As a saying goes: Barbers are millionaires. No doubt, most of them will never become millionaires in their lifetime because not everyone is capable of translating what’s in the realm of intangible to tangible.
Barbershop Business is a recession-proof business. As long as hair grows on people’s heads and faces, the barbershop business will always be thriving. It is one of the overlooked businesses that spin money. There is no limit to how much someone can make running a barbershop business in Nigeria.
People tend to look down on barbershop owners and barbers because they assume that they are barely surviving. No doubt, the majority of people are bad with numbers. A little amount of money multiplied by the number of customers in a day multiplied by thirty is more than an average 9 to 5 worker’s salary.
A barbershop is a place where people go to have their haircut, hair treatment, and shave. Haircare and treatment products are also sold in the barbershop. The barber is the chief pilot of the barbershop. Management and technical affairs of the shop are handled by the barber.
The barbershop business can be run as a side and full-time business by every willing human being.
I do see posts written by people who have never been involved in the business before discussing how profitable the art of barbering is. Truth to be told: they are right about the figure, but they are not telling you all the truth — they don’t have firsthand experience in the barbering business. Running a barbershop business goes beyond the figures. If the frameworks that produce the figure are not in order, the business can be a bad one for the owner. As an experienced person in this line of business, I think I can do better justice to the post. If your barbershop is not being run well, making a profit from it in Nigeria will be a mirage.
In this blog post, I will be covering the most important things in detail on how to make money in Nigeria by running a barbershop business.
A well-run barbershop in a good location can fetch N200, 000 in profits every month. And there are even no limits to how much you can make running this business because there are so many means of increasing the barbershop revenue through products and services.
Let’s take for instance: a decent location in Lagos where they cut hair for N500. Most customers have their haircut twice a month while some do theirs every week. A handful of people cut their hair twice a week. If your barbershop has 500 customers, your average customers will have their haircut twice in a month ( N500 X 250 X ( 2 ) ) = N 250, 000.
Out of your remaining customers, 250 people, 150 people have their haircut every week, and by the time you do the calculation: ( N500 X 150 X ( 4 ) ) = N300, 000. The last set of customers have their haircut two times a week— 50 in number: ( N500 X 50 X (8) = N200, 000.
By the time you add everything together, you’ll have N750, 000 in revenue in a month. Meanwhile, some barbershops are capable of even generating more than this by providing some extra hair services. The revenue is calculated based on haircuts alone. We’ve not talked about shaving, hair colouring, hair treatment, clipper sales, and hair product sales. Look at how much is on the table.
WHAT ARE THE BASIC THINGS TO UNDERSTAND BEFORE STARTING THE BUSINESS?
- Your barbers are the most important engine of your business. Their place comes before the customers. If you have millions of customers today, bad barbers can chase them out tomorrow with bad services. A single good barber can bring thousands of customers within months. And, in reality, customers are not coming to your shop to have a haircut, they are coming to meet the barber in the shop for a haircut.
- Barbers are the magnets that attract revenue and they are capable of growing it exponentially. So, if you want to start a barbershop in Nigeria, it’s advisable to have basic knowledge of handling clippers and cutting hair. As in you should be able to do at least a skin-punk haircut. It’s not necessary that you should be working as a barber there, but in case of necessity you should understand the settings of clippers, with time and constant practice, you will be a barber. Your barbers will respect you too because you are not a novice.
- I’m not saying you should go and get a diploma in barbering, but you can spend some time with barbers in their shop once in a while and pick things up. I know barbers today who learned by watching their barber friend working.
- Furthermore, you can rely on YouTube videos to learn the skills by watching and practising—simultaneously. Consider getting at least a good barber in place and reach an agreement with him before renting a shop. You can hire more barbers to join him later based on the agreement you have on the ground.
- Location is the second important factor for the growth of your business. The residential area is the best for running a barbershop. Your business should be in a strategic location that is easily accessible to people. People should be able to find and describe your shop for their friends and family.
- You can run your barbershop in all locations. Some are bad for business while some are good. If the shop is not on the main road that leads to other streets, at least it should be close to the junction. If you have hotels, schools, and churches in your location, it’s a plus for your business because you will be able to gather customers easily. I’m talking from experience.
- You can’t start this business without money and it’s advisable not to borrow to launch. You can borrow to grow but you shouldn’t in the beginning. It takes time for a barbershop business to grow and make money in some areas. When you borrow and you don’t see profits coming early as projected, your impatience with the result can collapse the business entirely, so everything will be equal to zero in the end. Get this right. A huge part of your capital will go into paying rent, so ensure you spend wisely by securing the shop in a good location.
- All businesses in this world have downtime and barbershop is not left out. Some weekdays will be better than weekends. Sales will be dull sometimes, but it isn’t the end. A huge crowd is coming after the dryness. If you understand this you won’t have issues with your own self and your barbers. No unnecessary headache.
- If no one comes to your barbershop for any service, you won’t stay in business. Your business is customers’ satisfaction. If a good barber leaves your shop to open on the next street, you may experience a drastic drop in revenue. You may struggle for months to stay back on your feet. Now imagine if two good barbers leave at a time, you will experience a serious downturn.
- Customers follow barbers that satisfy them. So, apart from haircuts, find another means of relating with your customers. It can be through products or other business services. Their contact is important. Keep in touch with them regularly.
- Ensure you get your shop in a location where you won’t be spending much on power. There are good rechargeable hair clippers now. Your inverter can take care of the fan, bulb, television, and sterilizer. It will save you a lot from spending much on your power generator.
- You can’t do this business if you get angry easily. You are going to be dealing with people and they are the most complex machine to handle. You will need to wear patience as your favourite dress. Your barbers and customers will frustrate and stretch your patience, endure so that you can make money in the business.
WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL TYPES OF EQUIPMENT YOU NEED FOR YOUR BARBERSHOP?
- Original hair clippers.
- Barbering chairs.
- Waiting chairs.
- Mirror.
- Sterilizing machine.
- Towel warmer.
- Hair brushes, sets of combs, and face brushes.
- Scissors.
HOW WILL YOU GET CUSTOMERS FOR YOUR BARBERSHOP BUSINESS?
No business remains a business without paying customers. Location plays an important role in attracting a good number of customers to your barbershop. Your business is location-based, so securing a shop in a good environment is the number one marketing strategy you should employ because people have their haircuts locally. Your customers should also be able to describe where your shop is to prospective customers.
Awareness can also be created in the business environment by sharing fliers, and stickers. Eye-catching visuals will make people know about your barbershop and the services you offer.
SMS marketing is another inexpensive means of creating awareness about your business. The individuals/companies that provide this service have phone numbers of people living in every geographical area. You can employ their service and all they’ll do for you is to send well-crafted SMS to the number of the people you want to reach in your business area.
Furthermore, it costs you nothing to make your business findable on Google Maps. Put all the necessary information about your business on it. It will make it easy for new customers to know about your business. And they can easily locate your barbershop for hair services.
HOW ELSE CAN YOU MAKE MONEY FROM THE BUSINESS?
There are other means of generating revenue from the barbershop business apart from cutting hair. You can be selling products like hair cream, aftershave, shaving cream, shaving powder, clipper’s blade, and hair clippers in your barbershop. As there’s no limit to how much you can make from the business, so you should not limit yourself to a certain figure. Having some show glasses well-positioned in yourself for displaying your products is good for the business to make sales.
HOW CAN YOU ENCOURAGE REFERRALS?
Like other businesses, if your service is good, your customers will bring their family and friends to come and patronize your business.
You can also encourage referrals by giving a free haircut to every customer after having three haircuts consecutively in your barbershop. The best way to keep track of this is through their presented receipts of three haircuts.
In conclusion
Like every other business, as you are preparing to execute your barbering business idea, challenges will surely come your way, but don’t give up. Face it. Workaround it. Make your business idea a reality. In no time, the business is capable of turning you into a millionaire.
Do you have something that you will like to contribute to the post? Or is there anything that you think I left uncovered? Or do you have one or two questions about this business? Don’t hesitate to make it known by leaving a comment in the tab below. I would really love to hear from you.
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