Well, it finally happened to me. After 11 years in the industry I hit a physical roadblock and had to cancel a week's worth of clients.
For a lot of people, sick days aren't so bad. Some people even get paid for those days they call in with the sniffles and there's usually someone your employer can call in to cover your shift. But for an independent stylist?? Well, it's not that easy...
Until this last week, I have only cancelled a handful of times in my 11 years behind the chair. I even only missed one day when I got 2nd degree burns on the palm of my hand (darn hot glue guns!); one day to rest and then bandaged and back to work! Why didn't I take more time off, you ask? Well, it's complicated. Let me try to explain.
Currently, I am booking 6-8 weeks ahead with my clients. That means, that my books are FULL with no openings for the next 6 weeks at least. Cue intense pain (which I was hopeful would only last over my long weekend, but alas - no such luck!). Realizing the truth of the matter - that I would not be able to work on my Tuesday back - I had to call my clients and cancel them. Then my Wednesday...and eventually the rest of the week.
Now....where/when can I rebook them? I don't know when the pain will be over, so I have to wait until I'm better, first of all - but remember that whole "I'm booked 6-8 ahead" thing? Yeah - some of you are already getting it - this means I now will have to work after hours and days off to catch up - that, or my clients have to go to someone else (even if I worked with other stylists in the salon - clients tend to want to see THEIR stylist, not a replacement!)
Now - I have to be careful - my back is not 100% better but without work, I don't make any money (it's okay Mom, I do have a savings account if it got that bad!) but I also don't want to dive in too fast and hard so that I end up hurting myself further (and then needing to use that savings!) So, I will plug along, working as much and as hard as I can (without being stupid about it - I am, indeed, only human - surprised?!)
My priority first and foremost is to take care of myself. Secondly, I want to make sure I'm not compromising my work so that my clients can enjoy a high level of satisfaction with their appointment that they have come to expect.
With all that said, I am heading back to work tomorrow. I will be taking it a bit easy and fitting in my clients that I had to cancel as soon as humanly possible. Then I will be returning calls from clients looking to book. (Just a warning, in case you didn't read it already - it's going to be 6-8 weeks)
I want to thank every single one of the clients I had to call and cancel. Each of them were nothing short of understanding and compassion (and though I'm sure there was some tension over those greys poking out another week, they never made me feel bad) As someone who likes to make people happy, it was nice to feel that kind of support when I felt like I was letting people down.
Thank you, everyone, so much - I love what I do and the clients I have.