Growth Factor student and aesthetician Véronique always dreamed that she would open her own spa one day, and now she has made those dreams a reality.

An aesthetician for almost 23 years, hailing from Ottawa in Canada, Véronique has had a passion for all things beauty since she was a little girl.

After having her son in December 2012, she knew she wanted to work on her dream of creating her own little haven where she could focus her time and energy on one client at a time.

With the support of her husband and family, her dream came true, and in 2013 Vie Esthetic Studio was born.

The beautiful little space grew from humble beginnings in her home basement where she could greet her clients and let them escape reality for a little while.

After the pandemic brought multiple closures and restrictions for the beauty industry, Véronique not only survived the shutdowns but emerged from the experience a stronger person and business owner.

In early 2022 Véronique moved the business out of her home and opened the doors to her new location for Vie Esthetic Studio and Boutique. The spa has been operating for nine years where Véronique now employs three staff including another aesthetician and a Front Desk Manager to support her in running the bustling business. .

Véronique first joined the Addo Aesthetics family by signing up for Spa Retail Rockstar which supported the busy aesthetician with retail sales and bringing revenue numbers up, later investing in Post with Purpose to gain greater clarity with using social media to promote her business and how to reach more clients..

Most recently Véronique is a Growth Factor Framework student since June 2021, which has helped her grow her business, move her business from her home to a brick-and-mortar location, hire a team, improve her mindset and achieve her business goals.

“Before starting with Addo I had a home business in my basement in one room and now I have a beautiful little spa with two treatment rooms, a Pedi mani room, and a beautiful retail area with lots of natural light,” Véronique said.

“This was a huge achievement for me in being able to achieve these things, to have my very own spa and hire a team and most importantly to actually overcome the mindset challenges that made this all possible.”

In the Canadian city of Winnipeg you’ll find Laura Novak’s laser clinic and spa, LN Aesthetically Yours.

Laura first opened the doors in late 2017 with esthetics being her core focus, offering manicures, pedicures, limited waxing, laser treatments and skin treatments.

Laura’s goal since opening the doors was to eventually become known for medical aesthetics and she’s now proud that laser treatments have become her primary income.

Laura first joined Addo Aesthetics in Spa Retail Rockstar, which she attributes to helping her understand more of what Addo was about and how the courses worked.

After seeing the resources available to her, Laura invested in Post with Purpose before joining Growth Factor Framework, which she said gave her the guidance to scale her business beyond what she originally pictured for her business as a solo operator.

“One of the best things Addo has done is helping me understand how a Spa CEO should be running their business, working on the business rather than in the business,” Laura said.

“You really do experience an insane mindshift working with Daniela. You think you know what you’re doing when really all you are doing is hustling towards burnout, especially us solo operators.”

“Addo has helped me realize what I really want, where I want to be and the steps I need to take to get there. Before Addo, I figured I would just be the sole operator until the day I was to retire, now my mind has completely shifted and this year 2023 will see some big changes.”

Laura said that before joining the program she struggled to understand how to scale or hire employees to allow her to step outside the business.

“I knew there had to be some sort of strategy to hiring and that is one thing Addo taught me. Knowing I still have the resources from Addo really helps me feel more confident when I am ready to tackle hiring again.”

Laura is focusing on building up her skin treatments offered in the salon and implementing the learnings and confidence she has gained along the way.

“I’m very excited to implement every stage of the framework this year while I make some business and life changes. Lastly, I’ve gained two Estie Besties who are also from Canada.”

When Ashlen shared her “Wednesday Win” in our Growth Factor Framework Facebook group, we knew we had to feature her Spa CEO Success Story because the finesse in which she pulled off this promotion is a masterclass in savvy spa marketing.

Ashley started as a service provider at her spa, CopperLeaf, in 2017, and eventually moved into management and then transitioned to owner after purchasing the spa in 2023, which is when she joined our Growth Factor Framework program.

Although the previous owner did a tremendous job of building up the business and making it the standout spa of her small Texas town, Ashlen has worked diligently to maintain the brand’s reputation within the community, retain a loyal clientele, and implement new marketing strategies she’s learned as she has shifted into the role of Spa CEO at CopperLeaf, which is home to 22 employees, 19 of them being service providers, and offers a broad spectrum of services including massage treatments, aesthetics, nails, and hair.

This effort resulted in CopperLeaf having its best year running their annual gift card promotion yet – $71.5K for the entire month of December thanks to Ashlen’s execution of a strong email marketing strategy, gift card packaging and promotion execution that not only generated a ton of revenue, but also delivered a top-notch client experience throughout the process.

Allison Cremona is a long-time Addo Aesthetics student and the founder of Gidget’s Beauty Box in Northern Virginia where she started as a solo specializing in age management treatments and has quickly grown over the past few years as she has worked on her Spa CEO mindset and her marketing for her spa.

As the owner of a smaller spa space, Allison was a true solo for a number of years, but through her Growth Factor journey, has now built a small but mighty team that helps her to serve her loyal clientele base as well as help her host multiple five figure events.

Despite where her mindset was when she first entered the Growth Factor Framework program, Allison has always been an action-taker who goes for it with all she’s got, and after surrounding herself with a community of peers working towards similar goals and sharing their wins and strategies, Allison hit the ground running with savvy and strategic marketing moves that helped fuel her events success.

“Coming to these events catapult you to a different level in your business. You know, when you’re at home and doing the daily grind, sometimes we lose the “why” of why you’re doing this, coming together with community is the best reminder, and this community is unlike any other I’ve found.” – Ellery L. (has been to 6 Addo events!)

I joined the Spa Manager Certification class to improve our overall organization and gain a better understanding of our systems.

From the moment I enrolled, I was really excited to be part of the program and had no fears or hesitations about what I would learn.

Throughout the course, I found the communication, operations, and leadership sections to be extremely useful. The knowledge and skills I gained have already made a huge difference in how I manage our spa.

If a friend or colleague were considering this program, I would recommend it 100%. Even though we already have many of the systems in place that were covered in the class, it was still a HUGE benefit to me.

This program will be an absolute jackpot for someone who is new to a spa management role or doesn’t have these systems established.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to the Addo Wellness Institute team for this incredible experience. I’m excited to take everything I’ve learned and implement it into our day-to-day operations at HRA.

This program has been a game-changer for me as a spa manager, and I’m confident it will help take our spa to the next level.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Spa Manager Certification course and have learned so much from it. I joined the program because my CEO thought this class would be good to help me better understand the spa industry and provide more guidance on managing our spa.

We have solved our problem of finding the best way to organize information and ensure everyone on our team is on the same page.

Initially, I thought my biggest hurdle would be finding time to read the books or complete assignments, but that didn’t end up being an issue. I was able to prioritize the coursework, and all the books were so interesting and informative that I wanted to listen longer.

The section I gained the most from was Operations, which was my main focus for the course. However, the Human Resources and Leadership sections were also very helpful.

I would definitely recommend this course to a friend. I would let them know that it was easy to follow, very informative, and the class structure was well thought out.

Meeting other people in the spa industry was a game-changer for me as well!

My favorite part about the course was the in-person classes, which were incredibly helpful and, of course, fun.

Thank you so much, Daniella and the Addo Wellness Institute Team, for this valuable experience!

The main problem I wanted to solve by joining the Spa Manager Certification was improving the management of the student spa. I also hoped that it would help with school management.

My biggest fear or hesitation about the program was that it would only help a little with the spa and not at all with the school; I see now that it will help with overall management skills.

It’s hard to pick just one section of the class that was the most useful. If I had to choose, I would say Human Resources and operations were particularly beneficial for me.

If I were to recommend this program to a friend or colleague, I would say that this course will help you make more revenue and automate your business so that you don’t have to feel like you always need to be there in person.

I loved the in-person days in Utah.