I have to admit something. I am very very very good at giving advice….that I do not always take myself. (I am laughing and shaking my head at myself). I know that I am not the only one. Right now I feel like, at my age, I am in-between life stages and still searching out my purpose. I am forty-something years old, I have two grown children, and a 10 year old that thinks that he is grown. He looks it, no doubt, but he is 10! Because I am still a young lady and in the prime of my life, I have finally decided to actively take my own advice. I am not sure if I will go into details on this advice, but I will say this, it is going well so far!! I am trusting my instincts and working my mental muscles and going for what I know.

One thing that I am happy about is that I followed my instincts about going out of the corporate salon and working for myself. I had been working for a franchised salon for about 11 years. It was a mobile job, convenient for a military family. A guaranteed paycheck, no matter how small. It has been 3 years since I took the leap and went from an hourly paying salon to a 100% keep-what-I-earn and pay booth rent salon and I have to say that it was scary but I am doing really well. I have a great clientele that refers others to me so when I am at the salon, I am busy! When I was at the franchised salon, it did not matter if I took care of 1 person or 30, I was getting hourly pay. Now, I get everything and it is truly worth it. Being able to make my own schedule is priceless. My children benefit just as well as myself. I don’t have to miss special times and we can create some as well if the salon is slow.

I did have plenty of self-doubt going into this. I thought about clients not following me from the salon I was in and what if there wasn’t enough walk-in traffic to help me build. At the same time, I believed in myself….a whole lot! When the opportunity came to leave, it took me a few weeks to really think it through and it didn’t hurt at all that I prayed a bunch before making my decision. I took the time to tell the clients I had about my decision to go out on my own and my desire to have them come with me. When I got a lot of positive responses, it gave me the momentum to start counting down the days when I would finally be an entrepreneur. I am working for myself ya’ll!!! I feel so grown(giggles). Long story super short, it has been a great 3 years. I work part time in the salon, I homeschool my youngest son, and I am pursuing other things that I have always wanted to do. Life is good, most of it. But that is for another time.

I have trusted my intuition and it is paying off in so many ways. I mean I am not a millionaire, but we are happy. We have more time and money to do things that keep us building our relationship as a family. Eventually my boys will grow all the way up and move away. I need to spend as much time with them as I can now and make plenty of memories and traditions that they can carry with them to their own families. The mommy legacy can live on!! I dove right in when I finally made the move. I did make sure that my ducks were at least close to being in a row. That is important. I had a little savings so that if I had a slow couple of weeks, we would still be okay. I used to think that I would have to work 40+ hours to take care of my children. That is what I was doing over there. All weekend, all week. I now work half the amount I was working before for twice the amount of money. I can only go up from where I am. I am winning! The move was worth it and I am happy that I trusted  myself.

Now, I am still busy! But now I truly love what keeps me busy and that makes a huge difference in my stress levels. As far as my business move goes, I am free of that old self-doubt. This is not to say that I do not get discouraged. I just keep going and things still balance themselves out. I have learned to budget my finances and I took on a new hobby, couponing!! I am aiming to get myself to the point that in everything I do, I am being productive in that the activity that I am doing is getting me another step closer to where I want to be. There is a time or everything, my clients, my boys, creating the blogs or planning events, my hustle, love, warfare, and relaxing. I am trying to have less wasted space and time in my life. I have goals! If what I am doing and who I am doing it with, will not get me another step closer, I need to reevaluate, and quick.

If I can give anyone some advice that I have been actively taking myself, I would have to say trust yourself. Get to know who you are and treat yourself well.  You are in a relationship with yourself and you need to make an effort to make you happy. Take yourself to dinner and a movie, pamper yourself, learn what you love and what you should avoid. Set clear boundaries for yourself and respect them. Stay committed to you, your goals and those boundaries that you set. Do not forget to surround yourself with others that do the same.