Episode 5 - The Messy Middle: Taking Bold Steps

Making the Scary Career Shift: Trusting Yourself in the “Messy Middle” | The Sustainable Stylist Ep. 5

In episode five of The Sustainable Stylist, I share a vulnerable update on where I’m at in my career and life at 45 after 13 years of doing hair. Even though I love my clients and the connections I’ve built, I’ve been feeling like I’m in the “messy middle,” wondering what’s next and feeling scared to grow because I’m a wife, a mom, a homeowner, and I carry a lot of financial responsibility. I talk about the big decision I made today to stop splitting my time between my home salon and my friend’s salon in Los Angeles so I can work only from home. My main message is that you can think about change forever, but taking action brings relief—and trusting yourself is how you move forward.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:26 Episode Check In

01:05 Career Reflection

02:14 Messy Middle Fears

03:03 Choosing Home Salon

04:29 Taking The Leap

05:17 Closing Encouragement

Transcript

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Welcome to the Sustainable Stylist, the podcast for hairstylists who want a career that lasts without burning out behind the chair. I'm Jen Alden, and I'm here to share the real lessons on building a business you love, protecting your energy, and creating a life that feels as good as your work looks. Because doing hair should light you up, not wear you down. Wherever you are in your journey, pull up a chair. This one's for you. Hello, my beautiful friends. Thank you so much for joining me today on my fifth episode of my podcast. I have had so much fun doing this, and it is really awesome to have an outlet to voice my opinions and maybe help some of you out there who are maybe stuck on some feelings, not just with hairdressing, but as a human being. I wanted to talk about things that are going on with me. And maybe you can relate. Maybe it will help give you some clarity if you're going through the same thing as me. So I'm 45 years old. I've been doing hair 13 years. I was a late bloomer to doing hair. Part of me wishes that I had started in my 20s, but I started when I started, so I was 32. And it has been such an amazing career. I do truly love it. I love connecting with my clients. I've made so many amazing friendships and have learned so much about myself and how much I do really love to help people. But at the same time, I think I'm at an age where I guess I'm middled aged, which is weird to say. And things for me are slowing down. Like I I've always been an incredibly ambitious, overly, I think about my what I want to do with my life all the time. Even though I'm doing hair, I'm doing great, I have great clients, things are going well. There's always that feeling of I could do more. And I could do so much more with my life. I guess I'm in what you would call the messy middle right now. This could happen at any age if you've been doing a profession for a long time and you get to a point where you're like, what's next? Do I stay the same or do I grow? And the growing part does scare me a little, I think, because I have a lot at risk right now. I am I'm a wife, I'm a mom, I own a home, and a lot of the financial responsibility lies on me. My husband as well, he has a steady job, but I do worry about how I can take care of myself while pursuing my dreams and what I want to do. And what if I take a risk and it doesn't work out? For me right now, I have been splitting my time working behind the chair. I've been working, I have a home salon, and I also work at my friend's salon in Los Angeles. And I've been splitting my time up for a few years now, and I finally reached a point where I've decided I don't want to do that anymore. I just want to work out of my home. And I know that I have clients that are gonna be upset with me, but it's something I need to do. And I actually made that decision today. And I'm starting to let my clients know, and I kind of have to grow some thick skin and just do it because I know it's gonna work out. Every decision I've made has worked out throughout my career. And I know that this is gonna work out as well because it always does. And at least I have that to trust on and I have the experience to know that that happens. I've always been a hard worker. I've always had a job. I've always had some sort of talent that I can make money off of. So fear is so strong with me right now. Even though I know that things are gonna work out, I always in the back of my head think, am I doing the right thing? Will this all work out? But you gotta do it anyways, and that's what I'm doing. I'm doing it anyways. I've been stewing on this for months and months about making a change, and I'm doing this and I'm gonna stick with it. Such a vulnerable podcast today. So if there's something that you are trying to work out and want to change about your career, whether you want to open a suite or you want to see less clients or you want to raise your prices, you can think about it and think about it and think about it forever. And then you're gonna do it. And just doing it, putting it into action is such a relief. It feels so good to make a decision and do it. I guess that's the point of this whole podcast today. Just going for it and trusting that it'll work out. I know it will for you. I know it will for me too. And anyways, I just wanted to put that out there. If anybody's struggling with that, I love you. You're gonna be fine, everything's gonna work out, and there's only one way to go from here, and that's up, right? I'm wishing you all the best and love, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Bye.