As a salon/spa owner, it’s pretty easy to list all the stuff that stresses you out.

• Employees can drive you crazy


• Cash-flow challenges can keep you awake at night


• Fighting fires and problem solving can wear you down

1. You lead employees to achieve their full potential: As a leader and business owner, this is your prime responsibility. More importantly, it is the one aspect of ownership that delivers priceless pride. Without question, you will hire your fair share of unmotivated duds, but there will be many employees that will become more than they ever dreamed possible under your leadership. It’s a gift of knowledge, drive, passion and performance that you pass on to a new generation. This alone is truly a reason worthy of celebration.


2. You create livelihoods for employees and their families: Business ownership is so much more than generating profit and money. Employees help you grow a viable and sustainable company. As the company grows, incomes grow, benefits improve. Financial sustainability flows from your company to your employees and their families in the form of livelihoods. You will help many buy their first car and their first home. It’s all part of the culture of shared success and how your company provides for the wellbeing of those that make it work.


3. What you envision, you can create: Damn, what more can any entrepreneur ask for than the opportunity to envision an idea and to bring that idea to life? You are the artist, engineer, builder, trainer, coach, pitch person, financier and head of maintenance for anything you can envision. You are the captain of your own ship and in control of your own destiny. Envision your business journey and go for it. This level of freedom of expression is truly worthy of celebration.


4. You are the decision maker: The keys to launch ignition are in your possession. The “GO” button sits on your desk. Within the financial reality of your company, you can decide where and how to spend and invest. You can give raises to those that earned it and stop giving paychecks to those that didn’t. You can promote key employees and take them to their next level. You can expand your company or shrink it. You can cut expenses to protect profit. You can build cash reserves or live on the financial edge. Your company and your employees depend on your business sense and good judgement. Through it all, you are the decision maker which is truly a reason worthy of celebration.


5. Sharing control and responsibility enables growth: Control freaks will always struggle to grow their companies. Why? Because they can’t let go of the controls. Because people can’t grow when they’re surrounded by roadblocks. The best teams are comprised of key players in key positions. These players possess the level of authority to control their area of responsibility. All share absolute clarity on the vision and the goals and the timelines. Empowered teams move and grow companies farther and faster. What an honor it is to lead such a team and truly a reason for celebration.


6. If you don’t like it, you can change it: As the leader and owner, you can choose to complain about what you don’t like and point the finger of blame in all directions. Or, you can change what you don’t like and fix what isn’t working. OMG! Why waste time, money and drama tolerating what’s not working? Why identify a problem and not fix it? It’s your company. It’s your investment. It’s your personal guarantee on the lease and loans. Making tough decisions that may rock the boat may not sound like a reason to celebrate, but it sure as hell is. When you’re the owner, there is no “they” to fix it. You’re the owner. You are “they.” And that’s a reason to celebrate.


7. The tighter your culture, the faster you grow: Culture is the collective thinking and behavior of your salon/spa. Cultures are made. More importantly, cultures must be carefully crafted (vision), systemized (structured), empowered (trust) and protected (leadership). Ultimately, your company’s culture reflects your leadership. There is no autopilot for culture building and maintenance. Culture building and maintenance is a daily responsibility that is nurtured by information flow and teamwork. Being able to build a culture that reflects your vision, values and work ethic is a massive reason for celebration.


8. It’s never as bad as you think: Please reread reason number six. Things get bad when owners don’t pay attention. Things get bad when known problems go unchecked and manifest into major problems. If it looks like it has the potential to get bad, be the No-Compromise Leader your company needs and take action. If it already is bad, there is almost always time to fix it and heal your company. This “it’s never as bad as you think” reason to celebrate being an owner, means that you have the power to prevent or fix what’s broken.


9. You can design your ideal job: The proceeding reasons to celebrate all lead to the simple fact that you can design your ideal job. This is your reward for doing the work and sharing control and responsibility. It’s your reward for all those years of giving your blood, sweat and tears to your company. Now you get to choose the work that you do best. To do the work that fulfills you. This is truly a reason for celebration.


10. Profit is your reward: This reason is the most special of all. True, profit is simply a measurement of how well your company performed over a specific period of time. To me, profit is special because profit reflects something deeply personal. Sustainable profit symbolizes the many hard-fought victories and sleepless nights. Sustainable profit also means having the ability to build the cash reserves that provide a level of security for my company. Achieving and maintaining profitability represents so much more than money. It represents a very personal reason to celebrate, appreciate and give thanks.