Inspiration - Part two

One type of inspiration...

So to inspire my creative mind when it comes to hair designing, I mentioned that most of us find inspiration everywhere and anywhere, sometimes in the least expected places.

But there are other types of inspiration depending on what is important to you, the older and wiser I get, the things that inspire me are people.



For me, this is something that I guess has always had an impact on me, even from a young age.

Starting with my Mom and Dad, I remember my Mom always volunteering, so much at school, she was room Mom, the art lady in school, they volunteered at church and even now she has a special "senior" who she visits and takes places.
I remember my Dad and the company he ran, he was known to be really tough on his employees, and he expected only the best, but he worked really hard and fought really hard to have nice things for them.


I get inspired by good people, people who do good things, are good friends, have ethics, strong character and sound morals. I'm inspired by how they have come to be that way, rarely do people just start out that way, usually its a winding road that gets them there. I'm inspired by people's stories, by their hardships and how they came out of them. I believe that mistakes are essential in life, and when you learn from them, they are golden medals. I've made mistakes, everyone has, we live, we learn, we fall down and wipe ourselves off, we jump and sometimes build our wings on the way down.

Thomas inspires me, my friends inspire me: I thank heavens every day for those friends and new friends, even old and dear friends. (I'm not calling any of my friends old;)

In my business, we have some really great icon's and undoubtedly they inspire me. Vidal Sassoon is one of them, Horst Rechelbacher of Aveda, Michale Gordon of Bumble & bumble, Don Bewley from Eufora and Frederic Fekkai to name a few. Those are the creators of styles and products.

Now recently there is Tabatha Coffey, every person that owns a business or even just works in a hair salon should pay very close attention to this woman, she isn't afraid to tell it how it is, if you can't watch it and work in a salon, if she annoys you and you can't stand her....I would make the assumption that you are doing everything that she says you should not. It's simple basic laws of professionalism and customer service skills, she knows them and every girl in the salon watches her, we have discussions on her shows, I have pictures of her with reminders..W.W.T.S..(what would Tabatha say?) She is an inspiration!

Another woman is Beth Minardi, a color goddess, truly an inspiration.


While I have been thinking since yesterday about this blog post and a different type of inspiration, I happened to be cleaning up in the backroom of the salon, low and behold a collection of torn out magazine articles that were neatly pinned and clipped for everyone's viewing, some were pinned up and highlighted next to my signs and inspirational quotes.

I was so glad and tickled to see that, because I know...that not only am I inspiring them, but they are inspiring each other. And THIS makes me feel so good! We are a great team at Bijou, so grateful for that!

One more thing, I received this note from one of our dear clients telling me how Jen, our front desk coordinator inspired her, she wrote:

I wanted to have you let Jennifer know that her briefly mentioning her Mother-in-Law's passing has
inspired me to carryon in her place.  Jennifer had talked about how her MIL was a knitter and
that she had done charity for a number of groups including Afghans for Afghans. 
The thought that there was now one less contributor really got me thinking.
I logged on to the A4A website, and sure enough they are gathering newly knit children's items
for a early May shipment to Kabul.
I am now making as many pairs of 'bright woolen mittens' as I can before the deadline.

I thought it would make Jennifer (and her husband) smile to know that I was inspired to pick up
the torch and some little ones
will have warm hands as a direct result of her mentioning her Mother in Law's past good deeds.   : )

What or rather WHO inspires you??