I’ll be honest with you. There were moments — real, serious moments — when I thought about walking away. From the salon. From the platform. From the visibility. This is the thing nobody posts about.
But I didn’t walk away. And these are the seven things that kept me in the room when my mind was trying to find the exit.
1. The Client in the Chair
Every single day, a woman sits in my chair and trusts me with something precious. Her appearance. Her confidence. Sometimes her story. I couldn’t walk away from that. The work itself carried me when the business felt impossible.
2. My Education
I have business degrees from UHD. I understand cash flow, marketing, operations. When I wanted to quit emotionally, my education reminded me that the problem had a solution — I just hadn’t found it yet.
3. The Vision That Was Bigger Than the Pain
I always knew, in some quiet place, that what I was building was bigger than me. The salon, the education platform, eventually the book — these were bigger than any bad day, bad client, or bad period.
4. My Instagram Community
@houstonhairbabe was never just a marketing account. It was a community that held me accountable — lovingly — to showing up even when I didn’t want to. Knowing someone was waiting for my next post, my next honest moment, kept me present.
5. Other Women Who’d Survived What I Was Going Through
Mentors. Books. Prayer. Women who had rebuilt something beautiful after losing what they thought was everything. If they could, I could.
6. Anger (Honestly)
I’m being real: sometimes spite is a fuel. Proving something to yourself, to the situation, to the voices that said you couldn’t — it’s not the most elegant motivation, but I’m not going to pretend it didn’t help.
7. The Knowledge That This Was a Chapter, Not the End
I learned to ask: “Will this matter in five years?” Almost never. The crisis of today is the story you laugh about later, or the chapter in your book. Mine became 28 chapters.
— Janelle Alexis
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