Start A Barber Shop
About
Starting a barber shop requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell barber shop service, or selling barber shop service online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start a barber shop ➜
Key stats
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Employee & Freelancer Expenses | $151 | $352 |
| Website Costs | $223 | $7,215 |
| Business Formation Fees | $600 | $4,700 |
| Equipment & Supply Expenses | $66 | $1,200 |
| Retail Business Expenses | $1,250 | $11,650 |
| Inventory Expenses | $300 | $10,000 |
| Advertising & Marketing Costs | $75 | $5,036 |
| Software Expenses | $150 | $2,420 |
| Total Startup Costs | $2,815 | $42,573 |
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Floyd's 99 Barbershop | floydsbarbershop.com | #174,162 |
|
BarberShop.vn | barbershop.vn | #354,203 |
|
Barber Depots | barberdepots.com | #394,019 |
|
V's Barbershop | vbarbershop.com | #594,597 |
|
Peoples Barber | peoplesbarber.com | #632,546 |
|
Arrow + Pedro Williams | guaranteedshorterhair.com | #649,001 |
|
Nearcut | nearcut.com | #677,297 |
|
Razors Barbershop | razorsbarbershop.com | #806,230 |
|
The Barbers | thebarbersonline.com | #838,413 |
|
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts | barber.org.uk | #875,559 |
|
Imperial Barber Products | imperialbarberproducts.com | #1,087,056 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
| Flexibility | You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
| Meaningful business connections | You never know who you will meet as a barber shop. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity! |
| High customer retention rates | Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
| Control of workload | With starting a barber shop, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you. |
| Gain exposure and experience | This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you! |
| Unlimited income potential | With starting a barber shop there is no cap as to how much income you can make. The stronger your business skills and the more energy/time you put into your career, the more you'll make. |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
| Motivation of employees | If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
| Longer Sales Process | A barber shop can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers. |
| Low margins | The gross margins for your barber shop are typically around 9%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability. |
| High employee turnover | In the barber shop, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment. |
| Taxes | As a barber shop, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it. |
| Niche Market | A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.
Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.
The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.
-
2
Direct Sales
Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.
For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.
-
3
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
"An amazing network of founders that truly want to help each other grow their business."
