Pull three levers to grow your Barbershop Business.

BY DWIGHT HODGE

Whether your barbershop is a raging success or you’re feeling the effects of the current economic climate, you can pull only three levers to grow your barber business.

In our modern age, it’s easy to get caught up in the allure of quick fixes, AI hacks, or magic pills. If you’ve ever delved into these ‘solutions’, you’ve likely encountered snake oil salesmen or been overwhelmed by a convoluted 27-step process for success. But fear not. There are simpler, more effective ways to grow your barber business.

Let’s pose a hypothetical. You need to grow your business. Times are tough, and margins are thin. Some months, you make a profit, and others, you struggle to pay yourself a wage. You need to make more money.

Question: What can you do to make more money right now?

Wow! What was your first thought after reading that question? Did you feel overwhelmed or stressed? Is the idea of coming up with an answer fear-inducing?

Unfortunately, many barbershop owners are using this approach and asking themselves broad, overwhelming questions with infinite possible solutions or answers. The risk is you feel so overwhelmed you fail to make a decision, let alone take action.

Success doesn’t have to be complicated or frightening. Most successful businesses and leaders follow simple methods and processes, and the three levers I am about to share are no different.

Sometimes, the most challenging part of running a barbershop is keeping things simple. We often think things need to be technical and complicated to work well. Simple is best because it is easy to understand, share with others, and implement.

The following three levers are the only ways to make more money and grow a successful barbering business.

Lever 1 - More Clients

If you had one hundred clients spending $50 each, you would make $5,000. If you gained twenty more clients, your income would increase to $6,000.

Lever 2 - More Spend

If your one hundred and twenty clients spent an extra $5 each, your income would increase from $6,000 to $6,600

Lever 3 - More often

If your one hundred and twenty clients visited your barbershop fourteen times a year instead of twelve your yearly income would increase from $79,200 to $92,400.

This example shows $32,400 in additional income, or a 35% increase from $60,000 to $92,400, highlighting your shop’s potential.

Would pulling one or all of these levers be bad for your barbershop?

Your ability to distil this and other concepts and principles down to their simplest form or find a mentor or coach who already has dramatically increases your potential for success.

Why will simplifying business concepts and principles increase your chances of success?

The first question posed before discussing the three levers was broad, nonspecific, and open-ended, causing you to feel overwhelmed and fearful of making the wrong decision.

Considering the three levers narrows your focus down to three simple, concise and specific questions:

• What three things can I do to find more clients?

• What three things can I do to increase my client spending?

• What three things can I do to have my clients visit more often?

There is an insightful saying: where focus goes, energy flows. These three questions perfectly illustrate this. When you focus your time and energy on a specific task, instead of jumping across 15 different things at once, you get results!

A clear, specific focus reduces feelings of overwhelm and stress, which, if unchecked, can lead to a limiting and negative state of mind.

Flipping your negativity to a positive state of mind does something incredible: It makes you smarter. Yes, you read that correctly. Studies show people with a positive state of mind make 35% more intelligent decisions than those with a negative state of mind.

Getting back to the critical task of making more money, before answering any questions, check yourself. Are you approaching this task with a positive frame of mind?

Remember, your level of positivity impacts how smart your decisions will be.

Will you answer one, two, or all three questions above?

When answering the questions, brainstorm and list your answers. Don’t be limited in your thinking, the crazier the ideas, the better.

Review your list and highlight your top three answers. Two attributes distinguish top answers from the rest: minimal time and energy to execute and a high level of impact.

From your list of top answers, eliminate two and focus solely on your top response.

List all the possible actions you could take to achieve the desired result. Once again, select the top three actions. Eliminate two and focus on the most effective action to achieve the result.

Focusing on a single action to achieve a specific result simultaneously reduces feelings of overwhelm, stress, and fear while boosting confidence, effectiveness, and results.

Higher levels of self-confidence quiet your mind, your self-doubt and your unconscious judgement.

You become more curious, listen better, and uncover more opportunities to thrive.

By entering each day with a stronger and more positive state of mind, you make more effective decisions and achieve even greater success.

Which lever are you going to pull today?

Dwight Hodge, NLP Master Practitioner Leadership & Business Coach, Author www.dwighthodge.com @dwighthodge_leadership_coach