Transition from employee to entrepreneur
Let me take you back to when a very young 19 year old decided to quit her day jobs as a personal trainer and beauty therapist and open up her own lash salon in August 2020.
There was a lot of thinking and pondering about whether or not it was the right decision to quit the comfort of having both my personal training job and beauty therapy job. Now, you may be thinking, how could you have done the two jobs and given 100% to both….the truth is, I loved both worlds so when I was in my personal training job I always gave 100% of my effort, and when I was at the salon, I always gave 100% of my effort then too. Whatever scenario I was in, I always made sure that I would be the best that I could be for my clients and myself.
There were a lot of moments where I knew I loved the beauty industry and that I wanted to give it a go, so that’s what I did
I quit both jobs and did all of my research on opening up my own little salon in the town where I lived. Long days and early mornings of research and buying the products I needed, paid off…I had all I needed to begin.
Now, fast forward a little bit to a year down the line…I was super successful, I could buy what I wanted and go wherever I wanted. I was able to take off the days I wanted with ease. I became a qualified teacher trainer so I could teach other people how to do eyelash extensions. I had my own branded products. I was happy. I even hired my first employee.
Yet, there was always something in me that knew I wanted to travel and see more of the world. I had my little business booming and then decided one day, I’m going to close my business and work online.
I have this issue with myself….I love to learn. Now, many of you may think ‘how is that an issue?’ Well, when you want to constantly invest in yourself and do as many courses as possible to learn as much as you can definitely comes with a price of quickened dissatisfaction. I know, it doesn’t make sense. I love learning but I now have to remind myself to take it easy and focus on one thing, get really good at it and then learn another. I have to say this to myself LITERALLY everyday.
So with that little back story in mind, I decided to learn graphic design from courses on an online learning site. I know what you’re thinking, ‘how can you be qualified to do graphic design when you haven’t gone to college and there are people who study for years and still have no job?’ Lucky for everyone in this day and age, there are ABUNDANT resources and guides out there to learn virtually EVERYTHING there is to learn….wouldn’t recommend doing a dentistry or how to perform surgery in online classes though…just saying. There are certain things that require a bit more practice.
Back to my story. My mum worked for this lady who had a start-up company called ‘Wedo’, which if you’re reading this blog then that means you’re on the Wedo website, so as you can tell. I got a job there, and my mum put me in contact with Indiana Gregg. We talked and got to know each other and Indy needed help with her Instagram. I went on to help her run her Instagram.
So, that’s where I began to learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator and from there I began to slowly transition into the online world and started learning about all the other Adobe features and how to create cool graphics that can be exported and used on any platform.
There is a whole world of knowledge that I have learned in such a short space of time and it was only this April 2022, that I had decided to fully close my little salon, sell my car, grab my savings and travel. All of this, while being able to work online, which is what Wedo has allowed me to do with the freedom they offer!
Obviously I’m pretty much starting from scratch again yet if we don’t change we don’t grow!
Bali was the first destination and it was such an adventure, to say the least. Then in June 2022, the next destination was Canada.
Ready for the plot twist….I WAS 8 WEEKS PREGNANT AND DIDN’T KNOW! I found out I was pregnant the day we landed in Bali on April 27th when I got a pregnancy test for the laugh and boom, it was the other type of positive this time!
I always look on the bright side, I have transitioned into the online world and I will be able to work from home when my little one decides to be born…#SavingOnChildcare.
Everything happens for a reason and I think the most difficult thing about the transition was the fact that my salon was 30 minutes away from me in the town, so I could shut off my work brain when I got home. Now that I work from home, I need to find my boundaries. Making the effort to turn off my laptop and keeping it off until the next work day.
Setting boundaries is one thing I would recommend everyone do from the start. Set your boundaries and set your prices. There are so many opportunities for you out there! I really would love it if everyone would understand that you don’t have to be tied to a job you don’t want to do.
You don’t have to be tied to a fixed schedule if you don’t want to. I was going to travel and work wherever I wanted because that was the freedom I wanted! I can still do that if I want to when I have my kid. There really and truly is so much freedom waiting for you if you desire it!
I know I went off on tangents about everything, yet it’s just to show you that you can do whatever you want and if you decide to change your job in the morning, then so be it, go for it!
Once you have a plan and goals, then anything can be achieved.
by Leah Cheung