BLOG SPOT. FROM SALON FLOOR TO THE HOOD by Brodie Lee Tsiknaris

FROM SALON FLOOR TO THE HOOD MOTHERHOOD... MY JOURNEY SO FAR

BY BRODIE LEE TSIKNARIS

It’s hard work building a brand and business, you spend a lot of time and energy striving for success, for me it was my love child and my sole focus and then I wanted more, we wanted a family. I needed to ensure I had good foundations for my salon so I could safely step away without my team feeling abandoned, without me feeling I’d abandoned my team, I needed to know my business could run like a ‘welloiled’ ship without me, the captain, the leader!

Last issue I wrote about the importance of team culture and believing in your younger team. I believe this is crucial to the success of your business, and even more so if you are wanting to step out for a period of time, whether that be to take a well-earned holiday, or in my case deal with health issues and fulfill my dream of what comes so easy to some but became my biggest challenge .... becoming a mother.

I gallantly worked on, travelling and presenting hair in every way possible just as I loved to do, there were many highs and lows and a very long and hard journey to get our little one. I continued to push myself and when blessed with this pregnancy, I was soooo sick I physically could not work for most of my pregnancy. I thought I have been through so much nothing would stop me now. Never in a million years did I expect I wouldn’t be able to push through, I was unstoppable focussed and in love with my brand and business and wanted it all, at that point I was learning maybe I can’t have it all.

Something magical happened though, I had no choice but to surrender to everyone and everything and you know who stepped up? The whole team! Not just one but all of them, even the baby apprentices! It was a huge learning. I had nothing prepared. I had to step back. I had often taken time out of the salon for work travel and commitments and my team always stepped up but was this sustainable for an extended period of time, had I done enough. I had fears, was the ship well-oiled and strong enough, was it too weak and not capable of surviving the storm, would it keep rocking and rocking until it flips. The transition had begun, not only had my team stepped up, but they SHONE, and they continue to shine! I am so incredibly proud - they just seriously have this!

I realised with me out of the salon, it had given my team the opportunity to really shine, and it provided them far more opportunities than if I had been there. Without this happening, I would have been trying to micro-manage it all and probably by now have rushed back on the floor and been a very different business owner. I started to realise that yes, all the hard work, the foundations and the culture I’d put so much into building was strong, the ship was well and truly ‘well-oiled’ and that it was ready to take on anything. The brand I had worked so hard to build was ok! My team were living those policies and embracing the culture - and doing a great job without me! The training I’d invested in my team had paid off and the opportunities to grow were now providing them with room to do so and shine in their own space and as my friend Melissa Gelsudo said to me ‘it’s a juggle but the best kind’. You find your feet and the team find theirs and somehow it makes a stronger team.

So here I am navigating the life I dreamed of: the ‘business owner’, the ‘Artist/ambassador’ and my biggest achievement ever the ‘Mother’ and loving every minute! I’m busier than ever and learning as I go, some days it’s hard to take the perfectionist CEO hat off and just know that I can’t get it all done today and I’ve managed to accept that’s ‘OK’. My team know I will always be their biggest cheer leader, for now I’m enjoying the spotlight on them and helping them shine. I’ve learnt to delegate more than ever, and time is so so precious.

As I conquer my newest fav role ‘motherhood’, I am truly blessed to say ‘you can have it all’ even if it has taken a lot of hard work, dedication and a never give up attitude it is so worth it. Motherhood hasn’t changed me it’s quite possibly Made me the best version of myself.