Leaders Must Be Tested To Be Trusted
People have a lot of opinions out there. As a salon owner I know how it feels to see content that makes you feel like you are missing something as a business owner OR that you need to change everything about your business to be good enough.
I often see people selling coaching or giving advice without any experience or very little experience at best. It honestly scares me for this industry.
It is easy to open a business, try some new business practices and then claim that all other businesses are “doing it wrong” because the BEGINNING YEARS are the honeymoon phase. Humility comes with suffering (fortunately and unfortunately haha).
While I am an enthusiast about breaking the mold and doing things my own way, I have learned to not just look at what other people are doing and jump on board without a LOT of thought and consideration. Some people may be early in their experience as a business owner and maybe the ideas they are claiming to be “wildly successful” won’t end up working in the long term…time and testing is the only real proof that someone knows what they are talking about or selling.
I have written about it before here…but I did not hit the toughest years of ownership until about year 5. Then I hit an even harder time at year 12 and 13. There were things I was convinced were working and I was very wrong. Until I hit those awful times I was unable to see as clearly. Testing and lived experience are crucial for a coach in this industry. There is no way to fast track this and nothing can replace that testing in leadership.
When it comes to deciding on what voices to trust in this industry consider these things:
Does this person or entity have true lived experience in what they are selling or talking about?
Does this person or entity seem to be saying there is a “one size fits all” way to do business?
Does this person have a previous bad experience with a past partnership or employer that is making them create waves in the opposite direction? Is it possible that their stances are a retaliation towards a work trauma in their personal life?
Never trust a leader that doesn’t walk with a limp 🙂
Remember that everyone has a microphone in 2025 so be sure to evaluate who you are hearing from and do not compare your business to what other people are doing…there are as many business practices as there are businesses in this world. No one size fits all.
Sending you all of the love + support!
Melanie
xxoo