Open for only six months, Caroline George Skin Care Center has been a dream come true for owner Caroline George. After years of experience in sales, product knowledge training and makeup artistry, she finally rolled up her sleeves and established a spa she could call home.
In a small beautiful building in Madeira, Ohio, George has created a luxurious pampering oasis with only four rooms and 1,000 square feet. Her emphasis on intimacy and one-on-one attention has won over a loyal clientele. “My clients come to me and say, ‘This is what I’ve been looking for in a spa,’ ” says George.
Focusing on personalized customer service is the key to her success, as well as a skill she acquired after working in the beauty field for many years. As a sales manager for Avon, George quickly identified the importance of meeting the needs of her clients. “I found that customer service was a weak area for many in the beauty industry,” she says. “I trained my representatives on how to work with customers and, in turn, increase their profitability.”
After being laid off following 9/11, George suffered a ministroke. “I’m a very healthy person, but freakishly I had a stroke. It’s amazing how the body reacts when there’s so much pressure in life,” she recalls. “The situation has made me a lot more spiritual. I look in the mirror and say, ‘This is great. I’m really lucky.’ ”
When she recovered, George decided that she needed a career shift. “I wanted to work with skin, so I earned my esthetician’s license. Afterward, I worked at Emerge Salon & Spa in Cincinnati, where I was exposed to multiethnic skin care and learned about a variety of women’s esthetic conditions,” she says.
George eventually left Emerge to work for Mercy HealthPlex Anderson—a health and wellness facility affiliated with Mercy Hospital Anderson in Anderson, Ohio—where she operated the now defunct spa arm for two years. When the hospital reconsidered the spa, George, with the help of her silent business partner, Kenneth P. George Jr., decided to go into business for themselves. “With the help of my family and friends, I have been able to build my dream spa,” she says.
At Caroline George Skin Care Center, the services focus on improving each client’s skin without abrasive or invasive treatments. “I believe in enhancing beauty, and we help develop the beauty that clients already have,” notes George. “We’re not a huge spa, but we still very much specialize in treating the clients.”
She remains enthusiastic about skin care by continually challenging herself. “Although I have been in this industry for a long time, the way I stay motivated is by constantly learning and by surrounding myself with really great people,” George says. “I do this because I love what I do. I’m passionate about my job.”
In addition to herself, George has a massage therapist and an esthetician on staff, and she maintains a booked appointment calendar. “Right now, this is where I want to be. I look at what I’ve done every day and ask myself what I can do to make it better,” she states. “I ask myself, ‘Did I do everything I could to make it happen?’ Clients have to be happy when they leave, and that’s my job.”