You’ve Just Signed with a New Shop (Or Started Renting Your Own Suite)—What Now?
Let’s start this off by saying one important thing—congratulations!
If you’ve signed on to work with a new shop or you’ve decided to jumpstart your career plans and open up your own barbershop, there’s no doubt about it—you’ve taken a big, important, awesome step. You should be so proud of yourself, your ambition, and your progress.
Pour a drink. Have a party. Call your friends. Do whatever it is you do to celebrate—then, come back to us to chat about what comes next (because we’ve totally got you covered there).
All celebrated out? Excellent.
Now, it’s time to talk about what your next steps are, how you can continue to grow in your career, and what you should be doing to ensure you’re making seamless transitions in the barbershop world.
Ready to start the journey toward making your career dreams come true? We’ve got you covered. Keep reading!
On Your Mark, Get Set, GO Market Yourself
Whether you’re ready or not, marketing is now a big part of your barbering career. Don’t panic—it’s not as complicated as you might think. No matter what next step you’ve taken in your career—whether you’ve started working at a shop or you’ve kickstarted your own suite—marketing needs to play a role.
Why? Because you could be the world’s best barber with the most sought-after skills—but if no one has ever heard of you, doesn’t know how to find you, and doesn’t know you exist, none of your skills, talents, and ideas are going to matter.
You need clients to showcase what you can do—and marketing is the way to get to them.
Our advice? Take a crash course in digital marketing. This means understanding and investing in social media, building a badass website, and taking a good hard look at your current marketing strategy and giving it a makeover.
The good news? When you team up with NAOB, you’ll have access to our member benefits, and one of those benefits just so happens to be a FREE, professional website that’s totally customizable.
Don’t Let Fear Ruin It For You
Admittedly, you’ve made a pretty huge step in your career. It’s new territory, so it makes sense that you might be a little nervous (or totally terrified, either one). That’s normal, BTW—so, don’t sweat it if you do have these feelings.
Being nervous isn’t a big deal, but when you allow your nervousness or your fear to get in the way of your success, it starts becoming an actual obstacle.
Whether you’ve decided to start your own barbershop or you’re getting started working at a new shop, it’s crucial that you don’t let your fear get in your own way.
Remind yourself why you’re here—AKA, pinpoint your why. Try to infuse a little logic into the mix. Sure, this is a big step, but it’s a necessary step—and besides, you’re a badass barber. You’ve got this.
Things are going to feel weird and scary—and there might be a lot you don’t know—but you’ll figure it out.
Nestle Into That Niche of Yours
Don’t misinterpret us—you don’t need to pick one thing and then do only that for the rest of your life. But when you’re just starting out in a new shop or are kickstarting your own, whittling down your services and focusing on a core group of offerings that you know you absolutely rule at can be a great strategy.
This way, you’re not spreading yourself too thin in the middle of making a ton of other adjustments.
Do you give the best straight razor shave? Make sure your service list has that on it. Do you absolutely crush it when it comes to braids or fades? Add ‘em onto your list.
You don’t need to offer just one thing, but if you’re looking to avoid the chaos of juggling too much at once, this is definitely the way to do it.
Continue Your Education Quest
If you keep up with our blog, you know we’re big on the whole “education is never-ending” thing—and for good reason. If you’re constantly learning new things, getting new certifications, and staying on top of what’s hot and trendy, you’re making sure you’re always relevant, always in-demand, and always giving clients what they want.
What’s “in” is going to be in constant flux. New techniques and trends are going to change constantly. The best thing you can do for yourself—and your career—is to keep up your education always.
The more skills you can add to your barber toolbelt, the better off you’ll be
Find a Mentor or Be a Mentor
Joining a new shop—or starting your own—is the perfect opportunity to invest in mentorship.
Whether this means you’ll be a mentee or acting as someone’s mentor, this practice of sharing of knowledge, skills, and advice can be immensely rewarding. It’s also a great way to take your own skills to the next level, setting you up for an even better career in the long run.
Have someone you totally admire? Ask if you can be their mentee. Looking to pass along your knowledge to some newbies? Hire on new barbers that you know would be open to mentorship.
Loving our barbershop tips and tricks? We’re so glad to hear it. Did you know that you can get even more insight, inspo, and advice from our barbershop pros through our regular newsletter? It’s true!
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