Are You Still Trying to Be Perfect?

are-you-still-trying-to-be-perfect_1This weekend I’ll be sharing the stage with some of the UK’s best salon owners at Pro Beauty North. We will be discussing “What we wish we had known when we started in business”. I’m sure this is going to be a really open and robust discussion. If you’re attending Pro Beauty North please do join us!

In preparing for this discussion I got to thinking how we all seem to have a tendency to try to be perfect, then beat ourselves up when things invariably don’t go so well.

Why do we do that?

As business owners we seem to set ourselves some really strange rules around how we should be perceived in the eyes of others. This is usually to the total detriment of ourselves, our nearest and dearest, as well as our businesses.

We set off on the early days of our businesses with our heads full of dreams and ambitions. We are ready to take on the world!

But soon enough the realisation kicks in that maybe it isn’t all going to be a bed of roses. And of course we can’t just walk away or simply switch off when things go wrong.

We don’t want to burden friends and family who have limited time and resources to help, so instead we put a brave face on things.

Often we also have this other weird notion that goes like this:

If business is doing really well, then we should play down our success.
Partly in case it doesn’t last, and partly from the notion that we don’t want your clients and staff to think we are making too much money from them.

When you stop to think about it, doesn’t this seem like a totally crazy way of thinking?

After 28 years as a salon owner I find that when I speak to other salon, spa and clinic owners, one thing is for sure. We ALL have the same business issues in common. Yet everyone I have spoken to thinks the business problems they are grappling with are unique to them.

Most problems seem much bigger than they really are because we don’t want to admit we need help or guidance, or we simply don’t know where to get the right help from.

This gets harder the longer we have been in business. Everyone expects that you should know what to do and that your experience should prevent problems occurring in the first place.

I firmly believe that we should all embrace and celebrate when things go wrong as well as when things are going really well.

Business would be pretty boring if every day was perfect.

We need the challenges our businesses throw at us so that we can learn from them.

Over the years I have had many sleepless nights worrying about challenges in my business. The truth is that worrying doesn’t have any impact on the issue.

Now, when I look back at issues in my business life that at the time appeared to be huge problems, I realise that all worry did was make them appear much bigger in my head then they really were.

The reality is, each of these issues was a lesson that made me stronger as a business person.

That’s why I feel this discussion What we wish we had known when we started in business will be so valuable. We can all learn from each other’s mistakes and short-cut our own learning process.

We really all do need to embrace and celebrate how great we are for taking that big step into business, and learn to tackle our business issues together.

To book this discussion or any of the other business talks at Professional Beauty, all you have to do is click on the seminar link below, select the topics you’d like the most help with, then enter the code DISS50 in the Discount box and SUSAN ROUTLEDGE in the promo box. This will get you a 50% discount on all seminars and workshops too.

http://professionalbeauty.co.uk/e/north2016/site/northseminars

I hope to meet you there and help you to grow your Salon to brand new heights!

Here’s to your salon’s success,

Susan x

 

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