A few months ago, I pulled a tarot card that really resonated with me but that I admittedly didn’t know much about: Virgo.
The Virgo card from Mike Willcox’s tarot deck
Something about this card simultaneously signaled practicality and boundlessness. It made me want to tidy up my space and dream big, to tend to the tiny tasks of my life so that I can keep moving forward and achieve my larger desires.
It also got me thinking a lot about Virgos in general. I have zero Virgo in my chart, and I don’t have many friends who are Virgos—and yet many of the qualities embodied by this sign (order, determination, balance) are what I find I need the most in my work.
I decided that I needed to talk to April Kayganich, an LA-based hair stylist and studio owner, who just so happens to be a Virgo. An interview with April for the month of April—how perfect!
Read on for her thoughts about what everyone can learn from Virgos and how these Earth-sign qualities can improve our businesses and our lives.
I’ll jump right in. I have this beautiful deck, and I’m obsessed with the Virgo card. The girl has a broom and a crystal ball, and it made me think about how to create order and balance in my home, life, and business.
I'm laughing that she had a broom because of course she did. I stay cleaning, girl! Literally and figuratively.
How do you think your Virgo energy shows up in your life and your business?
Oh my gosh, it is heavily present.
Virgos, like you said, they're known to be organized and orderly. I am a perfectionist, and anyone close to me knows that. So I'm always trying to do better, be better, be the best and—not in a competitive way with others, but competing with myself to challenge myself to continuously grow. I don’t ever want to be the person that is complacent.
I love doing hair so much, and I love being my own boss, even though it is a lot of work and it's not easy. There are so many benefits, like the freedom of being an entrepreneur, but there’s also a lot to manage. I have to know a lot about different rules and laws. I’ve hired out help when needed, like attorneys and accountants, and I definitely think that’s played a huge role in helping me get things done and be successful.
That was a big part of the card reading as well—knowing how to create systems and move things off of your own plate so that you can focus on what you’re good at. I find outsourcing to be hard sometimes. It’s hard to find people I trust to do the same level of work. Is that difficult for you?
It’s definitely hard for me to do. The only thing I really outsource is my accounting services right now, and I did have a situation where I hired a lawyer to handle something with my legal business name.
I want to outsource more, but it’s hard for me to let go of that control. I have this worry that if I ask someone to do something, it’s not going to be done right or the way that I want it. However, with the few things that I have outsourced, they’ve turned out well!
I think one thing that will make me better and help me get to different levels in my life is to learn how to let go of some of that control. Even if it doesn’t turn out the way that I want it to or look the exact way I want it to, there’s always room for a conversation after. You can go back and be like, “Hey, can we actually try this?” It doesn’t have to be one and done even though sometimes in my mind, that’s how it works.
You’re constantly traveling, plus you’re actually running your business in the salon with clients, and you’re doing all your own marketing. How do you stay grounded?
One of the things that helps me to stay grounded is to have some kind of routine, especially when traveling. For me, that means getting outside for exercise, eating good foods that help with my energy, and carving out time for reading. Even when I’m working and have a really hectic schedule, I also try to make time for at least one social get-together.
You have to have balance, and work-life boundaries are always going to be a struggle. If we’re talking about astrology, my big three signs are all Earth. So I feel like I have no choice but to be grounded because I have a Virgo sun and then a Taurus moon and rising!
Can you walk us through what your daily routine at home looks like?
I wake up pretty early around 5:30, and I like to work out first thing in the morning. I make coffee first, and then I do some mix of mat Pilates and kettlebell workouts, or I go hiking. There’s lots of hiking in Los Angeles, which is super nice.
Then I make breakfast, shower, and look at emails. I try not to look at my phone first thing in the morning. I’m very guilty of still doing it, but I think it’s important not to! I also write things down in a physical planner; I don’t like using apps. I think when you write something down, you remember it more.
If I’m not working but I have press responses to do, I’ll do those. If I do have work, I go in to the studio, start cleaning, and get the day going. From there, it’s pretty much like a wash, rinse, repeat situation from day to day.
Do you have a nighttime routine?
Yeah! So skincare is super important, especially since I’m coming up on the last year of my 30s. I use Sunday Riley Good Genes, and I always moisturize before bed with Farmacy’s Honey Halo moisturizer. I love Laneige sleeping masks and occasionally the Loops face masks.
I basically want to be so moisturized I slide into my bed. Being vegan and drinking lots of coconut water and regular water is key, too!
I also check emails one more time and try to put my phone on Do Not Disturb.
I drink some tea, look at my sales for the day, and write everything down in my planner that I need to do for the next couple of days. Sometimes I do my planning for the whole week on Sundays, but I still check it nightly because there are things I need to add.
You said you’re a perfectionist. How do you hold high standards without allowing that level of pressure to get to you?
It is really, really hard for me to step away from work sometimes. I think I struggled more with this years ago, but now I’m realizing more the importance of having to step back and not work even though I feel pressured to.
When you’re a business owner and you have a presence on social media platforms or people have your phone number, there’s this constant access. You feel like you always have to respond right away, and that’s not true. That’s something I have to remind myself: I am allowed to have days off! Just because I’m using a platform or my phone for a personal thing, doesn’t mean I have to respond to a DM about booking an appointment. But it’s hard because I’m always in my head, thinking of all the things I could be doing or that need to be done.
Running your business and being the only employee can be a double-edged sword. You’re the HR person. You’re the person behind the chair. You’re wearing all of the different hats. It’s tricky to separate and step away sometimes.
Say someone’s reading this and they’re not even into astrology, but they’re wondering how they can apply some of your approach to their day-to-day life. What would be your advice?
My tip here is to stay organized. Make actual lists. Don’t always feel like you have to put everything on your phone. The more organized you are, the better you can achieve what you’re trying to do.
If you’re just kind of going—and this phrase is so funny to me—willy-nilly about things, it’s a bit harder to get from Point A to Point B. You might get there eventually, but it’s going to be this zig-zaggy, not really efficient line.
Having a plan is the best thing you can do for yourself, while also understanding that the plan sometimes has to change.
Follow April on IG!
Check out some of my latest published work:
Repairing the Broken Rung on the Ladder of Success for Women in the Workplace (Indeed)
Jay Acunzo on Why Marketers Should Act More Like Stand-Up Comics (Managing Editor)
How important are math skills for product managers? (GoPractice)
If you’re looking for a writer/editor or need help with admin/project mgmt tasks at your company, let’s talk! I’m always open to new work and interesting projects.
Opportunities:
The Poynter Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative is a free fellowship to help public media journalists strengthen their skills
Listening:
I’m liking Power User with Taylor Lorenz to keep me up to date with tech and other news
If you like scam podcasts, check out Scamfluencers; I started with “The Shark Tank Charlatan” episode (tw: sexual asasult). I can’t explain why this genre appeals to me. I think I’m fascinated by what makes people compelling to others.
Watching:
I watched a lot of content this month!
It started with Poor Things (we’ve been making our way through the Oscars list). I was anxious before we watched because I’d read people describing it as “body horror” which, I guess it is in a technical sense, but I did not think of this movie as scary or experience it that way. (And I was advised not to watch with my parents, which I think is sound advice.) I did not know what to make of the movie while it was happening, but I think the overall message is liberating. I also think the spirited dance scene with Mark Ruffalo will live on in my mind forever.
Then we watched Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest, starring the same central actress, Sandra Hüller. I somewhat enjoyed watching the legal aspects of the former, but I didn’t find Anatomy of a Fall that gripping. However, The Zone of Interest unsettled me long after we turned it off. The sound person is the same one from Nope, which makes a lot of sense if you’ve seen both.
We really enjoyed American Fiction; there were many laugh-out-loud moments and I loved seeing so many familiar faces (Max from Living Single as a lawyer, again!)
I binged the entire season of New York Homicide, the new show from Dick Wolf (of Law & Order). I like the way each episode is presented with random legal tidbits thrown in here and there; I’d never heard of “Queen For a Day,” which is when a suspect or defendant has a casual chat with the prosecutor but nothing said can be brought up in court.
I was horrified by Quiet on Set, a docuseries about child stars and Nickelodeon specifically. Since I read Jeanette McCurdy’s memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, headlines about child exploitation in Hollywood stand out to me more than before. (See this piece on influencer parents, as well as this article: We are (rightly) outraged if a dress is assembled by an eight-year-old sweatshop worker in Bangladesh; but we don’t think twice if that same dress is marketed to us by an unpaid, unprotected eight-year-old in the US.)
I watched the Freaknik documentary and was glad to see the original founders and intent of the weekend celebrated
I also watched The Truth About Jim, a docuseries in which a young woman investigates whether her step-grandfather was a serial killer, and Mind Over Murder, a really riveting docuseries that examines the role of memory and mental health in confessions—as well as why we believe what we believe
Reading:
The Zone of Interest sent me on a Holocaust-related reading spree, and this piece about a wife who sent her husband to Auschwitz (and reported her own kids for being Jewish) made me think a lot about the complexity and unpredictability of human behavior
This history and overview of The Lens, New Orleans’ first nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest newsroom
Black history lessons from Cowboy Carter, which I still need to listen to!
If you want a reason to delete all your self-help podcasts, here’s some inspo
Surely you’ve seen something about the Andrew Huberman scandal (side note: I have been pitching a piece about why we need to talk to our partner’s exes for years now, and I can’t find a home for it. Any editors out there interested?!)
Third Culture Bakery in the SF-area has gluten-free mochi donuts, and as a third-culture kid myself, I love their name!
Spring is on the way! Grab your broom, and tend to what needs tending!
xo,
Nikki
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