What Going Natural Taught Me About My Business
My natural hair journey
I have been on the natural hair journey since August 2014. For those who are unsure what I mean by “natural”, I have completely eliminated chemical and heat manipulations on my hair; no relaxer, no sulfates, phosphates, silicon’s, no flat-iron or blow dryer. Originally, I just started because I was going on a beach vacation and didn’t know how to do my hair without spending hours straightening. But after a little bit of research I realized the damage that I was doing to my hair and the damage that I had done to my hair became obvious.
I had no idea when I first started this journey the amount of time it would take to learn what was good and healthy for my hair. I had no clue how many hours I would spend experimenting and how many experiments would turn into failures. There were countless days I had to be flexible in what my hair turned out to be and I just had to hold my head up strong even though I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the outcome. I continued everyday knowing where I wanted my hair to be and what my goals were. These were the only things that got me through my rough days!
It took months before I finally accepted for myself that there was no turning back and I made a full commitment by getting a curly hair cut. I got majority of the heat damage cut out of my hair and my hair shaped so when it is curly it is cute. I lost inches and a majority of the hair on just one side… there was no going straight at this point!
In going through this process there is only one way to see progress; consistency. I had to stay disciplined to my deep conditioning once a week, detangling before and after washes, putting my hair up whenever I am at home and only laying my head on a satin pillowcase…. no other fabrics BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!
And throughout this whole process, the hardest thing for me was time management! As my curly girls know wash day is just that, a wash DAY! Detangling, washing, deep conditioning and styling all take time. Not to mention the added time to style before work. I was used to taking my straight hair down from a wrap, combing and heading out, 3 min max! I now have to allow extra time in the morning to do my curly hair, ESPECIALLY during the learning months!
What going natural has taught me
Going through this entire process has brought me to the realization that starting your business is the same as going through any other significant change in your life;
In order to be successful you must have PATIENCE. There will be a lot of trial and error. There will be several failures. You will spend several hours working on your business and organizing the details and it may seem as if the startup phase is never-ending. But you just have to remember what your ultimate goal and keep pushing forward.
You must stay DEDICATED to your business! Despite the failures, the discouraging thoughts, the doubts of other people you must stay dedicated to your business. If you are not dedicated how will your employees, partners, or investors be dedicated?
DISCIPLINE is probably the most important thing. Consistency is key to any progress. No matter what, keep up your efforts and stay consistent with every action you take. For example, you cannot market your business hardcore for 3 months and then drop off for 2 moths and expect to see progress.
And of course, TIME MANAGEMENT. Take an account of how much time you have to dedicate to your business and allocate your tasks accordingly. Know how much time it takes to do each of the tasks on your to-do list and what things take up a majority of your time. This will be invaluable in the future when you need to outsource or hire employees.
Even though I accidentally stumbled into the natural hair world, I think the lessons I got out of this were amazing; to have patience, stay dedicated and disciplined and manage my time. It’s so hard to see progress sometimes in my business but with my hair I see a unbelievable difference in these 18 months. In taking these lessons with me and applying them to Events by Kirk I will see positive results as well. Going through this has completely rejuvenated me in my business to know that even though progress is made in small steps, progress is still made!