Finding Your Joy As A Business Owner/Manager By Jenni Tarrant

How often do you think, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Wouldn’t it be easier to just work for someone else, just cut/ colour hair, get a wage and go home without all the additional stress? You’re not alone. I am more than happy to raise my hand and confess I have felt that way on many occasions - especially over the last few years.

Let’s take a moment to do an easy exercise to allay these frustrations when they happen. Take a moment to grab a pen and some paper, go to a space where you feel comfortable and won’t be interrupted for ten minutes or so.

Imagine you could wave a magic wand and have everything you dream of as a business owner. No limits and no judgement, just keep writing until you can’t think of anything else. Close your eyes and imagine what your salon would look like when everyone is working well: clients are laughing, everything is clean, and the interior is exactly what you envisioned. Remember you don’t have to see it like a picture because everyone imagines differently. Open your eyes and write it all down - every detail you can, no matter how small.

What do you hear in the salon of your dreams? What does your coffee taste like? What is it served in? What can you smell? Is it fresh? Can you smell essential oils or another aroma which delights your team and clients when they enter your door? Write it all down. Again, let your imagination run wild.

Now let’s get to your emotions in this ideal salon space. Think about how it feels in your body to create this business. Everything you imagined in your vision has come true. Feel the relief, feel the gratitude, feel how light and unburdened you are, and feel the joy that comes with knowing your efforts have been rewarded tenfold. Breathe in and really let yourself experience it in your body. Write these feelings down.

What you have in front of you is a framework for the future of your business. It is your goal blueprint to work towards and ultimately defines your work joy. Let’s take the next step and refine your list. Circle the words that capture the essence of your vision and group them in up to 10 umbrella categories. If you got this far, you are clearly wanting to move forward in your business. Go you!

Rank these categories from one (most important) through to your last grouping. Overwhelm can stop us in our tracks and tempt us to grab our doona, so I want you to focus on group number one and write the heading on a blank page. It is your first step in finding your work joy. Write between five and 10 small changes you can start with

immediately. For example: A fresh and spacious salon might mean: removing unnecessary clutter; spring clean one station/basin at a time; or moving furniture around.

If your first category is correcting a poor team culture, remember the saying: ‘The fish rots from the head down’. Your behaviour directly translates into the benchmark of what your team sees and does in your business. Whether you are consciously modelling the values you want in your salon and contributing to its success, or working blindly and potentially leading your team to failure, the choice is yours. Stop gossiping, stop whinging that things are hard, start taking responsibility, saying sorry if you stuff up. Be the person you want your team to be.

We all deal with difficult team members, bills, long hours etc and this exercise may seem like just another task, but have you ever noticed that when you’re moving towards something big and exciting, the little things don’t matter as much? Straighten your shoulders and lift your chin to instruct your body you are moving forward instead of hanging your head and feeling burdened.

The more you achieve small steps in category one, the more momentum you will get when you move on to category two. You can’t change your results without changing your choices and actions, right? Let’s make achievable changes that will progress you toward your blueprint - without weighing you down. We can’t control anything except ourselves. Bottomline, don’t beat yourself up when things seem tough - you are human! Do remember that every moment is an opportunity to make a choice, make your choices count for a joyful future.