Guest Blog with Lash Inc's Editor Louise Tierney
How I got to where I am today…
Most people know me as editor of Lash Inc International magazine. However, my work history has been varied. I started off in Science, moved to the I.T training sector and then moved into beauty. How I got to that point is a story for another time.
Fast forward to 2004 when I started offering treatments. I started off hiring a room by the hour after work to take clients. I worked 9am – 5.30pm for a large banking group in the project office working extracting data and working on presentations for the board of directors then took clients from 6pm to 9pm. I don’t remember how long I managed to keep this up, but I was exhausted.
It reached a point where I was so busy I had to choose to stay in my comfortable job (which I didn’t like) or take the risky option of self-employment. I loved making people feel good, so I decided to go it alone. I didn’t have a lot of money, I had £1,000 from Women in Business and £200 to buy a beauty couch from Glasgow city council.
At the time I didn’t have a huge amount of confidence, I suffered from anxiety and I can’t say that everything was plain sailing. I learned business as I went along, read as much as I could, attended more training and eventually ended up with a thriving business which I franchised and had nine locations all over Scotland.
First came the salon business single location, then multiple locations then came the training academy single location and then multiple locations then I developed my own lash line. When I sold this business that was the point I started Lash Inc Magazine.
My Inspiration
I usually become inspired in one of two ways:
1) Having a challenge to overcome or having something that I absolutely have to do with no way (yet) of doing it.
For some people this is counterproductive, they worry, they get brain fog and panic. The old me would panic but a few years into business I learned to deal with things better and use it to my advantage. Now I love problem solving, having a challenge sends my mind into overdrive thinking of new ideas to solve it.
2) Listening to others, especially training courses.
I usually get at the very least one important idea from conferences and training courses I attend. When you are all out of ideas and inspiration of your own, you have to seek out external inspiration. Think of it as 'Your Box'. Your box is filled with all the stuff you know, you have probably tried everything in it in every combination. When what's inside your box doesn't work then you have to dip into the knowledge, inspiration and tools in someone else's box. As everyone's learning and experiences are different, everyone's box is different, and so there is a wealth of knowledge and inspiration out there.
Inspiration is every part of my business, I am constantly being inspired to improve, to create new products or offer new services, and to inspire others. Without inspiration there is no business growth.
Take Action, Build Your Own Future
"If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door." Milton Berle
… is one of my favourite quotes. I know so many people who say, "No one gives me an opportunity", "All the opportunities have been taken" and variations on this.
We can not rely on opportunities landing on our door step, every day we must create our own opportunities. If you want to be featured in Lash Inc Magazine just ask. You have a 100% better chance of being featured if you contact us rather than waiting to be contacted. Whatever you want to achieve, you bring you own opportunities, it’s what you do with them that matters.
Action is the key word here, you might have an amazing idea, have an excellent opportunity but it means nothing if you don’t take action to make it happen. For example, many people dream of becoming an award-winning lash artist but only a small proportion of the lash community achieve this and it’s not through lack of talent it is because most people don’t have action. They don’t research the contests, or if they do they don’t get around to entering.
