Episode 28 | Host: Joe Rouse | Guest: Big June London

🔥 Why This Episode Matters

Every entrepreneur starts with a skill. But turning that skill into a respected business takes discipline, consistency, and trust built over time.

For many service-based entrepreneurs — barbers, contractors, trainers, mechanics — the challenge isn’t learning the craft. It’s building a reputation that keeps customers coming back and turns a small operation into something the community respects.

In this conversation, Joe Rouse sits down with Big June London, owner of JR’s Barbershop in Hampstead, North Carolina, to talk about what it really takes to build a local business the right way. This episode is a grounded look at how trades and service businesses grow through relationships, hard work, and staying committed to the craft.

If you’re building something inside your local community, this conversation will hit home.

🎧 Listen to the Episode

👤 Meet the Host & Guest

• Joe Rouse — Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Profile

  Joe Rouse is a Brotherhood Beyond Business leader and host known for direct, practical conversations around entrepreneurship, accountability, and personal responsibility. As owner of Breakaway Fitness & Performance, Joe challenges men to build strong companies without sacrificing faith, family, and integrity.

• Big June London — Instagram | Profile

  Big June London is the owner of JR’s Barbershop in Hampstead, North Carolina. Through years of dedication to his craft and his customers, he has built a trusted barbershop that serves as both a business and a community gathering place for local residents.

📌 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Big June built JR’s Barbershop from the ground up

• Why consistency is one of the most important traits in service businesses

• How local businesses earn long-term trust in their community

• The mindset required to turn a trade into a real business

• Why reputation matters more than marketing in small towns

• Lessons learned from years behind the barber chair

• How barbershops naturally become hubs for conversation and connection

• The importance of showing up every day ready to serve customers well

🧩 Episode Summary

Joe Rouse and Big June London dive into the journey of building JR’s Barbershop and what it means to run a service business inside a close-knit community.

Big June shares how he developed his skills as a barber and how those early years helped shape his understanding of work ethic, patience, and discipline. Like many entrepreneurs who start with a trade, his business grew one client at a time — through consistency, quality service, and building genuine relationships.

The conversation also explores the unique role barbershops play in communities. Beyond haircuts, these spaces become gathering points where conversations happen, ideas are shared, and relationships grow. For Big June, building JR’s Barbershop was about more than business — it was about creating a place where people feel comfortable, welcomed, and respected.

Throughout the episode, Joe and Big June discuss the mindset required to build something meaningful over time. There are no shortcuts in local business. Trust is earned slowly, reputation is built through daily actions, and success often comes from simply showing up and doing the work well.

🕒 Episode Timestamps

[00:00] Introduction and background on Big June
[05:12] How Big June became a barber
[11:40] The early days of JR’s Barbershop
[18:05] Discipline and consistency in local business
[27:15] How barbershops build community
[36:30] Lessons learned as a business owner
[46:10] Advice for young entrepreneurs learning a trade

💡 Quote Highlight

“Your reputation is built one haircut at a time.”

🚀 Next Steps

👉 Download our Your Circle is Your Ceiling eBook

👉 Learn more about Our Method

📚 Resources & Links

• Follow BBB on: Website | Instagram | YouTube | X | Facebook | Buzzsprout Podcasts

• Watch the full episode on YouTube

• Want to listen to future episodes: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Buzzsprout

🚀Full Transcript

speaker-0 (00:00.556)

I found out I enjoy it. I like learning about people. I like asking questions.

speaker-0 (00:08.31)

and business owners can talk about things a lot of other people can't don't understand.

speaker-1 (00:12.11)

you

speaker-0 (00:17.063)

Well, let's set that. I just don't want that to fall.

speaker-1 (00:18.574)

you

speaker-0 (00:25.134)

Alright, cool. Alright, we're recording.

speaker-1 (00:25.934)

you

speaker-0 (00:31.288)

I might get like right there, let's see.

speaker-1 (00:34.414)

you

speaker-0 (00:44.045)

All right, June. Let me do my little intro here. And we're just gonna do, we can literally just talk. We can pretty much talk like if you were cutting my hair or something, we were talking. Like just as relaxed as possible, but we probably don't cuss as much as we might do sometimes whenever we're cutting hair. Yeah, that's what we'll do though. So, all right, welcome back to the Brotherhood Beyond Business podcast. Today I'm sitting with, well, Melvin London, right? Did say that?

But we call him June and I met June. I don't know why I'm yelling. I got a microphone on. I met June through this barbershop right here because one day I opened my business right next door to him and I'm actually proud to say that my oldest son partially grew up in this barbershop and I can I appreciate them.

It's probably some of the male influences that he had in here. Because I know y'all kept it clean when he was here and he got to play PlayStation. You to read a room. Yeah, you got to read a room, right? And that was one thing that I've always appreciated about you is I could tell that we aligned as far as values go when it comes to kids. And I learned a lot from you from coaching, like working under you as a football coach in the league that you ran.

So June owns JR's barbershop. June also ran a local rec football league for a long time. You were the varsity high school basketball coach. I think you probably coached JV for a little bit before that. And then you coached JV football here at Topsville High School.

speaker-1 (02:24.418)

JBE basketball for three and football for three. My mistake. And then I coached over at the middle school for football and basketball for several years.

speaker-0 (02:37.198)

Yeah. Yeah, man. Pretty much got me into coaching football. So today I just want to learn, I find about these podcasts is really fun, is I talk to people I've known for a long time but I didn't learn stuff I didn't know about them. So I kind of expect that to happen today because I'm going to ask you how things got started and all that. I mean, before, we talked about it a little bit before, but before there was JR's barbershop.

What were you doing? I mean, you're from here, right? You're local guy.

speaker-1 (03:09.716)

I've here all my life. Before I opened up Junior's with a partner, was Roland Dixon, opened up, we was just called Junior's Total Cuts in Salon at the time. Before all of this, I was the manager at a distribution center right down the street actually.

speaker-0 (03:31.595)

It's in that red building right down the road, right?

speaker-1 (03:33.454)

Stone and Supply was a drywall company. They sold drywall, coops, the ceiling, metal studs, a lot of commercial stuff. Actually, I sold Mr. Jack the material for this building, actually. But that's what I was doing before I opened up Junior's. I was there for about 15 years before it shut down once all of the building and stuff. Yeah, that went bad. Yeah, started slowing up and...

speaker-0 (03:59.63)

Did it.

speaker-1 (04:03.15)

and they closed down. So I was like, well, what now? I'm getting older. So I was like, what am I gonna do now? I wanted to stay in the field, but I didn't want to stay in that field of selling material and stuff like that. I said it from, I've been cutting hair since I was 12 years.

speaker-0 (04:21.751)

Okay, alright, that makes sense. you were 12. What were you doing cutting hair when you were 12? You just wanted to cut hair?

speaker-1 (04:28.446)

And bunch of kids was out clowning around on a summer day storming and we thought, you back then you couldn't run all about in everybody's house. You could stay outside. Out on my cousin porch and he actually pulled out his dad clip and was cutting his brother's hair. And he messed it up. And I was like.

speaker-0 (04:39.12)

huh, kick them out, yeah.

speaker-1 (04:51.2)

Man, come here, let me fix that. Nah, we just out there messing around and I've done a pretty good job and then that day I cut everybody on the porch.

speaker-0 (04:58.84)

That's a cool story, I didn't know that. Isn't that wild how things start? Kinda just talking trash.

speaker-1 (05:02.67)

That's how man, that's how I started and then... playing around. And then just after that man, I went and got a pair of cheap clippers. Ironically, I used to have to cut with them and line up with them. So I would have to take them, adjust the blade to line up to be to put the hard line on them. All one clipper, I could have one pair of clippers. One pair and they get so hot then I put them in the freezer.

speaker-0 (05:22.611)

huh.

speaker-0 (05:26.69)

Man.

speaker-0 (05:31.582)

yeah? Because you could cut them off right?

speaker-1 (05:34.004)

And I was charging that started out charging up

speaker-0 (05:36.878)

I was going say, I'm sure you weren't charging enough.

speaker-1 (05:40.27)

Then I charge $2 later on.

speaker-0 (05:42.99)

Couldn't even buy the new clippers.

speaker-1 (05:46.286)

Then I had a cousin of mine which was an older gentleman was a barber, Theodore Reed. And he gave me my first professional pair of clippers. He's like, I got some old clippers, you use these and he's actually the one that showed me the blade concept. Without the guards, the little plastic thing that everybody use now. So he taught me the blade concept and been moving it since. I cut hair every Thursday.

speaker-0 (06:11.33)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (06:15.338)

night after work, Thursday, Friday, and I do it all day Saturday and some Sundays. I've that my entire life.

speaker-0 (06:20.546)

So you did that while you were working at the other place too. But not here, not in this room.

speaker-1 (06:25.902)

No, no, no, no, no, no. was doing, I had a, I was cutting at my grandmother's house when I was a teenager. So I was doing that there. Then they have the barber chair, they had a stool and a chair, used towels, sorts of things that most people before you get in this industry, that's basically what you do. Cause they buy them, go out and get the things, get a barber chair, you know, they ain't cheap.

But yeah, man, I kept doing that and I've done that all through high school, through college, back here working. I still done Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Still done it right on up until I was at Edgemont. I had actually had my brother build me a shop at my house in my backyard. So I had a shop pretty much the same concept, color scheme, everything that's in here.

And I used that for a while until I got laid off. And then I was like, going to barber school at 40. That's the...

speaker-0 (07:28.096)

Yeah, you'd have to do that to like do this publicly, right? Yeah.

speaker-1 (07:32.142)

To do this out in public and then be licensed, have to... Yeah. that normally takes you... Some programs was 12 months, some of the private schools was 12 months. Like, K-FIL, CFCC, have theirs, I think it's 16 months, if I'm not mistaken. You can go to the barber school there. But you go to school and you have to have $1,528.

speaker-0 (07:58.606)

1,528, what an odd number.

speaker-1 (08:00.974)

$1,928 for the state of North Carolina. And once you have obtained that, then you go up before the board and you do a written test and a practical exam. You get that, you'll get your apprentice license from there. If you pass all of that, then you have to hold your apprentice license for a year under a registered barber for a year. then...

speaker-0 (08:03.47)

huh.

speaker-1 (08:26.744)

then you go back again and you take the practical again and then you pass the practical what I mean by

speaker-0 (08:33.422)

What's the problem? Are you cutting somebody's hair? They just bringing some random person who agrees to it?

speaker-1 (08:39.118)

used to because back in the day you used to get some homeless folks and stuff because they would always had a beard. It was raggedly because you need to have a beard and at least three inches of hair when you go up there and model.

speaker-1 (08:58.37)

have a model, me, have a model, you had to have to do that 14 stroke shave and then you had to do a tapered haircut. So that's what you had to do up there. But you had to you had to find the person to take up there. And then after that, they cut that out because of health issues and safety issues. Cause you're coming in there, you you're talking lies and all that.

speaker-0 (09:27.022)

Yeah, especially they bringing in some homeless folks No, yeah

speaker-1 (09:29.462)

I had that in the barber shop, so they cut all of that out and so you had to have a clean model so they stopped you just couldn't bring anybody so you didn't have it in there you had your model had to be dressed a certain way yeah you had to be clean that you got graded on all that stuff so going to school man going to barber school at 40 that was that was different but I had a

speaker-0 (09:47.232)

Okay.

speaker-0 (09:57.432)

That's a life change of 40. I mean, I guess you were doing it some, but so when you went to barber school, you knew you wanted to do it as a business or as like a business, not from home or however it was.

speaker-1 (10:07.672)

Exactly, I wanted to be out and so I conserved all the communities, everybody. So in order to do so, you got to be licensed. So I went and enrolled at TNI Barber College, a barber school, and got up there, man. I was geared up and pumped up. And the lady, the instructor was, we called Miss Hill.

man oh man got there and she was like, okay, yeah, Mr. Lungley, we can do this, blah, blah. And I was like, okay, and then you thinking, I'm thinking anyway, we just gonna be cutting hair. Oh boy, when she handed me them three books, I was like, oh Lord.

speaker-0 (10:48.774)

I got a study now, I gonna be cutting.

speaker-1 (10:50.958)

She's home in the classroom, part of.

speaker-0 (10:53.262)

You're like, I've been doing this my whole life.

speaker-1 (10:55.672)

Yeah, but it was lot different than just cutting hair. You got to learn a lot of stuff, the anatomy, everything.

speaker-0 (11:03.474)

Barbers were doctors at one point right or something like that or dentists or was it?

speaker-1 (11:07.854)

We assisted in dentistry and

speaker-0 (11:12.827)

That's what it was, yeah.

speaker-1 (11:14.914)

Yeah, man, used to be called Bobba Surge.

speaker-0 (11:19.138)

Okay.

Alright, so you went to school. How long after school was it until you opened? Because this is the only one you had, right?

speaker-1 (11:30.356)

actually this I actually we opened this before I finished school. had just enrolled I think November.

speaker-0 (11:43.542)

You and your partner, yeah, you and Roland, yeah.

speaker-1 (11:45.216)

I enrolled in November. We opened this in March.

speaker-0 (11:49.93)

Not with a business partner. Was he in...

speaker-1 (11:51.736)

would have been already he already registered bar.

speaker-0 (11:55.862)

So you could have been like apprentice under him if you had to or... No, okay, okay. So you gotta be out of school before you do that.

speaker-1 (11:59.346)

No, not while you're in school.

speaker-1 (12:03.694)

I didn't cut out one head in here until after I got out of school. I basically paid my half of everything throughout the entire time I was in school.

speaker-0 (12:14.19)

You paid your dues. yeah. You did what you had to do.

speaker-1 (12:16.846)

Yeah, man. you know, had money saved up and I talked with the family before I made that move. know, everybody was like, oh, we all right. We're fine. I said, we're gonna do this. This is my passion. This is something I've been wanting to do. I said, who knows? I might get another job somewhere else and work five years and then they don't want to lay us off. So I said, I just want to get this all about doing what I need.

speaker-0 (12:38.606)

took control.

speaker-0 (12:42.886)

Yeah, well you get to, if you do it right at a certain point, then you get to set your own schedule to an extent. mean, we gotta make money when you make money, but it's like, that's the, if you do, well, so if you, man, if you had to, let's say you got some kids you're mentoring or something, maybe a kid on a basketball team, it could be, or just a kid in the area, and they tell you they wanna cut hair, but also open a barber shop. Like, what's the first,

speaker-1 (12:51.586)

make a living.

speaker-0 (13:10.702)

What's the first lesson you learned or a lesson you learned that you'd want them to know before they even considered doing it? Like is there anything that you would say like might not be what you think it is like because X, Y, and Z.

speaker-1 (13:24.254)

Well, basically what I tell them all, hey man, don't get in this because of the money. Money will get you here, but it won't keep you. I because you can get burned out in this business. I say, you've got to have a strong, you're worrying about what's going on on Friday nights. That's the barber night. What's going on all day Saturday? Those are the most.

speaker-0 (13:30.58)

huh.

speaker-0 (13:34.177)

Okay.

speaker-0 (13:46.101)

huh. That's when you're cutting hair.

speaker-1 (13:49.952)

Everyone's busy days those Friday those Saturdays those are your two of your key days there from Thursday Friday Saturday Those are your biggest days and so you if you the party type if you're not disciplined It can it can really It's gonna take and then you you have to be disciplined when you especially if you handling cash You have to have a system You do I mean you you sit down there like you just

speaker-0 (14:06.574)

It's not gonna make any money.

speaker-0 (14:14.486)

So you don't just go spend it.

speaker-1 (14:20.078)

Throwing your money away, you don't know what's going on. I'm working, I'm doing all this year, but I'm not making money. And that's what happened to a lot of people. Yeah, they don't have the discipline. You got to have,

speaker-0 (14:21.88)

No.

speaker-0 (14:27.18)

Yeah.

Because you're probably dealing in cash a lot in this business.

speaker-1 (14:32.504)

Yeah, you do. You know, got the cash out there, but now people starting to run away from those, all those paying methods as well because everybody's... Well, not just fees, you know, all the hacking going on and all this stuff and getting your information. And some people don't feel too comfortable giving you their information. And then some do, just tap, just tap, just tap. You're leaving the trail. You're the stuff out there to be hacked. So yeah, but it's a predominantly cash...

speaker-0 (14:40.514)

fees.

speaker-0 (14:56.749)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (15:00.556)

growing beds in here anyway.

speaker-0 (15:02.99)

There's nothing wrong with that. I think that's great. So, how long you been open now?

speaker-1 (15:09.678)

March 12th, it'll be 14 years.

speaker-0 (15:11.958)

Yeah? you were here about two years, just about, just over two years before I opened that. And I opened on the other side. Do you remember that? don't know if you remember, I opened over there.

speaker-1 (15:21.789)

Yeah, you open there first,

speaker-0 (15:23.656)

One unit right there before you came over here. There's a grocery store in here or something. Yeah.

speaker-1 (15:26.7)

the food store was there and then they had the

speaker-0 (15:35.786)

Glass place. He was a glass place and the other side was a gambling place. The virtual gambling place. This place has come a long way in a long time. Changed a lot. At least now, at least we hadn't knocked any mirrors off your wall recently. No you're not. From people making noise. Was that for me doing work over there? Was that?

speaker-1 (15:54.094)

the other day but we picked it up. It was the day when you all worked with the kids. Whatever time it is when you work.

speaker-0 (16:02.056)

We got to tell them kids quit hitting the wall. They'd be jumping around it crazy. Right on. All right, so been a while. You've been doing this a while. How long, what's something you ever had anything happen that's just crazy or just been tough? Like you don't have a business partner anymore. No. Like, mean, what was tough there? Like, what would you learn from that?

speaker-1 (16:22.574)

Whatever, you you choose your business partner wisely if you're gonna do that. Nothing happened with us. Family, my partner, he had family stuff going on, know, passing, his dad got sick and stuff like that. He just had a lot on him, man, that he had to step away. So after that, I pretty much like being, you know, doing it myself. have to have you.

speaker-0 (16:48.174)

Yeah, running it your way, yeah.

speaker-1 (16:50.168)

Body and stuff like that man and everything you know everything happened for a reason and we've grown well the business have grown since then as you can see.

speaker-0 (17:00.622)

And when your other bar, what's his name again? Nate, that's it. I knew that. just hardly ever talk. I don't say his name a lot, but he's been here a while now.

speaker-1 (17:03.714)

Nate.

speaker-1 (17:09.965)

Nate's been here for, I don't want say four years, I won't.

speaker-0 (17:13.619)

has it been that long? yeah, he's been here a minute, yeah. I like him. He seems like he's cool to work with.

speaker-1 (17:20.27)

had a couple good guys, good folk, good barbers that came in. But they was mostly doing part time, because they had other jobs that they were doing. But those were my good barbers that showed up. They was weekend mostly.

speaker-0 (17:37.154)

Yeah. You ever had a bad barber?

speaker-1 (17:40.302)

I've had some doozies.

speaker-0 (17:42.004)

So you don't have to name names, but like what's something you learned? Like what's something that happened? Because mean, that's a whole other, renting chairs is like another business within this business.

speaker-1 (17:51.406)

It is, it is. it's something, once again, you got to choose it very carefully who you bring in your business.

speaker-0 (17:57.41)

Yeah, it's like hiring, it's kind of like hiring somebody.

speaker-1 (18:00.302)

because it can hurt you. can hurt, I mean it can help you too, it's a good thing, but it can hurt your business as well. People not showing up. That was the biggest thing, know, most folks that weren't showing up and stuff like that. And then you have clients waiting, and I've already got, I'm bullshitting, then I've got to pick up them, because at the end of the day, my name is on the door.

speaker-0 (18:15.928)

You're already full, yeah.

speaker-0 (18:21.93)

So when you got somebody, do they rent a chair from you or do you hire them? They rent, right? So if they're renting, but they're not showing up on time, I mean, that technique, hurts your reputation as a business, but it's also them because they're renting a chair, like it hurts them. But are you able to just let them go or are they under some sort of signed document because they're paying you rent? Like what if they just paid you rent yesterday or let's say four days ago for the whole month or however they do it.

But then it's like they're six time coming in late and they got clients sitting here and waiting.

speaker-1 (18:52.79)

I mean, if they paid forward like that, I would give them the money back for that.

speaker-0 (18:58.412)

Yeah, you just do that. You just return the money and be like, it's not working out.

speaker-1 (19:03.018)

some folks it didn't work out for them. Some of them it was too far of a drive for them and stuff. I was trying to help mostly the folks just coming out of barber school trying to get them something to get their feet wet and stuff like that because a lot of them I didn't even charge them for six months. Coming in you have a clientele so I let them stay in, stay around here and see how you...

speaker-0 (19:21.56)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (19:29.452)

See how you're lacking and see if you could build on it and then we went from there. But some made it and some did.

speaker-0 (19:35.714)

Yeah. What would you say to you, like, cause I got my own ideas, what's the biggest difference between coming to a barber shop and get your haircut and going to like a outside of quality and stuff. But what's the difference in a barber shop and like a super cuts or quick cuts, whatever they're called.

speaker-1 (19:51.98)

We're more engaged here in the barbershop. You're not just a number. I know some places treat you like a number. Here, I want clients, I don't want customers. I want clients. When you come in here, I want to be able call you by your name. You're to know my name, you're going to know the other barber's name, you're going to know some of the other clients that sitting in here, sitting around.

speaker-0 (20:12.856)

I've met several people just through coming here, man. You can make connections in the barbershop.

speaker-1 (20:18.126)

And what better place to go to find your plumber, electrician. You know, I got cars from everybody up there, clients says, come in here, man. It's perfect place. The DJ. Contract, the construction contractor, man, you've got a bunch of folks that come in here. From all walks of life. And this is like a neutral place where, man, everybody can talk and have a discussion.

speaker-0 (20:28.952)

DJ? DJ Stun?

speaker-0 (20:45.452)

You can disagree with people here too. It doesn't matter.

speaker-1 (20:48.398)

And it's all good man. That's what the barbershop is for man. Just communication man. Getting to know the community, getting to know everybody around, getting to know a little bit about this person, you. They might not know nothing about this race of folk, that race of folk. Oh wow man, you sitting here like, oh okay man, I didn't know that. Oh really? That's what you're up to. It's different.

speaker-0 (21:07.746)

Yeah. I've talked to people I've never, I've random people who've come in and been sitting right there when I've been right here getting my hair cut. And we just start talking as I'm getting my hair cut.

speaker-1 (21:18.156)

walked around people to come in. Hey, who your kid go to? They care. And then I've seen you before. Yeah. Stuff like that. Like, you know, we talk about we all use only clothes that friends who don't know. You know what saying? So, you know, a lovable guy.

speaker-0 (21:37.026)

Yeah, he gives the best, he gives the best like, what's up? Like every time I see him, he's always got a nice car out there. He does, he does. He said what's up to me before I even knew who he was, really.

speaker-1 (21:42.74)

I everybody. And I love all.

He come around, care who's in here. He boom boom, daps everybody up, shakes everybody up, goes, man, how you doing? Man, so it's good, man. It's a good barbershop for you. I mean, that's what you get in a barbershop versus, hey, we're on a time limit. We're on a time limit for some of these other folks, other places. Yeah, yeah, man. So it's like turning. I actually had a client come in before and...

speaker-0 (21:53.471)

It's a good person to

speaker-0 (22:05.816)

Turn and burn.

speaker-1 (22:11.938)

felt a type of way about another situation he ran into at another facility. Like said, I've been going there for three years. And it's just a little small thing. I've been going there for three years, paying this guy, and he don't know my name.

speaker-0 (22:32.222)

that's a long time.

speaker-1 (22:34.082)

He said he couldn't call my name. And he said, I don't know whether I was in my feelings that day or what, he said, man, I just told you, what? No thanking, man. I appreciate you. said, he said I walked out. said.

speaker-0 (22:49.77)

he didn't even get his hair cut that day.

speaker-1 (22:51.406)

cut that day he said I might have been in my feelings a little bit he said I'll probably go back. He was a good haircut and stuff. I was like hey man understand? He said I could go back to what I was saying. You want clients not customers. I want to be able to call your name. want to know I know everybody come in that door by name. You've been in here before I know your name and that makes the clients feel good.

speaker-0 (23:11.17)

Yeah. it definitely does.

speaker-1 (23:15.192)

Mr. John, how you doing? So, hey, I'm doing good, blah, blah. So that's number one with me, That's number one with me. And you're greeting them when, soon as they hit the door, some people come in here and be a little brass, and you want to break the ice with the folks. Hey, man.

speaker-0 (23:29.902)

Yeah, we talk around here, we talk, yeah.

speaker-1 (23:33.422)

Set yourself free, you know about And then we move on you know, because sometimes some folks, you know curse a little bit This and that hey, you know, we got a gentleman, you know, I'll just make not a sale You know, oh my baby, you don't apologize whatever we keep it clean, you know with the kids running around here and female as well

speaker-0 (23:43.277)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (23:48.621)

Kids getting his hair cut

speaker-0 (23:58.166)

Yeah, man. mean, I hadn't really... So I've thought about the barbershop. Businesses that provide an experience are really interesting to me. Like think about, mean, even think about like a, even a, like a boutique hotel, like a small hotel where they can do things differently because they're not owned by a larger company. But I hadn't really thought about till just now the similarities between what you do and what I do, especially as the owners of the business and like putting in FaceTime with people, getting to know their names and...

I knew that you provided, I always just call it, you provide an experience here. Like you're not just getting your haircut, right? Like you're providing an experience and that's a big part of the reason people come. And it was interesting for me and my business coming up, you know, I went to school for it and all that stuff. And they don't teach, they talk about, they'd call it the science and the art of personal training. And the science was usually what they went real heavy on. And the art was kind of taught to us about psychological readiness and all this other stuff, but.

The art is really like what I learned later. And you probably get this in a barber chair sometimes too, depending on whose hair you're cutting, it's like somebody just starts unloading everything to you. And you're like, in your head, you're like, wait a minute, like at least when you're newer, you're like, I didn't know this was a part of this. I didn't know I was not only your personal trainer, but now I'm your therapist. Yeah. And for some of them I'm your mentor.

So it's been interesting and I'm sure you've experienced this too with renting chairs, but I have to teach these guys and gals that come into work for me. First of all, we hire very slow now. I was just having a discussion with another guy I used to own a gym earlier today. And the term is like hire slow, fire fast. It can be hard to fire fast, but it's like I've learned that even if you have a gut feeling, usually if the con, you have a conversation, but they're probably getting fired because that gut feeling is usually right. But hiring, I've slowed.

way down and it's paid off immensely but the biggest thing I always have to teach him before because I can teach him how to teach a squat and all that stuff but it's like we're providing an experience like they need to feel better when they leave here than when they got here they gotta feel better there's no like even if they

speaker-1 (26:13.038)

Man, nobody should come in that door feeling worse.

speaker-0 (26:17.166)

They should technically be lighter. They should be lighter in it because here they get to come in and talk too.

speaker-1 (26:21.774)

I get it all the time. I can tell some people that's normally talking to him, not really saying much. I man, go ahead get that off your back. Just clowning around with him and stuff like that. A few chokes, make him laugh. They're like, hey man, you know what man, I needed this today. He get all in his business.

speaker-0 (26:40.394)

No, but just just to not think for a little bit.

speaker-1 (26:43.18)

I really said, you guys are hilarious, man. I really need it. I need a laugh today. I'm going through some stuff, you know, and he just left it like that, but it happens. It happens every day, really.

speaker-0 (26:52.524)

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and you can, I didn't even really think about it until we were just talking about how much of a connection, a networking place this could be almost to. Like I don't use it that way, but just the people you meet in here. When you're waiting, when you're getting your hair cut and.

speaker-1 (27:07.022)

Yeah, there's a lot.

But like I said, one of my clients came in, their husband is a plumber. He said he's about to branch out on his own and stuff like that. I was like, did you put any cards up there? no. I said, wait, you've been going to the wrong place. You've been coming in here. You dropped no cards, drop some cards. And we'll get him out there. There's people coming here need this stuff.

I said people need it every day. said so we put you out there. You know all I want you to do is be who you say you are

speaker-0 (27:42.784)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (27:44.43)

That's all if you're gonna tell a person you're gonna be there a certain time. Just be there. Just stand on your word. Yep, be about your word I said cuz when I put my name in front of it and Then to hey so and so and so they're good people this and that I need to be able to stand on that Yeah, they're going by what I say because of my reputation. So I said that's all I

speaker-0 (28:07.224)

That's valuable for other business owners too. When you've been a business owner for a long time and you're willing to recommend somebody, that's valuable for that business. Because you'll have that because of the reputation you build. Like they get to piggyback off of it. So what about as a business owner, you got two kids. How are you? If you have three, it's three. Is it two daughters and one son? Okay.

speaker-1 (28:31.182)

I have one grandson and one

speaker-0 (28:34.06)

Yeah, think I knew that. How old is a grandbaby?

speaker-1 (28:37.998)

20 months.

speaker-0 (28:40.14)

Yeah, I knew that grand baby was new because I think we talked about it not long ago.

speaker-1 (28:43.722)

April, be two years old.

speaker-0 (28:47.51)

Yeah. All right, so I'm curious. We've talked about this in private. You talk about this as much as you want when I'm recording this. But you coached varsity football, JV football, varsity basketball. I know how school sports can be in general, politics and parents and people trying to buy their kids starting time and stuff. But you're also a business owner. So you're leading here.

And then as a coach, you were leading there and you're imprinting and impacting kids' lives and trying to bring up men that are going to be good men, right? Not gonna be a waste on society or not gonna contribute to society, right? You're trying to instill the right values in them. But what's a good, I don't know, a good story or a lesson, something you can share from being in those two roles that you had to learn to deal with and how did you deal with it?

speaker-1 (29:41.866)

I've been doing it so long. I've been doing that for over 30 years. I mean, when I first started out, when you trying to like say mentor and coach kids. And when you're a kid, technically I was in my 22, I think somewhere around there before I actually when I actually first started coaching. And then you talk about coaching teenagers at that age.

speaker-0 (30:07.47)

That's something, yeah.

speaker-1 (30:09.11)

Still can when you stay out pretty active myself and still pretty athletic at the time. So it's kind of it's just tough It's tough because you still can do a lot of things and you expecting these kids to be able to do What you doing? Like, know, what are you getting this and then so Throughout the years I've learned. Okay. Hey, first of all, learns different

speaker-0 (30:22.904)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (30:32.558)

That's the same in here. know, in Barberon, just the same as the training, everybody got a different method. They're to the same place. They're getting to the same place, but everybody's got a different method to get there. And that's what, when you're dealing with kids, anybody, you know, you got to see what that person needs, what that individual, what it's gonna take to get to that individual.

speaker-0 (30:54.466)

That's coaching. Yeah, that's the art. That's the art behind it, right? That's not just the science.

speaker-1 (30:58.862)

Yeah, it was rough at first, once you get laid down my foundation on how I'm gonna educate these kids, and basically the same thing, how I'm gonna run the business, how I'm gonna run this brand, once you get that down, you just stay with your system, man. And then hopefully everybody buy in, we'll go back to the coaching thing. When I first started at the school.

It was I rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way because of the my methods I'm not pushing me my thing was to push I got to push your kids to this potential. They don't kids don't know they don't know they don't know you can sit down and sometime as a parent We are both parents and then another parent you you you have what you have a wall you get to a wall and Sometimes somebody else can reach your kids better than you can

speaker-0 (31:53.526)

Yeah, yeah,

speaker-1 (31:55.224)

So when we get there and when I get there and then the parents get to the point where, I think he's a little rough, I don't like the way he's doing things. Because you hear, you've got retro ceiling and you see. The ceiling, you can't see past the ceiling. I can see more than what you see, but I have to push him. I push him to get there. But it was tough.

speaker-0 (32:06.67)

Yeah, they're at that ceiling, right? can't...

speaker-0 (32:14.53)

Different perspective, yeah.

speaker-0 (32:20.426)

Accountability is hard for a lot of parents. Maybe a lot of parents don't hold their kids accountable. Maybe they do, but they have trouble allowing other people to hold their kids accountable, which is what sports and a professional life and real life is about. It's being able to handle being held accountable to your actions. And especially if you're trying to progress in something or get better at something. Sports is always going to be that way.

speaker-1 (32:21.954)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (32:48.974)

I said, what you wanna do? What is it that you're trying to do? And once they tell me what they're trying to do, okay, well, I can tell you the things you need to do to get there because you're not there. I said, and you're not gonna get there if you don't do these things. And I would always use this. said, watch TV. So that's what I was supposed to say.

Look at those guys on television. Football, basketball, baseball, track and field, I don't care what it is, hockey, lacrosse, look at them. Do you look like them? I said, that's one thing. We're talking about the visual aspect of it. I said, then I asked him another thing. Okay, I said, you all see the end results. Y'all can tell me, y'all can tell me, oh man, he's the greatest, he the greatest, but why? How did he become who he is?

speaker-0 (33:34.776)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (33:44.034)

I said, that's the part you all are not looking at. I want to shoot like Seth Curry. Okay, that's cool. But did you know Seth Curry shoots a thousand shots?

speaker-0 (33:52.896)

It's something wild, number, yeah.

speaker-1 (33:54.926)

You know how many shots he takes before he gets to the three point line?

speaker-0 (34:02.932)

He's even been on the same team for a long time too.

speaker-1 (34:05.26)

your mouth drop I say look up the work I say you all everybody you just looking at the outcome y'all looking at game night game night is easy yeah I'm trying to tell you the work is here practice the work is here you work now the foreign part is on game night so anyway but yeah it was was it was different

speaker-0 (34:29.068)

What's up? don't matter. We can edit it here.

speaker-1 (34:33.101)

How's it going, man? What can I do for you?

speaker-0 (34:35.16)

Keep doing my cut!

speaker-1 (34:37.58)

We closed man, I'm doing an interview right now. Yeah, we closed at two o'clock on Tuesday. We closed at two, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

speaker-0 (34:42.535)

I've Monday's and I... And for years I've been coming home Mondays I know how many times and I forget...

speaker-1 (34:48.929)

Yeah

speaker-0 (34:51.886)

You're gonna interrupt y'all. No, you're good.

speaker-1 (34:54.126)

Yeah, Nate will be in here in the morning. Okay. All right. Appreciate it. Yep. Take care. You too.

speaker-0 (35:02.422)

I saw him pull in, I saw him park, and I was like, I think he's going come in here. So I kept looking that way.

speaker-1 (35:08.994)

Yeah, was rough up there for a little while. And my little slogan used to be, I coach the kids, not the parents. And that's true, I coach the kids.

speaker-0 (35:21.39)

Maybe you were coaching the parents that you were trying to, you don't want to, but.

speaker-1 (35:26.158)

All I want to give, let me do my thing. Give me respect, respect what I do. I'm out here spending time with your kid every day. I've never had my kids out there coaching my kids. I've always, I've been coaching for years. My son played basketball in the TBA. That was it. My son never played football. Yeah. And my daughter never coached her.

So I've been running behind other folks' kids for years, for many years.

speaker-0 (35:59.106)

Why start your own football league when you're a business owner working for the school? Why start a rec football league? Yeah.

speaker-1 (36:07.266)

Parents called me up. It was at the time, Pop Warner couldn't, they wouldn't allow the bigger kids to

speaker-0 (36:16.6)

yeah, it was, yeah, they they changed that, right? now, but yeah, there was weight, specific weight limit. Now it more just pertains to the running back. It's age again, I think, right?

speaker-1 (36:19.507)

They're gonna lose so many kids.

speaker-1 (36:27.276)

Then you were pushing the kids that was heavy, you taking up.

speaker-0 (36:32.162)

Kids you need on the football field too though.

speaker-1 (36:34.798)

Even though he's a big kid, he's still mentally he's

speaker-0 (36:38.24)

He's, yeah, and he hasn't played a lot of football. hasn't. Yeah, don't put him out there with a 10-year-old.

speaker-1 (36:41.678)

He hadn't played before. He was 10 years old because of his side. And that could hurt a kid worse than anything.

speaker-0 (36:49.63)

The coaching is different there too. The way you talk and coach them and skills and...

speaker-1 (36:54.99)

So I was pretty much, like I say, working and going and then a few parents came like, my kid don't have nowhere and these kids, they have to wait until middle school to play so they're gonna lose their kids.

speaker-0 (37:08.942)

And they're not going to get educated. They're not going to learn how to line up, to stand. It's all the basic stuff. They're going to be already behind the eight ball.

speaker-1 (37:16.6)

So a few parents came to me and I was like, they're like, if you just could help us get it started. I said, okay, I'll do that. So we went to meet in Burgo and they took us as an extension of them so we could get started. So we have to go through all that we've done. They've done it their insurance and all of that stuff. And they say, you know, could you get it together in the future? Sure, no problem. So that's how it came about. I've done it for the kids. That was.

basically overweight. then after getting into it and then we went to pulling kids from everywhere and we ended up having, first year I think we only had a three age group, then after that we was able to get a four age group after other folks like me because of the, I won't use the word politics, but the way it was structured. Pop Warner, kids have their X amount of plays,

speaker-0 (38:09.151)

yeah, yeah, yeah

speaker-1 (38:10.67)

Really getting to play a whole lot. Mm-hmm. And so having that freedom and I just I just kept enough kids So everybody gets to play. Mm-hmm. Everybody gets to play now and that's especially coming up from flag the seven eight group and the nine and ten and y'all What is that 11 to?

speaker-0 (38:31.534)

Love 12. Well, some event might have been 13, but yeah.

speaker-1 (38:34.798)

know, the kids from the kids birthday late, but uh, but once the, you know, that, that's when you got into the structure of actually, you know, coaching and actually, uh, being a little bit more, what I say, real life football. Um, but yeah, so then we started from there and then those parents left.

speaker-0 (38:58.124)

Yeah, I mean they move, they age out,

speaker-1 (39:00.27)

A lot of folks that was helping, they moved. And then the kids were aging out, so the parents moved on with the kids. So I just kept going, kept going. And then that's how I eventually ran into you when your kid came.

speaker-0 (39:14.306)

Yeah, I credit that toughening Aiden up because he didn't have an older brother to toughen him up. So, played seven years of football to get a beat up.

speaker-1 (39:24.342)

I enjoyed it, man. was a lot. It was different. I would have to turn this, leave here, get up, either come early and take care of my clients, and then leave and go play, go out and coach football, come back. And then I'd work till probably about seven, eight o'clock on a Saturday night to take care of my clients and stuff. So I gave up a lot to help, I loved doing it.

speaker-0 (39:51.438)

It's rewarding. I mean, just coaching is rewarding. I I loved it. I loved it.

speaker-1 (39:55.95)

see the difference I made in so many kids' lives, I wouldn't trade none of it.

speaker-0 (40:00.032)

No, watching where they start and where they end at the end of the year. I mean, they could win one game all year, but just to watch how each one of gets better. All sports, that's the most rewarding. It almost feels selfish sometimes because I enjoy watching them get better so much.

speaker-1 (40:12.622)

Yeah, man, without question. I'm cutting kids that I've coached, I'm cutting their kids. That's how long I've been doing this thing. So yeah, that's wild.

speaker-0 (40:20.166)

huh. Yeah.

speaker-0 (40:24.534)

Yeah, it is. And the kids that I coached in that league are all either, unless they're going to college somewhere to play, they're done. Like those main kids, like, you know, that you basically introduced me to, like Aiden's done, because remember Aiden moved on to basketball and now he doesn't play sports. But I think about the kids that played this past fall, like Caleb Holland, maybe he'll go to a school and play or something, Damarian was on that team. Zamir would have been a year.

speaker-1 (40:32.514)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (40:48.718)

That's the last group.

speaker-0 (40:54.4)

ago, I think.

speaker-1 (40:56.122)

Yeah, Zabir went to Georgia. He's working at Bull Jangles right now. He went down there, pulled something, but they wanted him to come back in the fall, so he's going back.

speaker-0 (41:00.118)

Did he? Yeah. Okay.

speaker-0 (41:06.912)

Okay, okay.

speaker-0 (41:14.178)

Yeah. How about Z do it? That's good stuff. He came in here. I didn't know that.

speaker-1 (41:20.046)

Came here last week and I was like, I'll tell you not to come back here. I'm gonna stop by and explain it all to you. he came by the other day and he told me what was going on. said, okay, I said, keep pushing, man. You always come back home, keep pushing. Man, it's just cool, man, to see all the kids that you can see all just looking back. Everybody on their wall has grown now, doing their own thing, graduated college.

speaker-0 (41:23.392)

huh, stay out there, yeah.

speaker-0 (41:33.9)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (41:45.004)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (41:48.13)

So I think the last group that I coach, they're actually seniors this year.

speaker-0 (41:54.296)

For baseball. Yeah, because they were... Yeah.

speaker-0 (42:01.678)

Yeah, that's wild. comes all back around. So what's the plan now? What's next?

speaker-1 (42:09.646)

What's next? I'm actually studying for my barb instructor license. So that's next on the agenda and we're going to see where that takes me from.

speaker-0 (42:21.388)

Yeah. If you get your barber instructor, that lead to you teaching in a school or can you do that here?

speaker-1 (42:26.766)

There's various things you can do once you obtain that. can do inspector. Yes, you can. You can open up your own school. You can do courses yourself and work and teach at a teaching barber school or whatever. So it's a lot, man. It's a lot you can do in that field. And I still like my officiating as well.

speaker-0 (42:52.584)

yeah, yeah.

speaker-1 (42:54.306)

Yeah, I talked with some of the guys. I went to the game last night. I talked to him, man, what you gonna do? And I said, man, gonna see after I got one more thing I'm trying to do and then that gonna see where my time will have time to do any of that. Cuz I enjoy doing that as well. Just stay with the sport somehow.

speaker-0 (43:11.544)

Yeah. Do you feel like as a business owner, because you've been doing this a while, I mean, we've been doing it about the same amount of time, you just started at it later than I did. Do you feel like you've accomplished what you wanted to when you set out?

speaker-1 (43:25.866)

yes, yes, man. I'm living my dream. don't work anymore. I don't work. I I haven't worked in 14 years. I don't work anymore because I love coming in here every day, meeting new people.

speaker-0 (43:29.154)

Yeah. Yeah.

speaker-0 (43:38.708)

Yeah, man. And other people, when other people come here, they look forward to coming here. You know what mean? You have a place where people look forward to coming to.

speaker-1 (43:48.68)

We had some guys that's rain like a lot of construction guys if it's raining the long-term guys all guys that work outside a lot if it's raining or whatever cold

speaker-0 (44:01.076)

Snowing 12 inches.

speaker-1 (44:04.16)

I'm gonna ride up here to the barbershop, see what they got going on. And they'll come in here and just like a lot, folks like, man, you got time for a walk here? Yeah, well, I said, man, they just hanging out. know, cause sometimes they just sitting here hanging out. They're shooting the bridge. So, I'm good.

speaker-0 (44:19.372)

Yep.

speaker-0 (44:24.622)

What is one thing, I mean, I kind of asked you this already, but like, what's the one thing if you got somebody younger or anybody, maybe they're 40, like when you started out and they come up to you and say, hey, I'm going to open a barbershop in one year or a year and a half, two years, I'm going to school right now. What's one thing you would want them to understand that you think is probably the most important thing to understand is your opening a barbershop?

speaker-1 (44:47.072)

It's gonna be rough. When you first start out, but you can't. This is your dream, this is your passion, this is what you want to do. I said, it's gonna have some rough patches. It's gonna be some days, gonna be slow. That's what we call slow. I said, you got to make use of that time. Okay, if you slow in the wild, come here, go to Hardee's, go to Bojangles, go somewhere, hey, pin hat, send somebody out.

a card or free pass, whatever you want, whatever you got going on. Hey, come out, come out and see me. It's a free cut on me. I said, that's stuff you have to do to get people to know where you are. Cause word of mouth, word of the barber industry, don't care how much all this other stuff you do, word of mouth is key. Word of mouth gonna be number one. That's for me in my book. Now some people might say different, but.

Where there's a lot of folks coming here, I my friends and on and me about, my neighbor told me about, it's the place to go, I'll good at it. later on, after I've done the online stuff, the app and stuff, you can go up there and see stuff now. But before that, everything was where I'm

speaker-0 (45:59.662)

Who who'd you lean on as you were coming up? for Mentoring who who did you I mean who did you I always tell everybody as a business owner Maybe you didn't feel this way because you're very social here I mean, I guess my business is too but there's this feeling when you're the owner for me at least and a lot of other guys I know we call it like it's lonely at the top Because you can't have the same conversation that we're having necessarily with somebody who doesn't own a business

So how did you deal with that, like as you've been coming up over the years and doing all this?

speaker-1 (46:31.05)

My job I had at Edgemont, being in that position, managing the I was pretty much the area manager, but basically the manager in North Carolina. I ran all of their, I was head of all of their stuff here in North Carolina. It was based out of Pennsylvania. watching the owner, you know, how he moved and the things he done. So I kind of got it from you. was, well, God was preparing me through that job for this. Simply put.

speaker-0 (46:56.631)

Okay.

speaker-1 (46:58.126)

I'm just watching how he done things and stuff like that, a lot of good things. Some stuff was a little strange and I trying to collaborate and he was like, that's a good idea and he changed some stuff. Yeah. I've always was pretty much never been a following guy. I've always been somewhat of a leader. Yeah. Always man. So it was, I I'm going to do my own thing. You can come with me. I'm going go by myself. So I've always

speaker-0 (47:25.516)

Yep. Right on. Thanks for your time, Jim. Appreciate it, man. Appreciate it, man. I learned some stuff.

speaker-1 (47:32.339)