A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to volunteer and serve as a senior leader for Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within personal growth event and seminar in England. Some 10,000 people attended this 4-day event live and 2500 others participated virtually. After spending 3 years going through all of Tony’s courses, applying the principles to the pages of my life, and then training to serve in this role, it was such an honor to be an online senior leader for the first time ever for those remote participants at this life-changing, emotional, thought-provoking and challenging seminar.
If you’ve never attended, let me first tell you what this is not. This is not a vacuous, rah-rah session meant to pump you up for four days and then you return to your normal life unchanged. Instead, we are talking about 4 intense, powerful, life shaking days that are filled with breakthroughs as you learn how to attract overwhelming abundance into your life, create a vision of the life you yearn to live, and make a tangible plan to curate the life you’ve always dreamed of. You are also encouraged to examine and challenge limiting beliefs, fears, and practices that are holding you back. Finally, it is an experience that is all about being present, in the moment, aware, and active rather than passive.
One of the biggest breakthroughs for me this year is that I realized I wanted to provide certainty to the people I was coaching at this event, and I want to do that in my career as a makeup and brow artist, salon owner, and now owner of my own cosmetics line and beauty brand, Genuist Beauty.
Centering on Certainty
As I pondered the concept of certainty, I realized that the difference between people who are going through the motions of life and successful people who take whatever is thrown their way and persevere is that the latter group have an It Shall Be mentality. Let me explain.
When I was in my 20s working with Aveda as a business development leader and making strides as a makeup educator, life felt certain, powerful, and brimming with possibilities. Then, my world was shaken with a job loss, getting pregnant, losing an important person in my life, and learning how to be a first time mom. Suffice it to say, my life had been rattled, my sense of gravity was for sure off kilter, and I don’t know how I survived that period financially either. Whew. And from my 20s onwards, I don’t think I have ever really lived with or experienced a state of certainty in my life again.
During the conference, Tony reminded us that you have to approach the things you want in life with absolute certainty and remember that the universe always has better plans for you when things seem uncertain or don’t go the way you wanted things to go. As Tony puts it, “the paradox is this: We need both certainty and uncertainty. We need both forces to lead fulfilled, passionate and successful lives, and uncertainty can liberate us, while certainty allows us to get anything we want from life.” Read more from Tony on finding certainty in uncertain times here.
Babe Ruth’s Certainty
Here’s a picture of certainty. In Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, Babe Ruth stepped up to the plate and purportedly called his shot in the fifth inning against the Cubs, announcing to the world the home run he was about to hit. That would become perhaps the most famous home run in all of baseball history! Who does that except a man who was absolutely certain of what he was going to do. It is ridiculous to even fathom, and could be perceived as downright arrogance and vainglory. But imagine having that level of certainty in our lives.
When I was training and racing as a cyclist, I never wanted to be a part of a breakaway, where a rider or a small group of cyclists try to distance themselves from another group of cyclists or a pursuing group. I didn’t have the confidence to do that until I was racing on one of my birthdays in my early 30s. My teammate, who introduced me to my husband, another cyclist, and I were out in front of the pack. We are talking way out front with a commanding lead, and all of a sudden the middle teammate took us out, and we crashed. But my other teammate got back up and I somehow got back up, and we pressed on. The point is she got back up and she led me to the finish. I didn’t give up either and even though we didn’t win, I was certain we would finish the race and we did just that. Wow.
Aly’s Certainties
I bring all of this up because the Tony Robbins event made me realize that I did in fact have plenty of certainty and uncertainty in my life and it is the former attitude that has driven me to pursue my greatest pursuits. Still, I found myself questioning whether Genuist Beauty would be a success in a crowded, billion dollar beauty and makeup industry. And the answer is a resounding yes.
I made Authentic Beauty a reality and opened my Atlanta beauty salon because I didn’t like the unrealistic and unhealthy beauty standards thrust upon women and the manipulative marketing and sales tactics in this industry that constantly bark “You are not enough. You are not pretty enough. Look how good that person looks over there. You don’t look like that but you could with this ridiculously overpriced product that proffers limited results.” I had enough with the beauty industry’s lies and built a makeup salon and brow studio and career around the mission of making every client feel beautiful and helping them embrace, realize and reinvigorate the truth that you are enough. You are beautiful right now. You are amazing on the inside first and what we do on the exterior is meant to bolster your confidence and make you feel every bit as fabulous as I know each and everyone of my clients are.
As I reflected upon all the abundance I have had in my life, I marveled at all the certainties surrounding me, past and present. I was able to help my kids go to college. I absolutely adore and love my kids so much it hurts. I love my mother, husband, father, friends, dogs, and clients something fierce and spoken like a true mama bear, no one is going to mess with my love for all of them.
But….The Scarcity Mindset
But, as Tony Robbins also reminds us, there is also uncertainty in life and I haven’t had that absolute certainty mentality in my business, especially with the economic conditions we’ve experienced over the years, the pandemic, et al. I have had a “it will be fine if it doesn’t go well,” mindset, also known as a scarcity mindset and I had not really realized that until this latest round with Tony. And that mentality and my limiting beliefs I had are different from having a sense of ownership in my life and ownership of my life’s pursuits and passions.
Taking Ownership of Life
When we approach anything in life with an ownership mentality and go into things with absolute certainty that anything is possible, it is absolutely astounding what can transpire in our lives. Sometimes I just have to repeat 5, 10, 20 times a day that the universe is working for me and with me, with absolute certainty, and when I do that? I am not tentative, and reserved. Instead, I put my foot on the pedal of a bike and participate in a breakaway with everything I got.
“True fulfillment comes from designing your own life. This is how you unlock the extraordinary. To find your purpose, you must decide what’s truly right, and know it in your heart and soul. You must not let yourself be driven by fear or anxiety, “ Tony added.
Aly’s Beauty Breakaway
Let’s go back to that elite cyclist I mentioned who is at the top of their game in the Tour de France in a sea of badass, best in the world cyclists that has the confidence to breakaway from the pack in that environment. Wow. It is astounding. That rider, who is doing 100 plus miles a day through the Alps, somehow decides to spring away from the pack. How? Certainty!
And as I pondered Genuist Beauty’s future, I realized that I have the profound ability and confidence to ride away from the pack within the beauty industry to create products that are clean, effective, simple to use and make you look gorgeous. and I am going for it regardless of the outcome.
Jaime Kern Lima, all around badass, author of the upcoming book Worthy, and co-founder of IT Cosmetics, gave an unreal talk during the Unleash the Power Within conference that further stressed to me the importance of owning my life’s decisions and being absolutely certain about the changes we are and will be making in the beauty industry and for clients with Genuist Beauty’s new products.
Jamie went through three solid years of hearing No to her vision and plans and look at her now. She sold her company to L’Oreal for $1.2 billion, and became L’oreal’s first female CEO in their 100-year history. Suffice it to say, in a sea of uncertainty, Jamie was certain that she had created a beauty product that worked for her and would work for others and she didn’t let a NO stop her.
As a makeup artist, we know that makeup brands often promise things they often don’t deliver on. It is so discouraging how many million and billion dollar brands are flooding the market; yet you have Jamie who wasn’t a makeup artist, who didn’t have a big brand backing her and she still found a way in this billion dollar beauty industry to stand out. How did she do it? She turned her apartment into a warehouse. She worked her tail off, and she was certain her product worked and would work for others. And she pulled it off. Wow.
My Genuist Beauty Breakaway:
My Tony Robbins’ trainer talked to me repeatedly about the breakaway concept over the course of those 4 days, and I came to this reality. We have the connections, amazing clients, the messaging and ideology of Genuist Beauty that I am very certain my new cosmetics line will be a success. I am certain of this because my products work. The Roller Brow (a brow derma roller with brow enhancing serum) works wonders on brows and my clients are now using it and sharing their successes with it. The Roller Brow Defining Pen works and fills in gaps and imbalances in the brows easily, quickly, and gorgeously. And the Ultrafine Blendable Eyeliner Pen works wonders and is amaze balls for anyone and everyone who has ever struggled with eyeliner. If you haven’t gotten your hands on these products, you can get them here.
Bigger picture, my new products live up to our messaging and I don’t have any limiting beliefs about that. I am certain of the fact these products are easy to use, simple to apply and work as they say they do with clean ingredients. And they are quick because my clients are busy living beautiful lives and they want to feel beautiful doing that without spending hours on their makeup.
Calling on my Archetype for help
Here’s one other pearl to share with you all. Sometimes, you realize you are working harder and not smarter, and you feel yourself on this exhausting treadmill of busy. When the end of the day comes, you wonder where the hours went, and if you accomplished your goals enough to keep you headed in the direction of your dreams. When that happens, this is the time to “call on the counsel” of your archetypes so that you can “bring even more of yourself to the table,” as Tony puts it. Tony describes one’s counsel of archetypes as:
- The Warrior – Strong, goal-oriented and strategic
- The Magician – Creative, artistic and expressive
- The Lover – Caring, forgiving and in-tune with the emotions of others
- The Sovereign – A natural leader, practical and committed to the greater good
Or in Aly terms, you have many selves working inside of you including your lover self, your warrior self, and your magician self. The question then, when you find yourself stuck is to ask, what would my magician, warrior, lover say and do in this moment. Thinking about our inner archetypes, you can then come up with solutions and allow your subconscious to talk to you from these different points of view. As I was feeling uncertain at points with Genuist Beauty, I leaned into my magician self and my warrior self and that has turned out to be such a powerful way to keep me going.
Normally when I am stuck on something, I go to my warrior side to push me through, but the magician side of me comes up with ideas, creativity, beauty, and so much more, and I needed to be reminded that magic is happening all around me.
The Magic Surrounding Us: Tapping into my Inner Magician
When I first opened Authentic Beauty studio, we used to have these affirmation cards that we gave out to clients and that I sold at the salon and at events. They said things like “I am beautiful. I love and fully accept myself. I am perfect exactly the way I am. I create my image to be a reflection of my authentic self.”
These cards helped me tremendously and they remind me that my inner magician has always approached life with surprise, play, and creativity.
Fast forward to a few days after the Tony event, a wonderful client and friend of mine, Erika Hutt, came into the studio with a gift for me. And would you believe she brought me a necklace with a magician on it? I was absolutely blown away by this gift and as I said earlier the universe sure does not disappoint when we are coming from a space of certainty and abundance.
Here’s what I know. I know my inner magician can handle whatever comes my way as we approach the national launch of Genuist Beauty in the coming months. The work I did at the Tony Robbins event and then getting this magical gift from Erika further affirmed to me that I am surrounded by love, and stunning souls. I love what we are creating and producing at Genuist Beauty, and of that I am certain!
The universe is working for me and for you. Every detour and delay are a good thing and my new magician necklace reminds me to step out into the world with creativity, playfulness, and wonder even more.
Are you ready for your beautiful breakaway?
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