Well, it all started when I was young watching my mom do hair at the house on the side for extra money to help pay the bills and such. I never saw myself doing hair until 2014 when I was in the military and needed to create more income. I did what I saw my mom do but rather than do women hair, I went out and bought a pair of clippers and trimmers to cut my coworkers hair on base. I saw that I was pretty good at cutting and started building a clientele all around the Base. I then decided that I could make more money if I was to get into a barbershop to reach people that are not on the Base. So then found a barber school that could work with my hectic military schedule and I stumbled upon Olympia Barber School in Olympia, WA. There I met my instructor, Maria Ferns and she opened up my eyes to all that the hair industry had to offer. I just thought barbers stand behind a chair all day in a barbershop, but she brought me with her to a Barber battle in LA and there I saw classes, Celebrity Barbers, platform artist, and saw all of these things and that’s when I fell in love with the industry and knew this is what I wanted to do. Once graduating barber school I started working in a barbershop and between getting it the military August of 2015 and enduring being homeless living out of my Jeep for two months, I was landed an opportunity to become a sponsored barber along with doing platform work for both Woodys for men’s grooming and Clubman Pinaud barber product lines.
What three pieces of advice would you give to college students (young and old) locally or internationally who want to become entrepreneurs?
When you are in college or in barber/hair school, do not settle for being average!!! Set yourself apart from your peers and go to the next level and be involved in the things that are going on around you. Network with people that in the industry that you are trying to get into. Reach out to people and ask questions. Do your research on how to become successful in your field and take those steps toward whatever It is that you want to be.
If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
To be honest, in my short career, I have accomplished a lot of goals and still have a lot more to reach, but I would definitely say I would be a lot more involved on social media as far as building content and building a connection with my followers which is something that I am still trying hard to get better at.
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
The three top things that a successful entrepreneur need to have are work ethic, imagination, and a willingness to be called or looked at crazy. The reason is that as a successful entrepreneur you have to be willing to think outside that box with what It is that you are doing because people want to see new things, new inventions, new ideas.
