Issue link: https://www.ahpindiestylist.com/i/1540979
Explore your benefits at ahphair.com 47 IS: What was it like to lose your social media presence? TJD: When I lost it, it was strange. I should've been upset, but I wasn't. I thought, " ank God." And I never thought I would be the person to say that, but I needed that ego to die. I was getting a great following, and my content was performing well—it was fun to engage with people. But at the same time, the bullies are hard. ere's a reason why you see people on social media having mental breakdowns all the time. It is so hard. As much as you want to be like, "I don't care what people think about me," you do. And I did. I've stepped away now. I still post things, but I don't post them to get followers. I post them to people who are there, who came back and found me. Everything is twofold. Social media was helpful in so many ways. It got me so many clients. It got me so many classes. It connected me to people in the industry. But now that [my original account] is not there, it's nice. I can be more intentional about it. . . . It's not really something that I'm putting energy toward now, but I'm open if something feels right to grow that line of communication again. IS: What's next for you? TJD: I'm in one of those phases where I'm telling myself, "Well, you didn't want to own a salon in the fi rst place." But now I'm thinking maybe I need to open another location. Or a bigger location. at's my next thing: fi guring out what that looks like. I've always dreamed of living elsewhere—maybe the Pacifi c Northwest—so I'm trying to fi gure out how to integrate that into also owning a business. I'm spinning around a bunch of ideas, trying to fi gure out what the next step is.