Right now the world is in a state of chaos & our industry is in a state of distraught.

The constant yo-yo effect of lockdown restrictions are taking their toll on us all here in Australia. Nobody knows what’s going to happen next & in a “brick & mortar” business such as hair – that can be scary! Social distancing doesn’t work…

This next point may seem very generalised & we don’t want to paint everyone with the same brush, but what we’ve noticed is there are typically two types of responses in this situation. There are the people who have always been busy & continue to be busy by nature. Then there are the people who have always strived for more & they have had this goal that has always been so far off on the horizon but now that they can’t cut hair their response is “well, we can’t do anything because of X…”. What a load of BS… Just because we can’t cut hair doesn’t mean we can’t work on our business. Not to blow our own trumpet but AREA Academy hasn’t existed outside a pandemic, yet. So we know that this is a lie.

Switch your narrative. Change the lens. Look at this time as an opportunity & those who do look at this as an opportunity will get ahead & will remain ahead (of yourself that is…). Don’t end up going back to work wondering why nothing has changed. This time is a blessing in disguise as now we all have the same time to sit down & do what the “successful” stylists have been doing all along. It’s time to catch up!

These next 5 points are some of the things we’ve found to work well for us in staying productive & optimised through this time:

1. STAY ACTIVE:

Walk, cycle, run… Whatever floats your boat, just keep your boat floating. When we are active we are in our most reflective state. Much like taking a shower – all of our ideas just seem to come pouring out when we’re not trying to think of them. It’s super important for our mental health to get some form of exercise in regularly & I am the biggest advocate of that. Now we have some more clarity on how long this lockdown will potentially be, put it in your diary & schedule time for exercise every day.

2. WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS:

Our job isn’t just cutting hair & if you view it like that, that’s why you probably don’t have what you want. People who have more, do more. Now is the perfect time to number crunch & analyse. Get on top of your numbers, read business-related books, draw yourself out a profit & loss sheet. Whatever you feel your business needs, now is the time to do it! One tip we found helps us in staying productive whilst working on our business: work during business hours & relax during relaxation hours.

3. PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE:

Now to elaborate further on that last point. Sometimes the 9-5 mentality will never get us to where we want to go. If you dissect what I said in that last point I said “work on your business during business hours…” – that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to work on your personal development or plan for your future. For me, these ideas tend to float in when I’m not so “busy” with tedious tasks. Make some plans for when we get out of lockdown. Jot down your goals & start to reverse engineer them. Plan that photoshoot, take the step towards the education you always wanted to do, work towards your future! If you don’t have a weekly & daily planner – I would suggest making one now & making use of your time.

4. WORK HARD, REST HARDER:

A friend of mine told me a while ago – “you should put as much time into resting as you put into your work”. This hit me hard & made me ponder on my cycling career. This was something I took very seriously as a cyclist. Resting was as important as training. These days, admittedly, I never properly rest & most of us in this industry are the same. Our bodies are fragile & we only have one. Look after it & remember – “time that you plan to waste, is not wasted time…

5. STUDY:

Learn something new. Level up. Come back to work motivated & excited to try some new tricks/techniques. Our industry is ever-evolving & we rarely get the time to learn. This is that time! There is so much easily available educational content online. We are currently building our online platform “The Network” which should be available in September (all things going well) – but why not head over to my YouTube in the meantime? I’ll put the link below.

I know some of this may seem obvious but I hope this has helped someone today. If anyone has any questions, concerns or just wants to have a chat please reach out! We’re only ever a message away…

Have a great week everyone! Eoin’s YouTube