One of the best compliments I’ve ever received is “When Angela does my hair, I feel like she loves me.”
Love. Its the one thing in life everyone wants more of and is usually at a loss in how to find it. How does this relate to sales? I’ll get there. Most anyone can admit that the time in their lives where they felt most fulfilled, at peace and content, was a time when love was involved. What is love? The only, and, in my personal opinion, best reference is 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter. It is patient, kind, never rude, never self seeking and so much more. But despite your religious beliefs anyone can see that when real love is involved, there’s fulfillment. And the verse, “And now abides faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love” is pretty accepted as truth and generally agreed with.
As a professional, I’ve fallen in love with my clients. Of course, as a momma, it seems to me that there’s nothing I love more than my babies (even though they are not all babies anymore!) and that seems to be the strongest type of love I’ve ever experienced. But love is all around me. I’d say, “even in the chaos of life.” but I’m going to say especially in the chaos of life. Sometimes that’s where it’s emphasized the most. My clients have been with me through pregnancy and baby/toddler and even personal dark seasons and those seasons can be hard for any business owner. But they were patient with me, kind, never rude to me. Ultimately, I still have to deliver a good end product of my client’s hair, but the experience of that process has been compromised at best. I have always been insecure with my sometimes lack of ability to create a professional atmosphere in the midst of my home salon but I’ve learned that some people not only don’t mind it, but can actually prefer it. They like coming to their hair appt and having it be more than just about hair. And I have to say, I love it too. If I were to work in a salon and not have my cute kids swarming around, I don’t know if I’d love it as much. Which is surprising to say because working with my kids has been a challenge, but, as I look back, I feel like I’ve truly shared life with you guys. And I love it.
Lately I’ve been struggling with my new venture in sales realizing that sales is harder for me that I had imagined it would be. Obviously, the initial goal of sales is to sell. But if I think about why I’m doing this, and really allow myself to reflect, I realize that it’s so much more that that. Whether it be online or in person in the salon, I realize that sales and relationship go hand in hand. As an entrepreneur, I feel like my goal is to solve problems. As your hairstylist, I want to continue to help find solutions to your hair struggles. Not to sell you more product, but to continue our amazing relationship we’ve built over the years. Helping you gain your fullest potential from your hair and help you get through any struggles along the way. Approaching it this way, I relax. I let things ride and flow in the direction it’s meant to. Now I’ll just wake up and enjoy my hair appointments with you and hope that when I do your hair, you feel my love.
Letter from a hairdresser
I try to center my whole life around the concept of love. Love can be a broad term, sometimes hard to explain in a sentence or less, but when you feel it, you just know it. The expected love as well as the unexpected love, yet, love we want to share regardless. I have to be honest, hairdressing is one of those unexpected loves for me. When I got my license when I was 17 years old, I had no idea I would lead to such an amazing career. I felt like I just landed in my lap. For all the hard things in my life this was one thing that came easy and for that, I am forever grateful.
Now, 23 years later, I reached my halfway point in life within the past couple years and I can feel it. I’m NOT saying I’m old! But I’m not young anymore either. I now cannot get away with irresponsible decisions without the full extent of the consequences anymore. Physical, mental, emotional and otherwise. It’s made me reflect and zone in on what I find valuable in my life and what’s worth spending my energy on. Everyone who knows me knows, there’s nothing more important than my family. We’ve been through a lot together and we all love each other very much and, though we are far from perfect, I feel as though we have a unique love for each other that’s makes us a little different than the average. That uniqueness is what I love most about us, but it also can throw some unique problems and difficulties to overcome. I know life is hard for all of us, but sometimes I wonder if I can hold it together sometimes. On the outside I can make it look like it’s not much effort, when, in reality, I’m wondering if I can just make it through the day.
And being a hairdresser has its own unique challenges. It’s so much more than just doing hair. That’s a lot of it, yes, but my clients have literally done life with me. Good days, bad days, divorce, maternity leave, 5 different locations, all the animals, watching my kids grow up as well as me watching them or their kids grow up. Hearing about all that’s going on in their lives, through growth and loss themselves. It’s beautiful and I love it. Truly love it. So I have to say, it’s a sign to me and my mental health when, all the sudden, I am ready to walk away from all of it. Burt out, tired, overworked, worn down to the point where I wonder why I do this anymore. If I didn’t know better, it seems as tho I loved too much. And my family takes the hit. I’m irritable, not present in the moment, having nothing left to give for them. There’s no one to blame but myself. I schedule and manage myself and I have to be the one to balance myself as well. Take responsibility for my own actions. Down in the deepest part of myself I feel like I was meant to do hair. I was just built for it in so many ways and I love it on top of all of it. So, for the sake of my wellbeing, my family, and preserving the continued passion for doing what I love, I have some decisions to make and some lines to draw.
Over the past several months I’ve been thinking about how I can have a better work balance for my life. My family has been feeling me working so many hours and I need to cut back and have been trying to figure out how. I have been doing hair for 23 years and I can no longer sustain the pace I’ve been at so something’s gotta give. I love all of my clientele, the long time clients as well as the newer ones, but I have to start with this. So it is with a heavy heart that I have to let some clientele go. What a wonderful and awful problem to have all at the same! Ive decided I need to let my male clientele and kid cut services go. This is incredibly difficult for me. So much so to the point where I’ve been putting this off for months.
I have recently been ill (‘tis the season) and I was the sickest I, myself, have been in years. It was a wake up call for me. My body is telling me I can’t carry it all anymore. Many of us (especially Mommas) know what a normal, yet, grueling struggle that can be. But we have to face it. Society tells us to be all and do all, but it’s not real. Much to my chagrin because I would much rather be a superhero than human.
Showing all those I love how much I love them: family, friends, professional clientele, etc., is more difficult than I ever thought or imagined. It takes intention, focus and energy which is posed more difficult than I have ever realized. I’m realizing my limits and how, even when you find them in one season, they change for the next. We must constantly reflect where our values lie and how we can give to them even down to the smallest of moments.
Thank you for hearing my heart in reading this. You are all so important to me and truly are at loved by your hairdresser. ❤️