The best advice I’ve ever received was, “It’s time you start taking the necessary steps to become that version of yourself you can’t stop dreaming about.” Over the past four years, I have been dreaming of doing hair and one day owning a salon. All my life, I’ve been a horrible employee. It took me a while to realize I’m not made to work under anybody. All I’ve ever wanted was to be my own boss.
My last job was at Burger King. I worked there for a month, but it felt like a year. My boss acted as if he was royal, forgetting he was 40 and working a minimum wage job.
I haven’t been able to work somewhere I have liked all my co-workers. Some thought they were better than everyone; others gossip too much. The money kept me working for as long as I could without wanting to yell at everyone.
After a month, I quit. I worked at the job before that for four months, and I liked everyone so much more. Although I hated working, I could not go long without having money in my pocket.
My hands work great with hair. My excuse has always been that I need to finish school.
“When I finish school, I’m going to take hair seriously. I need to move back to Allentown, where all my clients are.” That’s what I told myself.
During the week, I went to school. On weekends, I went to my grandmother’s house, to be closer to family and friends.
One day, I was explaining my problems to my boyfriend. Having a man who you can go to for everything is so important. After explaining all my problems, he asked why I wasn’t doing hair anymore. I replied, telling him I couldn’t do hair until I moved back to Allentown. He then gave me advice that made me focus on how I was going to improve myself in the year 2020.
“It’s time you start taking the necessary steps to become that version of yourself you can’t stop dreaming about,” he said.
After hearing that… it was so short, yet so important, I wrote it down on the front page of my journal. Since then, I’ve been doing things to set up the lifestyle I’ve always dreamed of. Instead of saying, “I want to own,” I started saying, “I will own.” It feels great.
Since I can’t work with other people’s hair during the week, I started switching up my own hairstyles. I started challenging myself by trying different styles and colors on myself.
I’m going to establish an eyelash line called “Naughty by Nae.” Instead of dreaming about it, I started doing my research. I’m now in the process of buying all my supplies from my vendor to hopefully sell lashes everywhere one day.
Doing such things made me realize how big something so small can become. I’ve wanted to begin my journey for so long, and now that I have, I have realized nothing is hard if you do the work. Hard work pays off. The quicker you work, the faster the profit comes in. In 2020, I began working toward the lifestyle I dream of living. By 2030, I hope to be able to sit back and laugh at the old version of me who thought everything would be given to me. Working for myself is even better than I hoped it would be!
