A La Carte vs. Hourly vs. Session Pricing

Let me guess, you are a hustling, bustling hairstylist behind the chair, working so hard to build a beautiful career for yourself, one that gives you time, freedom, and energy to spend with yourself, your family, and your friends. But you feel like you're always working in your business, even when you're not behind the chair. My name's Hunter Donia, and I help you automate your systems and implement really beautiful strategies so you can grow your business without the overwhelm. And this is the Modern Hairstylist Podcast.

Hello, friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist Podcast. I, uh, am excited for this one, because I feel like this is just a never-ending hot topic in our industry, something that we all struggle with. I think that it's something that is very, very personal to every single human being, every single beauty professional, every single service provider, and I don't think that there is a right answer or a wrong answer for anybody.

I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all situation. I don't think that there is any sort of structure or thing on this planet that can truly, fully, confidently teach somebody how to do this properly. I really, truly don't think that that exists. And we are gonna be talking about pricing today.

We're gonna be talking about pricing structures specifically, so we're not gonna be really talking about how you come to your prices that you are charging. We're gonna be talking about how you charge those prices today, and we're gonna be breaking down three different common pricing structures that we are seeing today, um, such as session pricing or package pricing, hourly, and then a la carte. Uh, we're gonna be breaking those three down. I'm gonna be talking about the pros and cons from my experience, from what I see, what my opinion is.

We'll get some feedback from, uh, Caitlin. What's going on, Caitlin? How are you? Doing good, friend.

How about yourself? I'm so freaking good. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you today. And so we'll ju- we're just gonna spill our tea.

We're just gonna, like, spill the tea, and we're gonna also proclaim, I'm gonna proclaim... I never, ever, ever, ever, ever have proclaimed to- for myself to be, like, the pricing guru, okay? I have a pretty great understanding of pricing and, like, profitability and, like, all of that stuff on my own and in my own business, and just m- from experience of, like, seeing a lot of different people's service menus and backends for, for the past couple years. Like I said, I think that pricing is so personal to every single person, and I don't think that I am confident, like, dictating or influencing how somebody prices their, their services just because I, I, I, I, I just don't think that there is a common perfect theory for everybody at this time.

All I care about is that everybody's profitable, you know? As long as everybody's profitable, I'm cool with it. However, I do see a lot of pros and cons with these different types of structures, and I think that there are really big things to consider with each and every one of them, and I know why I have structured my pricing to be what it is now, and it has been, like, the best decision that I've ever made as far as my pricing goes, and my clients love it. It has exploded my business even more, and it makes things a lot more simple for me.

And so we'll be t- we'll be getting into that and stuff. But, Caitlin, if you don't mind leading the way for this conversation for me today, as per usual. If you don't know Caitlin by now, Caitlin, uh, has been joining us on the Modern Hairstylist Podcast in these episodes just to keep me on track, keep my ADHD corralled and under control. So, we're gonna leave it up to Caitlin to keep my crazy-ass brain on, on task today.

So, Caitlin, if you wouldn't mind just, like, leading the way with this conversation, giving me somewhere to start, and then we'll go from there. Yeah, absolutely. So, I think it would be probably easiest to start with the most common pricing structure, which is a la carte pricing, and if you wanna kinda just, like, explain a little bit about what a la carte is. Pretty sure all of us know, but just in case.

So, a la carte pricing. So, a la carte pricing is what a lot of us have traditionally been priced as, used to. It's what the traditional route is for us as an industry, from my understanding, at least in the United States, right? So, a la carte is you are pricing for every individual service that you are carrying out.

So, the toner has its own price. The blow dry has its own price. The haircut has its own price. The color application has its own price.

All of the different types of color applications in that service have the same pri- or have a different price, right? And based upon which ones that you're doing and which ones that you're not doing, that will dictate the price of the total bill at the end of the service, right? A la carte is how I started out. It's how, I would arguably say, how everybody has started out if you join the industry any earlier than, like, a year ago.

Um, I think that a lot of us are starting to really change the way that we are thinking about pricing, like, just now in the past, like, two, three years. But, you know, a la carte is how I started out, and with a la carte pricing, you, uh, a lot of the time run into gendered pricing as well, too, you know? And I know that we've talked about that a lot recently. And so just by that, by itself, I'm doing the same amount of work on a woman that I am, that I am on a man, and I'm getting paid less for the man's cut, right?

And so just first and foremost, like, when you have a la carte, you, a lot of the times, run into that, and that can straight-up make you feel like you're getting undercut and you're not getting paid for the amount of work that you're doing properly. It's so tricky with a la carte, because there's so many nuances to whether this service was a all-over color or just a retouch, or whether this was a partial foil or was it a full foil, right? Like, and, and figuring out, like, how to price for certain things and not knowing whether or not you should be charging for this or that...And the other thing is too, for people who are emotional discounters, which I think we all are guilty of that in one way or another, is it's really easy to emotionally discount when you are charging service by service by service, because you're not ju- y- because you, you have to add up every single service that you do, right?

And so, it's so easy to leave out the Olaplex add-on that you really should be charging for w- when you might feel bad, right? And, and you don't f- want to or you're scared to see that bill add up for the client. And so those are just, like, a couple of cons that I hated coming off, coming off the top of my head. Like, I always very much often probably under-charged because of being in a, in an a la carte structure, but also, you know, just because of my own mindset and my, and my lack thereof boundaries and strength an- and confidence in what I was charging.

The great thing about a la carte though is that it does kind of make sense to our clients. It is, number one, what they're used to, okay? Number two, it really does break down an itemized receipt of everything that they're getting, right? However, you know, for me personally, I don't really want a client in my chair who wants to see an itemized receipt.

I want a client in my chair who just wants A to B and doesn't care how I get there. They just want a predictable price, and they wanna know the price, which is totally cool. They don't care about all the little details or whether or not I added Olaplex into the bowl or not. And I don't want my client to be able to dictate what I should or should not be doing to get their result.

And so I would hate having to explain to my client that, "Hey, I'm gonna be putting this bond builder in your light..." Or, "I would suggest that we'll, we are gonna be putting this bond builder into your lightener today. It'll protect your hair and your bonds as we're lightening. Um, it will be an extra $25.

Is that okay," right? And it's like, I don't even want to have that conversation. I wanna be able to just do what I need to do to safely get this person from point A to point B, right? And so that's another thing that a la carte does is, it can be good for some people who really care about knowing exactly what they're paying for, right?

Because they can get an itemized receipt. They can see, okay, yeah, I paid an extra $25 because I had this bond builder in there. But at the same time, you have a con with that is where, like, you have to explain every single thing that you're doing, and you could argue that your client almost has a say over what you're doing in one way or another, right? And of course, you know, I mean, there's ways around that.

I mean, you can just stay strong as a professional and just say, like, "Okay, well, Suzy, if you don't wanna pay for this extra $25 bond builder, I don't feel comfortable bringing you, getting you this light today." And, like, you can have that conversation, but it's like, I would just rather avoid that conversation in the first place, set the expectation that, you know, I'm gonna do exactly what I need to do and it's gonna be this price regardless, um, from the beginning. So that way, you know, I don't have to worry about having that conversation, right? Thus why I choose session package pricing.

So, you know, I think that a la carte is fine. I think that people can get away with doing a la carte for the rest of their freaking lives. Just because the cool new thing on the street might be hourly or sessions, I think that people can do a la carte and, like, be completely cool . Like, I really, truly do.

But, uh, I just think that it has its pros and cons, and I think that, uh, you just have to consider, take in consideration, like, what is the best for you. And we'll be talking about these other two pricing structures in a moment where you can really break down and see what might be right for you. Another thing with a la carte, which I see a lot, is that service menus get crazy, right? Service menus get crazy.

And, and we oftentimes name these a la carte services names that our clients completely aren't aware of, you know? And they don't know the, what it means. Like, your client... I swear, dude, your client does not fully understand what a partial foil versus a full foil is.

Like, they don't know. Like, they literally don't know. And so, like, yes, sure, you can go ahead... And this is how I would combat that if I wanted to stick with an a la carte menu.

I would literally, and I think I did do this, I would literally put under the description of partial versus full, I would say, "This goes on the top half of your... This is only covering the top half of your head, versus a full foil will cover, like, your entire head." But even then some, there can be, like, miscommunications with that, thinking that, you know, their, their entire head is gonna be changed when they really want dimensions to be... You know, it's just, like, it's just tough to, to be able to translate all of that to somebody who isn't a hairdresser, who isn't in beauty s- who didn't go to beauty school, who doesn't really understand, like, what's going on, you know?

And so service menus get really crazy. And when people are going onto your website and looking at these service menus, trying to decide whether or not you're within their budget, right? They'll see all-over color is this price and a haircut is this price, and they'll be like, "Okay, I can afford them," right? They'll go and sit in the chair, and they'll be like, "Oh, I didn't realize that I would need a full foil.

I didn't realize that I would need a toner. I didn't realize I would need a bond builder." Because they're not... They don't even know how to read into that stuff.

They don't know that they need that stuff And so oftentimes, like, these service menus are just so big and crazy that the client doesn't get the right expectations from the beginning, they get intimidated, and they will s- go searching somewhere else to find somebody else who is making sense to them in those service menus, and it can just get really complicated for the client, you know? I hope that I'm not shitting too much on a la carte. I think that's coming from a very biased perspective, um, you know, from, for me personally. What do you think, Caitlin I mean, i- it definitely is biased, but, I mean, there's no, like, lie in there because I, we both have experienced what......

a la carte pricing looks like, and it definitely has its pros and it definitely does have its cons. What you said about people not knowing, like, what a partial foil is, like, it's so accurate. Like, unless if you were literally showing them on, like, a head diagram how many foils you're placing, they have no idea what you're actually giving them. And it's so hard to relay that to people.

And in addition to that as well, I feel like it almost... E- exactly like what you said about how it, it puts, like, the control in their hands, but that's n- not necessarily what you want in the sense of, like, they're trying to, like, nickel and dime. Like, "Oh, no, no, I don't need the toner today. Oh, no, no, no, I don't need a haircut today."

Like, if they need it, they need it, and you need to be able to have that control as a professional. And that brings me to my other point with a- with another con of a la carte is that you can be booked for X amount of time and then somebody will say, "Oh, well, I don't need the haircut." So, then you are booked for this for X amount of time where that haircut was expected to be taken care of, right? And, but then you will lose money, a significant amount of money, right?

Because you don't do that haircut, especially if you're not priced for your time within these a la carte sessions, right? In these a la carte services. You know, a haircut can be, like, $46 and if you're not charging for your blow dry or something like that, right, then, like, you will lose a lot of money because you didn't do the haircut. You know what I'm saying?

You can very easily lose money because you had time reserved on your book that was not used with somebody else who could be filling that spot to be paying you money. So, that very oftentimes can happen, for sure. Let me just re-harp on the pros, because I feel like I'm very biasedly, like, doing the cons right now. Pros of a la carte, like I said...

I already, I already touched on these a little bit. People are very used to it. You know, it, it, it can make sense because it's comfortable, because it's what people are used to, you know? I- it's what has traditionally been around for a long time.

Uh, so people see an a la carte menu and it just makes sense to them and it feels, like, kinda fair to them, right? So, that is a pro for you, for sure. I think that it's great because you don't have to figure out, like, the... If you do have, like, an all-inclusive menu, you don't have to figure out, like, or decide, like, what's right and what's wrong as far as, like, what's included in this package and what's not, 'cause that can be a little bit confusing and stressful sometimes.

You know, it's a very clear, like, "Okay, yes, this person got a toner, so I'm gonna be charging them for a toner," right? It's not like, "Okay, well, I had this amount of time reserved and I had this amount of product budgeted for, so now do I include this or do I not include this? Like, how do I explain this to the client?" Et cetera, et cetera.

Like, it can lessen confusion, but based upon all of the other things that I said, it can increase confusion too. So, you know, it has its pros and cons and I think just the... I think the biggest pro is, is that it's safe and it's comfortable and it's the tr- it's, like, traditionally what we've always done, you know? I think that's the biggest pro.

But if you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing, and, and the industry is changing, the world is changing, and I think that there is just great new ways of doing things to consider if you want to, if you wanna change and grow and do different things, you know? If I can just add to that too, like, I completely agree. Like, I personally moved away from a la carte pricing, but I know a lot of people actually have kind of done, like, a hybrid almost. Like, they've moved into, like, hourly pricing, for example, but they technically still charge a la carte.

Uh, I don't remember the exact logistics behind it, but I know a lot of people do go that route just so that way they s- feel like they're still charging the amount that they need to charge per- for, like, the product and the work and all of the things. But up front, it is more of an hourly structure. It, it just depends on how you go about it. But, um, there are definitely, like, ways to make it work for you, and it really isn't, like, a one-size-fits-all si- situation, so.

It's so true. Like, if you can be predictable with your time, if you have a predictable timing for every single service that you do, you can do any pricing structure and get paid fairly as long as you understand w- your timing and you're very confident and consistent in that timing. Great point, for sure. Let's talk about hourly as a structure.

The benefits of hourly is... And this is hourly, you know, on your backend and up front to your client, okay? So, like, your client has the understanding that you charge by the hour, okay? So, your client is like, "Okay, you're gonna charge by the hour, so if I'm here for three hours, it's going to be this amount of money, period."

That's true real hourly pricing, in my opinion. And so the benefits of hourly is that it is completely non-discriminant and completely non-arguable. Like, it's like you can't argue with time. Time is something that we all as human beings experience, we know, and we have a, a similar concept of, right?

Like, you can't argue time. Time is a number. It's completely inarguable. Like, it just is what it is.

There's absolutely no chance for confusion or charging less or charging more or not knowing if you ch- should charge less or charge more, or your client's arguing with you about the p- the price because it's so up front and so solid. So, I think that's a really great benefit of hourly pricing. Another reason why I think hourly pricing is fantastic is because you're getting paid for your time. You know that if you are booked from this time to this time and you are doing services from this time to this time, then you are going to get paid a predictable wage, which I think is fantastic.

I think that every hairstylist deserves that. I think that, like, we should be comfortable in knowing that if I have an appointment, eh, on this day and I'm fully booked for this day, I know I will make X amount of money. So, then you can, there- therefore predict, like, what you're gonna make in a year properly. You can...

You know what your paycheck is gonna be and it's gonna be super consistent for you.I think that is an excellent, excellent part of hourly, and I think that's actually why, you know, again, I don't wanna be the pricing guru about how you price your services, but I think that no matter what your structure is, I think it should be taking con- taking in consideration your time. And I think if there is time reserved on your book, then you should be getting paid properly and fairly for that, whether or not you do this service or that service. You know, I think, like, if there is time reserved on your schedule, you should be getting paid, period.

And that's why, this is why I don't like hourly pricing. This is why I don't like hourly pricing, because if you are charging by the hour upfront on the client's facing end, and your client is aware of the fact that they will pay this amount of money if you get it done in this amount of time, you are giving your clients leverage. You don't want to give your clients leverage. You don't want them to, to have leverage over y- how you are charging them, right?

Like, that is completely up to us how we are charging them, right? It's up to them whether they wanna, whi- th- whether they want to get into signing up for the expectation of paying a certain price with us, right? That's totally up to them. But for us, as far as, like, after the service is rendered, we don't wanna give our clients any leverage of, of how we're charging them, right?

Because if you have somebody booked for four hours and you get them done in two, then your client could be like, "Okay, well, I don't care if I was booked for this many hours. You are an hourly-based, uh, stylist. You should be charging me for these two hours that you got into." So then you lose two hours on your book, right?

You lose two hours of, of income for yourself for that day, because you were reserved for an extended amount of time, and you get it done in a short amount of time. Going back to the a la carte example, you know, you could be booked for a haircut for that hourly, uh, that hourly rate, right? And that takes up maybe an, an extra hour of your time, but then somebody decides that they only want their color and they don't want the haircut anymore. So then you have time on your book that is yet not used, and then your client will, will...

You will have to pay. You'll have to charge them less, and then you will not have predictable income, because your income changes all the time, whether you're booked or not, because you're not priced for the amount of time that you are actually working and booked in the salon every single day. And the other thing with hourly pricing is going with the same, like, your clients have leverage, is your clients can think, "Okay, well, this person is taking a long time just because they wanna get paid more." Like, there's no indication, proof, or truth to the client to make them understand or not understand that you might just be a slower person, or that this service just takes this much amount of time.

This, this c- this client could have gone to a hair stylist prior to you who got their root retouch done in an hour and a half, and you might take two hours and a half. And so then their perspective is, "Oh, this shouldn't be taking this long. I don't wanna be paying this much money, and they're just taking a long time just because they want the money." Right?

So then it, it creates this weird perspective and expectation in the client, and they get suspicious over whether or not you are charging, overcharging them on purpose or not, right? Which obviously none... I mean, I'd hope none of us would do that, right? I'd hope none of us would do that, but that's what your client may think, right?

Or a new potential client may think. And so, I just don't like, I just don't like clients having leverage over how you're, how you're charging them, and I think that having upfront hourly pricing to the clients very much r- you ha- you run the risk of that happening. Yeah, I... It's probably one of the most unfortunate things about our industry, is that for whatever reason, the exchange of money and the checkout process is a more emotional process than it needs to be on both sides.

Like, the client thinks that they have a say in what they're being charged for X amount of things, and then we end up feeling super bad for charging them for these extra things, or whatever have you. It, it's, it's such a unique thing for our industry, I feel like, because you go to the grocery store and you pay $3 for whatever you're buying, and that's just what the price is. Or you go to a tattoo artist, who I feel like is a very similar industry, they pay hourly or they charge hourly, and you happily pay the price for the hour. It, i- I just, uh, there's just such a weird hangup, I feel like, and it's, it's a really hard thing to navigate.

It is. Well, you know, and you bring up a good point with the tattoo artist. Like, the tattoo artist isn't doing any add-on services, you know? So it's like, with a tattoo artist it's kind of like, I think that hourly pricing for a tattoo artist is actually really great.

Like, I think it's, like, a perfect thing for them, although I do believe that, like, it might be still unpredictable as far as, like, how... Uh, I mean, I, any tattoo artist that I've gone to, like, they don't explain their prices to me. Like, they don't explain, like, why they're charging what they're charging, but a lot of the times it is hourly and I can just, like, do the math, and I, like, understand that it's hourly, you know? But I think, like, with us, it's like, okay, well, what if somebody wants to do, like, an Olaplex treatment that day, you know?

Like, do you just include that in your hourly rate because it's an all-inclusive hourly situation? And then if you don't, then it's, then it's, like, an... It's mixed messaging to the client, so then you have to, like, explain that in a weird way. Uh, it's just like, upfront to the client is not my, is not my tea for hourly.

I really don't, I really don't like it. But again, like, you heard all the pros, and there are really great pros to it, and that's why I love session package pricing, and that's why I love, regardless, making sure that you're coming up with your prices with an hourly, some sort of hourly structure that is taking into consideration all of your expenses and your worth and your demand, et cetera, et cetera. So, session package pricing, whatever you wanna call it, there's a lot of different things that a lot of people call it. Session package pricing is all-inclusive pricing, basically.

So you get, you ha- you, uh, the person books one package with you, and it reserves a certain amount of time with you, and it reserves a certain amount of product use. And then, then for you as the stylist, it is up to you and your responsibility to understand what is budgeted for with this certain package, and whether that person reserves, reserves this amount of time with you and you don't use all the time or not, you know, you still can charge for the amount of time that's reserved for you, right? So, like, there's a lot of layers to session pricing. What I think, what I think is excellent about session pricing is that...

You know, although I could get Suzy done in two and a half hours, but I can get Kar- but I do Karen in three and a half hours, I'm still using the same amount of product and the same amount of labor, and the transformation is similar, right? So, like, their starting A point to B is a very similar, um, change, you know? However, one of them may have less hair than the other, or something like that. Like, let's just say, right?

And so they take me less time because it's still amo- the same amount of labor, still amo- the same amount of product, et cetera, et cetera. And so you're taking all of your expenses into consideration, you have a set amount of time where you are r- it's reserved on your schedule, and you're getting paid for that time no matter if you get done at this time or this time, right? And things change, you know? People's, uh, hair changes, sometimes the conversation's a little bit longer, uh, whatever it may be.

And so, like, I want my clients to just have a extremely predictable price that they know that they will be paying every single time without any extra bullshit or having an itemized situation. I just want them to know that they're gonna show up and they're gonna get the transformation that they're looking for, like, period. And so with session pricing, I have three sessions, okay? Like, literally, I have three sessions that you can choose thr- from in my book.

Like, that's it. It's called The Keep Up, The Complete, and The Transformation. They're all based, based on my hourly rate and the amount of product and expenses that I have budgeted for each of those sessions. And a- all of my clients fit into each of those boxes.

Now, I do have an extra time option for each of those, each of those, o- of those packages if I need them, right? So, like, if I'm like, "Okay, well, I'm not gonna be using any more time, but I am gonna be using more product," then, like, it'll go into that extra, quote-unquote, time, like, session, right? So it'll be like, my Complete, which is my middle package, plus extra time just to account for the more product that I'm using, or I don't feel like they, they move into my next tier of packaging, but I am gonna be spending a little bit more time with them than I... Or maybe even it's just, um, it's just more labor, right?

For whatever reason. Then the extra time will have me covered there, right? So it's nice and simple. Like, I just have three packages.

I do have extra time options for each and every one of them, just in case, like, the rare case scenario comes, comes about where I do need that. And it's just so simple and easy, and my clients love it. My clients love it. They love that my pricing is so simple and predictable.

They love that I don't have to be cherry-picking whether they're gonna get a toner, an olaplex, or whatever. They just wanna come, and they just wanna know that I'm gonna be getting them from A to B, and I'm gonna do whatever the hell I need to do to get them there. And for booking purposes, service menu purposes, it is so beautifully simple to lay out three packages on my service menu where a, a n- a p- new potential client can read these things and just be like, "Oh, wow, this is so simple. I know that I'm gonna just be paying one, one of these three prices."

And, like, that's it. I cannot tell you how many times I've had new clients tell me that they chose me over other places because my service menu was the only one that made sense. Yeah, if I can just add in my own experience with this, um, like, obviously, we are very much coming from a place of bias here, but- Totally. for a reason.

For a reason. So when I moved to England earlier this year, uh, I had to step away from my clientele, and I... So I left a lot of people kind of, in the dust, so to speak, but I tried to set them up for success with booking with a new stylist, but I knew that I was the only one in my area that did session booking. So I basically had to list out every single à la carte service that they needed to book for if they wanted to get the same thing with this new stylist, and it overwhelmed the shit out of them.

Like, they were hella overwhelmed. And I had multiple people, um, message me and say, "Wow, I didn't realize how much easier it was to book with you. I'm just, I'm so lost on these other booking websites." And it really did put that into perspective for me, even, like, post Behind The Chair.

Like, wow, that really, really does, like, streamline things for our clients. Yeah, 100%. And it's just so marketable. Like, being able to market the fact that you have simple, all-inclusive, predictable pricing and a service menu is really effective.

Here's the thing, I'm a firm believer that your clients will receive anything in, in the same way that you express it. So if you express a change or something that you're implementing in a very positive way, where you are expressing how this will be beneficial for them and how it's taking care of them, and you did this because you kept them in mind, then they will reciprocate that energy and they will freaking love it. So, like, for me, like, when I rolled out my session pricing to my clients, I made sure that I listed all the benefits for them. Like, "This is going to be simpler for you.

I don't want you to have to worry about whether you're getting this, or that, or the third. I want you to be able to go on my booking site and book very simply, and easily, and predictably. I don't want you to have to be doing math when you're in the salon . I don't want us to have to have weird, awkward conversations about whether you're gonna get this or that.

I want you to just come to the salon, know the price that you're gonna be paying, and know that you're gonna get the results that we talked about." You know? And, like, that's it. And, like, my clients really appreciate that, really, like, a lot.

And so you get the benefits of à la carte and of hourly, right? And you kind of mush it into one. You are profitable if you pri- if you, um, price them properly, right? You're profitable.

You have really simple and transparent pricing. You're not giving your clients any leverage over your time or how you're pricing them because it's an all-inclusive package that they booked for, and they're just gonna get exactly what they needed to get in that all-inclusive package. And the price is the price, it is what it is.You can still build your ticket.

I do have add-ons, right? So, like, I don't share with my clients that I'm priced for my time. I'm also priced for the amount of product that I'm using, right? And so if I'm gonna be using extra product, then it's going to be an add-on.

So, like, my treatments, my extra treatments, like, they aren't included in my packages, you know, unless it's substituted for a haircut or something like that. But that's, like, another... That's, like, getting into it too deeply. But, like, I— I can still make extra money on add-ons.

It's not like that's all included into the package, right? Like, you can go to... You can book at any resort, you know, and resorts will have all-inclusive packages, but they will still have add-ons on top of the all-inclusive packages. Like, there's still things that you can pay for for upgrades, right?

The all-inclusive has a baseline, and then they can build their ticket off of these extra things that you add onto it. And I like that about sessions a lot because I completely dictate if I wanna make more money in my day or not, you know? I love having a baseline predictable, um, salary. You know, I know how much my paycheck is gonna be.

As long as I'm booked, I know that my paycheck is gonna be this or that or the third. But, like, if I wanna spend some extra money, a- a- and, and I need to make the money quickly, I know that I can build my ticket really quickly because I can still charge for these add-ons, where if I had upfront hourly all-inclusive pricing, it would be a lot harder to do that, you know? So I feel like with sessions, like, you are taking all of the pros and you're mixing it into one and you're, like, deleting all the cons. The biggest con with session pricing, the biggest con is it is hard to set it up.

It is hard to get your... to wrap your brain around it. It's hard to figure out how to price for it. It's sometimes hard to explain it to clients, especially on a service menu, and lay it out in a way that makes sense.

It's hard to condense them down to less than six, less than six packages. But, you know, whenever I teach to it, I always say, like, the less, the better. And if you can start out with a lot less, you know, and then work your way from there, like, it's way better than starting out with, like, six and then dwindling down, because I've seen a lot of people be like, "Okay, well, I just cannot get this down to three. I'm just gonna start with, like, having six packages."

And then they wish that they dwindled down even more because it would make it more simple later. And that's why in my course I have a entire, entire video training for simplifying your menu. And I have my good friend Kimber Chapman, who's, like, the session pricing queen, come in as a guest expert, and I have her explain and break down the situation there too, because it is really, really hard to set up. But once you figure it out, once you set it up, once you break through the mindset of the change and you really figure out, like, what the structure's gonna look like for you, it's a game changer.

And truly, like, it, it is so awesome for my clients and for myself too. Like, I really feel great about it. I want to very much just express, again, this was a very biased, our own opinion, our own experience episode, okay? You need to take into consideration what's right for you and what's not right for you.

These are just, these are just my perspectives from, like, what I've seen and what I've personally gone through, you know? And everybody's gonna have what works for them and what doesn't. It is what it is. That's my tea.

That's my vibe. And, uh, we will have a whole episode just about session pricing. I, I want to do that, so I know that anybody think, like, listening to this and thinking, like, "What the hell is session pricing?" and has more questions, like, we are going to have a whole entire session pricing episode because I think that it's...

it can be its own episode by itself. But with this one, I just wanted to break down, like, the differences between each of the three so that way I could give you guys some perspective and also just share my own opinion and my own experience around it. So how's that sound, Caitlyn Yeah, that sounds good to me. And I mean, I just kind of want to reiterate as well, like, again, we're super biased here and, like, there is absolutely zero shame to anybody doing any type of service packages.

Like, we're not here to judge you. It's just our perspectives and they just happen to be very similar. Yeah, and, like, get your coin however you need to get your coin. Like, people are still gonna pay you no matter what, right?

But there are going to be different structural pros and cons to how you are charging and that's why you'd maybe want to consider changing, you know? So thank you so much, friend, for tuning into this episode. I hope that you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, I would very much appreciate a five-star review wherever you're listening to this, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever it may be.

And if you want to go the extra mile for me, which I would be forever grateful for you, with, uh, leaving a small little blurb on Apple Podcasts about your experience listening to The Modern Hairstylist podcast. We would very much appreciate helping us, uh, reach more beauty professionals just like you who want to elevate this industry together. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to this episode. Cannot wait to catch you in the next one.

Thank you so much for joining me today, Caitlyn. You're so welcome. You guys, we just had a really great technical difficulty situation, so that was good. Okay, anyways, thank you for joining The Modern Hair Stylist podcast today.

Thank you for listening. Thanks for being cool. Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2022 Hunter Donia LLC.