Are you going through the ups and downs of life? Are the bad days outweighing the good ones and it feels like no matter what you do, you’re getting nowhere? 

This post is going to teach you that you are not alone in those feelings. Keep reading and you’ll walk away knowing that: 

• You’re a big deal that can do hard things

• The dark times don’t last forever

• All you need to be is yourself

You’ll realize that you’ve gotten through hard times before and you’ve got everything you need to succeed.

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The Importance of Being Your True Self in Business

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get to travel down to Oklahoma City for the Blonding Crew Retreat with Sarai Speer. I had such a blast speaking and connecting with the incredible people there. 

It truly felt like such a beautiful gift because I got to meet so many amazing people in real life. 

One of the people I got to meet was Brandon Angel, we got to sit down and have a really heartfelt conversation. It was so profound and powerful that I ended up hitting record on my phone so that I could share our exchange. 

Divine Timing

Now, this might sound a little silly, but I swear that it was divine timing that Brandon and I met and connected when we did. I’m seriously so excited to see what’s next for him. 

Brandon is passionate about therapy and EMDR. He absolutely loves talking about things like that all the time behind the chair with his clients, and with his friends. 

His last name is Angel and he really embraces that title and tries to live his life with that in mind. 

5 years ago, Brandon was in a toxic salon environment. He came from a really small town and moved to the bigger metropolis where he went to school. After school, he immediately went into working in a salon with a toxic employer. 

He admits that person really broke him down and he’s been working on picking up the pieces and rebuilding himself ever since. 

It was thanks to a special friend, Madison, who helped him get out of that toxic space. One fateful day, Madison came into the back room and was visibly upset. Brandon explains that they ended up holding each other’s hands as they created an escape. 

They got themselves out of that toxic salon and went out into suites together. Now they have their own salon together.  

Brandon admits that even though he’s not technically an owner of the salon, he sees himself as a leader in the salon. He sees himself as a role model for the type of employee they want in the salon.  

Putting Everyone Else First

I asked Brandon what he needed from somebody 5 years ago. He admitted that he needed to do a lot of growing, for sure. He also needed someone to help him with his self-hatred. 

He can look back now and understands that a lot of the self-hatred talk came from growing up as a Southern Baptist. 

Growing up, he was always a very sweet kid and wanted to protect his friends and family at all costs. He went through a traumatic experience as a kid that left him feeling like he needed to put himself on the back burner and just be quiet. 

From a young age, Brandon was forced to take care of himself. Feeling as though needing someone else to care for him would either make him a burden or be seen as a sign of weakness. 

I asked Brandon what his 50-year-old self would say to him right now: “Good job for doing these really, really tough things. Good job because you did this all by yourself.”

You’re a Big Deal, Doing Hard Things

It took Brandon a long time to realize that he was doing the work and that he had to be the one to take the advice and run with it. 

He also learned that he’s been a perfectionist his entire life and that sometimes makes it hard to take messy, imperfect action. 

Brandon found me through Jamie Dana 2 or 3 years ago when podcasts were becoming more popular. He’d heard me talk about my podcast and decided to give it a listen one day when he was driving in his car for several hours. 

Turns out, he ended up bawling his eyes out in his car, because knowing that there was at least one other human amongst the 7 billion people that were like him and processed things like him was immensely relieving and comforting. 

Brandon is honest that sometimes when he listens to my podcast he thinks there’s no way I’m doing the things I say I’m doing with my brain the way it is. 

To this, I laughed and asked Brandon why he thinks that he can’t do it with the same brain as me. 

There was a long pause before he honestly answered that he didn’t know. And that he’s finally realizing that he *can*. 

You Being You

One of my last questions for Brandon was if he thought he would ever be here recording a podcast with me. “Absolutely not,” was a quick response. 

So when I asked how he thinks he got here and he very sweetly said it was fate from the universe. I chuckled and asked him to take another guess. 

Because in fact, what caught my attention was a reel that he posted on Instagram and tagged me in. He was just so fun and authentic that it immediately drew me to him. 

I get tagged in things here and there and I’ll watch them and be like “oh cool”, but when I watched Brandon’s reel I was like, “this is one of my people”. 

It’s a little ironic because although Brandon can see that he was just being himself, it also made him question if he should even post the reel. 

Let’s be honest, a lot of us don’t feel adequate as ourselves. We’ve been told, taught, and trained that we have to be someone else. 

Brandon describes the feeling as “true freedom” knowing that his being himself was all it took for me to notice him.

All we need to be is ourselves. That’s it and that’s enough. 

Oh my gosh, isn’t it fun to listen in to a conversation that was just authentically happening? 

I absolutely loved being able to sit down with Brandon and we’ve been able to continue this conversation over the past month since he joined my program Rock Your Business. 

He’s doing huge things and has already grown leaps and bounds. If you wanna connect with Brandon, you can find him on Instagram @brandonangelvanity and let him know you came from the podcast. I know he’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for hanging out, friend. It’s always a pleasure. See ya next time!

Let’s be besties?