PhorestFM Episode 339: Lou DeCola, Stacey Steffes and Danielle Moniz on Building a Strong Salon Today 200 Entry

Episode transcript

[00:00:00] Stacey Steffes: It was definitely that, like, carpe diem moment.

[00:00:05] Danielle Moniz: I mean, no, literally. 48 hours. 

[00:00:07] Stacey Steffes: And I’m like, “Go, Danielle. Hurry.” 

[00:00:09] Danielle Moniz: And I recall us, I recall us sitting in the Marriott lobby, and it was dark out. I don’t even remember what time of year it was. Yeah. I think it was in November. Um, and it was pitch dark out, and I was just like, “Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. What’s this number? What’s that number? What’s this number? Da, da, da, da, da.”

And Stacey was pulling numbers and pulling reports, and we didn’t have time to… We didn’t have the time for a sip of anything. We were just jamming. Yeah. Um, but it was, it was a lot, and I would not recommend, um- … applying for that in 48 hours. Do not recommend. 

[00:00:40] Ashley Prowell: Right. Yeah. 

[00:00:41] Stacey Steffes: Especially for not one, but two- 

[00:00:43] Danielle Moniz: Two. Two. Don’t do that. Literally, don’t do that. 

[00:00:47] Season 10 Intro: We have an obligation to the industry that we serve, that we serve it in the right manner. Being a business owner ain’t for the weak. The expectations are just different. There’s always a way. When you’re born into something this special, you can’t help but fight for it.

[00:01:00] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Céad Míle Fáilte! One hundred thousand welcomes to the PhorestFM podcast, brought to you by Phorest Software. I’m your resident host, Alex Bélisle-Springer, and today we’re looking at what it takes to apply for the prestigious Salon Today 200, featuring real experiences and insights from past honorees.

The Salon Today 200 recognizes some of the most successful forward-thinking salons in North America. The long-established program celebrates salons with clear values they enact every day in how they run their business, nurturing their staff’s professional growth, growing their business with intention, or striving to do things differently.

Stacey Steffess and Danielle Moniz’s first experience of applying for the Salon Today 200 is a good story to tell now. They do a great job at conveying it, too. You’re right there with them in that hotel lobby, the clock ticking, fingers flying across the laptop keyboard, eyes straining under their screen’s blue light.

And while they don’t recommend to others scrambling like they did, Stacey and Danielle’s 48-hour application sprint ultimately paid off. On day nine of the 2026 Salon Today 200, ENVI Studio in Lancaster, PA was recognized in the growth category, a testament to the work they put in to refine their service offerings, elevate the guest experience, deepen their commitment to inclusive, approachable luxury, and keep their vision consistent.

But applying for major industry awards can feel overwhelming when it runs counter to the needs of day-to-day operations. Too much, and I’m air quoting here, “running” can blind you to the magic you’ve built. And when even a sliver of self-doubt or fear gets added into the mix, it’s easy to think you’d be better off spending that time elsewhere.

With 47% of the Salon Today 200 honorees using Phorest and growing, it’s not uncommon for us to connect with former honorees. This year, ahead of a webinar we hosted packed with entry tips, an action plan, key reports to pull, and advice for businesses to join the dots between their stats and stories, we reached out to 2026 honorees Lou DeCola, Stacey Steffes, and Danielle Moniz.

Because who better than people who’ve been through it to help us encourage this process that has and continues to empower salons with a deep understanding of their business and foster a culture of open, transparent sharing that elevates the entire salon community? Naturally, from the conversations we recorded, we could only play a few clips during the webinar, or it would’ve quickly become a lengthy online lecture.

So this episode, we’ll share more of the conversations we’ve had with Lou, Stacey, and Danielle. And let this be clear, there’s a consensus about the process being time-consuming. That said, because the application relies heavily on essays, many businesses, including the former honorees featured in this episode, make it an annual intentional time to debrief on their metrics, evaluate which initiatives are truly driving progress, and uncover unseen operational gaps.

Which is why when you sit with it, you quickly see that the Salon Today 200 is more than a list of honorees chasing recognition. For many, perhaps even most, the process in and of itself becomes a way to illuminate their path forward, if you will. If you’re working on your application or considering submitting an entry, then not only is this episode for you, but I also highly encourage you to check out the on-demand webinar recording of From Stats to Story: Building a Strong Salon Today 200 Entry, linked in the show notes.

And since you’ve already heard their voices, let’s dive in and start with Stacey and Danielle’s introductions. With me during these recordings, Ashley Prowell, North America Education Partner at Phorest. 

[00:04:47] Stacey Steffes: I’m Stacey Steffes, CEO of Drift Spa and ENVI Studio. I’ve been in the industry for about 25 years now, behind the chair still, um, after all of those years, three, three days a week.

Uh, I opened up ENVI 15 years ago, uh, just a girl with a pair of shears, not really knowing anything business. Um, learned a ton of lessons along the way and, uh, three years ago opened up Drift Spa, knowing a lot more than when I knew… You know, what I started out with 15 years ago. So I wanted to create an actual business plan, not just, you know, “Oh, you know what?

I guess this is the next phase naturally.” So, um, opened up Drift Spa, been there for three years now and, uh, just really so excited to be here today and, uh, yeah. 

[00:05:37] Ashley Prowell: And Dani, where did your path come in? 

[00:05:42] Danielle Moniz: Sure. Um, my name is Dani. I am Director of Operations for Drift Spa and for ENVI Studio. Um, I’m also Stacey’s executive assistant, so I kind of handle anything that she needs handled.

Um, I’m kind of an extension of her, which is really cool, since she has her hand in so many, um, awesome businesses. Um, but I met Stacey when I was a little girl. She cut my hair when I was five. Yes, I’ve known her for, I think, 28 years at this point. Um, but don’t tell anybody. Um- So, um, yeah, I, I started working at ENVI 15 years ago.

I was her front desk girl, and I was in-taking some of the brides. Um, we do have a massive bridal business now. What I was in-taking is nothing what I was in-taking back then. Um, but I, I also have a background in operations. I kind of have been on and off with Stacey. I lived in Vegas for many years. I was also a service provider, a makeup artist for many years as well.

Um, but I really got my hands dirty in, in operational management, and I just loved being- Yeah … in the middle of the employees and, and building structures and, um, building things for employees to flow through that just, like, made everything easier for them. Um, and then I came back with Stacey about A year and a half ago.

Right. Um, and she brought me back on to help her launch her, her newest, uh, Drift Spa in Aurora in partnership with, um, Hollywood Casino. Um, and it has been such a pleasure to be back, and to be back on a different level. I feel like I have plugged myself into her brain. Um, having known her for so long, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her grow through different stages and be with her through not easy times during her business.

Um, and I just think that brought a lot of trust in our relationship. And then I just… There’s just like, our brains are like synced sometimes, and I just like know what she’s gonna say. So I feel like that has given us a huge upper hand on so many things, just knowing each other so well. 

[00:07:39] Stacey Steffes: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

And I think, you know, it’s… It took a long time for me to really know my lane, but I just realized, like, I am definitely the creative, and where I really thrive is in building businesses. I’m the generator, I’m the idea maker. And then Dani, she’s like the worm in my brain, just noodling around. That’s an, an inside joke.

But, but she’s noodling around in there, and she just gets to… I mean, she gets to put all the pieces together. So I come with the ideas and I go, “Hey, listen.” And every day is a new idea, by the way. Mm-hmm. I think I probably drive her slightly insane. I like that. But I’m like, “We need to do this, and we need to do that.”

And then she’s so great at, um… She’s not just beauty, but she’s the brains of the operation, I would say as well. So, um, I like to be the artist and create, create, create, and then, you know, um, she takes play in putting all the pieces together for me, along with the rest of my team. 

[00:08:32] Ashley Prowell: I think, like, being an owner, Stacey, though, and allowing to, like, gift or take off your plate, like something where you’re like, you know, maybe you’re better at controlling this or noodling around or doing this- Mm

but this is my vision, this is my thing. To, like, give the power to somebody, let go of that control, I think is really huge, especially it being your baby. But finding somebody that’s like, “I’m gonna take your baby and your dreams, too, and, like, care about it just as much. And now let me sprinkle, like, you know, what I’m good at or what my strengths are to allow you that freedom,” but also not have that, you know, control then, um, I think is really cool.

Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:06] Stacey Steffes: Yeah, I think that’s when I really started to own my success, is realizing that, like, I’m not good at everything. I had a lot of things happen early on in my business that were just really disappointing. Um, putting trust into the wrong people. 

[00:09:19] Ashley Prowell: Yeah. 

[00:09:19] Stacey Steffes: Uh, and it took me a long time, even some walkouts, to realize that like, hey, you know what?

If I’m going to really, um- love this business and be as passionate as I want to be about it, then I need to put the right people in place. And that slowly started to happen, and now I have such an amazing group of women who are my right hands. I have amazing employees and, you know, we each have our own lane that we stay in that we’re really good at, and none of us are good at the same thing.

[00:09:45] Danielle Moniz: Right. 

[00:09:45] Stacey Steffes: So I think, like, when I started to learn to delegate, um, that’s when the business really started to take off, and we started to get so many gains and just, you know, everybody won. So- Yeah … and that’s what we want, right? A space what everybody loves coming to, and they feel like they’re, they’re part of the bigger picture, and that everybody’s winning.

Right. So it’s been, it’s been a pleasure to, to be able to trust these women the way I can, so. 

[00:10:09] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Roughly 40 miles or 65 kilometres away from MV Studio is Dakola Salon, an award-winning luxury hair salon located in Exton, Pennsylvania, founded by Luda Dakola and built on a straightforward belief: Every client deserves exceptional hair, a transparent experience, and a team they can trust.

[00:10:27] Lou DeCola: Basically, I’ve been in this business for 43 years. Um, owned my own salon since 1989. You know, and, and throughout the years it’s probably been, you know, you’re in it all the time, and then probably over the last 10 years, I really started to evolve. Um, started to work on myself and, and looking back at how, you know…

I was very fortunate, you know, of being successful. And then I started looking back and saying, “What made me different than everyone else? Why am I successful over, you know, my competitor down the street?” And the thing I kept looking back on was it’s about my people, right? Caring about my people. How am I building them?

And, you know, that’s the growth factor. So many times we get to this thing where, you know, you’re the salon owner and everyone wants to be the salon owner, and I kind of lead the other way, where my team’s more important. And if I’m leading my team and my team is growing, what happens to me as an owner? I grow.

But with that being said Self-development for yourself is the most important thing. Mind, body, business is a big thing that, that I believe in. Um, all I ever strive to do is be a better me, and if I’m a better me today, I can do it to my team. And we’re always evolving. You know, there’s always something new.

There’s always information. I think, um, we get caught up a lot of times in thinking, “You know what? I’m a multimillion-dollar salon. I use all the best programs. What else is there?” There’s always something else, you know? I- innovation, um, i- is, is a big thing, and that’s what we kind of work on in, in here, in my sal- in the salon with me is like, you know, what are we doing next?

What’s working? What’s not working? Um, and you know, you know, I’m a hairdresser by trade, you know. Uh, that was… I made my career that way, but now m- my focus more is mentoring my team and, and mentoring other salon owners. How can I help? You know, the, the best reward, I think, in life you could ever get is if you help someone, the euphoria you get from helping someone and they succeed, i- it’s priceless.

You know, whether you get paid or not paid- Mm … that, that… and, and that’s what I do. That’s why I do, um, what I do for, for, for people. But, um, so that’s basically- Right … what my career’s been like, and, uh, you know, my… you know, I still got plenty of, plenty of time left. You know, I’m not do- I’m not done. 

[00:12:44] Alex Bélisle-Springer: The webinar Ashley and I hosted was set to cover the application criteria for the Salon Today 200 and beliefs that have prevented more than one from applying, the application as a business diagnostic, the dos and don’ts of writing essays that stand out, three ways to find your strongest story, and a look at the Phorest reports you can use to support your application.

Now, our opening question for Stacey and Danielle took a slightly different angle than what we’d asked Lou, mainly because applying for the Salon Today 200 was uncharted territory for them. So we began our conversation by asking the pair what prompted them to take the leap and submit an entry. 

[00:13:21] Stacey Steffes: Well, it was interesting because, um, we didn’t, to be honest, we re- really didn’t know about it until- Mm

a couple of days before. Um, and our marketing company, who we love dearly, I, um, I have to shout them out. 

[00:13:33] Danielle Moniz: Yes, they’re the best. 

[00:13:34] Stacey Steffes: Um, they, uh, they were like, “You guys should really apply for this. I think that you have a really great story, and I think people need to hear your message.” Um, so I… Dani, and she, she, she wormed her way into my brain again, and Dani, I’ll let you take it from there.

[00:13:49] Danielle Moniz: Well, she- All your feelings … emailed me the link. She emailed me the link- … and I saw that due date, and I was like, “Okay. Let me start digging through this.” I love it. And I started digging through it, and I was like, “W- O- O- Okay, this is, this is gonna be quite a bit of work.” Um, and I knew that we wanted to apply to both, uh, for both of our spaces, for Drift and Envy, um, just because they’re two totally different spaces and ethos, and they both just have their own very special things about them.

[00:14:17] Stacey Steffes: Yeah. 

[00:14:17] Danielle Moniz: Um, so as soon as I read through the application, I’m like, “We have to apply for this.” That’s really what just sparked me because, just like Stacey said, we have stories, and I’m so always so excited to share the brand stories, so that’s kind of what definitely got me moving on it, is just the opportunity to share our story and, and our team’s successes.

[00:14:38] Ashley Prowell: Yeah, absolutely. So when in that process, like sh- you know, she sends the link. Are we- Mm-hmm … sending the link with like, “Hey, I think this category is where, is where we need to do”? Is it, “Hey, look at all the categories right now. What do you think?” Is it looking in the business and being like- 

[00:14:55] Danielle Moniz: I kind of took a step back.

She sent me the link, and it’s all me at that point. And then once I gather all my stuff and I prepare it, then I present it to Stacey. I’m like, “Hey, do you like this? How does this feel? Does this feel like this is the right thing for both businesses?” She’ll redirect me if that’s necessary, and then I’ll keep going.

Um, for Drift and Envy, I just kind of… Envy is just this monstrous growth machine, so I immediately went for the growth category for that one. 

[00:15:21] Ashley Prowell: Right. 

[00:15:21] Danielle Moniz: And then with Drift, our level of customer service goes beyond just hospitality there. It goes to caring for somebody’s spirit and their person when th- when we receive them.

[00:15:33] Ashley Prowell: Yeah. 

[00:15:34] Danielle Moniz: Um, so I knew that that’s the, the, the direction that I had to go with Drift. 

[00:15:38] Ashley Prowell: Mm-hmm. In a, in a really amazing timeframe that Stacey gave you, right? 

[00:15:41] Danielle Moniz: It was a… And it wasn’t even her fault. We didn’t know about it. But I was just like, “There’s no way we’re missing this opportunity.” Yeah. I was like, “If I have to stay up for 48 hours straight and get this done- I’m doing it

or stay past when I need to be here to get it done, there’s no way we’re not applying for both of these, because both of our businesses deserve to, to have these accolades.” 

[00:15:58] Ashley Prowell: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:15:59] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Lou’s Salon, on the other hand, has been recognized as an honoree in the Salon Today 200 at least a handful of times over the years.

So we asked him what he felt was the hardest part of submitting an application for DaCola Salon. 

[00:16:13] Lou DeCola: The hardest part for us is actually deciding what we’re gonna write about, because I could write about growth, I could write about initiatives, and then you sit there and you battle and you go, “Listen, let’s be real honest.

I’m gonna be honest with everybody. Everybody wants to win. Me included, I still wanna win. Okay? It’s not a given. It’s not like, oh my God, you won five years in a row, you’re gonna win next year, here it is here.” No. So you sit there and say, so was it… When we did last year’s, we’re like, “Okay, we b- we won growth for five years in a row.

We went to business innovation. Holy shit, if we don’t win- Right … did we make the right choice?” But then, again, I go back to the same thing. It- It doesn’t… It… Listen, it’s a great accolade. It’s great to be part of. But in the end, what’s the main focus? Like- Salon Today, we can use that to catapult some advertising and stuff like that also.

But winning that award is not going to change my business if I don’t wanna change my business or improve. So by doing the application and being involved in Salon Today, Top 200, it forces you to look at your business and say, “Hey,” it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s… They’re actually subconsciously helping you without helping you change your business, if it makes any sense, right?

It does. They’re giving you the tools- Absolutely … to say, “I’m gonna look at this thing.” So you gotta write about this. And then, y- you know, so even for a salon owner out there that just say you start doing this, you’re digging in, you go, “Man, my business sucks.” Okay, why? Why does it suck? Why, why, w- w- Right

what are you seeing here right now that you don’t like? Mm. So even though you didn’t win, you did, you found that you didn’t like something in your business, and now you get to change it. But if you don’t apply- And get… 

[00:18:01] Danielle Moniz: Yeah … 

[00:18:01] Lou DeCola: but if you don’t apply or you don’t do it, you’re never gonna know. You’re gonna be like, “Oh, well, you know, I’m too small.

You know, oh, I didn’t grow that much. I’m nothing special.” You’re in business. You got clients, you got employees. And yes, we all know this industry is a struggle. It’s always a stru- it’s a, it’s a battle. But you’re s- you’re surviving, you’re succeeding. But I think that’s the biggest piece that I would take away from this interview for anybody looking to, to apply to Salon Today 200.

For your analytics, Phorest has everything you need, all your reports, all your numbers, all that stuff there, your client retention, pre-booking, dollar amount, growth over l- you know, year over year numbers, all that stuff there. You can actually pull all that stuff very easy. And, you know, it just gives you an idea of your business.

Like, you know, j- just, just apply. I mean, it, it, it’s work and, you know, nothing happens without hard work, you know? And it, it’s, it’s, but it’s- Right … it’s just being able to Be like, “You know what? There’s stuff I’m doing here that I don’t like.” So what do you do? Let’s fix it. Let’s change it. 

[00:19:08] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Lou is very much someone who has a let’s look ahead to what’s next mentality, and for him, “should I apply?” is the wrong question. 

[00:19:17] Lou DeCola: I, I said it before, and I, I think the biggest thing about doing this is it’s gonna give you an idea of what… You’re gonna, you’re gonna actually learn about what your business is doing. 

[00:19:28] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Mm. 

[00:19:28] Lou DeCola: Because most people go, “Oh, my accountant’s got this. Call my accountant.” No. Why call your accountant?

Figure it out. Because if you have the pulse of what’s going on in your business, then you can… You’re the owner. You’re the businessman. You’re, you’re the business decision, you know? Yeah. So that, that gives you a real, real deep thing there. That’s the key. I think everyone should apply because it gives you an opportunity.

If you really wanna grow your business, apply because it’s gonna ma- it’s gonna force you to go, “Oh, boy, here’s the ugly. Let’s go to Phorest, pull up my reports. Oh my God, I’m down this year. I’m up this year,” you know? But it’s gonna enable you to look at what’s going on in your business, which is the, which- Yeah

in the end of the day is the most important part. I helped one of the girls that’s, uh, another salon owner. She asked me, like, you know, “My salon’s not special. Why should I apply?” And I basically said, “Your salon is special.” 

[00:20:18] Ashley Prowell: Yes. So that- 

[00:20:19] Lou DeCola: Okay? 

[00:20:19] Ashley Prowell: Right. Exa- And I think people, not to interrupt you, I think people have that mindset where if I’m not a multi-million-dollar salon, if I’m not a multi-location salon, if I’m not doing X, Y, and Z, there’s no point for me to apply or be a part of that, and that’s not the case at all.

That’s not the case. So I’m so happy that you said that. Yeah. Let’s dive into that. 

[00:20:40] Lou DeCola: So, so it’s almost like, you know… So I, that’s kind of… This is great ’cause I actually had this conversation with a, a, a, one of the people that I’m involved with in, in, in this other group, and she’s like, “You know, I applied last year.

I didn’t get in. But what am I… “ You know. “You know, Lou, you do all this stuff. You’re so…” I said, “I’m no sp- I’m no different than anyone else.” All I’d look back and say, what am I doing in my business this year? And the greatest thing about… Let’s just back up a second Even if you apply, okay, and don’t win, it just gave you- Right

a look-back period of your business for the year of what you did this year. You just did a debrief on your whole entire company because the process is not- Yeah … easy. It’s time-consuming. 

[00:21:22] Ashley Prowell: Right. 

[00:21:22] Lou DeCola: You know, like, I mean, again, one of the benefits for ha- you know, for me having Phorest is I can go pull my reports, my numbers, where we’re at here.

You can get a good anal- analyzation of that. But, like, it takes time to build that stuff, and you have a look-back period because when you’re in the business every day, you’re not really look… I mean, I do. Yeah. I’m a, I’m a, I’m a data guy. Like, I like to have numbers and, and something behind stuff. But, like, most people are in the day-to-day activity, and they’re not realizing- Right

how successful their business is. So this woman, um, you know, she said to me, “Oh, you know, I’m, I’m not gonna apply this year.” I’m like, “Why not?” And I, and I looked at her business a little bit. She has a 78% rebooking rate, and I was like, “Crystal,” it was her name. I said, “You have a 78%…” I said, “That’s insane. That’s what you wrote about.”

How you did that, that’s, that’s what makes your salon different than mine and everyone else’s. That’s your speciality. That’s what you’re doing. That’s what makes you unique. If you turned around and somebody said, “I have a 78% rebooking,” y- okay, can you talk to me? What, what are you doing?

How are you doing this? 

[00:22:24] Ashley Prowell: How? 

[00:22:25] Lou DeCola: Yeah. Like, how are you doing this, you know? Yeah. And it’s kind of, uh, you know… So she was like, “Oh my God, never thought about that.” I think for salon owners, look at your business and say, you know, take a step back. What do you do well? What do people say about you? What do people say about your, you know, your culture or something like that?

You know, is your salon business a hotel or a home? Okay, what I mean by that is a hotel might have some amenities, stuff like that too, but you’re transient. You’re in. You’re out, blah, blah, blah. People like to come to a home. Do they feel comfortable? Do they wanna come back? And that’s another analogy that you can also use is, is your salon a home?

Is it inviting? Do people wanna stay? You know, how is that? And you can write on that. 

[00:23:11] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Of course, we’re not downplaying the kind of thoughts that make us second-guess our own shine. Be that we’re not impressive enough, other salons are further ahead, I don’t know what to say, or I have nothing to say, I’m not the best at writing, or I don’t wanna sound like I’m bragging, which we’ll get back to shortly.

I’m gonna take a second to chime in and speak from experience because these are very common thoughts, and most of them I’ve had at one point or another in my career. You know? When a lot of what you do for a living involves writing, you’ll be faced with these. And so far, the best way I’ve found to move past these thoughts, and therefore often a blank page, is something I’ve learned from Jen Jacobs, an academic and essay writing coach.

It’s to interrupt the thinking by questioning and reframing it. So what does that look like? Oh, look, here we go again. I’m noticing that I’m thinking I don’t know what to say or I have nothing to say. What would happen if I stopped believing that? Am I afraid of writing about the wrong thing? Am I assuming most of my ideas or accomplishments don’t matter or aren’t important?

What’s behind my fear here, and have I experienced something like this before? How did I work through it then? And in the context of the Salon Today 200 application more specifically, something that might be helpful is to remember that you’re not claiming to be the best salon at everything. You’re showing one area where you acted with intention and created a meaningful result.

Plus, what feels ordinary internally may be exceptional to another owner, just like Crystal and her rebooking rate. But of course, that can be for anything. Building leaders, rebuilding culture, creating a more consistent guest experience, the list goes on. And we talked about this with Stacey and Danielle too 

[00:25:07] Danielle Moniz: To be honest when, with you, when I was filling out the application, I, I didn’t know if we were going to, to get that or not, obviously.

Mm-hmm. I don’t know what type of salons we go up against. I, I really still don’t. I don’t know who the competition is because I’m worried about telling our story, and I’m worried about delivering our numbers in a way that stands out abo- a- a- among the others. Um, so I, I totally understand that view, but that honestly wasn’t where my mind was at, because I, I really like to compare ourselves against ourselves, and that’s what I think everyone should always do. 

[00:25:44] Stacey Steffes: I would say, um, too, to follow up with that, you know, comparison is the thief of joy. 

[00:25:49] Danielle Moniz: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:49] Stacey Steffes: Don’t compare. Just, you know, apply. 

[00:25:52] Danielle Moniz: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:52] Stacey Steffes: You know, every, every little bit of growth for everybody is a story to tell, and your deser- your stories deserves to be heard, so don’t, don’t enter into this with, “I’m not good enough,” or, “I’m not enough.”

Um, we’ve all been there, you know? I, I’m still there as a business owner. I have days where I feel that way. Um, but you know what? Your d- your story deserves to be told, and I would say if you’re applying, just apply with your full heart. And, you know, like I said, when you tell a story that’s real and it’s raw, people wanna hear it, you know?

You’d be surprised how many people you inspire. Um, when we started off, we weren’t making big numbers. We weren’t in the 1%. You know, we, we grew that way over time, over mistakes, and over hearing other people’s stories. And I think, you know, this industry unfortunately has been for so long, like, you have to keep all the secrets.

No, don’t keep the secrets. Share the secrets. Yeah. Like, I wanna hear, I wanna hear what made you better so I don’t have to go through all the struggle. Like, that’s what we need. Mm-hmm. We need more community in this industry, and I think, you know, this is a really great way of storytelling and being able to provide that story for somebody else who might be feeling like, “You know what? I, I shouldn’t do this because, you know, I’m only a one-chair salon and I don’t make big numbers.”

No, tell your story. We wanna hear it. Right. We wanna support you. Mm-hmm. 

[00:27:07] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Now, I mentioned we’d get back to the I don’t wanna sound like I’m bragging thought, and that’s because it’s something Lou has wrestled with and changed his outlook on over the years, and I think it’s worth hearing 

[00:27:19] Lou DeCola: You know, throughout my life I was tough Italian family, and you didn’t tell people about what you’re doing, right?

That’s called bragging. Okay? But then I got involved with an organization and realized that it’s not… If you don’t celebrate your wins, okay, and if somebody thinks you’re bragging, you’re in the wrong room. And I think in our industry, uh, unfortunately the salon industry, we don’t celebrate enough wins with other salons, with other people, and that’s why, you know, Salon Today is a great, um, thing to celebrate.

Uh, Phorest, they do the Phorest event every year in, in January. That’s another awesome… I, I’ve been very fortunate to go to that. I’m going back again this year. It, it’s a great thing that you’re in with like-minded people that are in the same level trying to do the same things, you know? And, and that’s kind of a- 

[00:28:10] Ashley Prowell: And they’re okay with sharing their things.

[00:28:12] Lou DeCola: Yeah. It’s just, you know, like, you know- Yeah … right. So if I’m successful and you’re, and, and you’re struggling and, and you wanna ask me, you know, it’s, it’s a pleasure. “Hey, how can I help you?” And I think that’s the, one of the misconceptions with our industry is there’s not enough, um, salon owners at the higher levels willing to help other people.

Um, and my- Yeah … my thing, like I said, the area, you actually know where our area… There’s 580,000 people live in my area, and I have a big salon and I can do 10,000 of them. So another salon’s not my competition. Right. You know, one of my goals and, and the groups that I’m involved with is how do we elevate the perception of our industry?

We’re a trained professional. Yeah. You do great work. A- and if we can get more salons on that same page, then we can elevate the industry, not just our area, but the industry, and say, “You know what? Salon professionals are professionals.” You know, you, you go down the street and, you know, if you spend $500 for your hair, it’s less than six to eight, 10 weeks. You know, it’s, it’s the value’s there. 

[00:29:14] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Returning to our conversation with Stacey and Danielle, we wanted to explore a key point Lou raised earlier, how compiling an entry mirrors your operations. Even if you choose to enter under one category, for the sake of this example, culture, the process of reviewing the initiatives you worked on over the past 18 months, as well as going digging for numbers, might expose a hidden trend in something like your rebooking rate, or maybe your retail, giving you the exact insight needed to workshop ideas to then address the situation in the year coming.

Naturally, we had to ask, did their 48-hour sprint lead to any surprising epiphanies or unexpected discoveries? 

[00:29:53] Danielle Moniz: I feel like there was a few aha moments for me, like as far as when we were looking at Envy and pulling our, our very solid numbers. That’s not something that I had done yet with Envy. That’s not to say that we don’t track our numbers very specifically.

We do. Yeah. That was just the first time I was getting to see the performance from the year prior, which I was not necessarily there. So I was shocked at our percentages of growth, at our percentages of revenue. I was… It was amazing. It was… And our client count, all of that. Um, it was really exciting to see those numbers because I know that that reflects in our staff’s paychecks.

I know that that reflects in the s- uh, the success of our business. That means you are getting more clients. That means our books are fuller. So just seeing those numbers was, was really exciting because that shows me that, you know, we’re supporting a healthy business here, and a healthy business can support all these people’s lives, like their livelihoods.

[00:30:46] Alex Bélisle-Springer: From there, Stacey and Danielle walked us through their thought process for choosing which category to apply under, naturally segueing into how they developed the stories in their essays and balanced stats with context. 

[00:30:58] Stacey Steffes: A- and any business, right? We could really be applicable to apply to any of those categories. It’s just like- Sure … how much story sharing do you have? How much content can you give? Yeah. How much time do you have? Yeah. Yes. 

[00:31:09] Alex Bélisle-Springer: How long. 

[00:31:11] Stacey Steffes: Yeah. Yeah. This is true. But I mean, I think we could have really applied for every one. Mm-hmm. There were so many great categories, and, um, I don’t know either, like, what, like, what we applied for at the moment.

It was just like we had to rush and get it in and, um, we were really happy we did, ’cause- Mm … we had a great outcome. 

[00:31:27] Ashley Prowell: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:31:28] Danielle Moniz: Yeah. 

[00:31:29] Ashley Prowell: And what about when it came to your essay? 

[00:31:31] Danielle Moniz: Mm. 

[00:31:32] Ashley Prowell: Like- 

[00:31:32] Danielle Moniz: I, I love writing. I- Right … I feel like I’m a little bit gifted at writing. I love writing, and I love to tell stories, especially about things that I love, and I truly- The passionate parts, yeah

love these businesses, and I’m incredibly passionate about it. Um, so I felt like an essay is my opportunity to introduce them to, like, our, the spirit of our businesses, and to give them the feeling that we want people to have when they come into our businesses. Um, so I really took that opportunity to genuinely story tell about what it means to be a part of our brand or what it means to walk through our doors of Envy or Updrift.

Yeah. That, for me, outside of, like, pulling numbers and pulling reports, took me the longest to, like, shape- Yeah How the story’s written and how it’s shared is really important to me. I definitely influence our storytelling around our strongest data points. Um, that always will make your s- not make your story sound better, but it just strengthens your, your brand, and it strengt- strengthens your brand voice when you’re able to tether, tether what you’re saying to a specific data point.

Um, so when I was storytelling, there was a lot of figures in there, and I did, I did pull in our figures because they are important, or I pulled in cer- other certain accolades, um, that, that we’ve received, um, whether they’ve been from local communities or outside of that. Um, but leverage any data point that looks beautiful on paper to your advantage.

Um, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, especially when applying for something like, um, Salon Today, when they are so data-driven. Um, think it’s important to do that. You have to, you have to weave some data points into your storytelling for sure, or it doesn’t mean anything. 

[00:33:08] Stacey Steffes: Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I think, you know, it really goes back to the good old saying, “Numbers don’t lie.”

[00:33:12] Danielle Moniz: Yep. 

[00:33:13] Stacey Steffes: You know? You can tether a report very easily to your story, and the numbers are really the ones telling the story. So I, I really appreciate at that point of, like, that they use the data, not, you know, to tie to the story because it does tell the true story. 

[00:33:29] Danielle Moniz: Um, so it definitely co- took a couple drafts.

It took a couple times of Stacey reading it and saying, “Let’s add this in,” and then reworking it. Um, but that, that definitely was probably the most time-consuming because to me, that was the most important thing for us to do, was be able to- Mm … storytell. 

[00:33:42] Ashley Prowell: Yeah. 

[00:33:43] Stacey Steffes: Yeah. I think, you know too, to just piggyback off of that, I think when you are storytelling, if you are going to apply for this, I think just s- storytell from the heart.

Mm. You know? Um, not all… There’s, there’s not always all good things in business, and I think, you know, being vulnerable and being able to tell the true story is, is the thing that will get you noticed because people wanna be able to relate, right? Like, we’re not always good at what we’re doing, and we make mistakes.

So I think, you know, storytelling from the heart and just being really open and honest, I think is gonna be, uh, your best way forward. 

[00:34:19] Alex Bélisle-Springer: For what was left of our time together on the call, Ashley and I leaned on to Lou’s many years of experience putting together a Salon Today 200 application to give concrete examples of initiatives he’s worked on, and how he reframes or approaches the provided prompts.

And he had lots to share, starting with a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee initiative. 

[00:34:39] Lou DeCola: Um, so la- um, last year we were business builders. Um, so again- Okay … we kind of, we kind of did something innovative, and we- Okay … implemented, implemented a thing on our website, and it was the scariest thing I ever did.

I put out, and it said, “100% customer satisfaction.” That’s what I have on my website, 100% customer satisfaction. And when we came up with this concept, my wife and I came up with this concept, we’re like, “Man, this is scary. Uh, we’re gonna get this person complaining about the coffee, this about that.” And then we started to sit there, and again, this is where I say when you have to continue to grow as a person, as a business.

We sat back and said, “Well, if I have 100 people that don’t like my coffee, let’s change the coffee.” Or what- Right … you know, like you’re getting a real pulse of your business, and what we found out through doing this is that, um, we didn’t get much of that. We got, “Hey, my hair wasn’t quite, 100% satisfied. Um, you know, it wasn’t exactly the right color.”

Okay. And so the way the process works is if that comes in, I get it, I personally call that client. “Hey, I saw you weren’t 100% satisfied. Um, what can we do to fix it? How do we do that?” 

[00:35:51] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Mm. 

[00:35:51] Lou DeCola: And what- Yeah … it’s done is it’s given us a client retention. We’ve re- we’ve retained out of all the people that have filled that, that guarantee out, almost 90% of them.

It’s about a $60,000 revenue return. 

[00:36:03] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Wow. 

[00:36:04] Lou DeCola: Yes. Insane. Insane. And with the realization is, again, looking back into your business is all people really want is they want you to care. You know? Yeah. Just suppose you went somewhere and you weren’t satisfied, and the owner of the company calls you up and said, “Hey,” you know, “Alex,” you know, “I’m sorry this, you go, though.”

You know, you’d be like, “Wow.” Yeah. “Did they just call me?” You know. And that’s, that protects your business so much. 

[00:36:30] Alex Bélisle-Springer: An honest share about his growth this year, and an example of how someone who’s had a challenging year can reframe their thinking to still see the wins. 

[00:36:37] Lou DeCola: So even like this year, too. Yeah. If I do growth, my growth isn’t gonna be exponential from last year because I lost six team members.

But if I just, if I still do $2.2 million and I did $2.3 million last year, I still had growth. So don’t, you know, for as long as… Don’t take it literally. Like growth, okay? What was your growth? You had six people, now you have eight. That’s growth. 

[00:37:05] Ashley Prowell: Right. 

[00:37:06] Lou DeCola: How did you- Yeah … get those people? Did you train those people from school all the way up?

What made you unique? How long have they been with you? Like, just reflect- Right … back on your business a- a- as, as a, you know, you’re debriefing your whole year. What, what did we do last year? Right. And again, like this year here- Right … like I said, my debrief is it sucked. You know, we, we lost six, seven people this year to Salon Suites, you know?

Yeah. And that was the decision they wanted to do. That’s whatever it is, but, you know, but we’re still moving forward. We’re still growing. We’re still doing- Yeah … that stuff there, so it’s like it’s not always roses, but look back and say, “Okay, you know, what do, what do, what do we do when that happened?”

That’s what we’re… That’s what we do. Right. What do we do with that? How do we, how are we better now? Yeah. So. 

[00:37:48] Ashley Prowell: Right. And I like that little example that you gave, you know, if you grew from six to eight stylists, it puts in perspective that you don’t have to be this monster of an establishment- Yeah … or business.

You know, that is growth, and I mean, even hiring and recruiting right now is such like a stressor or pain in the ass or like really hard. But like, if people are growing the team, people wanna know how people are growing the team, and to your point, that is growth, um, which, you know, I think everybody in the industry kind of needs to hear is that it, it, you don’t have to be a monster of an establishment in order to apply for this- No

because we’re all doing our very unique things in our own little spaces. 

[00:38:27] Lou DeCola: Just think about this, what you just said. To go from six to eight stylists, that’s a 30% increase. 

[00:38:34] Ashley Prowell: Right. Yeah, yeah. There you go. Different perspective. Yep. Yeah. 

[00:38:38] Lou DeCola: So my, my, my advice to that salon owner at that point there is you’re gonna write about growth, about how you increased your salon business by 30%.

There’s the difference. 

[00:38:50] Ashley Prowell: Right. 

[00:38:51] Lou DeCola: I didn’t go from six to eight stylists. You know, here’s the, here’s the quick little tip. Right. I grew my business 30%. How did you do this? Yeah. Well, through my recruit… You know, through my recruiting, or through this, or through that, you know, and then tell how you did grow by 30%.

Yeah. Doesn’t have to be you went from, you know, half a million to a million bucks. Oh my God, that’s great. No, you still grew 30%. 

[00:39:13] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Then his approach to growing leaders, what they’ve replaced staff meetings with at the Cola Salon, and getting team members to come up with initiative ideas 

[00:39:21] Lou DeCola: So we’re involved in an organization called H- HPSA.

Mm-hmm. Um, it’s a, it’s an organization for salon owners. You know, Jason’s a great guy. And the mentality of that is growing leaders, and that’s what we’re, and that’s what we’re doing. So we’ve even changed… Another thing we’ve changed, we don’t have staff meetings anymore. We have workshops. Every workshop is a, is a game, is a fun, is a learning experience.

And then leadership is now starting to take over some of the responsibility to become, become leaderships. And again, this is a new process for us. We’ve only been running for about six months with my leadership team. Mm-hmm. So they’re constantly growing, const- constantly doing things, and they know the numbers.

They get – they have access to Phorest. So, you know, somebody might be head of, of pre-booking. Uh, so they have all access to Phorest. They go in. They look at our pre-booking. They- 

[00:40:11] Ashley Prowell: Right … 

[00:40:11] Lou DeCola: come to me when they say, “I need to have a, a conversation with Ashley ’cause her pre-booking’s really low for the past two months. How do I have that conversation?” 

[00:40:20] Ashley Prowell: Mm. 

[00:40:20] Lou DeCola: And that’s where I come in- Right … and say, you know, “This is not detrimental.” It’s like, “Ashley, how can I help you?” Um, again, this is how s- this is how it all works. This is h- honestly how it works. We g- we do get together. I always go… If we go to dinner, I always go to dinner at a round table, not a square table, so we’re all bouncing things off each other.

Yeah, so, you know, so we, we went, we went to this, uh, thing, and we, and all of a sudden is we had an idea. How do we get pre-booking up? Let’s have a pre-booking raffle, and we have a $50 gift card if somebody books their pre, next appointment before… You know, when they leave, the ticket goes into, into the, into the raffle.

Our pre-booking is up I gotta think of the ma- the mathematics, ’cause we were running about 38%, now we’re at, like, 53%. So that’s almost 160% increase- 

[00:41:07] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Yeah … 

[00:41:07] Lou DeCola: by brainstorming from your team, from our team, from our leadership team, with an idea to d- to, to do that. Um- Yeah … the same thing with, uh, you know, with, like, um, you know, growing retail, you know?

We came up with a thing. I mean, you know, uh, it’s, it was, you know… I’m gonna curse a little bit, but it’s called the fuck it bucket. And the reason why it’s called that is because people don’t wanna talk about retail. Mm. So our concept is, if you talk about retail and they don’t buy, it’s okay. You take a ticket, you put it in the bucket.

At the end of the month, whoever has the most tickets in the bucket will win a prize from us. And what it does is it breaks down the barrier of the no f- the no mentality. You know, you just, you, you know what? F it. Yeah. Just, you know, I’m not gonna… Let’s just talk about it. And y- we’ve seen retail increase.

So, but this all comes from our leadership, giving them the availability to breathe and give the ideas. Like, I am- Mm … not a know-it-all. I want ideas from these guys, and if it works, great. If it doesn’t work, then we debrief and say, “Okay, why didn’t it work?” Or if it worked, debrief, why did it work, and how do we keep evolving?

But giving your leadership team just the availability to grow, I think g- let ’em breathe i- is, is, is huge. 

[00:42:21] Alex Bélisle-Springer: And last but not least, what he’s done to reduce snacks waste, making savings, all while engineering a buzz and making the Dakota customer experience that more special. 

[00:42:31] Lou DeCola: We did a thing this year, we just started three months ago, or maybe two months ago.

We make fresh-baked p- cookies here every day. 

[00:42:40] Ashley Prowell: Oh, I know. I smelled them when I was in. What? That’s so cool. Yes. I love this. I forgot about that. Every day. I’m really coming to the meeting tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. 

[00:42:49] Lou DeCola: So, so it’s crazy, right?

[00:42:51] Ashley Prowell: And so this- Whole salon has this aroma of, like, coming home and, like, fresh cookies.

Yeah. 

[00:42:57] Lou DeCola: So here’s… Right, so here’s, here’s… But this is how, if you think about things, not everything has to be complicated. Like, if, if you, if you d- told somebody, “They make fresh cookies every… Oh, my, how the hell do they do that?” You know what? I have a four-hour cookie oven. Yeah. I go to BJ’s, I buy the tub of cookies, and we make six cookies at a time.

And when they’re done, we make six more. You know, you know, and, and it’s… but it’s fresh-baked cookies. ‘Cause we used to have stuff, we used to have snacks in the c- in the, in our waiting area and stuff like that also. Right. And they would go stale. You’re buying them here, you’re doing that stuff there.

Economically, I’m saving a ton of money ’cause it’s a lot cheaper and I’m not wasting anything. Yeah. But you also get that home feeling. 

[00:43:35] Danielle Moniz: Yeah. 

[00:43:36] Lou DeCola: And it’s crazy. People come in now, “Where’s the cookies?” But again, there’s something there, like- Yeah … you know, like a little thing like that you wouldn’t think changes your business, but it, it m- leaves an effect on people.

[00:43:48] Alex Bélisle-Springer: So as the Salon Today 200 marks its 30th anniversary of celebrating the most successful salons, spas, and barber shops in North America, the 2027 application just got a deadline extension moving from October 31st to November 15th, which means you still have time to enter. If your salon has made great strides in growth, retention, branding, or anything else worth celebrating, we at Phorest encourage you to enter and give your business the recognition it deserves.

And if this is any extra motivation, 46% of last year’s honorees were new applicants. That said, do not leave it to the last minute of the new deadline. These next weeks are going to be busy for the industry at large, and if you’re waiting for a free afternoon, well, it may never come. From here, make sure you block an hour in your calendar to watch the on-demand recording of the webinar we hosted to discover what Phorest reports can help you pull the data you need to support your application.

And bonus, by doing that, you will get a free weekly action plan that we’d initially designed with the October 31st deadline in mind. However, you can easily merge week one and two, keep week three and four as is, and then merge week five and six for a November 15th adapted plan. 

[00:45:04] Danielle Moniz: If I was telling someone applying for the first time to apply, start applying now.

It’s better to start looking at your numbers. Depending on what level you are in the business, you may need your CFO or your CEO to give you access to certain reports, depending on what you’re applying for. Um, so give yourself as much time as possible. Like, if you are wanting to apply right now, just look at it now.

Because it was so much more… I needed to gather so many more materials than I thought I was going to, um, in the beginning. So that’s incredibly time-consuming. Yeah. And thankfully, I was working right beside the people that I needed to gain these access to. Um, so it happened very quickly, and I was able to get it done in those 48 hours solely because the person that I needed with the information was literally right in front of me.

Yeah. Um, so if you don’t have access to all levels of your business or the P&L, um, then I would highly recommend, um, starting as soon as possible. 

[00:46:01] Alex Bélisle-Springer: Honorees of the 2027 Salon Today 200 will be celebrated on Sunday, May 16th, 2027, in San Diego as part of the Data-Driven Salon Summit. A huge thank you for tuning in.

We’re now down to the remaining seven episodes of Season 10 after this, and our open call for submissions for the season finale is officially going live next week. So this is your encouragement to start thinking about what colleague, mentor, client, or organization you think deserves their flowers and what you would want to tell them.

Otherwise, don’t forget to please leave the show a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. I know this episode is slightly different to what we normally publish, as in it’s essentially a companion episode to the webinar hosted back in September. So I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether we should sprinkle more of these in sometimes.

Until next time, le keyla toma jig fas.

Together, We Grow.

Related links

Want help building your entry? Watch the on-demand webinar, From Stats to Story: Building a Strong Salon Today 200 Entry, for practical application advice, Phorest reports to explore and a weekly action plan. Apply for the 2027 Salon Today 200

Learn more about DeCola Salon and connect with Lou on Instagram @lou.decola

Learn more about Envy Studio / Drift Spa and connect with Stacey & Danielle on Instagram @stacey_steffes @danimonizmua

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets for 2027!

Enjoyed the episode? Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

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