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Is Barbering A Good Career?

Is Barbering A Good Career? Barbering is a respected profession by every class in society. Allowing for a flexible work schedule and hours, but the initial expansion of the career is solely based upon the barbers drive & passion to elevate themselves within industry. If you enjoy socializing, using your hands and multitasking than being a barber is a great field to jump into!

Table of Contents

This Is The Career Path If You Enjoy

1. Socializing and working as a team.
2. Make “Quick Cash” in hand with tips for your Haircuts.
3. Fast education classes with hands on learning.
4. Building people up on a physiological level. 
5. Taking care of the community.
6. Being able to work on your own schedule.
7. Getting paid for being creative for your work.
8. Not having a dress code and be yourself.
9. Continuous learning through Entrepreneurship.

Let’s Break Down Everything You’ll Need To Know!

Searching for a career path can be tricky for most people, especially if your changing fields and this is something that could potentially affect your family. We tried our best to list out everything you might come across when deciding on this career choice. 

Socializing

Being a barber is all about being talkative and dealing with people on a daily basis. Learning the art of “body language” is very important. Most of the time being a barber is about striking up fun conversations and talking about trending topics and cultural events. Being able to communicate well, and performing high- quality hair cutting services is crucial when it comes to your advancement as a “Tonsorial Artist.” 

Bigger Than Oneself

Learning how to speak “life” into people is a great way to shine in the barbering industry. Although, there will be times where defusing a problematic situation may arise. The majority of your time you will be “Laughing” and “Engaging” in conversations with various clients, barbers, and onlookers waiting for their chance to chime in on the fun! In this industry, you don’t have to be a “Social Butterfly” all the time. Some clients prefer a quiet experience and use the barbershop as a way of “Escaping” from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives.  So, try your best at “Reading People” because that will come in handy in most cases where this type of behavior is needed.

Make Quick Cash!

If you’re looking for a quick payment without having to wait for a weekly check or bi-weekly direct deposit. You’re in luck! The barbering career path is 60% cash in hand and the rest are online transactions. 

Taking Card Information

sometimes a client will pay with a credit/debit card, so having a good handle on “card payment apps” will be highly beneficial. All you have to do is slide their card through a “Card Reader” and set up payments to go directly to your bank account. Here’s a quick link to explain “How To Take Card Payments” as a barber.

Learning To Budget

Here are some things to consider about working in a cash business: Having money on you at all times is hard for a lot of people to not spend frivolously. Meaning, if you have cash easily available to you, you’re more likely to spend it. Here’s a Simple Video On “Budgeting your Cash.” Learning how to budget your earnings is just as important as performing the hair cutting services itself. If you’re planning on sticking around for the long haul, take the time to learn how to budget properly now. The money in the barbering industry is great, although that is to be determined by the workmanship of the barber. For example, If your lazy, then don’t expect to grow as a professional and increase your weekly “Client Base” which translates will later translate into more “Money.” If you’re planning on making this a full-time career, following a passion will oftentimes lead to more opportunities for making more money! As the old saying goes, “If you build it, they will come” 

Fast Education & Turn Around

Barbering only takes 1,200 hours to complete and receive a license, making barbering a quick and easy profession to jump right into straight out of high school. I started this career when I was 20 years old and I’ll be honest, It wasn’t a perfect ride, but it has definitely been a satisfying one.  That first year is all about Riding the bike without training wheels, nobody is going to be over your shoulder telling you right from wrong every second of the day. everything you do from this point on depends on you and how much studying and practice you’ve done. Thankfully those “Scary moments” won’t last forever and eventually, you’ll develop confidence in creating your own work routine.  “Always Remain Humble And Willing To Learn New Things Everyday.” – Cyclops

Building People Up

Not too many professions allow you to get a front-row seat into the mind of another human being. Being a barber is as close as you can really get besides being a therapist, psychologist, or brain surgeon.  If you’re a fan of learning human behavior and reading body language then you’re going to have a great time heading down this career path. I’m constantly listening for “vocal tones” and “behavioral ticks” when I’m cutting hair. Understanding the client’s minds and listening to their stories from life, such as; The choices they’ve made, personal hobbies, fears, and desires. will help you wrap your mind around the person as a whole. Learning about individual clients will allow you to open up more about your own personal endeavors. Creating a bond between both the barber and client. This will allow the client to feel at peace and comfort in knowing he/she can put trust into you. This method of peeling back mental layers allows for you to become a positive impact in their life, which is really awesome!

Helping The Community

There’s no doubt about it, the barbershop is a place for people to relax and laugh their asses off! making the local barbershop the number one place to gather and conversate! With great influence comes great responsibility, meaning we need to take care of the people that are taking care of us. This usually means to practice the art of becoming selfless and learn the value of human life. Sure we can do fantastic looking haircuts, and we get applauded for it daily. But, there will come a time the community peers into the heart of your barbershop and all those great conversations will come to a head. simply put, we need to put our money where our mouth is, and when that day comes you need to perform. If there are community gatherings, shows & events you should try your best at attending to them! Doing this serves as a great asset to both the community and reflection of the barbershop as a whole. Contributing your time is highly valuable, and works as the Beating Heart of the entire operation.

Work On Your Own Schedule

Okay, this is probably the sweetest part about this profession (Notice how I didn’t put “Job”) because barbering isn’t working if you love what you do! It’s not hard to cut hair, in-fact after you’ve been doing it long enough, it becomes second nature. Switching the guards, striking up conversations, learning the proper sanitation aspects, and over-all mastering your craft as a whole. The next steps are fun and exciting! After you’ve established a good working routine, and have clients standing outside the door for you the scheduling part is easy. Learn to keep track of which days are your best days, then slowly start to migrate your clientele to those days to build a stronger work week. Eventually, you can create a professional work system that works best for you. For example, you could channel your following of loyal clients into three days out of the working week and take the rest off to spend time with your family. 

You’re Self-Employed…Kind Of

These are some questions your barbershop owner might ask if your planning on making errands throughout the day.

1. When are you planning to take the break? 
2. What time are you planning to come back?
3. Are you planning on taking the day off?

These aren’t anchors to hold you back from being a “Self-employed” barber. These are here to let the shop know in advance and plan accordingly. Working three days a week doesn’t stop the barbershop bills from flooding in, so you are paying the weekly chair rent fee regardless if you only work three days. Can you call the shots? sure. Just be mindful of your working establishment and how they function to accommodate your plans. It’s all about respect and understanding from both sides. 

No Dress-Code

Some people really enjoy looking the part when it comes to their professional careers. Wearing ties, slacks, and fancy dress shoes… I mean why not right? nothing screams “Mature Adult” then looking like your own Business. Being a barber doesn’t really have that sort of stipulation when it comes to clothing and attire. This would be determined by the type of barbershop dress code. Although I will say this, dressing professionally does have some killer advantages when it comes to the way people look at you. This is a built-in mechanism inside all human beings to help determine what we find attractive or not worth paying attention to. For example, if I look like I just climbed out of bed, hair a mess, wrinkles in my T-shirt with stains on my PJ’s… people won’t take me seriously when I tell them I’m a Professional Barber. Why? Because I don’t look the part. On a personal note, my facial hair grows like a wild yeti, even tho I might dress well people are going to judge me by the upkeep of my facial hair, and it’s safe to assume I don’t manage my time wisely. That’s a fact, and that’s the truth. I might get away with this better than most being the owner of the establishment, but when it comes to branding myself and being the face of the business I have to create that conscious decision and think about the visual aspect of what I’m portraying to my clients/interviewers and potential business investors. My guideline for you is this, “Don’t overdress, don’t under-dress. Dress-well and remember that you’re the face of your brand, business, and profession And that will be a direct reflection of your wallet in the long run.” – Cyclops Brand

Entrepreneurship

By far the best asset to a barber is the ability to want to dive in and create “Something” out of “Nothing.” A true barber will want to learn everything they can get their hands and take as many continuing education classes as possible. The moment a barber loses this “Spark” to want to learn and be creative is, unfortunately, the same moment they stop becoming a person that cuts hair.. and makes their work like any other regular 9-5 job. The work becomes “work” and the steady building of the barber’s clientele will come to a complete halt. They diminish and quickly grow bitter which will ultimately surface in the way they perform their work and haircutting services. This is why older barbers become angry, and cold towards the profession. They get stuck in their “Traditional Ways” and forget that this industry is forever expanding. I’ve worked in a few shops with owners that dreaded the workflow of the barbershop anymore.

“So what if they’ve been cutting hair for 20 years! If they stopped caring and lost their passion after the first few years …it was like any other empty 9-5 job.” – Cyclops Brand

Basically what I’m trying to say is this, “Barbering is what you make it out to be” so, embrace the ever-changing world of “the haircutting industry” smile, Laugh, and enjoy the small beautiful moments in your career. Don’t be discouraged as this too will pass. When it does you’ll be that much better off as a person. Becoming well-rounded in all aspects of your life and making it worth living!