"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." - Bruce Lee
Business is hard as hell, that's the bottom line. No short cuts, no fast track, it's a hard-core grind. Nerves of steel required! Stay dedicated, curious, and be ready for just about anything. Daily perseverance is the name of the game. The difference between success and failure is one simple word: Action. You have to come to this business with an honest-to-god love and obsession of what you do; in order to survive and eventually thrive. First, acknowledge the fact that you are indeed a business owner and entrepreneur. Second, take your work seriously. Here we share our “come-up” experience hopefully to inspire and manage your expectations. Hang in there. The ride is wild and the road is rough. All of it leads to the wonderful world of business ownership.
SET A COURSE
Starting out you might have zero understanding about running business. Most come at it with dreams of overnight riches and success. This is literally how Greg came into the nail business early on and quite by accident. He (and our mother Young) were lured into a get-rich-quick scheme and got into business with the wrong person. Beware of the lurking con-artist. We were naive, hit the ground running at full speed and just started blindly spending all this money. We were using credit and spending money we didn’t have. The bills began to stack up and we had no way to pay them. Things can get ugly pretty fast when you don’t have a plan.
TIP: Do yourself a favor. Start out slow. Start with a simple business plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Ask for help if you need it from someone already established. Tap into the online nail community if you can’t find someone local.
SUCCESS IS A JOURNEY NOT A DESTINATION
Being your own boss, you have this glamorous vision in mind. We’re not going to bullsh*t you. There is no such thing as an overnight success story. In reality, it’s very different. You are now the official problem-solver-in-chief and boy do the problems know how to find you. Yes, there’s more flexibility but there’s no room for coasting. The responsibility of bringing the clients in the door is 100% yours. That’s a heavy burden. Be disciplined. Be intentional. Focus on the health of the business. This is your new daily grind.
TIP: Separate your personal finances and your business finances. (These are not one and the same.) Calculate your overhead/operating expenses. Being clear on these numbers will save you a lot of stress. You need to know the bottom line and how much you need to earn before you can clear a profit. Be aware of how you spend your time. Are you being thoughtful and efficient? Know when your bills are due. Plan for and pay your taxes. Avoid quick fixes or short cuts. They don’t work. All these little accounting steps seem pointless but they are the backbone of business operations.
THE PRESSURE IS ON.
When Habib showed up at Young Nails, the business had hit rock bottom. Our family was drowning in tons of debt, both business and personal. Everything was tied up in the business. The phone was ringing off the hook with creditors trying to collect. The electricity was turned-off. Our family home was being foreclosed on. Everything was about to be taken away. Too often people get into business and they don’t understand the murky depths of where they’re headed. Let’s get this straight. There will be a lot of pressure and you should start to get comfortable with it. It’s a lot of failing forward and sometimes it ain’t pretty. There isn’t a single book you can read or class offered in any school that can prepare you for navigating the daily pressure cooker issues of being an entrepreneur. There is no way around it. There is no avoiding it. The only recourse you have is to face your fear, give it a big hug, then battle straight through to the other side.
TIP: Besides stepping up to the plate everyday. One of the only things that helps relieve the pressure is being prepared and organized. There is no such thing as being over-prepared or over-committed. Address whatever the problem is as soon as possible. Always approach with a level head. Push the problem away and the problem is only going to get worse. When it sucks, you have to give it a big hug. The sweet spot for us is to work from a place of 25% fear and 75% curiosity. This ratio is a sure way to stay fired up and excited about going into work.
**This is an adaption from our YN Biz Talk playlist on YouTube, “THE REALITY OF BUSINESS”.
Follow our YN YouTube Channel and click here to watch the full discussion here:
01 October 2019