Post: #1

Any barbers on the forum?

I am thinking about a career change. I work in the construction field for a local city government job. We do it all. From drywall to concrete, plumbing and carpentry.

I am burnt out on it. It's great being surrounded by all guys and not having a filter. No limits on what can be said. Moving around all over the city. Not being monitored by a boss. Take lunch whenever I feel like it. Have my own truck... Being able to fix just about anything. Working with city officials and all that jazz. I've been with them for 9 years.

I'm tired of it. I don't like the city I'm in and it's almost impossible to go from city to city. Its all about knowing fathers, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters. I would like to to move to the west coast. The thought of living in this city for the next 20-30 years just for a pension is a crazy to me... A city I have no desire for...

I have have a side business building wood furniture and selling on Etsy... that's where my passion is at.... Other than that, I don't feel like being around the construction field...

So I was thinking about becoming a barber. Surrounded by all guys. Make your own hours. Come and go as you please. A trade you can take anywhere with you. Low stress. Check out the Nomad Barber on Youtube. Cut hair, chill and shoot the breeze with your boys. Hair grows even during a recession.

All I want to do is hit the west coast. Surf. BJJ. Make my furniture and create my art.

Any barbers on the forum? How do you like it? What do you do for insurance? How is the pay? Enough to make a solid living? What's a typical day like?

Mucho gracias gents...

Post: #2

The barber down the street from where I live is the coolest cat I know. Sometimes he has beer and cookouts when the business is slow.

Post: #3

That's what I'm talking... They are usually all really cool dudes.. The one I went to back in the day before I start doing my own fades was a barbershop and a bar.... pretty dope... I heard a buddy of mine talking about a barbershop and a strip joint rolled into one.. Don't know if he was just blowing smoke up my ass or what not... but sounded like a pretty badass idea

Post: #4

https://www.google.com/maps/place/SB+Bar...0d!6m1!1e1

This is the coolest barbershop I have ever been to. Right in downtown Santa Barbara. All cool guys. They offer a free beer while getting your haircut. Sports on always and good music. Everyone is laughing the entire time. They sell expensive sneakers in a glass case too. Good decor, glass store front window.

These guys all seem extremely happy at work.

Sounds like it could be your paradise job there. Santa Barbara also has plenty of stores for rich people to spend money on their hideaway mansions and real estate. Santa Barbara is one of the world's top locations for the rich to store money in real estate that will always be expensive and valuable. Therefore your custom furniture side hustle could be a big deal if you get in with all the trophy wives wanting to doll up their mansions.

Now get out here and be my new barber damn it.

Post: #5

I've also considered doing what you are talking about. It wouldn't be hard to build rapport with customers and then gain popularity through word of mouth since you would be the real deal after all. From there, it's just tailoring the joint to match your style I figure.

Only issue, you need a barber license or something correct?

Post: #6

I get my haircut with a friend from high school school we've known each other for a long time, awesome guy.

He charges 30$ a haircut now and is permanently booked. Takes about an hour on each haircut. He always opens up some room when I need a cut last time I went he told me he keeps upping the prices because he has too many appointments

Post: #7

I'm not a barber but I've noticed a surge in popularity with barber shops. There's a few in Bangkok even. A couple more focused on hip hop style, and 1-2 more hipster type spots that do cut and shave. I hear they do great work. Also give you whiskey with your cut.

But, if building wood furniture is your passion, why not do that? If you do good work you can definitely make a good living in a field like this.

Post: #8

There's a barber shop beside my crib in Colombia. They blare rap music all day and dress like gangsters. They have a pool table in there and a jukebox.

There is always some hot women in there hanging out.

I also like it when they pull out the disposable razor blades and go to town on the whole hairline trying to get it perfect. Much better than the 70 year old who can only do a buzz cuts because his hands are shaking too much.

Post: #9

I don't cut hair but I know dudes who do and know dudes who have gone in and opened up their own shops. The money these guys make varies wildly, if your just having your own chair and taking clients then you hustle just like any other independent contractor in making sure you got enough business during the week to make money.

The other side is going in and opening your own shop, which is very easy to do for the most part depending on how rigid the city/county you are in is in regards to licenses and permits. Every shop has its own set up, but you can either just rent out chairs or convince your good barbers into a profit share where you give them a bigger cut/small equity share as incentive for them to get in more business to the shop. My homie opened a shop but turned into a hustler as he was chasing away his HS friends who were not getting that much business.

When your doing things on you own I would just get your skills up to the point you can host people in your home, or you make house calls. As dudes will know, you will travel and take time for a quality hair cut, and this can be especially lucrative if you can tailor it to a high-end group of dudes (this is the only way to truly get ahead IMO in any type of personal independent service gig.. personal chef.. personal assistant.. personal trainer.. personal barber .. all while charging rich people a hefty premium for your skills).

Depending on where you end up there may be a surplus of shoppes. Its the cool thing to do right now, barber shops are opening up all over the place. Its all just a millennial bubble as young people are splurging on shit since money is cheap right now, it won't last. But quality barbers will never go away, there is a reason you see old Jewish, Jamaican, and Dominican guys cutting hair until they are 60, the work is relaxing and you build up a loyal base that will never leave you.

Make sure you have skills or a niche to give you staying power, you are right that hair grows no matter what but the truth is when I am broke I get a hair cut once a month, versus 2-3 when I got my money up. People cut back. The only recession proof industries are liquor and tabacco which increase due to the stress of a recession.

In a perfect world you could probably get away with opening a live/work space where you life in a loft/studio, build your furniture there in a work space, and cut hair in chair out front. You could have enough space to throw parties and shit too:




Basement:

Post: #10

I've frequented a barbershop since I was about 17. The man finally retired at 90 years old and now I go to his protege. I've made some decent business connections through the place, and I think I will always go to one.

That being said, there seem to be a few types of barbers and it is best if you specialize. There are the ethnic barbers usually centered in ethnic neighborhoods. There are the hipster barbers. There are the everyday/old man barbers. Figure out which category you want to (or are able to) focus on and make that your niche. I think this is an area where it pays to specialize in one area. Generalists won't do great (unless you think working at supercuts is great).

Post: #11

I've cut my own hair on and off for about 7 years so it has always been on the back of my mind and I have a decent foundation for the basics(obvious not enough to do it without real training).

One thing I will say is

a) Everyone has been opening barbershops up in the past few years
b) Most of them suck

The Jersey Shore style fades are out of style which means guys aren't running in every 2 weeks for touchups. This means lots of this places have been closing and or hurting.


So if you are good you can find your niche most likely. All the best barbers I know get a decent amount of business but it requires a hustle im sure.

Post: #12

Listening to you guys talk about barbers like this, I have to wonder if I am in a boring town? Most of the hair shops here are either salons or generalist.

Post: #13

In my entire life I have had one girl who cut my hair nicely. Other then that I've walked out unsatisfied so mant times that I gave up. Thus I cut my own hair and get lots of compliments.

About drinking whiskey or beer in barber shops. Been there done that, I prefer somebody who is working on my hair in a sober environment.

Post: #14

Here are two angled I have experienced:

1. "Lifestyle Barber". I went to one hair cutting place, not a barbershop, that had something called 'buzzclub' on thursday nights. It was from 5 to 8pm, men's haircuts for something like $10 and they had the apprentices and staff men there. They would blast music, and have drinks and you'd get a haircut before going out to the bar...they were on the college strip. The other lifestyle barber I know is a guy that went to barber college after he retired and bought a retiring barber's shop. The painted glass on the door to the shop says "Open Tuesday + Wed Closed Often" It is a supreme old man barbershop and I love it there. The guy just does it because he likes it, and makes about $30k/year...thats for being open 2 days/week, so not bad

2. "Baller Barber" I have only seen this once, in a small canadian city, These 3 straight young italian guys opened up a hair salon that I got my hair cut at for many years. Men's cuts were good and cheap but the majority of clients were women. These guys took their craft seriously, they have an entire wall of the shop that is full of championship trophies from hair shows and they charge bitches an arm and a leg to get their hair done there. They all live very well, drive sports cars to work, have super hot wives or girlfriends (perfect pipeline) and the best part is that they teach part time at the local hair school. From the hair school they apprentice the absolute hottest interns you have ever seen....because they are the 'best shop in town'. I started going there when they first opened and was a regular customer for about 10 years so I'd always get the "Hey, Doc Howard, you're going to love this. HEY ALEXA (or other stripper name) COME WASH UP DOC HOWARD" and some goregous 18 or 19 year old would come out of the back and do the prep work. The owner would just sort of chuckle to himself when he'd come over to cut my hair or say something like "I know right!"

Thats the thing, if you were to be serious about cutting hair, especially women's. The money is better and who is your competition? Women and Fags (who are just like women) that are for the most part lazy about their craft or have little sense of business acumen.

Post: #15

Another nice thing about being a barber is it's usually a cash business.

Post: #16

(11-11-2015 09:56 PM)Onto Wrote:  Another nice thing about being a barber is it's usually a cash business.

The flip side is that there are only so many hours in the day. It's hard to make more than an average living I'd have thought.

I'm inclined to think that the OP should be focussing on the furniture. There is a business that can make big bucks.

Post: #17

(11-11-2015 07:51 PM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  have super hot wives or girlfriends (perfect pipeline) and the best part is that they teach part time at the local hair school. From the hair school they apprentice the absolute hottest interns you have ever seen

I posted this in another thread but IMO Hedi Klum was one of the best looking females on the planet in the late 90s. As close to a 10 as you can get. She ends up marrying her much older hair stylist. Social circle is still the best way to get the highest possible girls and hair is a direct line into that.

Post: #18

Go to Montreal for that..its the beard capital of the world it seems this year.

Post: #19

Beware of feminist regulations forcing you to provide services for women as well as men. I hear that's quite the rage nowadays.

Post: #20

(11-13-2015 05:47 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  Beware of feminist regulations forcing you to provide services for women as well as men. I hear that's quite the rage nowadays.

I guess that could be solved by making a few "mistakes" here and there with your first female client.



"Natalie Portman you say? I'll give you Natalie Portman you little bitch..."


Word would spread quickly.


On a more serious note:

OP you say you're sick of the city, so why not move to where you want to be first, while doing what you're good at and then later change careers if you still feel like it.

While working your old job in the new city you can already do some networking, maybe do an internship on saturdays.

I don't know about the US but here in Germany barbers are probably THE absolute worst paid occupation there is. And while hair does grow during recession especially men will go for the cheapest available option.
So just be aware of that. It's not a reason not to do it, but maybe ask around a little. Even the greatest passion can become a burden when you just can't seem to get by with what you earn from it.

Post: #21

Bump, anyone doing this? After this thread () I've been thinking about barber school.

If the oilfield finally gives me the boot, I'll be looking at apprenticeship programs. Seems like a great deal for forum guys. Work 3 days a week, on your feet, talking with dudes, instilling the patriarchy, with plenty of days off to build internet business. I know a guy who used to cut hair on the rigs for extra cash. He got laid off, took his license to a local shop, and started working full-time.