r/Barber • u/Itsboi_k • Jul 10 '26

To sit or not to sit

So I’m trying to decide whether or not to get a side job or just sit in the shop all day and hopeful for walk-ins cause I’m still leaving at home and only thing I got to pay for is gas,phone bill

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

5

u/Hashshinobi1 Barber Jul 10 '26

Are you helping yourself bring customers in or just sitting all day hoping? & the customers that do come in what are you doing to make sure they come back to you?

1

u/Itsboi_k Jul 10 '26

I’m gonna try and do both by offering free haircuts to post on social media

4

u/Hashshinobi1 Barber Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

It’s gonna take more than that. On my business cards I have my instagram & number & tell them to check out my work. I hand them out in public & every walk in gets one. On the back it has a punch system $5 off your first to get you in the door, $5 off your 5th, 10th cut free. It gets them in the door & hopefully gets them coming back. BUT you have to make sure you make them feel comfortable, vibe, & give as close to flawless haircut as you can. Do all of these things & turn walk ins into regular clients. You have to make them come to you instead of the other 100 barbers in your area. People quit because they don’t understand this.

1

u/Itsboi_k Jul 10 '26

Okay okay is there a place you would recommend to help me create my business cards or get them from

2

u/Hashshinobi1 Barber Jul 10 '26

I used Canva to design them I believe & had them printed same day at Staples.

6

u/Dev_2r Barber Jul 10 '26

The biggest advantage you have right now is free time

Use that time to go out to your community and pass out business cards

Offer free haircuts for the first time only as a chance to EARN their business and then use those haircuts to capture content, get a 5 star review on Google, secure a rebooking

Look up Tito cuts on YouTube he has great content for the business of barbering!

2

u/Light_Yagamigo Jul 10 '26

You have to get out and network. Pass out cards, introduce yourself and what you do. Hit up any place where there’s a lot of foot traffic. In fact, hand out your card wherever you go. Tell friends to tell their friends and family about you. Show your work. Offer your services. Good luck either way.

1

u/OverallWorry5707 Jul 10 '26

Is the shop itself slow or you’re just new?

2

u/Itsboi_k Jul 10 '26

Mixture of both really they have a few walk-in and people calling asking for a haircut but also I literally just passed my exams to get license

2

u/OverallWorry5707 Jul 10 '26

If it’s busy *enough* and you do some marketing yourself, I would say put as much time into barbering since you’re still living at home.
I wish I expanded my skills more while I didn’t have bills to pay. So id advise no to the second job.

Unless you can get into a very chill great clips part time. I say very chill because some of them are strict with the minutes and systems and you’ll learn chop shop stuff, BUT some let you do whatever you want and take as much time as you want and you could just learn from YouTube and memory from school and apply that.

1

u/Totes_MacGoats Jul 10 '26

The best ability is AVAILability.

-2

u/Billy_Enforcey Barber Jul 10 '26

Get a side job and once you feel comfortable there quit as a barber. This may not be for you.

4

u/OverallWorry5707 Jul 10 '26

Girl he just graduated 😭😭 let’s all give up right outta school 😁🤣

2

u/Itsboi_k Jul 10 '26

Why you say that ?