Sunday, November 26, 2006

Amateur or Master

Sisterlocks is one of those things that takes time to mature. Just as your hair matures over time so does a consultants skill. It doesn't matter if you are a trainee or a certified. You don't sit down at a locking session and get up with the locks that you will have 2 years later.

Looking back, I can see my skill has matured. I didn't have the skill that I do now. I used to schedule 2 days for a locking session. At the end of both days, I felt like I had been beat with an ugly stick. My arms would be tired, my back hurt, I was mentally tired from planning each section. Re-tightenings would sometimes take 6 hours. It doesn't seem like a lot until you figure that most of the time I would do a re-tightening everyday after work and a locking session on the weekend. Not to mention starting it all over again. Week after week. It wasn't economical for the client or me to take 2 days to do a head full of locks or 6 hour re-tightenings when some of my clients travel from as far away as Pennsylvania.


To date, I have done a locking session and 2 re-tightenings' in one day. That was my personal best and was achieved just a few weeks ago. I am not sure if I would ever do that again. But, Archie (my husband) asked me to re-tighened his hair before the last meet and greet. My day started at 7:00 and ended about 11:30. It wasn't so bad. There is also the difference in my time since I am no longer working my 'full time corporate dream job'.


I spoke to a consultant from New York that really understood how much my skill had grown. I told her several things about my business. She also told me that I had moved from what she called an amateur consultant to a master consultant. Imagine. Me a master. I had not even thought of my skill at that level.

I believe that everyone needs a mentor in this business. To mentor is good. To be mentored is better. For the measure you give is the measure you get back. I am a big believer in mentoring but that is a subject for another post.