Once I woke up and was still feeling bad, my aunt suggested that I go to the doctor.

Come to find out, I have the flu… *sigh*

I can’t afford to be sick right now. I’m supposed to have a meeting tomorrow to discuss my survey and then two other meetings on Monday.

Why me?

At first when I woke up, I thought maybe I was sore from the shampooing I’ve been doing. But my body feels more achy than it does sore.

I think I’m coming down with a head cold, and today is one of my busiest days… *sigh*

I’m still trotting into work today and hopefully I’ll be so busy that I won’t think about how  bad I’m feeling.

Happy Friday..

I guess.

- Malcom Forbes, Publisher of Forbes magazine

What do you love most about your hair?

And boy was there a lot to soak in yesterday:

• Rule #1 of Hair: DO NOT HARM THE HAIR
• My in-salon training will consist of, and in this order: Sanitation, Shampooing & Conditioning, Relaxing, Color and last, my favorite, Cutting. The owner says that she’d like to have me to begin working on my own within the next 6 months. (HUH?!?!?!)
• I need 3000 hours in the salon, in addition to my coursework at the Richmond Technical Center, in order to get my hair license. I worked 10 hours yesterday. So, I now have 2,990 hours to go.
• The owner used to be a platform artist for Paul Mitchell. She continues to amaze me.
• Only in a black salon do you “manipulate” the scalp. LOL. (Some of you may get it, some of you may not.)
• The salon caters to a plethora of people, which I’m glad about. So, I’m learning about all types of hair types and textures – Black hair, Caucasian hair, Natural hair, Asian hair.
• I’m going to work on tightening up the inventory system they currently have at the salon.
• I asked the owner if we recycled the product bottles, and she laughed. I’ve been given the assignment to implement a recycling program, if I’d like.
• The owner is looking to expand her business to two more locations by August. That’s pretty aggressive, but I’m SO excited about the possibilities. She also wants to develop a product line. How cool is that?
• I’m still new to this, but my gut tells me I’m not going to be a stylist. Owner is enough for me…I think…
• I shampooed one Client yesterday, and she said I seemed nervous.  Shoot, I was. LOL.
• To me, the other stylists dress pretty hip and trendy. I’m still too corporate and conservative. I’m hoping to loosen up and let the diva out of the bag. I may try wearing one of my wigs to work one day. I never did at the agency because I was too self-conscious.
• I shall wear comfortable shoes to work!!! The new shoes I bought (though flats) did my poor feet a disservice. Trying to be cute, but by the end of the day, my dogs were BARKING! One stylist says it takes about a week or so for your feet and legs to get used to a new floor. *sigh*

Even with all of that, I’m happy to say that I left the salon and headed straight to the library to update the Industry Analysis section of my business plan. Thank goodness the library is right down the street. I’m going to attempt to do that every Tuesday after work since that’s our least busiest day.

And to top off my long, but great day, I came home to find the very email I was hoping to get. One of my mentors agreed to meet with me this weekend to discuss my survey for gathering consumer data. I’m ecstatic!!  She’s the bomb when it comes to research!

Little by little…

- Drew Carey

And yes everyone, I’ve got my swagger back.

You know how? I’ve decided this weekend, just like my friend Monica said perfectly, to DO instead of THINK! Everytime a  million questions run through my mind, that means I’m not doing enough. So, I’ve decided to quit thinking so much about this thing and just keep it moving.

The reality is, yes, this business could very well fail. But I won’t even know if it’ll fail or succeed if I don’t get off my can, as my Pastor would say, and TRY SOMETHING!

So, over the past few days, I’ve been doing just that.

This weekend, I worked on the layout of the salon, gathered the data I needed to add the industry analysis portion to my business plan, which I’m going to do tonight.  I also created a survey I’m going to use to gather primary research from potential customers. Most importantly though, I clarified in my mind what type of salon exactly I want to have. (Thanks Cordell with your help on that because Lord knows I was ALL over the place.)

I also took care of some little, what I’m calling administrative things. I finally purchased my Blackberry and did a little clothes shopping.  The attire in the salon is white and black so I went and bought few items for work.

I’m still a little behind on my schedule, but I’m taking steps toward my goal and plan this week to make up for the days last week where I didn’t do too much. I just had too much “think” time on my hands, and when I have too much time like that, I and my mind just run crazy. lol. 

Anyway…I’ll be sure to report tomorrow how my first day in the salon went. I’m a little nervous, but even more excited that I’m working towards my goal.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

For those who watched the Superbowl, which commercial was most memorable to you?

Entrepreneur: “Let’s start the business and we can find ways to finance it.”

- Franklin D. Roosevelt