Cindy Egger once measured success with a worldly yardstick. In those days, Egger was a hairstylist, working long hours to pay for things she and her family really didn’t need.
Nowadays, however, Egger measures success by asking herself, “Are you doing what you believe God wants you to do?” Ever since she began a business called Steps of Faith, the Clay resident and member of NorthPark Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association has been able to respond with a confident “Yes!”
Laying down the scissors
“My husband has always been a wonderful provider,” Egger said. “But for a long time, I thought our family had to have more and better, and that became a priority for me.”
As a result, family time was scarce. Like most hairstylists in the 1980s and ’90s, Egger worked Saturdays so she hardly ever spent a full weekend with husband Bobby and their daughters, Crystalyn and Alicia. But feeling dependent on the money her job generated, Egger remained stuck in the routine.
Stuck, that is, until she attended an adult Sunday School class on finances and was jolted into rethinking her priorities. When the teacher asked, “Is the price you’re paying for what you’re earning worth it?,” Egger knew God was telling her it was time for a change.
So she decided to cut out Saturdays and add extra hours to her schedule during the week. The owner of the salon where Egger worked warned that she’d probably lose money, but Egger knew it was the right thing to do. After six months, she ran the figures and sure enough, she had suffered a loss — $1. Egger had taken a step in her faith journey and God had blessed it.
Somewhere along the way, Egger had resumed drawing, a pastime she had enjoyed in grammar school.
“If we were drawing something (in school), I was all over it,” Egger said. “It was easy for me.”
She had never seriously pursued art, much less considered it a means of earning money. But as Egger continued to seek God’s will for her life, she began to see art in a different light and realized she could use it to share her faith.
So in mid-1998, Egger lay down her scissors to become an artist and entrepreneur, a move that called for yet another big step of faith. “My comfort zone was doing hair,” she explained. “But my priorities had changed and the things I wanted were no longer important to me.”
Egger started out airbrushing other artists’ designs on T-shirts and selling them. But she soon began using her own designs, adding Scripture to each drawing. Much to her surprise, those shirts sold, too.
“I knew from the beginning this line would have to be called Steps of Faith, and I couldn’t sell the things I sell without giving the glory to God,” Egger said. “The only way I knew to do that was to put Scripture on them.”
She later added gifts to the line and gave customers the option of mixing and matching gift items and designs. “Each drawing has a story behind it and is dedicated to someone special in my life,” Egger said.
In 2001, she opened her first Steps of Faith gift shop in Clay but closed it in 2003. Then in 2006, Egger opened another shop in the Chalkville area of Clay.
In addition to making the Steps of Faith line available in her shop, Egger sells the products through retail and wholesale outlets across the country and online via www.stepsoffaith.com. She also works with churches to provide customized items for women’s ministry gatherings and other events.
But for all the sales, Egger’s true sense of success comes from committing her business to the Lord.
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