I started my natural hair journey in October 2015. Since then, I've gone from straightening my hair every other month, to every four months to once or twice a year. In 2016, I straightened my hair once, during the holiday season.

Leading up to getting my straightened, I was kind of geeked. I'd been living in my big hair glory for a long time. I was excited to see my progression. No lie, a good part of me went natural for lengths sake. Is it the most important thing? No, it's not but I'm not going to sit up and front like I don't care about it all because I do.

My hair was straightened on New Year's Eve by my personal hairstylist, aka my mom. After a few hours, my hair was done and fell a little passed my shoulders. The first thing I thought when my hair was complete, was just how different it felt. I looked a little different.

For the next few weeks, I had to manage keeping it straight and my ends healthy. A full time project in itself. After maintaining my hair for almost a month, I learned a few things that could be applied to starting a business.

1. Stay the Course

Like I mentioned earlier, it's been a little over 2 years since I've made the transition to natural hair. It's been a long and slightly rough road but I never gave up. There's been many times I wanted to go back to relaxing my hair because it was an easier life but I never gave in.

I think it's pretty obvious that if you stop working on your business then nothing will progress or grow. You have to commit to your business and put in the work.

2. Find What Works and Stick With It

The natural hair care market has grown immensely and there are tons of hair products. With so many options available, I had to go through a trial and error period to find out what best works for my hair. Once I found those products, I found my routine and stuck with it.

There are a lot of different parts to running a business. You have marketing, sales, development, product management etc; it's a lot for a group of people to happen, let alone 1 person. You need to find your tools and systems that will promote your productivity. You will need to test out programs to find the best one that works for your business, but once you find it, it will make life easier.

3. Your Success Doesn't Look Like Everyone Else's

I have a habit of looking at pictures of other naturals and have no problem in calling out #hairgoals when I see someone slaying it. When I imagined what my hair would look like when finished, I thought it would be straight but with thick volume and would move freely. My hair had other plans. While it wasn't professionally done, my results weren't what I thought they would be. My roots were laid and not so thick but my ends were and because of that, they didn't move much. I was a little disappointed but I got over it because I still accomplished something great.

When starting and running your business, you can't compare yourself to others. What someone else achieves has no effect on what you achieve. Just because someone else gets one opportunity, doesn't mean you're failing. You're still succeeding in your own right.

My hair has reverted back to it's natural curl and it's back to its fun self and I love it. I'll stay on my natural hair journey and will keep my systems to grow my hair even longer. When I straighten it next year, I'll revel in my own hair success.

As this year continues, I will continue to work on this blog and my other businesses. I'll find my systems and will have my own success to talk about by the end of the year and so will you.

Pin this to your business board on Pinterest to keep these little reminders close.