2024 Reflection - Turning Challenges into Opportunities - Ready for 2025

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Welcome to Inspiring Salon Professionals, the podcast that allows every therapist, now tech and stylist, to level up, build their career and reach for their dreams.

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Each episode we'll be looking at a different area of the industry and along the way, I'll be chatting with salon owners, industry leaders and experts who will be sharing their stories on how they achieved their goals, made their successes, all to inspire you in your business and career.

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I'm Sue Davies, your host, award winning salon owner and industry professional.

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Welcome to Inspiring Salon Professionals.

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there and welcome to the last: 2024

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It's been a really, I don't know what the word is challenging year.

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Probably one of my most challenging years in the industry and there's a lot of reasons for that which I'm going to kind of, I'm not going to share with all the.

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I'm not going to hang my dirty laundry out by any means, but I just kind of wanted to have a bit of a reflective episode because I think there's been a lot going on in my world this year and a lot that I've taken away from it.

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A lot of lessons learned and a lot of positives that have come out of it.

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And, and I think that sometimes we try and put away all the things that are failures or haven't worked or you've had to make, you know, you realize you've made a, a mistake and all that kind of bad stuff that we all dread.

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And, and I've had to face a lot of realities this year.

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And so I thought, you know, if I put my, put myself out there, I pride myself on my professionalism, my transparency and my keenness and eagerness to help people grow and develop themselves and their businesses.

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So if I don't share what's gone on in my world this year.

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Firstly, it could help somebody that listens to the podcast.

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Secondly, might make me have a different reflection, a different view of what's happened if I start talking about it.

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But more importantly, it is a time we, you know, we're at Twixmas.

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It's a time for reflection, for looking back, reviewing and looking forward and planning and renewing what we like that's happened and changing what we don't like that's happened.

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And I really just wanted to take this episode.

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I had an interview that should be going out this week, but due to Christmas and traveling to and from Scotland and having lots of delays getting back the time I thought I was going to have to edit, I don't have.

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And we're in the middle of doing refurbishments.

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If you listen to the podcast, you will have heard me mentioning, been mentioning this for months.

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We're converting our, our kitchen and separate dining room into a big kitchen diner which my husb.

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Who, his.

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Who is a builder is doing.

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So it's taken a while because he's doing it in between work and, and so it just kind of keeps interrupting me trying to record the podcast, me trying to do anything that requires quiet.

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So today he's chasing wires into walls and doing all exciting things like that.

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So I've come out to the mobile home I have on my garden and, and I'm out here with one of my dogs and I've just been taking the morning and time leading up to me doing the recording just to kind of review and really just doing a bit of journaling and doing some planning for next year and just trying to get my head a little bit straight around where I'm at because it has been a big year and, and I really wanted to just take a moment as well to say thank you to everyone that listens to everyone that watches on YouTube.

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I think finally I've actually managed to get all the episodes up onto YouTube because I've now got a new platform that I'm able to pay for than to the wonderful sponsorship of Jenna and yeah, and it's.

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That's really helped things and I know the podcast is growing and getting bigger, you know, I know over the 5,000 mark.

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So the podcast is doing great and, and I'm so pleased that you all continue to listen and continue to download and, and also don't forget to like and subscribe, share with your friends and all that kind of stuff.

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You know the drill.

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You know, all that stuff really helps podcast.

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So if you like an episode, please share it with your Friends.

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Anyway, that is not what I'm here to talk about today.

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What I'm here to talk about today is about the power of reflection.

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And.

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And so I'm going to kind of just go over my year a little bit and.

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Because if you, if you follow me, rel, if you know me, then you'll know that this has happened.

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If you follow me a little bit, then you may well be aware of what.

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Of some things that have changed in my world.

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s because at the beginning of: 2024

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Yeah, okay.

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But that's basically the truth of it.

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Two things I've worked on passionately, one for six years, one only for a very short period of time, only for about eight or nine months, but was something that I really felt had legs.

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And the industry, there was a lot of industry behind it, but sadly they both gone.

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And that's down to something that.

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And actually, even though saying even if you, even if you're not aware of these things that disappeared from my world, this is a real valuable lesson in, in following your gut.

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Just as a quick backdrop in: 2016

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One didn't work and then I had to go back in for a second.

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That second surgery knocked me for six.

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I was actually out of my salon for 20 weeks.

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Should have only been eight to 10 weeks, but it ended up being a lot longer.

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But during the process and when I came back home after having the surgery, I had this, I don't know, brainwave.

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Who knows?

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I have a lot, I have a lot of ideas and most of them don't get acted upon, but this one did and quite passionately.

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And what developed was something called Nabuno and it was an online online education platform for education providers that were approved by Nabuno as being solid, reputable, reliable, honest, operating to standards, all that kind of stuff.

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All that stuff that we all complain about all the time.

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Nabuno was going to be the place where they.

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Where good quality education providers could promote their courses.

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And.

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entually after we launched in: 2020

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Yeah,: 2020

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And literally we were in launch as Covid hit.

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So you can imagine devastation shelved.

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nt and much improved guise in: 2023

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Rolling on from that, we also then made a decision.

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We wanted to have some kind of little publication was what it started out as.

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That led into what became 100 page plus quarterly magazine called Southern Education Journal, which many of you may subscribe to and was an amazing collaborative publication joining over 30 industry experts together, plus a few people from outside the industry as well.

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Just.

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And they all contributed every quarter some amazing business and educational information.

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And it was, it really, really was something I was so proud of.

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However, through this process from probably about, probably actually from before the magazine started, my gut was screaming at me that something wasn't right.

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And I kept not listening.

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And my husband kept saying to me, I think you need to be a bit wary.

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There's some stuff going on that I'm seeing that I don't think you're seeing.

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And then another family member also started raising concerns and saying that they felt something wasn't right.

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And this just kept sitting niggling in the back of my head for quite a while and I ignored it.

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I kind of put it down to.

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I was just literally nose to the grindstone.

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And you know when you've got like, it is that phrase.

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And I, I did do a live on this a while ago about you can't see the wood for the trees.

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And I think that's where I was.

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I couldn't see the wood for the trees.

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Anyway, leading up to the trade show, I started having other people mentioning things to me and you know, like your gut tells you something.

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I've read a book called the Gift of Fear.

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I've forgotten the guy's name.

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I'll stick it in the show notes.

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But it is amazing, this book and it kind of.

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I read this last year and it, it taught me a lot about when to listen to your gut.

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And I kept hearing my gut calling me and still kept ignoring it because you just keep thinking it's all gonna, it's all gonna work out.

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I'm just, I'm just overreacting.

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I'm just, I'm just seeing something that's not really sovia protecting me.

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It turned out that leading up to the show, during the show I, I really had like the biggest aha moments over that weekend.

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And there was an awful lot going on over that weekend and it was the most amazing weekend, the most eye openening weekend and it's something that was just, it was a moment in industry history when we had, I mean we did, we had 35 industry professionals and experts come together to.

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To share their knowledge and share their time free of charge just because they love their industry so much.

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And, you know, there's a whole thing about, you know, for the love of the industry, and we shouldn't all fall into that trap because we should all be earning money.

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But there are times when it's appropriate to give back, and that was one of those times.

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But anyway, following concerns that have been raised to me from a few different areas, I decided I need to take some time out and do some reflection.

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And.

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And it's not something that I do lots of, not that I don't ever reflect, but not something that I specifically take time out to really, really review something in such detail.

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And I.

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I literally took two or three weeks out and just sat.

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I think I'd kind of reached a bit of a burnout, if I'm honest, which is never a great place to be.

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So I did take time.

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I went through everything I could think of to kind of go back over the history and work out where the kinks were and where I felt they come from and whether or not they were able to be ironed out.

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And I came to the conclusion that I couldn't iron them out because it wasn't within my power to iron them out.

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Sometimes you just have to realize that you're in a situation where you don't have the control necessary to press like steam on the iron and make it all go away.

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Sometimes you just can't do that.

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Sometimes you don't want to see the reality.

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As I say, sometimes you think that you can earn it out and you can't.

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And sometimes you really can't see the wood for the trees.

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But when you wake up and you realize that things have been clouded, including your judgment.

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And having taken that time to reflect on the situation for myself and also take counsel from people I trusted and respected within my social group, my industry social group, from within my family, it became apparent that I had maybe not been joined on the same journey.

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And my core values really are very strongly led by professionalism, integrity, transparency.

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And I knew that they were being compromised by the situation I was in.

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And I think that was really the moment when I knew I had to make a change.

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When you find yourself in those moments, it kind of, you know, becomes very black and white, doesn't it?

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It's very binary, and you need, you know, you need to make the right choice.

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So in late March, earlier this year, I made the decision and put in place the steps necessary to close Nabuno and sej down.

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It couldn't continue as it was.

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It was one of the saddest days of my career and something that I still regret in a lot of ways because there was so much positive stuff that could have come from those different ventures.

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But it needed to be done.

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It needed to go.

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And it was a really, really tough decision that I had to make.

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I advised the other party involved in the business, and it was not my favorite part of my career ever, I have to say.

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It was my favorite thing to do.

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I knew the level of upset it was going to cause.

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And the ins and outs of all that happened aren't really important other than to recognize the positives and the lessons of that situation, because I learned loads.

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And I learned that I should have listened to my gut immediately.

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And it's not the first time that I've allowed this to happen.

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That I've trusted a situation when my gut's telling me no, that I've dismissed my gut instinct when something isn't right.

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I think part of this is because I.

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I don't like upsetting the apple cart.

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I'm not someone that enjoys or relishes conflict and confrontation.

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It's not my thing.

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I know some people love it, but for me, it just makes me feel really uncomfortable.

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I just.

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It just takes me out of my comfort zone.

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And so doing stuff like this, I always have to really, really sit back and.

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And think about it and work out why, and I reach a point where I just know because I can't.

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I can't deal with it any longer kind of thing.

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And I think this is something.

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This is one of the lessons that I've learned from this is just act.

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Just act.

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I just wanted to share with you the lessons.

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And I'm hoping that that little bit of backdrop of will give you an insight into what's led me to today.

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So the lessons that I taken away from that really difficult situation that has kind of changed my world so hugely in the last eight months or so, nine months or so.

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The first lesson is listen to your gut.

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And a great quote by Stephen Bartlett came into my world as I was taking the time out, actually, to reflect throughout March.

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And the quote is, the moment your gut says no, it's a no.

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You can unpack the details later.

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Now, my gut had been shouting warnings at me that something was off kilter for months, but I didn't want to believe that it was right.

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And not wanting to believe doesn't make the reality of it go away.

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Not dealing with the reality makes Your gut shout louder.

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Which is what was happening to me.

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And I.

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And this is why I'm kind of sharing.

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This is.

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It's not to be horrible to anyone.

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It's not to say, you know, that I have no responsibility in this at all.

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You know, I'm sure I probably.

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If I'd have been a more confrontational person, then maybe it wouldn't have gone as far as it did.

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Who knows?

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You know, you can't turn the clock back and make changes after it's happened.

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But I just really wanted to share that whole thing about listen to your gut because it will not get better.

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Ignoring it will only get you deeper into it.

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So not dealing with it will just make it worse.

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As I say, I'm not a confrontational person and I really don't like bringing upheaval and upset to other people's worlds.

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However, when it's affecting your mental health, you have to make.

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You have to make the change.

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You can't not make the change.

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And hesitation doesn't pay.

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And the one thing I've learned through this year is that your subconscious will step in and protect you in ways that can be really, really unhelpful.

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And my pattern was telling me to just ignore it and it will all go away, but sadly, it doesn't.

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Like my, my subconscious was going ignore, ignore, ignore, head in the sand, just don't worry about it and all go away.

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But it doesn't work that way because, as I say, the reality just continues.

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But thanks to a couple of friends of mine that do a lot of mind work and other friends that were around me, I found the pathway to free myself from that trap and to actually listen to my gut and make the change.

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The second lesson is knowing when something isn't going to work and don't be afraid to pull it.

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And this, again, it kind of comes back to a lot of quotes that I've seen.

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Stephen Bartlett.

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I mean, I love Stephen Bartlett in the diary of a CEO because there's just, there's.

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It's just a rich array of just like, sound bites all the way through it of, like, things that you can carry forward into your working world and your personal world.

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But he has a thing, and I think Richard Branson does as well.

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Is that like, you know, you really should embrace failure.

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I know Stephen Bartlett talks about it in the diary of a CEO about.

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I think it's a Japanese car company.

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They actually have a department of failures, and they, It's a whole team that, like, they ask you to, to talk about the failures.

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And failure is so important because without it, you have no comparison for what success looks like.

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And a lot of my hesitation in accepting what I knew to be true was around the things that stop you pulling it, which are the investment of money, the investment of time and energy that had gone into those businesses.

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And, you know, Nabuno, for example, six years spent on that.

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And that's a lot of time to like, to just go, okay, well, it doesn't matter, let's just throw it away.

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It's really an awful lot of time that went into that and financials and energy and passion and all that stuff as well.

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You know, you.

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You put your heart and soul into something and the last thing you want to do is pull the plug.

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But we do spend a lot of time doing stuff and spending on the stuff and thinking about the stuff.

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It, Whether it's business or personal relationships, anything really, it doesn't really make any difference.

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But we all do this and we all invest multiple different things in multiple different stuff.

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If it's a new hobby, it's probably easier to abandon because you know pretty quickly, don't you?

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And I think because usually it's only you that it impacts.

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But if we take that as an example, if it's a new hobby we think we want to do and then we realize it isn't for us, we wouldn't usually make ourselves keep doing it, would we?

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We'd cut our losses and move on.

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You know, we might have bought some kit, but we'd think, oh, do you know what?

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I'll just.

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I'll stick it on vinted and sell it.

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You know, so we might move from, I don't know, say, hiking to pottery without feeling too concerned about it.

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We tried it, it didn't pan out.

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We moved on.

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But when you start putting that into, like a business perspective, all of a sudden there's stakes involved, there's reputation involved, there's people people are going to think is involved.

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There's money in, like, bigger money involved.

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There's potentially employees and people that you work with and people that subscribe to you or buy from you and all of that kind of stuff.

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And it starts getting much more challenging to pull the plug.

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And I think that's probably because there's a perceived responsibility to others.

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And whether that, as I say, whether that's your employees, your customers, the bank, wherever you're getting your money from, your finances, if it's your customers, it doesn't matter who it is, there's going to be a perceived responsibility when you start getting into business.

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And I think this is why it's so hard to A, accept that something is failing and B, actually act on it.

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And this is why I kind of wanted to do this podcast, because it, this year has been a such a lesson, I think, and to people around me as well, in recognizing that sometimes you just have to stop.

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I really just wanted to just kind of COVID this a little bit in today.

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So this perception of like the perceived responsibility is completely flawed.

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And it's taken me a while to realize that that is a flaw and to sit in a place of acceptance with it because I really, really didn't want to sit in a place of acceptance with it.

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I wanted those businesses to grow and thrive and be everything I envisaged for them.

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But sadly it wasn't going to be.

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And I now can look back and just go, yeah, actually do you know what?

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There was, it was never going to be.

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It wasn't.

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There was something that was fundamentally flawed within what I was doing and how that was all set up.

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But the damage we do to ourselves makes us less happy, less connected and less able to do the work that we're trying to do.

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And it doesn't matter whether, you know, like, with the stuff I was doing, it's like an industry wide platform, whether it's like the online education platform or whether it's the, the magazine, they're both media platforms.

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But whether it's your salon that is not working and you're trying to make the decision as to whether or not to give it up and go home and do work in, you know, work from the cabin in the garden, or whether, you know, you're an employee who's looking, who doesn't like being employed anymore and you want to rent a space somewhere, whatever it is, if you aren't connecting with what you're doing, if it doesn't feel right, you kind of have to listen to your gut.

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I'd realized that there was no alignment anymore and that was making me just not want to be part of it.

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And I think for me that all of those, all of these things kind of made me realize that the core values that I hold, and it's some work I've done with a good friend of mine over my, on my core values over the last few years.

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And the core values that you have guide us in our life's journey.

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And my core values are quite full.

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And some of them are professionalism, transparency, excellence and integrity.

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And they form part of, of me.

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And when they're compromised, which is what was happening.

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It made me uncomfortable.

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And I hadn't really realized that these core value things were such a big deal.

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the work on that probably in: 2022

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And I.

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I'd done that work and I sort of sat and written it all down.

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It came back home to roost, massively, because when I actually sat down with that coach again and went back through my core.

Sue Davies: 00:23:33

My core values and why this was possibly causing me so much internal conflict, I just hadn't come.

Sue Davies: 00:23:39

I hadn't.

Sue Davies: 00:23:39

Hadn't had the.

Sue Davies: 00:23:41

The wherewithal to see that that was what the problem was.

Sue Davies: 00:23:43

My values were being challenged.

Sue Davies: 00:23:45

And when you assessed your core values and know what it is that you are about, when something tries to sway you away from them, it makes it uncomfortable and it does make your gut shout at you.

Sue Davies: 00:23:57

And those are the values that made me realize I shouldn't be afraid to make one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in my working life.

Sue Davies: 00:24:05

The other side, and you should know this, that when you get to these decisions, and I really hope that you haven't had to come to these decisions, I hope that your life's been plain sailing.

Sue Davies: 00:24:13

But I've had the few times when I've had to make huge, huge decisions that are going to impact multiple people.

Sue Davies: 00:24:20

But on the other side of recognizing that your values have been shaken, when I made that decision, all that I felt was relief, clarity, and freedom.

Sue Davies: 00:24:31

And that continues.

Sue Davies: 00:24:32

And now, you know, I'm in a place where I can redevelop what I offer the world on my own terms that are subject to my core values and to who I am as a person.

Sue Davies: 00:24:44

That was a bit deep, wasn't it?

Sue Davies: 00:24:47

But it is important, and I think that there are times when you really, really have to embrace that.

Sue Davies: 00:24:54

And I've just been.

Sue Davies: 00:24:56

And this is one of the reasons I wanted to do this podcast today.

Sue Davies: 00:24:58

So I was just doing.

Sue Davies: 00:24:59

I'm actually filling out today.

Sue Davies: 00:25:00

I'm filling out my salon business planner that I create back in about February of this year.

Sue Davies: 00:25:05

And they've just been put in the garage and put away.

Sue Davies: 00:25:07

And I keep meaning to sit down and start writing it because they're undated, so I can start at any point.

Sue Davies: 00:25:12

But life has just been like a roller coaster this year.

Sue Davies: 00:25:16

So a little while ago, I thought, no, you know, I'm just going to do it at Twixma.

Sue Davies: 00:25:19

So I'm going To sit down, I'm going to do it.

Sue Davies: 00:25:20

And I started doing that.

Sue Davies: 00:25:21

And one of the things in the salon business planner is your core values.

Sue Davies: 00:25:24

And like, you know, there's three, three columns of potential words that you can use as your core values.

Sue Davies: 00:25:29

And I went through mine again today, and it just really reinforced again what mine are.

Sue Davies: 00:25:35

And I think, you know, if, if you do nothing else, sit and work out your core values so you know who you are and what it is that's gonna float your boat.

Sue Davies: 00:25:44

The third lesson is jump and your parachute will open.

Sue Davies: 00:25:51

Now this, if you, if you have ever been around my world, I think I've actually done a podcast episode on this before, is making the leap is the only way to make something change.

Sue Davies: 00:26:00

You can't stay in the same place and expect.

Sue Davies: 00:26:02

Expect something different.

Sue Davies: 00:26:04

And this kind of philosophy comes from Steve Harvey, who's a U.

Sue Davies: 00:26:07

S.

Sue Davies: 00:26:07

TV host, comedian, and he's a huge, like, entrepreneurial mentor and coach and that kind of stuff.

Sue Davies: 00:26:13

And he's got us a speech he did at the end of his family feuds TV show.

Sue Davies: 00:26:19

And he does these regularly.

Sue Davies: 00:26:21

Just does like a little piece to the audience at the end of the show that's usually very inspirational.

Sue Davies: 00:26:27

And this particular one is just known as like, his jump.

Sue Davies: 00:26:31

And, and it is all about that jumping and knowing your parachute is going to open.

Sue Davies: 00:26:36

There's something about the way that he talks in this, this piece that just resonates with me so hugely.

Sue Davies: 00:26:43

It's just been part of my life for years and it always kind of comes back, you know, one way or another.

Sue Davies: 00:26:50

You know, it's like serendipity.

Sue Davies: 00:26:52

Whenever there's like a moment in my life of like, career changing decisions to be made, suddenly this video pops back up into my world.

Sue Davies: 00:27:00

And earlier this year, this popped up into my world again, having not long before been in my world when there was stuff going on last year.

Sue Davies: 00:27:07

And it just, it's one of those things, and probably because it's on my algorithm every now and again or whatever it comes up, but it always seems to be at a point when it's most relevant.

Sue Davies: 00:27:15

And so I made the jump.

Sue Davies: 00:27:18

I.

Sue Davies: 00:27:19

I made the choice.

Sue Davies: 00:27:19

I made the decision because I couldn't stay in that place anymore, because if I stayed there, I was only going to keep getting the same.

Sue Davies: 00:27:25

And we hear this from business coaches constantly, don't we?

Sue Davies: 00:27:28

We all do.

Sue Davies: 00:27:29

But my parachute has opened.

Sue Davies: 00:27:31

I don't know where I'm going yet.

Sue Davies: 00:27:32

I have to say, I have a trajectory that I'm working on that is Going to guide me to a safe landing space.

Sue Davies: 00:27:39

But this year has been about me free floating.

Sue Davies: 00:27:42

And I think this is kind of where I wanted to kind of put.

Sue Davies: 00:27:46

Like this is probably the most valuable lesson is that you do sometimes you have to make the hard choice.

Sue Davies: 00:27:51

You have to jump.

Sue Davies: 00:27:52

And if you don't, your parachute will not open because you don't need to pull it because you're just going to try, you're just going to stay safe.

Sue Davies: 00:27:58

But that safe may not be your best life, it may not be the best place for you.

Sue Davies: 00:28:04

So, yeah, I've been.

Sue Davies: 00:28:05

So since March, I've kind of been free floating and I sort of keep.

Sue Davies: 00:28:08

I've got my little parachute, I've got my little handles and I keep sort of like floating one direction, going another direction.

Sue Davies: 00:28:13

But I think I've now finally worked out where I'm going.

Sue Davies: 00:28:16

But I've been testing where the wind's going to take me kind of thing.

Sue Davies: 00:28:20

And now in 20, as 20, 25 approaches, I kind of know where I'm landing.

Sue Davies: 00:28:24

I kind of know where I feel my safety place is going to be.

Sue Davies: 00:28:30

So what are the positives to everything that's happened?

Sue Davies: 00:28:33

It's been, as I say, it's been a turbulent year.

Sue Davies: 00:28:35

One, these are going to come in threes.

Sue Davies: 00:28:38

So one off finding out who your friends are.

Sue Davies: 00:28:42

When you do something like this and you make a massive choice, you find out who's got your back.

Sue Davies: 00:28:49

And it is a classic line, overused.

Sue Davies: 00:28:52

But this last year I have learned very, very specifically who my friends are and who's got my back, where to lay my trust and whose counsel to heed.

Sue Davies: 00:29:02

Because the thing is, is whenever you've got decisions like this to make, whenever you're at crossroads, you know, we all, we all go to our friends, our family, our peers and we're like, oh, you know, or maybe, you know, not everyone does.

Sue Davies: 00:29:14

I, I like to take counsel, I like to hear other points of view, to see what other people would do.

Sue Davies: 00:29:20

And then I'll go away and I'll think about it a bit more, overthink quite a lot and then I'll make a decision.

Sue Davies: 00:29:25

But when you can't see the wood for the trees, having friends to guide you back to the pathway that you know you should be on, and to hold your hand while you let go of the old is really essential.

Sue Davies: 00:29:36

They're there.

Sue Davies: 00:29:36

Like, you know, when you're having a bad day and it's all feeling a bit, you know, that you've got those people that understand the position you're in.

Sue Davies: 00:29:44

They understand the background, they understand why you're where you are.

Sue Davies: 00:29:48

And only when times are hard do you come to find out really and truly who your friends are.

Sue Davies: 00:29:55

And another Stephen Barlott quote, remember who stood by your side whilst you rebuilt yourself.

Sue Davies: 00:30:05

Those are your people.

Sue Davies: 00:30:07

And I think it is so true.

Sue Davies: 00:30:08

And I know this year I have found my people.

Sue Davies: 00:30:11

I have found those that have given me support, those that have helped me, yeah, pack my parachute up and make the jump.

Sue Davies: 00:30:20

You know, the next thing.

Sue Davies: 00:30:24

Number two on my positives list.

Sue Davies: 00:30:27

Judgment isn't real, judgment is perceived.

Sue Davies: 00:30:32

That's what we think.

Sue Davies: 00:30:33

People are judging us.

Sue Davies: 00:30:34

Generally they're not.

Sue Davies: 00:30:38

And I've relearned a bit of inner strength about all of this.

Sue Davies: 00:30:41

It's taken a while to do that.

Sue Davies: 00:30:44

But throughout the last year, as I've recognized that I had to make the changes, it would be uncomfortable for many.

Sue Davies: 00:30:50

Ignored by some and not seen by others.

Sue Davies: 00:30:54

People would think what they were going to think.

Sue Davies: 00:30:56

Nothing I can do about it.

Sue Davies: 00:30:57

I can't control that.

Sue Davies: 00:30:58

People are going to think, whatever they're going to think, they're going to think that I've made a mistake.

Sue Davies: 00:31:02

They're going to think that I've done the best thing.

Sue Davies: 00:31:03

They're going to think that I could have done it better.

Sue Davies: 00:31:06

They're going to think, oh, you know, she could have, she could have done that a whole lot worse.

Sue Davies: 00:31:09

Actually I think she did really well with that.

Sue Davies: 00:31:10

You know, she made a good choice.

Sue Davies: 00:31:12

Who knows what people are going to think.

Sue Davies: 00:31:13

But as humans we often think that others are thinking all the time about what we say or what we do when in reality, unless there is an actual direct effect and impact on them, it's just something else on their feed, something that they can just scroll past when they're doom scrolling.

Sue Davies: 00:31:32

It won't upset their day and sometimes it may even make their life easier for a lot of reasons.

Sue Davies: 00:31:38

Part of what I've been doing over the last year and has been doing some training myself, which I'm going to come to in a minute.

Sue Davies: 00:31:46

But I just kind of want to preface that by saying that we are led by our subconscious making us think things that it thinks is going to keep us safe and, and that means that we start thinking about what other people think.

Sue Davies: 00:32:03

And when you think about the logic of that, it's ridiculous because we're thinking about someone in our head and the person's not real that we're thinking about in our head.

Sue Davies: 00:32:11

It's just our imagination.

Sue Davies: 00:32:12

And then our imagination is going into their imagination and seeing what they're imagining.

Sue Davies: 00:32:17

And when you start thinking about it like that, it does seem a little bit ridiculous, doesn't it?

Sue Davies: 00:32:21

Coming up on the podcast in: 2025

Sue Davies: 00:32:32

And he literally has this phrase of like, it's just your mind making up.

Sue Davies: 00:32:36

And that's what it is.

Sue Davies: 00:32:37

So overcoming the fear of judgment is a big thing for many people.

Sue Davies: 00:32:41

We, we often in this industry particularly live our lives on social media.

Sue Davies: 00:32:46

It's very, very difficult to not own a small business and avoid social media.

Sue Davies: 00:32:53

And social media has led us to believe that our story gets really, really wide coverage and that people will have a view on what we do, that they're going to want to comment, that they're going to want to troll us, that they're going to want to say bad things, that they're going to think bad things, they're going to share it in private conversations to think the absolute worst.

Sue Davies: 00:33:10

And actually, what if they do?

Sue Davies: 00:33:12

It's none of our business.

Sue Davies: 00:33:13

We can't, we cannot control that.

Sue Davies: 00:33:15

In fact, as I say, this is literally our minds making up, to paraphrase Howard, the people we think are going to think X, Y and Zed will often not carry that thought at all.

Sue Davies: 00:33:28

And even if they do, it will be fleeting and it won't hold any sway on your future relationship with them because it's yesterday's news.

Sue Davies: 00:33:37

It's, you know, like back in the, in the 50s, it'd be, you know, oh, don't worry about that.

Sue Davies: 00:33:42

That'll be tomorrow's fish and chip paper.

Sue Davies: 00:33:44

Well, you know, it's yesterday's algorithm.

Sue Davies: 00:33:46

In today's world, it's gone and people forget what they've seen and they don't remember.

Sue Davies: 00:33:51

So, you know, for me, I think this has been a really great lesson and the positive I take away from it is that I now, not that I don't, not that I live completely without fear of judgment because I think that there's a healthier element to being concern of what some people may think of you.

Sue Davies: 00:34:09

You know, you might, might not want your kids to think badly of you or your parents or whatever, but you shouldn't let it rule your life.

Sue Davies: 00:34:14

The third thing on my positives list is new skills.

Sue Davies: 00:34:18

As I just mentioned talking about Howard, following the shifts that I had to make in March.

Sue Davies: 00:34:24

And I knew that my journey was changing slightly and sometimes, you know, you can just feel evolution, can't you?

Sue Davies: 00:34:32

And I knew I needed to change things up and I knew I wanted to go down a road of helping people.

Sue Davies: 00:34:38

That's what my whole career has been about, is facilitating people, guiding people, helping people.

Sue Davies: 00:34:45

Yeah, sharing knowledge with people.

Sue Davies: 00:34:47

It's.

Sue Davies: 00:34:48

It's kind of what, what I've always been about.

Sue Davies: 00:34:50

So I decided to add to my world with some mind work training and part of that came from wonderful guy called Tim Box who is the head of and creator of the control system which is like a non trans hypnotherapy kind of system.

Sue Davies: 00:35:09

It's brilliant.

Sue Davies: 00:35:10

Works with idiomotor responses and is really, really impacting and does some amazing things which you can find out lots more about on my website.

Sue Davies: 00:35:18

I did that training because one of my industry friends who's been amazing, Debbie Allen, also does control system and she.

Sue Davies: 00:35:26

I'd sort of been talking to her about it and the training came up and it was like, you know what, I'm just going to do it, Debbie, should I do this?

Sue Davies: 00:35:32

And she's like yeah, absolutely, it will be fantastic.

Sue Davies: 00:35:34

So I did it and I have to say I've had some great success with it already and love it.

Sue Davies: 00:35:39

Great for building sales pitch, it's great for building confidence, it's great for anxiety, great for any fears, phobias, anything you can't stop doing, anything you can't start doing.

Sue Davies: 00:35:50

So procrastination.

Sue Davies: 00:35:51

Yeah, fears, phobias, anxieties, fear of public speaking.

Sue Davies: 00:35:56

Oh, you.

Sue Davies: 00:35:56

You name it.

Sue Davies: 00:35:57

Any, anything really that hypnotherapy can do.

Sue Davies: 00:35:59

Obviously it can do like addictions and stuff like that as well.

Sue Davies: 00:36:01

However, my area of focus is definitely going to be around helping business owners overcome the obstacles and like all that like negative limiting beliefs and all that kind of stuff because I know I've been.

Sue Davies: 00:36:13

My own subconscious has, has subjected me to that much of the time over the years and I.

Sue Davies: 00:36:19

And now I have the keys to help that stop for other people.

Sue Davies: 00:36:22

So I have done, yeah some more training and I'm really looking forward to being able to build that into my business next year.

Sue Davies: 00:36:31

So yeah, and I'm going to be doing that.

Sue Davies: 00:36:32

I'm starting that in January with I'm doing a beta group with my wonderful friend Teresa Foddering who if you listen to last week long, long episode but I hope you found it valuable.

Sue Davies: 00:36:41

But Teresa's now surgery group are going to be my beta test for something I'm launching around confidence which is going to be really, really interesting and I hope fun for them to do, fun for me to do and is going to be the start of some amazing things.

Sue Davies: 00:36:55

So finally, the takeaway.

Sue Davies: 00:36:57

What I want you to take away from this episode is that, yeah, I've had a turbulent year.

Sue Davies: 00:37:02

Three decisions I needed to make that I knew things weren't working out how I wanted them to work out.

Sue Davies: 00:37:08

And I made the very, very difficult decision to make that change.

Sue Davies: 00:37:11

I wanted to kind of share something that I was scrolling back because I know through this year I've saved so many memes and quotes and stuff on my phone.

Sue Davies: 00:37:19

So before I came to do the recording, I was just going back over some of them and this is something that kind of resonated the most because it's a trap that we all fall into and it's.

Sue Davies: 00:37:30

And this kind of is something that we all, you know, we all sell the time or people come into your life for a reason.

Sue Davies: 00:37:35

And we do often wonder why certain people land in our worlds.

Sue Davies: 00:37:39

Some remain for a while.

Sue Davies: 00:37:40

Some are brief.

Sue Davies: 00:37:41

Some you wish you'd never met.

Sue Davies: 00:37:42

Some you would like to never leave you.

Sue Davies: 00:37:45

And as I say, a while ago I saw this set of memes.

Sue Davies: 00:37:48

It is, it's like it was about, there's about five, it must be six of them, I think from someone called Kelvin Lee Ozan that summed it up.

Sue Davies: 00:37:54

And so I just really, as I say, I wanted to share this with you.

Sue Davies: 00:37:56

You 5 reasons we don't meet people by accident Reason 1.

Sue Davies: 00:38:03

Some people are roadblocks and redirectors.

Sue Davies: 00:38:09

These people delay you for small and big reasons.

Sue Davies: 00:38:13

Know that this delay is for your highest good.

Sue Davies: 00:38:17

Number two.

Sue Davies: 00:38:18

Some people are assignments or teachers.

Sue Davies: 00:38:22

They are here to teach you important life lessons which help you grow who you are.

Sue Davies: 00:38:28

Three, Some people are angels.

Sue Davies: 00:38:31

They are here to remind you to stay safe and loving.

Sue Davies: 00:38:35

They ensure you don't stray too far from the path that you are meant to be on.

Sue Davies: 00:38:39

4.

Sue Davies: 00:38:40

Some people are guideposts.

Sue Davies: 00:38:43

They represent and symbolize something you want which motivates you to keep you on track.

Sue Davies: 00:38:50

Five, Some people are your tribe, the ones who stay for the long haul.

Sue Davies: 00:38:57

I really hope that you kind of get my meaning behind that because I I is a cliche that, you know, people come into your lives for a reason.

Sue Davies: 00:39:05

But no matter what has gone on in my world over this last year, I wouldn't have learned the lessons that I've learned without the people around me that were not meant to be in my world forever.

Sue Davies: 00:39:18

I had to make those changes to that have meant that they will no longer be in my world ever, probably.

Sue Davies: 00:39:24

And that's a difficult thing to do.

Sue Davies: 00:39:26

ess, you know, who knows what: 2025

Sue Davies: 00:39:44

You know, I keep getting people saying to me, like, are you going to do the magazine?

Sue Davies: 00:39:47

Are.

Sue Davies: 00:39:47

You've got to bring the magazine back.

Sue Davies: 00:39:49

And it's something that I, I love doing so much and it may.

Sue Davies: 00:39:52

Yeah, I don't know.

Sue Davies: 00:39:53

I've got, I've got a.

Sue Davies: 00:39:54

When I was sitting doing my planning today, I've got a gap in April.

Sue Davies: 00:39:57

Well, I don't really know what I'm doing, so who knows what's going to happen.

Sue Davies: 00:40:02

But what I do know is that I'll be doing it based around my core values.

Sue Davies: 00:40:07

I'll be doing it based around what works for me, what works for the industry, and not other people's views of what that should be or what it should look like.

Sue Davies: 00:40:18

I'd like to think that I come to the podcast from a place of knowledge and experience and knowing what my industry looks like and understanding what it's like to be a business owner in the industry, whether that's as a home salon, as a mobile, as a bricks and mortar salon owner, as an educator, now as a, a podcaster, as a, you know, as someone who has been an editorial director of a magazine.

Sue Davies: 00:40:48

I've, I've pretty much covered a lot of bases and I've seen the goods and the bads of this industry.

Sue Davies: 00:40:55

And when the industry is amazing, it's bloody amazing.

Sue Davies: 00:40:59

And I really hope that this next year builds something better and stronger.

Sue Davies: 00:41:04

Things are really, really changing and our whole fundamentals about how our industry operates are changing.

Sue Davies: 00:41:11

know where we're going to end: 2025

Sue Davies: 00:41:14

en back to this at the end of: 2025

Sue Davies: 00:41:28

I can't.

Sue Davies: 00:41:28

I'm still trying to get the feel for that at the moment because we're going from being employer led to being self employed led.

Sue Davies: 00:41:38

And there's a lot of struggles that I'm seeing across, across our socials of people not knowing quite how to make that transition.

Sue Davies: 00:41:47

And I really hope that there's an awful lot of us out there that have kind of been there done it, bought the T shirt that are there to catch people when they're struggling.

Sue Davies: 00:41:56

Because I think there's going to be a lot of struggle with this.

Sue Davies: 00:41:59

There's going to be a lot of success as people grow and it changes.

Sue Davies: 00:42:03

But that transition from going from being an employee to being a space renter or being a home selling owner is going to be a challenge for a lot of people.

Sue Davies: 00:42:13

And if you are on that pathway, I wish you every success.

Sue Davies: 00:42:17

But if you need help, ask and always drop into my DMs.

Sue Davies: 00:42:23

I really, I, I really don't mind.

Sue Davies: 00:42:26

I'm always there to help people and if you want to drop into my DMs, please do.

Sue Davies: 00:42:30

If you want to take up any of the stuff that I do, you know, you know you can find all the information around me@sue-davies.com but you know, if you're, if your business is struggling to get visibility, book in a light Salon Inspector.

Sue Davies: 00:42:43

Just book it because it's not going to do you any harm to see how you're seen and see how people find you.

Sue Davies: 00:42:50

And if you are struggling to get visibility, there's going to probably be gaps somewhere.

Sue Davies: 00:42:55

So give it a shot, you know.

Sue Davies: 00:42:58

And if you are afraid of making the change, if your gut's shouting at you, the key to this episode of the podcast is listen to your gut.

Sue Davies: 00:43:08

If you need to make a change, make it.

Sue Davies: 00:43:10

If you need to jump, know that you will land safely somewhere that you're meant to be.

Sue Davies: 00:43:16

Most of all, don't sit in a space that's making you uncomfortable.

Sue Davies: 00:43:21

that note, I will see you in: 2025

Sue Davies: 00:43:33

Someone I've been around for a couple of years and it's a really lovely episode all about starting over, which is really appropriate for a first episode of the new year.

Sue Davies: 00:43:43

So see you then.

Sue Davies: 00:43:44

I hope you have a fantastic new year celebration.

Sue Davies: 00:43:47

Bye for now.

Sue Davies: 00:43:52

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Sue Davies: 00:43:56

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Sue Davies: 00:44:04

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Sue Davies: 00:44:40

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Sue Davies: 00:44:50

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Sue Davies: 00:45:00

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Sue Davies: 00:45:09

all links and further information can be found in the Show Notes and there's also now the option to support the podcast through Buy Me a Coffee.

Sue Davies: 00:45:17

The links for that you can find in the Show Notes.

Sue Davies: 00:45:19

Thanks for listening.

Sue Davies: 00:45:20

See you next time.