How often have you heard someone make the statement, “You never know where you’ll end up?” I have heard it countless times, but I have said it even more.

The fact of the matter is – you just never know.

As we roll into the start of tradeshow season, it is the ideal time to keep your eyes, ears, and mind wide open to everything going on around you. The array of new products and equipment, the astounding wealth of information and education, and the plethora of networking opportunities are endless.

The tradeshow experience offers the opportunity to network with fellow professionals, manufacturers, distributors, sales representatives, educators, marketers, and influencers. When you take advantage of this opportunity, you open doors that you never even knew were closed. You open yourself to unforeseen knowledge and growth potential that may never have been presented to you in the past or may never have been a possibility.

I will share with you my unforeseen experiences. By writing an article, I found myself on stage at a tradeshow. By speaking on stage, I found myself hosting conferences. By writing, speaking, and hosting, I found myself contributing to textbook development. By all the above, I have found myself educating tens of thousands of skin care professionals in over 30 countries around the world and opening one of the top 10 international aesthetics schools in the United States. Not bad for a small town girl from upstate New York. Now, don’t get me wrong – none of this was easy and none of it was handed to me. It took hard work, perseverance, and courage, but none of it would have been possible without the people that I met and the connections that I made along the way.

My point is that quite often we don’t have a clear path of where we want to go or a clear vision of our future – and that is okay. When you keep your eyes, ears, and mind wide open to everything going on around you, and take advantage of networking opportunities, you never know where you’ll end up.