Massive career change - becoming a barber
Discussion
After a career in HNW financial management and then a very short stint with a FTSE100 insurance company I've felt a little lost. I've been looking for jobs but nothing seems to be available, especially in my new home town (west Wales). I've always been interested with style/fashion and recently couldn't get a haircut as they were fully booked for 4 days - and that got me thinking. I've found a barbering course - 9 weeks of intensive training. I appreciate financially I'll earn a lot less than I was use to, I'll be on my feet a lot - but I'll get to meet nice people, it's a trade not affected by technology, if I have my own place I can incorporate other aspects to make more money, I'm in control.
What am I missing? I'm meeting the training course person tomorrow.
What am I missing? I'm meeting the training course person tomorrow.
Petrus1983 said:
After a career in HNW financial management and then a very short stint with a FTSE100 insurance company I've felt a little lost. I've been looking for jobs but nothing seems to be available, especially in my new home town (west Wales). I've always been interested with style/fashion and recently couldn't get a haircut as they were fully booked for 4 days - and that got me thinking. I've found a barbering course - 9 weeks of intensive training. I appreciate financially I'll earn a lot less than I was use to, I'll be on my feet a lot - but I'll get to meet nice people, it's a trade not affected by technology, if I have my own place I can incorporate other aspects to make more money, I'm in control.
What am I missing? I'm meeting the training course person tomorrow.
What you’ll be missing more than anything is probably stress!What am I missing? I'm meeting the training course person tomorrow.
Not to mention if your town gets targeted by the money-launderers (which one hasn't?). A 9 week "intensive" training course won't make you a very good barber, it will make you at best a competent one.
The worst hairdresser to employ is a new one-they don't have any client list to sustain their wages so you're not exactly a hot commodity.
If you're good, plan on building a client list over about a year and not earning a great amount until then if self employed or renting a chair. If renting, expect a 60/40 split until you're really busy then you might get 50/50.
I your "employer" or "landlord" rents you a chair and claims you don't have to pay VAT as every barber is and individual entity expect some exciting conversations with the VAT man when the time cometh.
Anything else? Ask away. Up until around two years ago I had many years experience across that industry.
The worst hairdresser to employ is a new one-they don't have any client list to sustain their wages so you're not exactly a hot commodity.
If you're good, plan on building a client list over about a year and not earning a great amount until then if self employed or renting a chair. If renting, expect a 60/40 split until you're really busy then you might get 50/50.
I your "employer" or "landlord" rents you a chair and claims you don't have to pay VAT as every barber is and individual entity expect some exciting conversations with the VAT man when the time cometh.
Anything else? Ask away. Up until around two years ago I had many years experience across that industry.
A few years ago I was in Canterbury on a Saturday and it seemed that every other shop was a barber shop.
There must have been a dozen barber shops within a few yards.
At a couple of locations there were young blokes queuing out the door. They were queuing for the current in fashion barber who could do the sick layers and the undercuts.
Many other barber shops were empty except for the barber waiting.
Maybe word will get around and the customers will move on so the barbers with no work soon be the ones in fashion and the ones who have all the customers now will be loose end.
Sorry I don't know if that story helps or not.
There must have been a dozen barber shops within a few yards.
At a couple of locations there were young blokes queuing out the door. They were queuing for the current in fashion barber who could do the sick layers and the undercuts.
Many other barber shops were empty except for the barber waiting.
Maybe word will get around and the customers will move on so the barbers with no work soon be the ones in fashion and the ones who have all the customers now will be loose end.
Sorry I don't know if that story helps or not.
Antony Moxey said:
What you’ll be missing more than anything is probably stress!
Absolutely. Genuinely have no complaints about my precious career - it afforded me more than I'd have thought possible, but always felt like Dairylea slices vs an authentic Brie. I've never been overly money focused. PRO5T said:
Not to mention if your town gets targeted by the money-launderers (which one hasn't?). A 9 week "intensive" training course won't make you a very good barber, it will make you at best a competent one.
The worst hairdresser to employ is a new one-they don't have any client list to sustain their wages so you're not exactly a hot commodity.
If you're good, plan on building a client list over about a year and not earning a great amount until then if self employed or renting a chair. If renting, expect a 60/40 split until you're really busy then you might get 50/50.
I your "employer" or "landlord" rents you a chair and claims you don't have to pay VAT as every barber is and individual entity expect some exciting conversations with the VAT man when the time cometh.
Anything else? Ask away. Up until around two years ago I had many years experience across that industry.
Hey PRO5T - this is a bit different from our usually F1 talk! The worst hairdresser to employ is a new one-they don't have any client list to sustain their wages so you're not exactly a hot commodity.
If you're good, plan on building a client list over about a year and not earning a great amount until then if self employed or renting a chair. If renting, expect a 60/40 split until you're really busy then you might get 50/50.
I your "employer" or "landlord" rents you a chair and claims you don't have to pay VAT as every barber is and individual entity expect some exciting conversations with the VAT man when the time cometh.
Anything else? Ask away. Up until around two years ago I had many years experience across that industry.
The girl I'm seeing has a very successful hair dressing company - she's going to ensure I'm more than just the '9 week' product.
It's funny you say about money laundering - I was literally just saying to my friends in the local I don't know how much my Turkish barber actually makes from barbering. His phone seems to ring a lot - but he only speaks in Turkish so who knows. Good hair cut though!
Petrus1983 said:
Absolutely. Genuinely have no complaints about my precious career - it afforded me more than I'd have thought possible, but always felt like Dairylea slices vs an authentic Brie. I've never been overly money focused.
Were you not the poster who said if your earned less than £100k you were not living life and you should sacrifice everything for the dime? If it was you, I am curious about your journey and how you became enlightened. Others may benefit from your experience. EmailAddress said:
TownIdiot said:
What's the going rate for cut in west wales?
Work out how many you need to do to hit your future income target and see if it's realistic.
I'd imagine it's an awful lot of 12 quids to to get to where you need to be.
12 quid... when did you last get your hair cut... 1995 Huddersfield.Work out how many you need to do to hit your future income target and see if it's realistic.
I'd imagine it's an awful lot of 12 quids to to get to where you need to be.
Antony Moxey said:
What you’ll be missing more than anything is probably stress!
It's actually what most aspiring hairdressers and barbers hate the most. It's a very performance related industry, you are judged on every single thing you do.Second to that are the long, unsociable hours to make it work. People do not want a cut at 9am on a wednesday although if you're good they will come then.
They want evenings after work, they want weekends and Friday nights. I didn't actually consider it too much until I stopped and I realised what an utterly s
t working timetable I had.EmailAddress said:
12 quid... when did you last get your hair cut... 1995 Huddersfield.
Macclesfield last month!Will pay a lot more in town every so often but that's about the going rate here.
And he's in west Wales.
At 15 quid a cut will you earn enough cash to get where you need to be?
If so why not go for it?
h0b0 said:
Petrus1983 said:
Absolutely. Genuinely have no complaints about my precious career - it afforded me more than I'd have thought possible, but always felt like Dairylea slices vs an authentic Brie. I've never been overly money focused.
Were you not the poster who said if your earned less than £100k you were not living life and you should sacrifice everything for the dime? If it was you, I am curious about your journey and how you became enlightened. Others may benefit from your experience. Agree it could be a pretty stress free job, and if you don't need to earn much that might be enough.
I followed my favourite barber from a traditional 'walk in' place that has been run by the same family for decades when he left. His new chair was rented in another barber that does appointments and I think this is a key consideration. I now get a repeat appointment every three weeks and can turn up 2 minutes before my slot. Even better now that he's moved again as I can park literally right outside.
Builidng a client base of repeat appointments means you have a much better idea of your income, and also allows you to plan your own life better with regular days off or just blocking out a few appointments to do life stuff without thinking you're missing out.
Mine charges £17 but always gets £20. He had to up this from £15 in the first place he moved to, as he couldn't really make much of a living after the chair rent was paid. He also works part time in a barbers in a small Cotswold town as a change of scene. Seems totally unstressed and happy with his life.
You also need an incredibly good memory to know what 'the usual please' is!
Good luck!
I followed my favourite barber from a traditional 'walk in' place that has been run by the same family for decades when he left. His new chair was rented in another barber that does appointments and I think this is a key consideration. I now get a repeat appointment every three weeks and can turn up 2 minutes before my slot. Even better now that he's moved again as I can park literally right outside.
Builidng a client base of repeat appointments means you have a much better idea of your income, and also allows you to plan your own life better with regular days off or just blocking out a few appointments to do life stuff without thinking you're missing out.
Mine charges £17 but always gets £20. He had to up this from £15 in the first place he moved to, as he couldn't really make much of a living after the chair rent was paid. He also works part time in a barbers in a small Cotswold town as a change of scene. Seems totally unstressed and happy with his life.
You also need an incredibly good memory to know what 'the usual please' is!
Good luck!
EmailAddress said:
TownIdiot said:
What's the going rate for cut in west wales?
Work out how many you need to do to hit your future income target and see if it's realistic.
I'd imagine it's an awful lot of 12 quids to to get to where you need to be.
12 quid... when did you last get your hair cut... 1995 Huddersfield.Work out how many you need to do to hit your future income target and see if it's realistic.
I'd imagine it's an awful lot of 12 quids to to get to where you need to be.
Dumfries however. I'm not sure how representative that is but suspect similar economy to west Wales.
4 haircuts an hour maybe 5 plus say £1 tip per cut. Is it that bad?
Petrus1983 said:
Hey PRO5T - this is a bit different from our usually F1 talk!
The girl I'm seeing has a very successful hair dressing company - she's going to ensure I'm more than just the '9 week' product.
It's funny you say about money laundering - I was literally just saying to my friends in the local I don't know how much my Turkish barber actually makes from barbering. His phone seems to ring a lot - but he only speaks in Turkish so who knows. Good hair cut though!
The "Turkish" (a lot look Turkish and claim to be but many aren't) are drugs money-laundering, the Chinese nail salons are Prostitution money laundering (hence why you see quite a few asian kids running about in them-they pull the brass out the knocking shops when they get pregnant and get a few years in the nail salons until the kids are old enough to be trafficked into some other game).The girl I'm seeing has a very successful hair dressing company - she's going to ensure I'm more than just the '9 week' product.
It's funny you say about money laundering - I was literally just saying to my friends in the local I don't know how much my Turkish barber actually makes from barbering. His phone seems to ring a lot - but he only speaks in Turkish so who knows. Good hair cut though!
Quite a few CID officers were clients of one of my shops and used to give me the low down on who was who.
One other thing to note-hair like any traditional fashion is very cyclical. The "Peaky Blinders" skin fade has been in for years now and is dangerously close to being out of fashion.
Once this fad runs out (and believe me, it will in less than five years) the barbering game will be decimated. The proliferation of men getting a weekly haircut to support that style has fuelled the explosion of barber shops and when it dies a lot of them will too.
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