If you would’ve told me 10, even 5 years ago, that I would make something of myself through a career in the beauty industry or even eyelash extensions, I would have never…not even for a second, have believed you. What if I told you right now, that you are going to make something of yourself in this industry and be able to provide a stable income for yourself and your family off of the silly little hairs you glue onto women’s eyes. Would you believe me?
Allow me to take this blog to speak to the driven, goal-achieving, hungry lash business owner inside of you who you’ve likely been holding back out of fear, insecurity, or because someone once told you “You Can’t”. The opportunities to create something, build anything or inspire others in this industry are limitless. I can tell you from my personal experience, you are ONLY stopped by your own self-imposed limitations.
Maybe you’ve been dabbling in various career paths for awhile, or maybe you have a habit of starting things but when the overwhelm of “what’s next” starts to kick in, you move on to something else. Maybe you know you have a deeper calling, a passion, a purpose, but you haven’t found anything to quite light your soul on fire.
Do a little soul-searching to find out what it is that you truly want and what it is that is stopping you from getting there.
I spent 3 years chewing on an idea of business mentoring and coaching beauty industry professionals but was always held back because I didn’t know what direction I wanted to go in and I hadn’t found the one thing I was passionate about yet. I also spent 3 years listening to podcasts about business ownership, specifically about online businesses and content marketing, because it fascinated me even though I was an employee of a corporate day spa followed by a business owner of a brick and mortar location. It was 3 years of my mind, my heart and my purpose being groomed and trained to one day, finally step into my passion and my purpose. When it clicked for me last year that my purpose and passion was to create an online business that helps lash artists (a group that was very near and dear to my heart) become thriving and successful business owners, it was clear to me that my whole life had been building up to this one thing I know is my calling!
So how does that happen? How does one find their passion and their purpose?
It can take time, experimentation, maybe even a lot of wine, to help bring clarity to what your calling is. For me, it took people. I am much more externally motivated than I am internally motivated.
LASHPRENEUR LIGHTBULB
It takes having 3 Key Influences in your life to help clarify and discover your purpose: The Mentor, The Role Model, and The Backbone.
THE MENTOR
You’ve heard me mention her name a few times on here and in videos. Hilaree Brand of My Brand Lashes was (and is still to this day) a very huge mentor role in my life. She is one of those people you can’t explain the connection you have, you just know she is meant for greatness and from the second I met her in her training, I knew I wanted to be a part of her life in some capacity. It took us fostering a relationship and her making herself available to me for the natural mentoring role to occur. It was through this relationship that we built over time that I allowed her to speak into my life in some pretty major ways. She was the “kick in the butt” I needed to launch The Lashpreneur, which I had been sitting on for ages. She helped me to clarify that the Lash Industry could really use the vision I had described to her.
It took A MENTOR believing in me that I could pull off something larger than myself for me to actually start to believe I could do it too.
THE ROLE MODEL
My role model was a woman I discovered while I was still in beauty school. I wanted to find someone who was successful in the career path I was about to embark upon so I could look to their journey and do my best to replicate it in my own life, we all need a ROLE MODEL. A quick google search for “Esthetician Mentor” led me to Lori Crete who calls herself The Esthetician Mentor™. Back then, Lori had a few products she sold online and a blog with helpful tips on how to become a 6-Figure Esthetician. Sounded right in line with someone’s success I wanted to emulate. I bought some of her products and started to implement them into my own business. Ironically, not only was she a role model for me to follow when I was a practicing esthetician, but I also watched her grow into a successful online beauty business coach and thus, to this day, her online business and career is something I continue to observe and try to replicate for myself.
THE BACKBONE
The most important and most influential KEY person you need in your life is someone who knows you well, whole-heartedly supports you, and doesn’t let you give up on your dreams when things get tough, you need a BACKBONE.
It can be a friend or a family member, but the quality they need to possess most is that you trust them and that they believe more in you than you do yourself. For me, that person has been my husband (and my mom…but my career impacts my husband the most so his support was make or break for my purpose to be fulfilled). Having a dream, coming up with the path to work towards it, and battling the self-doubt that typically comes with the challenges of doing something out of your comfort zone would have been too much for me to commit to on my own. Part of chasing a big dream is mentally “giving up” a couple times (a month, a week or even a day!) to then push through the fear or overwhelm and put that doubt into persistent action.
Without any one of these 3 Key Influences in my life, I wouldn’t be where I’m at in this part of my purpose and I certainly wouldn’t be pushing towards bigger and grander dreams. I would’ve likely found it too hard and too overwhelming to be internally motivated all the time to create a life and a business of my dreams. Something tells me I’m not alone in that. Are you struggling with a dream and a desire you feel incapable of reaching on your own? Does running a successful lash business sound more like a fairy-tale that will never come true, or does it feel just out of your reach that you’re facing giving up before it would ever come to fruition? Feel free to share what your purpose or dream is and let’s see if we can’t find the path that will get you there. Leave a comment below or email me at hi@thelashpreneur.com
Have a Good One,
Tara Walsh
The Lashpreneur
