How to Prepare for a Planned or Sudden, Extended Leave (Medical, Maternity etc.) with Leisha Thompson

Hunter Donia (0:00)

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to The Modern Hairstylist Podcast. I am excited for today's episode because we have a really awesome guest doing really awesome things, but we also are gonna be addressing a topic that is very common within the industry, but it's kind of like an every now and then for each individual human being. We're gonna be talking about how to approach a leave of some sort, a long-term leave, something that's more than just a one-week vacation, right? Whether that be a maternity leave or whether that be something for a medical condition, maybe you wanna take a vacation for a month, whatever it looks like, we are going to be speaking with you about how to approach when you wanna go away for a while, for whatever it may be. And we're gonna be covering some three big important topics with this, which is going to be, how do you refer out your clientele while you're gone to make sure that your clients are taken care of in the meantime and how to do that as strategically as possible. We're gonna be talking about how do you retain your clientele while you're gone for so long, how do you make it so and how do you ensure that you are actually coming back to a clientele. And then also, what are some options for how you can make some money or maintain having some money, pay yourself while you're actually not working behind the chair.

So if you're ready to get into it, then let's go.

What's the tea, friends? My name is Hunter Donya, industry business educator for hairstylists. But my friends just call me hunty. Whether it be growing your clientele, making more money or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so, you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair. So if you're ready to get into it, welcome to The Modern Hairstylist Podcast.

I am so excited to dive into this topic, and I'm so excited to have Leisha on the podcast. What's up, Leisha? How are you?

Leisha Thompson (1:56)

I am so good and just insanely grateful to be here today. Thank you.

Hunter Donia (2:01)

I'm so grateful that you decided to come on and chat with us. I think what you're doing is so freaking cool, and you are filling such an interesting gap within the industry, one that has been a very complicated one, one that not many people, if anybody, has really thought about approaching before in the way that you are. And it's just super fascinating to me. So please tell us, Leisha, introduce yourself for us. Tell me what you have going on in this amazing solution that you're creating for hairstylists.

Leisha Thompson (2:28)

Yeah. Well, first off, thank you for that. So I am Leisha. I am originally from Ohio. I've been in the industry about 13 years.

But a little over a year ago, I actually left my... I had a really pretty successful business.

But at the same time, I had been feeling this need. There was something more. And also simultaneously realizing that within our industry, there is kind of this area that is not talked about a lot and also seems like there just wasn't a lot of resources for it. And that was when stylists go on any type of extended leave, whether it's maternity, medical, mental health, you know, extended vacations, like you said.

And realizing that there was kind of a struggle there for like, okay, what do I do? Like, how do I pay my rent? Like, what do I do with my clients? How do I keep my clients? Just kind of all those questions. And I also tend to, I have a love for travel.

So I, over a little over a year ago, like I said, I actually left my salon suite, my hometown, me, my husband, our pets, we moved into an RV and I decided that I wanted to start this new business called The Traveling Hairstylist, where we travel to you and help fill in for your leaves, help nurture your clients, can provide a source of income for any type of leave and through any type of area. So this is kind of an alternative service, but by experienced stylist. And that's kind of been my, my mission, my purpose. And since I've done it, it's just felt like so clear to me how needed this is and just the stories that I've heard and like situations that I've talked to with stylist about their past experiences with leaves and things that they maybe did right, things that they maybe did wrong. And yeah, just really trying to provide a better option that can be not only like inclusive to all people, but attainable for all stylists of all degrees.