This year Dr. Tye and Courtney Caldwell attended the 10th annual Connecticut Barber Expo live at the Mohegan Sun Casino. As co-founders of a beauty-tech company, they put a huge emphasis on supporting the hair and barbering industry in any way possible. Sometimes that includes a weekend flight to learn from some of the industries best and brightest.
The CT Barber Expo is a perfect mixture of networking, education, exploration and, of course, business celebration. Hundreds of attendees were able to browse over 400 vendors showcasing their most recent products, tools and accessories. Over the course of 3 days, industry leaders and educators held seminars on everything from industry trends to business growth. Some of the best barbers from across the nation showcased their skills in a number of hairstyling competitions. The event reached fever pitch during the Barber Grammy’s.
While parties are amazing, personal development and business growth are what we’re all really interested in. So we’ve listed our top learnings from our two day stay at the barbering industries big night.
Sharpening Your Skills
From Fades to Caesars to Blending there are so many techniques that a barber must learn in order to drive repeat business from clients of all walks of life. While the experience is a heavy part of customer experience, it all boils down to are your cutting skills great or not. During the Sunday Seminars at the Barbering Expo, experienced barbers like; Vin Blends, Andy Authentic and K Duncan Grooming put on a master’s class in how to execute techniques like parts and designs as well as sharp edges. They also made sure to emphasize the importance of practicing the craft to make sure your clients never have a reason to complain. As they say, “happy clients, heavy pockets”!
Grow Your Business With The Small Things
We all tend to want to shoot straight to the top, and so we focus on the big ticket items. However, The Biz Lawyer herself, Rosezena Pierce of R.J. Pierce Law Group made sure to remind all the solopreneurs in the building that securing your brand was the first step towards success.
A brand isn’t your brand until you’ve trademarked your name and a business can’t grow without the right time by your side. Likewise building your business is more than making money, it includes; marketing yourself, your brand and your product, creating effective business plans to help sell your vision and managing your time so that you can make the right decisions to grow your business.
Scale! Scale! Scale!
As solopreneurs, we don’t think about scale the same as a billion dollar business does, but we absolutely should! Scaling your business helps you grow outside of your local market and create residual income. No, you don’t need to franchise your shop or look to expand to more brick and and mortar locations. However, you can create product lines that extend your brand beyond hairstyling. Growth has many paths and definitions, it’s important that you understand what growth means to you and for your business. Diego Elizarraras managed to get this point across as he educated attendees on the usefulness of knowing your numbers and identifying ways of growing retail business to scale your salon or barbershop.
We could absolutely go for days listing all the gems we picked up over the weekend. However, it all boils down to figuring out what your goals are and then understanding what plans and tactics you need to put in place to make that happen. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it is possible to reach your goals with the right plans and tools in place.
One of those tools in the ShearShare App, which helps all barbers across the industry find affordable stations by the day to service their clients. Likewise, barbershop owners can list their vacant space to make money on space that would otherwise cost them to hold. Learn more when you download the ShearShare app in the app store or google play store.
If you’re a professional barber, you should check out these resources from ShearShare that provide insights on topics like building, marketing, monetizing your product, and more.
Scissor salute to Jay Majors and the entire CT Barber Expo team for putting together such a great event!
