I stopped booking clients just because I liked them.
Here’s how it used to go. A new client comes in for a consultation, we click, and I can already tell the appointment would be fun. So I find a way to fit her in. I feel great about it right then. Then the day arrives and I realize I’ve stacked too many big appointments too close together, and I’m paying for it.
I have to watch my energy, and I didn’t. I’d get home from work and hit a wall. Some days I could barely get up off the couch to find something to eat. I felt out of sorts until bedtime, and then I couldn’t sleep, because I’d done nothing to wind down. It was a vicious cycle, and I was doing it to myself.
So now I put a limit on how many big transformations I take each quarter. I still get a lot of requests, and it’s hard to say no to someone I connected with. But if I wear myself out, I can’t help anyone. Planning my schedule around what I can realistically handle is how I take care of myself and my clients.
The second thing I stopped is ignoring my gut.
I had a client recently who was very pushy. She called every week, hoping I had a cancellation. I dreaded working with her. Then she walked in and she was a complete delight, and I loved doing her hair.
My hesitation was still right, though, just about something different. In her consultation she showed me photos, and I told her that her base color was too dark for those results and that it would be a color service, not gray blending. She didn’t remember that conversation. People hear what they want to hear, and I never wrote it down for her. I ended up coming in on my day off to fix things.
My gut wasn’t telling me she was a bad person. It was telling me the communication was off, and I should have slowed down and gotten it more clear.
Now I put things in writing, especially anything I’m not sure she heard. I can send her an email that repeats what we talked about, and I use a note taker in consultations so I can easily send the client a summary and action steps.
If you’re a stylist reading this, decide your limits before you meet the client who makes you want to break them.