45 Years - and still counting!

So, what's the big deal about being in the beauty business for 45 years? (also known as 101102 in the binary number system)

Well... a lot, actually!

In geometry, the name of a 45 sided shape is known as a tetracontakaipentagon. That was kind of interesting. I used to listen to 45 records when I was VERY young. But really, what has transpired in regards to me in the past 45 years?

I've lived in only four homes in the past 45 years but I've traveled to France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, the Bahamas, the UK, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and probably a couple more that I've forgotten about. Some of these places I've traveled to numerous times. I learned a lot.

During my 45 years in the beauty industry I've seen numerous trends, and I've seen numerous trends come back around again, and again, and each time the young people in the industry seem to think that these things are brand new trends. I've heard music be recycled over and over, and watched fashion be recycled over and over again, and business ideas, social trends, etc. But I must say that I agree with Solomon who said "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.. in Ecclesiastes 1:9.

About 20.8% of businesses in the U.S. fail within the first year while about 48.4% fail within five years. By ten years about 65.1% of businesses have failed. In fact, there is a great chance that you will live longer than most big businesses. I've watched this happen over and over again. MetrOasis has been in business in Alaska for 30 years now putting us into a very exclusive club of the 5% club of businesses to survive for more than 30 years. We have not only "survived" these past 30 years, we have THRIVED!

This is mostly because God has blessed us incredibly, but also because Sue and I each married our best friend. This makes all the difference! We LOVE working with each other, we LOVE traveling with each other, and we LOVE being married to each other. So, the idea of merely surviving seems to have little appeal when we could be having this much fun!

One really important thing to remember about businesses and marriages and relationships is that they are not just one entity. Almost every single item in our business can be moved so that we can change nearly everything about our business to encounter changes within our industry, and within our society. Lately, we have endured a LOT of changes in each of these two categories. I remember working with a coworker years and years ago who was taking some college courses while he was working in the same salon as me and he would walk around repeating the same line over and over - "Change is important to all biological life." He was right, and his professor was right.

Change is not only important to our businesses and our relationships but to ourselves as well. You must keep growing, you must keep learning, you must keep improving. It's not a "good idea", it is critical to your survival! Albert Einstein said - "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change." If it's OK for Einstein, it's OK for me too. Jon Bon Jovi said - "Miracles happen every day, change your perception of what a miracle is and you'll see them all around you." I agree!

So, go out and view the miracles around you, enjoy your career, enjoy your family, enjoy where you live, enjoy living in a (mostly) free country. You are a miracle living inside a miracle being surrounded by miracles. What else can you do but enjoy living and doing what you're doing? If not, CHANGE something!