In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, host Hunter Donia and guest Jodie Brown dig into whether session package pricing still makes sense right now. If you keep hearing mixed advice about a la carte, hourly, parts and labor, or packages, this conversation gives you a clear way to decide what works for your business and your clients in 2025.

Whether you want simpler menus, fewer surprises at checkout, or a model that better reflects transformations instead of line items, you will learn how to choose a structure that protects your time and margin while staying easy for clients to understand.

Key Takeaways:

🧭 What Each Model Signals: A quick breakdown of a la carte, hourly, parts and labor, and session packages and what each one communicates to clients.
 🧩 Why Packages Still Convert: How all inclusive sessions reduce confusion, build trust, and attract clients who want a clear A to B result.
 🪜 When Packages Do Not Fit: Why color corrections often work best with an hourly approach and how to handle special cases.
 🧮 Price From Your Numbers: Use real service timing, product costs, and demand to build packages that are profitable and sustainable.
 🗣 Write Menus Clients Understand: Use client language, surveys, and simple descriptions so people can self select the right package.
 🚫 Avoid A La Carte in Disguise: Keep package options focused and limited so the menu stays clear and conversion friendly.
 🎯 Attract Your Ideal Client: Position packages to serve people who value outcomes and leadership so you can do your best work.

Why You Should Listen:

If you want pricing that feels modern and client friendly without sacrificing profit, this episode gives you a practical framework to evaluate your menu and update it with confidence. Tune in for a straight talking guide to choosing the right model for 2025 and making it work in your business.

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, host Hunter Donia and guest Jodie Brown speak to stylists who feel torn about raising prices while headlines keep warning about inflation and recession. If you are hesitating because the future feels shaky, this conversation shows you how to make a clear decision based on your numbers and your demand instead of the news cycle.

Whether you are worried about losing clients, afraid of pricing yourself out, or simply unsure how much to raise and when, you will learn practical ways to protect your margin, choose a smart increase, and keep flexible options if conditions change.

Key Takeaways:

📊 Let Your Data Lead: Use current demand on your time and real booking trends to decide if you are ready for an increase.
 🛡 Protect Your Margin: Rising costs hit business owners twice, so pricing must keep pace to support you and the business.
 📈 Choose a Sustainable Increase: Aim for the highest increase you can support with demand and clarity on the intention behind it.
 🧭 Plan for What If: If the market shifts, you can adjust with targeted marketing, retail focus, strategic discounts, or a temporary rollback.
 🧠 Replace Catastrophe With Clarity: Make the best decision with the information you have now and stop letting anxiety steer the business.
 🤝 Different Paths for Different Demand: If books are light, move conservatively. If you are booked out, you likely have room to move higher.
 🔍 Reality Check From The Field: Many stylists are still filling chairs and raising prices with thoughtful strategy and consistent marketing.

Why You Should Listen:

If you have been waiting for perfect certainty before you raise prices, this episode gives you a grounded process to move forward with confidence. Tune in for a clear, calm framework that helps you protect your livelihood, serve your clients well, and build a more resilient business.

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, host Hunter Donia speaks to impact driven beauty professionals who feel torn between doing good and getting paid. If headlines about billionaires and broken systems have made you second guess your pricing or feel guilty about profit, this conversation will help you separate ethical business from harmful practices so you can protect your livelihood and still show up for your community. With guest Jodie Brown, Hunter breaks down the real difference between unethical capitalism and ethical leadership behind the chair.

Whether you are nervous to raise prices, managing a small team, or looking for ways to make services more accessible without burning out, this episode offers practical language, clear mindset shifts, and simple ideas you can put into action right away.

Key Takeaways:

💡 What Ethical Really Means: Understand the difference between building a healthy profit and hoarding resources at the expense of others.
 🛡 Protect Your Margin: Learn why safeguarding profit is part of your job as a CEO and how it keeps your business and clients supported long term.
 💬 Pricing With Confidence: Get scripts and mindset shifts to charge appropriately without apologizing for your value.
 🤝 Accessible Impact Ideas: Try sliding scale days, community raffles for causes, and thoughtful discounts that do not wreck your schedule or your books.
 🧠 Lead With Awareness Not Guilt: Use awareness of identity and privilege to guide decisions without getting stuck in paralysis.
 👥 If You Employ Others: Practical ways to pay fairly, listen to staff needs, and create a safe and sustainable workplace.

Why You Should Listen:

You care about people and you also want a stable income. This episode gives you permission and a plan to have both. Tune in for a grounded conversation that replaces guilt with clarity and equips you to raise prices, serve with integrity, and use your resources to create real good.

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, Hunter Donia walks you through the 2025 booking‑software landscape, breaking down why the “best” platform isn’t about the cheapest subscription or flashiest AI feature, but about how well it actually works for you and your clients.

Hunter compares today’s most talked about systems, shares the must have features that still get overlooked (hello, two‑way Google Calendar!), and explains why some all‑in‑one add‑ons may do more harm than good. You’ll leave with a clear checklist of what really matters, so you can stop stalling, start streamlining, and choose a booking tool that fuels growth instead of headaches.

Key Takeaways

• Subscription vs. ROI: Why sweating a $35‑$65 monthly fee can cost you more in lost efficiency, and how a tiny price bump covers most processing fees.
• All‑in‑One Trap: The pros and cons of beauty‑specific “everything” platforms versus open systems that integrate with Zapier and third‑party tools.
• Client‑First Functionality: The booking, rescheduling, and reminder features modern clients expect (and quick tests to see which app nails them).
• Control > Convenience: Cool new AI automations sound great, until they send the wrong promo or hike deposits for the wrong guest. Here’s how to keep the reins.
• Hunter’s 2025 Shortlist: Comb and Square up top, with Gloss Genius and Vagaro close behind, plus the personal quirks that make Hunter favor one over the others.

Why You Should Listen

If you’ve spent weeks comparing processing rates, worrying about email add‑on costs, or waiting for the “perfect” system to appear, this episode will help you cut through the noise. Learn how to evaluate software like a strategist, deliver a seamless client experience, and future‑proof your business with tech that actually supports your goals—so you can reclaim your time and focus on the work you love behind the chair.

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast Hunter Donia and cohost Jodie Brown unpack the psychology that makes a seventy‑five dollar Labubu doll sold‑out Addison Rae tickets and a last minute Yosemite campsite feel worth every penny, then translate those same forces into booking and pricing strategies behind the chair.

From limited booking windows that nudge indecisive clients to click “Book Now,” to the hidden cost of broadcasting every open slot, Hunter shares quick tweaks that turn FOMO into fully booked. You will also hear how one mastermind stylist fields fifty new‑client requests a month without burning out and get Hunter’s exact script for locking down appointments today, pulled straight from his newest training.

Key Takeaways

• Event‑based urgency: replace “anytime works” with time boxed drops like presales booking windows or targeted email blasts to push action now
• Selective availability posts: share openings only with existing clients and spotlight three headline slots rather than the whole calendar to keep demand high
• Deadlines that convert: the simple “I will hold it until 5 p.m.” request that moves a DM chat to a confirmed appointment
• Waitlists and cancellation texts: build a pathway for new clients while protecting income and boundaries
• Detach worth from calendar status: your value is not tied to being booked solid, it is about framing your offer to align with human buying bias

Why You Should Listen

If you have ever watched a fresh opening sit unclaimed or wondered how some stylists stay packed without nonstop marketing this episode delivers the consumer‑behavior playbook. Learn to introduce just enough scarcity set clear deadlines and turn each loyal guest into a magnet for future demand, all while keeping your schedule and sanity intact.

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, Hunter sits down with independent, brand‑agnostic educator Brenda Amaral to unpack the chemistry truths that help stylists cut waste, get predictable results, and stop fear‑buying shelves full of “just in case” tubes. Brenda pulls back the curtain on the tariff panic, “stock up now” messaging, and ammonia‑free buzzwords that keep colorists spending more than they need to.

From why endless glazing can actually speed up fading, to putting the “filler” directly in the bowl instead of double processing, to how a 5‑minute heated test strand can save an accidental color correction, Brenda shows how understanding base chemistry gives you freedom: leaner inventory, cleaner formulas, faster decisions, and longer‑lasting color your clients notice. They also hit the sneaky ways aerosol hairspray sabotages fresh tone before the client even checks out—and what to do instead.

Key Takeaways:

• Fear Selling vs Facts: How tariff talk and “shortage” messaging push unnecessary bulk buying—and how to audit what actually moves.
• Glossing Myth Check: Why routine clear glossing on already colored hair can swell the cuticle and flush pigment instead of “sealing” it.
• “Put the Filler in the Bowl”: Skip the dated two‑step fill—add controlled warmth directly to the target formula and verify with a quick test strand.
• Ammonia‑Free ≠ Damage‑Free: MEA and other substitutes don’t just vanish—what residue reactivation means for cumulative stress and fading.
• Hairspray: The #1 Fresh Color Killer—Why high pH + alcohol right after a service accelerates fade, and smarter finishing swaps.
• Inventory Condensing: One adaptable line + chemistry knowledge can replace rows of single‑purpose SKUs (and clear literal and mental shelf space).
• Test Strand Speed Hack: An inch of hair + a capful of developer + heat in 5 minutes beats guessing (and wasted tubes).

Why You Should Listen:

If you’re watching color costs climb, battling mid‑cycle fade, or feeling buried under duplicate shades “just in case,” this episode hands you the framework to trim inventory without trimming creativity. You’ll walk away with immediately usable tweaks—how you finish, formulate, and problem‑solve—that protect profit, boost client loyalty, and make formulation feel intentional instead of reactive. It’s not about buying a new system; it’s about finally leveraging the chemistry behind the one you already own.

Check out what Brenda has to offer with the resources below:

https://www.instagram.com/truehaireducation/

https://www.truehaireducation.com/

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, Hunter Donia and Jodie Brown break down one of the most common mistakes stylists make when trying to grow their clientele, and how it could be stopping new clients from ever finding you.

As more stylists aim to stand out with unique service offerings and specialties, it’s easy to get caught up in niche language, trendy techniques, or add-on services that don’t actually speak to what your dream client is looking for. Hunter shares why focusing too hard on what excites you, without translating it into what your client understands—can lead to missed opportunities and stalled growth.

Whether you’re launching something new, expanding your service menu, or trying to stand out in a crowded market, this episode will help you get clear on your message and connect with the people who are already searching for what you do.

Key Takeaways:

• Speak Their Language: Why the average client isn’t Googling your method and what they are searching for instead.
• Low-Hanging Fruit > Laser Facials: How to lead with the services your clients already want (and layer in your passions later).
• Specialty ≠ Confusion: The difference between strong branding and muddled messaging.
• The 80/20 Rule for Marketing: How to introduce new services without losing sight of what brings people through the door.
• Behind the Chair Strategy: Smart ways to educate and upsell without overwhelming or distracting from your core service.

Why You Should Listen:

If you’ve been promoting your passion projects and wondering why they’re not gaining traction—or if you feel torn between staying booked and staying inspired—this episode will show you how to market your business in a way that feels authentic, strategic, and sustainable. It’s not about watering down your brand. It’s about making sure your message actually reaches the people who need you most.

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, Hunter Donia and Jodie Brown open up about the all-too-familiar experience of building your beauty business from a place of fear, and how to shift toward something more empowering and sustainable.

From spiraling over client feedback to making reactive business decisions, Hunter shares his personal mindset struggles as an entrepreneur and the hard lessons that came from letting scarcity lead the way. Together, Hunter and Jodie unpack how high-stress hustle culture can sabotage your growth, and how to trade it for calm, confident, and data-backed decisions that actually stick.

Whether you’re gearing up for a price increase, launching something new, or just feeling overwhelmed by “what ifs,” this episode will help you build a business that’s driven by intention, not panic.

Key Takeaways:

• Scarcity vs. Strategy: Why acting out of fear might get fast results, but at what cost?
• Calm Is a Skill: How to self-regulate through spirals and keep your focus on the bigger picture.
• Plan, Then Pivot: The power of sticking to your strategy long enough to make it work.
• Price Increases and Panic: How to raise your rates without letting your inner critic take the wheel.
• Community & Confidence: Why you need people in your corner, and how to borrow belief when you need it most.

Why You Should Listen:

If you’ve ever made a business decision in a moment of stress (and regretted it later), this one’s for you. Learn how to shift out of survival mode and start running your beauty business from a place of grounded inspiration, clarity, and trust in yourself—even when things feel uncertain.

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, Hunter Donia and Jodie Brown unpack one of the biggest challenges stylists are facing in 2025: feeling maxed out with nothing to show for it.

If you’re working nonstop but your income, energy, or momentum aren’t growing—it’s probably not because you’re lazy. It’s because you’re spending your time in the wrong places (and no one ever taught you what the right ones are).

Hunter breaks down how to start treating your time like your most valuable resource, how to identify the biggest time sucks in your business, and what he’s doing on the Modern Hairstylist Tour to help stylists reclaim their time, income, and freedom behind the chair.

Key Takeaways:

• Where Your Time Is Actually Going: The hidden drains most stylists don’t realize are slowing them down
• Focus Over Frustration: Why doing less is usually the answer to getting more results
• Time vs. Money: How to shift your mindset and your strategy for sustainable growth
• Smarter, Not Harder: The tools Hunter’s teaching on tour to streamline the day-to-day—including how AI can help without taking over

Why You Should Listen:

If you’re an independent stylist who’s exhausted from doing it all and still not seeing progress, this episode will help you pinpoint where your time and energy should be going next. Whether you’re rebuilding, scaling, or just trying to get your life back—this conversation will give you the clarity and direction to finally make your hard work count.

Checkout the LAST TWO dates of the Modern Hairstylist Tour here: https://www.hunterdonia.com/tour

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In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, Hunter Donia and Jodie Brown talk through a deep dive into the real way hairstylists should be using AI in their business and what to avoid if you want your content to still sound like you.

After airing out their AI frustrations in a recent episode, "Why ChatGPT is Trash," Hunter and Jodie are back with a more strategic conversation about how tools like ChatGPT can actually save you time and make your marketing easier—without compromising your brand voice or client connection.

From better prompts to the exact model Hunter uses daily, this episode will help you cut through the cringe, stop getting robotic results, and finally start using AI in a way that feels good and works.

Key Takeaways:

• Free vs Paid ChatGPT: Why the version you use matters way more than you think, and how to get better results instantly.
• Stop Sounding Like a Bot: Hunter’s simple shift to make AI write like you, not every other stylist on Instagram.
• Better Prompts = Better Content: The 3 prompt tweaks that instantly improve your captions, emails, and more.
• Think Like a Strategist: Why AI shouldn’t replace your brain but can help you organize, polish, and execute faster.
• Personal Use Bonus: How Hunter uses ChatGPT to plan meals, prep grocery lists, and reduce overwhelm in everyday life.

Why You Should Listen:

If you’re an independent stylist who's feeling burnt out by content creation—or if you’ve tried ChatGPT and hated the results—this episode will show you how to use AI intentionally and strategically to get your time (and voice) back. It’s not about cutting corners. It’s about cutting the fluff and building a smarter, more streamlined business behind the scenes.

🎧 Want Hunter’s full list of 30 ways to use AI in your personal and professional life? Head to hunterdonia.com/chat or DM him AITools (no space) on Instagram

Checkout the LAST TWO dates of the Modern Hairstylist Tour here: https://www.hunterdonia.com/tour

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