In today’s economy, things aren’t as straightforward as they once were. Graduating from college is no longer a guarantee to a secure future and degrees in law and medicine aren’t the winning lottery tickets they once were. Are we doomed to taking whatever job comes our way? Absolutely not, if you’re willing to explore options and get creative with how you make money. If you truly explore, you may be surprised what you find. Take barbering for example, if a person were offered a city or government job or the opportunity to own their own barbershop they would likely do the former for the perceived “job security”. In today’s economy, nobody is safe and the guy who owns the barbershop may make twice what the government employee does. Bottom line, being a barber is a cool job. Men’s Mag Daily caught up with popular barber, Jay The Barber, who not only owns his shop but gives barbering lessons and has his own line of instructional DVD’s and products to get the real facts on life as a barber.
Men’s Mag Daily: Alright Jay, so tell us how you got into the field of barbering.
Jay The Barber: Basically, I started when I was a kid, you know, just cutting my friends hair. And then I started taking in seriously. I had other jobs once or twice but being a barber was always where my heart was and where my passion was so I decided to just go hard with it.
Men’s Mag Daily: I think people have a misconception that barbers don’t make money. What do you say to people like that?
Jay The Barber: Oh, we absolutely do. I feel a lot of people think that because they associate being a barber with a lack of stability but if you’re good at what you do there’s always stability because you’re in demand. You have to take care of your own benefits and retirement plan and some people’s wives and parents might feel that way because there’s no physical paycheck at the end of the week.
Men’s Mag Daily: It’s crazy, people don’t realize you’re paying for those things at a regular 9 to 5 type of job too.
Jay The Barber: (Laughs) Exactly, they just take it out of your check. At the end of the day it’s still a bill.
Men’s Mag Daily: And people act like a big company is giving them something, like medical benefits. Nobody is giving you anything.
Jay The Barber: Exactly, exactly, exactly. It’s the difference between being an entrepreneur and a worker.
Men’s Mag Daily: As a popular barber who knows what he’s doing, how many cuts would you say you do a week?
Jay The Barber: I’d say about 25-30 a day and you multiply that by six. You know, there are ups and downs but that’s pretty steady for me. And you know, if you know the industry, you’ll definitely figure it all out.
Men’s Mag Daily: You must be on your feet all day doing that many cuts.
Jay The Barber: All day man, exactly.
Men’s Mag Daily: So what makes a good barber? There are people out there who wouldn’t change barbers if somebody paid them to.
Jay The Barber: Communication between you and your customer is important. At the end of the day, your customer is your paycheck so you definitely want to keep them happy. It’s the customers that make the barber and obviously your haircuts have to be on point. You just have to stay on point and know what you’re doing.
Men’s Mag Daily: Now, you’ve branched out. You have instructional DVD’s and products. What made you want to do other things as well?
Jay The Barber: Basically, it’s just my entrepreneurial spirit man. You do one thing and reach a certain level and then you want to expand, you know? It’s like what you’re doing, you have an entrepreneurial spirit. You just want more man. I’m doing a lot more teaching now, teaching people how to cut. There are a lot of guys out there that do barber battles and stuff like that. You just have to find your lane and push hard at whatever it is you do. When you’re a businessman, an entrepreneur, you always want something more. It never stops.
Men’s Mag Daily: You know how the economy is right now. A lot of people are going through rough times. Would you say that being a barber is recession proof?
Jay The Barber: Absolutely man, you just build up and that base clientele and you’re good. People always want to look good. People are always going to need a haircut before a job interview or even just to go out, to go out clubbing. People love to live it up and spend money. Regardless, people just want to look good at the end of the day.
Men’s Mag Daily: I actually know a guy who cuts and he has a graduate level degree and he’s doing so well that it doesn’t even bother him. He just tells people he’s a smart barber. Do you see situations like that more often nowadays?
Jay The Barber: Yeah, I see a lot people doing really well, people you wouldn’t think would be in the field. You look at certain jobs like say an electrician or a sanitation worker, they could make what? Like 70 grand a year? We make at least that. That’s 00 a week and between 00 and ,000 a month. Forty or fifty dollars an hour is good money. And if you get your craft to where it’s supposed to be and you’re doing what you’re supposed to do then that’s how it is.
Men’s Mag Daily: As a guy who’s a successful entrepreneur, what are your plans for the future? Do you want to own five shops? Do you want to brand out into different industries?
Jay The Barber: I’ve thought about it before, opening up another store to trying something different but you know the old saying, stick with what you know. That’s what I’m doing. I found out that I’m a teacher. Some guys do battles but I like to teach more and I’ve been doing that a lot lately, teaching classes. That’s what I want to ultimately do is open a school and I’m actually in the process. I’m a teacher so I’m going to stay in my lane with that. I like breaking down the process. I just like seeing people learn.
Men’s Mag Daily: So if somebody wanted to do this for a living, be a barber, would you encourage them to do so?
Jay The Barber: Yeah man, absolutely. It’s hard work like anything else but it pays off. It’s a good route to take.
Men’s Mag Daily: You’ve done a lot of cuts on a lot of customers Jay. What makes a bad client?
Jay The Barber: Oh man, I would say a client that wants everything for nothing or one who doesn’t even consider the craft and talent involved in cutting hair. But at first there is no such thing as a bad customer because you’re building your client base up.
You can find Jay The Barber online at:
Article By: Jon DaBove
