‘Don’t ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t deserve to live the life of your dreams. Don’t ever let anyone make you doubt yourself.’
This is what I had to remind myself of when I told a friend I was studying organic skincare and essential oils with a view to formulating my own range of products.
“Don’t be ridiculous’ she said ‘what do you know about that?’ Not quite the encouragement I was hoping for.
But I had my self-belief that if I studied and gained the relevant qualifications and surrounded myself with the right professional people, it was absolutely possible.
I like to think of it as Karma when you can prove them wrong too!
I also realised it was her ignorance that threw out those disparaging remarks – she wrongly assumed I would be using chemicals in my products and that I could potentially harm someone’s skin. I explained to her that my range of products would be plant based and therefore natural and free from toxic chemicals but I soon realised that I had a long way to go to get my message across that buying the cheapest product is not ideal for healthy skin. That brought another element to my journey which would be to inform people that they really should start having a look at what ingredients are on the labels and gain even a basic knowledge of the ‘nasties’ – those toxic ingredients we should all avoid.
If you have a passion and a dream, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve it – have the confidence and determination to succeed and never think that you’re too old either! This was a big hurdle I needed to overcome – thinking that I couldn’t start a new chapter in my life at my age (I’m now 52).
That’s not to say there’s not a lot of hard work ahead to achieve your goals. Lots of studying, which actually is fun when you’re interested in the subject. I keep reminding my teenage daughter of this – once you are actually studying a subject you enjoy, it doesn’t feel like a chore. You actually feel you want to absorb more and more information. Yes, there’ll be lots of steep learning curves and honestly, quite a few hurdles and mistakes along the way. But we learn from our failures and mistakes – that’s how we go from strength to strength. I remember my parents passing this information on to me and now I’m passing it on to my own daughter.
Have the courage to do what you are passionate about – follow your dreams and live the life you dream of – because you can achieve it over time.
Aequora was launched in 2018 and since then I now have an award-winning range of Australian Botanical products all of which I am proud to say are Australian Made.
The following words by Victor Ng always ring true to me:
‘When you have a dream, you will have doubters
These gleeful killjoys shoot us down before we take off. They say “you can’t” when we thought we can. They make us hesitant when we were sure, silly when we were smart.
External doubt feeds self-doubt; the number one dream-killer as shown in studies. Life and success aren’t about what happens to you, it’s about how you perceive and respond to what happens to you. And doubters happen. They happen fast and hard on your unsuspecting dream.
Be ready for them. Better yet, benefit from them. Because, as unthinkable as that sounds, you can.’Victor Ng