BLOG SPOT. LESSONS LEARNT BY JENNI TARRANT Hi everyone! My name is Jenni Tarrant and I am the owner of Bond Hair Religion in Canberra. As a hairdresser of 37 years and a salon owner for 17 years, I understand the incredible joy we get from being part of this amazing industry, and I understand the difficulties that we also face day-to-day. As a business owner, it has been a massive learning curve and has resulted in some significant insight into what it is like as an employee and a boss. When I was considering a topic you would be interested in reading, I thought I would share lessons from my own greatest hurdles. I would say that staying motivated in our salons, especially when we face difficult times both personally and professionally, is one of the biggest challenges. The stress from constantly keeping everyone motivated, churning through admin, focussing on keeping clients happy, constantly educating ourselves, and trying to have consistency when everything can change in a day, results in becoming unmotivated, tired, and disconnected. One of the lessons I have learned over the past 17 years is that if I feel this way, so will my team. The saying, ‘The fish rots from the head down” is 100% true. The key to staying motivated as an employee or business owner is to reconnect with WHY you chose the career you have, or the two careers if you are on the floor and running a business. To stay connected and motivated, I consider my top three reminders:
DIRECTION: Am I going in my chosen direction?
When we started in hairdressing/owning a business we had a story in our heads, our dream. It may have changed over time but the core of what we really wanted to feel, see and be, is still there. If you close your eyes and take yourself 92
Hair Biz Year 15 Issue 2
back to the day you started, what was the feeling? What did your future look like? If you still have the same feelings and are living your dream, then you are following your direction. If the present and your dream are out of alignment, then the opposite is true. When I am objectively looking at my direction and it is lacking, I look my choices to change that direction. It is 100% up to you. If you are unhappy then make the choice to be the person you aspired to all those years ago. Decide to make a plan to realign yourself in that moment. Remember, every one of us stuffs up, makes mistakes, gets angry, frustrated, and does the wrong thing. That is how we learn and gain ‘experience’. It’s choosing to accept it, take responsibility for the part you played in it, and connect with your vision from that first day.
am! Have I f@#ked up over and over? You betcha, and has that led to me losing all sense of my joy? 100%. When this happens I go back to my foundational choices and consider how I can change what I have done to lose my joy. I reset, make the decision, and the very next moment I get back on track.
JOY: What brings me joy?
I hope this brings some insight into how to find your personal motivation and/or those in your team. Remember, no one can make you feel anything you don’t choose to feel, it’s up to you.
Am I feeling joyful right now? For me, owning a business from that first day was about having a safe space for my team, a community, more than just a business. Always growing and moving forward, never being a follower, always being a leader. Am I doing that 17 years later? Hell, yes I
NOW: Am I living in today?
It is so easy to live in past mistakes and waste time worrying about tomorrow when we can be motivated and feel joy NOW. Wake up and decide to live your initial vision we saw on our first day. Choosing to be focused on your foundational values makes decisions so much easier and avoids overwhelm. Be in today, that’s all - just today. See how you feel. This will keep you motivated, and you will find your passion and inspiration again.
Jen xxx
