Continued Education: Quinn’s Advice for Learning Your Way

Coaching and Consulting

Part of true progress is learning from your mistakes—and I’ve made plenty. Let me begin by discussing a mistake I made, in the hopes that I can help you avoid it. One of my first coaches was a lovely person, but I could tell they weren’t really listening to me. As soon as you pick up on that, you have to give yourself permission to say “hey, I have the impression that you're not quite connecting with me.” I wish I’d had the guts at the time, but I had yet to establish a deeper sense of trust in my own capabilities and experience. So, I’ll forgive myself and hopefully you can use this example as a reminder to trust your own expertise when you feel the need to say something.

In a hypothetical scenario, you could also give that person the opportunity to walk themselves back. They might have said, “So sorry, I was just distracted by A or B. Let's start again.” Or they might agree with you! Take a hint from me, trust your gut if you feel the need to say something.

Know what (and who) Works Best for You

My second experience with coaching was with another lovely individual, who was an accountant, lawyer, and a business owner. A fabulous guy, of which I paid a great deal of money to coach me. Despite his wealth of experience and knowledge, I had great difficulty learning effectively from him. This was something I was truly beating myself up about, and it was especially agonizing when I considered the amount of money I was wasting. I went home to speak with my spouse about how this terrific, and intelligent individual is teaching me, but I do not feel as though I'm absorbing anything he’s saying. My husband had an insightful response, and said, “listen, I just don't think that you work that great with men.” Now… this can be a controversial subject, and I do recognize that both men and women can be excellent teachers and mentors, but I was really happy that my husband was so frank with me

I’d had some positive experiences with female mentors in the past and I really think there’s a familiar teaching style (associated with mainly women), that I gravitate towards. I had been lamenting over not understanding what my coach was teaching me, but I’d failed to realize that I tend to learn better from other women. Of course, gender isn’t the only factor in this scenario, but it is associated with other factors such as comfort and ease, which are massive influences in a learning environment. I grew up around women and I obviously work in a female dominated industry; sometimes women have an easier time understanding and relating to one another. In this case, it's simply who I communicate best with, especially when it comes to learning. In hindsight, this all seems readily apparent, but in the moment, when you’re trying to cross 30 different things from your list, factoring in your learning style and learning environment when selecting a coach seems superfluous. Evidently, I know now that when it comes to paid coaching, it’s best if I stick with the gals.

Curling Iron | Olaplex Hair Care Treatment Kit | MIRRORVANA Magnifying Makeup Mirror | Hourglass Eyebrow Pencil

Educate Your Team(s)

When it comes to education in the beauty industry specifically, I have found that it is crucial to pursue continued education for stylists. For any salon owners or beauty professionals reading this, I can feel you empathizing with me, there's just no way around it. Hands-on education is especially important. It begs to be built into your budget. Speaking to salon owners specifically, your stylists are not always going to be ponying up those dollars for education. This can be attributed to financial reasons or maybe they’re young professionals and unsure where they need the guidance. Sometimes having either a mentor, boss, or coach within their salon is enough to give them direction.

Quinn Vise Hair Design & Co. Services

Finally, there’s educational contracts. There’s a bit of a negative connotation with contracts—which, admittedly, might be warranted in the case of prenups. But, when it comes to funding your employees’ educations, a contract is a beautiful thing. It puts both parties on the same page and prevents miscommunication. For example, have something very simple written up by your lawyer along the following: “Joanne Smith is agreeing to this advanced haircutting class. It's going to be on this date. The total price for her ticket or portion is X amount. Joanne agrees that if you part ways professionally within the next 18 months, she will be responsible for paying 50% of that education back.” This helps your team members recognize the dollar amount that is going into educating them. It also incites them to value their education. The goal is to make education accessible for your employees and motivate them to utilize it. Education elevates your team, enhances your company’s competitiveness, and ultimately, it should make your life as the owner just a little bit easier.

Continued Education | Delegating Tasks

I believe it was Steve Jobs who coined the phrase, “focus on the things that you only can do and hire the rest of the things out.”

In the spirit of transparency, I am in an Enneagram Number Five. I have a strong inclination towards research and introspection, while keeping my emotions in check. I have a near-perfect concept of my limits and I’m constantly drawing up plans for how to best cover my bases.

Hat | Curling Iron | Quinn Vise Hair Design & Co. Services

People. There are so many gifted people. When you find a person that fills a gap in your know-how, hire that person. For me, that gap was accounting. I wracked my brain, learned hours upon hours of tax information, and as a result I can fumble my way around. When it comes to figuring out forms and finding the necessary information I can hold my own, but at the end of the day I have a bookkeeper and a corporate accountant. By having them do that cumbersome, stressful work for me I have more time to focus on operating my business.

Those people who you can delegate to are so valuable. There's nothing wrong with asking questions and cross referencing a few things, making sure that your business is handled the way that you feel is appropriate. There's also nothing wrong with getting referrals and asking around your fellow entrepreneurs or other business professionals. I encourage you to do your research.

At the end of the day, its most efficient to it off to professionals so that you can get back to focusing on only the things that you can do.

Continued Education | Understand How You Learn

So many nuanced questions arise in today’s working (and learning) world, for example, do you know whether you’re someone that needs to meet in person, or do you prefer the flexibility of being fully virtual? Maybe you’re a visual learner, and you take in information best by reading, or you prefer talking things out? You need to know what approach is going to yield the best results. If you’re still figuring this out, turn to the experts.

My number one tidbit of advice for when you are getting ready to learn about something is this: find someone who seemingly has already figured it out. Let their journey guide you. Learn more about them. Then take what you’ve gleaned from their work and localize it to your personal circle — open up and ask that mentor or friend who at least has some experience in the actual field.

Next, if you write it down, then it’s real. Sometimes there can be such an influx of information that it's hard to keep everything straight. For me, one of the best things to keep my head straight has been having a journal next to my bed. The idea of journaling can be scary, right? It’s my prerogative that I don't want to just prattle on about my emotions and what I ate for dinner. That kind of journaling is helpful, but in this case, it’s best to focus on key takeaways from the past day. Journaling can be many different things. Maybe for you it’s doodling and sketches, with just a key phrase. Whatever it is that helps you digest and get things in writing. Let it be your own thing! It can be personal to who you are and how you communicate best.

Writing Pad | Pens | Sharpies | Highlighters

For me, I've just found that journaling happens either in the morning or at night. I focus on getting my feelings down on what happened during the day: the wins, the losses, the hopes for the next day, disappointments that weren’t accomplished — hey, that's me raising my hand! Personally, it just helps keep my mind clear, and I sleep more peacefully when I do it at night. It helps me compartmentalize my day, which prevents me from repeatedly overanalyzing everything I have or have not done when I’m trying to sleep. The goal is to acknowledge what went right and what the challenge was for the day, along with the intention for the next.

Seemingly simple things like that can be the key to opening up your understanding, and unlocking both what you already know, and what you still need to discover. After all, the best way to get where you want to go is by using a map, right?

Reading (really!)

Reading, reading, reading. Whether they're short books, little books, pamphlets, self help, or a big old book that you get from the library, you should find a source to read that’s specific to your field every month.

If I have a book that I'm reading, the goal is always to finish it before the end of that month. If I finish it before the month is out I typically will not start the next one until the next month.

For me, this forces me to have quiet time. It forces me to find and underline key points that I can implement. Whether you're getting into a book on accounting, social media, organizing your life, or maybe just checking out the biography of someone successful, knowledge is power. You don't have to go very far to find a list of top reads for entrepreneurs, Pinterest is even a terrific way to search for suggestions.

Ultimately, Know When to Take a Break

If you overload yourself, you’re likely to face some inconvenient and unexpected consequences. Burnout is real. Overwhelm is real. Acknowledge them as worthy adversaries.

When your mind is completely full, you need to take a step back. Forgive yourself because so often that state of being leads to crazy amounts of self-judgment. You’re not failing or falling short, you’re simply human. Sometimes the greatest knowledge we can seek is knowing when to rest, so that we can come back for more.

All of this advice is ultimately just that. It's advice! It’s what has worked for me and what's not worked for me. All of this learning has happened with five children in tow. Modern motherhood and entrepreneurship, they’re not for the faint of heart. I hope you enjoyed this, and I’ll look forward to sharing more of my insights next time.

For now, I want to share with you links to my favorite beauty products and lifestyle finds and items as well as a couple of checklists for vacation packing and Spring and Summer must-haves! I even added my recipe for a natural body exfoliator that'll i'm sure you'll love! Check them out below!