I have quite a few experiences to share on this prompt but I remember this particular one clearly because of the circumstances surrounding it.
I had a long break during my second year in Uni and as someone who likes entrepreneurship and skill acquisition , i didn’t buy the idea of being idle. The holiday was for well over 3 months and I was looking to learn a skill and start a business that would yield income later on.
I used to be so obsessed with doing lash extensions and at the time, it was a trend. A lot of girls were obsessed with that particular beauty trend and I saw it as an opportunity to also offer a service.
I paid to take lessons from a professional lash tech. I remember how I was very excited, anticipating all the money I’ll make, unknowingly it was never going to be as I envisioned. I wasn’t prepared for the hurdles ahead. A class that was supposed to run for only a month ended up being two months for only myself.
We were a class of 5 students, the rest of the girls graduated within the normal timeframe but I had to stay back because i wasn’t so good at it yet.
It wasn’t only embarrassing for me, it was one of the saddest periods of my life. A moment that was filled with excitement turned into something different. It felt like I made my own plans and the universe said “not on my watch”. Well, that was how I felt then.
Luckily, I had the sweetest teacher ever, she kept encouraging me and even on days she knew i hated showing up to class, she’d make sure I never skip them.
It took me weeks of practice to finally use my tools, my first practice was on a mannequin head. I remember how very excited i was after she told me I did really well. I finally got a good review after so many bad ones.
I was given another assignment and I failed at it again, after finally getting something right. I didn’t just fail, I failed very woefully. This time I was almost at the end of my extended class and I had to do something about my progress or risk staying extra months. I didn’t let the experience break me, instead it fueled my anger to get it right again. I kept on practicing and reaffirming myself that i could do it, it worked like magic and then I got my second assignment right.
To qualify for graduation, It’s mandatory to practice on an actual model not a mannequin anymore. I didn’t want anything to go wrong and at the same time, I was tired of waiting behind. I knew I had improved greatly but I still had doubts. I got encouraged by people around me and even if I was anxious for my graduation day, I still pushed through.
My friend volunteered to be my model and it helped with me being less anxious.
Usually a lash set takes about 2 hours to complete, but I ended up spending 3 hours. I was still a bit shaky with my hands but i completed my first lash set unassisted. My teacher was as happy as I was and finally allowed me graduate.
My training didn’t end there, I still had to practice and perfect other set of lash extensions. I eventually started taking bookings and surprisingly, I got clients coming. I got a mix of both good reviews and bad reviews, the bad being a larger percentage.
Subsequently, with a lot of determination and effort, I became a pro at it. The bad reviews stopped and I got even more clients. Everything i imagined started coming to life, the income didn’t stop and my business grew more than my expectation. At some point, I was rejecting bookings because of how much they were. At the time few months ago, I never would have imagined.
I experienced pain at the time I was failing but it also unlocked a different version of me i didn’t know existed . It fueled determination, consistency and the need to keep pushing. If I had succeeded at the time without trying so hard, I doubt i would know how determination works.
Failure most times is very painful, sometimes embarrassing and a few times defeating. The end result is always worth the wait and a sense of pride is achieved.