Badder.Bolder.Wiser

By no means an easy transition, going from corporate to salon life has been full of new ventures. Here's a top 10 list of how I'm turning a new leaf in my professional world.  1. Personal Branding With my marketing background, I know marketing all too well, but what I didn't realize was the depth becoming a stylist meant to my personal brand. It helped I was already professional, but getting people in the door wasn't and still can be challenging.  Building a platform of trust has been instrumental. Showing people my hairwork, my bubbly personality congealed with my amazing salon team has been integral. One of my mentors told me once, it's 10% technical skill and 90% personality, so I'm on my way to gaining mastery of both. 2. Eating habits I lost 10 #pounds going from an office job, to salon life; standing on my feet all day. Who knew?? And thankfully I gained it back, but not without a strict and now primarily gluten free diet entailing a 2,500+ daily calorie intake. I have to drink more and snack more to maintain a healthy balance. Needless to say, I try my hardest not to skip my lunch breaks like I did sometimes at the office.  3. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!  Thanks to my fitness trainer, pal, lover, friend, Nigel, I'm regularly at the gym 3-4 times a week. Maintaining proper ergonomics of cutting and styling hair is critical for my longevity as a hairdresser.  My body is my temple and I focus on my core muscles used in my profession to keep them strong due to the repetitive work involved in my job. Carpal tunnel and other body issues are real in the beauty industry and I aim to avoid any and all major ones.  4. Small Business I love working in small business! I can talk to the owner and manager and feel like my ideas are valued. I appreciate the immediacy of feedback on my progress as a stylist and how best to reach my goals. Plus, I am surrounded by some of best stylist in the Twin Cities who have mentored my technical growth.  5. People vs. Product I'll always love marketing; it was my first work experience after college and a degree I'll always have. After establishing 4 years of experience in product-based marketing, I concluded marketing people to people is more rewarding. I love being an anchor for my clients beauty and wellness needs. I love what I do.  6. Being the New Girl The nice thing about a new start is it reminds you of your first day of school or better yet, the new kid on the block. It takes time to learn new processes, personalities and the business culture.

It’s been a learning curve and I'm getting through it gracefully and yes, rocky at times. More importantly, my former work experiences have challenged me in many ways to handle tough situations and communicate effectively allowing me to be even more successful.  7. Creativity Comes with Practice, Practice, Practice I had a client once tell me that her long time hairdresser told her its rude to ask a stylist how long they've been doing hair. The stylist told her "unless discussed in conversation, it's just rude because in this industry, a good stylist isn't always based on their years experience, but how good they are...a stylist fresh out of school could be just as good if not better than the one doing hair the longest."  Solid food for thought and I know through practice I'll master everything I need to know.  8. Be Humble, Stay Present As a stylist, understanding the rules of the trade are important. The stylists in my salon are exceptional at what they do and each one brings something new and unique to the table. I still enjoy shadowing them like I did during my apprenticeship....Learning and absorbing.

I've been fortunate to experience opportunities to further my exposure to fashion, bridal and charitable work in the beauty industry. All aspects of my growth have been challenging and rewarding. I've learned to always try to anticipate needs and take advantage of situations to the fullest.  9. Never Stop Learning I'm thankful to be in a salon that values education. Whether its color, cutting or styling techniques, I know my continued education keeps me solid. Even outside of the salon walls, I attend networking events; stay involved in the community and put my family first. Being a well-rounded learner is satisfying as an artist; each experience inspires my creativity.  10. Passion is Real Do what you love and the passion will fuel itself. Often I get the question "why?".... Why did I switch careers? why did I choose hair? My passion for making people beautiful is definitely a holistic one.  I see each person I touch already as a beautiful canvas; what I also see and know is that sometimes a simply great cut or color can be pivotal in how someone feels about themselves. It's my goal to inspire each person that sits in my chair to stay passionate about what they do and of course, look great doing it too! The quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the photo above says:

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."

I had an amazing time in Europe visiting my brother! While it goes without saying that I miss him, I'm grateful for the time spent. The wiser I get, the more I realize how precious life truly is and to spend it with family and friends that build you up.

Although we may fight and debate on trivial matters like "over is right and under is wrong" when it comes to toilet paper placement;  we are siblings for life!  As hard-working young adults, we were raised to have an entrepreneurial spirit and to always do what we love. We have a weird way of transitioning in careers at similar times and are now living out our dreams.

This blog post (http://maxmcq.blogspot.com/2014/05/no-where-id-rather-be-but-lisbon.html) brought me back to my journey to Boston 4 years ago.  I moved having 1 cousin and 0 friends, so it took a lot of courage to start over. It was scary and thrilling at the same time. I met some amazing people along the way that have inspired me in many ways. I'm so happy for Max's new move and glad I had a chance to spend some time with him. His ambition is contagious.

While I could say the trip highlight was shaking hands with Samuel L. Jackson in London's Fortnum & Mason,  it was actually the little moments along the way.  From Max cooking sriracha eggs for breakfast, saving my life (a few times) in the crosswalk, eating sardines for the first time..., to our heart to heart talks about life, love and change; each moment reaffirmed our siblinghood.

Check out this Google album for more photos of our trip: https://plus.google.com/107606841936594543847/posts/9FGkQabYjkz

I'm a firm believer that with life you have to accept and just take what you need from it - nothing more, nothing less.You can't always be certain where life will take you. All you can do is love always, embrace change and live as big as your dreams take you.

P.S. please take your vacations (holidays) when you can. Life is too short not to enjoy it, especially with the ones you love.