There are definitely levels to this barber life. It’s literally running a business with minimum guidance from outside factors. From the start we are pretty much self employed and building a brand (our name) from the ground up. Life as a barber comes with balancing home life, cutting hair and building a business when you’re not behind the chair.
In the beginning it was wake up, cut hair, head home to shower sleep and do it all over again. For me, I knew I wouldn’t do this forever but to have money coming in was a real gamechanger for me and my family. Expanding from behind the chair was the goal but the how was a bit of a mystery. Before we get into that, lets go over how to balance home life, perfect your craft of cutting hair and building a business.
Balancing Home Life as a Barber
As I stated above, in the beginning there was a minimum balance. When starting off, it’s understandable that a lot of time and energy will be going into the brand. Be sure to take at least a day or two to spend with family or reset from the grind of the days before. The last thing you want to do is start something you love, enjoy, or are just good at and burn out due to not dividing your time. Here’s a list of things you can do to reset or take a break from the work week.
I’m sure you’ve heard that everyone’s process or journey is different. That is 100% true. While I’m sharing advice and tips remember that your life as a barber may be completely different from mine. Work hard for those 5-6 days and take a step back for 1-2. Sometimes great ideas come from taking a step away and returning with fresh eyes.
Perfecting your Craft
Cutting hair is what’s going to get the ball rolling. The better your are at it, the more you’ll attract new clients and the existing ones will stick around. Invest in perfecting your technique, knowledge and efficiency.
One way this can be done is by practicing techniques on yourself or family and friends. There are tons of YouTube videos and classes that can be taken to get a better understanding of what you’re trying to achieve. Once you have an area perfected, you can continue to build on top of that. You can also refer to YouTube and in person classes to learn more about hair textures, types and much more.
Building a Business
Now that you’ve mastered the first two, you can dedicated time to expand your brand. Expansion can come in many different forms. It can be launching a product line that benefits the barber and client, opening a barber shop to provide a space for new barbers that are building clientele or starting a YouTube channel to help teach others how to cut hair.
My next step was YouTube. You may be familiar with the Gamechanger YouTube channel. I started it to share how I transform clients haircuts. Next, I got into breaking down my process step by step so that others could feel more confident in the hair cutting process.
Whatever your process may be, take the time to really be present and invest in the three tips that were provided above.