Every day is an opportunity to change the entire trajectory of your life. You wake up to each day to face hundreds of choices. How you handle each and every one of those situations will impact your business, your life, and your happiness.
Let’s talk about the choices we make or not make in our business and how it impacts our personal and professional life. A lot of people believe in the power of luck, situational impact, confidence, or all these other pieces. There are all these excuses, and for me, it all comes down to choice.
We make choices in our life and business every single day; some are good, and some are bad. I want to talk about the eight choices we as stylists or salon owners make and how they impact our business. By spotlighting these choices, it might shift the way you go through your day and impact your business in the long run.
Choice 1: Health
If our health fails, we have nothing. Your health is the most important aspect that you have, but why do so many of us put it on the back burner? We eat like crap, we don’t work out, we lay on the couch, we don’t take good care of our bodies, we wear bad shoes when we work behind the chair all day.
I know umpteen stylists in their 30s who have carpal tunnel syndrome. There are so many things that we do that put undue stress on our bodies. How about the emotional stress of running our business and we don’t even cope with that?
When we choose to start our day with a Frappuccino and a croissant versus starting with healthy foods, it impacts your day and your life. I know that’s hard to hear, and this is coming from a doughnut lover, so trust me, I get it. But I want you to start thinking about the choices you make in your life and how it affects your business.
I run really often with my dog. It doesn’t always mean I do eight miles a day; sometimes it’s a mile. But the impact that physical activity has on my mind, body, and soul is huge. I know how my body feels when I’m in the habit of exercising, how it changes the focus I have on the goals of my business. Putting my health first is not a choice I’m willing to sacrifice, and I empower you to make the same decision.
Choice 2: Rest Over Grind
Words like “grind” or “hustle” are used a lot by social media influencers, and I think that there’s this misunderstanding about what those words mean. When we hear people talk about grind over rest, we’re thinking that they’re saying “Don’t sleep.” I don’t see it that way; I see it as making better use of your waking hours.
Don’t get it twisted, I get plenty of sleep. I wake up in the morning feeling refreshed, but sometimes my workday starts at 3:30 a.m. before my kids get up and I bang out three hours of work. I feel great about it because, in the evening, there’s no guilt hanging over me. It creates space for me to have healthier relationships in my life.
And trust me, I get plenty of balance: I take vacations with my family all the time. But when I am in my working space, I choose grind over rest every single time.
Choice 3: An Amazing Guest Experience Over Doing the Bare Minimum
Imagine it: it’s one in the afternoon on a busy Saturday. You’ve already done three or four clients, and you have three or four left to go. A woman comes in and says, “Hi, I hope you don’t mind, but I have some questions.” You’re mid-foil, you’ve got somebody else processing, and you’re like, “Is this lady serious?”
How do you address her? Are you warm and friendly and say “Oh my gosh, absolutely. It’s a little bit of a busy day here, but I’d love to give you a moment of my time. What can I do for you?”
Let’s say you are a little short-tempered, and you tell that woman, “I’d love to help you, but can you actually call back next week when I have more time?” And you blow her off. And then a girlfriend of hers says “Have you ever checked out this salon? I’ve heard it’s great.” She’ll say “Yeah, I did check it out, but they were kind of rude when I went in there, so I don’t know if I’ll go back.” Not only did you lose that client, you lost her friend.
Reputation gets around. Every time we’re at a crossroads like that, choose to be the kind of stylist who’s a cut above. Think of systems to handle those situations in the best possible way, so even if the situation doesn’t turn out how the client hoped, you still come out smelling like roses. It’s decisions like that that affect your entire reputation.
The way that you show up for her in that moment will determine how fast or slow your business grows. Because it’s not just that one woman. We create habits in situations that flow through our business.
Choice 4: Elevate Your Business or Choosing Cruise Control
How many of you haven’t said: “I think I’m going to take a break”? And we step back, and we do a little bit less on social media. We don’t do a ton for guest experience, we just go through the motions, we have decent systems in place and decide it’s good enough.
It’s not good enough.
We don’t work in a good enough world anymore. The world around us is constantly elevating. We love it as a consumer, and we hate it as a business owner. And even if you are a commission stylist, you are a business owner. Is your salon giving you as many clients as you need to make 200 grand this year? My guess is that they’re not. You have to create that business for yourself. You have to get those referrals and market yourself.
If you are not elevating yourself and bettering your best, year over year, your business is slowly dying. Because the world we live in is constantly bettering itself. So if year over year, your business isn’t getting more sophisticated, more elevated, your clients will start to have the wandering eye, and they will choose to get their money’s worth over someone who chooses to put their business on cruise control every single time.
Choice 5: Be All Talk And No Action
In my line of work, I talk to dreamers all day long. I know that you want bigger, want more, want to make as much money as you can, be top stylist, salon owners. That want is not enough. That want is all talk until you start making choices to move forward.
If you keep playing small and hoping that someday your efforts will pay off, it’s like waiting for somebody else to acknowledge your effort and promote you, so you don’t have to. That day is not coming. That does not exist in this industry. If you want to make more, have more, be more, you have to take steps to get there.
I challenge you to think of three big things that you did in the last week to push closer to the lifestyle you’re dreaming possible. If you don’t have anything, that is a choice you’re making. Every day you should do something a little bit bigger, a little more focused, to where you want to be.
Choice 6: Educate Yourself or Not
This public service announcement is coming from Queen DIY herself. I spent a lot of years priding myself on the fact that I could figure it all out on my own. But in the last few years, I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on education because I know if I want to improve myself, I have to be educated by people who have already done it.
And I know from experience that no good educator gives away their best stuff for free. You can watch all the YouTube episodes you want, you can soak up all the free education that’s out there, and do you know what you’re going to get? A free education.
Or you can choose a bigger, better life for yourself and honor yourself by investing in and bettering your best.
Trust me: the more you invest in education and leveling up, the more inspired you’ll be, the more your business will grow. Stop saying, you know it all. The world around you is growing too fast. If you aren’t educating yourself year over year, you’ll be left behind in this industry.
Choice 7: Be Confident Enough to Show Up Like a Badass In Your Own Business.
To do things that scare you a little bit but you know will push you forward is really, really difficult.
Get over it.
Doing things that push you forward, even when you wonder if you’re big enough to do this or if it makes you look egotistical, make the choice to know that you’re a badass. That every person you admire in this industry feels like they’re a badass and makes choices in line with that feeling.
Because when you start sharing those photos, showing your beautiful website, and showing up differently in your business, you’ll make more money, be respected differently and your confidence will naturally improve. It is an addicting feeling.
Choice 8: Quit When the Going Gets Tough or Inevitable Success.
Success isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s not supposed to be a slam dunk. Success is reserved for those who are willing to put in the time and energy to get there.
The odds of you being born and living on this planet are slim to none. You are here for a reason, and if you aren’t living your biggest, best life, you are cheating yourself.
Trust me, I’ve had plenty of doors slammed in my face. I’ve had plenty of opportunities slip through. I have felt pain in my business and in my life. With everything that happens, that’s bad, I wonder do I quit, take a break or do I push forward knowing that with every door closed, it’s pushing me closer to the door that’s waiting for me?
No breaks, don’t quit when the going gets tough. Know that success is reserved for those who are willing to push and stay focused, who have faith that success is on the other side of their hard work and efforts.
Today is the day. I want you to harness the power of choice in your life and in your business and start making the choices today and every day that are going to push you towards bettering your best.
