November is both the kindest and cruelest month. It is the kindest because I have alot of work projects, and it is the cruelist because me time escapes me. But back on track we are with a very recent observation and inspiration I want to share with you.
I spoke on a panel at the Les Dames d’Escoffier International Conference in Atlanta November 5th on the subject of “Reinventing Your Career.” This is a topic near and dear to my heart, and I was honored to be on the panel with three other dynamic entrepreneurs from Atlanta.
I spoke of “re-purposing your life,” a topic I wrote about here. I spoke on the topic of assessing your skills and re-purposing them in new ways to find a new career. My colleague Gina Berry, a prominent and vivacious food stylist, brought up a point she has learned and that I am taken with. It is this: Never underestimate what is in your tool box.
A stylist’s tools, much like an artist’s, are essential to her trade. But, looking within us, we all have a tool box. These are the things that make us the essential “me”- my knowledge, my skills, my ethics, my personality, my creativity, my business sense, my business and personal connections and nearly 30 years of doing what I do very well. And these are worth alot. Your tool box of skills, values and personality and connections – what you know and who you know- make up your essential you, and they are worth something!
Your tool box has value. Don’t take it for granted and don’t let others take advantage of it. How many times has someone said to you, “Can I pick your brain?” Or, “Send me your ideas” or “Will you share your list with me?” And how many times did it lead to anything? Or to nowhere.
Do not give the contents of your tool box away to people who do not give back, either in financial or emotional compensation, whether you are finessing a business deal or entering a new relationship.
Don’t let your tool box become a Pandora’s Box- releasing everything out and leaving you high and dry.
Put a value on yourself and on what you do and aim high! Remember, for everything you do there is “the cost of doing business” which I also call the “aggravation factor.” I know there is an economic slump going on right now. But I am going to be frank here: When you are selling your time honored skills, your expertise, your connections and your brainpower, Discounting is for Dummies. I have been down that road before, and it just means the trip to financial fullfillment takes alot longer. You set your price too low and you just have a higher climb to make it where you want to be.
You are worth more than you think. Believe it. Sit down and write down everything that you feel is an asset in your tool box. Then calculate how long it has taken you to develop and collect your assets and decide how valuable they are to you. Then add 20 percent more because you probably are undervaluing yourself. Women do that because we think about others more than we think about ourselves.
On a separate page, list what no longer belongs in your tool box- what is cluttering it up? These are your liabilities. Then calculate what it will cost and take to eliminate them so that your tool box is lighter and now more open to new skills and new ideas.
Just like my makeup drawer that is filled with old lipsticks, eye shadows and blushes that probably have expired and are drying out, your box, like my drawer, needs to be cleaned out every so often and refreshed.
Get rid of the junk. You want a tool box, not a junk box.
Get rid of the stuff with an expiration date- like stuff that is not going to take you forward, or bad memories, or bad relationships.
Add new tools, skills and anything that keeps you vital and happy.
Keep the things that have value and make you unique and, above all, that give you hope.
Remember this: When Pandora did open the box, against the wishes of the gods, she let out everything that was evil. But there was one thing that remained. And that was Hope.
Your Tool Box should also be Your Hope Chest.
More on that later!
