If somebody asks, “What are you doing right now to level up your guest experience?”, are you like A) “I’ve totally got this,” or B) “Upgrade my guest experience? I’m just trying to get through the day.”
That feeling is so real, especially after a brutal year like 2020. It feels hard enough to pick up the pieces and move on, but thinking about creating client goodie bags for your clients when maybe you’re just trying to pay your bills? Not so much.
But let’s be honest: living in survival mode like that? It isn’t good for you or your business.
But how do you mentally move forward when you’re still dealing with the curveballs (like ahem, imposter syndrome, ahem) that come with survival mode?
Today, we’re going to dig into how to stop “just surviving” and get your business and your mindset back on track.
Tip #1 Recognize where your mindset is right now
If you’ve been hanging around with us for a while, you know your mindset is a crucial piece of building a gorgeous business, right? But survival mode can (and usually does) totally shift that.
Ask yourself “Where’s my head at in this moment? Am I playing full out or am I allowing something to let me half ass it?” It’s a tricky question, but the more honest you are, the faster you’ll recognize and move out of survival mode.
Why? Let’s take one of the most important parts of your business, guest experience, for example. If you’re saying, “Well, my guest experience would be better, except…COVID, [shrug]” you’re not playing full out.
Plenty of stylists and salon owners are offering stellar guest experiences despite the fact we’re in a global pandemic. And if you’ve been anchoring your business in basic guest experience (think wine and cookies), your mindset is keeping you from stepping it up.
What’s amazing is that while the pandemic is out of your control, how you react to it is. You’ve got to get your head in the game and push through to step out on the other side of survival mode.
Step one? Pay attention to your mindset. Notice how you talk about your business, its tasks, even the work you do. Every time you catch yourself half-assing it, recognize that and challenge yourself to step it up.
Tip #2 Accept that every frustration is temporary
If you’re dragged down when your co-stylist makes fun of you for posting on Instagram, when you feel like you don’t have the money to take that phenomenal new class, or when your clientele feels like it’ll never grow, know all of those things are temporary.
And when we say temporary, we mean two things: not permanent and you can change them at any time. (Remember what we said earlier about how you react is fully within your control? This goes hand-in-hand.)
Weird or hard stuff will come. That’s how life works. Don’t be afraid to honor the season you’re in, but don’t let it deter you from showing up on Instagram or working on your website, even if it’s just for 20 minutes a day instead of an hour.
If you stay in the mindset of, “This is temporary. This is just a season. I can push forward,” and prepare yourself (and your business) that way, you are better off already. Remembering that every frustration, no matter how overwhelming, is only temporary will help you move out of survival mode.
Want to dig deeper into how your mindset affects your business? Check out this podcast episode to identify the 4 Rs that are holding you back and how to push through to massive success!
Tip #3 List everything you need to do to level up your business
Our industry rivals the tech industry when it comes to evolution. Think about it: the beauty industry looks nothing like it did 10, five, or even two years ago. And if you’re not evolving with it, you’re missing it.
But here’s the thing about survival mode: it puts evolution on the back burner and you focus on just getting by. You hope that your clients will understand you have good intentions and cross your fingers that’s enough.
It isn’t.
What your clients actually see is your reality. You can’t just say, “Well, I’m doing my best,” because if your best isn’t holding up to the new industry standard, your clients are going to look elsewhere.
To move out of survival mode, start thinking about what you need to level up in your business. What have you been putting off? Updating your website? Reevaluating your guest experience?
You don’t need to revolutionize everything overnight, but if you want to get out of this state of survival, you need to ask yourself what you can do to level up. Because all consumers—even your most loyal clients—have a wandering eye. And it’s not their job to stay loyal to you; it’s your job to keep them loyal. The best way? Always be leveling up in your business.
Tip #4 Practice gratitude
If you feel like everything’s going wrong, the fastest way to get out of that funk is to focus on the one thing that’s going right.
Maybe it’s something as small as being thankful for that thermos that’s keeping your coffee warm through your morning clients or the compliment your fellow stylist gave you when you walked in. No matter how small, practicing gratitude can change your day.
If negativity or self-doubt start to spread in your mind or in your salon (because it can be just as contagious as gratitude), try the ‘kill them with kindness’ method. It’s way more fun and easier to shift into the gratitude mentality from survival mode that way.
Try building a small gratitude practice at first. Maybe it’s writing down the big three things you’re thankful for every morning. Maybe it’s signing up for a service that texts you positive affirmations every hour. Whatever it is, it’s crazy how clear your mind becomes (and your business grows!) when you let yourself shift from a “I will survive” mindset to one of gratitude.
Tip #5 Beat imposter syndrome.
Ahh, imposter syndrome. The horrible little gremlin who makes you feel like you’re never quite good enough and always shows up when you’re trying to keep it all together in survival mode.
Harvard Business Review defines imposter syndrome as “doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. It disproportionately affects high-achieving people, who find it difficult to accept their accomplishments.”
For example, you’ll scroll on Instagram and see a post from somebody you look up to. Instead of feeling inspired, you say, “Oh, that looks amazing. I’ll never be able to do that.”
Sound familiar? That’s imposter syndrome. But how do you finally kick this lasting symptom of survival mode to the curb once and for all?
Make sure you’re following the right people on social media. Simple way to tell if somebody isn’t right for your social media feed? If their post hits your feed and you feel bad about yourself, they’re not right for you and you need to unfollow them. Because when you put yourself around energy like that, it makes you feel small and less than, right? You have to eliminate that as much as possible.
Next, try working with blinders on. Don’t worry about the stylist next door or if you should serve kombucha to your clients too because you saw it on TikTok. Focus on what’s important in your business and cut out anything you don’t need.
Finally, build a community around yourself where there’s no divas and everybody at every stage of their journey is welcome to the table. Your community should make you think that you’ve chosen the most amazing career on the planet.
We’ll be real with you: this time next year, we’ll be playing a much different, much more highly competitive game…meaning now’s the time to hang up your survival mode hat and get in the game. But once you kick imposter syndrome to the curb, adjust your mindset, and start working to truly level up your business, you’ll have the mentality you need to kick it into high gear and walk into your dream business and life.
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