The Starting Messy Podcast

Click here to get on the Industry: UNPLUGGED Retreat Waitlist This week on The Starting Messy Podcast, I'm pulling back the curtain on something I don't usually get vulnerable about — the stuff that's actually gone right for me. I'm walking you through exactly how I took my Industry Unplugged retreat from an idea in my head to (nearly) sold out in under six months, and the three things that made i...

In 2019, I was a year into running my own suite — thriving on paper, lonely in reality. I didn't have anyone around me who understood where I was trying to go, and that kind of isolation messes with your confidence more than people talk about. Then I found a retreat on Instagram, marketed as "summer camp for hairstylists," and something in me said go. I flew alone for the first time. Slept in a ro...

Misty is calling out something nobody warns you about: the decision to change is almost always harder than the change itself. She takes you inside two of her own — quitting drinking, which took a full year of stressing, questioning, and mourning the “party girl” identity before she ever said her last drink, and growing out her natural gray at 41, which meant two weeks of tears, research, and askin...

At 41, after coloring her roots every two weeks for over two decades, Misty made the decision to grow out her natural gray. In this solo episode, she gets brutally honest about what came up in the first month — not just the logistics of the grow-out, but the much bigger thing underneath it: how much she was still outsourcing her sense of pretty, her sense of okay, to other people's opinions. When...

Last week's episode was about living in survival mode — this week, Misty gets specific about how survival mode actually runs your hairstyling business without you even noticing. If you've ever people-pleased your way into a schedule you hate, felt too guilty to charge what you're worth, or avoided a conversation because conflict feels unbearable, this episode is your mirror. Misty walks through th...

This week, Misty gets more personal than usual. She's told you about getting out of debt. She's told you about leaving the chair to become a coach. But she hasn't told you the full story of going from a hyper-independent, angry teenager to the personal development junkie she is today — and the patterns she had to let go of to get there. This episode is about the protective patterns that used to ke...

This week on The Starting Messy Podcast, I'm sitting down with Ambrosia Carey — salon owner, business consultant , and host of the Successful Stylist Academy podcast — for a conversation that started with a single word swap that changed everything for me. I've been talking about confidence on this show for a long time. Ambrosia showed me it was never confidence I was chasing. It was certainty. We...

Industry: UNPLUGGED Retreat Get Details HERE I did an experiment: leave my phone at home for a 10-hour music festival and see what happens. Here's the thing — I wasn't scared of getting lost. I was scared of who I'd be without something to check, capture, or Google. So today I'm telling you exactly what happened when I unplugged — and why it's the whole reason Industry Unplugged exists. As hairsty...

Industry: UNPLUGGED Retreat click here for details You give your clients calm, presence, and a space where they feel safe enough to take their masks off. But who’s building that space for you? In this episode/ Instagram LIVE replay, Misty sits down with salon owner and identity coach Kelly Cahen for a friend-to-friend conversation about the most important asset in your business — you. Not your ski...

Join us in Costa Rica for the Industry: UNPLUGGED Retreat April 2027 In this episode I’m sitting down with Janean, The Healing Therapist — a hairstylist of 22 years, a yoga teacher of 10, and the woman I asked to lead all the movement at our Costa Rica Industry Unplugged Retreat. This one is full circle in the best way, because Janean first found this podcast when money was her whole story, and no...

Industry: UNPLUGGED Retreat Learn more here You built the thing. The salon, the clientele, the reputation. From the outside, you made it — and somewhere in the last few years, something got quiet. Not falling apart. Just… missing. You can’t quite hear yourself anymore. Here’s the thing nobody tells you about being the person everyone trusts to have it together: you hold so much. All day, every day...

Let's work together: www.mistyjayne.com In this episode, Misty cracks open something that took her a year to understand — the work was never about moving through the bad stuff. It was about learning how to feel safe in the good stuff. So many of the stylists she works with think they need fixing. They’re booked out, they’re great at what they do, they’re hitting every success mark society told the...

Click for more about Industry: UNPLUGGED Retreat Costa Rica 2027 Check out our past episode: More than just customer service ON APPLE and SPOTIFY In this episode, Misty sits down with her friend and returning guest Spencer Stout @spencerlaineartistry — colorist, boundary-setter, and the woman who proves that saying no to the wrong clients is actually a business strategy. But today they're not talk...

Let's work together! www. Mistyjayne.com In this solo episode, Misty gets real about the exhausting cycle that keeps hairstylists and salon owners stuck — chasing the next goal in hopes it delivers the peace they’re craving — and why that strategy keeps backfiring. Then she breaks down the exact practices she uses to give her overworked brain a genuine break — no crystals required. This one’s for...

What happens when two former party girls — both hairstylists, both moms, both done playing small — sit down and get real? You get this episode. Misty is joined by Kat, known as The Anti-Hairdresser , for one of those conversations that goes absolutely everywhere — and somehow lands exactly where it needs to. Kat is a UK-based color technician, educator, and social media coach for hairdresser moms...

In this episode, Misty sits down with Annie Fisher : salon owner, career stylist, and author of Love Is in the Hair: A Journey of Setbacks, Scissors, and Self-Worth. These two met for the very first time on this podcast, and it felt like two business besties finally finding each other. Annie opens up about what it actually means to call yourself a career stylist (not "just a stylist"), how she nav...

What happens when a hairstylist gets tired of feeling tied down — and decides to do something about it? Leisha did not just change her schedule. She sold her house, moved into an RV with her husband, two dogs, and a cat, drove to a city where she knew nobody, and started walking into salons with a stack of papers and an idea nobody had ever heard of. That idea? Traveling Hairstylist — a first-of-i...

In this episode, I’m the guest on the Out of Step Podcast with my friend and coach Andrew Carruthers , and we go deep on something I know so many of you hairstylists and salon owners feel but rarely talk about: the invisible boxes we build around ourselves, and what it actually costs us to stay inside them. We talk about what happened in 2020 when everything that I thought made me “Me” was suddenl...

Get on the waitlist for the Costa Rica 2027 Retreat If you've been feeling like you're doing all the right things — taking the courses, going to the shows, following the educators — and still feel like something's missing, this episode is for you. Misty is talking directly to the stylist or salon owner who has already built something worth loving, but finds themselves buried under everyone else's...

If you've been wondering whether your AI use is helping or quietly hurting your business — this episode is the one you didn't know you needed. Misty sits down with her longtime friend, branding and marketing educator Jodie Brown, for a candid, no-shame conversation about how we're using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude — and what we might be losing in the process. Jodie is a 15-year hairstylist-tu...

Learn More at www. Mistyjayne.com In this solo episode, Misty gets honest about the one thing that separates the burnt-out in-demand stylist from the happy, peaceful, in-demand stylist: the inner work that happens before you ever walk through the salon door. This isn’t about a new booking system or a price increase strategy. This is about YOU. Because the calm atmosphere, the clear communication,...

Apply to work with me HERE In this raw and honest episode, Misty breaks down the dark side of self-awareness that nobody talks about: how awareness without action stops being a growth tool and starts becoming your identity. If you've ever caught yourself saying "I know I need to raise my prices," "I know I need to set boundaries," "I know I need to look at my numbers" — and then done absolutely no...

Do you ever feel lonely — not the "I'm home alone" kind of loneliness, but the deeper kind? The kind where you're surrounded by people but can't find anyone who gets your ambitions, your struggles, or your desire to grow? In this episode, Misty Jayne gets real about the funk she found herself in last year — and what she did to pull herself out of it. Whether you're a hairstylist in a suite feeling...

What happens when the business blueprint isn’t enough? In this raw and honest conversation, Misty Jayne sits down with seven-figure entrepreneur, published author, and salon owner Kelly Cahen to talk about the pivot that changes everything — not just in your business, but in how you see yourself. Kelly built two thriving hair salons and spent years coaching other salon owners on systems, financial...

Looking for support Mastering Your Mess: Apply here If you’re a hairstylist or salon owner who loves personal development, this episode might feel like a little bit of a wake-up call. In this episode , Misty is sharing the perspective that took her years to understand: personal growth isn’t about controlling everything. It’s about learning how to respond differently when they show up.