A Misstep in the Right Direction

Everything you do takes you closer to what you seek.

I have had so many brilliant ideas over the years, I’ve developed a wealth of revolutionary products and courses that I’ve been convinced will change the nail industry and build my business. Yet here I still am, with two decades in the game I’m successful yes, but I’m still working on growing and building, there was no early retirement with my riches and vast global empire. 

Why? Because not every absolutely genius idea I thought I’d had worked out the way I wanted it to, sometimes it felt like, for no real reason. You can spend months of time, thousands of pounds and get very little in return. Yet sometimes a spark of inspiration and a few days of work will result in something that gets customers excited and covers this month’s expenditures.

Both of these experiences add real value to your business, not always in an economic sense.

I can look back across my career and point out moments that lead directly to where I am and the ideas I have now. I can piece together the things that I’ve learnt over time and see how they’ve influenced my current business. I can see what mistakes I have made. What did I attempt that never really paid off? How can I use that to help me in the future? It’s easier to discover what your customers definitely don’t want compared to what they do want. The point I’m trying to make is that each aspect, each tiny part of your life becomes part of a whole. It is accumulative, there is not one individual task that has brought you to where you are now, but a collection of ideas and decisions.

Being a nail tech obviously led to opening a salon and online nail art courses, but it also led to me becoming a digital artist. My Virtual Nail Art Classes that didn’t have the take-up I had hoped for, gave me invaluable information when it came to running online events during COVID. It’s this that gives me the courage to pursue my ideas because I know it will bring me value of some sort, no matter what happens. It is why in 2021 I decided to take all that I’ve learnt over the years and put together a new way of delivering education for Be Inspired Online. So keep an eye out for the launch in May.

Everything you’ve done and everything you do is a step to reaching what you seek and you may not even realise it at the time. There have been so many occasions where something didn’t work out, only for me to utilise a similar idea successfully later, every fumble, misstep and mistake you make comes back to help you and if it hasn’t yet, it will. Try it now, look back at everything you’ve done and thread together all of the things in your past big or small that connect to who you are, what you’ve learnt and importantly what you put back out in the world.

Remember that each step forward no matter how small or insignificant it may feel to you at the time is a step in the right direction for you or your business. You don’t know what will be around the corner, what you will learn that might be needed in the future. I’m sure anyone who started a face mask business in late 2019 was laughed at, well guess who is doing all the laughing now? 

Every time you question or doubt the thing, you are standing still and not moving towards what you seek. Progress is better than stagnation, a slow-flowing river is fresher than a stagnant pool. You will never get anywhere standing still, your business will never get anywhere and you will be no closer to what you are seeking. The destination will never come to you, you have to move towards it, build momentum, success breeds success.