Self employed breaks

[surf girl]

After reading a post earlier about giving juniors breaks, I thought about how my working day goes, then I wondered about yours. How many of you actually give yourselves breaks during your working day?

I'm notoriously bad at taking breaks, I think it's because I work 9.30 - 5pm I fit the whole day back to back with clients and there's no room left for a break! I don't work later at the mo because my kids are still at home and I don't want to miss the evening with them, I'll blink soon and they'll all be gone, so I'm keeping my hours like this for now.

So I'm curious, how many of you take breaks?

 

[suzanne20f]

I try to mark out a gap each day between 12-2, even just half an hr and eat lunch, or id just keel over. I grab cups of tea if i have spare 5 mins.

 

[Nettic]

I have no breaks and eat whenever I can find a slot. [emoji123][emoji87][emoji85]

 

[noreenoconnor]

When I first started out on my own I was terrible for marking out breaks, I would work back to back for sometimes 12-13 hours with no breaks at all, It was madness!

I actually damaged my health by doing this and ended up in hospital for 2 days... and over a year later am still having health problems it was a serious wake up call, and then I realised that you get no thanks for squeezing people in last minute, or working back to back or missing breaks so simply stopped doing it.

I mark out 1 hour for a 9 hour day and 1 hour, and 30 mins for my 12 hour days and I can tell you my work life is so much more enjoyable! I also have more respect from my clients because if I can't fit them in last minute they know I'm busy and start booked in advance with much more notice!

Stress is a big killer in many forms, I was speaking to a client today who's friend is a hairdresser and she just got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at only 32, there's nothing they can do for her and she is conviced its due to the stress of working back to back with minimal breaks!

Your health is your wealth girls, mark out your breaks and stick to them xx

 

[Nettic]

I personally don't mind not having breaks I never stay late and my clients always book there appointments in advance as they know I very rarely have last minute slots they can be booked into. Xxxx

 

[sally40]

After reading a post earlier about giving juniors breaks, I thought about how my working day goes, then I wondered about yours. How many of you actually give yourselves breaks during your working day?

I'm notoriously bad at taking breaks, I think it's because I work 9.30 - 5pm I fit the whole day back to back with clients and there's no room left for a break! I don't work later at the mo because my kids are still at home and I don't want to miss the evening with them, I'll blink soon and they'll all be gone, so I'm keeping my hours like this for now.

So I'm curious, how many of you take breaks?

I don't take breaks as would rather start later or finish earlier but if I do get a gap in the day it's great to pop home x

 

[Grace_Hair]

I usually have a 10 min gap somewhere in the day to munch some sweets [emoji23]

I don't tend to bother with breaks. Although I do with once a month/every two months I might take 2 hours off to be a lady what lunches...

 

[Lauren121]

I would be making sure I give myself at least half hour to sit down and have something to eat even more so after my recent experience.

Getting diagnosed with coeliac disease put a massive strain on my health without me realising as I wasn't getting nutrients I needed. at the time I didn't know what was wrong so I just ate once a day sometimes. From this I'd got myself so run down I was constantly getting a cold or feeling tired. I ended up in hospital having major surgery cos one little thing turned into something life threatening that someone with my health shouldn't have got!

So from this if I ever went back into salon environment full time I would be putting my foot down and making sure I got the breaks I need like @noreenoconnor said was a wake up call as it seriously scared me!

 

[Trashqueen]

I don't tend to book in a proper lunch break, just eat whenever. If I can get a colour/cut booked in around the lunchtime mark, I do tend to eat whilst its developing.

 

[surf girl]

A variety of responses! seems we collectively don't look after ourselves until it's too late health wise!

 

[Cindy2021]

I have no breaks however that's my 3 little angels off school for 7 weeks and they were feral for a few days so I'm now part time again and looking forward to a day off tomorrow.

 

[fluffy26]

I eat & drink (not alcohol!) in the car, on the drive between clients that's my break! X

 

[Gina Ballerina]

Tomorrow i am working 10-8 (salon based) and am back to back from start to finish. It's standard, the same the next day. It's not ideal but it's how I roll x

 

[Gina Ballerina]

I often book 30 mins for lunch but if someone wants a Hollywood it's gone. It's Summer, make hay while the sun shines

 

[rachirv]

I don't take breaks neither. I work school hours, so I just grab something if I get chance between clients. I'm lucky tat we have a sandwich shop next door to the salon so I can always grab something quickly x

 

[Redduck]

I must be the queen of breaks [emoji23]. I work from home so don't like clients to overlap and I leave 30 minutes between each client. Allowing for taking payment, booking in next appointment and writing up consultation sheets that leaves me a good 20 minutes where I just sit and read or potter around the veg plot in the garden. I do use this time for accounts / ordering products sometimes so that is always up to date.

I used to work in an unrelated field and did 70 hour weeks and became very ill. When I changed to what I do now I decided to give myself the luxury of a stress free life though I do realise I'm very lucky to be able to work like this.

Sometimes I start at 830 and finish at 8. Sometimes I do work over 6 days. But the breaks keep me going. It also helps that my children are older now.

 

[ArabianBeauty]

I used to work without breaks, sometimes 12 hour days, after working for 4 weeks straight with no days off and no breaks when I first opened my studio I literally collapsed with exhaustion... Now I leave at least 20 mins between appointments so I can sit and have a rest and have some food/water.. I used to feel bad not fitting ppl in last minute but my health is way more important and my clients understand this now.

 

[sam@tonic]

When I first started self employed 7 years ago I hadn't learnt to say 'no' yet so would book myself 12 hour days with no breaks because I felt guilty turning people away. I knew I needed a break but it just never happened. I would turn up to work and literally dread the day ahead. I was also always sick, cold, cough, you name it. After about 6 months I realised that I had to learn to start saying 'no' and putting a time limit on my days and having at least half an hour break. Now I feel much better about my working day, very rarely sick and feel quite happy to keep my break in the diary. On the very rare occasion I cancel my break but it will only be if someone is completely desperate and I know they will appreciate it.
You really do get no thanks otherwise and I think I need to look after myself before I can do a decent job of looking after anyone else.
Also getting older and definitely can't work as fast paced as I used! The joys.....

 

[surf girl]

Just saw this & it reminded me of this thread! I am guilty of this!

 

[courtjb91]

I don't book myself out a break. However I always usually finish my extensions with time to spare. I'm terrible for booking out too much time for my clients as I worry about running over. As of yet I never have run over, usually finish before my allowed time so I usually end up getting maybe 3 x 30 minutes breaks plus a few 10 minutes here and there. I did think about making the appointments shorter so I could fit another client in each day but I'm such a worrier I'd feel too stressed about time keeping!