Slippery Slope of Entitlement | Episode 21
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For Big Money Stylist, we go over the following formula each month:

Week #1: Power

Week #2: Production

Week #3: Profit

Week #4: Protection

In This Week’s Episode…..POWER

In today's episode of Big Money Stylist, Danielle, Val, and Ani engage in an insightful conversation surrounding the topic of power, and how to successfully navigate the fine line that exists between power and entitlement.

Point #1: Fine Line Between Power and Entitlement

The ladies agree with Val who believes that “power is confidence in owning your shit and owning where you’re at.” While on the road to finding their power, Val believes that people tend to become a little too confident, which leads them to feel like things are owed to them. “That’s the slippery slope and fine line. We want to empower artists to live their best life and stand up for themselves, but sometimes, once they find their power, they start becoming a little lazy and entitled.” Ani: The entire point of BMS is to empower someone to move forward to a better place – a place they love, and a place that they’re completely obsessed with; that’s literally the entire point. Unfortunately, entitlement sometimes comes along with power.  **Danielle: **When it’s easy, people tend to take it for granted. If, for example, you’re an assistant and somebody paves the way for you a little bit, making your path easier, that’s when entitlement happens.

QUESTION
How do you know when you’ve crossed the line from power to entitlement?

Point #2: Staying in the Loop

• **Danielle **is constantly reminding herself to “be humble, dial it back in, and do the work. I think it’s important to have a little bit of an ego to be able to push, teach, and move forward – to be able to do what we do – and then to be able to dial it back.”
• “If you get stuck in entitlement, you won’t necessarily grow; you’ll loop. You’ll feel like you’re growing fast, but you’re just doing loops. I’ve experienced where I thought I was moving forward because I was working hard, but ended up going in circles. I think a lot of people confuse putting in the time with doing the actual work.”

QUESTION
Where in your world do you feel like you’re staying in the loop – working like crazy, yet never moving forward?

Point #3: Course Correction

• Ani can attest to the fact that Garrett’s course corrections can be a gnarly smack in the face; they’re not delightful and dainty, but swift, direct and to the point. One of the Warrior’s describes it this way: Whether I agree or disagree with what he’s saying, I tell him, hey, thank you. That’s literally the only way I can learn and grow. I then step back and ask myself, “If this is what he said to me, then what am I doing that’s making it come across like that?”
• Val: I’ll be caught off guard at first, but then I step back and look at it from his perspective. What am I doing? What is my role? I can’t change how anyone else is going to behave, but what I can change is myself and how I will react. Once you take on that accountability, it’s so freeing, so many more opportunities open up, and with that, there’s more room for growth.

QUESTION How do you handle course correction? Are you open to feedback?

Point #4:  Living in the State of Gratitude Opens Doors

**Ani: **Val and I are always sharing our gratitude with Garrett and Danielle, not to ass-kiss, but to express gratitude for opening doors and giving us the choice to step through them. We’ve literally run through every single door, every single time. As Garrett and I were listing the top five students, gratitude was the #1 trait they each exhibited. When I see gratitude show up in our students, I know they’re going somewhere because of it. Val: When I’m in a state of gratitude, acknowledging the smallest things I’m grateful for – when I stay in that place of gratitude, so many more opportunities open up for me. I learned early on that when I begin complaining and wondering why I’m not as successful as another person, it doesn’t benefit me, so I never allow myself to go there. If your mindset doesn’t shift from complaining and entitlement to gratitude, more opportunities won’t open up for you and you’ll continue staying in that same loop.

QUESTION
Describe how you feel when you’re in a state of gratitude, versus how you feel when you’re in a state of entitlement.

Point #5: Paint a Clear Vision

After laying out the numbers and taking a thorough look at them, Garrett and Danielle made some commission changes at the salon recently. Val: I agree with Danielle when she talks about painting a clear vision of “if you just show up and do the art, then the rest of it will be taken care of.” I love that about our salon. I get to go there and do amazing hair, and everything else is handled for me. I don’t have to worry about the backend. There’s a price tag on that and I’ll happily pay it because I hate it so much. **Danielle: **I literally lost sleep over this. For Garrett and I, we’re in it too deep and will fucking figure it out – no matter what it takes. We’ve gone through the loop so many times that now, when we recognize we’re in it, we realize, alright, shit’s gotta change and we’ve got to collide. I think a lot of business owners will sacrifice themselves by continuing on, believing things will turn around. Yet, when they don’t turn around and they realize they’re fucked, everybody gets fired, and they close their doors.

QUESTION
How do you respond to change and collision when it’s unmistakably necessary?

Quote of the Week:

“Always dial it back in. Always be willing to be humble. Work hard. Live your life with the energy of gratitude. You’ll be surprised how doing little things like that will push you forward in life.”

— Danielle White

“Entitlement won’t help you grow, so don’t be entitled. Look at yourself. Be accountable. Nothing’s going to get handed to you. If you work for something, you will grow;* that’s* where you’ll find your power. Where you won’t find your power is in having an entitled attitude.”

–Valerie Plunk

“Go to your place where you feel calm and happy, where you feel like a king or a queen; go to that spot and take a good look at yourself, look inward and ask yourself: Where in your life do you know you have power, and where in your life have you been more entitled than anything else?”

–Anianne Rivera