I want to start this entry first by saying I'm terribly sorry for abandoning you as readers. There's so much that has gone on in the last 10 weeks that I want to inform you of that I have shared with friends and selected clients and family members.
SECTION 1: PERSONAL
10 weeks ago, I made a decision to no longer continue a connection in my life that was so deep to my heart I thought I would die. In fact, the eggshells I walked on in front of and around the mere verbiage involving this person became so toxic that I knew that the last outburst, rant, sadness and scrutiny posted online about me would be the last exchange I had with this person.
This person had been a rock for me for six years and I truly want to thank him for always being my go-to person and being such a kind soul in the time that I knew him.
A lot of the time I treated this person as my other half, when in fact, we were nothing really. All you had to do was ask him or watch his actions and know he never really appreciated our bond I thought we had.
Sadly, I changed myself and lived in sometimes crazy mental states due to his reactions and hurtful words.
I do want to take this time to switch it up now and tell you: of the six years, I enjoyed 90% of the time we shared. If you ask him, you will receive jaded, sad stories and not a large amount of compliments regarding me or my behavior.
To him, I was rich, spoiled, a brat, an alcoholic and a creep. I don't agree with any of his statements and refuse to label myself any of those mentioned.
For me, he was smart, intellectual, beautiful and amazing to talk to. He was also an arrogant prick. HE knows he can be and prides himself on tearing peoples' feelings apart and making them hurt as he often does in his daily rants, sad social media posts and disregard for his family and those that supported him when it mattered most.
To sum it all up, six years of friendship, I still am happy we were friends and want him to stay healthy and safe. I hope someone shows him true love and is there for him while he grows into an adult.
After making the decision to purge his number and put pictures away and cease contact, I started evaluating everything else in my life: finances, my business and my connections.
SECTION 2: BRANDING
For those of you reading this that are clients of mine, you know that I chose to resign from the Joico brand in February 2014. I no longer felt that they had the intention to utilize me and I saw three of my friends take other brand opportunities and I also sought other representation and connection.
In April, we successfully started the conversion process to Wella color and by June, we had began carrying three exclusive brands in my salon! Wella, Aquage and GKhair are all professional brands that do not sacrifice integrity to please the public. They are TRUE to the professional and that's what I need now. I feel there was some direction lacking at the my last brand. The focus on education left and with that, I saw more beauty blogs, more ads, more diverted product and more horrible fantasy color that I just can't stomach.
To me, every brand has a responsibility to its education team to keep us in the loop and not just pamper the asses of LA and NY. Middle America and the rest of the world matter too!
It's not all fashion week and InStyle ads! It's about the hairdresser.
The art of hairdressing is NOT FOR EVERYONE!
So, as I bid farewell to Joico, I knew I was going to lose some connections and some support and I only gained more from my industry friends and Rockstars + Lambs has seen some of the best exposure and profits it's ever experienced
SECTION 3: FINANCES
In January, I began budgeting my finances harshly and have studied the art of being frugal. As a 30 year old man, I make a very good living and sometimes found myself wondering where my money was at?
How can someone as smart as me not have money in the bank?
Well, I began taking lunch to work and cooking at home again--- that was like paying myself an extra $300-400 a week! I noticed the difference immensely!
In March, I fired my accountant of six years and began searching for new financial management. I also fired my merchant credit card service provider and took control of my finances with a nifty little device called "Square" (you've read about it!)
I also updated the salon's database to a fully operating electronic database and began tracking color usage and even re-evaluated pricing and portion control.
All of this has added to thousands more in my pocket, better inventory management and MORE retail in the salon.
I cannot tell you how good it feels to pay people off, pay debts off and begin saving and living again.
SECTION 4: NUTRITION
It's been about three months since I made a 90% switch over to pescetarianism full-time. I can't shake fish fully yet, but my goal is to be a functioning vegetarian in the next few years. I still believe in a "free day" and when I am with family on Sunday, I say "anything goes"!
If it's meatballs, hand 'em over! If its bacon, that goes too!
It's one day a week eating land meat! That's much better than 7 days of allowing multiple flesh and corpses to decompose in my gut... imagine!
My mood has changed!
My emotions are level.
My stress is nearly non-existent.
......10 weeks have taught me to be good to me and take care of me.
So, for now... I want to tell you all: I needed the space away to live. I also needed to digest my spiritual and emotional divorce.
STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF THIS ENTRY, that's enough for now.
-Josh
No comments:
Post a Comment