How to Prevent Burnout in 2022

So, when I first got into my salon suite, I was so excited and so freaking nervous at the same time. And luckily, because of all of the education that I'd gotten and the hard work I put in, um, I blew up really fast. I went from being, like, only a week booked out at a time to being, like, 12 and a half weeks booked out at a time solid with new guest requests coming in all the time. And it was like all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I was just slammed busy back to back.

And everybody around me, my family, my friends, they were all so proud of me, and they were all encouraging me to keep on going and to keep working hard and to, you know, take advantage of all of the success that I was experiencing. And everybody thought that I was doing such an amazing job, and that I wa- s- a- that I was really happy about it. And don't get me wrong, like, I am so grateful for that moment, and I'm so- and I was so grateful for- for the success, and I felt really safe, and I- I was really proud of myself, and, um, and it was really awesome. I mean, I fe- I felt very secure, right?

And that's a privilege, and that's something that I was super thankful for. But at what cost, right? 'Cause on the inside, I was feeling so tired, so stressed, so anxious, and guilty. I felt shitty.

Um, and whenever anybody asked me how I was doing, my- my response would be, "I'm just busy. Like, I am busy as hell, and I'm stressed." And people could feel it from me, like I was stressed as hell, and like, I just could not get a break. I feel like I couldn't catch my breath.

And I had just started in my own suite, and I was already on the road to burnout. 'Cause not only was I dealing with a bunch of clients all at the same time, but I also was tasting the fact that, you know, it's all up to me to do all my own marketing and all my own inventory and all of my own cleaning and all of my own, uh, booking and, like, and communications and website and all of that. Like, it just hit me really hard. And especially with all of the pressure that it's- that I feel like is on us to have a really excellent experience and, like, be posting on social and, like, going to the next level to be a really successful hairstylist.

Like, it all just, like, I was guilty when I had a time, when I had a second to relax and breathe. Like, I felt guilty that I wasn't working, and then at the same time, I felt so guilty that I wasn't showing up for myself, for my family, for my friends, or for my clients, with the energy, with the joy, with the passion that they deserved, right? It was just nonstop, and I went a long time just running this hamster wheel. Like, non-stop, coming in early, staying late all my days off, responding to people outside of my business hours, saying no to my family and friends and saying yes to my clients and my business instead.

I spent a long-ass time doing that shit. And I was on the road to burnout, and it was only a couple months into my suite, into having my own suite. I was, like, suffering. It was awful, and I was literally considering, like, quitting my- quitting my suite and, like, stop doing hair, because I just didn't understood- understand how this was going to be in any way sustainable for me.

But luckily, I got my shit together by implementing some serious boundaries, systems, organization, and automations in my business and my life. I got really serious about that, and I discovered the power of how technology and systems and organization and boundaries... I discovered how they could literally change your life. And so, I took all of that, and I freaking implemented the hell out of it, and I made some radical changes in my business, and I feel like I can breathe again.

And I felt like I could breathe again, and I actually enjoyed the work that I was doing again. I enjoyed owning a business and running a business and working on it again. I enjoyed my time with my boyfriend and my cat at home and my family and my friends when I hung out with them, and I still do to this day. And I could not imagine where I would be right now if I have not- if I had not figured that shit out.

So, in today's episode, we're gonna be talking about how to prevent burnout in 2022. Let's go. 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. So, when you have ADHD and you are super passionate about something, um, and you know, y- it's your job, it's your career, it can be really hard to hold yourself accountable.

Right? It can be really, really hard to stick to something that you wanna start, um, implement a really good habit, uh, and that's how it was for me when I first dec- decided that I needed to have some really strong boundaries in my business. And so, I think that a lot of people talk about boundaries and preventing burnout as, like, you just have to say no, or you have to have a stronger mindset, or, you know, you just have to not care anymore and take care of yourself. And as I think that most of that stuff is kind of true, I really don't find it to be helpful because, like I said, it's so hard to actually do it and to actually hold yourself accountable to it, and it's really hard to not feel baffled or anxious in the moment, or maybe even guilty, and that stops me, or you if you can relate to this, from actually setting the boundary, from actually saying no, right?

And so, I realized that I had to create systems that held me accountable and I had to kind of create this, like, foundation that gave me no choice but to say no, right? I've always discovered with my ADHD and, um, you know, just being a human being in general, right? You don't have to have ADHD to struggle with the same things. But I need systems or people to hold me accountable to actually do things, right?

Or I just need to not have the option. Here's a really simple and corny example. So if I sleep with my phone next to me, right, and I wake up in the morning, I will sit in my bed and I will scroll on my phone for, like, a long time before actually getting my ass up out of bed. But if I sleep with my phone, uh, far away from me, like in the other room, then I actually have to go get up to get my phone, right?

And so to me, that's like a personal boundary, like a personal system that holds me accountable to not sleeping in and getting my ass up, right? And to me, that's a boundary because my bound- I mean, uh, my personal boundary is I do not want to s- waste any time, like, slaying in bed in the morning. I wanna get my ass up and keep it rolling, keep it moving when it's a productive day. And so that system holds me accountable and it doesn't give me the option to say no, right?

And so th- I want you to start thinking about that in the same way when we approach our business, right? Like, what are the systems and procedures that you could have in place to make it so you're not coming in early, you're not coming in on your days off, you're never scheduling somebody outside of your working hours, um, you're saying no to discounting, right? Um, or you're always enforcing your cancellation policy. Like, I had to figure out what those systems looked like for myself, and once I did, I spent a lot of hard work and time and effort and energy setting up these really strong foundations that allow me to not worry about whether I'm going to stay strong and not screw myself over by emotionally discounting, saying yes when I wanted to say no, right?

Um, or when I want to have a full day off and not work at all, but I don't want to let my business fall through the cracks or I don't want the convenience of my business to, uh, fall through the cracks and not deliver an excellent customer's experience, right? Because I still wanted to make an amazing business for myself, but I knew that it was not gonna be sustainable and I was going to burn out fast if I didn't figure out some sort of way to keep making sure that this was working, but at the same time take care of myself as I deserve to. So if you can kinda relate to anything that I'm saying, right? Like, if you feel like you are just consistently running on the hamster wheel and you are really passionate about creating a beautiful business for yourself in this industry, but you feel like it's so difficult and there's not enough hours in the day and, you know, you feel like you're always freaking working and you're giving into yourself and you want to set strong boundaries for yourself, but you also don't want to give up the professionalism of your business and the hard work that you're putting in, then I encourage you to start to embrace what technology can do for you nowadays, okay Because all of these systems, um, all of my processes and all of my boundaries, they are all possible because of technology, and technology can be really scary and letting a computer r- run your business can be a really freaking daunting, uh, idea, right?

And trust me, friend, I am a control freak, all right? I am a control freak. Ask Zack, my boyfriend. Like, if there's anything going on, I have to have every single little decision run by me, right?

And, um, I feel you. But the awesome thing is, is that if you do things the right way, right? If you use technology the right way, you can still have full control and you can still be extremely hands-off, right? It's literally the best of both worlds, and I had to discover that through a lot of hard trial and error, and now I share that with my students and people who go through my programs and people like you on this podcast because I think it's so important to understand, like, the m- the world is moving so rapidly and, like, the responsibilities just build and build and build, and, like, if we, if we have to live to this crazy standard now, like..

If we don't get our shit together and if we don't also take into consideration that, yes, we have to live to this high standard but there's ways to make it easier and better and sustainable, we're all gonna burn out. And all of us high-achiever- uh, high-achieving hairstylists are just not gonna be able to keep up anymore, right? I mean, how many times have I freaking gone into those free hairstylist advice groups on Facebook and seen, "I wish I chose a different career. Things are just not like they used to be.

Seems harder than ever to be successful nowadays as a hairstylist." Like, it's just sad to me, and I had been there, and luckily I was, quote unquote, "successful" but I was dying inside personally and I was stressed out and overwhelmed and I was gonna burn out real quick if I hadn't done something about it. And yes, I do believe that sometimes it takes some damn hustle to get to where you wanna be. I do totally believe that.

I believe in short term sacrifice for long term gain. But I think that working smarter and not harder is also completely possible and important as well, because you can't get to the next level without doing something different, right? What got you here is not gonna get you there, and I promise you, my friend, after you've hustled, after you've put into th- in the work, I want you to reap those benefits and then some. But in order to keep on going, you're gonna have to make changes, and you're gonna have to embrace what the hell's going on today in this world right now.

So, let's talk about some modern strategies, um, that you can implement in your business that can help you prevent burnout, okay? So number one, um, you should 100% be online booking only, period, 'kay? Um, you should not be booking appointments through the phone, uh, at all unless it's, like, an emergency or you're the one who has to reschedule it or whatever it may be. Like, your clients, when they are not in your chair, they should have to go through your online booking link, period.

And this is taking it a step further, but I don't even pre-book . I don't even pre-book a lot of my clients, most of my clients. Um, I actually have, like, a quote unquote, like, "no pre-booking" rule, and for those who I do pre-book, they can only book one appointment out, all right? Because that makes sure that I'm holding myself accountable to not coming in early, not staying late, or on my days off, because my schedule is my schedule.

If you go on my online booking link, right, like, my schedule is my schedule, period. And it makes sure that I'm not landlocked into, like, weeks and months in advance of- of having to go to work, right? Because sometimes I wanna take a vacation. Sometimes I got shit going on.

Sometimes I got a concert that I wanna go to but I have Suzy booked at 5:00 PM and I- and I think it's unprofessional and rude to have to reschedule Suzy and all these people all the time, right? So, booking only one appointment out or two or having a limited booking range, that's something that I also have and I teach too, um, having a limited booking range where you're only booking out two months, uh, in advance at a time, or, uh, three months maybe even, but that's a little bit of a stretch, to make sure that you're not landlocked and online booking only to me- to be sure that that is your schedule, period, and you don't have any control or you're not the one who is relied on to say, "No, I am not available during those hours." Your online schedule can do that for you, and if you don't feel confident that all of your clients would be able to go on your online booking link and do everything correctly the way that they need to, or if your clients are pissed off about having to go on there and do it themselves, right, because they feel like it's confusing, then th- then you might not have your online booking set up properly, or you might not have the systems and fundamentals to make sure that it is working for you well enough, right? Like I said, before I implemented all these boundaries and systems, right, I had to work really hard to s- to, from the ground up, to make these systems actually work, right?

Like, the idea of online booking only is really great, but unless you actually have, like, strong fundamentals and you've streamlined everything the way that it needs to be streamlined, it's not gonna work and it's just gonna cause more issues for you. And then you're gonna be like, "Oh, I hate online booking," right? But trust me, friend , if you set up your online booking in a certain way, and if you have a limited booking range and, uh, you use modern technology and you have digital solutions, then you can make it work and you can make it so your- your service that you're giving to your clients is super convenient, but you don't have to be there for it . You don't have to be the one giving the convenient service, okay?

So, another strategy, right, another strategy that I use to make sure that I am preventing the burnout because, um, you know, your- your career affects how you show up in your personal life, right? If we haven't already kind of covered that already, like, I mean, if you are anxious about your workday or your workweek or you come home after your work and you're drained, right, um, then it's going to affect your life and it's going to affect your relationships and your relationship with yourself too, right, and how you're taking care of yourself. And so, I wanted to be sure that when I was going to work that I was happy about the work that I was doing. And so, I no longer accept any services that do not bring me joy and I do not accept any clients who do not respect me and my boundaries and align with my core values, right, who don't respect my space.

I only work with people who I love, who love me, who, uh, respect my job and my career, my space, my policies, et cetera, and I do the work that I love to do only, right? And yes, it took me some hard work to get there, right? It took me s- y- like, some years of experience to get to this space where I'm confident enough to do that, because I know..Right?

I know that working with those people will only make me more successful and will bring more of those people to me, right? Um, and so I now have processes and systems, right, digitally, that make sure I am only working with people who I absolutely love, right? And systems that don't make it painful to have to deny somebody if I have to do that, right? And systems where I can make sure that I'm sending people to the right places if I don't feel like I'm the best fit for them.

And it's all done so automatically, so that way, I never have to manually write out an email or I never have to, like, you know, go through the dread of deciding whether or not I should take somebody on or I should do a service, um, and I... and it has been life changing. I actually love all of my clients. I love all of the work that I do.

Like, I literally am passionate and I go to work excited and I leave work excited. And, of course, you know, work is work and we're on our feet all day, right? And, you know, after I'm done work, I'm a little tired, but I'm not, like, depleted. I'm not drained and I'm not miserable, you know?

And I feel like we're just taught from beauty school that we have to work so hard and the misery is just a part of it and that the money is what matters at the end of the day. And, like, sometimes it's... sometimes there's not enough money in the world and sometimes you just gotta realize, like, life is too short. I had, like, some crazy shit happen to me this past summer that made me really realize how, how short life is , and I don't wanna spend my li- freaking life, like, doing shit that I don't want to do unless, unless it truly is to benefit me in the long term, right?

And those people who didn't respect me and my boundaries and those people who really drained me of all my energy, they were not a part of my long-term strategy and they weren't going to be in any way, and so I got rid of them and I don't take them on anymore. And you wanna know the best part is that those clients who I've had to let go or I've had to refuse service to, right, um, they thanked me. They were appreciative of the fact that I wanted to make sure that they were taken care of by somebody who could take care of them better than I could, right? Because this is not just a selfish decision, it's a selfless decision.

It's where everybody wins at the end of the day, right? Because I don't believe that I'm truly taking care of somebody if I am not showing up with my 100%. And the way that you go about it should be extremely professional. There's, like, a signature way that I go about, like, letting go of clients or breaking, uh, breaking hard news or, like, setting boundaries in my verbiage that I, I feel like really has worked for me and stayed tried and true, and it is all about taking care of the client.

Like, that's what it's all about, right? So if you are feeling like you might be on the road to burnout or you're feeling like you show up to work and you are anxious and you feel like you can't give your 100%, or you're anxious about work when you are not behind a chair, or you are answering texts all the time, or you're coming in early, staying late on your days off, having a hard time saying no to your clients and yourself, or maybe you just don't even know how to say no to your clients, then I am so excited to invite you to Beauty Boundary Workshop. Beauty Boundary Workshop is my free class, all right? It's completely free.

However, you are going to leave with such tangible action, inspiration, and understanding. We have real activities that we do within this class. We have so much freaking fun. It's a rare class.

I only do it once or twice a year, okay? And it's going to be running from March 21st through March 28th of 2022, um, and you're going to literally understand how to set boundaries without feeling guilty about it and understand why it's so important and how to turn you from maybe being a yes person into a no person , but doing it in a way that's with care, right? Setting boundaries with care. You're going to learn the three different types of boundaries that are essential for not only having professional boundaries in your business, but also having boundaries in your own personal life as well, and you're gonna learn how to say no without upsetting your clients or jeopardizing the professionalism of your business, okay?

So if you feel like you are freaking ready to set boundaries in 2022, I am high-key excited to see you at this freaking class, Beauty Boundary Workshop. It is going to be lit. There are four times that you can choose from conveniently, okay? And you can go ahead and register at hunterdoniut.

com/workshop. You can also find the link for that in my Instagram bio and in the show notes wherever you are listening to this, my friend, okay? So listen, you are completely worthy of joy and love from yourself, okay? Nobody else.

You don't need nobody else's love and joy. You need your own joy, okay? And when you cultivate your own joy and love for yourself and you really start to truly take care of yourself by setting strong boundaries, that road to burnout starts to close for construction, okay? And another path, a detour, a path that's less taken because this industry has been taught such toxic traits for years and years and years and we've worked ourselves into the ground, you'll be able to take that path into loving on yourself, loving your career that you're passionate about, and l- having a life that you're passionate about all at the same time, okay?

You deserve that, you are worthy of that, and you need to take action on it if you truly want it, okay? So hope to see you at Beauty Boundary Workshop. We're gonna have so much fun regardless. So much love to you, my friend.

I hope that you have a blessed rest of your day and I will talk to you soon. Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2022 Hunter Donia LLC.