In this article, I will be explaining how I make $6,000 A Month As A Barber and what you can do to copy exactly how I do it for yourself. I’ve been a barber for over 10+ years now. I started working in a small town, a traditional barbershop with little to no traffic what so ever. The traffic was just enough to cover chair rent. At the time it was $175.00 a week. We offered our clients $10 haircuts, including a hot lather neck shave, and hand massager. Boy, oh, boy, it was rough to make a living and was way too much work for only $10.
Fast-forwarding, I’m now working at one of the most prestigious barbershops in the world. In the beginning, I learned everything I could about elaborate services and how to talk to clients professionally. I don’t regret my time working harder for less, because it later became engraved in me to always do the best work. Rich or poor it didn’t matter I gave it my all every time I stood behind the chair. I’m a fair believer in karma and the idea of “reaping & sowing”, I want to give you an enormous boost in your pay grade as a barber if you’re willing to do the right things that most, unsuccessful barbers are too lazy to try and master.
If you want people to pay more, you need to do more.
At the shop I am currently, clients book online throughout the day. I can physically watch my book start to fill up for the week as I’m starring at the computer screen. This is what happens when people know quality and want to be booked in a high-end barbershop. The name speaks for itself and quality follows afterward.
So what does this mean for you?
I believe any barber has the potential to make money in this industry. What I won’t teach you is to have manners, or think sitting in the car all day is a good way to build your clientele. Barbering is what you make it if you’re serious about your profession. Then get serious about it. period.
I only wanted to write to the barbers that are hungry, that have families, and need money because they’re sick and tired of not having it. I don’t know about you, but I got tired of being broke. With that being said, I want to give you the exact process I used to generate $6,000+ a month as a barber.
You Need To Play Your Part
Lose the t-shirts and shorts. it’s comfortable sure, but it’s not a professional look by any means. A lot of barbers have this thought they’re “self-employed” so that means they can come and go as they please. Barbers get too relaxed in this idea and think skills alone will elevate them to the top. Ditch the egotistical approach, you work for the clients, you’re not privileged, we’re barbers. We make our money serving others, we need to be aware of this truth at all times.
Dress right, and get respect
Long sleeve dress shirts, slacks, pants, and decent shoes with some class is the a clean and easy to follow along guideline to get started. Eventually, you’ll want to get a watch, fresh hats, and if you want to over-kill it. Try wearing a tie and tuck your long sleeve in with a nice leather belt. Look like you mean business and people will respect you because you respect yourself. If you think your barber friends will laugh and make fun of you, leave that small-minded barbershop and make new friends…
Start Building For The Future.
Make sure you’re in a barbershop that’s worth building an initial clientele base. Many times a barber will jump headfirst into a barbershop and end up dealing with unnecessary drama from the beginning. Working in several barbershops I realized the only reason barbers become cutthroat and feel they need to guard the shop door awaiting the next walk-in, is an act of desperation, barbers tent to act vile and unfair to other barbers when clients come in, in order to try their hand at stealing clients.
This isn’t how a barbershop works, if the barbershop was staffed with barbers all fully capable of handling clients with a steady flow of money, we all win. We don’t need to take from another barber’s mouth. This is a poor barbershop mentality, It’s not necessarily your fault, barbershop owners that allow this type of management tends to only care about their money. As for the barbers, their left to fight in a cage match every day they wake up and go into the shop.
To save yourself time, do your due diligence and research barbershops in your area, don’t get trapped in a barbershop as I’ve mentioned above. You might be thinking you’re going to make a lot of money. But in the end, you’re better off starting off correctly and building a clientele base in a barbershop that has a good reputation and is fully established, where all the barbers are making their money.
so we’ve talked about dressing for success and about avoiding the “poor barbershop” mentality. let’s talk about the tools and services that will help you make $6,000+ a month as a barber. Being a high-end barber is realizing what tools matter, and minimizing your supplies to the bare essentials to tackle any service. Doing so saves time cleaning and more time focusing on the process.
Here’s my $6,000+ A Month setup:
Barbi-neck wraps ( used as a neck stripe, but can be unfolded for neck shaving.)
straight razorblade (Dorco blues, or primes.)
black towels for facial shaves (Dry, Hot & Cold)
Gilette 5 blade razor (with disposal blades)
Andis cool care (Sanitizing barber tools, blades.)
Andis Slimline Pro (0 Gapped, with GTX Blade.)
Full sink ( our barber chairs double up as a shampooing station after performing the hair services)
Wahl 5 star seniors (corded, and 0 gapped with ceramic cutting blade)
Hot tools blow dryer for styling and drying the hair.
pomade, clay, and gels (depending on the style)
Aueda Men ( Shampoo & Conditioner, the Best smelling product I’ve ever used in my entire career.)
Billy Jealousy Shaving gel (water activated)
Billy jealousy shaved ice (cooling aftershave)
Billy jealousy Leave-in-conditioner (For Beards)
Hot towel warmer (left on all day, cold towels in fridge.)
Wahl Hard rubber Pro Guards.
basic, and flat top combs.
7 step shaving process:
- hot eye towel, shave oil, hot steam towel.
- shave cream, shave clients face.
- cleansing gel, hot steam towel.
- toning mist, cold towel.
- aftershave.
- talcum powder.
- cologne.
The Break Down Of My Barbershops Pay scale:
Our barbershop services start at $35+, we have packages with full haircuts which include; hot towel treatments and facial shaves. These services can go up to $65+ as we encourage our clients for the premium packages. as you can see in the image above.
I also wanted to mention I work with a 45% commission, which I get for each service. I receive full benefits such as; dental, vision, 401k, etc. I was also given a debit card to collect my electronic tips that update every 30mins. I do less than ten full services a day, but each service on average is $45-$80. with a 30 min lunch break, I also make $15 hourly for a 40 hour work week, Which ends up being four ten hour shifts and being off three consecutive days to spend time with my family.
Don’t settle for less, create an outstanding portfolio and find the most high-end barbershop in your area and show them what you’re capable of, yes, it was scary at first. A week into this job I knew this was exactly where I needed to be.
