so, i know that when i die and go to heaven – my version of heaven will be me in a super cute cafe, with headphones on, in front of a laptop learning some new software, using it to do something creative. this is my more than happy place.
the feeling i love the very most in life is feeling inspired. i think it’s the very best emotion you can have bc it’s a combo of so much; it’s part anticipation, part clarity, part unknown, part positivity, part creativity and part action – all wrapped up into one giddy/butterfly/confident bundle. it’s the best feel i think humans can have – or at least it’s at the very top of the my list.
i am always chasing inspiration. in fact i’ve built my life around this chase. i’m an entrepreneur, so for me the very nature of what i do everyday is filled with seeking inspo and the need to create. creating a brand, creating the look/tone/feel of all our spaces, the services mix, the vibe… creating our marketing campaigns and design elements (something i used to do up until a couple years ago when we hired people so much better than me to do this) – creating other business owners as my franchise partners, even creating protocols and polices – which don’t seem that creative except when you couple this with also creating the way it’s gong to be communicated (a deck? a one-pager? a video? a live webinar? in bar presentations tour? what are the graphics? the layout? is it a contest?) i can usually find the creativity in everything and i love every second of all of it.
annnd, i have the blessed luxury of everyday getting to create my day. everyday is different. not always amazing, great or even ok (lord knows i’ve had my share of shower crying and/or anxiety ridden days.) but at least they are unique. because of the hq team i have, our franchise partners, our 10spotters®, and vendors – i get the time and space to work on what i’m best at, instead of what i’m total shxt at (of which i’m total trash at a lot of things).
about a year ago, i was introduced to sailing la vagabonds – a totally inspiring family of (now) four, that travel the world on their catamaran. on their first voyage as young couple the wife (then girlfriend) decided to film it and make a video for their friends and fam. she instead decided to upload it to youtube – long story short it blew up and they’ve been doing it for 8 years now full time with a video a week. ambitious. i totally love them and what’s more, it inspired me to get back to that genre of creativity that i used to love doing – which was making videos.
i love everything about the process. i love the filming, the editing, the finding just the right music to re-create or enhance the scene, i love making the graphics and the title sequences, i love watching the youtube tutorials on learning new software tricks, i love finding new plug ins and getting new gear and the bags to organize it all in… sure it’s totally humiliating to get in front of the camera and talk to a vacant lens – but lucky my embarrassment quotient is low – and the upsides are greater to me. bottom line, i fxcking love making videos.
i used to make video’s way back in the day – when i had my other blog and i was a single gal in the city just starting THE TEN SPOT®. it was called ‘dating myself’ (you can find the archive of those vids here).
i stopped my blog and the vlogs because, well, i wasn’t dating myself anymore. i met a boy, fell in love, moved out of the city, got married and got pregnant all within 6 months. it just didn’t fit my life anymore – and i was soooo busy. i was building out 2 new corporate stores (making it 4 i owned) plus starting the franchising business with 2 new franchise partners, doing buildouts at the exact same time – and i had a newborn. keep in mind i didn’t even have a ‘head office’ staff – it was me, laura (my then part time bookeeper, now cfo) and my 2 corp store manager helping keep the wheels on all of it.
fast forward today where i’ve got a head office staff of 16 to help run the international system of 72 beauty bars (43 that are open and the rest are at various stages of development) across 7 provinces and 5 states.
a few years back i created THE TEN SPOT culture deck. it’s our presentation that i do live for all new franchise parters and have recorded for all new 10spotters® as the first thing they watch when they are onboarded.
it covers our core values, points of culture, our brand / bar promises and our purpose – the reason why THE TEN SPOT exists – which is the make everyone feel like a ten. (note: we chose our words very carefully – we say make make everyone feel like a ten® – not just our guests. of course of our guests but also our 10spotters®, our franchise partners and our hq staff and vendors.). also, full cred goes to my ex-husband for coming up with our purpose. it seems a no brainer at the time but we wordsmith the shxt out of it.
anyway, i tell this story because our culture deck starts with our belief – my core belief in fact, which i’ve made the companies core belief and starting point. which is that i believe everyone should live their best life ever.
one of my favourite quotes is ‘we all get two lives – the seconds one starts when we realize we only get one’. i love this cheeky way of saying we only get one shot at this.
i think it’s mind blowing that i exist at all – that i’m given such a gift to be alive – to experience everything there is – all the good, all the bad – and i think that since i’ve won this lottery of existence that it’s my job to live my very best life – to (how perfectly on brand is this) – live my life at a ten.
even when i don’t feel like it.
especially when i don’t feel like it.
life is all perspective – and how you deal with the things that happen to you. i’m so, so fxcking inspired by those out there who have been given much hard experiences than i’ve ever had to face and then they do something incredible with their lives. they prove the have grit and are hard to kill and take a shxt situation and make it inspirational for others. that’s what life is all about to me. and if people can come out of war, neglect, abuse, disease, tragedy and live their lives at a ten – then holy shxt, i better try my hardest too.
my life at a ten is going to look very very different then anyone else’s life at a ten. you own this life + you define what living your life at a ten means.
and, i can’t always be there – life at a ten is a mindset – a bar i’m setting that i might never make it to – or i visit a couple times a year, or month or week. i don’t feel like a ten all the goddam time, but i want to. there will always be ways to be a better person – a better mom, wife, sister, daughter, ceo, friend – and that’s what i want in the back of my mind. i get to be better today then i was yesterday.
all this to say i thought it would be a great time to get back into blogging and making vids. to behind the brand and show what it’s really like to run an international company with dozens of franchise partners, hundreds of 10spotter® staff and tons of beautiful bars making thousands of guests feel like a TEN®; all while trying to live my life at a ten as a ceo, mom, partner, sister, daughter and friend.
so! here’s my little ‘intro’ vid!!! i learned via my youtube mentors you’re supposed to make one 😛
x.k
