We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leisha Thompson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leisha below.
Leisha, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
For me, it was about tapping into my purpose. I had this idea come to me to build a type of business that didn’t exist yet in my industry and because it didn’t exist, it meant that I was going to have to carve the path for it to grow and be successful. Cue the instant imposter syndrome and doubts that flooded my mind thinking that I’m just a regular person and who am I to think that I could do something so innovative. The thing that kept nudging me was the purpose and clarity I felt from what I could accomplish and how, along with the joy it made me feel to someday make these goals happen. Imposter syndrome is really just an inner critic voice that wants to make you feel less, it’s not your reality and this voice often wants to show up when you are on the verge of something big. Once I’d realized that, I can almost welcome when the imposter syndrome comes in because now I know that I must be on the verge of something big and important and that my purpose is there to guide me into what my next step is.
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?
I have been in the beauty industry as a hair stylist for almost 14 years now and for a lot of my career, I was constantly searching for ways to give myself more freedom and flexibility to do something that really fuels me, traveling. It finally hit me in 2022 that there was something that didn’t exist in my industry and slowly but surely my creative juices were starting to form an idea that could give me what I was looking for but in such a fulfilling way. The idea of The Traveling Hair Stylists was born, this is an alternative service for hair stylists to “hire” an experienced stylist that would travel directly to them in the U.S., care for their clientele, and cover their rent. Taking any kind of leave such as a maternity or medical leave has been extremely difficult especially if you were an independent stylist who worked for yourself and had a full clientele. In fact, I had witnessed co-workers who went through unexpected leaves that resulted in them losing a large majority of their clients once they finally returned and also stylist friends who went back from maternity leave in only a couple weeks because they simply could not afford to pay rent or lose any clients. Up until the point of my business there really was no other tools or resources, so many stylists just “dealt” with what they had to do. The Traveling Hair Stylists is a way to give back by providing maximum retention of stylists businesses they have worked so hard to build and doing it all with peace of mind that we aren’t there to “steal” clients. This also has given me so much flexibility to travel and see the country while still working in my career. Since the start of this, I have had the opportunity to support stylists in Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Illinois, Washington, and California with more to come. The stylists who I have helped have continued to share their gratitude for finding my business and express how much it helped them to take a proper leave and not have to worry. Because of this, it’s my mission to scale this idea by building a team to service even more stylists all over the country and someday have this option be widely know as a resource to any stylist out there.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three things for me was finding a community, adaptability, and staying connected to my purpose. I was searching for sort of a “what’s next” idea for awhile but the thing I really struggled with was being about to visualize what it was that I was even looking for. I found a hairstylist mastermind a few years ago and having that community to tap into and help me conceptualize the business model of The Traveling Hair Stylists was so huge for me and I often wonder if I would have gotten to that same place without this community. Adaptability is an important skill to have to even do what it is that I’m doing because you are essentially working within different areas, salons, teams, and products. As the founder of the business, I also knew how important it was going to be to stay adaptable in building this idea because no one was doing what I was doing. I needed to be open to every opportunity and regularly reflect on each move I was making to continue to fine tune the systems to make this more and more efficient. Lastly, staying connected to my whole purpose of what I was doing and WHY I was doing it was crucial because there have been many hurdles, doubts, and times that I wanted to give up. Reminding myself of the why is what kept me on this path and continuing to grow this business and get to where I am today where I really see such a future for The Traveling Hair Stylists!
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
My biggest area of growth has come from continuing to work on myself alongside of working on the business. For a lot of my life and result of facing abandonment as a child, the easy thing for me to do was to bottle up my feelings and not face them. Entering into building this business and how I want it to scale requires me to be confident and be a strong leader. In order for me to do this I learned that I needed to work on myself personally, because I truly feel that our mindsets can be connected both personally and professionally. Working on myself and facing things from my past as allowed me to be more empathetic, to speak up more, to connect more deeply with people, and to feel more confident in my life both as Leisha and a CEO.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thetravelinghairstylists.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetraveling.hairstylists/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559308833934
Image Credits
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