Back when I was about 19-20 years old, I discovered internet marketing. I was even more young and naive than I am now at 25, so I got sucked into the whole make money online (MMO) universe. I did SEO, Shopify, tried amazon, was going to start a marketing agency, and thought that I wanted to be a MMO guru. I took a bunch of expensive courses, and ultimately ended up in almost the exact same position: Living with my parents and working at a restaurant.
Now when you're 18, it's cute to live with your parents and have a shitty job, when you're a 25 year old college dropout, it's starting to become a bit sad. I had been hiding behind the "struggling entrepreneur" excuse for 2-3 years prior. But in reality, I spent my free time procrastinating, watching youtube videos, and wasting a lot of time. My job was also largely a waste of time. Sure it paid the bills, but it's a thankless, unfulfilling job.
I actually dealt with what I assume was depression for the first time in my life. I wasn't hopeless, I was very ambitious and excited for the future. I wasn't bed ridden. But I started to feel like I was walking around in a fog most days. The days, weeks and months seemingly disappeared. Weeks turned into amorphous vague blobs of time. It was the same schedule, same job, same people, same shitty traffic 6 days a week. And for what? I realized this job was not my means to an entrepreneurial end, as it had started. It had become a "career" path.
As my 25th birthday approached, I started to take inventory of my life. I started my entrepreneurial journey when I was a teenager, and now coming up on 25, I didn't have much to show. I had lessons learned, but those didn't pay the bills.
This year has given me a long time to think about what I wanted. Sometimes it can be scary to think about what you actually want, because it can go against your current identity. I realized the romantic relationship I was in was on the fast track to nowhere, and it had been for a while. I was clinging on to the past, and my past identity. I wanted to make a new one for my self, and some things had to go. The relationship was one of them.
It's scary to be alone sometimes. You see happy couples (who maybe aren't so happy, you never know), and you get a bit lonely. But the alone time allowed me to think about what I wanted in life.
The conclusion I came to was this: I wanted to become a Barber.
This freaked me out. I was 24 years old, I had never cut hair in my life, and this was totally out of the norm for the identity I had given my self. I thought I was the internet marketing, make money from my laptop type of person. But I realized that lifestyle was a bit lonely for me. I had discovered I liked talking to people, and I felt good in social settings. I was an introvert as a kid, so the challenge of making new friends excited me.
I realized I couldn't do that from my office behind a computer all day. I had to be out in the community.
I also realized that I had outgrown almost all of my previous friendships. The girl I was dating was basically just covering up the reality that I felt I had no one in my life that I could relate to anymore.
As a barber, you're always working with people, and you're a part of the community. I've made plenty of new friends and connections at barber school, and they're people who share a common interest. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm apart of something.
So why did I make such a drastic change? I remember when I told people, they were confused. They said " I thought you were the digital marketing guy"
Well I decided to take this path for a few reasons. The first is I was very interested in it. I spent hours a day watching haircut tutorials. I was obsessed with it. I felt the pull, something was telling me to do it.
Second, I see the opportunity within the mens grooming industry. If you look at the barbering vs the beauty industry, there's almost no comparison. If you say Paul Mitchell, or Tricoci, most people have heard of that. You can't say that in the barber industry. Most barbers are lazy, so lazy that they cut hair illegally in barber shops because they are too lazy to get their license. Someone who's ambitious and hungry, like myself, can kill it just by acting professional, and setting ourselves apart from the competition.
Look at what Chris Bossio is doing in the industry. He's created tomb45, a brand for barbers that creates innovative products. He's made an amazing shave gel, and wireless chargers and other upgrades for your clippers. If you're a barber you can see why wireless charging is a game changer. Even if you aren't a barber, just an entrepreneur, check out his stuff tomb45.com (I'm not affiliated with them at all, I'm using them as an example)
The industry is rife with opportunity to innovate, and is currently going though a boom period where innovation is coming fast.
So why go through the trouble of going to school for 1500 hours, and cutting behind the chair? Why not just go make the innovative products from the jump?
Because the concept of domain experience that MJ talks about.
Even in my past 2 months of cutting hair, I've seen SO MANY opportunities to innovate and add value. The wireless charging, for example. Most clippers and tools nowadays are battery powered. You obviously have to charge those batteries, so they come with chargers. Different brands like Wahl, Babyliss, and Andis all use different chargers, and Ive experienced first hand the clutter and inconvenience of having 4-5 different chargers cluttering up your station, not to mention batteries dying and having to recharge your tool while cutting a clients hair. Wireless charging changes all of that.
And thats only one example. That's not to mention things like making better booking and appointment software for barbers, email marketing and notifications to set appointments, innovative grooming products and so much else.
I used to think domain experience was unnecessary, why not just shortcut and ask people what they want? Because sometimes people don't even know what they want. I'm sure if you asked a barber, he would want a longer battery life for his tools, not wireless charging capability. Some things you have to have experience with in order to effectively solve the problem.
The third big reason is I like helping people, and giving people a good haircut is one of the best things you can do for their confidence. The other week, I had my first client smile in the mirror when he saw his haircut. He said "I look like I'm in my twenties again." Boy, was that a good feeling for both of us, and I gave that to him. It feels good to do that, and there's no better feeling than when that client smiles when you show him the finished product. Barbering is an extremely rewarding profession, and that's why they say a barber never really retires.
Fourth, Barbering is entrepreneurial. Sure you have to hustle, and it isn't "passive income." It's work, long hours, tough clients, but ultimately YOU pick what you charge. $10 or $200 a haircut, it's all about positioning, and I know of multiple people making six figures a year cutting behind the chair and selling clients products. You get to dress how you want, have whatever style you want, and you have the freedom of working around your schedule. No asking the boss if I can pick my kid up from school, or go watch his baseball game. Is cutting behind the chair the ultimate end goal? No, I want to innovate in this industry, but cutting hair and doing my time is just the first step in the journey.
One final point I want to make is this: it's easy to talk your self out of trying new things, and just "going for it." For whatever reason, most of us have evolved to play it safe, even if we hate our lives and who we've become.
There were a bunch of excuses going through my head before I decided to pull the trigger an enroll in barber school. "Why would I go back to school, I can take action now" "Why would I want to work at a barber shop, aren't you above working for others" "A year and a half of school is too much time, you could start a business in that time"
These were all traps my mind was placing for me, To suck me back into my old identity.
I told my self, even if this isn't the "right decision" I'm going to see it through, because I hate my old life so much, there's no going back. Worst case, I end up with a skill that will never be out of demand, and allows me to work wherever I want.
If you're like I was, Somewhat lost in life, but knows they are an entrepreneur, Just do something. Anything. Even if it isn't the right decision. Pick up a trade like I'm doing. Just do something, because sitting around, rotting away at a job, when deep down you know you can do more, is a shitty existence. Things will workout in the end.
Now when you're 18, it's cute to live with your parents and have a shitty job, when you're a 25 year old college dropout, it's starting to become a bit sad. I had been hiding behind the "struggling entrepreneur" excuse for 2-3 years prior. But in reality, I spent my free time procrastinating, watching youtube videos, and wasting a lot of time. My job was also largely a waste of time. Sure it paid the bills, but it's a thankless, unfulfilling job.
I actually dealt with what I assume was depression for the first time in my life. I wasn't hopeless, I was very ambitious and excited for the future. I wasn't bed ridden. But I started to feel like I was walking around in a fog most days. The days, weeks and months seemingly disappeared. Weeks turned into amorphous vague blobs of time. It was the same schedule, same job, same people, same shitty traffic 6 days a week. And for what? I realized this job was not my means to an entrepreneurial end, as it had started. It had become a "career" path.
As my 25th birthday approached, I started to take inventory of my life. I started my entrepreneurial journey when I was a teenager, and now coming up on 25, I didn't have much to show. I had lessons learned, but those didn't pay the bills.
This year has given me a long time to think about what I wanted. Sometimes it can be scary to think about what you actually want, because it can go against your current identity. I realized the romantic relationship I was in was on the fast track to nowhere, and it had been for a while. I was clinging on to the past, and my past identity. I wanted to make a new one for my self, and some things had to go. The relationship was one of them.
It's scary to be alone sometimes. You see happy couples (who maybe aren't so happy, you never know), and you get a bit lonely. But the alone time allowed me to think about what I wanted in life.
The conclusion I came to was this: I wanted to become a Barber.
This freaked me out. I was 24 years old, I had never cut hair in my life, and this was totally out of the norm for the identity I had given my self. I thought I was the internet marketing, make money from my laptop type of person. But I realized that lifestyle was a bit lonely for me. I had discovered I liked talking to people, and I felt good in social settings. I was an introvert as a kid, so the challenge of making new friends excited me.
I realized I couldn't do that from my office behind a computer all day. I had to be out in the community.
I also realized that I had outgrown almost all of my previous friendships. The girl I was dating was basically just covering up the reality that I felt I had no one in my life that I could relate to anymore.
As a barber, you're always working with people, and you're a part of the community. I've made plenty of new friends and connections at barber school, and they're people who share a common interest. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm apart of something.
So why did I make such a drastic change? I remember when I told people, they were confused. They said " I thought you were the digital marketing guy"
Well I decided to take this path for a few reasons. The first is I was very interested in it. I spent hours a day watching haircut tutorials. I was obsessed with it. I felt the pull, something was telling me to do it.
Second, I see the opportunity within the mens grooming industry. If you look at the barbering vs the beauty industry, there's almost no comparison. If you say Paul Mitchell, or Tricoci, most people have heard of that. You can't say that in the barber industry. Most barbers are lazy, so lazy that they cut hair illegally in barber shops because they are too lazy to get their license. Someone who's ambitious and hungry, like myself, can kill it just by acting professional, and setting ourselves apart from the competition.
Look at what Chris Bossio is doing in the industry. He's created tomb45, a brand for barbers that creates innovative products. He's made an amazing shave gel, and wireless chargers and other upgrades for your clippers. If you're a barber you can see why wireless charging is a game changer. Even if you aren't a barber, just an entrepreneur, check out his stuff tomb45.com (I'm not affiliated with them at all, I'm using them as an example)
The industry is rife with opportunity to innovate, and is currently going though a boom period where innovation is coming fast.
So why go through the trouble of going to school for 1500 hours, and cutting behind the chair? Why not just go make the innovative products from the jump?
Because the concept of domain experience that MJ talks about.
Even in my past 2 months of cutting hair, I've seen SO MANY opportunities to innovate and add value. The wireless charging, for example. Most clippers and tools nowadays are battery powered. You obviously have to charge those batteries, so they come with chargers. Different brands like Wahl, Babyliss, and Andis all use different chargers, and Ive experienced first hand the clutter and inconvenience of having 4-5 different chargers cluttering up your station, not to mention batteries dying and having to recharge your tool while cutting a clients hair. Wireless charging changes all of that.
And thats only one example. That's not to mention things like making better booking and appointment software for barbers, email marketing and notifications to set appointments, innovative grooming products and so much else.
I used to think domain experience was unnecessary, why not just shortcut and ask people what they want? Because sometimes people don't even know what they want. I'm sure if you asked a barber, he would want a longer battery life for his tools, not wireless charging capability. Some things you have to have experience with in order to effectively solve the problem.
The third big reason is I like helping people, and giving people a good haircut is one of the best things you can do for their confidence. The other week, I had my first client smile in the mirror when he saw his haircut. He said "I look like I'm in my twenties again." Boy, was that a good feeling for both of us, and I gave that to him. It feels good to do that, and there's no better feeling than when that client smiles when you show him the finished product. Barbering is an extremely rewarding profession, and that's why they say a barber never really retires.
Fourth, Barbering is entrepreneurial. Sure you have to hustle, and it isn't "passive income." It's work, long hours, tough clients, but ultimately YOU pick what you charge. $10 or $200 a haircut, it's all about positioning, and I know of multiple people making six figures a year cutting behind the chair and selling clients products. You get to dress how you want, have whatever style you want, and you have the freedom of working around your schedule. No asking the boss if I can pick my kid up from school, or go watch his baseball game. Is cutting behind the chair the ultimate end goal? No, I want to innovate in this industry, but cutting hair and doing my time is just the first step in the journey.
One final point I want to make is this: it's easy to talk your self out of trying new things, and just "going for it." For whatever reason, most of us have evolved to play it safe, even if we hate our lives and who we've become.
There were a bunch of excuses going through my head before I decided to pull the trigger an enroll in barber school. "Why would I go back to school, I can take action now" "Why would I want to work at a barber shop, aren't you above working for others" "A year and a half of school is too much time, you could start a business in that time"
These were all traps my mind was placing for me, To suck me back into my old identity.
I told my self, even if this isn't the "right decision" I'm going to see it through, because I hate my old life so much, there's no going back. Worst case, I end up with a skill that will never be out of demand, and allows me to work wherever I want.
If you're like I was, Somewhat lost in life, but knows they are an entrepreneur, Just do something. Anything. Even if it isn't the right decision. Pick up a trade like I'm doing. Just do something, because sitting around, rotting away at a job, when deep down you know you can do more, is a shitty existence. Things will workout in the end.
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