I like to say that I am a student at the school of life. After leaving University eight months into my first year, I knew deep down I was meant to be hands-on in our business.
Thankfully, both my entrepreneurial parents supported my decision. The day after returning home, I started my first day at Gee Beauty full-time. While I had worked at Gee Beauty on weekends during high school, I knew that on that first day, my career had begun.
After 12 years, I can confidently say, Gee Beauty is my University and I never stop learning. For me, business is about adapting, pivoting, being curious, asking for help and most importantly, being humble. With each day comes new opportunities and new challenges and that is what makes business so exciting! And I feel lucky to experience it all.
Here are 3 valuable lessons I have learned in business:
#1: You don't have to say yes right away
While it's important to be positive and see opportunities in every situation, it's even more important to think before you say yes. I have said yes to a few requests without checking with my partners or thinking about the needs of the business and I quickly learned that a fast decision is not always the best decision. Now, before I say yes, I go through a checklist in my mind: have I talked this through with my partners? Will this decision positively or negatively impact the business? Do I have the time? Do I want to make the time? Will this help me grow? Once I answer these questions, I have the best answer for me and the business.
#2: I do not know it all
After years of practicing your craft, it's easy to feel extremely confident, and as you should - you've put in the work! However, there is ALWAYS something new to be learned. Be it in your industry, or a new app, business is about evolution and in order to evolve, we have to learn new things. For example, it took me a year to learn Tik Tok. I thought Tik Tok was easy and everyone had the secret to it but me. But after 12 months of trying and failing, I can say there is no secret and it is not easy. It is work, strategy, time and effort. Learning Tik Tok is a humbling experience and I encourage you when trying something new to remember, you do not know it all.
#3: Your team is your superpower.
I used to want to do everything on my own - solve every problem, have every answer or otherwise, I didn't feel accomplished. 12 years and lots of experience later, I now lean on the team for everything! We all have different strengths and it's important to know your weaknesses and bring people onto your team whose strength is your weakness. When everyone's energy is directed towards the same goal, magic happens. I encourage you to lean on your team, your support group, your community, your family - together you can accomplish greatness.
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