Diary of an Educator By Fraser Forsey

This is series 3 of 4 in our special features with Fraser Forsey, 2021 AMBA Educator of the Year, and people, in this instalment, Fraser doesn’t hold back. He gives us a raw account of his observations around the country and presents a real-time health check that you better be sitting down for.

LET’S HEAR FROM THE MAN HIMSELF…

So, over the last 10 weeks I’ve had a few private workshops with the team of educators at Temple we’ve been up in Townsville running a five-day boot camp up there with six apprentices.

These boot camps are becoming more and more popular with the high demand there is to find staff in our industry, it’s becoming even more challenging for Barber Shops and Hair Salons.

The boot camps are a really effective way to gain a team to create more retention within staff and have the apprentices trained the way you like to work in your shop. After the five days of this bootcamp these six apprentices were able to perform nearly all services on the floor at a satisfactory level whilst having qualified staff there to watch over and help maintain the apprentices work quality.

We had a three-day Wella colour workshop on site at Temple this month really great to see what hairdressers are doing in the industry at the moment with their colour and seeing some really beautiful work. We also had some upskill training at three different locations down in Sydney with Tommy Guns Barbershop with two educators working across all three shops upskilling their team.

In the last 10 weeks I also held an intense one on one workshop covering all aspects of barbering, however we also spent a lot of time on business strategies as this individual wanted to upskill his techniques and quality of work but also focusing on how he can grow his business in a more efficient profitable way.

Two wedding parties in the last month providing all cuts and services to the groom’s parties, always great to be able to still deliver that amongst delivering education.

ON THE ROAD:

Back down to Sydney again to hold a 1-day workshop at De Lorenzo head office with Hairdressers and Barbers and business owners, these workshops are definitely my favourite as you get such a variety of different people within the industry all working together and collaborating.

Also spent five days down in Bairnsdale in Victoria with Anthony Nafatali holding a workshop with a team of 15 Hairdressers and Barbers, this workshop was heavily focused on up-skilling techniques within our industry but also spent a lot of time with the two business owners planning and ensuring their business a lot of success rolling out a new POS (Appointment/Check-in system) and new service menu and customer journey.

We held a massive education showcase at temple this month with ICANDY scissors launching the 10-year anniversary scissor collection. With over 120 barbers and hairdressers in one room showcasing what we all love so much, HAIR. We were graced with the presence of Mario Fallace from New York Barbers in Melbourne, Kim Astropalitis from Chroma Hair in Brisbane, Lance Liufau from the Loft Barbershop, Bruce Leeroy from the Loft Barbershop and my sidekick Anthony Nafatali from Barber Temple. Check out Rex’s coverage of that this issue.

Headed inland this month also to spend time in Toowoomba working with a shop up there providing some hands-on training and team culture workshops, it’s always nice getting away and not having to go to the airport and take yet another flight instead driving through the country up the range and knowing that you’re not too far away from home is a nice feeling.

Western Australia was next to spend time with three shops over there, even though we’re still in Australia it always feels like you’re heading out of the country when travelling to WA.

Love seeing the industry over there with the different styles and techniques and of course that famous WA sunset.

Pretty excited to be finally leaving the country after what has seemed such a long time with COVID now in our rear view. Flying internationally to Paris with The Bearded Chap on our second international tour to present at a three-day Expo! and also to Amsterdam to spend time with some Barber Shops and Barbers over there, excited to be representing one of my favourite product companies and seeing how the French do things.

After the week in France, I come home for a week to spend time with my team and family and then head over to Canada to the Tommy Guns national conference with over 75 of their head barbers from each of their stores across North America, absolutely pumped for these trips coming up.

RECENT CHALLENGES:

I also have given some thought lately on challenges barbers have had and are still facing and wanted to share my thoughts on this.

Obviously, we know what the biggest challenge has been over the last couple of years; that dreaded word COVID. It has created a few common challenges across our industry and within our shops with a stand out to be finding good, qualified staff.

With most of our international Barbers and Hairdressers returning home to their countries, it’s made us probably all realise how much we relied on these trades people. I also feel like retaining staff is a common factor and challenge for few Barber Shops and Salons, and this is probably led to the high demand for Barbers and Hairdressers within our industry being poached or trying to find the next best option/ pay cheque within another shop. The other big disruption to many businesses of course is staff leaving and opening up their own shop (our chair at home) close by, farming social media accounts of the businesses they just left, and undercutting prices.

This has then led to wages being increased, with the inflation in our country at the moment and now Barber shops are having to pay top dollar for staff.

Something that I’ve all always seen as a common factor across many shops in Australia is how much we still undervalue ourselves and the services that we provide the public.

It really does hurt to see all the amazing people, skills and great things happening in our industry to then see that we still are not charging enough and not valuing the skill set like we should. I wish one day there was some form of common ground across Australia within our businesses to all have a benchmark of what we should be charging but also offering an exceptional customer experience/service, because this is something in our day and age that is also not promoted as much as it should be across multiple service industries. I guess if you go to the drawing board and sit with your team and work out exactly what you want to provide or improve with your customer journey ensuring that you have the best customer experience any way possible because at the end of the day as they say, it is just a “haircut”. It’s the small things that make a haircut something memorable and something that can change a man’s perspective on his day and how he feels about himself and that’s the special thing about what we do we are in control and empowered to make a man feel proud.

ADVICE:

My advice would be to set in stone a customer journey that is different from the Barber Shop down the road that offers incredible customer experience and charge accordingly to the blood, sweat and years you have put into your craft.

Create a team culture that is hard for any Barber or Hairdresser to walk away from, invest in growth within your team, and think long term about your business not week to week.

I feel being successful in business is a matter of a simple mathematics equation, no difference to 1 + 1 = 2, and if we treated business the same way as that, I think we would all be successful.

So here is a simple list that can help your business grow and retain your staff: • Implement a customer journey - an experience like no other. • Invest in training and growth. • Increase the value of your services. • Invest in apprentices.

With these 4 simple things your business will definitely grow and be sure to be more profitable and you can be a bit more planned.

Over the last couple of years we have all seen Barber Shops popping up left right and centre and I think at times it makes you wonder if there’s more shops than there is Barbers. As much as it’s a beautiful thing that we can literally cut hair anywhere, in any chair, in any location, I definitely feel if we spent a bit more time focusing on the fit outs of our stores, the quality of the products we have access to and cement a universal and consistent customer experience we would see a higher standard.

Running a business is very different from doing a haircut, there’s a lot more involved then short back in sides or a fade. I guess a quick tip here could be plan your work, work your plan, and raise the bar for standards, quality, and customer experience.

Regular education is a must and the flow on benefits to having outside training or guest educators working with your team investing, collaborating, and creating some amazing work together, is probably a given to some but not all. We should all be pretty open to the fact that you NEVER STOP LEARNING.

There is no end point in our industry, and no end as to when you’re able to reach your full potential, because trends never stop changing, and techniques never stop evolving.

We can definitely say what we do is art. So how can there possibly be an end point to creating and learning art?

The realistic measurable factors of having training, better efficiency, higher productivity, increased profits within businesses, a greater skilled team, increased team culture, higher quality of customer experience, setting yourself apart from other shops and setting a tone to your customers to show that you take this seriously is all part of the journey and fundamentally instrumental to success.