Hey everyone, Daniel Contreras (@dlucs_) here founder of The New Era Of Barbering. Welcome back to another podcast. And I know it's been a minute. Um, I have been super busy, so my apologies first and foremost for not staying up to date on the, uh, weekly uploads, uh, I'm currently working on restructuring the new air barbering hiring on a few team members to be able to get back, to get rid of them, be able to get back onto, um, giving more time to making more podcasts, YouTube videos that will help youth listener, um, as well as just like again, to restructure things to free up more of my time. So, um, I can build a better company from that as well, too. Um, so it's just been a lot of work on my hands over the last, like, I mean, when the last one I uploaded maybe two months ago, maybe a month and a half ago, maybe a month and a half ago.Speaker 1 (00:42):I know I have not uploaded a YouTube video in a minute. Um, but I do plan on getting back to it. I just need a little bit more, uh, I guess, free up my time. Um, cause like I said, things have been hectic, but I did have like an hour of free time today and I was like, you know what? I I've been wanting to make a podcast for a minute. I have a few topics that I definitely wanted to be able to like dive into, uh, on these podcasts. I said, it. You know what? Today's going to be the day we're going to record upload. Um, so I hope you guys, first of all, um, except my apology of like being so late on this, because I know I do say every single time I'll upload every single week and it, at some point in time it just falls off.Speaker 1 (01:22):Um, but again too, my first priority is running the new era, barbering.com, uh, and uh, helping barbers inside of elevate dementia, get up to 15 to 20 K per month. And that's where a lot of these topics come from. A lot of these topics when I work with a barber, um, you know, I mean, I, I talked to individuals potentially every single day, if they want to working on their business, helping them build their, um, themselves up anywhere from like 30 bucks a cut to like 200 bucks plus a and helping them scale up. So a lot of this, uh, maybe if you're new or maybe you just forgot a lot of this comes from practical work. Um, and a lot of observations, I take a lot of notes to, uh, in my free time and jot down things and ideas of like, why things happen, why barbers take certain routes or why things they come in with certain mentalities and we have to like clean things up and also fix their business, um, when somebody joins the LVT mentorship program.Speaker 1 (02:10):Okay. Um, so today I wanted to talk a little bit about, I mean, are you a charity or a business because a lot of barbers when I first start talking to them, especially if we have a meeting, which typically again too, if you're interested in joining, uh, elevated mentorship and working with me to help grow your business, uh, we have a ton of success stories have two barbers or currently making over 20 K a month, a lot more on the way. Um, a handful of Barbara's who I've helped grow from anywhere under 40 bucks, a cut now upwards of 1, 1 41 50 to 200 bucks, a cut, uh, in a very short time span. Um, and really like, we focus more on data analytics, uh, tracking, uh, and media marketing. So a lot of things that just a lot of barbers either aren't doing that well, um, or just aren't doing at all or taking the wrong approach.Speaker 1 (02:56):And, and, um, a lot of, if you heard a lot of these podcasts is a lot of like mental approach and like what you need to be thinking about with the business, because this is a, this is a really bad thing in the industry. Um, especially with this charity or business thing. So if you do want to work with me, uh, inside of the elevator mentorship program, I'll add my booking link down below, be like a calendar link, or just have like a random CTA that says like, uh, ready to book a call or just book a call and there'll be a link there. Or if you're on the website button, you can simply click them. Uh, we'll go over your business in depth. Um, kind of figure out if it is a right time for you to first start working together. So we can actually scale your business.Speaker 1 (03:31):I only work with people that like, I go over their business and I make sure we can actually get your results. Uh, if I can't, I'll be straight up honest with you and just let you know, Hey, look, um, you need to do this, this and this. Um, because I don't want anybody coming in and wasting like a bunch of time, um, because of certain aspects, maybe like they don't have a clientele, maybe their skill set is completely off. Um, maybe their finances are like, if you can't have, like, if you have under five K in the bank, I mean, need to focus on like cleaning things up with spending habits and actually saving money, making better business decisions for yourself. Um, but if all those things are alignment, great, we can help you scale up. So again, until you can book called right down there, um, and again, today's podcasts can be over, um, really the, the idea of charity or business, most people, most barbers, I talked to, um, a good portion of martyrs in the charity mindset.Speaker 1 (04:22):Um, and it doesn't mean like you don't do it for money, right? These, these people can even have like, uh, 6, 7, 8 K per month businesses, but still fall under like the charity mindset or like basically you're overworking yourself. And like when you could be having again at 15, 20, 30 K per month business, just cutting hair and doing nothing else just to services, um, yet, because of the way you structure things, your approach, and like how you're trying to grow things. It's, it's, it's gotten you, you know, either stressed out or just in a redundant cycle, um, or just guessing, right. A lot of barbers, like there's a lot of people who will just be motivated and be about all about the grind. They probably listened to too much Nipsey and like, they're like, Aw man, the marathon. And they they're, they're like too, they're almost too long-term mindset instead of like right here, right now, thinking in this pocket.Speaker 1 (05:09):Um, and that really up a lot of people, nothing while I'm a big Nipsey hussle fan, but I think there's the perception of what people think that means. Uh, it really them up. Long-term so, uh, and we'll get into that too, on this podcast. Um, now are you a charity or are you a business? We have a few topics on here that I wrote down. So I have one is going to be, you know, your relationship with work, right. Basically like with cutting hair, with working, um, and kind of your overall outlook on that. Second thing is going to be a good one TA uh, talking about money, right? Basically, are you, um, approaching, uh, your, I guess money situation as a charity or as a business most are going to be approaching it as a charity, um, next going to be clients after that, we're going to talk about, oh, I think that's it just relationship money and clients that had one more in here.Speaker 1 (05:55):Um, oh yeah, here we go. He was hiding for me and then just barbering overall. I have to like give a couple of spaces on his Google doc. Um, the last one was going to be barbering and your overall approach, maybe the industry or the craft itself, um, and just the business of cutting hair. Right. Um, and just again too, there's, there's really two mindsets. Again, this is not like an absolute thing. You might find yourself like a little bit of dabbling in maybe both, but like, I really want to make, make this, make the point of like, look, you have to be fully into the business side, um, and understanding what that's doing, right. Uh, again, I guess, a better way to make it a little bit clearer as is like, um, if you're cutting hair, like understand that this is not going to be forever.Speaker 1 (06:38):Right. And like, not like too many people would love to romanticize what they see on Instagram from like other quote unquote influencers, which is like, I get it when you're younger. It's like, I did the same thing. It's it seems cool. Like these look like the people that know what they're doing yet. These people have been still cutting hair for like ever for myself. I never thought that was cool. I was like, look, do I really like cutting hair? Honestly, I tell this all the time and in the Q and a calls, um, I really did not like cutting hair, meaning like, um, I like doing one haircut. I like the art of it doing 10 plus haircuts a day, that I'm like off, um, having that many conversations, like it's very draining and then having to come back and do that same thing next day.Speaker 1 (07:21):I absolutely did not enjoy it at all. I love building the business. I did not like it when I was just like charging 16, 20 bucks. And just in the mindset of more of like building relationships, be there for the customer, offering more service and then, you know, doing lots of haircuts every day. Like it, it, the whole, the whole thing. I remember just going into the bathroom sometimes in between cuts and having to like take a deep breath and like really recollect myself. Cause I just, I felt like I up and I think a lot of barbers, um, especially, um, barbers who, who, you know, have a bigger platform, um, who have been in industry for awhile. I always see this too. Like, they'll talk about like, Aw man, you just gotta love the craft. It's about the people. And it's like, dude, I dunno, that's a bunch of bull crap to me.Speaker 1 (08:07):Um, look, I never wanted to be a barber forever. I got in and out in terms of like got licensed in 2014, retired at 2019 slides five-year span. Um, because I understood this dynamic of like, I don't want to do this forever. I actually want to be able to build a business, collect cashflow and then be able to use this as the vehicle, to my next thing. Or like the stepping stone to my next thing. Um, I tried to get away from like that, that idea of stepping stone because people be like, oh, business, you shouldn't step on people. You shouldn't look. If you want to level up, you have to be able to build a business and then go to the next level. There's no point in like building a barbering business and then kind of staying in the same business model is kind of why I'm very vocal about like why I never owned a barber shop.Speaker 1 (08:49):If you've never checked out that podcast would highly recommend you do that. Just because for cashflow purposes and actually leveling myself up, it never made sense to me. Um, so I'd highly recommend you check that at podcasts. If you have not now, I guess we should start this thing. It's been a minute whenever, whenever it's been a minute between podcasts, I'm very, very like, oh, am I doing a good job? Um, you're doing good. Don't worry, dude. Um, so first of all, relationship with work, um, I have like a lot of notes and it's probably wasn't like the best idea. Um, so basically like, like charity for like relationship, relationship with work. Uh, basically like that charity mindset is just like, dude, you're, you know, you're just happy for what they have. They're content they're focused on, you know, either taking a lot of vacations, having fun and enjoying life.Speaker 1 (09:34):And, and I, I know this might sound like very like harsh and blunt, but like, you know, if you're a business that's, that's not what running a business is about. It's not about like making money to like enjoy in like have fun. And like, I remember doing that at 20 bucks and I was miserable. I was like, there's no way in hell. Like I go there and then like, ah. It's like another six months of work just to enjoy one maybe weekend. I was like, this, this is stupid. Like, I feel like, I feel like I definitely did not escape the employee life. Like this is just, this is not running a business. This is still working a job. Um, and a lot of people who are barbers just run their, they actually run their business like a nine to five job or like, like honestly like a nine to five job, um, where once they, once they clock out, sure.Speaker 1 (10:16):They might watch some hair tutorials and do this. Like I hear people all the time. I'm always studying, but they're never growing the business and they're not thinking like a business owner. They're just thinking like a employee or a worker of the job. Um, and I think that's, that's, it's, it's natural. A lot of people look, a lot of people who become coming to barbering have never ran a business prior. Um, and just think solely from the mindset of what they've done prior. You're like, like they just take from the past experiences, which is mostly like working jobs and being employee, uh, or not having a good business in the first point. And it's still like working like this, uh, ex like this hard working mentality. Um, and it bleeds into what they're doing right now. And it them up longterm because you do not want to be standing for 12 hours out of the day, holding like a, I don't know how heavy a and his master or like whatever they have.Speaker 1 (11:03):Um, I know everything's like, um, what's it called cordless now, but like, you don't want to be holding a clipper out in front of your body for like 12 hours of the day. The shoulder's going to hurt you. Back's gonna up, uh, your, my neck, holy. Um, and then like hair splinters and. This is another thing not eating. It's just not fun. Right. So the charity relationship of like, you know, with work is more of like folks on joint, what they have in dreaming of something working out in their favor. Right? Like a lot of people who have this mindset always have the, I'll ask them like, you know, especially on call, like, do you think you do this? And you know, or like, do you really need my help to do this? I'm like, I'm just gonna trust the process and everything's gonna work out.Speaker 1 (11:39):And I have faith, it'll all work out. And I just got to call on this. Um, I don't know. I don't know if he's going to be listening to this, but, um, a lot of, you know, a lot of you guys who might be listening to this know Jay feta, of course, I worked with him inside the elevate dementia program. I've known him for a while. Um, I've worked with him since he was at 60 bucks. Got them all the way up to 200. Now I'm really trying to push him up to get up to that two $5,300 mark. Um, of course we're coming up with a few snags right now and there's, there's always going to be problems in the business. It's, it's never like, once you get up to that level, it's like easy peasy. Like it's never that. So it's like, it gets even harder.Speaker 1 (12:12):Um, and we're just coming up against some roadblocks. And when we're like trying to iron out some details of the business, um, but he's, he always does this thing. I always got check I'm like, dude, like you can't, you can't be thinking like this, like things are not going to work out. Things will work out. If you do the right things and make them work out, it's just not trusting a process or having faith in this. Like, you know, that's more or less just going to get you the same results. And a lot of times that, I mean, just for him, I'll use him as a case study. A lot of times for somebody like Joel, who's super talented, super driven and motivated and like understanding what he needs to do. A lot of times when he gets, that's like too passive for an individual like that.Speaker 1 (12:47):And most people too, it's too passive. You're thinking about like, oh man, if I just, you know, I don't know, let, let something else take care of this or let things work out. Like, no, you have to be like on top of things, you have to have your thumb on the business. You have to have full control. You can't just release control and think everything's going to work out. It's just never, I've never experienced that. Whenever I have done that, it's like a coping mechanism for like, oh man, I'm not doing the work. Hopefully like somebody, something else is going to save me in this all work out. It's it's too woo. for me. And, um, I it's to run a business. I've never, I've never had that occur. Like it's, it's you can ask any, um, high level individual. It's never just like trust the process.Speaker 1 (13:26):Like you are the process. Like you, you figure the thing out and you also are on the thing, 24 7, your mind is working on, it's not like have faith in like, you know, go relax or go like take time off or like be very passive. It's like, no, no, no, no. This thing is supposed to be hard and it's going to push you and you cannot just like back down and just say some, some cliche, word like that, to be quite honest, right. Again, to I'm going to be very blunt. I'm very, I'm very blunt I'm individual. Because like, that's how that's, that's how we just get right to the root core of the issue. Uh, especially when I work with barbers, like, dude, your blood is hell. Like, look, you want to build a business. Like I can't around you.Speaker 1 (14:04):I have to be straight up with you and give you the truth. That way we can just go ahead and get right to it. If I have to worry about your feelings, holy. Maybe it should not be running a business. All right. Um, okay. So the next thing, our relationship with our guests kind of like the charity thing. Now, the business side of it is just like, look, you know, they're single focused. They're not really worried too much about like relaxing, taking time off taking. I mean, I hear so many people talking about the of like, you know, work-life management or balance, like look, anything grades, especially at the level that we're at as barbers, you're going to have to push this thing. Now you don't have to push it to where, like, when you're doing the wrong things, I would hate for somebody to take this and be like, oh man, I just got to work seven days a week.Speaker 1 (14:44):That's not what I'm saying. Like cutting hair is not, it's not running the business. What we do and focus on is like, look, we have time to cut the, the cut hair, but that's like cleaning up what we've generated for the business. Running the business means outside work of cutting hair. You know what the, what the ROI activities are to improve the business side of things, collecting data, finding out problems, fixing problems, finding solutions, um, coming up with a better strategy of what you're doing, collecting data from like what's happened prior. And then also coming up with again to a strategy of like, all right, cool. This has happened. And it got me, this was off. I want to double down or do better this way I have to do. And like maybe go through a couple trials, not trials and tribulations, but like a couple of like, um, you know, write outs of like, are maybe this, maybe this, maybe this, um, and then take your bets on the best, you know, plan of attack.Speaker 1 (15:29):But what most people do is once they're done, once those Clippers turn off again, too, like I said before, they might go ahead and watch a YouTube tutorial and think that's putting in work. It's not, you have to be able to build the business, do ROI activities, positive ROI, positive activities that will generate more income for you. And then also build your business again to the 15, 20 K per month. Mark. I I'm going to be very blunt and unless you suck at hair cutting hair, and like, you actually need this tutorials, those won't do those. Those won't do a thing to get to that type of level. Okay. Again, too. It's most of the hope and pray and like, Aw man, if I have faith in like people, you know, really value me. So you don't work out one day. It's not that running a business.Speaker 1 (16:06):You, you should understand that. It's like really honestly, it's, you're just not satisfied. And you want to work to build more. Um, I don't think again, I talked about this on one of the Q and a calls. I haven't put it up, um, as a YouTube video, like look, when I was charging a hundred, one 50, like people were so like, whoa. Yeah. Like, yo, you're doing it. You did it. And I'm like, dude, I don't even think I scratched the surface. How do I get this thing up to the next thing? Right. And my mind was continuously like working, building, writing out plans, coming up with different strategy and executing, collecting data. Um, because like you, that type of person who thinks like that is going to get is going to lose like in business-wise in a businesses game. And if you don't like games, if you don't like playing a game, like business is going to be is going to be a for you.Speaker 1 (16:50):Like it's going to suck. It is going to be hard. It's going to be a throwing your. Um, and you, you, you will, you won't get to the top level that you want to get to. Or at least the T like to be top of the top. Right. And for me, I always want everybody that I work with inside of the program before we talk, or before I start working with them, I'm like, look, what, what do you even want to do? Cause if it's anything less than the best, I don't even want to touch it. Like I want only people, like I only want to work with people inside this program who are like trying to get to that top of the top level. Cause I can, I will push you to be that way. Otherwise, like we're just wasting time, like continue having a okay business and whatever you want to do.Speaker 1 (17:26):But like this program is centered around like, look, if you want to be top of the top, if you want to be the apex predator, this is what you have to do. And like it's, ventless on that because like, that's the only way to get that type of deal. Right. Um, and again, to the real business side from like, you know, relationship with work is like, it comes after your off time after those Clippers turn off, like, what are we doing outside of that time? And like, how do we have everything structured up to our, and also like understand that this is a stepping stone to the next thing. And then doing what must be done, uh, to the current business to get there. Right. It's not like, oh man, you know what? I love Barbara. I'm just going to chill here and do this for a while.Speaker 1 (18:00):And like stay at this level. Like, no, no, no, no. Like once you get to a level like, that's that thing's old already. It's like shiny object syndrome. You like a second or day into that. It's like dull already. You want the next thing? And like, some people will say like, that's never being grateful. I think being grateful to grateful sometimes like for things like will get you like very complacent right now. I'm not saying you have to be an or like be like, um, you know, a narcissist or just like an ungrateful person. Like, you know, obviously take time out, you know, thank you, thank whatever you believe in for your blessings. But like there's still some more work to be done and you have to have that mentality sometimes being too grateful. Like, we'll get you relaxed, it'll get you very passive and just like content with where you're at.Speaker 1 (18:43):And that's never good for growth. It's things will always die off your current position and where you're at will always die off. I always tell Barbara this, like most barbers they'll raise up one price, race and think that like, they can just continue doing what they do. It's going to, it's going to run out. It's not going to be the same for them. And I see it too many times, even Barbara inside the program. Like they think that way and I'm trying to make sure, Hey, look, this is not what it's going to be like. And sometimes they, they, they hit a snag on things and we have to rebuild the business back up again at a higher price point because like they they've kind of like taken their foot off the gas pedal. And also like, they they've, they've just believed in some of this.Speaker 1 (19:16):That's like it's mass marketed, it's mass market and. It's just like, you know, the cliche business, entrepreneurial hype, Instagram pages. Um, and it's not that busy building a business is hard. Right? A lot of people want to make, make it seem like very easy. I know sometimes I talk about it and seems very simple, but you have to make business super simple because in theory, because in practice, it is the most difficult thing to do. You have to, you have to like, if you're over-complicating the thing with a very complicated, like if you're, over-complicating the theory with an complex with orient, a complicated practice, good luck. Like, and that's what most barbers do right now. Let's go ahead and move on to money, charity or business. What do we have here? Okay. So like, like with money for somebody who's a barber who's running their business like a charity, um, you know, again, they're just, they're happy they're content with what they have.Speaker 1 (20:11):They, they say some self-righteous, like money isn't everything. Oh, like, look as a barber. Like it's, it's, it's pretty low on the totem pole to be quite blunt. Right. I don't know if, I mean, I, my, my hopes for like this elevate dementia program is that it will shift, uh, you know, the industry with those who are a part of it and like running their business, like a business to be more respected, but like, holy. I mean, it's, it's a big, big, it's a big challenge and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm honestly upfront, I'm trying to attack this thing head on, uh, even with like stuff on content like this to really like, make sure like, Hey look, sometimes I might come off like really, again, like really blunt or like an, but like, to be able to get this business up and run it like a business, you have to clean up these like, woo.Speaker 1 (20:55):You gotta be able to like tighten up ship overall. You can't just be living very loose and just very relaxed and loosey goosey with it. Um, because the industry isn't looked, looked upon it and respected it. It's, it's pretty, um, it's pretty looked upon like it's trash and that doesn't mean like you should raise prices like that. That's not what I mean, like, um, respect in terms of like, you know, you can build the proper business, you know what to do, you run your business, like a business, not a charity or not like, um, some like know your worth. Right? Cause that's, that's not what I'm talking about at all. So money-wise, uh, charity, you know, again, to the happy goat they have, this is a big one. They have no five year or even 10 year plan. And they're just happy and say things like, I'm thankful for what I have, you know, I'm blessed, oh man, just living the life, you know, but you know that they have, they're not in this space to grow and they don't have a plan to put their family or themselves in a better position, five, 10 years down the road.Speaker 1 (21:50):Um, or they just start, they just think of over over-complicating things. And just like being lazy, like doing things like passive income. I mean like right now there's, especially when you're at this level, like they're there, you should not be thinking about passive income. Like I don't, I don't believe in passive income. There is no such thing that anything that creates income will always require work. It's always going to require some type of like attention to detail, uh, to have like a very, like have a longevity of income coming in and, and cashflow, it does take some like decision-making strategy and that's like energy, right? That's not passive. Passive is like, you wake up one day and there's like $5,000 laying in your bed. And you're like, oh. Let's do it. Didn't do anything. No, right now, um, a lot of people who run a charity, like they, they, yeah.Speaker 1 (22:40):They just don't really care about money. Um, they think, man, it's like, Aw, man, I don't really care about money too much. Or, or they're very like, I'll get this all the time on calls. Like I'll ask them, be like, all right, cool. We're going to work together. What do you want to do? And what do you want to grow your business to? And they'll, let's say they're charging 40, like, oh man. 60 bucks. I'm like, why? Like, I don't need to work with you if you're just looking to go up like 20 bucks. Like that's not, you know, I think a lot of barbers, to be honest, a lot of barbers, um, are afraid to be, to talk to other people about what they want to do with their business. Because I think it's so common in the industry. Um, for other barbers to shoot you down for, if you want to charge that much.Speaker 1 (23:22):Oh no, not possible, dude. What the are you thinking? What you wanna charge that, dude, you're going to do you're you're such an. Like how could you do that? You're like Jeff Bezos bank taken all this money from the people, man, what the? I thought you were for the community. Right? And that's, that's, that's like what resides in like this industry too much. Right. Too many people think they're too self-righteous and they're too like, look, look, we live in a society where you need money right now. I'm not saying like, sell your soul or anything like this, or like be an to get money or like scam people. Like definitely don't scam people run a good business, right. Be ethical with this thing. Um, but don't overstretch yourself. There's some limits and boundaries that you do not have to cross just in order to like build a business.Speaker 1 (24:01):And to me, barbers don't understand this boundary and too many barbers get their business mistreated by bad behavior from their clientele or other people, uh, or even other barbers for that matter of fact. Right. Um, and I think, um, this has a lot of people like on the edge or like, like questioning and like, oh man, do I really want that? It's like you ever, um, if you ever heard the term of like gas light, right. Or gas lighting or, um, you know, doing that thing to people it's where like, you know, you kind of like twist their idea of a reality. Um, you know, these, this is, these are very manipulative tactics that people use on others. Um, I've seen it happen. Um, I think everybody, if you've ever been in relationship like with a toxic person or even just like been around toxic manipulative people it's it's happened to you before definitely has happened to me before.Speaker 1 (24:48):Like, it's very like, well, what the am I right? Is this the right thing to do? Like you start questioning reality and that's never good. And these, these people who always like kind of press this thing, like they're very attitude reality. And they almost do it because like they need to make themselves feel better and like, feel like they, that they are like right. That their self-righteousness is the way. And it's like, look, that's not how the world works. That's not how the society works. Um, and, and that's not also how business works at all either. Right? So money-wise like, look, you have to have a five to 10 year plan. You can not just like, think about like, oh man, just relaxing, man. I got what I it's always going to be here. I would always plan like, what do you have right now?Speaker 1 (25:25):There's a, there's an 80 to 90% chance. It's not going to be there five, 10 years from now. It's not going to be the same. Right. And I think too many people take it too. Um, relaxing, like, or a passive approach like, oh man, I did it. This is always going to be here. Watch, take that approach. I willing to bet six months from now, it's going to change or it's not going to be the same and it's going to be actually worse. Um, and I think it's like, sure, it might still be there five, 10 years from now. There's a chance. Right. But God, I would not, I would never take that, that risk because that is a huge risk. Just like kind of picking your feet and be like, oh, it's always going to be this way. I don't know anything that's ever stayed the same ever.Speaker 1 (26:01):Right? You, you, in nature, it's like a natural law. Look at trees, trees grown, die, animals, insects, plants, you know, um, bodies of land. Those things changed. Look at Antarctica, right. Uh, just like melting away. Um, and these, these all things happen from change and, and like species die off it's there. Nothing is like forever. And like that's, that's one thing I think a lot of people like, especially as Barbara's like you try to grasp on and make sure this thing stays this way forever. And it's, it's not that way you always have to be pushing forward. So that's like, I guess like money from a charity point of view or from somebody who was running their business as a charity. Now as a business, you should plan how to improve the thing to like get up to 15, 20 K a month, um, just from two services.Speaker 1 (26:47):Um, and honestly, again too, it's never, never being satisfied. It's like, it's something to some people like you, people are like, oh man, like I remember just having this ex, I was like, you're never going to be satisfied with what you do. It's never going to be enough. Like, yeah, that's the point. Like I want to be like, I want to always continue to elevate myself. Um, that should've been a red flag right there, but like, I, I always need to have that because that's honestly, for me, that's, that's what I find enjoyment in. Right. I mean, I played sports growing up. I love games. Um, I really enjoy like, I mean, I've grew up watching war movies and stuff like that. And I really enjoy like that art. Um, I think like, you know, you should always be focused on like the next thing, like that's, that's how life works too.Speaker 1 (27:32):It's never just like, once you get it, like it's a mortal, like it's always going to be there. Like, no, no, no, no. It's, it's always like, all right, cool. This person's like in like the spotlight now five years from now, now it's this person, right? Like what was it? You can look at music for instance, right? Jay Z was in the spotlight early two thousands. Then I went to Kanye was the dude. Now Drake's held it for awhile. You know, these things change over time, uh, and attention or just the natural law of things will always shift. Um, and you have to understand it's always moving forward, never staying the same in a business. Let somebody who runs their business like a business, understands that and understands what they have today is not guaranteed tomorrow. It's almost like there's always a chance that it will not be there tomorrow.Speaker 1 (28:13):And I think a lot of times it's barbers. When you see your, your schedule booked out day after day after day after day, you can kind of get like lulled into this like, oh man, it's always going to be here. It's always going to be like this. And it never is. And I think that's a wrong way to think about it. And you should always have a five to 10 year plan of like what some point in time I have to stop cutting hair. I don't think this is the smartest thing to do. Long-term but I also have to like reap the benefits because this is the decision I made, however long back, and I have to do this. This is what I mean, this is the exact talk I had with myself when I was like, um, in that, in that bathroom charging 20 bucks and like, I have to take a mental break because like I wanted to quit.Speaker 1 (28:53):I was like, this. I hate, I really hate cutting hair. I think I made mistake being a barber. Like this is not what I want to do. This is not fun for me. And I had to stop myself like, look, dude, you end this right now. You just wasted a couple of years. And you're probably just going to do the same thing with whatever you choose neck. Once it gets hard. All right, this is what this is. This is like that, that was like the transition moment for me. When I was like, look, this is why I made, this is a decision that I made. I'm going to commit to this for the next five years and get myself out of this and into a better position and uses my vehicle. And I'm going to do everything and learn as much from anybody take on any mentor I can to get me to that next level.Speaker 1 (29:27):Um, therefore I can expedite my results and then I can move on to the next thing like effortlessly. I don't have to do this thing forever. Right. And that right there, that simple decision I remembered like that change, like the events of like how I moved, what decisions I made. Um, and it's very pivotal. Everybody should go through a moment like that. I'm like, look, I'm all in. And I'm all in for this time period. And I have to get it done within this time period. Cause like you won't take, you won't want to take a day off. You won't want to stay satisfied. Right. It's just like, once you get something done, it's like, cool. That was just like, that was like a little stepping stone that wasn't like the main thing to do. It's like, all right, cool. Now the next thing right now, the next thing we're planning now the next thing now, the next thing.Speaker 1 (30:04):Um, and if you, if you have a five, 10 year, 20 year plan like that, of like what space you want to be in, like it's oh, you will always like at least have some type of driving force for you. And that's what it is to run a business. You're just like, cool. Done that on like an hour now I'm onto the next task. Right? Cool. Got done with that little, little step forward. Right? So now when the clients for the charity in the business thing, what do we have here? Charity? Um, you know, Barbara Sue, who focused more on like, I mean, Jesus, you know, conversations, like a lot of people think of it. Like, you know, you have to have like these lengthy client, like conversations with clients, you have to know them. I even get all the time on calls. Like, well, what do you say to clients like that will make them pay that much.Speaker 1 (30:46):It's like, you don't say anything to them, you build the business and like they make a decision on it. Right. Um, too many people want to like, cause like to me, that's like, if you, if you just take a second out of that, what do I say to somebody convinced them to pay that it's almost like manipulation, that's not business. Right. And I think a lot of barbers get this thing really mixed up because they're too focused on relationship building. Um, and they w again, too, they want to seem self-righteous oh man, no, I'm, I'm, I've built really good relationships with people. I'm, you know, I'm have great conversations with them, but what's the point. Right? And typically the point is always to make sure that they, you know, can get paid by the person who get tipped more. It sounds more like manipulation and like, you know, um, twisting somebody's arm and like, um, kind of being fake about it versus just running their business, how it needs to be run.Speaker 1 (31:34):Um, I wasn't a big believer in that cause I, I can't, I can't do the fake. I'm just like, look, I don't really want to talk. I'm here to like, improve what I need to be doing with the business. Um, I'll, you know, catch up with you and like, we talk real quick, but this whole thing is not surrounded by like a conversation or like, um, you know, your therapy session for sure. And that's why I think a lot of people think, or even like a lot of barbers will be like, oh no, you got to cut the kids, man. Cause when they're five years old, you're gonna have a client for life. And like when they're 15, when they're 25, I'm like, dude, the kid's five years old and you're talking about cutting back when he's 25 years old and being client still, there's no way in hell.Speaker 1 (32:08):I want to be cutting hair 20 years from now. There's no way in hell. I want to have any of my clientele who were kids and me cutting them up when they were older. It wasn't like if I saw that I would be like, I am up somehow. What did I do with my life? Right. And I think when people, when Barbara's focused too much on the charity side of things, that's their mindset. That's their approach. I just, I just can't. I could not buy into that whatsoever. The business side of it for clientele is like, look, you're focused on improving the business and you're focused on acquiring new clients, right? Again, we're not being. We're not being like we're. I think the other way of being a charities more manipulative, this is just like, look, I'm building a good, uh, good, uh, business.Speaker 1 (32:43):And I'm going to give you a service. And um, you know, you're going to be, you're going to be getting the value that you pay for. But like the value doesn't come from me adding more on, or like talking to you or like talking about life issues or catching up with you and talking about families that doesn't want that. That's not what that comes from. Right. Or even me like bending over backwards, kissing your feet and all this. I just not what happens. Right. And like, understand this is a business. It's not something you make friends in, guilt them into paying you more or just paying you in general. Right? I think a lot of barbers, that's their thing like, oh man, no, you gotta be friends with them because if you're friends and you get, create great relationships, they're going to pay you.Speaker 1 (33:21):Like, no, no, no people will pay you for the value you bring to them. Not, not for like the conversations. And like, if people think that way, I think you're wasting a lot of energy to be quite honest, look, you could do it. It's not my bread and butter. And it's definitely not something I enjoy doing. Um, I enjoy building things and enjoyed building a great business. And it's much more simple when you do that because having 20 conversations with somebody each and every single day, that that's draining in itself. And that's what most people do as a charity. And you go home and you're like tired, and now you don't have any time to like be putting into building the business overall. Right. Which is going to is the whole point of this thing, building it. And after you get done cutting here.Speaker 1 (33:59):So that's the client point of view? Um, I think the last point I have is just the overall barbering right now. When somebody thinks of us as a charity, uh, they try to reinvent the wheel. Right. I see so many people trying to like come up with like mobile services or like add on different things. Like they tried two different things on marketing and they're like, oh man, I man, nah, man, I got to do this and maybe this. And like, they're trying to guess. And like, and I think it's more or less. They're just, they're just bored, doing busy work. They're trying to like, they're, they're bored of what they're doing. They're trying to be like, oh man, what if I did this, this would be fun to do, like they're doing nonsense work. Right. And you know, they're kind of more focused on like, man, they're focused more on like the craft and like being so prideful and like, oh man, I give the cleanest cut.Speaker 1 (34:40):I spend heads all day in the chair and nah, man, I put hair on the floor and there again to the focus on relationship with the clients and the community, rather than this building the business, there's nothing wrong with that. Right. I'm not saying into being an, but they put that thing too high on a pedestal where that, that almost like they overstepped their boundaries of what they should be doing. And like they start giving more than they actually are getting back in the business. And like it's the most draining thing as individual be doing that because there again too, if you go back on like, all right, what's the essence of this? Why am I doing this to get more clients, to get paid more, to be looked at like a, some good business person. So people will pay me. You can be a good business person, just run a business.Speaker 1 (35:19):You don't have to overstretch yourself. Right. That's like to me. Um, and again too, it's it falls into the category of manipulation. Like if you really just break it down, like what that is, you're, you're, you're doing this. Not because of the goodness out of your heart, you're doing it because you want to get paid more and maybe you are like trying to convince yourself like, oh no, this is the goodness of my heart. I remember trying to do that to myself too, of like, nah, man, this is actually who I am. I'm really for the community. I'm really doing this. And it's like, it's just a coping mechanism. Like I remember I was just like, I remember like realizing one day, I'm like, I'm not, this is just because like, I'm not happy. And like, I, this is all I can do. And this is not like, this is not fun.Speaker 1 (35:55):This is not me. Like I want to build something and I want to actually win. Right. And like, I thought, this was like, how you, when it's not working out that way. So, you know, and they, they want to, or this one to like a charity businesses. Like I see us all the time now they want to help younger barbers. Um, you know, either learn how to cut hair. Like, oh man, I want to, I want to do it, their education and stuff like this. But they have yet to build anything for themselves. Right. And they don't have a really good business. Like they don't have something that's simplified 15, 20 K per month and like running it as a business. And this is why we get so much regurgitated because people who have average or below average things start trying to educate and teach other people what to do.Speaker 1 (36:33):And then these people think that this is the truth. Oh my God, this is what I should do. And we have just like this cycle of like up businesses. Right. And overall like again, through they're just bored. They just don't know what to do next. And they go into these avenues and they do these things and they don't really know if they want to cut hair forever or not. They're just kind of like, eh, I'm just doing it right now. Um, and that's not the, I don't think that's the right thing to do. I think you should always focus on self because the way you help other people, as you focus on yourself and get that to a max level, like I could not run the new air barbering if I was like focused on helping other people. I, I really, I was focused on building my business the best and because I did that the best I can now help other people do what they want to do.Speaker 1 (37:11):Right. Um, and at the same thing right now, like, like, um, I need to be able to like run a new air barbering to its fullest potential. Um, that way it can help more people out in the future. Whatever is next for me after that. Right. Um, now the business side of barbering is like, look, you're not going to reinvent the wheel. You're not going to try. And like, you know, I see people like doing like pop-ups shops or like go in different places and do a mobile, or like do like trying to reinvent like the pricing and stuff like that. And it's like, look simple, efficient business. That's focused on cashflow building and growing. And again too, they don't get shiny object syndrome. They don't be like, oh man, I have these clients. Now I'm going to get this product and we'll sell them this product.Speaker 1 (37:47):And then after that, they're going to get on like a rewards program. Then they're going to become like, I should get like a monthly subscription fee for not only the product, but also cutting hair. Like this is too complicated. Um, and you know, you should just work on perfecting the business so that, you know, they can move on to the next and they understand this is, uh, this isn't forever. They don't want to be cutting hair forever. And it's it's, but it's, you know, taking this step, the correct steps to ensure that they don't cut hair forever. Um, and they run it like a business and they're just, they're so focused on pushing this thing up and they know if they need help again, to get the help they need. Um, and they're not afraid to ask for questions. They don't have too much pride.Speaker 1 (38:22):Um, because like, look, you don't know what you don't know and it's all about, you know, just leveling up getting yourself outside of this, um, business. Because again, I don't, I don't know if cutting hair for forever is like the best thing to do in my opinion, especially for a business like, um, does anybody know what they want to do after barbering. No, I didn't definitely didn't know I was going to run new air Barbary at all. Um, and you don't like, that's the thing. A lot of people get mixed up. They think that they, they need to map things out like, oh man, after this, then I'm gonna go into this and I'm gonna go into this. And it's like, look, just understand the space you want to be in. Meaning like, you know, how do you want, what's the quality of life that you want your, you, your self to be in, in residing in after you cut hair.Speaker 1 (39:05):Right? And like, what do you want to be doing after that? Like, like, you know, business-wise, you don't have to know the exact business, but just like the space that you reside in and then put your head down and work at this thing, because that thing is never going to happen unless you refocus and just go full on with this thing and get your cashflow, get yourself in a position to then do that thing. It's just never going to happen. Like I remember trying to do that as a barber charging 20 bucks. And I was like, this is never working out. I have to like focus just on this, like understand that I want to do something next. That's going to be at the next level, higher level, more scalability level. Um, but right now this is my thing, and I'm going to go full in with this and just this.Speaker 1 (39:42):Um, and that's how you get growth. So if that is something you want to do again too, it's, it's very, very difficult. Right? Um, it's kind of again, to why I made the newer Barbara, because I had got a lot of barbers who were seeing me grow, wanting to do the same. Uh, and I understood what, what lied ahead. A lot of people think that all managers raise prices every couple months and like, continue. Marketing's always going to work out. It's like, it's not bad. Um, you could try that. But even with people who are trying that, I still hear them asking, even my students, Hey, how do you get up to here? How do you get up to here? And it's like, that's, that's why it, like, it's, it's the dynamics change at higher price points and things, things need to be like properly done or else like you will put your business either at a choke hold or like, it just stops growing overall.Speaker 1 (40:28):Um, so this is something that you want to do instead of being a charity and you want to run a full-time business and you want the help doing that. Look, um, again, you can book a call with me or my team. I will be having a team that will be taking these calls. We'll kind of go through your business, kind of look over things of like, all right, cool. What are you doing right now? Where do you want to get to with all my help? And also like, let me know the problems that you have. Um, and I'm just only trying to work with, again, two people I can actually like help out, like if I can't help you out. And you're very blunt, like, look, dude, I, I, I don't think it's a good idea to work right now. You have to do this, this and this or girl.Speaker 1 (40:56):Right. We do have women in the program. Um, and I just won't make you an offer to work with you if I don't find that it's a good fit for you right now, because I want to make sure I bring on people that we can get great results for. Uh, cause it doesn't help you or me out if like we can just get you on and you know, you learn some cool things and that's about it. I want to make sure you get the results. So that's you, and you do want to go from not running a charity more, but actually running a good business. Um, you can go ahead and schedule a call below. I will have a book call now button. Um, we can set up a time to talk. So other than that, again, I will try to get a little bit more focused on, um, you know, building out a better team for myself so I can get back to doing these at least weekly or twice a week.Speaker 1 (41:37):Um, cause I think these are very helpful for a lot of people. So if you did find this podcast helpful, uh, I do recommend or just request that you do one thing, one thing only, uh, make sure you share this with one Barbara who you think will also benefit from this. All right. Uh, that is like, you know, podcasting grows that way and I would be very appreciative for everybody um, just send this to one Barbara who you think this will help them out and get a better understanding of their business. And look, if you could did get sent this look, look, the person who sent that to you, Sarah, thank you. Like, cause they have your best interest in mind of growing, uh, and feel free to go ahead and pass it along. So I love seeing this thing grow. I've seen like this podcast grow over the years and I definitely something I want to continue doing.Speaker 1 (42:13):Um, because I think a lot of people really enjoy the podcast high platform and I really enjoy creating content for this. Cause I don't want to be dancing on camera or like stressed out about the camera, looking, you know, all this. It's very, very easy for me to do an efficient too. So, um, again, if you are not subscribed already, make sure you subscribe. Um, I will, I can't commit right now to a once a week, but I do know once I get back on full-time with this, uh, podcasting, it will be at least once a week for a new podcast upload again, too. If you wanna check out any of the customer reviews that we have go to the website, the new air barbering.com and you can check out any other older podcasts, any blog videos, which are basically YouTube videos, customer views.Speaker 1 (42:49):Make sure you go onto our you're following me on Instagram at deluxe underscore that's DL UCS underscore. I will also be been a little more active on there at least posting a little bit more dropping game in the Instagram stories to make sure you check that out as well, too, as well as following me on YouTube at deal UCS underscore, um, that's where I'll drop a lot of the new YouTube videos again, 20 and a little more time to go and drop those. But there's a lot of great information on there. If you have not already kind of subscribed or even started watching that channel, make sure you watch that. And then yeah, I'll talk to you guys next time.
Daniel Contreras is spearheading the industry with his New Era model that helps overworked and undervalued barbers to work less and make more. His students are some of the fastest-growing barbers in the industry and he has helped them gain market dominance in their respected areas of business and online. If you're interested in getting out of the old traditional model of barbering and start your New Era journey, click the "FREE Demo Breakdown" button above to request a strategy session.