What Being Overbooked Is Actually Costing You

I remember when I was in my salon suite, and I was, like, seriously booked and busy, like three months booked solid, five new client requests a week. My family, my friends, or even my clients would ask me the question, like, "Oh, so how's business for you?" And I'd be like, "Girl, it is fucking busy, okay?" And I'd be like, "I am a little bit overwhelmed by it.

It's a little bit stressful." They'd be like, "Ah, mah, that's so amazing. Like, at least you're busy," you know? Mm-hmm.

And I'd be like, "Yeah, ha, ha, ha." And in the back of my mind I'm like, "I am actually, like, so, like, exhausted." I feel ungrateful that I have this gift that I've worked really hard for, but... And, and that a lot of other people would probably wish that they were in that place, right?

And I would feel very guilty almost, of the fact that, like, I was ungrateful for it, or that I was experiencing negative thoughts around that, right, a- around being overbooked and overbusy, 'cause that's truly what it is. It's like you are overbooked. It's not necessarily, like, a blessing. It actually becomes a problem.

Like, I look at it as, like, you have two phases of grow- uh, of growth when it comes to being a hairstylist. Like, phase one is you're struggling with filling in gaps, you're struggling with growing the clientele. You're just creating that foundation for yourself, and that is, like, its own set of issues. And then once you get past that point, the next set of issues in phase two is that you actually have too much clientele.

And it causes a lot of issues. It causes a lot of weird feelings that are very lonely to go through, and maybe even some s- like, actual logistical danger that a lot of hairstylists don't actually realize, that people think that this is, like, the dream, like this is like, "Okay, I feel secure, and I feel safe," when in actuality, you're really holding yourself back from big potential, but also there literally is, like, things that can go wrong because of you being so overbooked. And so, one of the biggest things that, like, my Mastermind students come to me with, or, um, people who are in this circumstance come to me with is like, "I feel so overwhelmed with being so overbooked. Like, it's great.

I'm grateful-ish," but also, like, it's almost like... It's, like, this point of shame for them to admit to me that, like, they, that they, like, feel like it's not a good thing for them right now. And I remember, like, being in that space myself and being like, "I don't see how I could sustainably do this for much longer," you know? Like, it really was, like, killing me, because one of the biggest things is, like, the more people you have, the more business you're doing, the more work that comes with that.

And that's not just the actual labor you're doing behind the chair. It's also the labor that you're doing with maintaining that outside of doing the hair, like so the communication, the operations, like, all of the back and forth, the wait list, the new clients. And you're consistently saying no to money because you can't fit any new clients into your book, and that wants- makes you wanna die. But I even remember, too, like, I remember when a new client would inquire with me, I would feel still some scarcity, and I've talked a whole lot about how scarcity still plagues people who are in this position.

Um, and even more so sometimes, right, I would still feel this scarcity of saying no to money or saying no to a new client that I would just squeeze them in. And so, then I would end up overworking, or I would end up not delivering a great service to them because I was squeezing them into, like, an eight-hour day that turned into a 12-hour day after an already overbooked week, you know? It just, it just causes a lot of lack of boundaries, and it causes a lot of stress, and overwhelm, and work outside of work. And that was exhausting to me, and that made me feel like I don't know how I could continue forward.

And so, that was a really big reason why it became an issue. Another reason from me why it was such a problem was, especially because this was, like, post- COVID era, I was like, "If I have to take off a week, if I was to get sick or I had to take time off, I would be like, 'Where the fuck? Where am I putting these people?'" And then, I have loyal clients.

Regardless of me taking any time off, I have loyal clients who can't get back in with me, ones who would pay a whole lot of money to see me Yeah. Right? I always tell the story of Jalisa, where, like, Jalisa was my sweet neighbor right next to me, and I would go to get my nails done with her every, like, two to three weeks. And Jalisa became very booked and busy very quickly just alongside me, and I would get really mad because I wouldn't be able to get in with her whenever I wanted to, and I knew that I would pay double what some of the other clients that she had would not pay- Right.

to be able to get in with her. So I'm like, "Okay, so I can't get an appointment that I want because you aren't charging enough, and these other people are in your chair that wouldn't pay as much as me. So, that's not fair to me as your ideal, high-paying client," you know? Right.

And so, I had to kind of put that in my own perspective as well for my own business and think, "Maybe I am pissing some of my clients off, and this is causing a lot of stress and worry for me, and I'm feeling like I can't take off." Like, I remember I had to miss my, my family holiday party because I was so booked out and busy, and I was like, "I don't know how I would reschedule all of these people one year." And that is just no way to live, you know? No.

It's so not, and I remember even, like, being in this situation when I had, like, a young child at home, and I remember just being so burnt out and feeling so, like, pulled. And it was like, at one point, yes, I'm happy to have a successful business. On the other hand, it almost got to the point where you're, like, so burnt out that you don't even care anymore. And I think that is scary, too, because you work so hard to get somewhere.

You know, you work so hard to build your business, and then you're to the point where you're like, "I don't even care about replying to messages," because you're just so burnt out, and you just need some of that time back and, and a way to kind of get out of that headspace. Dude, yes, and, like, particularly for the independent stylists out there, like, this is kind of a unique experience for you, right, because...If you think about any company that has grown to anything, they would never give up those responsibilities, right? Like, they would never, like, stop, like, the DMs back and forth.

Mm-hmm. They would never stop fi- trying to find new customers and making room for those new customers. Like, they would always continuously do what they need to do to maintain and grow the business. Mm-hmm.

But that's because their normal trajectory is having, like, a- a new hire to be able to handle- Yes. all of this demand, right? Where you may not have that in your same trajectory. That may not be what you want, or maybe it is, but you're not there yet, right?

Whatever it may be, right? And so, you know, for us this is a unique circumstance, and we are only human and only one human. And you have a whole lot of shit to deal with and that stresses you out outside of the business, you know? Mm-hmm.

Let alone all this extra work that the business brings you and the stress that this business brings you. And so it's dangerous from, like, a mental health and emotional standpoint. And it's dangerous for your business long term just because of the risk of you lacking in your business because of that burnout. And then furthermore, you're holding yourself back from a lot of income potential because normally what we'll end up doing at this point is we'll either stop marketing for new clients- Yeah.

and so then that turns off our faucet, and we always need to have new clients coming through the door because if you ever want to raise your prices enough to where you are actually thinning out this book, right? Yeah. Then you need to have new clients who are gonna be willing to come in and pay you at that higher price, and you can't do that if you don't have a steady influx of new clients coming in. So we'll turn off that faucet because we're like, "We're can't even, we can't even fit in new clients anyway, so what the fuck's the point?"

Yeah. And so then you are genuinely capping your future income potential and even your future stability as well too. And so it's not even about increasing your income, it's also about maintaining your income. If you ever want to maintain it, you have to have new customers coming through the door.

So we'll stop marketing, but then also, same breath, right? We have to say no to new clients all the time if we want to stay strong with our boundaries and not be squeezing them in in this time that we don't actually have and that we're just making up, right? And the moment that you say no to them, again, you're saying no to the ideal clients who would pay you a lot more than the clients who are in your chair right now. And so overbooked is not a good place to be.

It may feel like this false sense of safety and security, and the, here's the, here's what I will tell you, my friend. And especially if you listened to this last episode where we talked a lot about, like, big price increases at this point because that's, like, a big way that we handle this. If you have done a really great job at creating, like, a next level client experience, which I would assume that you've already done a little bit of up until this point, that's why you're in this position, then a lot of the times, like, the big scary risks that you take to be able to get out of overbooked, overwhelmed, and burnt out, you're, y- y- you, you are safe enough to do that. You have built such a strong foundation to be able to do that.

You've built that leverage in which when you put that big price increase into place, when you make the decision that you're going to do online booking only, when you take off a full day, right? And you have to make all of those different systems and all the stuff that we will go over to be able to get you out of overbooked, right? You have earned that, and you will normally be very safe. However, it does need to be approached in a strategic way.

So, like, in the last episode, we talked about how, like, mastermind students will come in and we go over all of this stuff, and we figure out for your specific nuances, your specific service and your business and how your c- current clients operate, what is the best approach here? And just focusing on, like, first off, just like the general concept of supply and demand and how we can interpret what yours is and how we can manipulate the different levers that are in your business to make it so we can scale out of overbooked responsibly where you'll be on the other end of it better off versus not better off. That is the way to go. That's the best way to go about it.

And so we're gonna talk about some of those levers today, like how can we actually scale out of the overbooked and, like, the different ways that we can go about it. We already kind of covered price increase, so, like, whenever you have really high demand, the traditional number one way is to thin it out with a price increase. And so if you sit down with me, we'll go deep into the data, we'll look at all the indicators, we'll look at all of your different services and which ones are in demand, which ones aren't. And we'll figure out how can we increase the prices so we actually make a dent in this schedule so that way you don't have so many clients on your, on your roster so that you can fit in new ones, you can r- you can fit in returning ones even, and so that way you can take some of this administrative, um, uh, uh, stress off of you.

Because again, the more clients you have on your roster, the more administrative operational bullshit you have to put up with Right. Yeah, exactly. And so when you're increasing, like, you basically have your time and then you have, like, the income you're bringing in, right? So you need to figure out, like, that's how you essentially, all of these levers essentially go to either increasing the amount of time or, like, increasing the value of the time.

And now a word from our sponsors. When I went out on my own as a hairstylist, I quickly realized that running your own business is more complex than most people anticipate, right? There's no roadmap. And honestly, the last thing you need is tools and technology that make it harder to figure out.

That's why GlossGenius was the clear choice from day one. It made running and growing my business feel way more manageable. The platform is intuitive in a way that most aren't. And I'm pretty tech-savvy, but what I actually appreciate about it is that you don't have to be.

Any owner or staff member can jump in, get up to speed fast, and use everything the platform has to offer with no learning curve. The payment processing is worth calling out specifically. It's a consistent flat rate regardless of how a client pays, and the fees are lower than other platforms. That type of transparency has a real impact on your bottom line.

And the client-facing experience is polished and modern. It positions you as a professional brand at every stage of your business to impress your ideal clientele. Every platform has trade-offs, but if you're tired of running everything in your business manually or you're over your current frustrating software, GlossGenius is worth a serious look. You can go to the link in my show notes and use "modern" to get 50% off your first two months of their gold or platinum plan to see for yourself.

100% yes. And, like, that's, like, really what it comes down to. It's, like, you have two resources as a business owner and as a human most of the time. It's, like, time and money.

And then you have these- this rule of, like, supply and demand when it comes to, like, capitalism and just, like, you being, again, one human. Like, this is a very unique circumstance that you have here, right? And so that brings us to, like, you only have so much time as one person. And so we first look at how can we automate and systematize and also putting boundaries into place to make it so the overbooked or the large amount of clientele that you have doesn't feel so overwhelming to you anymore.

And then also, it just is more streamlined but still fair to your clients. And that's what I've been teaching for years now. Well, and that's kind of, like, when you were alluding earlier to that, like, you know, streamlining some of the tasks and the fact that when you have more clients, there's more outside of just doing the hair, right? So, 'cause I know, like, I didn't necessarily expand my hours when I was feeling really overbooked.

It was just those hours I was working behind the chair were so full, and then all of those other tasks spill out and spill over into your time off. So, maybe we should talk about some of those tasks that you can think about automating and systematizing so that you're kind of reclaiming that time when you're not with clients. 'Cause I think those are the- kind of the two different things that can happen to hairstylists, is, like, not just when you're working on clients but all of the other things you need to do to facilitate that. 100%.

And so i- so outside of the business, it really comes down to the client communication. Again, like, a huge point of the stress is that you have a lot of clients. The more clients you have, the more administrative work that you have, right? So, like, the larger amount of bodies that you're dealing with, the larger amount of work that you have.

That's just, like, how it works. And so we need to figure out how can we manage the operations, the communication, the booking, the rescheduling as much as possible where you do not have to be involved, right? Where you're still fully delivering an excellent client experience, the clients feel very taken care of in a beautiful concierge way, but you do not have to always be there to be able to deliver that. And there's always going to be a- a small amount of human interaction that has to go on there, especially if you wanna keep things under in control.

I think that's a huge thing, especially for high performers. Like, you probably feel, like, really scared about giving up any control in your business because it's your baby, you wanna take care of your clients, all that stuff. When in reality, your, like, death grip on all this stuff is actually really holding you back and doing much, much, much more bad for you than it is good. And the other thing is, again, I- there's a best of both worlds, especially now, and I've been saying this for years because I've always approached my strategies this way, but I- I'm so serious when I say, like, year over year over year, the way that technology advances and the way that I am able to experiment and learn and test things and see what's working for stylists, like, this just gets even better and better and better when you implement automations and systems to streamline the client communication in a way where the client still feels amazing about the experience they're getting but you feel like you c- you don't have to have so much control because you're still getting positive outcomes when you are automating things.

Like, you are- you- you're able to implement systems and automation where there's not risk to it anymore and you're not nervous about clients booking the wrong thing or clients getting upset because they don't feel like doing it themselves or your schedule being taken control of by somebody else. Like, that's- all that stuff goes away when you implement this stuff properly in the advanced ways that we're able to in today's day and age, which is ex- exactly what I teach and what I custom-build for our mastermind people Yeah, and I think the other thing, too, that you mentioned once is, like, it's- it's not always just the time it takes to, you know, say yes. So for example, I'm thinking about approving an appointment. That still gives you control, right?

But you are still ... But it's not the same as, like, going back and forth about the time and then, like, you know, doing a consultation in the DMs and then looking at it. So it's, like, the mental bandwidth that you get back from having systems that you can trust is massive. Absolutely.

And this also allows you to be a better operator and a better, more responsible business owner because if you ... Again, it goes back to, like, you just start to not care. You just start to be so burnt out that you don't get back to the messages or you forget to because you have so many tasks in your brain, on your list, so many people to get back to that you lose track of who you responded to, who you didn't, so then you fully just drop the ball or it takes you a long time to get back to these people. You're actually creating a negative experience by resisting putting the systems in that will make your clients have that better, more convenient experience, right?

And, you know, dude, this comes down to, like, I- again, like, this goes back to, like, how much we've advanced and how much- how many re- really cool things I'm just building for my people. Like, at this point, like, you can just- you don't even have to be a part of the process anymore. Like, you genuinely, like, can be fully hands-off and still fully trust the systems that you put in place to do everything that you want it to do without sacrificing anything, and it's just really, really beautiful and very cool. I just wish that more people would take me up on it, and I will also say that I think that for the level of advancement and, like, these systems and, like, what part of the business that you're in, like, it's not for everybody, but if you are in a place in which you are booked and busy, like three to four weeks booked solid-plus, like, this is for you.

It is time. Like, it is very much time. A- again, I talk about this- I've talked about this in our recent episodes that we- we- we- we've looked at here. Like, I approach things from ...

And not to, like, toot my own horn, but I don't know, this is just how my natural- this is my natural instinct. Like, I- I end up approaching things very similarly to how, like, investors of Fortune 500 companies would do. Like, if they bought this company, then they're looking at how can we streamline this time as much as possible? There's something called key man risk, okay?

And we're gonna translate that to key person risk'Cause we're inclusive over here. And, uh, and what that refers to is when an investor is, is evaluating the, the value of a business and whether they would like to purchase it or not, they're looking and seeing is the operation, the daily operation and success and maintenance of the business reliant on this one human being involved? Mm-hmm. And if that is the case, if everything has to go through you, if you are the bottleneck for things, then the investor looks at that as a huge red flag, a massive red flag.

So therefore, putting in systems, automation, all that stuff, getting this off of your plate, again, you're only one human being, is a great way to make that happen. So automating things outside of the salon is really great. I, I, I'm also going to touch on too, which I feel like I don't normally traditionally touch on, but I've had a lot of experience touching on with our Mastermind members specifically in the past year and a half, is also systematizing the in-the-chair experience and streamlining it as much as possible. There are so many little opportunities you have to actually be able to deliver your services so much more efficiently, make more money in efficient ways, and do the service in less time that are just so overlooked that we don't think about very often.

And so systematizing the in-the-chair experience as well, making it so that it's done as efficiently as possible, but still delivering a great client experience is also what we should really focus on to be able to not be so overbooked. Because then you can get clients done in a shorter amount of time and still deliver and get the results that you're looking for, you know? So true. And honestly, I love that you said that because in my own experience with burnout, I'm not sure if you can relate to this at all, but, like, sometimes when I look at it, I'm like, this, it's not actually time that I'm lacking all the time.

Sometimes it's mental capacity and just, like- Totally. having all of those open tabs, right? So I think the more you can streamline and systematize everything you're doing inside your business, the, the more it frees up that, like, capacity in your brain. Absolutely.

And speaking of freeing up, sometimes maybe it's not all about freeing up. Maybe sometimes it's about, like, literally making more supply, right? Yes. So, like, if we've maxed out, and which I believe everybody should try first, okay?

Because any business that is able to remove that key man risk, any business that is able to, with just the one person, streamline things and remove yourself from the business as much as possible, that is, like, a really great business to work in, right? That's awesome. And you've built really great foundations to be able to actually increase your supply by hiring another operator. And so this may not be the journey for everybody, okay?

Like, not everybody wants to hire. Not everybody wants to even think about hiring. And there's two types of hires that we could have. We could have a hire that will be more support for you, where they'll actually gain you back a lot of time.

So that could look like a social media manager, a virtual assistant, whatever it may be. But then we also have the more traditionally, uh, uh, the more traditional hire that we think of, which is, like, actually having an assistant to be able to make more supplies so you can take more clients in a day or having just a stylist, so that way, when you are out pricing some of your clients, you're still able to retain the revenue from those clients by having them still under your roof of your business, just having somebody else do it. So now you've created another column on your calendar, so that way, you're not losing all of the potential that you've created for yourself up, up until this point by gaining and retaining those clients, you know? And so that's, like, another way that we can look at scaling out of overbooked is by not decreasing the demand.

We can actually maintain the demand, but then increase the supply, right? And that's by either being able to take more people in a day or being able to have somebody else take them for you, but still make money off of that. And so that's a whole thing within itself. And we're gonna dive deep into that in two podcast episodes from now, so make sure to stay tuned.

You know, I think, again, it kinda comes back to that fact of like when you're listening through this, if you are feeling like you are overbooked, it's one of those things that it's not like, "Oh, I should get out of this," or, "Maybe I can think about this at some point." Like, I do just wanna, you know, from my own perspective, say that I think this is something that's so important 'cause you cannot maintain forever feeling burnt out, feeling overbooked. And eventually, things will start to backslide, and you have, like, worked way too hard to get to where you are to l- allow that to happen. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that so much.

And you know what I'll also find too is that people who are in this circumstance, they feel like, they feel as if they have such a lack of time to even focus on the things that would- Yeah. take them getting out of not having time. Mm-hmm. And so it's kinda just, like, this vicious cycle where they're like, "Oh, well, I don't have time to focus on that work," or, "I don't have time to work with Hunter to be able to figure out how the fuck to get out of this-" Yeah.

"... so I'm not gonna do it. What's gonna change?" Yeah.

Like, what's going to, like... Something's gotta give, you know? Are you just gonna be in this cycle until it dies, until you, like, until the business, like, goes downhill, you know? And so maybe it requires, like, the short-term sacrifice for the long-term gain.

I mean, you're no, you're no stranger to that. You can do that in the short term. Like, there is something in you. There is a, a pocket amount of time that you can put in to be able to get out of this, or else you'll never get out of it, right?

And when I have people who join Mastermind, let's say, and I'm working with them one-to-one, like, we do this stuff in a way that works for you, right? Like, I'm not going to expect somebody who already has, like, three kids and is already super booked and busy and already super, like, like, thinned out with time, I'm never gonna expect you to, like, work your ass off and work, like, three more days to make this happen outside of the actual work that you're doing behind the chair. But I will ask you to put in a little bit, get up an hour earlier and work an hour before you go to bed just to get this shit started. And there is very, very, very fast, quick, and easy ways to start to get yourself out of this circumstance, and the number one way is price.

And we can get that shit done within three months. So if you're in this circumstance, it's one, it's, it's a circumstance that I am very specialized in. I have been dealing with this for years. I dealt with it myself, and I've helped so many stylists out of it, and they are so much...

They're on such a better path. Like, working every day and working on the business does not feel so stressful anymore, and it creates so much more opportunity. Like, the, the, the problem is no longer, "I can't fit in these loyal clients. I can't fit in new clients."

The problem now becomes, "I have so much more potential to grow. How do I do that?" And that's such a better problem to have, right? And not a lot of people think about it that way.

It's like, like, I would love for us to have the problems that we had in phase one, where we're just trying to grow, versus the problems that we have in phase two, because the problems that we have in phase two is a glass ceiling. That is just continuously holding you back. It is just punching you in the face, right? But in phase one, there's potential.

There's growth. Right. There's a path forward, right? And so I...

So getting out of this makes it so you can finally focus on the opportunities instead of focusing so much on the problems anymore, and that is a really powerful place to be. So I would love to help you get there, my friend. So reach out to me via DM if that is you, if this sounds like you right now, and we'll see if we can work together and get you to that place. This is a lot of the work that we do with our Mastermind students, so you can go to hunterdonia.

com/mastermind to check out more about the program and see what potential we have for you in there. So much love to you. Thank you so much for tuning in to Modern Hairstyles podcast. Peace out, girl scout.

Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2026 Hunter Donia LLC.