Penny and Liz and went to Master Goldwell training in New York in May.
   
   
3. Room to Grow: In March the landlord offered the space next door. Downstairs now holds retail, two pedicure bowls and three nail stations. Upstairs has three rooms for advanced skin care and lashes, with massage on the way.
   
   
4. Boulder City Foot Traffic: Liz describes passersby peeking in, neighbors sending people over, and how few full-service salons are left.
   
   
5. The Family Hairdresser: Kennadie wants the mom-and-pop feel in Boulder City, where the team of eight has time to know clients, compared with the 45-person Henderson salon.
   
   
6. Junior, Senior and Master: Tiers across hair, nails and skin care are based on consistent quality, not years out of school, and pricing reflects each level. The first skill apprentices learn is the blowout.
   
   
7. Color and Creativity: Colored lashes and booming nail art show how fast the industry changes, and why continuing education matters.
   
   
8. Advanced Skin Care: Dana, with about 30 years of experience, offers laser work, permanent makeup, peels, microneedling and HydraFacial. Christine, with 25 years, focuses on waxing, microdermabrasion, masks and relaxing facials.
   
   
9. Men's Services: Haircuts, color, gray blending, highlights, pedicures, manicures, facials and waxing are all on the menu. Beards can be cleaned up, but straight-razor shaving is outside their license.
   
   
10. Accessibility: Hair, nail and pedicure services are all downstairs. The team is looking at options with the landlord for the upstairs rooms.
    
    
11. Chiropractic and Massage: Penny describes the walk-in chiropractor at the Henderson location, why massage fits Boulder City's licensing, and a possible red light therapy service for local seniors.
    
    
12. Pro Products vs. Amazon: Why the team recommends salon-sold products, how purchase points fund stylist education, and how those points helped send Kennadie to New York.
    
    
13. Getting to Know You: Penny's first job in Canada and new U.S. citizenship, Liz's love of Riley Sager mysteries, and Kennadie's lesson to keep going.
    
    
14. Fall Specials: A tiered product discount, a $99 lash set, a blow dry, manicure and brow wax for $75, pumpkin facial and peel for $85, and a deluxe HydraFacial for $199.

LEARN MORE

To learn more about Cielo Salon and Spa, visit https://www.cielosalonandspa.com/ or on these social sites:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cielosalonandspanv

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cielosalonandspa/

To learn more about the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce, visit their website at https://www.bouldercitychamber.com

KEYWORDS

Cielo Salon and Spa, Penny Walton, Liz Ladd, Kennadie McGovern, Boulder City, Salon and Spa, Small Business, Boulder City Chamber of Commerce, The Best Dam Podcast

#CieloSalon #BoulderCity #SalonAndSpa #ShopLocal #SmallBusiness #Apprenticeship #TheBestDamPodcast #BoulderCityChamber

Podcast Transcript

Jill: Listeners, we've got a great day today, and I just learned something new as I was preparing for today's show, so I cannot wait to share some of this information with you. Today, we have Penny Walton. She is the owner of Cielo Salon and Spa in Henderson, and Cielo Salon and its academy, but it's going to be changing to Salon and Spa in Boulder City. And so Penny, welcome. So glad to have you, and we'll introduce your lovely assistants here in just a second. But thank you for being here.

Penny: Thank you so much for having me. We're very excited to share what we have to offer for Boulder City, since I've been in Henderson for so long. But I've had our salon here in Boulder City for two years now, named Cielo Salon and Academy, and I wanted to come on and share what that is about, because I think it's confused the clientele of Boulder City and maybe some of the tourists that we get during wine walks and during the weekends. But basically, in our industry, girls coming out of hair school, or boys, just don't have the technical skills that we need now. The Cosmetology Board of Nevada hasn't really upgraded their skill set on anything, so it's very old school. So when the stylists come out of school, they're basically limited to things that we don't do anymore.

Jill: Oh, interesting.

Penny: There's nothing really about men's haircutting. There's nothing about foiling. There's nothing about blonding. There's nothing really about corrective color. They may have touched on it here and there, but it's not something that they're proficient in. So, knowing that, after having my salon in Henderson for 24 years, the struggle I had was hiring people right from school, because clients come in, and their color has gotten more and more technical, I guess is the best way you can say it. And to hire people, you have to either get an apprentice program going, which is what I've done for many years. But what I noticed, having my daughter, Kennadie, who's here with us today, go through an amazing program at SECTA, which is the technical high school here in Henderson, was that she was able to get her cosmetology certification through high school.

Which was great, because she was very young. And so I came up with a program that I could teach stylists coming out of those schools, whether it's SECTA or Aveda or Paul Mitchell, any kind of beauty school, that could help them learn how to do every single haircut proficiently with myself or my coworker Liz, because we are master stylists. 

We'd sit there and watch them, hand-on-hand, on how to hold their hands, how to do the shape, how to cut it, and same with color. So I made this whole program, and it really helped a lot of people. I've gone through maybe about seven of them as apprentices in the last two years. But unfortunately, what's been a little bit of a disappointment is that a lot of the kids don't have the money to pay for our classes, so to say. When you come out and you want to advance, we pay for classes. Liz and I have paid multiple thousands of dollars over the 25, 30 years we've been doing this, and we know to do that. We just took Kennadie to Master Goldwell training in New York in May, and that was thousands of dollars. 

But unfortunately, a lot of these kids don't have that money. So we were trying to do something that was affordable, and the kids just don't have it. So the academy has fallen by the wayside, and basically everybody that talks to me just wants to be my apprentice, which is fine, but I can only really handle two or three at a time because it is a lot of work.

Jill: Yeah. And it's a lot of work, because then you have to think about what to tell them while you're trying to do a haircut, too. Then the lady in the chair, or the gentleman in the chair, they're just like, "Could you just cut it and let me get out of here?"

Penny: Yeah. So with saying all that, we were trying to figure out some new ways of going about that. But we were offered an incredible opportunity to expand our business with the next-door store that had just closed. Our landlord approached us in March and said, "Hey, would you take this space?" And I looked at Liz, and she looked at me and said, "Well, maybe we'll be a salon and spa." 

Jill: Exactly. I think it was a natural fit.

Penny: Yeah. 

Jill: So for us, looking on the outside, we knew how congested you were trying to supply all the different services that people were asking you for. And so in order for you to respond, you were jammed in there. This has got to give you guys some breathing space, right?

Penny: So much more room. Yeah, so much more room. So now we have a whole area down... it's an up-and-down part. That's something we couldn't control. That's basically the space that we were given. So the downstairs we made into a really nice area where we can have boutique and retail, and then also we have nails. We have two pedicure bowls and three nail stations. And our girls do everything from regular manicure and pedicure to Gel-X, to hard gel, to acrylic, men's...

Liz: Super fun nail art.

Penny: Nail art.

Liz: Men's pedicures.

Penny: Yep. So we have a good amount of services there. And then upstairs we have three rooms, and we have massage coming. We have three incredible advanced estheticians that do multiple services, which we'll get into. And we have two of our staff doing lashes.

Jill: Wow. You guys have a ton of staff, a ton of services, and so much more space. I can't imagine how much more effective you are. You must feel really good about that accomplishment. So Liz, tell me a little bit more. You and Penny have worked together at the Henderson location, and now moving out here, you're in the Boulder City area. It's been a couple of years. How are you seeing business pick up? Has it been a positive thing for you to be experiencing Boulder City?

Liz: Yeah. Just since I started, there are so many more people walking around. All the traffic, people going to and from Beer Zombies. We always get people stopping, looking out the window, like, "Is this a school? Is it a hair salon?" They can't tell. So we just prop the door open. We all peek our heads out there. We all say hello, and just word of mouth. Our neighbors in the neighboring businesses are always sending people over to us. We get a lot of traffic lately. Even in summer when it was hot, it's been a lot of traffic. It's really picked up. And I think there aren't many full-service salons anymore, not even in Henderson or Vegas. They're very specialized. So when people pop their head in, and I'm like, "Oh, we just expanded, and look at this," they're like, "Oh, you do everything?" And they take the menus, and I don't know, it's been really positive. Traffic's been picking up big time.

Jill: That is awesome. I love it. I'm so glad to hear that. And you guys are such community partners as well. So every event, you guys have people, like you said, standing in the doorway or stepping out, being a part of the wine walks, being a part of all the different special events. And so I think that also means something. People are paying attention to who and what are part of the community, and they want to know more about you. So I'm super glad. So Kennadie, share a little bit about the experience that you've had. Obviously, you grew up around salon. You have seen it. You've known it. You've felt it. Obviously, you were inspired by it. And so now that you have stepped into this role in more of a professional way, what has been your experience?

Kennadie: It has been a blessing. I love this experience. It's crazy. Like you said, I've literally grown up in it and been around it since day one. And me and my mom have always had this goal of going through school and getting my license and being on the floor and being a hairdresser, and it's just crazy that I'm there. And it's crazy that it's in Boulder City. You know? 

I feel like I'm becoming a hairdresser where I want that mom-and-pop feeling. I want all the families. I want moms, kids. Like, I don't want to be the big hairdresser. I just want to be the family hairdresser. And so it's been a really cool experience to see how crazy Henderson can get, you know, with it being more of a higher-end feeling of a salon.

Penny: We have 45 people there.

Jill: Oh my gosh.

Kennadie: I don't think people realize, like, it's big.

Penny: It's big.

Kennadie: It's huge. It's big.

Jill: And so I see the difference, right? There, you're throwing people through the services. They're grateful that you're there. You probably don't get to know them as well because things are happening so quickly. 

Whereas Boulder City, we talk about this all the time, you get off the off-ramp right there at Railroad Pass, and it's almost like a time machine. You get on that off-ramp, and all of a sudden everything just slows down, and you revert back to this little retro community. 

And I can imagine that you sense that. And you know, it just struck me as we were talking, Kennadie, you know what entrepreneurship looks like. So when we talk about a salon, okay, great, services, yes, all these independent operators, wonderful. Many people either rent stations or they could be employees. 

But you are looking at it from a different perspective. You've seen your parents be entrepreneurs, and what that means to be a small business owner. What that means to help other people create their own small business independently, right? But then also to provide that service. So you are a part of a community of small business owners, which is a very select, very special community, and very important to the entire nation. So very cool that you get to be a part of that.

Kennadie: Yeah. I love it.

Jill: I love that you're doing that. That's awesome. Okay, so let's go back and talk about some of these different services, because you had shared with me, and I did not realize this, and it was part of the academy concept, but as you said, this generation, they're looking at getting the experience. They want to assist. And then they need to move on. And that's great. Everybody has to do it on their own. 

But it's so nice to know that you would still be willing to be a consultant and a mentor and provide the information that they need. But share with me exactly, in your brochure, it talks about junior, senior, master, like esthetician, colorist, all of that. Do you want to share that? Share with me a little bit more, Kennadie, about what that looks like, because you just coming out of school, you probably really understand this process.

Kennadie: Yeah. So I feel like my mom has always, like she said before, you're only as good as the people that you have. And she's noticed you can't just hire somebody off the spot, because sometimes they just don't know as well. And so she's seen that the best way to go about that, to build a great team, is starting from an apprenticeship.

Jill: And that's where the experience is created, right?

Kennadie: Exactly. And so with me going through school, she had taken a slow period on the apprenticeship for a while because of COVID. And then once I got into school, that's how everything got sparked back up and how our idea with the academy started. And so it's just simply this way of moving up in, not necessarily rank, but in rank... the more...

Penny: Experience you have. Like tiers.

Kennadie: Yeah, tiers.

Penny: Our company has tiers. And so there's master, there's senior, and then junior. So once they go through working with myself, Liz, I have a few people in Henderson that help me out too, because I can't always be there. So if there's an apprentice on the floor, then we know there are people there to watch them, be there with them. 

And then once they, so to say, master, say, a bob, okay, now we're allowing you to do a bob. If you're allowed to do men's haircutting, then we need to see you do XYZ of men's haircutting. Same with highlights, same with base color. But we start that way with the apprenticeship, and usually once a week I will sit, and Liz usually helps me too, we'll have mannequins, and we'll go, "This is what we're learning today." And now at the end of the week, I need to see you do three of these.

Jill: Oh, that's awesome.

Penny: So that way we can say, "Okay, I feel like you're proficient enough." Proficient enough is the best way to say it.

Jill: And probably confident enough too, right?

Penny: Yeah, exactly. So then we can now open them up for online booking or people coming in. So a junior stylist would be able to do this. The price is going to be different. You're not getting a master. It's going to take longer. You have to understand that. But there are people there to watch. And then it goes from junior, then you move into senior. And that way, you don't really need a master anymore. You have guidance. You might need a little...

Kennadie: Help here and there, but yeah.

Penny: Yeah.

Jill: Somebody you can ask questions of, but you feel strong on your own.

Kennadie: Yeah. And so I think that's what we've done, is lay it out for our clients and show that there are different options, not necessarily just in services, but different options pricing-wise, and what's going to suit you best and what's going to suit your comfortability best. But...

Penny: And we have that for all the services. We have it for hair. We have a junior nail tech, we have a senior nail tech, and then we have a master nail tech. And then same with our estheticians. We have actually two masters really, because they've been doing it a long time, and then we have a junior. She's three years in, training with her mom. So her mom is now at our... And it's a cool feeling, because it's exactly what I just did with Kennadie. So there are options for people, and we do have different pricing for that, and our specials reflect that. And when people ask, it's not like they don't know what they're doing, it's just they still need a little guidance.

Jill: I love that.

Liz: And it's not even based on time. Like, "Oh, she's only been out of school for a year or two years or three years." It's more when they are consistently putting out quality work, so we're consistent as a salon, so anybody can feel comfortable going to any of our staff. Not just, "Oh, I'd never go to that one person," or, "I only see this person here." No. We have all shared clients. We want them to feel comfortable. We have days off, they need to get in. That's part of it, and this small team... We're all so close.

Jill: Oh, I love that.

Liz: Penny and I know nothing about nails. We're so nosy. We're all like, "What's that? What are you doing with this?" Not just to be nosy, but if my clients can come in to one place... I have local clients. I have a lot that come from Pahrump, from Centennial, from all over. They love Boulder City, they love the atmosphere, all the shops around it. But it's just, we want them to feel comfortable. It's like, you're making this trip all the way here, why not get all the services? What else do you need done? I currently have two clients back at the salon getting facials and waxing services, and when we're done here, I'm going to do their hair.

Jill: Oh, that's awesome.

Liz: So it's more so we want these younger girls fresh out of school. Some of them take longer, and some of them, I don't think they realize the continuing education that this requires, for nail services, everything. For hair, everything's so different than it was five years ago. For nails, the nail art nowadays. So I think it's just not really based on, "Oh, she's a year out of school, or five years out of school." It's more so that consistent, quality service that we want to provide for, like Kennadie said, the whole family. We want everybody in there. We love all of our clients. We want to see them in there. Some moms come to me or Penny, and daughters go. We want the families, and we want...

Penny: And they'll get a pedicure while they're color sitting.

Liz: The consistency.

Penny: We kind of do that in Henderson, too. So it's just nice to be able to do it here in a smaller setting.

Jill: And you know, I know many of us, when I was in college, we all went down to the hair school that was there in Provo, Utah, and that's where we got our hair cut, because we could only afford that, right? And I remember the gal that did mine, she always had somebody standing right around her. So I would imagine that is the same concept, the price point for a junior. Like you said, it might take a little bit longer. But I also love the idea of giving somebody else an opportunity. I would imagine you can do blowouts with juniors and not have to really stress out about anything, right?

Kennadie: That's actually the...

Penny: First thing we teach is the blowout. Because it is very important, because nobody knows how to blow out, really.

Kennadie: They really don't. I don't think a lot of students realize you can get a lot of clients who just want blow-dries every week. If you can nail a great blow-dry, they will be coming to you.

Jill: That is awesome.

Penny: It builds...

Kennadie: That family. You see each other every week. And that's, I think, what our goal of Cielo is. And like Liz said, we're all just there as a team. We're all just trying to make a great family and make a great business out of it.

Liz: Always asking questions, so when the newer, younger girls need help, we don't hesitate to jump in and help them, all three of us. Sometimes I still ask Penny, like, "What do you think about this?" I run by color. Well, we're all still learning. And so the fact that we have such a good... there are eight of us now on our team, such a good team. I'm always like, "What do you do for services? What do you do for skincare?" just being nosy. But at the same time, the hair girls, I'm like, "What are you doing today? What are you doing with this today?" But we will all drop... our clients know it, and we will all drop what we're doing. "Please excuse me a minute so I can go help."

Penny: Everyone's very patient.

Liz: They're really good about that.

Jill: That is awesome. Because you want those kids coming out of school to have that confidence, to have the courage to try something new, to feel experienced enough, because the last thing we want to do is set them up for failure.

Penny: And that's what's happened. That's really what's happened. There are so many kids that come out and they're like, "I didn't know where to go. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have a clientele. I didn't know what to do. I froze."

Jill: Yeah. And I know that there are other salons. Vanity Boutique pops into my head, because I know that was something that Kristen was always very good about, was that educational process, and she knew that it was a revolving door, right? Because those kids came in, they did really well. She wanted them to succeed so that they could afford to go be out on their own. And so I love that whole concept of making sure that we're setting these kids that are coming out of school...

Penny: And it's just giving back.

Jill: Yes. Love it. I appreciate that. Okay. Kennadie, this is a very important question. Because we were just talking about, Liz was just saying how nail art has really gone crazy. I see your beautiful special lashes that have a hint of color in there. I have just learned just recently that is a thing. And so now we're putting color in our lashes.

Kennadie: Yep. I literally have a client that I only do purple and blue in her lashes. And I think it's like that constant... That's the beauty of this industry, is that it's forever changing. It's forever evolving. There are things that are coming and going. There are new things that are coming out, and it's the same thing with the nails. Nail art is booming right now. Everybody wants these crazy nail designs, and I feel like it's the same for lashes. I just saw a video the other day of this girl who did this whole beautiful rainbow set on her lashes. And it's just, the creativity is amazing.

Jill: I love it. And it's such an expression of who you are, right? You get to share what your inner personality is. So my inner personality is plain pink. Just FYI. Just plain pink nails. I have tried a few little things, and my nail tech, she's awesome. And, like, when I went to the Olympics, I did some little nail art, but that was it. And it doesn't last long, because it starts to drive me crazy. So you guys, yes. You're...

Liz: Anything to match my hair.

Jill: I love it. And I think, Liz, you have a beautiful expression, and you have such a beautiful personality, so it fits perfectly.

Liz: Thank you.

Jill: So I think what you guys do is pretty amazing, so thank you very much. Okay, let's talk about, you have a master esthetician. I don't know enough about her. Let's talk about her.

Penny: Okay. So I'll have Liz talk, because she's had quite a few services. How many years has she been doing this? I want to say Dana has been doing...

Liz: Like, 30.

Penny: Or 35 maybe. 30. And our other esthetician, Christine, has been doing 25 years.

Jill: Oh my gosh.

Penny: So we have two that really do... Dana is able to work with a laser, whereas Christine doesn't have a laser. So Dana has a laser, so she's able to do a little bit more stuff, like permanent makeup.

Liz: So she does permanent makeup. She does multiple different lasers, she...

Penny: Peels.

Liz: Yeah, peels.

Penny: She works with a medical director on these high-end peels that help with dark spots.

Liz: And the microdermabrasion, the microneedling. There's something called PRX. It's like a non-invasive collagen tightening...

Penny: For fine lines on your face. But the newer stuff that's coming out is way less invasive. It's so nice. The laser I had done for the redness in my face was super quick. She was great. I have tattoos on my face. She checked with somebody that she works with on the laser, and she made sure to cover them all up so we didn't do anything with that.

Jill: I was going to ask you, how does she do that with the...

Liz: Super thick white eyeliner pencil. She covered every single one of these. It took longer than the laser.

Jill: She has fairy dots on her face, everybody. She's beautiful. I have rainbow...

Liz: Freckles.

Jill: Rainbow freckles. I call them fairy dots.

Liz: Fairy... it's my face confetti.

Jill: Yes, I love it.

Liz: But she's just very tailored to what you need. Not like, "Oh, we're offering this facial this month." No. I've had some of my clients go to her, and they think that they might need this, but, "Oh, well, the spots, the laser might do this, so I'm going to offer this." And she's so knowledgeable about everything. Anytime, again, we're nosy into each other's stuff, I'm always like, "What could you do to help my client with this?" And she'll send me so much information about it, videos for my clients to watch. The HydraFacial, I've had a few of my clients that have had it in the past, and they've booked with her. She's like, "Oh, now that we can get it done in Boulder City, I can do it right before or after my hair or my nails."

Jill: Oh, that's awesome.

Liz: She's so many...

Penny: And that machine was quite expensive.

Liz: Yeah.

Jill: Wow.

Penny: So there are different things for advanced skin. A lot of my clients are like, "I'm old. Can I get that done?" They're like, "Yeah, let me check for you." So it's nice, there's an array of things. But then we also have Christine, who is incredibly good with waxing, incredibly good with microderm. She does masks. Her facials are great. I mean, there's a lot of other things other than just your high-end skin...

Kennadie: More technical stuff, I would say. Christine is more of your...

Jill: Come in to relax and get your face clean.

Kennadie: Yeah. Yes.

Penny: But yeah, we're putting together a really good facial package for both locations, Henderson and Boulder City, where it's a pumpkin apple facial and a pumpkin enzyme and stuff... peel, yeah, peel.

Jill: So then you're hungry when you get up.

Penny: Yeah. And those are really nice services that really do well with the skin.

Jill: We're manifesting fall over here.

Penny: It doesn't need to be your high-end laser, you know, microderm, microneedling, dermaplaning, although they can do all that.

Jill: Yeah, that's awesome. So we can add that on. I've had a pumpkin peel before. It was awesome.

Penny: Yeah. And all of this is on our website. And of course Dana has her own separate website, because of all the other things she does, that we're trying to link to our website. That's still in the process. So we'll have that in the next couple of weeks on there.

Jill: Oh, very good. So that's awesome. So, men's services. It's easy for me to talk about women's services because I use them often. But let's talk about men's services. So do you do shaving, any of that type of activity, or just haircuts?

Penny: So that's something we'd love to do, but we're not barbers.

Jill: Okay.

Penny: So technically, from the cosmetology board, we're not supposed to do beards. Do we shape them and trim them up?

Liz: Clean them up.

Penny: For sure.

Liz: But there's...

Penny: No, we're not allowed to...

Liz: There's no shaving. Straight razor shaving. Anything like that.

Jill: Got it.

Penny: But for sure, a haircut, men's haircutting...

Liz: Men's coloring.

Penny: Men's coloring. Gray...

Liz: Blending.

Penny: Gray blending, highlights.

Liz: We've had men come in for pedicures. Sometimes just manicures.

Penny: Really? They love facials. There's a men's back facial. There's a men's HydraFacial. There's a men's... actually, I know Christine has a ton of men come in for waxing.

Liz: Yep.

Penny: Tons.

Jill: That sounds painful, but okay. I'm sure it's a great service. Okay, so here's a question. Handicap individuals, seniors, we have such a senior population here. Do you have the ability to service them without them having to go upstairs?

Penny: So the upstairs would be an issue, for sure, because... That would be something I'd have to look into, to put up a chair, and talk to the landlord of how we could do that with the stairs for these types of services. But downstairs they can definitely do a pedicure, they can definitely do any hair services. They can do any nail services. We actually just had Kristen come in. She's the...

Kennadie: Our local celebrity. Cruising around town.

Penny: On her wheelchair.

Jill: Awesome. We love Kristen. She helps out with all of the special events.

Penny: She's a sweetheart. Kennadie just did her hair. She hung out with us yesterday, and then she said, "I'm going to get my nails done," and she was fine to have her caretaker move her around.

Kennadie: Moving around, even going to the bathroom wasn't a big issue.

Jill: Good, good, good. Love it.

Kennadie: So I feel like the upstairs is just something that...

Penny: We'll have to work with the landlord on.

Kennadie: Once we get across that bridge, yeah.

Jill: Well, it sounds to me like you provide plenty of services downstairs. And I'm thinking that senior population, they're looking for hair services, men's toenail clipping, different things that they're not able to do as they get older. For sure. I can imagine that is a needed service.

Penny: And the other thing too is, if they do venture out to Henderson, I do have estheticians and a chiropractor and a massage therapist in Henderson, which is all on one level, and they don't have to go upstairs. So we could always, if they do go into Henderson, I could refer them to them.

Jill: So expand on the chiropractor and massage services. That's something we don't have here, but how did you get involved with a chiropractor? I've never seen that before.

Penny: Oh, yeah. Well, my chiropractor is Dr. Gene Garlick. He and I have been friends for almost 28 years. He basically, at COVID, was kicked out of the place that he was working out of.

Jill: Oh, no.

Penny: And we were in the middle of remodeling the Henderson location, and he called me and was like, "Penny, do you have a room for me?" And I was like, "Okay, we'll make room." So in the Henderson location, we have a whole area that's a spa side, then we have private rooms for nails and hair, because that's a very big thing for suites, and then we have a salon side, where there's the salon floor, which has nails and hair. So for people that like to be out and talk to everybody, there's that. Then we have the private rooms, which is for that. And then the spa basically is four rooms. It used to be eight, but because people like to go to spas, like at the hotels, the local services had to be trimmed down to people that just want waxing and facials and...

Jill: In-and-out stuff.

Penny: In-and-out stuff. So the City of Henderson is pretty weird when it comes to massage. We kind of got, how do I say, taken out of the massage game in 2016 from the City of Henderson. They have all these weird laws. But when Dr. Garlick came on board with us, I asked him, "Hey, would that be something we could do with you?" And he said, "Yeah, if I have a chiropractic assistant, for sure." So that's how we've been able to work with that. And we do have a different licensing here, and I'm working with a girl that's going to come on board with us, and she can share with one of our estheticians. So we will have massage in Boulder City, because it's totally allowed. There's not a different...

Jill: Oh, that's awesome.

Penny: It's not a different...

Jill: Licensing.

Penny: Here. Licensing. So yeah. It's nice, because we'll do facial massage packages in Henderson, and then we add chiropractic to it.

Jill: That's crazy.

Penny: So it's really good for people.

Jill: I love that.

Penny: And Dr. Garlick basically... It's just a walk-in service. So you don't need an appointment. You just walk in, and he greets you, and goes over your chart, and figures out what you need, and...

Jill: That's amazing.

Penny: Yeah. It's been a really good addition to our company. And also, he and I chatted just a couple of weeks ago, and he's working on getting an arthritis machine for some of the older clientele that he has, because he's very gentle with the older patients, and he said this machine would really, really help some of his older clients. So that'll be a cool service to add in the future.

Jill: Wow. That's cool. Does he do red light therapy?

Penny: So the only person I have doing red light therapy right now is Dana.

Liz: Dana.

Penny: Yep. And I'm going to ask him about that. I'm not quite sure how come he hasn't done it.

Jill: The reason I ask is I know we've got quite a few seniors here in town that are having to carpool together to get into their red light therapy appointments in Vegas.

Penny: Okay.

Jill: And so I would imagine that there's some need here. I just had breakfast on Monday with somebody that has to pack everything up and go into town. She spends three hours in there. She has another piece of equipment as well. But I'm like, "Holy guacamole, to have to do that every..." and then it's an hour drive in and an hour drive back.

Penny: Oh, I'll look into that. Totally. Because we would have the room for that, for sure.

Jill: Yeah. And I know that there are so many services that now people swear by it for inflammation and joint work and just all kinds of stuff. I would imagine that would be a good fit, but I don't know. I don't know enough about it. Okay. So I always love to get to know the individual. So we know your business. You're awesome. You do great stuff. So let's talk about who you guys are individually. And so Penny, I'm going to throw this question out to you first, and then, because I already know this answer, it's for Kennadie. So Penny, what was your first job?

Penny: My first job actually was in retail in Canada.

Jill: In Canada?

Penny: I'm Canadian. Yep.

Jill: So that's something maybe people didn't know about you, right?

Penny: Yep. I just got my American citizenship this year. So I'm dual.

Jill: Oh my gosh. Welcome. As you celebrate the 250th anniversary of the state... of the nation. That's awesome. Very cool. Congratulations.

Penny: Thank you.

Jill: That's amazing.

Penny: Yeah. And I was lucky that I started doing hair really young. So I did retail, and I worked in a salon and was an apprentice at a young age. But yeah, I moved to Vegas when I met Kennadie's dad in 2024... 2000... and, no, 1998. I was like, 2024.

Jill: 2024. You are really young.

Penny: Yeah. 1998.

Jill: Very cool. That is awesome. Welcome, and congratulations on your statehood... your citizenship. That's awesome. We're proud to have you.

Penny: Thank you.

Jill: It's been awesome. We're honored to have you. Okay. Liz, this question's for you. What's your favorite book, or what book are you reading right now?

Liz: That's impossible.

Jill: An impossible question? Who's your favorite author?

Liz: Riley Sager.

Jill: Okay.

Liz: He's got nine. I'm waiting on his ninth book. My aunt bought it for me. It's in the mail. She read it. She's sending it to me. A signed copy.

Jill: That's pretty special.

Liz: Mystery, suspense kind of books.

Jill: Things that take you away from life.

Liz: Yeah, and it's funny, because I can't watch those movies. I absolutely will not watch a movie that is any sort of suspenseful...

Jill: Scary, any mystery.

Liz: Isn't that interesting? I don't know, but I can read all of the books on it.

Jill: Because you're in control.

Liz: Yeah.

Jill: Yeah. When the movie's happening, you don't get to control it, right? It's just coming at you. But where that book goes, you're controlling it.

Liz: Yeah, and I love, I mean, that's part of our job. We talk all day, on top of everything else. So I love it. I have a ton of clients that read. Kennadie reads, so I'm always like, "What are you reading now? Did you like this book? Did you see this movie that got turned into a book?" So it's a lot of...

Jill: That's awesome. Now we know a little bit more about your little mind. That's awesome. All right. Miss Kennadie, what is something your mom or dad taught you that you still use today?

Kennadie: Life lessons. Oh my goodness.

Jill: Come on. Share a life lesson right there in front of your mom. This is a difficult question. I already gave you part of the answer in how to be an entrepreneur and run your own business, right?

Kennadie: Yeah. I would say the biggest one, especially right now as I'm growing into being an adult and having a lot more responsibility, is that you just keep going. You do things that make you happy, and you do things that keep you going. But at the end of the day, you surround yourself with good people, and you do stuff that makes you happy. But you keep pressing forward, and things will always get better.

Jill: And you can do hard stuff.

Kennadie: And you can do hard stuff.

Jill: You have done it. You've proven that. Well, I think that's amazing. Okay, so tell us about any specials we've got going on.

Kennadie: Want another one?

Jill: I think you've got some different things coming up for the fall.

Penny: Yep, we've got different things. So we always have a product special. Products have been really tough. I would say this year is the toughest year I've had in owning a salon for retail ever. Everybody just wants to go to Amazon, or they want to...

Jill: Ah.

Kennadie: Yep.

Penny: So we've always had to battle with having some kind of special. So this month is, like, the more you buy, the more you save. So for each product, you get one product 10% off, two products 15% off, three products 20% off, four products 25% off, and five products 30% off.

Jill: That's awesome.

Penny: And that kind of keeps it in the salon, because that way we get points to buy the product, and then we get education through them, which most people don't know. So they'll go, "Hey, what did you use?" They'll take a picture, and then they'll go on Amazon. So we have to educate them to say, "Hey, we have this special going on, which is going to save you." And...

Jill: And Liz has something very important to say.

Liz: I'm very passionate about this. I used to teach product knowledge at the school, and I worked at the salons. It's not us trying to make money. It's really not. We have a select few lines of products that we love and that we can recommend. And I think where this all went downhill was COVID.

Jill: Yeah.

Liz: Nothing was available. Everything was available on Amazon. And the thing with that is there are a few companies that I know of that did strike up a deal with Amazon. They're legit products. Most of them are not. Most of them are third-party sellers. It's the same thing as when you buy salon products at Target or...

Penny: Marshalls or TJ Maxx. Everyone says right on the bottle, "Not guaranteed unless sold in a salon," because it's a weird gray...

Liz: Market, how these people get a hold of stuff, and it could be product that is expired, been sitting in the sun, that is old. It could be the containers, and you don't know what's in it. So you have one person that was like, "This hair lady told me to buy this, so I got it on Amazon for cheaper, and it sucks." And then that's a line that we love and we believe in and we care about at the salon that has done wonders for our clients' hair. And then you have people who are like, "Yeah, this is great," but people are more likely to talk about something if they dislike it.

Jill: That's true.

Liz: So then you have one person saying, "Oh, they sell this product at that salon, and it was terrible, and I don't want to go in there if that's what they're going to use on me." They're going to tell their friends, their sister, their mom, their mother-in-law, whoever. So it's not just us pushing this product. It's actual, I don't know, it's legit products that we're selling. Because sometimes you just don't know what you're going to get. You might get something that's not even what it says on the inside.

Penny: Good point. And when we have our clients using the products we know, their color lasts longer. Their hair feels better.

Jill: Oh, yes.

Penny: And we know, it's like being a doctor. We're like, "Okay, we've prescribed these products for you, so how's that working for you?" "Oh, okay, then I went to this." Now your hair feels this way because you decided to go to Amazon and buy blah, blah, blah.

Kennadie: Yeah. And also just the simple fact of, from recent experiences, sometimes you have chemical reactions with just simply the shampoo and conditioner that you're using.

Jill: Wow.

Kennadie: Yes, and so that's why it's so important. Like Liz said, we're not just trying to sell you the products to make money. We're selling you the products so you can have great hair at home.

Liz: And you don't want to spend all this money on your hair with a $2 shampoo.

Penny: That's just not going to last. And then also we can teach them how to use the products to style, because if you can teach your client how to style with these three things, then their hair's always going to look good. And then they're going to be like, "Oh my gosh, I learned how to do my hair."

Liz: Because we don't want people to be like, "Oh, my hair will never look this good when I do it at home." No, that's not our goal. We want to teach. I have clients that I'm like, "Bring me what tools you have. Show me what you have. Bring it in. We'll style it together."

Jill: I love it.

Liz: I'm not going to do it to embarrass you. I want to see what you're doing so I can help you tackle that. And so the same thing goes with these products. The economy right now, I know some things are more expensive than others. You might not be able to afford it. Okay. Say, "Hey, I can't afford these five products that you recommended, but if I can start with two, what two should I start with?"

Jill: That's a great...

Liz: Way to go. And they will see the difference in their hair. So we don't push anything just to make money. It's just all around better.

Jill: But I didn't think about the back end, where you get points or value towards what you're recommending or what's flying off the shelves, that then allow you to buy more product at a more reasonable rate so that you can pass those savings along.

Kennadie: Yes. And that's actually why I was able to go to New York in May, was because we were able to use the majority of our points to put towards my classes, for me and my coworker, just because of people buying our products. So that's a great example.

Penny: That really helped, for sure.

Jill: That is a great example.

Penny: And there are very few product lines for that continuing education that do that now. A lot of major companies don't do a points structure anymore, because it's a lot of money that they're giving out. So we've really tried to work with the brands that do that, and they support the stylists, and they support the salons, and they're not just out to sell to Ulta and...

Jill: Oh, yeah.

Penny: Amazon and Sephora and...

Liz: All the other places that people can go, which is great, but for us, we get nothing. So it just goes full circle back to Penny's goal of the academy and training these apprentices, so she can provide that education, that training. She's had all the master color training. I've had it through a different company, and now two of our younger stylists just have it. So just full circle back into what her goal is in helping out stylists. We're not in competition with each other. We want to help each other.

Jill: I love that. Penny, thank you for having a goal. We're so glad you have a goal.

Penny: Thank you. Hopefully. I just try to reach people and try to help them, even in the local Boulder City community. I've got a good amount of people I help in Henderson, but I'm happy to help here, too. You know, we all need to work together.

Jill: Yeah. So I do know that there is a group of you that all get together and do different classes, or they'll host a class at one of the local salons, and all the other stylists all come to that location. I've heard about that in the past. So I love that cooperation. You've got to be cooperative, but you also have competition, and so cooperation is going to make all boats rise, right?

Penny: Yeah. And so, to finish up with our specials, we just have a few more. And I don't think people realize, lashes are a big deal. And so...

Jill: No kidding.

Penny: So I feel like they don't realize, they just go, "Oh, I had a bad experience. I had a bad experience." We have a really incredible lash artist named Angelica. She also does hair, and she also does nails. She taught Kennadie everything for lashes. And she is a mom, just like Liz, two young kids, but she is incredibly passionate about what she does. And so she put together a special for lashes, because they come and go with the season. And her special is a full set for $99.

Jill: Wow.

Penny: Which is a really good set, a really good price.

Kennadie: Any set. From a mega volume to a classic set, $99.

Jill: What's a plastic set?

Kennadie: Or...

Penny: Classic.

Jill: Classic. Sorry. I said plastic. I'm like, "Gross."

Penny: But she's the one that taught her about the little colors in the lashes. And so it's wonderful to see that Kennadie learned a lot from her, and she's great at hair. She came with Kennadie to New York. But she also is really good with nails, which we had no idea. She worked at a salon that did nails.

Liz: She's killing it with nails. She's incredible at nails. I cannot do the lash glue. My lashes, I have nothing on mine. I have a lash lift and tint. She's done a couple for three, four of my clients now that just, I want to rub my eyes, so I don't do the extensions. I love the way they look, but I have absolutely nothing on my face. I mean...

Jill: They look beautiful.

Liz: Yeah. So she, yeah, lash lifts and tints are really well...

Jill: Yeah, because not everybody can do the glue, or they don't want the extra upkeep.

Liz: Dana as well does lash lifts and tints.

Penny: And Christine.

Liz: And Christine.

Penny: Yeah. So we have three of them. But the lash special is really good for people, so that's $99.

Jill: Great way to get them in the door. And was Angelica there for your ribbon cutting? Did I meet her?

Penny: Yes.

Liz: I think so.

Jill: Yes. And she had the chair over by the stairs. Yes. I totally remember her. She was beautiful.

Penny: Yeah. So she's been great. And so the other special that we're doing at Henderson and Boulder City is a blow dry, manicure, brow wax for $75.

Jill: Oh.

Penny: And that's a really good thing. It's a nice service, because it's a quick thing for people that, say, need it for the weekend or whatever. A blow dry, a brow wax, and a manicure for $75 is a really good price. And obviously, if there are curls involved, it'll be a little bit more. If there's gel, a little bit more. But basically under 100 bucks is a really good deal.

Jill: And do you know who that's... I'm sorry to interrupt you, Miss Kennadie. But do you know who that's really good for? Those of us who already are loyal to our nail techs and our whoever. But to come in and do a blow dry and a nail refresh or any of that, that is exactly who that's good for.

Penny: Yes. And I figured that would be good for, going into the holidays. We always have some kind of special for services, with hair and nails, but I feel like that gives a round-about way to meet people and get to know...

Jill: Who the staff is in both locations. I love that. So that's a really good one. And then of course what we touched on a little bit is the pumpkin peel and the pumpkin apple facial. Both of those are $85, which is a really good deal.

Penny: And then Dana and her daughter Lexi, who she's training, are doing the deluxe HydraFacial for $199.

Jill: That's amazing.

Penny: So that's a good deal, because I think they go for $250.

Jill: Really?

Liz: They start at $250. I think the deluxe HydraFacial can go up depending on the service. The higher-end one is like $450.

Jill: Holy guacamole. Do you come out looking like a whole new person?

Kennadie: Yes. Oh my goodness. Before, they were so generous. They had the HydraFacial company come in to do their training, and after they did their training, they gave our whole team in Boulder City complimentary facials, and you could see every single one of us had amazing results after doing it.

Jill: You already have beautiful skin, so how can you say that?

Kennadie: Thank you.

Jill: That's not fair. I want to ask people like me that have wrinkles already. So did it make a difference? I need to come try that. That sounds awesome. That's wonderful.

Penny: Yeah, that was really a cool experience. It's nice to offer different services at both locations, too. It's great.

Jill: You guys are amazing. Thank you so much for being here. And we'll have information in the show notes on how they can contact you, the website, all your information, so that they can set up their next appointment. Because whether they're male or female or young or old, they need to come in and visit with you and find out more about what you offer and how wonderful their day can be to spend it at a spa.

Penny: Yes. Thank you, Jill, so much.

Jill: I love it. Thank you so much. We appreciate you guys.