I highly doubt your stylist arbitrarily decided to make you wait 6 weeks. (It’s possible, but extremely unlikely.) It sounds as if she’s extremely booked during her work hours and simply didn’t have the availability to schedule you before then. Then, she fell ill.

It also sounds like you had an expectation to be given earlier accommodation when you were sick and then again when she was sick, which wasn’t possible. (I’m not sure if this was the case or not, but our jobs are physically strenuous and a very busy professional who serves clients every working hour is not going to be staying late or coming in on weekends. Doing so is extremely inadvisable, unless you want chronic back, neck, shoulder, and knee problems before your 40th birthday.)

Stylists who are in extremely high demand, unfortunately, have very little schedule flexibility and have to be defensive of their off-time. You should have been scheduled with another available professional during her illness, but if she’s working solo (or if you refuse to be placed with another stylist), that’s not possible. It’s important for clients of fully booked professionals to understand that any missed appointments are unlikely to be made up by that specific professional. “Fitting in” a client who missed their appointment when you’re booked to or beyond capacity isn’t possible since every working hour is booked. Trying to serve every client you missed during an illness also isn’t possible because doing so would mean working 12+ hour shifts for weeks to make up for the absence.

It’s also important for clients of self-employed professionals to understand that they have no support or backup, so when you (or they) are sick, they lose money that they have no way of recouping, and they have nobody to help them untangle the trainwreck the schedule becomes while they’re gone.

I wouldn’t call it “low self-esteem.” People in our industry tend to be givers. We are drawn to service because we love to serve others, and sometimes, asserting ourselves can feel counter to that. It isn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that it can feel that way, lol.

Good stuffbeen in business 30 years people say oh no I only have a hundred dollars when it’s 125.00 I say it’s okay but then I realize these people have quite a bit of money then I or if I have a price raise they complain I have one lady who pre writes checks for the privrvitvwas 7 years ago I don’t know what to do it’s makes me feel cheated but also mad st myself for not being able to speak up what’s wrong with me do I have low self esteem

Whether or not it will work depends on how you approach it. Some choose to gradually distance themselves, introducing boundaries in subtle ways (for instance, redirecting the conversation when it strays off-course). Others are more intentional. They establish the boundaries all at once and inform the clients. (Most professionals I’ve talked to say that beginning that conversation with an apology for getting too personal and acknowledging that things will have to change from that point forward works best.) No matter how you do it, make sure they understand that it’s not their fault, but that the shift isn’t negotiable. You can stay cordial and friendly while also maintaining a professional distance. There’s no reason for those relationships to suffer, but any client who insists on treating you like their therapist, sounding board, BFF, or gossip source needs to understand that their expectations of you are unreasonable. You aren’t being paid to be any of those things for them. If you aren’t comfortable serving in that capacity or want to reclaim your privacy, they need to respect that.

Stop the discounts and make them choose. Either they support you and your business or they’re only interested in taking advantage of you. If it’s the latter, you know where they stand and shouldn’t feel guilty for cutting them loose. I highly suspect that most of them will stick with you, though, especially if they didn’t ask for the discounts and special treatment to begin with. 🙂