Every time I get my haircut I have the same thought…
How much money is this lady (or man) making?
I get my haircut often (once every 2-3 weeks) and I’ve tried all the places around town.
The big chains like Great Clips and Judes. I’ve also tried the locally owned salons and barber shops.
Most of them suck. The stylists almost always seem like they are just waiting for the day to get done so they can get outta there.
Not all though. The one I’ve started going to of late is a place called “Ya Man”. Owned by a guy named Yasim.
This guy is a character. He reminds me of someone who would be cast on the show “The Blacklist”.
Here’s a pic of he and I… (bit of a story behind why I have a picture with my barber but of no pertinence to this post)
He has a very unique style. Always dressed to the nines. Always clean looking. And always cheerful.
He has made cutting hair his thing.
He takes care to make the interior of his barbershop is clean and unique looking.
He and all of his barbers take pride in cutting hair. Even the way that they do the cutting is, pardon the pun, a cut above the rest.
And he gets paid well for it.
Normally, a hair cut costs $18-$20 plus a tip.
Not at Ya Man. It costs $30.
And, unless you make an appt weeks in advance, you can’t just walk in and have Yasim cut your hair. Because his entire day is booked.
Contrast this with the stylist at Great Clips. Often times when you walk into one of these salons, the stylist is sitting in her chair, on her phone, just waiting for someone to walk in. Or hoping it’s close to time to go home… And probably stressing about not making enough money.
Which is tough. There really is no way they are making enough money to keep up with today’s prices. Arguably not enough even to live on.
But every time I’m sitting in a chair I try to think about what I would do if I were a haircutting person. If that were my livelihood, what would I do to be the absolute best hair-cutting person in town?
Certainly, there are actions I could take to make myself IN DEMAND.
First step would be to become the most requested person at the salon that I work for, obviously. Doing this is stylist 101.
How?
Well, I’ve never been and will never be a hair stylist so these are just guesses, but…
- Enthusiastic – being super welcoming whenever someone comes in the door.
- Reading the customer – is this someone who is not only here for a haircut but is also here for the conversation? Or, conversely, is this someone who is ONLY here for a haircut and will actually be annoyed by non-stop conversation (me)? This one is so easy to figure out but 9 out of 10 stylists would never give a second thought to it. They either gab non stop to someone who doesn’t want to gab (me), or they barely talk when the client is there for the conversation as much as they are for the groom job.
- Clean appearance – obviously, you are going to be up in peoples’ business ALL DAY so you better be dressed nice, smell good and not have nasty breath.
- Unique – make your “style” something consistent and memorable. Not annoying and attention seeking but something that defines you and sets you apart from Martha, Sandy, and Patricia who are cutting hair at the chairs beside you. Something like Yasim, the guy who cuts my hair. He is always dressed as if he were headed to a wedding afterwards.
- Lock em in – Not physically, in the building, but lock them in as YOUR customer. When you’re done cutting, ask them how you did. Ask if there’s anything you could have done different or better. And, most importantly, ask them if they’d like to book with YOU again for the next hair cut.
These 5 things alone would go a long ways toward making you the MVP at your chain salon.
And this is, obviously, only step 1.
The ultimate goal is to build a list of loyal and repeat customers that, when they are needing a cut, they want YOU and only you.
This enables you to say c-ya later to Great Clips and get into renting your own chair space at a salon that offers such a service and then you are booking YOUR OWN clients, on YOUR OWN schedule, and at YOUR OWN prices.
There’s a LOT that goes into getting to this point but if this is your career, it should be a very worthwhile goal to work towards. And, if you’re any good at all at your job, should be pretty freakin easy to achieve.
Why?
Because NOBODY does it.
When you go to “school” to learn to cut hair you learn just that, how to cut hair.
They don’t do anything to teach you about how to become an in demand hair cutter. Or how to brand yourself as the best hair cutter in town.
Here’s what I’d do if I started a job at Great clips today (assuming I already learned and knew how to cut hair):
- Thing 1-5 above. Duh.
- Buy a domain name. Either my own personal name or something else.
- kurtboumabarber.com
- kurtcuts.com
- GRhaircutter.com
- cutsforkids.com
- cutsfor seniors.com
- etc
You get the idea here. Pick something, and potentially a niche of some sort, and get a site locked down.
3. Go on upwork or fiverr and find someone to design a logo for $50
4. Go back on upwork or fiverr and find someone to use that logo to design and launch a 1-2 page website for $200.
- On that website I would have a few photos of me cutting hair.
- I would have a description of why I love cutting hair so much
- I would have 3 or so “testimonials” from clients I’ve cut hair for which would be super easy to get since I am cutting hair everyday.
- A sign up form to get people on my email list. $5 off the next hair cut as bribe to get them to sign up
- I would then post or email something short 5 days a week about my hair cutting endeavors. Doesn’t have to be long. Just something to stay in front of people.
- Eventually, I would have the designer/developer integrate a booking calendar so that people could sign up for hair cuts with me through my website (you would need to have found the local salon where you can rent chair time by this point).
5. I would make cutting hair my obsession. My goal would be to be the most in demand hair cutter in town. The hair cutter people tell their friends about. The hair cutter people specifically want to cut their hair.
And, you probably would NOT become your town’s most sought after hair cutter. Because that is a pretty lofty goal with so many hair cutters out there.
BUT, if this was your goal and you were actually working towards it, even if you don’t achieve it, you can bet you will be light years ahead of all the other folks who are just mindlessly taking walk in customers on the floor at Great clips.
Right?
Anyways, that was my thought for today.
Peace,
Kurt – random idea man – Bouma
