Photo by Johnny Lai
By now you probably have your holiday marketing plans sorted out. You’re already sending out mass texts about special offers and referrals and gift sales and now you’re waiting for the Christmas tide to wash up to your neck, and hoping it won’t get over your head. This is technically a happy time, but it’s also obscenely busy and a lot of stylists become overwhelmed by the thickening appointment book coming at odds with the lengthening to-do list at home. While it might be a good time for business, it’s not great for health, and that’s one of the most important aspects of keeping your business up. So here are a few tips for getting through December without breaking down.
Prepare Meals
It sounds like your grandmother saying you need to put more meat on your bones, but you’re a stylist. Odds are your lunch was a protein shake pounded down in five minutes while standing up, so it’s a safe bet grandma was right. Eating healthy is a lot easier than most people think, it just takes a little planning and preparation. At the start of each week try sorting out snacks to eat during the day like trail mix and dry fruit, and if you don’t have time to cook every night, try making food in bulk like stew, chili, or soup that you can just heat up when you get home. It takes a little cooking savvy and cuts into your Sunday a little, but you’ll thank yourself every day during the week.
For God’s Sake, Sleep
There is no worse mistake made by ambitious creatives and business owners than to drive yourselves into the ground with too many late nights. Sometimes it’s necessary, sure. Constant growth is inherent to this industry. But if you let too many of those late nights stack up you’ll be bed-ridden by the end of the month. Especially during flu season, when bacteria flies behind warm closed doors with wild abandon. And, not to alarm you, but as a stylist you’re coming into close contact with a lot of people. Maybe you already got your shot, and maybe you’re taking a daily dose of vitamin C and wearing a mask, but at the end of the day, the best way to avoid getting sick is letting yourself get those 6-8 hours at least a few days a week.
Separate Work and Home
We all love what we do. The great thing about being a stylist, colorist, barber, etc. is that you wake up every morning and go home every night knowing you’re doing something you enjoy doing. But it’s still work. It involves stress and planning and a lot of dedication, so even artists need to turn off sometimes. When you go home at night, parcel out a set amount of time to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Whether that means reading or watching tv or just watching paint dry (on the wall, not hair. No cheating). One of the things that often keeps us from relaxing is knowing we have something else we need to be doing. If you specifically set an hour or so aside to do nothing it makes it easier to relax because you know exactly when you’ll be getting back to life.