“I had decided to stop chasing the money, and start chasing the passion.”
Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
When it comes to providing service (with their own unique brand twist), few companies can come close to Zappos in “delivering happiness”.
Both online and off, it’s so important to remember why we are in business in the first place, to deliver value, an exceptional experience, and more importantly, to ensure our team feels the love, cause when they feel the love, most likely your clients will too!
This is also true when it comes to how you are engaging your clients and team members on your social pages. How cool is it to know that your job is to deliver happiness, doesn’t that make engaging online a bit more fun?
We heart this video, a fun glimpse behind the scenes of this incredible company, produced by the Zappos team. Awesome!
Delivering Happiness, the book by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, is about the connection between passion, purpose and profits. We LOVE. Click here to purchase this awesome book, you will be so happy you did!
“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.”
Henry Ford
I’m Not Good At That
How many times have you said I’m not good at that? I would suspect, more than you care to admit. Before you went to beauty school, were you good at it? If you were like me, the answer would be a big NO!
To be honest, I could hardly use a curling iron and had no clue how to put a roller in someones hair. But I made a commitment, and I tried, and after a while, realized I was actually really good. This is my story. Every step along the way, every opportunity that was presented to me, if I did not know something, I figured out a way to learn it.
I have always believed I could do something, and with the skills I acquired along the way, my undying passion and my ability to execute on ideas, I made good things happen.
Passion + Skills + Execution
No matter where you are in your career, there are three things you must possess to be successful in business and live a fulfilling life.
Passion
Many of us discovered our passion when we walked through the doors of beauty school. Well, at least that’s my story.
Passion is misunderstood. There are a few articles written recently that say “follow your passion” is a completely misleading phrase. Meaning, if we are taught to follow our passion, and our passion is, let’s say, watching TV all day, then maybe that’s not exactly how we will live a happy and prosperous life. Unless of course, you are independently wealthy.
What I believe is if you find something you are passionate about, it is entirely possible to turn that passion into an awesome career & life. However, passion alone is not enough, you must take the steps and do the work to turn your passion into something meaningful, and something that pays the bills.
Skills
You may learn these in school, in advanced classes, or you may be self-taught. And if you did not learn what you needed to, find out where you can learn it, or find people who know it, or who have done it.
I have had awesome mentors, and have made a commitment to lifelong learning, no matter where I was or what title I had in my career. I still do.
When Gordon + I set out to create Passion Squared, I did not know how to use WordPress, the platform I am using to write this blog, but that did not stop me. I made a decision to learn, and found the resources I needed to learn, then sat down, and learned. Sounds simple, but how many times do you stop at this step, because you think, “I’m not good at that”.
So, either learn the skills or hire the skills, doing neither will not help you get closer to your dream.
Execution
This is what separates people who make things happen and people who talk about making things happen. Execution does not get talked about enough. We are told to follow our passion, and work really hard, and things will just magically fall into place for us. Not true.
How many times have you said you wanted to do something, and just never followed through? How many times did you have an awesome idea to generate new referrals or marketing program, and realize six months later it never happened?
Execution is everything. You can have great ideas and great intentions, but unless you make a decision and commitment to execute on those ideas and intentions, they are just ideas, not executed.
So now you have the secret recipe. Take two cups of passion, add a cup of skills mixed with a gallon of execution, and you are well on your way to doing big things.
Promise me you’ll remember, you are smarter than you think. You are. I know. I am you.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Melody Beattie
Today is my Dad’s birthday. It will be the first time in 45 years that I cannot pick up the phone to call him, or give him the super special poems, CD’s or handmade cards I found so much joy in making for my #1 guy. Instead, I dedicate this post to him, and hope that since he got to heaven 10 months ago, that he made sure they got an Internet connection. Cause if anyone could make it happen, it’s my Dad.
So what does this have to do with gratitude you ask? One of the gazillions of lessons I have learned on my amazing, difficult and crazy journey, is about focusing on gratitude. And when I do, it makes dealing with the hard stuff a way easier. The quote above has incredibly deep meaning to me, so much so, that I tattooed on my arm, just in case I forget to be grateful. It happens.
So many of us get stuck in all the craziness that life throws our way. Each of you take in so much everyday, listening to your clients and team mates troubles, and sometimes we absorb that energy, sound familiar? The awesome news is we have a choice of what we get to do with the crazy, and when we choose to focus on gratitude, its amazing what can happen. Try it, I dare you!
One thing I was taught several years ago is when I get into a dark, sad place, which for me, is more often than I think people know, is to get out a piece of paper, or phone or whatever, and write 5 things I am grateful for. Even in the toughest of days, we can all find 5 things. Here is my list for today.
Nina’s Gratitude List
1. The 45 years I got to spend with my awesome Dad. I cherish each moment and memory, even the not so pleasant ones.
2. The love and support of my family and friends, no matter which decisions I make for myself, they’ve always got my back.
3. My unconditional loving dogs, Faith + Zen, without them, my life would be beige.
4. The journey I have been on learning how to match my outsides to my insides.
5. For Passion Squared (and my biz soul mate Gordon) which allows me to share my passion with the people I love.
Now it’s your turn. What 5 things are you grateful for today? If you are feeling courageous, jump on over to our Facebook page and share your list on our wall, or click here to share it just with us. Or text it to a friend. Just make one. It works.
(shared with LOVE + GRATITUDE from your passionista Nina)
PS: Happy Birthday Dad, I love you infinity and beyond.
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
One of the greatest gifts of working in the beauty biz is the beautiful people who touch our hearts and minds each day. And while you spend most of your time helping others feel beautiful, we just wanted to take this moment to remind you, that you are beautiful too.
Your passion, commitment, compassion and talent make our world a more beautiful place. Your healing hands and hearts help bring so much warmth and happiness to people around the world.
So if you have one of those days, we all do, when you are not sure of yourselves or feeling down, just remember, we love you. You are beautiful.
Share this post with your friends, family, teammates and loved ones, you just never know whose day you are going to make better by letting them know they are beautiful too.
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Harriet Tubman
PASSION
pas·sion n.
A powerful emotion, such as love, joy.
Intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.
Boundless enthusiasm.
SQUARED
squared v.
To raise (a number or quantity) to the second power.
We all understand what passion means, quite frankly, I think our industry invented the word. One of the gazillion awesome things about hairdressers (you) is the beautiful passion that you have for your art, clients, team mates, community and business. But what does Squared mean?
True Story
I will never forget the day, many years ago, when my incredibly awesome mentor and hero, John Paul DeJoria, said to me “I would rather have a passionate bitch working for me than someone who doesn’t care.” I love that man, always have, always will. I took it as a compliment. And he meant it as one. I have always stayed true to my beliefs. My passion has served me well. Yes, at times it gets me into trouble, but I will always be me, and if at times, people see that as being a “passionate bitch”, so be it. I care. And that means more than anything.
Do I Have to Do Math?
Squared has many meanings. The math one is what trips me up sometimes, and when I’m tripped up, I call Gordon (which I did last night), and he clears it all up. But this is not about a math lesson, this is about understanding the power of taking our passion and multiplying it via the social web.
Social Squared
The social platforms we play on are allowing us to share our passion like never before. And big stuff, big changes and shifts can happen when people around the world have the ability to connect and engage. In the old days (10 years ago), we did not have the ability like we have today to engage people and share with people. Today, we can get online and educate and inspire the world. This is powerful stuff.
How are you using social platforms to share your passion? To live your dream? To make your dent in the universe? Click here or hop on over to our Facebook page to share your story. We want to hear from you.
(photo discovered on Google)
