Video Transcript

Hey everyone, Daniel Contreras (@dlucs_) here founder of The New Era Of Barbering. Second week in a row, um, we're going to have to go ahead and just do this with, uh, no tripod, just holding the camera. So it might be a little shaky heads up with that one. Um, so this past week where I really did was I wanted to reach out to a lot of barbers, uh, through Dm's. Right. And maybe a lot of you got messages from me. I'm really just seeing, you know, especially coming back from pandemic, uh, going back from, you know, not working three for about two and a half, three months or so. I really wanted to see like what a lot of barbers were doing, you know, myself, um, being retired from cutting hair for about a year now, even though I work directly with barbers with, um, my educational company, uh, still the daily process, I want to have a good understanding of what's really going on.And, and this past week was really eyeopening for me for the lead, for the part of, um, the lack of preparation, um, or at least there's the understanding of what this new era, uh, provides us. Right. I think we're moving out of a very traditional sense of barbering. And I think a lot of barbers from what my conversations had at least have been, a lot of them have actually moved on from barbershops. And a lot of them have moved into their own personal studios or are opening up their own little spots or just cutting hair in their own spot. They, they don't see the benefit that, you know, COVID really made them understand that, um, you know, they didn't need the barbershop anymore. And I think it's this understanding of, you know, not surviving off of walk-ins moving to appointment system, um, is finally coming in full circle for a lot of barbers and making them understand, but, you know, and I love, I love seeing progression in that stance, but I think, um, there's still, there's still a lot of traditional barbering, um, that is left in instilled in the Barber when they go ahead and move into a new space and really, um, uh, also paint my nails difficult this week.Right. Um, also the only thing with this though, is that, um, just because you move to a different spot, right? Just because you move to a different situation doesn't mean you change, like you still stay constant with yourself. Self is still the same as this is the same variable or the same constant, uh, with outside variables changing. AndMore times than not, the borrower is going to getThe similar, if not same results. Maybe they increased prices once.And my experience of even asking questions of Barber's is like, okay, cool,You're in a new spot. Um, or you open up your own spot.What is the plan like, what is the plan of attack? And more times than not, I got answers of, well, I'm going to give, I'm going to work on my skills. We have top notch, uh, service, um, and really, um, you know, provide the best haircut for my clients. Um, and this actually kind of surprised me because, um, for at least myself, that that should have already been a standard in a business. That's notLike that's still a traditional Barber's way, a method of thinking, okay, cool. I'm moving from doing 30 minute haircuts services and just kind of giving bare none to now giving quality services that should have already been the standard. So what that made me really at least notice was, um, you know, I kind of dug a little bit deeper asking Barber, Kay, well, what are you going to do about that? And really a lot of times, Barber didn't really have the answerTo that. You know, we, I could talk,Hey, what's the answer? What, what what's, what, what are you gonna do with this? What do you, what is the process going to be like for this? And a lot of times the answer came up too, to be honest, I don't know.Right. W uh, and, andIt made me really reflect on, we're still in the lob traditional sense of Barber. There, there, even though we're in a different era. And I think a lot of people think just because we're on social media now, um, businesses changed, but really the old mindset of how to run your business is still pretty similar. Um, and just apart from the new era of barbering, in which a lot of what I, I promote and teach to my students in my program, uh, in switching the mentality, because there's a different, uh, paradigm shift that needs to occur in terms of, once you go out on your own, or once you are breaking out of the traditional sense of Barber,Um, and the labor barber mindset, there needs to be a lot of different systems put into place. Um, and yet Barber is like to talk about going in starting a new direction, but they're really taking the same old habits. They're taking the same old traits they would as in, you know, working a barbershop and they're expecting different results just because they're in somewhere new. And it doesn't unfortunately, a change doesn't occur from that change occurs from different inputs that affect the output. So, um, I have a couple of notes written down, so I can go ahead and refer back to them as usual. Um, and really,I think this, this, this, this, from what I've seen too, is a lot of, a lot of individuals think that just because we have social media platforms, we can createAnd promote on social media means that that changes up their business. But all of that,All that takes it from is just from somebody walking by to seeing it on their social media doesn't mean it allows you to now charge a higher rate of a hundred, 200 bucks.And the work that goes into that, the shift that needs to happen with the content as well as how you structure your business in a PR and, and directly go towards it. Right. A lot of times I'd ask barbers, okay, cool. You want to work on your skills? What are you trying to work on? I said, well, I'm going to try. And I still got to master every cut. I got to learn how to do this. I'm like, well, what do you do? Great already? Well, you know, I do phase if I want to learn how to like, color, I want to learn how to do hair units. I'm like, w why, why do you feel like you need to do that? Well,That's what everybody's saying. And, you know, it's, it's, I gotta add more servicesAnd I'm just like,That's a, excuse. That's a reason to like, like, hold yourself back from moving forward. You don't need to learn how to do all that. Just continue to do what you do. Great already, and continue to push forward with that.This already getting shaky and I get a little like nitpicky over and stuff like that. I'm gonna try. And I'm trying to switch back and forth, see what works best as well as good lighting. Um, but, um, it's really. Like the, the, like, uh, the excuses, they, and they really are excuses and stories. The best one I've heard all the time is, um, well, I needed to get my license. Okay. Then what, well, then I can go ahead and, and do all this stuff. Like, no, you can, you can do that right now. If you really want it to a license just says, legally, you can work in the shop. You can do that. It's out of your garage, South Bay, Chris, you know, one of my students charged a hundred bucks. I mean, he cuts out of his garage. He's still in barber school right there. Like, just because you have something doesn't mean that it allows you to then like, it opens up the doors. Um, and I think this, you know, when I asked a lot, I was, well, where did you learn this from? It really comes down from who they learned from more or the, the OJI barbers that they learned from, or even educators in the industry that passed down, you know, this, this knowledge of, well, you have to do this, or you can do this, right. Uh, especially barbers in the barbershop.Well, you gotta be able to, like, you gotta be able to cut every haircut, like extremely well to a, to like an unrealistic sense, like better than what they,You can Photoshop wise. And then you could raise your prices at brace prices at five bucks, doesn't work like that. Right. Um, and it's, it's, it puts in the barber's mind. Okay. I gotta doAnything under the sun just to increase my prices by five bucks. Um, it really gets some off into like a space of really analysis paralysis.In my experience of even talking to Barber this past week, it's just been like, well, I got, I got to figure out how to do this. Like, I forgot how to do this. And I'm like, for what reason, what does that actually affect? Money-wise where does that affect in terms of like the service that you give your clients the best? The, the, the worst thing I heard heart all the time, and I know people are going to go crazy in the comments. Cause people usually do. When I say stuff like this, it's like, well, I gotta, I gotta make sure, you know, I, I give my client, uh, you know, I gotta, I gotta keep up conversation, all this for me. Um, I probably talked to my clients about five minutes throughout a haircut, and then put in headphones and focused in, because if you are having a client or cutting a client who is paying money for a haircut, just for a conversation, you're going to keep yourself at that level, right? They're not even paying you for what you're doing. There's pain to have a conversation. And no client wants to pay no client that wants to have a conversation is going to pay a higher amount.Right? People will understand what the value is in that product, in that service will pay a higher amount and really they could give a less about, um, conversations. And you're going to hear all types of like, like, like educators and stuff like that. Barbers, gee, borrowers, what the? I've heard Barber's myself. When I say no, bro, just throwing headphones focused on your product. And if you give a good product, that's all that matters at the end of the day. And what the? What about conversation? Well, five minutes, 10 minutes. Hey, how are you doing? What do you got going on this week? Where do you go? What do you got going on later on? Cool. All right. Come on, throw on headphones. If you need me, let me know. Right. And that's all that needs to happen. That's simple conversation. Cause I mean, we, we don't go.We don't go to the gym to, you know, um, I don't take a shower. Maybe some people do take a shot. Right. But no, I, I go to the gym to work out the, is there, but I don't need to go and use the shower. I don't, I don't pay him a membership just to have a shower there. Right. I go there to use the equipment and showers that are just necessary. But, um, I think if it has something like that, it's, it's, it's cool to have, but it's not the main reason why I'm going there. I'm going there to get a haircut, not to have a conversation. And most times to people who are paying higher prices, they typically, they don't want to have conversations right there though. They'll be cool. And like have small talk conversations. Typically they just want to like unwind.They, they, if their clients were paying me 200 bucks for haircuts, you know, typically they're very busy and typically they just want an environment where they can relax de-stress and feel like for once that somebody is taking care of them, instead of them having to take care of everything else, whether it be in their business or wherever else it may be. So that type of thinking and mentality is backwards. But that's what everybody thinks is especially like, um, older barbers in the barbershop. Um, and it's funny too, because you see a lot of barbers, like, well the bar, the Barber that's been cutting hair for like 20 years. He's he told me, this is how you do it. Right. Like, okay, well, well how much has that Barbara charging? Oh, what do we, what do you mean? And I said, well, how much has that Barber who told you that?How much, how much are they charging? Uh, well, like 30 bucks. All right. How much are you charging? 30 bucks. I'm like, all right. How long have you been cutting for eight months? Like, so tell me, 20 years, 10, 20 years experience and charging the same amount as somebody who's only been kind of eight months. Do you really believe that that is something that promotes growth? Yes or no? And I'm like, Oh, you got a point. But is this like asking questions and not just taking information from everybody, you have to at least do your due diligenceOn, okay. Who am I even taking information from? Right. And I think for me, I always tried to like one results, speak for themselves. Right? If you have a result that I want to also get, I'm obviously going to get that right. If, if I let's say I'm a rapper, right. I I'm trying to come up in the hip hop game. Right. It makes no sense for meTo, um, let me see. Uh, it makes no sense for me to get mentored or to get, like, to learn from vanilla ice, right.On how to write like a,To have a ten-year lengthy career of just hit after hit, after hit. Right? If I want to have like somebody like Drake success and try, learn from vanilla, vanilla ice, right. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't like there's disconnection right there. He might say stuff. That sounds good to you, but the, ain't going to know what to do. You go right to Drake. You ask her, Hey, Drake, what'd you do with this bro hotline bling you to tell me, Oh, my cell phone. Okay, cool. That's what you need to do. Right.Not just say, okay, who cool. I need information who got it from me. Because if you say that everybody is going to go ahead and be raising their hand, say I got information. You need to listen to me. Right. Whereas if you say, okay, cool. Well what, what have you done? And really figure out, okay, is that something that I want to go towards? And like actually listen and learn from, or not. Another thing is too, like I say, Barber was like, okay, well what's your longterm vision? And it's this again? Traditional way of barbering where, um, they see like one or two avenues educate or open up a barbershop. And I'm like, okay, did you even have a, uh, passion to open up a barbershop? And, uh, or, or our cool, cool. Like, what's your plan for that mountain? It's gonna open up barbershops, gonna be cool.My barber's going to pay my ramps. It's going to be cutting hair, living life. Like, well, that sounds pretty average for you, right. That doesn't sound like it's actually like for somebody who says that they want to grow, it doesn't sound like something like very, um, uh, uh, progressive. It sounds something more like you just to do something and show and be comfortable, um, and probably change charging the same rate. So same thing as educator I'm okay. What are you going to, what's your plan with that? Oh, you know, I'm just going to be, um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm cut hair. I'm gonna get booked out. And then once I get booked out my, you know, try, try to get, you know, sponsored by this clip of company. My homeboy, he knows like, okay, cool. So you're just going to pass it on the same information, huh.But this is what happens. Um, because a lot of, uh, individuals don't say, okay, cool. I know this is like the, what is the mass in the industry go after, but is this something that I truly want to do? Because to be honest, I never wanted to open up a shop. And that's why I never did. I don't want to like, have to worry about not only like, um, creating like the infrastructure of a barber shop, worrying about like all licensing and stuff. Also, like I've talked to plenty of barbershop owners, um, and barbershops I've worked in the past too, and they don't make money from their barbershop. They actually like probably break even maybe like make a little money, but it's more for an ego reason. Right? So you have to ask yourself if you really want to be in business, is that a good business to have?And uh, you know, realistically, unless you own like multiple ones, no, it's not. And owning multiple ones is a ton of stress on you. And it puts a ton of work on you. And you have to be honest with yourself. Is that something that wants to have? And for me, no, I don't want to like be managing that many people, uh, as well as barbers, um, and owning a barbershop, multiple barbershops in locations to upkeep. It just does not sound appealing to me for the low overhead. There's much better options out there, uh, for me to, uh, go into like, you know, starting my educational company, uh, with, with new era of barbering and elevated mentorship um, as well as a plethora of other options that are out there. Right. Or I'm starting a product, right. Every Barber thinks. Okay, cool. Um, Oh yeah. It's barbershop education product, you know, first thing that all the time.Okay. I see Pachino dead so I can do it. Well, you gotta understand, but she knows God in very early, it's a very different world right now. You can't just come in and simply put a pomade and be like, boom, where's my million dollars. Please give it to me. Right. It doesn't, it doesn't work that way. Um, and there's a lot of work that goes, that gets involved with, uh, running a product line as well as like, um, it actually needs to solve an issue right now. We'll kind of get into other ideas, but this is the traditional way of barbering. They see it as like three pillars of like areas that can go into and don't question. Well, you know, they, they kind of, they, Barber is like, are just like, well, I'm going to do that. Cause that looks good. Like, well, okay, is that what you really want in, when we kind of think about it, ask a little bit of questions, really. Nobody wants to be doing any of that. And it's like, okay, well, why are you doing that? Right. And really, because nobody's questioning it, a lot of the barbers who are doing it, um, put, make it out. And it kind of talking to, to seem as if like it's the thing to do, but that's, that's their vision. That's probably not the, in your individual vision, who's watching this. And the truth is with this new era of barbering, there needs to be individual like visions with this. We can't just mimic and continue going on.Um, really saying, Oh,They did that. Okay, cool. I guess that I'm going to do that too. Cause that's what I'm supposed to do as a barber. No, I'm right. I'm not supposed to be, you know, doing any of this as a Barber or, um, you know, especially being an entrepreneur. I think that a lot of barbers want to become entrepreneurs, but um, a lot of them, again, they want to use social media tactics, but forget the underlying pinch principle of growth in themselves and for growth in their, in their business. Um, you look at a lot of barbers who are on social media. Again, Trish traditional barbering is like being stuck on the hamster wheel, right. And cutting, you know, 12, 15, 16 hours a day. Um, we can a week out doing the same repetitive thing over and over again. You know, the model doesn't change for a lot of barbers who aren't social media, you look at their, you look at their, uh, booking link and everybody has a booking link.You can simply click on their booking link and see what they're charging. You see barbers who have a 50,000, 60,000, 120,000, 150,000 followers. And they're charging like 20, 30, 40 bucks. I'm like, well, what's the difference between this? And like the old era or the, the old traditional way of Barber there, it's still the same thing. The new era of barbering is, is, is figuring out okay, how to, how to make more work, less like environment by meaning working less, making more, I mean like charging $200 a haircut cutting five heads a day or less. Right. That would be the ideal situation. That's that was always my vision. And when I did that, I was like, cool. Okay. Now I, I I'm, I'm settling out. Where do I also want to want to go? Um, but I think, you know, a lot of times the barber's conscious take whatever sounds good or looks good, or like again, the image of what the rest or what they should be doing as a barber is they're really getting in tune with themselves. Okay. What do I really want? And really what, with a lot of my students that I take on an elevated mentorship, we try to instill in them, Hey, how do you help? How can you think for yourself? Right. A lot of people, not just Barbers a lot of people don't even know how to think for themselves. A lot of people don't even know how to think period, and think accurate level, like what they want and how to accurately get there.Uh, and really like the, the best, theBest understandings and really the best solutions to that is first and foremost, chunking has been com become more my, my favorite things to do and chunking, if you haven't heard of it is really like chunking your goals. Right? So understanding what's just the one overall like transformation or one overall, uh, output that you're trying to achieve this year. Right. Chunk that into, okay. We split that up into like six months, right? What are you gonna do for first have what needs to be done the first half, when needs to be done in the second half, then break those up into says success of individual six months. So then you have 12 months total, but six and six of each pair. Right. And then you have individual months of like dedicated to one thing that will build up in the six months. Those both six months will add up to the one year.And then from those months you break it down to weeks. Right. And then those weeks you break it down days. And it really, if you want to get really OCD like me, you break it down to hours. Um, and really that's, that's where you're able to go ahead and get everything out because when I asked Barber, okay, what's your plan? Uh, I don't know, like you, you need a little bit, uh, learn at least how to think a little better in terms of planning. Um, second thing is like, I've said this before, understand that we are all over lowest standard, right? So a lot of us have a lot of, a lot of lofty goals. I used to do this all the time and I used to set high goals. You used to like at the beginning of the year, or mid-year be like, I want to go ahead and do this crazy stuff.I wanted to get all this. I want to make this work, which money. And then, you know, a year later nothing happened. I'm like, it it didn't work. Didn't work. Okay. It must've set, but I had messed up, set my goals wrong and I did it again another year, didn't do it. But really what really happened? Wasn't the fact that, um, I didn't set the right goals. It was, I was understanding the human nature and really, we're not our highest version of ourselves. We're always going to be the lowest version of our standards that we'll accept. Right. Your cleanliness, the way that you live day in and day out, the, the, uh, how clean you, you upkeep the space of your, your living, your, your, your bed. If you make your bed, uh, your oil, your hygiene, um, even the, the, the, you know, how, what your clothes, you know, uh, current status of the Ms.Why are they like down like five years old, or you try to buy a new stuff every couple months or so. Um, and we're really the lowest standard that we'll allow ourselves to live at. And that goes with anything that goes with our bank account too. Right. Uh, I'm sure all of us have gotten to a point in our bank account. When we see something we get, like, we get really, really like, Oh, okay. I gotta kick it into action. I got to go into overdrive. Right. And then we S we start seeing like an increase. We start saving, we stopped spending on super, but then also too, we start, you know, we might pass that lowest standard and really exceed that. And then we'll be like, okay, cool. And cool. And to start, spend some money. And then right before, you know, it, you're back down to that panic number again.It's like, why do I keep on going up and down? Well, it's because you're the lowest standard. And you haven't raised that lowest standard up to past, um, what you had previously done. Right. And so you have to think about everything. Okay. What is the lowest standard? Am I allowing myself to live with this? Whether it be my business, even in barbering, even my haircuts, right. Even down to, okay, how am I putting in these guidelines? What's the lowest standard of execution? Is it average or is it excellence? And really look at that all the way around education. How well am I, am I really like diving into the individuals I'm even investing in education wise? Do I believe in what they say? And what do I say is true? And what do I even want for myself to write? Um, and that's how you go ahead and really like for goals, you can't, they're not goals.They should be lowest standards. So instead of thinking of, okay, I want to make this much money, well, make that your lowest standard. And like, if that really becomes a low standard, you're going to fight like hell to not breach that thing. Um, and the last, but not least understanding that we are not binary, who we are really. It's not about who we were, um, or who we are currently. It's about who we are becoming. So a lot of barbers will think, well, I'm a, um, you know, I just kind of hair. I dropped out of high school. I can't do that. I, I don't have my barber license. I can't do that. Right.And it's not about all these things, all these things are conscious feedback for usIndividually to really say, okay, cool.I took an action. That was the result of it. What can I doDo differently? It doesn't define us. It doesn't define you. It doesn't define me. It's always who am I becoming? Just because I shaved my beard doesn't mean, well, I don't know what that means to be quite honest, but it was another reason of me like, okay, cool. I'm not binary to just having a long beard. Like I have, I could do whatever the I want. Right. I guess, stop cutting hair. Full-time I retired from cutting hair. Full-time, uh, 2019 in March. And, you know, started building company. I didn't know anything about like, building anything like that, but I did it and it really showed me that, you know, it's always who we are, who we are becoming. And for me, I had to get over this idea of like, well, I'm just a barber. I can't, I can't run a business like really, really full all the way in.I, I should just go back to cutting hair. I was really battling myself with this. It was actually for a little while, very, very, like hard for me to wake up every single day and actually create some work. And that's why I didn't really show myself low in social media because I really was confused with myself. I was like, well, I want to run a business, but I'm just a barber. Um, because I was so stuck on the binary factor of like, that's who I was and am, instead of who am I becoming is a successful business owner, right. A successful, uh, educational company. Not just, well, I cut hair and make funny videos. Right. And so I had to really understand this about myself and, and really had, it was like, you know what, I'm just gonna shut down all media platforms right now until I really figured this out myself. And then I'm gonna come back on when time is right. Uh, it'll work out for best for everybody. Um,And really understanding that about yourself. It's neverAbout who you are in the past, what you've done in the past, uh, that defines you. It's always about who you are becoming in this moment. Uh, and, and who are you working to be, uh, and really stay focused on that because what we think is what we've become. So if you're thinking more about the past, well, Hey, you're going to become the past and that's always going to be coming up, uh, successively again and again, and again and again, recurring, but if you're focused on who you are becoming, ifI'm just strictly focused on education,You know, I can put out content like this all day, I've been talking about 23 minutes. I used to never be able to talk straight for 23 minutes on a video without, uh, like, Oh, I up, you know, type of deal or happened to be like, you know, I gotta edit it out. Cause it doesn't look good or I up,I could give a now, cause I know what I'mBecoming. Um, I think a lot of barbers need to adopt that way of thinking and yeah.And at the same time too, that's really what the basis is. What we teach in elevate dimension, um, is really how barbers can think for themselves, not only building up their business, but also there are no barriers, right? And on top of that, after you understand that, this way of thinking, okay, what are the systems you can input? What are the execution points? What are the, what are the chunking goals you need to have? And the daily, hourly actions you need to take to make sure that you end up where you want to end up at. And then after that to, um, you know how to go ahead and think of something in a business model that will take you out of cutting hair. Full-time cause the end of the day, I never wanted to cut hair full-time and I think a lot of barbers are like that yet.They still want to go ahead and educate or, um, open up barbershops. And it's like, well, if you don't want to be doing that, full-time for the rest of your life, having your shoulder fall off, why would you continue going down that path? So, um, you know, again, just kind of like review, um, if you, you know, for barbers on anybody who just is very unclear in terms of how to think of what to do next, chunking your goals, simply breaking it down. What's the one Tran transformation, one thing overall goal I'm trying to achieve, break that into halves. Six month periods break those six month periods into, uh, individual six months, bring those individual six months and a four weekly periods break those four weekly periods into seven day periods, break those seven to eight periods in a 24 hours, however long you want to go for.And you can really get down to what those daily actions are that you need to be taking very much your start at the end and work your way back. And Sarah's starting now and trying to get, find the path because you're never going to be able to do it. Um, next again, you're your lowest standard. Always try to raise the standard of your living. Not try to stay where you're at and try to reach for this because more times than not, we're not never seven foot tall, unless we go ahead and just get on a ladder and make ourselves six foot eight, and then we can touch the seven foot. Right? So raise the lowest standard of yourself. And then lastly, you know, we're not binary to who we are or what we've done. It's always who we are becoming. So with that again, I'm saying I'm trying to stay real consistent with these weekly videos.So I drop a video like this, um, every week, make sure if you're new, be the channel that you'd like to subscribe this video and the channel. Um, also with that too, um, I'm thinking about coming back on podcasting, so make sure you go ahead and subscribe to the podcast. I'll leave a link down below. Um, and with that y'all I will, uh, well, I hope this video actually brushes the value, right? I hope it's actually made you think about, okay, cool. Why don't you be doing, especially coming out of pandemic and really it for you, the traditional way of Barbara and not getting caught up in just what the new air actually looks like, which is kind of like the fake in terms of, of still traditional, but just wants to be on social media versus a truly the new era barbering, which is going into a different way of business model and methods. So we've got yo uh, thanks for watching and we will go ahead and tap back in with y'all next week.