We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lauren Funchion. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lauren below.
Lauren, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
I think it’s impossible to avoid the burnout. Especially when you have a passion for what you’re doing. The work can consume you. Our careers can be our obsessions, it’s what we eat, drink & think about all the time. Which can be beautiful & wicked. It’s hard to know what events or clients to say yes & no to, or where to take your breaks in life so you don’t keep going going going on accident. Then, before you know you it your tanks been past empty for a while. There’s no instruction manual on how to run a business or have a work life balance. It took years for me to figure out how to stop and rest before I got to burn out mode. I had to really learn what my signs were and how to take a step back from things before I get to 20 % battery life. I can re-focus on what we have on our calendar & make sure were set up for success. One of my favorite things to do is head out into nature & check out whenever I get a chance. That’s the one sure way to help me get back into a calm, focused mindset. It really focuses things for me. I love it.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Where do I even begin. I think I fell in love with the hair industry when I was 5 or 6. I would go with my mom up to the salon she worked at that my aunt, her sister happened to own. Seeing the energy, the pace, what you could do & the impact you could make. I was sold.
I’ve been in the Beauty industry for 13 years now. Luckily I’ve had the pleasure of event styling /coloring for all 13 years, & educating salons around the country for Schwarzkopf Professional for the last 6. I love getting to go meet other salon artists and see how they come together as a salon / team. My biggest pride & joy though would have to be owning my own studio salon business, Beauty with Funchion in Columbus OH for the last 5 years. I specialize in Lived-in coloring & cutting. As well as event styling, & shoot work. been amazing and sometimes unbelievable to me that I’ve been able to make a career out of some of my favorite passions to do in life.
My vision was to open a space where I could focus on exactly what I wanted to artistically & have a welcoming calming atmosphere. While my clients had a free space to come as they are. My focus in my space is to give my clients the experience of being heard, & focusing on finding a beauty routing that they love. When my people come in they know they’re taken care of with me. I’m a perfectionist to the bone & it’s all about the experience for me .Whether I’m coloring your hair, styling for a shoot or wedding, or even teaching a class. I want to make sure your experience is top notch & you’re in love with the outcome.
I love getting to meet all the special people throughout my career. Learning other peoples stories or how they do things always fills up my cup.
Im very excited to be adding more charity work to our line up of goals in 2024, with a focus on women & children in need.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Great question. I don’t know if I would have said these at the beginning of my career but the ability to always keep the urning to learn, starting out say yes to everything until you don’t have to, & be open to failure. A bonus one is don’t give up. One of the hardest careers can be the most rewarding.
Don’t get to the point where you think you know everything or can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It’ll shoot you in the foot. I think we can all look at this point and understand nothing is forever. Always keep that fire lit to learn something new, try something different, or just make a mistake to know what to do next time.
Looking back over the years I’ve realized saying yes to something can lead you to other opportunities beyond your wildest dreams. Not always but it COULD. Even getting to know someone through a meeting or event & making a good impression can immediately put you on the resume of referrals. You never know what the possibilities can be. be open to everything! Then over the years, you get to pick & say yes to what feels right for your journey.
The last one was the hardest one for me to grasp as a positive note for a while, but be open to failure. I used to be so hard on myself & so scared to make mistakes because then I wasn’t perfect. Through the years I’ve also realized. I never would have learned anything new if it wasn’t for my mistakes teaching me. A few years ago I coined a little phrase, ” no losses, just lessons” to help be a little reminder it’s ok to mess up!
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the hair industry. It’s a very fast pace with things constantly changing, that it feels like you can fall behind pretty quickly. Or you don’t want to miss opportunities so you say yes to too much. On top of everyday life, family, chores, household things. It can take a tole on you. Sometimes it makes me feel like a tornado going 100 mph in my head. In all honesty though, that’s part of the reason I love the industry as well! There’s so many facets and possibilities in this career you can take. So there’s the positive, beneficial flip side.
When I’m really feeling overwhelmed, I have to shut down a little and realize to take it one or a few days at a time. I tend to forecast a little to far into the future which can lead to over thinking & being overwhelmed with what avenue to to take or strategy to do. A classic case of too much on your plate.
I’ve learned to look at 24-48 hours ahead and focus on that. Write down my thoughts, check them in a few days to see if they still mean what I thought they did. My biggest help is to head out into nature. Really shut down & put things into perspective. It gives me a new sense of priorities & focus.Then i’ll come home, organize things and start to knock things off the list. The refreshed view I have helps me realize half the things I was worries about don’t even need to happen. Don’t stress too much on the little things! The reality is 50% of the things we worry about won’t happen
Contact Info:
- Website: Beautywithfunchion.com
- Instagram: BeautywithFunchion
Image Credits
@VOGUE @Chelsiedawnphoto @photosbybettyra @photosbytheras @Mattericksonphotography
