By Winn Claybaugh

How well you can do hair, nails, and skin care may be at the bottom of the list of importance for potential employers. They want to know if you're willing to say "yes." When they ask you to come in on your day off to clean up the dispensary, or stay late to help with the models for a fashion show, or participate in a salon fundraising event, will you say "yes?"

  • Did you enter Beacon?
  • Did you enter the North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA)?
  • Did you participate in the extra activities available at your school, such as student council, design team, student-run clubs and competitions?
  • Do you come early and stay late?
  • Do you pick up cigarette butts outside, even if you're not a smoker?
  • Are you willing and able to take on any task, assignment, or request?

I often receive e-mails from future professionals saying they want to do hair and make-up for fashion photography, only to find out that they've never done their own photo shoot. When I ask why not, they sometimes respond with, "Well, nobody's hired me yet." I then ask, "Do you have a camera? Do you know someone who has a camera? Do you know someone who has hair?" Produce your own fashion shoots. Experiment with them again and again, 100 times. Once you get that down, maybe somebody will hire you.

Let this be your year. Let this be the time where you shed your high school attitude and muster all the energy and passion you need to say "yes" to your future. Let this be the year where you show the entire beauty industry that yours will be a career worth talking about!


Winn Claybaugh is the author of Be Nice (Or Else!) and "one of the best motivational speakers in the country," according to CNN's Larry King, who wrote the foreword for the book. Winn is the founder and Dean of Paul Mitchell Schools, with more than 90 locations throughout the United States.

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