Purpose: Why Do You Do What You Do?

By Kristie Kesic

What do we do, why we do it and how we do it, are questions we evaluate as business owners when planning our goals, building our brand, and building our team.

It’s a way we can grow and evolve yet make sure we don’t stray away from what our purpose is. But as an individual have you ever truly asked yourself. What is your why?

It’s something I asked my team recently in one of our team meetings and their responses were a big reason I believe we collaborate and work so well together.

Our purpose, our why we do what we do are the same. We love what we do, and we love the feeling of making someone look great and feel great within themselves. We all have the belief that we can truly change someone’s day.

As you evolve within our industry and within your career, what you do will change. Think about it. We start as apprentices, grow to seniors, and then maybe a specialist, management, salon owner, educator, coach. The possibilities are endless.

Each time you move into a new role or have the desire to move into a new role do you ask yourself, why?

I get asked so many questions about my different roles.

Why would you want to have a salon it’s so hard, just work for yourself?

I could never work just me. I love collaborating and being part of a team. That’s what it’s all about for me. I own a salon because I wanted to create a space for staff and clients to feel valued and appreciated and for growth success to be nurtured and celebrated.

You own a salon and still work on the floor full time, why?

This why is simple, because I want to make my clients feel and look the most beautiful version of themselves. That is job satisfaction at its best. The day that why changes is the day I’ll take myself off the floor.

Why do you want to educate others?

Because I want to make our industry strong. I love making clients feel good about themselves, so if I can share my skills with another hairdresser so in turn, they can make their clients feel that good, that’s a good way to me.

Why do you do photoshoots?

This is my creative outlet. This is where I get to push myself and my skills and get to create the kind of work, I don’t get to do in salon every day.

It’s so interesting hearing people’s why so I’ve asked some wonderful people in our industry across all different roles why they do what they do.

Faye Murray: Business Coach at Faye Murray Your Coach for 20 years. Love is not too strong a word to describe “why I do what I do”

I “love” what I do, and I am grateful to have gathered over many years the knowledge, that I share freely with every coaching and training.

Every day I hear stories of success and spend time with hairdressers who strive to do it better. What I do is not a job it is an absolute pleasure.

Geoffrey Herberg: Award-winning hairdresser, salon owner, guest artist, and current role with Revlon Professional & American Crew Brands as Education Field manager.

My passion for education in the hairdressing industry has remained unwavering for over 35 years. It’s not just a career; it’s a calling., my ‘why’ has evolved and deepened with time.

My journey began with a desire to transform individuals, making them feel beautiful and confident. Over the years, I realized that education is the key to empowering both stylists and clients. Sharing knowledge, techniques, and creativity became my mission. I wanted to foster a community of talented professionals who could bring out the best in their clients.

My role as a salon owner allowed me to nurture budding talent, witnessing their growth, and passing on my skills. Becoming a guest artist and education brand manager amplified my reach. I could influence the industry at a larger scale by designing curriculum, creating innovative techniques, and imparting expertise to the next generation of stylists.

My ‘why’ is a blend of artistic fulfillment, the thrill of transformation, and the joy of seeing others succeed. My journey as an educator is not just a career but a lifelong commitment to excellence, empowerment, and artistry and my way of “giving back “ to an industry that has provided me with endless opportunities.

Anna Judd: Hairdresser at Cobelle Creative and Hairdressing for 48 years

I’ve been doing hair for so long because I love what I do. I love the people I work with, and I love making people feel good. Hairdressing keeps me young, and I just love it.

Hayley Kidson: Owner of Minogue Hairdressing, with career highlights spanning 22 years including business and creative education and New York Fashion Week. Now turned sort after real estate agent at Realty Blue Burleigh Heads.

So, I guess for me, the main reason for the career change was I didn’t feel challenged by my career anymore. As much as I loved it so much and was so passionate about it for a long time, I felt a massive urge to challenge myself and to do something new that I had always been really interested in my whole life.

I guess I’ve never gone ahead and made the change sooner as I thought it would be way too hard. I am extremely grateful though for the career I had in hairdressing and wouldn’t take back a minute of it. It gave me a very fulfilling life, not only financially but on a lifelong friendship level and also gave me the ability to travel the world doing what I loved.

I feel like hairdressing also gave me a massive head start in the Real Estate industry as the similarities are uncanny. The main part of my job now is to build relationships and communicate well which I can absolutely thank my 22-year career of hairdressing for building those skills for me.

I think from the above it’s clear that passion and for the love, it drives us and keeps us all going for a period of time, but it’s only when we really acknowledge and are satisfied by our 'why' we evolve and are fulfilled in our career.

Now not everyone’s why will be aligned and that’s totally fine. Some people's reason for doing certain jobs or roles might be for short term, or for the money, or for the fame.

In the end you’re the only people that needs to be accepting and understanding of your why and I always think the day you aren’t satisfied with it anymore is the day you should stop and move onto something else.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger, “When you go to work and you know why you’re working, then it becomes fun, a challenge, entertaining sometimes.”

Kristie Kesic Owner Cobelle Creative and Cobelle Education. kristie@cobellecreative. com.au @kristiekesic_colourist @cobellecreative