Step into the whimsical world of LaDee-Da Kids Spa with Wendy Long, the visionary who's transforming the way kids celebrate and unwind. Our latest episode offers a delightful peek behind the curtain of a business that brings joy to children through spa services and enchanting parties. Wendy is not just the accomplished owner of this sprightly haven; she's also a juggler of life's joys and challenges, balancing the demands of her growing enterprise with a love for leisurely pastimes by the sunny shores of Dunedin.
From the logistics of crafting memorable celebrations complete with local bakers to the strategic dance of franchising her unique concept, Wendy unfolds the story of LaDee-Da's expansion with the same charm and care that she uses to create a magical experience for her clientele. This heartwarming discussion is an uplifting journey that reveals the tenacity and creativity required to thrive in the business of making childhood dreams come true, all while maintaining a harmonious personal life. Join us to discover how Wendy orchestrates this symphony of smiles, spa treatments, and the occasional pickleball match.
A full service spa, salon & party center for kids! Staffed by licensed Cosmetologists and ready to ensure your children receive the ROYAL TREATMENT!
Step into the whimsical world of LaDee-Da Kids Spa with Wendy Long, the visionary who's transforming the way kids celebrate and unwind. Our latest episode offers a delightful peek behind the curtain of a business that brings joy to children through spa services and enchanting parties. Wendy is not just the accomplished owner of this sprightly haven; she's also a juggler of life's joys and challenges, balancing the demands of her growing enterprise with a love for leisurely pastimes by the sunny shores of Dunedin.
From the logistics of crafting memorable celebrations complete with local bakers to the strategic dance of franchising her unique concept, Wendy unfolds the story of LaDee-Da's expansion with the same charm and care that she uses to create a magical experience for her clientele. This heartwarming discussion is an uplifting journey that reveals the tenacity and creativity required to thrive in the business of making childhood dreams come true, all while maintaining a harmonious personal life. Join us to discover how Wendy orchestrates this symphony of smiles, spa treatments, and the occasional pickleball match.
A full service spa, salon & party center for kids! Staffed by licensed Cosmetologists and ready to ensure your children receive the ROYAL TREATMENT!
www.ladeedanpr.com (727)261-6265
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Sedita.
Speaker 2:
Hello out there. Welcome to episode 162 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, mike Sedita, and today we're joined by Wendy Long. She is the owner of La Dida Kids Spa. She has two locations in, I guess, newport-ritchie. Is Newport-Ritchie, pinellas County, or is that Pasco County, pasco? So she has two locations in two counties. Wendy, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:
I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 2:
I'm doing excellent. Thank you so much for being on the Good Neighbor podcast. Just in case you're not aware of, you know who we are and what we do. The Good Neighbor podcast was started in 2020, during COVID, when you weren't giving any kids any pedicures or manicures and we couldn't touch anybody or be within six feet of each other. The Good Neighbor podcast was started as a way for businesses like yours to get your message out into the community and connect with neighbors and people in the area the community and connect with neighbors and people in the area. And over the last four years now, the Good Neighbor podcast is in South Florida, tampa, atlanta, virginia, Philadelphia, denver we're all over the United States and I'm lucky enough to be the person here in Tampa that gets to talk to business owners like you and learn their story. So, with that said, tell us you have such a cool name and I am very familiar with your location in Clearwater but tell us about La Di Da Kids Spa.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so basically we are a full-service salon and spa and party center for children. So we are staffed with licensed cosmetologists, we do boys' and girls' haircuts, manicures, pedicures, full princess makeovers for the kids where they can be a princess for a day, complete with pictures, and then a whole party center too. So we have over 500 costumes for them to dress up in. We have a runway built for them to dance on stage and just have a magical time so let me ask you this what is the like, what's the number one right now?
Speaker 2:
party for a little girl ages, you know, five to eight years old? What is their number one dress up party right now?
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So what we do primarily for that age group is the dress up and dance party. All the kids come in. You can have up to 25 children, both boys and girls. They would choose a costume to wear. They would get services such as face paint, makeup, hairstyles, fingernails polished. We do the fashion show with them on the stage, dance party, and then there's also time for them to sit down and eat, sing happy birthday and everything in the party room.
Speaker 2:
And then what ages do you go up to Like where is like if going, like if a kid's going to a pediatrician? There's an age range when they actually graduate out to a general practitioner. When do they go? From what age they go from la-di-da up to like their normal salon.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so our primary demographic is ages three through 11. I would say, as they start getting a little bit older than that, they, you know, like to go to their mom's salon. They like to get the acrylics for their nails instead of the basic manicures, basically when they want to start upgrading to the more adult services. But we will see kids up until age of 18 for all of those services. So there have been some with us that have been coming for nine years and they refuse to go anywhere else because they love their cosmetologist that they work with and don't trust anybody else it makes sense, I mean.
Speaker 2:
So a couple questions I have for you. Number one when you do like a six-year-old's birthday party and they're having their dance party and they're doing all that stuff from from the food side of it, do you guys work with partners in the area to bring food in or do you have like a kitchen there that you cater? I'm assuming you don't do that. I'm assuming you have like a pizza place nearby or something like that for the kids to eat.
Speaker 3:
Exactly so. Yeah, so we work with local pizza places. At each location we have a preferred vendor that gives us amazing discounts. And then we do work with a baker in the area as well that gives us a nice deal on amazing baked goods. But we don't limit our guests to those providers. So our guests that come in, they want to throw a party, if they want to bring all their own food, heating dishes and all of that, they're welcome to.
Speaker 2:
You can accommodate.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, we want to make them happy with what the kids are eating and what they want.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so while we're on here, you get this great discount from your preferred vendors. Do you want to throw them a little plug right here? Maybe they'll give you a bigger discount if you throw them a little preferred plug right here.
Speaker 3:
Well, so at the Clearwater location we use Domino's. It's only $8 for a large one-topping pizza. Up in Newport-Vichy we use Pizza Hut. It's right in the same plaza, which is super convenient. And then for our baker, we use Joyce DiDonato with the Enchanted Baker. She does everything you could imagine as far as baked goods.
Speaker 2:
So the cool thing is I can't imagine just orchestrating one or two kids like getting them ready for school and doing all that as an undertaking. So I would assume convenience for the food side of it is the huge factor because you have probably 10 kids, up to 25 kids running around. It's just whatever's close, whatever's easiest. But from a baking standpoint, does Joyce do all sorts of crazy like cakes, like the cake boss type of stuff? Does she go crazy with stuff like that?
Speaker 3:
yeah, no, she definitely can. So, um, if you look on her facebook page or her website um the enchanted baker, you can see all of the different custom cakes, cake pops, cookies. She even puts logos on cookies. She can put pictures on cookies she can anything that you want.
Speaker 2:
And then from a staffing standpoint um, you know I I've driven past your place in Clearwater a bunch of times. I used to live in Safety Harbor. The location size how much staff do you accommodate at each location?
Speaker 3:
So it varies. Typically at each location I have two to three cosmetologists working, plus I have party attendants and I also staff princesses, so I hire local theater talent in the area to perform as princesses for us as well.
Speaker 2:
So you have a lot going on. So tell the people that are listening how do you get into this? I mean, were you in the salon business, Were you in the daycare business? And was it like the old Reese's peanut butter commercial? They just bumped into each other and became la-di-da.
Speaker 3:
Nice, so I do have an extensive past in high-end salons and spas from years ago when I was a massage therapist and I lived out west. I worked in amazing spas, so I have a little bit of background about how to run spas. But I literally just came into this because my kids were at an age they needed something like this and at that time I was working in corporate HR, which is completely different. But just saw the need and as a mom, I wanted to create that environment.
Speaker 2:
So if I'm a parent and, like and like, my ex lives in Safety Harbor and she has two young kids as a parent, do the moms usually come in with their kids? Or does it depend on the age? Or is it something where if mom has shopping to do, she could drop off Jane and leave her there and she gets all that done? Or do you guys not do that?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so they could Typically the parents stay with If they come in just like for a half hour haircut, it really doesn't make sense to leave them back If they're coming in for a birthday party that could be two hours long. There are a lot of the parents that say, hey, is it okay if I leave them here with the other families, and that's perfectly fine.
Speaker 2:
So it's really just like human resources just a lot of crying, but smaller people instead of grown size people.
Speaker 3:
So it's different and, to be honest with you, though, I think a lot of people have the perception that it's a kid's hair salon and you'll get those screaming kids, and the kids come in and they're honestly so happy to be there. It's probably 95 percent happiness, only 5% unhappy.
Speaker 2:
Well, I think the difference is because I've been in there. I mean, you know, the difference is when the kid is going. When a child is going there, it's like for an experience. It is like not just going to get a haircut and being strapped into a chair and, you know, sit tight while we do this. It is like an experience. It's a manicure, it's a pedicure, it could be a whole bunch of different stuff. So I think the clientele, while they're still young, are still getting this value out of it that they're experiencing something instead of just kind of running to get a haircut.
Speaker 3:
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 2:
So let me ask you this how old are your kids now?
Speaker 3:
13 and 14.
Speaker 2:
Oh, wow, close to teenagers, boys or girls Two girls. Oh God bless you. 13 and 14 and two girls. So when you are not running these salons in two different counties and driving up and down 19 probably and sitting in traffic, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:
So you know the kids are in. You know soccer, different things like that. We like to go swimming, we like to go to the beach, play pickleball, have a friend in Dunedin where we can drive the golf cart around and live in that community. Just be out and about.
Speaker 2:
I do. I do really love Dunedin. It's probably my favorite, one of my favorite places in, you know, tampa, st Pete. It has such a great vibe and a great feel in there and just the whole main street, all the different options to eat and see things and do things. It is a lot of fun to be there. You did say, though, you play pickleball. Are you one of these crazy fanatical pickleball people, or do you just go casual to have a drink and have some fun?
Speaker 3:
I'm very casual. Yes, I. I see a lot of people on the courts that are not so casual, but no, that's not me. I can hold my own, but no, I'm not that crazy.
Speaker 2:
So now do you play um? I don't know if you're married, your significant other does. Do they play pickleball with you? Play doubles, or is it just you generally playing?
Speaker 2:
Uh no, I some friends and uh, yeah, boyfriend that plays as well all right and he's not competitive, so he's not yelling at you, going like wendy, come on, what are you doing? He's kind of into it saying all right, it's good, it's good when you're on the same wavelength with that stuff, or else one person being too competitive and the other it gets, it'll get contentious on the court and then probably off the court later on. So you said beaches and stuff. Do you have like a go-to beach that you like to go to? Do you go to Clearwater? Do you go to Honeymoon Island? Where do you like to go?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, usually Honeymoon is our go-to place. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I like Honeymoon too. It's nice out there, other than the one road in and one road out. It's great, but that's the one part of it where it's just kind of like. So one of the things I like to ask business owners specifically and in your case it's your unique business, I mean, I don't know how much do you have a lot of competition in the market that is out there that does what you do.
Speaker 3:
So there are certain companies that offer facets of what we do.
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 3:
I've not found anybody that offers everything that we do, so all encompassing, because we have the hair salon, we have the birthday parties, we also have offsite princesses, we have face painters, we do fairy hair offsite. If you put all of that together, I have not seen another company that offers everything. But I find it better to have it all in-house than to out all of those items.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, sure, I mean there's a like listen, I said it earlier like wrangling a couple of kids together to do anything, just to run to the store is an undertaking as a parent, if you're, if I'm assuming there are parents that want to bring their own food and stuff and cater themselves. But as a parent, when you have access to a location where it's age appropriate, it's fun, it's an experience and everything is right there, I mean that's a, that's a win for parents. I mean that's what I assume is is really just kind of the the big draw to bring people out there. Now I know when I lived in Clearwater and Safety Harbor a couple years ago, you were out there, you'd been there a little while. How recent is the Newport Ritchie location?
Speaker 3:
We've only been up in Newport Ritchie for about six months now.
Speaker 2:
Six months and is it taking off? Does it track similar to the way La Di Da and Clearwater tracked as far as trajectory of growth, or is it a little slower or a little better?
Speaker 3:
So I would say, overall it's better, and that's probably because of the brand recognition that we already have in the area Right At the Clearwater location. We were getting clientele driving from Trinity, newport, ritchie, the Clearwater location, so they were thrilled that we're coming up to that area Now. Is it as quick as I want it to be? Of course not.
Speaker 2:
It never is. It never is as quick as you want it to be. Is there plans for a third and possibly fourth location, or possibly franchising La Di Da?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so that's my goal. I have spoken with franchise attorneys as far as what does that trajectory look like? So my thought is to be able to prove the second location is profitable over the course of the next two years and then we can franchise it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, the nice thing about that is you know, listen and not anybody, but people can open a business. But then when you replicate it and do it again now you have sort of proof of concept and all the mistakes you made with number one and then number two. You fine tune those and then you create an out of the box solution for people that are and, frankly, your target for franchisees would be similar to you, like a mom who has a couple of kids that wants that side business that she can start and her husband go in and they, they franchise a lot of location in a neighborhood nearby. That's kind of the. That's the way, that's the way to do it. So so, wendy, one of the things about your location, because it's so unique, do you run into people come in and they just have like a misconception about what you do. Like they walk in the door and they think it's one thing but it's something totally different.
Speaker 3:
Um, I, I don't think so. I think for the most part, the communication about what we offer is pretty clear that I I haven't heard that or seen that from our clientele so the website answers a lot of the questions for people before they come into the door, so no one's really walking in going hey I was expecting this to be a playground, and it's not a playground.
Speaker 2:
They're. They're coming in, they know what they're getting.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, no, I think once they actually book something and they come in the door, they understand that People like through networking groups or that I meet outside of that, that I try to explain what we do. A lot of people do jump to that right away. Oh, you're a daycare.
Speaker 2:
No, yeah, right, right, I would think that. So what do you excuse me? So what do you? So do you do you do networking? Do you do groups? What type of stuff do you do?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so I definitely try to get involved in the community as far as different networking groups, working with other business owners, collaborations as much as I can, absolutely so one of the things I like to ask business owners and you know, with COVID sort of in the distant past a lot of times it's usually a COVID type answer but has there been a time when you came from one career you know, you do this career where you ran into a hardship where you weren't sure if you were going to be able to get past it and somehow you did Like. Well, what was the hardship personal, personal, professional that you made through to get to where you are today, to have two successful locations?
Speaker 3:
Um. So as far as a hardship, I mean, obviously opening a second location is a big scare. You know we got. We got through COVID with location number one, which I think was a huge testimony to how we are perceived in the community. That you know we bounced back, we were open again. Parents were definitely happy to see their kids out and enjoying themselves and feeling good and confident about themselves again. So that we got through the second location is definitely stressful as far as taking that leap to do it all over again and have to rebuild. But once we got through the build out and all the hiccups with that, we're just gaining traction and momentum up there as we move along. So six months, you know we're still struggling a little bit but I have confidence that once we hit that year mark we'll be looking a lot better.
Speaker 2:
Well, you know it's funny you say that that's. One of the other things I run into a lot with business owners is just the logistics of opening a location in a time frame where, you know, over the past two years it was like supply chain issues and backlogs with the county to get certificates of occupancy and build outs with contractors because materials weren't available. When did you? You opened six months ago, when did Newport Ritchie start to get planned and how long of a process was that?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so I had been looking for property for a while. I ended up getting connected with a commercial real estate agent, drew, who was phenomenal, and he found me properties in a heartbeat. So once that got the ball rolling, once we figured out the logistics of the lease and everything else got signed up, then the build out was an issue. Then we had to deal with that up. Then the build out was an issue, then we had to deal with that. Like you said, still materials and labor to get it done and then permitting. So that whole process, once we signed the lease, was about six months until I was able to open the doors.
Speaker 2:
Wow and honestly, because I do this with a lot of business owners, six months really isn't that terrible. In some of the horror stories that I've heard, one of the pros and the cons to Pasco County I do a lot of work there in Pasco County is the pro is it's growing so incredibly fast. I mean I work in the Odessa area, lando Lakes, and all that is just blowing up. And the further up 41 you go, it's blowing up and that's great for growth and people coming in and businesses and all that stuff. The downside is from the government side of it the infrastructure, the services, the things like permitting and all those things. There's such a backlog of all that stuff.
Speaker 2:
So I've heard horror stories for six months. I know when you're in the middle of it it's like, oh my God, when is this ever going to end. I know when you're in the middle of it it's like, oh my God, when is this ever going to end? Every day you're probably waking up at five o'clock in the morning because the committee starts going of all the things you have to do. But overall that's really not too terrible considering some of the things that I've heard. So so this is a labor of love. Are your girls? Are they still involved at all? Do they take an interest in the family business or are they kind of like mom, we're going to go play soccer and you can deal with this.
Speaker 3:
So my 14-year-old is very involved. She works with us part-time. She helps out with parties. She'll do mascots. My youngest one does the mascots as well. So if we have to send a snowman in costume off-site, she'll dress up for that. They and a snowman in costume off-site, she'll dress up for that and they have a good time with that.
Speaker 2:
They both are involved in different, varying ways Is one more business? I mean at 13 and 14, I get that, but does one have more of that business mindset and the other more the entertainment mindset? Because that's how it was in my family One of us was business and the other one was artsy and did all that stuff.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah, my older one definitely is more business minded. She is very planful. She has her schedule every day organized. She knows when she has to work. She's very planful. That saves her money. And yeah, the other one is more playful.
Speaker 2:
So would you ever consider? I mean, your businesses are running and they're working and they're building. Clearwater is successful. Newport Ritchie is inevitably going to be successful. Could you ever see yourself going back and working a straight job again? Could you ever see yourself doing that?
Speaker 3:
No, I cannot even imagine.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
The life that gets sucked out of you with corporate America. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:
Now that's the hardest part. Like you know, when I worked a corporate job, you know everybody I talked to. I'm someday I'm going to open my own business and thinking it was just going to be like drinking on a yacht at 10 o'clock in the morning while my business runs and not realizing being an entrepreneur. There is no 40-hour work week anymore, it is a longer work week, but the flexibility that you have within it. I remember I was telling this story to somebody the other day and if you probably can relate to it, having a corporate job, having to run to the dry cleaners during business hours while I was trying to work and fit the errands in that I needed to do, it was like another job, trying to schedule all that stuff in, or hey, I got to leave work 10 minutes early to go do X, y and Z.
Speaker 2:
The advantage of being an entrepreneur is you have the flexibility to do the stuff you need to do. But the downside is the committee starts going at five o'clock in the morning of all the things you have to do and for me I know for me, running businesses that I have it just doesn't turn off Like. There's days I get up four o'clock in the morning and I, once it starts going, I don't even try to fight it anymore. I just get up and start doing something to get on with my day. Do you operate like that, or do you like hit the snooze button and say I'll get up later and deal with it?
Speaker 3:
No, so I yeah, it's a different world. Like you know, I have some employees that are like oh my gosh, I have to work three days a week. I have to work four days a week. Gosh, are you kidding me? Like it's a week job. Now I do have the flexibility, you know, but I literally wake up, I'm on the computer, I'm doing stuff, run my errands, I go, have fun, but then I'm back on it. So it's a ton of work, but it is nice to be able to do it on my own schedule.
Speaker 2:
And it's rewarding. I mean like, look, work in a corporate job. You work, you get your steady paycheck, but somebody else is is getting the brunt of the money. They're getting the you know what I mean. Like, at least if it's your business. I have a. I have like sweat equity, blood and sweat equity into my business and the more successful it is, the more I can grow and the more you can now look at the next levels of how you want to do your business. So for you, one of the questions that I always ask people because it's super important and I guess it's kind of the million dollar question is if someone is looking to do a party or looking to get their kids into something, what is the one thing they need to know about La Di Da Kids Spa that you want them to know, why they should come in and use your services?
Speaker 3:
We take the stress out of the party planning. So you literally the mom just needs or dad needs to call in, book the party and we take care of all the rest. So we will do confirmations to make sure all the details are understood, accurate. From the minute you book that party and you walk through our doors, you sit back and relax. You get to actually sit there, watch your kid, have a magical party, take pictures and enjoy it While we have the staff there that will unload your car, do the setup, they're going to do all the services, they're going to dj the dance party, they're going to cut the cake, serve the pizza, absolutely everything and then, when you're done, you leave. We clean it all up as well.
Speaker 2:
So it's a stress-free, stress-free party and then the other question I have for matt, now that you say that is what about likeitations? Do I just come to you and give you a guest list, or the parents have to actually send out all the invites? But once everybody shows up, mom and dad could just enjoy the show.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so they do send the invitations, but we have the templates available for each party type available on the website that all they need to do is download it and they're good to go.
Speaker 2:
And the really the last question is, and and the most important question is how do people get a hold of you, your website, social media, phone numbers? Give it all to us. We'll include it when we post this, but let everybody hear how to get a hold of you, yeah, so the Clearwater location is 727-301-1808.
Speaker 3:
The email is lotottieDawKidsSpa at gmailcom and the website is LottieDawKidsSpacom. For the Newport Ritchie location, the phone number is 727-261-6265.
Speaker 2:
The email address is L-D-D-N-P-R at gmail and you can also look at the website up there at lottienprcom so, folks, there is a lot of information there, depending on if you're new in newport richie area, in pasco, or if you're in clearwater, where you are going to include all of that information when we put together the podcast for our listeners. Um, I can tell you that my ex used your spa. She loved it. Her daughter loved it. It was a great experience for her. Came back showing her nails and all the different stuff. She had a great time, felt pampered, just like mom does when she goes to get her manicure and pedicure. So, folks, if you're out there and you're listening to this and you want an experience for your daughter or son or daughter I mean it doesn't matter you can go in get a haircut, get the spa treatment, get everything that goes with it and have your parties there. Wendy, thank you so much for being on the Good Neighbor podcast with us. Thank you for being a good neighbor. You have an amazing day.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast PASCO. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Pasco dot com. That's GNP Pasco dot com, or call 813-922-3610.