The mid-winter blues weren’t so bad for guests at Stā Connected: Future gazing, the first in a series of events at luxury salon Stā Studios in central London. Respect For Hair joined the event which focused on well-being, manifestation and achieving your goals. These are fundamental concepts for this time of year when everyone is feeling a little blue.
Speakers
Inspirational and informative speakers included Samantha Cusick herself, founder of Samantha Cusick London and Stā Studios, who shared her hairdressing journey. Three lovely brands: Olaplex, Authentic Beauty Concept and yuv Beauty, sponsored the event and were on hand to discuss product innovation and new technology. Having brand support certainly helped keep the energy and focus on hairdressing.
Following the event Respect caught Samantha Cusick to hear how to all went:
What were the most important takeaways for hairdressers?
Samantha: “The importance of goal setting and why your goals must have measurable steps. Having clear goals no matter how ‘big picture’ will help you drive your career / business forward. Making sure the goals are specific and have actionable steps makes them easier to achieve.
Samantha: Finding the career path and workspace that is right for you is imperative to creating your dream work-life balance. Stā Studios is the first of its kind in luxury co-working spaces to provide hairdressers with more options to build their business 
Did any point from the guest speakers surprise you?
Samantha: “It was so insightful to listen to Timi (@mrmoneyjar) give his financial tips. Having conversations around money is often uncomfortable and something we shy away from. Hearing him give practical tips on things like pensions was weirdly refreshing.”
What went on at Stā Connected: Future Gazing
Timi Merriman-Johnson
Timi Merriman-Johnson, financial advisor and host of the Mr MoneyJar show, talked us through strategic goal-setting. Timi’s critical takeaways include being specific. If your goal is to earn more money, then how much do you want? Goals should be just outside your comfort zone, i.e. not too easy but not unrealistic. Now, this is essential; goals should be permissionless. Permissionless goals rely on yourself only.
Timi’s advice on achieving goals included creating systems that work and sticking to them. Break down daily, weekly and monthly actions to help you achieve your goals. You can use apps or websites that create systems or plans, if that helps. Creating specific and permissionless goals and using systems to help you achieve them should lead to success. Just remember, this also takes self-belief. 
Samantha Cusick, hairdresser and owner of Samantha Cusick London and Stā Studios
Initially, Samantha set out to follow the path of academia and almost went into criminology –interesting! However, Samantha realised she needed to follow her true calling and become a hairdresser (like her mum before her). She says in the early days of her career she started sharing her work on socials and quickly gained a good following. This resulted in a super-busy booked-out salon column. Eventually Samantha, who tried all forms of hairdressing (salon employed, freelance, on call) knew it was time to open her own salon. Now, with four successful salons and a considerable following, it seems Samantha made the right decision. Take a leaf out of Samantha’s book and be confident and trust yourself. 
Tamara Driessen
Tamara Driessen, tarot reader, intuitive guide and author of The Crystal Code and Luna, took us through a session on manifestation. Tamara maintains that every one of us manifests daily without even realising it. Manifestation is so important, and it isn’t just about magic; it’s about willing achievable changes into your life that you can cultivate. When manifesting, Tamara urges us to think of three things:
Vision
Knowing what we want and following it
Alignment
Finding the motivation and confidence to achieve what we want
Action
The little steps we can take daily to make dreams a reality 
Validation
Also, Tamara stresses the importance of validating ourselves. If we keep these three things in mind, and truly believe, manifesting is a powerful tool. So, it’s all about strategic goal-setting, trusting yourself and manifestation! We hope these key points help you stay motivated and positive through the winter blues and beyond. Stay tuned, who knows what the next Stā Connected event will bring.
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Respect is a hub for UK hairdressers of all ages and stages to find out what We Love, We Hear and We See as the best product launches, styling advice, hairtools, education training and seminars and hairshows! Sign up to our newsletter which is sent fortnightly direct to your email, so you stay up-to-date with salon styling information, trends in session work, advice on presenting on stage or progress in educating – whatever your interest, whether you’re a trainee or creative director, an educator or team leader, you’ll find all the opportunities and ideas on www.respectyou.meWe love hairdressing; we see and we hear how you can become the best hairdresser, colourist and salon owner possible. Contact us if you’d like to know more about us. If it’s worth talking about, you’ll read it here.
