Not Tomorrow. Today.
How a Dramatic Career Shift Changed this Entrepreneur's Approach to Life - and How It Can Change Yours
I’m back with another edition of the Generation Si! newsletter. 👋🏽👋👋🏿 In today’s newsletter, you’ll hear about the life (and business) perspective of an entrepreneur with a very different previous career. Fabiola Mistelske explains why she is throwing herself into her business, Fabiola Mistelske Beauty, with laser-light focus. If you need a kick in the pants to get motivated, read on:
You’ll learn the following in today’s newsletter:
🌴 The reason why you can’t wait to take action
🌴 Mindset tools you may not have thought about cultivating to help you achieve your goals
🌴 A free webinar to learn more about patents, trademarks and copyrights for your business
🌴 Get to know Fabiola Mistelske, the entrepreneur behind Fabiola Mistelske Beauty, and how she hopes to inspire you to kick your procrastination habit.
NO OTHER TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
“I have to make it happen today. Not tomorrow. Today.”
Fabiola Mistelske lives with a sense of urgency most people don’t.
It’s because of the job she had for eight years prior to becoming the owner of her own small business.
LIFE CHANGES – AND IT CAN CHANGE SUDDENLY AND DRAMATICALLY
Fabiola Mistelske used to work with cancer patients as a bone marrow coordinator.
“It was such a heartbreaking thing to experience when I was working with a family that needed a bone marrow transplant for their loved one. And, a week later, they were inviting me to the funeral.”
She says you don’t have to have such an extreme experience to realize that you need to work on your dream today.
THE TIP JAR (Tips provided courtesy of Fabiola Mistelske)
STARTING OUT: “Make the committed decision that [you’re] going to do it.”
STEEPED IN SKILLS (mid-career): “I would suggest to anybody to make sure that that is the one thing that they really want…”
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE: Fabiola Mistelske says she keeps noticing with other entrepreneurs that, once they open or build a business, many of them concentrate on sales. But, “sometimes, they chose the wrong business. It’s not really what is driving them to move forward, and that’s why they stop. Again, everything starts with what do you want?”
STARTING OVER: “Forget about [doing] what everybody is telling you to do.”
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE: “My mom was telling me, ‘Okay, you better do something good with your career’… And I’m like, ‘Okay, well, the medical field it is.’ But I couldn’t go any further because that is something that I didn’t enjoy.”
I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN: “Not listening to my intuition…”
BEST ADVICE FROM “LA CASA”/BEST “HOUSE” ADVICE: Mistelske says it’s not a specific piece of advice she was taught from her parents, but it’s the work ethic her parents instilled in her that she’s most grateful for now.
She calls a strong work ethic something “… that, unfortunately, not a lot of people have. And they don’t know that they don’t [have it]…”
“If somebody’s relying on you to do something, you have to do it. Like, there’s no other way around it…”
ASK YOURSELF, WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY?
In Mistelske’s case, she decided she’d switch to something that brought her joy as a child – doing hair and makeup.
She says it’s unfortunate that she grew up being told that doing hair and makeup was a hobby, not a career.
“Nobody told me that you can make a profitable business out of hair and makeup.”
But here she is a year and a half after starting her business, which focuses on weddings, even more convinced that it was the right decision for her and that there is no time to wait.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS TO START
She wants people to know that they don’t have to have all the answers figured out in the beginning.
“You don’t need to know how. That was the one thing that stopped me from doing so many things in the past.”
Mistelske offers the following analogy to drive the point home.
“When you go into your home, you turn on the lights. You don’t need to know how the whole thing works. You just need to know that it’s going to work.”
IT STARTS WITH COMMITMENT
In her case, she says she started with a mindset focused on an unwavering commitment.
“When I committed myself to move forward with owning my own business, that’s when everything shifted and changed within myself.”
Alternately, she cautions, “If you are not fully committed, I… can guarantee you that you are going to stop at some point…”
DAILY JOURNALING CAN HELP YOU TAP INTO POWERFUL TOOLS IN YOUR MIND
Mistelske recommits to her business and purpose by journaling. Every day.
“I wish somebody would’ve told me this when I started... When you journal, you have something visual… We, as humans, most of us, live through our five senses. But, we also have our mental faculties that [allow] us to see the invisible.”
She says that includes your imagination and intuition.
“Once you start tapping into your mental faculties, and not necessarily living through your senses, that’s when everything shifts.”
5 TO 10 MINUTES IS ALL YOU NEED
But, there has to be a connection. Mistelske says that the key is spending as little as five to ten minutes a day, every day, journaling.
She admits that, at first, it was difficult, for her to tap into her subconscious mind.
Mistelske would “write in the morning, and I completely forgot about it, you know, by the end of the day. But, it was because I was not connecting the dots.”
Now, when she gets really busy, she reconnects and recommits to her goal by giving herself a five-minute break.
That’s when she does a self-check to make sure she’s not letting stress get out of hand.
DON’T WAIT
Mistelske says she started with $10 in her bank account. In Part Two, she’ll explain how she started her business and how it has evolved.
The main thing, though, that she wants to share is that there’s no time to wait to take action on your dream.
“It is better to realize that before… eight, ten, fifteen, twenty years of your life” pass you by.
Mistelske is grateful for the time she spent with cancer patients and their families. She says they enlightened her.
They gave her the greatest gift - in the form of a lesson about living with intention.
“Because that is the one thing you cannot get back – time.”
INDUSTRY: Beauty (Hair, Makeup, Bridal)
STARTED BUSINESS: January 1, 2022
LATINO CONNECTION:
Born in Mexico
Parents are Mexican
EDUCATION: Licensed Cosmetologist - State of Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation
DREAM JOB AS A KID: “Believe it or not, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian. I don’t know where that came from…”
BIGGEST GOAL YET: “Oh my God. Have more than one business… It’s because something in myself is telling me, ‘You can do more. You can grow so much more into the person that you already are…’”
NO NEED TO GO IT ALONE
HELP ON THE OUTSIDE...because we can all use a helping hand:
PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS
You know trademarks, patents and copyrights are important in many businesses. But you may not be sure if they would apply to your business or, for that matter, what the basics are.
Now you can find out from representatives from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as a serial entrepreneur/author. Here’s more info:
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
“How to Protect Your Business and Invention Using Trademarks, Patents and Copyrights”
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EDT
Online Webinar
FREE
WORKING ON THE INSIDE...because we know our culture has a hard time asking for help:
“Happy Place to Foster Happy Customers”
Building a place where employees can feel safe and happy translates into a place that can help your customers to be happy. Learn practical tools and tips for creating the kind of workplace where your team is engaged in the mission. You’ll also find out about commercial insurance options that will mean savings to your bottom line and safety for your team. Find out more below:
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
Future-Proofing Your Small Business for Long-Term Success
1 Hour
Recorded Webinar (on demand)
FREE
https://www.score.org/event/future-proofing-your-small-business-long-term-success
INSPIRATION FOR THIS ISSUE:
You know that one friend or family member who won’t cut you any slack - and you secretly appreciate that about them?
That would be Fabiola Mistelske.
We all need someone to help us hold ourselves accountable.
And she’s that person.
She said something to me that really drove that point home.
“If you don’t do it today, you won’t do it tomorrow. So make sure you do it today.”
For those of you who want to start a business that fulfills a long-loved or, perhaps, long-lost dream, that’s what you need to hear. Over and over again.
It’s like exercise. Well, at least, for most of us (that definitely includes me).
You dread exercising and easily talk yourself out of it. So you try to do things that will help motivate you (ex. Putting your gym clothes out on your bed or sneakers in front of you, so you can’t easily get out of it).
For Fabiola, there aren’t any different schedules to choose from to get the job done.
There is only the present.
She says some people have told her that her approach is a little harsh.
But, Fabiola says the reality of what each of us faces every day – not knowing when our last day will be – should drive our timeline for putting ideas, goals and dreams into action.
As she explains, “It’s now. Or now.” #theskyisNOTthelimit
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