Taking The Leap of Faith

You know that little voice inside your head that says, “Go for it, you’ll be okay,” or that quiver in your gut that whispers, “Trust me. I know this will work out.” Some call it intuition while others refer to it as an “inner voice.” Roxanne Muir, our 2019 Faces of Sola stylist from Leaside, Canada knows that voice quite well. She’s had a few “leap of faith” moments in her life, including the biggest one of all—leaving a commission-based salon and becoming the first-ever Canadian Sola stylist.

“I actually stalked Sola for about a year,” she shared. “I heard about Sola in Salon magazine and I was like, ‘Why is this not in Canada?! We need this in Canada!’ It was such a brilliant concept and I knew that Sola was onto something. Nothing like this had ever been done in Canada.”

Roxanne wanted in on the action. “When I found out Sola was opening up in Canada, I called Kevin [the franchise owner] and we talked for about three hours, met in person, and after about seven meetings and dinners with each other, I signed!”

Without seeing a finished building and only blueprints and what Kevin had shared with her, Roxanne trusted her gut and took a leap of faith. “I looked at Sola and said to myself, ‘I haven’t tried this before.’ I have worked in commission-based salons, been a booth renter, owned two different businesses, and even moved three different times with my businesses. I had tried it all, except for this—except for Sola, and I knew I had to try it.”

And try it she did. She trusted that “inner voice” and took that leap of faith to achieve greater success and independence. Today, she is one of our 2019 Faces of Sola and is just killing it in her Sola. 

Need help taking a leap of faith? Here are a few tips and strategies you can use:

Research & Weigh

Not all leap of faith moments happen on a whim. For example, Roxanne did her research on Sola before she signed her lease. She weighed her options and ultimately made a decision based on what would make the most sense for her to achieve next level success. “My theory on this,” she added, “is if you have passion and the math is in your favor, you can't go wrong!” A leap of faith doesn’t have to be blind faith.

Small Steps

A leap of faith doesn’t have to be this grand swan dive off a cliff of the unknown. It can be a small step towards a greater goal. For example, let’s say that being an educator with a major manufacturer is your dream, but that would take away from building your clientele and business. You can take a small step and reach out to the manufacturer, do your research, and weigh your options to see if being an educator is really that demanding of your time. You can then make a one, three or five-year goal to achieve your dream while you build your business.

Risk & Reward

It really comes down to mindset. “What if I do this and fail?” Well, what if you make sure you don’t fail by putting preventative measures in place to make sure that doesn’t happen. Everything has a risk associated with it—it’s how you look at the risk and ask yourself, “Can this risk be prevented,” and keep the mindset that you will achieve success.

Thrive & Strive

Building off the importance of having a positive mindset mentioned above, surrounding yourself with people who thrive and strive to be successful will make those leap of faith moments less stressful and scary. Right now you may be living a life of “what ifs,” but soon you’ll be saying, “What’s next?”

“I don't quit,” shared Roxanne. “I might as well be eating batteries for breakfast! Even when life has completely exhausted me I find just a little bit more to squeeze out! I enjoy other people’s successes and passion. I don't compare myself to them; I'm genuinely happy for them and I look at what they can teach me. I am really honest with myself about what I need to learn and why. I'm a life long learner personally and professionally. I think that combo gives you the drive and the confidence in yourself to be able to handle anything including leap of faith moments.”