We all have a story. There are a million small details of our lives that make us who we are today and we have to figure out which of those details are worth sharing with the world. The hope is that through our stories, someone can relate, change, grow or even just feel peace with the decisions they’ve made that led them to this place.
My own story is something I’ve struggled to put into words for a long time. I mean, a lot of my day involves talking to my clients and every time I have someone new sit in my chair, there is a small sense of panic, knowing they are probably going to ask me about myself and where the heck do I begin. I’m almost certain that I’m not the only one who has felt that, right? How can we take all of life’s defining moments and somehow tell it in a way that makes sense and more than that, tells the story of who we are? Well, I’m not sure I have that answer, but I thought it would help if I shared my own version of my story for you all here.
Buckle up friends.
Honestly, my childhood started out fairly “normal”. I grew up in Mesa, Arizona, my parents split up when I was young, but my brother and I navigated things as best we could. Both of my parents were remarried and added more kids to the family, so I grew up feeling like I had a million siblings, which can be great and also a bit stressful. My mom was really our parental rock and remains that way today, while my dad had a variety of issues that left him absent majority of my life. Sometimes people comment that I’m a bit closed off and although I don’t mean to be, my relationship with my dad probably has something to do with that. Don’t get me wrong, I was super social and loved music, singing, theatre and playing instruments, but I felt like the only way I could truly open up was with through music, not so much with people.
With my parents being remarried, there were tons of kids running around, which made finances tight, so as soon as I could get a job, I did. I was 14 years old and worked the vacuum at my Dad’s carwash. Yep, didn’t even get to work the cash register. But I didn’t care, because if I wanted to be involved in any kind of extra curricular activity, it was up to me to contribute financially to it. I would babysit, clean houses, go to my part-time job after school, whatever I had to do to make it work. Although I believe that foundation contributed greatly to my work ethic today, it wasn’t easy and my guess is some of my frustration in those moments let to my lovely years of adolescent/teenage rebellion.
Now listen, I wasn’t a bad kid, but I grew up mormon and there’s definitely a standard of which you’re expected to live by and those years probably weren’t my best (but did anyone actually have stellar teenage years?) Anyway, I wasn’t a bad kid, I was just trouble when it came to boys. I always wanted a boyfriend and when I had one, he was the center of my world. I even ran away from home for a week because, well, that’s what teenage lovers do obviously. After a number of turbulent years, I turned 18 and was ready to go so I moved out of my house and in with a friend and as soon as I graduated, my high school boyfriend and I moved in together. Guess how that turned out?
Well it wasn’t all bad. Even though I was a bit of a rebel, I worked really hard. Ever since I can remember. I had saved enough money to buy my first house at 19 and it seemed like that’s when things started to turn around. I started talking to my parents again (it had been about a year post graduation), started going to MCC and eventually broke up with my high school boyfriend. I was working as an assistant manager at Buckle and serving to try and pay for the music degree I was working towards so that I could be a music coach. Even though I loved it, I knew I wanted more than what that degree was going to give me so I left school and started working full time at Buckle. Now, you may be chuckling right now, but that job has served as the foundation for so many of my leadership skills. It’s truly amazing what a retail management job can teach you. Plus, it led me to my next big break.
While working at Buckle, I noticed that a Ghost Armor kiosk had popped up outside of my store. I probably noticed it because there were a bunch of cute guys working there and it gave me an excuse to talk to them, but that’s besides the point. Well, actually that’s the whole point. Eventually they recruited me to come and work at the corporate office in manufacturing. Yep, it was as boring as it sounds, but I loved the company so I decided that I needed to convince the CEO to make me his assistant. If you know me you know I can be very persuasive. He agreed, but told me I had a lot to learn and to just keep my head down and work hard. As soon as he said that, I knew I had it in the bag, but I had no idea just how much I would learn and how this company would end up changing my life in more ways than one.
I was growing quickly with the company, implementing programs and helping them scale dramatically. I was kicking butt to be honest. In the midst of this, I started noticing a guy around the office. He was one of the owners of the company, so I knew he was kind of a big deal, but I didn’t talk to him much. Then one day I ran into him outside of the office and that was it. He stole my heart, I stole his and four months later we were engaged. Crazy right? Well four months after that, we were married. Hey, when you know, you know. Jesse and I recognized so much of ourselves in each other and knew quickly that we had found our person. Life wasn’t all rainbows though. Jesse had a 2 year old daughter when we got married and we were essentially running a company together. It came with its challenges, but we fought hard to make sure we always chose each other.
Luckily, motherhood came naturally to me and Jesse’s daughter Aubree and I had a beautiful, natural relationship from the beginning. After we were married, I started to recognize that it was time to move on from this career chapter. I knew I wanted something of my own and after doing some soul searching, I decided that I wanted to go to beauty school and hopefully work towards opening up a salon one day. So I jumped in. I chose Penrose Academy because they were committed to helping me not only learn how to become a hair expert, but also teach me how to turn it into a successful business and that’s what I needed. I needed someone to show me how and I could handle the rest.
In my last stretch of beauty school, I found out I was pregnant with my son, Stetson, which really pushed me to get clear on my goals. I needed to have my next steps figured out by the time he was born and I worked hard to do it. I graduated in October of 2013 and had Stetson in January of 2014. Talk about cutting it close! I knew I didn’t want to work for someone else, so that Summer I started doing hair out of the office in my house, which I ended up turning into a mini studio. Although it was convenient, my goal was to grow every year so in September of 2015, I rented my first 10 x 10 space for $850 per month. Then in 2016, I had my son Sawyer and expanded again to a 10 x 20 studio. Becoming a mom continued to motivate me to be the best version of myself and for me, excelling in my career was part of that.
Up until 2017, I had worked for myself with no help and I liked it that way, but in 2017, I knew if I wanted to keep growing, I needed to find an assistant. It just so happened that Dakota found me right when I needed her to. We tried it out and clicked right away. What a blessing she has become in my life to this day. Shortly after I found Dakota, we were onto our biggest phase of growth yet…the opening of Jess Salon. I always knew that’s what I was working towards, but I was patient and I trusted the process. So remember that first house I told you I bought when I was 19? Well, I kept it until I needed to sell it and that’s the house that paid for my initial down payment on my very own salon. See, our stories always come full circle.
Like I said, even though it frustrated me to watch kids get to do things I couldn’t growing up, I learned the value of money very early on in my life. I knew how to save, I knew how to plan and I knew how to calculate every financial risk I was willing to take. After graduating beauty school, I told myself I was going to double my salary every year and that’s exactly what I’ve done. I’ve grown my clientele, built up my retail business and utilized social media to hit my goals. I truly had my growth down to a science and it paid off. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy and I was constantly making changes to make more money, but I was committed. I’ve learned so many lessons over the years that have gotten me here. I’ve learned to work smarter, to invest in the right things, to always keep my clients as the priority, to hustle when I have to, to be confident in my decisions and to know my value no matter what. Building a business, being a present mom and supportive wife is a lot, but I know the life I want my family to have and I always knew I would do whatever it took to give that to them.
I have to remember to stop and look around and appreciate what I’ve been able to build. I think back to my younger self and I wish I could assure that version of myself that as long as I trusted my gut, things would work out the way they’re meant to. I used to question myself constantly, but as soon as I started to trust that I could do this, the right things started happening. It doesn’t mean life is always easy. I still struggle with the relationship with my dad, I wish I had more time at home with my husband and kids and I don’t always get every business decision right, but eventually I had to recognize how hard I worked to get to this place. I had to allow myself the space to be proud and grateful for every moment that led me here. Even the tough ones because I’m convinced I was always learning what I was meant to.
Now in 2019, I’m the proud owner of Jess Salon in Gilbert and will be expanding already this Fall (it still feels like a dream). In the next year, I’ll be launching my own retail line and hope to continue creating content that will allow me to serve as a resource for women who want to learn more about beauty, health and balancing all of the things life throws our way.
Like I said earlier, we all have a story. My hope is that you find a bit of hope and inspiration from mine. It’s easy to look at Instagram and wish you had someone else’s life, family or success, but just remember that blessings don’t happen overnight and if you want to accomplish something, you can. Just be prepared to work hard, stay humble and trust yourself in the process.
