Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Ozell Graham.
A successful barber and entrepreneur, founder of The Fade Shop and creator of At Ease hair and skincare products.
Purpose of Interview:
To share the guest’s journey from military service to becoming a nationally recognized barber and business owner, highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit, community involvement, and mentorship within the barbering industry.
🧭 Purpose & Themes
-
Entrepreneurship & Branding
- The guest founded The Fade Shop in 1996 while serving in the military.
- Created At Ease product line to address common grooming issues like razor bumps.
- Emphasized the importance of branding, product development, and wearing multiple hats as a business owner.
-
Community & Mentorship
- Deep involvement in community service, including back-to-school events and holiday giveaways.
- Mentors youth and barbers through the OG Barber Conference.
- Believes barbers play multifaceted roles: mentor, counselor, fashion consultant, and more.
-
Cultural Impact of Barbershops
- Barbershops are described as cornerstones of the community.
- They serve as safe spaces for conversation, advice, and personal growth.
-
Career Path & Passion
- Initially wanted to be a Greyhound bus driver but found passion in barbering during military service.
- First celebrity client was Usher Raymond.
- Advocates for passion-driven careers: “Would you do it for free?”
🔑 Key Takeaways
- “If you look good, you feel good. You feel good, you do good. You do good, you get paid.”
- “Barbering is more than just a haircut—it’s about care, connection, and community.”
- “You can always work for them, or you can work for you.”
- “It’s okay to be a copycat—just copy the right cat.”
- “Your network is your net worth.”
💬 Notable Quotes
- “I joined the military to learn how to drive. Once I started driving, I hated it.”
- “My first celebrity client was Usher Raymond—before I even had a license.”
- “We’re not just barbers. We’re mentors, consultants, and community leaders.”
- “Mentorship is planting positive seeds. Somebody is always watching.”
- “I do this for free—that’s how much I love it.”
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, money Making Conversations dot com and click.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
To be a guest.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Button priss submit and information will come directly to me. Now,
let's get this show started.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Y'all don't know host that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
But but y'all don't know is this young man sitting
in front of me, Oz Abram, owner the Praise Shot?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Why did you name it the fade Shot? You know,
mister Rashwan is funny. I was actually in the military
over in Bosnia and being one of my military buddies
who sat down and was just kind of coming up
with a name statement. What can I call this thing?
What can I call it? That's gonna stick? Because you know,
you think about the major brands like Bard and Walmart,
(00:53):
It's like, wow, you know everybody know those brands, right.
So I'm just doing and dabbling it on thespaper and
I came up with the Faith Shop and I said
you know what that's it name faith? Now what what
what year was that when you were saying that, this
was nineteen ninety six, nineteen ninety six, yes, and and
so at that point it was a dream. It was
all a dream. So were you couldn't hair when you
(01:13):
was in the military, Yes, sir, I was cutting here
in the military. And it was just you know, you know,
trying to boost up the morale of the troops because
when we was deployed away from the United States and
in Europe and being away from home. You knowlet's say,
if you look good, you feel good. If you feel good,
you do good, you do good. Guess what, you don't
get paid good, so you gonna get that rank? So right, right, yeah,
So I was just the person that was just boosting
(01:34):
that morale up, you know, keeping them guys groomed here.
So where were you originally from? Where were you born
and raised? So I'm born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Okay, yes, sir,
big deed, big deep. That's why you love to dress
that you got the dress where you're from. The big God. Hey,
if you don't dress kind, that's right, that's right, that's right.
And so that so you went from there and then
you joined the military or no, there was an option
(01:56):
for other versus other education. So when I was twelve
years old, I moved to southeast Missouri. Okay, it's called
the boot Hill. Now, that whole Boothill population is probably
about sixty thousand people, but the time that I moved
to had a population of six hundred and twenty five people.
So I moved in with my grandparents. Okay, yes, sir.
Now when we were talking about dreams and aspirations, like
(02:18):
you said, the fade yah, you know, let's talk about
the getting into the barber career. Now, when you was
doing it in the military where you certified as a
poor barber, or you just had the skill set. I
just had the skill set. My father was a barber
in Troy, Alabama. Wow, so it's them a DNA. But
I didn't know it was them ADA until I until
(02:39):
you know, I met my father and saw what he
was doing and just say, hey, start rocking and rolling
with it. But you know, I don't. I don't like
I can't talk now because I ain't got no hair,
But I do respect the process of the importance of
a barber because I remember when I players for turning
to their college, you know, and they told me to
shape cut somebody the hair.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I messed that hair so bad because it looks like
it should be something simple, but it's not talk about
these skills are the gift that it takes to be
a good barber.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, it's it boils down to the attention of detail,
treating people like you want to be treated. If someone
asked for something, given what they want, if they ask
for advice, you give them the advice. So it's just
really the attention to detail. And that's what makes a
good barber. The attention. You know, if a person has
bumps on the back of their neck, I don't know that.
(03:31):
So your attention to that detail is going to tell them, hey,
get this checked out or what they need to use
to help resolve that issue. Now because I've seen that,
I've seen that the bumps of the rolls. You see bumps?
What what what is that? Now? Them rolls, that's that's
that's just that's just uh, that's just fami. But the bumps,
(03:55):
we can do something, Okay, talk to you about that.
So so that's called pseudo filickolitis barber you know, in
other terms, razor bombs. So what happens is sometimes you know,
you have irritation from your collar on your neck or
if you wearing hands, or you just you know, scratch
in the back of your head. So what happens is
when that hair starts growing out. A lot of times
their scar tensed just start growing on it and their
(04:15):
hair starts curling up and growing back up under the skin.
So it's very important for that barbera to notice that
and start pulling those hairs out and not necessarily prescribes you,
but direct you to a product that's going to, you know,
make those bumps go away.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Now you have a product in your at ease because
you mentioned that at the very top at ease.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
What exactly is the ad Ees at ease? Which is
at ease? Right, that's a military that's a military turn
that means to be relaxed, worry free. And that's what
we want you to think about when you're thinking about
the Addies product. Let's relax, no words. We got you,
we got you, we got those razor bombs. Like I
would be honest with you, I can't shave with a razor.
(04:57):
I use electric razors on my face. If I use
a razor like you know, then I will bump off.
And so you have understood we just talked about the
raise their hair growing underneath the skin. You have a
product for that, correct, yes, sir, so in our Eddie's
Hairs can care product like we have to right, a
product called the Razor Bump Therapy. And what that's gonna
(05:19):
do is that's gonna, you know, for one, keep that
area clean and reduce the swelling and the inflammation of
those bumps so that hair can be able to break
through the skin and be able to you know, grow
out and make those bumps so much sittings across a
barbara a doctor or scientists. Well, if you know the
history of barber used to be surgeons, you know what
I mean. So we have to go back to the
(05:40):
foundation where you really have to care about people. And
that's what barbin is about. It's more than just a haircut, right,
and so that's a respect because we kind of trivialized.
I'm gonna be honest with you. You come in, sit
down and get that haircut, and and you see it
on TV. Lebron James got his show on the HBO.
He said, the barbershop because we know, it's all about
(06:02):
the talk, It's all about the cultural environment. Is it
like that the fair job? It is it is you know,
the face shop is the cornerstone of the community. So
this is a place where people have problems and they
come in and they look for sound advice. Right. So
you know what you have to understand is these people
are trusting you and they you are close to them
(06:23):
that you will be to anybody that you're really in
their personal space. Right. So being in that personal space,
you have to give out positive energy. Well you know
I said down because you energy energy atic gap. I
first bet you were at the Neighborhood Awards or Hoodie Awards.
It was hosted by Steve Harvey.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I was producing and you want several orders to fade
shot for best barber not just in planning On, not
just in Dallas, not just for work, not just in
all not just in Texas, but the entire country and
recognized as one of the top barber's shops in the country.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
What did that type of recognition do for your business?
Mister Sean? What I tell you, just what they said
at the top four barber shops in the country is
number one, no fad shop and people just start calling, Hey,
they talking about y'all on Steve Harbyshire, They talking about jall.
Where all located? Where all located? It just really boosted
(07:19):
our business at that point. It really it really shined
the light on the Faede shop. When you're looking at
secrets to success, you started in why why was that
dream so clean when you were serving our country? You know, miss,
(07:39):
I'm gonna be one hundred percent honest with you. Growing
up as a kid, I didn't want to be a barber.
I wanted to be a greathound bus driver, right, But
I joined the military to learn how to drive, and
once I started driving, I hated driving, right. So right
before I left to go over and over the journey,
my dad took me to a crash course, gave me
some clips, said, boygoa make some money. And when I
(08:00):
went over there, I fell in love with it. My
first celebrity that I ever cut without a license was Usher,
rightment super bowlsh super Bowl US, you know, so yeah,
so Usher Genuine came over, no Lemon came over, Snoop Dogg,
all those guys came over and I was cutting their hair.
So it was like at that point, I said well,
(08:22):
this is bigger than the military. So when my time
came up to get out, I was like, okay, you know,
I'm ready to go and follow this dream. So, you know, left,
got out, went went to school in Arkansas, and at
that point I got my license and I moved to
Texas and it changed my life.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I was when we talk about your career, any moment
to you went, man, why.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Am I cutting hair? No, you know, I've never hit
the moment of why I'm Why am I cutting hair?
It was why am I running these shops? Okay, because
it's more so like I'm running a halfway house. You know,
I have to deal with with grown men with kids problems,
but those outside problems become inside problems. And now they
(09:07):
can't pay their rent, right, you know, they come in
and make the money, but they take the money out
and spend it in the streets. But they don't want
to pay you know, the house. Right. So there's never
been a time where you know, I didn't enjoy cutting
hair because I love doing this here. You know, I
do it for free.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
That's how much I love now because now we're going
to the community, yes, because I can't believe that the
individual who served our country and thank you for your service,
is not involved in the community.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And I say, I can't believe.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I'm just saying, I know there's an obvious decision you
made in your life.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Talk about your community service, you know, Miss Raehan. Without
the community, there's no us, there's no need, you know.
So my pride is to be in the community, you know,
mensuring the youth, you know, back to school haircuse I even,
you know, go back home and give out turkeys to
my neighborhood in Missouri, because you know, I wasn't an athlete,
you know, I wasn't a singer or anything like that.
(10:03):
I just got you know, I can hit a hump
of notes now, but I'm not gonna do that, right,
But but just to go back and show them that
you don't have to be an athlete or entertainer to
give back to your community, because somebody's always watched, right,
somebody's always watched you, and if you want them to,
(10:25):
if you want to be a good example, then you
have to produce a good example. Now this is right here,
This is just one of your products, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Eddie's yes, sir, just talking business. How did you come
about with the logo design. So I went to Fiver.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I told the guys that I wanted to say Eddie's
hair and skincare well. In the military, at is the
preparatory command. Ease is the command of execution. Right, So
when he brought it back, I was like, okay, he
had at Then he had the little hair tentacles up
in the air with just they was up, they was
(11:01):
at attention and as they went into ease they laid down. Okay,
And I was like, that's my logo right there, right
right right right. Yeah. So yeah, I went to fib
and had a designer to design that logo. Now the
reason I the reason I wanted to show everybody this
because people are how is the process? Because I joke
to say, you're order you a doctor or scientist or
(11:22):
a barber, but you had to put this together the
chemicals to make sure that doesn't burn people hair or
or irritate them when they put how's that process where
you start sharing your secrets to success of manufacturing products
outside of being a traditional barber. So it boils down
to just send down with a chemist who has a plan,
(11:45):
because every product out there has a foundation and it's
just like building a house. You know, if you want
the crown molding, you want the granite top, and then
you say'll get cool. I need a little bit of this,
So I want a little bit of that, and then
you go and test it because you know, to have
a product line. These companies, they have millions dollars of insurance,
(12:05):
you know, behind your product, so you're going to be
covered with that, and they're testing to improved by you know,
licensed chemists. You know. So. But but when it comes
to just being in business, you have to be all
you have to be. You have to be the market
you have to be the designer, you have to be
the spokesperson, you have to be all of those things.
If you want your business to be a success. You know,
(12:26):
you can't expect no one to do something for you
that you're not willing to do for yourself. So when
you get ready to get into the business of being
an entrepreneur, just be willing to put on many hats
because you're going to have to wear many hats if
you're trying to be successful. There are a lot of
people in the barber industry. There are a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Who are who retire out of the barber industry one
type of organizations out there that are like holding on
to the actual culture or honoring the culture of barbers.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So I'm a part of the OG Barber Conference. And
when I say OG, that means you're offering game, the
offering game offering game and game being what game being knowledge,
you know, the mentorship things of that there. And what
we're trying to do is just bring barbers together, old
and young, just bring the unity back. And when I
(13:15):
say you know old and young, you have maybe an
older guy who's a new barber or a younger guy
who's been cutting her for a long time. So it
doesn't matter what the age the person is, it's just
you know, how long they've been in the industry. And
we're just trying to unite these brothers and sisters, and
you know, so we can educate them a mentor and
they can you know, we see what they're doing. And
(13:36):
we have an annual event to where we honor individuals
that's been doing some amazing things in their community. Yes. Wow,
And so it's like so it's like it's a three
day event, a single day event, it's a two day event.
It's event talking about walking through the steps of the event.
It's called the O G the O G barbar offering game,
(13:57):
offering games because when you know what people think about OG,
they think can buy some original gangsters. Right, We're just
talking about offering game because you know what game is
knowledge and game. It's not because missus Shan you're OG
because you've been offering game along. You offer me some
game game, but you motivated me, well, thank you, thank you.
(14:19):
So so that's what it's all about. So it's just
like I said, it's an event. We search bars from
across the country that's really active in their community, that's
really doing things that's really mentally just really you know,
setting a stone, a trail blazing through this thing, and
we just bring them in and and you know, give
him an award to just sell them. Thank you, keep
(14:42):
up the good work. You know, we see you. And
what that does is either turn that fire up, motivates
them do something else, and they're going to inspire somebody else.
So how did you find this location? And plan old?
So when people understand.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
The process that one goes about finding a location to
set up a ball for shop.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
So this location here at planning location, it's all about
your network, right, and your network is gonna build your network. Well,
somebody called another barber friend of mine and say, hey,
do you want to buy some barber chairs? So when
they called me, say you want to buy dresser? No,
what's up with the shop? Right? Okay, yeah, what's up
with the shot? Well, the guy who owned the shot
(15:22):
passed away and his kids don't want it, and I
want to let me check the shop out. And when
I came in, it was some very old antique chairs
and I was like, you know what, this is the
new spot for the page shop. Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Welcome back to money Making Conversation master Class, hosted by
me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation master Class continues online
at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and follow money Making Conversations
(15:57):
master Class on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Okay, okay, playing no texts and plane no texts. But
but any time that you're going out and wanting to
do this here, you have to be about the location, location, location, location, right.
Don't open up no barbershop in an alley. Don't open
up no barber shop in no warehouse, you know what
I mean. You have to have apartments, you have to
(16:21):
have businesses that you can drive off of, you have
to have residents in a community. And that's what's going
to feed your barbershop.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Let's talk about what is the traditional barber, because you know,
one of thinks of a traditional barber as a male individual.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Is that still a standard today? Oh? No, not at all,
not at all. No. There are some very cold and
cold female barbers out here, you know, and they don't
want to be called female barbers because they say, you know,
there's not a female doctor, and you know it's a barber.
So they are really coming out of travelers. And when
I tell a woman barber, listen, a man would give
(16:58):
you everything, but this id because he needed ID to
get everything. You land in the chair. That woman's touched,
she's cutting you, she's picking those those hairs on your hair,
bumps oude of your face. She's besides in your faith,
you in heaven. Thirty minutes later, you're like, okay, how
much is it's forty dollars? Okay, here, gonna take a
hundred right right, right, hey, I see you next week,
(17:21):
right right. And it's all about the care in the
relationship exactly one thing I wanted you slid this in
when we were talking about the ol G. You talking about mentoring. Yes,
the important of mentoring and relationship please expire. Yes, Well
people look up us, you know, so it's very important
that we sold those positive seeds back into people. You know.
(17:43):
So mentoring is important because kids are coming here that
don't have a father, so they're looking to us to
be their father figure. It actually goes back to the
movie Barbershop. We said, you entertainer, he said that barberism
is a father, he's a brother, he's a fashion you know,
he's a doctor, he's all of these different things. So
(18:04):
we wear a lot of different hats from behind the chair.
And to be a successful barber, you have to be
willing to wear all these different hats. Because if that
kid's come to here and he's being a little disrespectful
to his mother, you know what as as that barbie,
why hey, hey, hey, we ain't doing that up here.
We're not doing it. Get sit out right right, and
that kid is gonna get in line. And what that
(18:24):
kid is going to do is he's going to find
a liking to you. There's one little kid right now,
And when he first came into the barbershop, I cut
his hair. The first question this kid asked me was
are you saying? And I said, that's strange. I never
really had thank you questions. I said, yes, I'm saying.
I used to asking Mike what you like basketball? What's
(18:46):
your favorite teams? Are you saying? So talking to him
and said, but what do you want to be when
you grow up? He said, I want to be the
prezise and Bishop of the church and God at Christ.
And this young man And when I tell this young
man right here, he walks in that lane strong, twelve
(19:07):
years old, he walks in that lane. So when you
talk about mentorships, see, you inspired me to go from
the rack to be spoke right. So I just bought
him his first custom suit. Okay, yeah, So you know
this young man here, he's he's very phenomenal, he's very
(19:28):
you know, driven, and God has his hands on this guy.
But he looks up to me, he watches what I do.
He listened to what I say, and that's very important.
So that's what mentorship is about. Because you have a
product line like this impact on people, use of young people.
It does, because what happens is when they hear you
say it and they watch you do it, then they
(19:53):
know there's action behind the words. You know. So when
they come in and they see the Addies brand and
I'm using on there, man, what's that right there? Oh?
This is a ad E. That's okay, man, that's that's male? Good?
Where do I get that? We can get it right here? Right? Wow?
Well are you represented for the company? No, I'm the
owner of the company. Wow. Oh how did you get
started with that? And then you just start talking and
(20:15):
inspiring people and it's like, well, what do you enjoy doing? Well? Man,
I like to wash cars? Okay, Well have you ever
thought about, you know, starting your own business? Well? Man,
you know that. Well, listen, you can always work for
them or you can work for you. Are you going
to be more loyal to them than you are going
to be to you? If you are, then you have
to do, you know, set up what they're going to
give you. And a lot of people have stepped out
(20:36):
and jumped into the entrepreneurship and come back and say,
you know what, man, I really appreciate you pushing me,
because at that point, once they step out, you don't
want to leave them out there, right. You always want
to be that person that they can talk. You know,
as we talk about secrets to your success and motivation
and information. Somebody wants you to get into the business
(20:56):
being a bar ber. You know what steps to success
what you offer to them. So the first step if
you're trying to be a barber, I want you to
ask yourself, is this really what I want to do?
Am I passionate about this when I do it for free?
If you say no, then you're not ready to be
(21:17):
a barber. Right. But if you get past that one,
step two is I want you to find you a
good school, a school that's going to teach you a
to z not just cutting hair. They need to teach
you business. They need to teach you marketing, they need
to teach you personal skills. And once you have that
school that's going to teach you all of those things there,
(21:37):
then when you get into a barber shop, you have
a strong foundation and you build from that foundation there.
So once you build from that and you feel okay,
you know what, I want to open up my own shop. Okay, Well,
now you start looking at people that's doing the things
that you want to do or have the things that
you want to have and understand it's okay be a copycat.
(22:01):
Just copy the right cat. It's okay to be a
copy cat, just copy the right cat. And once you
do that there, then you're going to be off to
success because people know if you're real about what you're
trying to do.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Thank you for allowing me to come into the Fade
Shop and hear your story and learn some of your
secrets to success. This has been Money Making Conversations Masterclads
with me Rashaun McDonald. Thanks to our guests and our audience.
Visit Moneymakingconversations dot com to listen or register to be
a guest on my show. Keep leading with your gifts,
(22:35):
keep winning,
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, money Making Conversations dot com and click.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
To be a guest.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Button priss submit and information will come directly to me. Now,
let's get this show started.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Y'all don't know host that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
But but y'all don't know is this young man sitting
in front of me, Oz Abram, owner the Praise Shot?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Why did you name it the fade Shot? You know,
mister Rashwan is funny. I was actually in the military
over in Bosnia and being one of my military buddies
who sat down and was just kind of coming up
with a name statement. What can I call this thing?
What can I call it? That's gonna stick? Because you know,
you think about the major brands like Bard and Walmart,
(00:53):
It's like, wow, you know everybody know those brands, right.
So I'm just doing and dabbling it on thespaper and
I came up with the Faith Shop and I said
you know what that's it name faith? Now what what
what year was that when you were saying that, this
was nineteen ninety six, nineteen ninety six, yes, and and
so at that point it was a dream. It was
all a dream. So were you couldn't hair when you
(01:13):
was in the military, Yes, sir, I was cutting here
in the military. And it was just you know, you know,
trying to boost up the morale of the troops because
when we was deployed away from the United States and
in Europe and being away from home. You knowlet's say,
if you look good, you feel good. If you feel good,
you do good, you do good. Guess what, you don't
get paid good, so you gonna get that rank? So right, right, yeah,
So I was just the person that was just boosting
(01:34):
that morale up, you know, keeping them guys groomed here.
So where were you originally from? Where were you born
and raised? So I'm born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Okay, yes, sir,
big deed, big deep. That's why you love to dress
that you got the dress where you're from. The big God. Hey,
if you don't dress kind, that's right, that's right, that's right.
And so that so you went from there and then
you joined the military or no, there was an option
(01:56):
for other versus other education. So when I was twelve
years old, I moved to southeast Missouri. Okay, it's called
the boot Hill. Now, that whole Boothill population is probably
about sixty thousand people, but the time that I moved
to had a population of six hundred and twenty five people.
So I moved in with my grandparents. Okay, yes, sir.
Now when we were talking about dreams and aspirations, like
(02:18):
you said, the fade yah, you know, let's talk about
the getting into the barber career. Now, when you was
doing it in the military where you certified as a
poor barber, or you just had the skill set. I
just had the skill set. My father was a barber
in Troy, Alabama. Wow, so it's them a DNA. But
I didn't know it was them ADA until I until
(02:39):
you know, I met my father and saw what he
was doing and just say, hey, start rocking and rolling
with it. But you know, I don't. I don't like
I can't talk now because I ain't got no hair,
But I do respect the process of the importance of
a barber because I remember when I players for turning
to their college, you know, and they told me to
shape cut somebody the hair.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I messed that hair so bad because it looks like
it should be something simple, but it's not talk about
these skills are the gift that it takes to be
a good barber.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, it's it boils down to the attention of detail,
treating people like you want to be treated. If someone
asked for something, given what they want, if they ask
for advice, you give them the advice. So it's just
really the attention to detail. And that's what makes a
good barber. The attention. You know, if a person has
bumps on the back of their neck, I don't know that.
(03:31):
So your attention to that detail is going to tell them, hey,
get this checked out or what they need to use
to help resolve that issue. Now because I've seen that,
I've seen that the bumps of the rolls. You see bumps?
What what what is that? Now? Them rolls, that's that's
that's just that's just uh, that's just fami. But the bumps,
(03:55):
we can do something, Okay, talk to you about that.
So so that's called pseudo filickolitis barber you know, in
other terms, razor bombs. So what happens is sometimes you know,
you have irritation from your collar on your neck or
if you wearing hands, or you just you know, scratch
in the back of your head. So what happens is
when that hair starts growing out. A lot of times
their scar tensed just start growing on it and their
(04:15):
hair starts curling up and growing back up under the skin.
So it's very important for that barbera to notice that
and start pulling those hairs out and not necessarily prescribes you,
but direct you to a product that's going to, you know,
make those bumps go away.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Now you have a product in your at ease because
you mentioned that at the very top at ease.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
What exactly is the ad Ees at ease? Which is
at ease? Right, that's a military that's a military turn
that means to be relaxed, worry free. And that's what
we want you to think about when you're thinking about
the Addies product. Let's relax, no words. We got you,
we got you, we got those razor bombs. Like I
would be honest with you, I can't shave with a razor.
(04:57):
I use electric razors on my face. If I use
a razor like you know, then I will bump off.
And so you have understood we just talked about the
raise their hair growing underneath the skin. You have a
product for that, correct, yes, sir, so in our Eddie's
Hairs can care product like we have to right, a
product called the Razor Bump Therapy. And what that's gonna
(05:19):
do is that's gonna, you know, for one, keep that
area clean and reduce the swelling and the inflammation of
those bumps so that hair can be able to break
through the skin and be able to you know, grow
out and make those bumps so much sittings across a
barbara a doctor or scientists. Well, if you know the
history of barber used to be surgeons, you know what
I mean. So we have to go back to the
(05:40):
foundation where you really have to care about people. And
that's what barbin is about. It's more than just a haircut, right,
and so that's a respect because we kind of trivialized.
I'm gonna be honest with you. You come in, sit
down and get that haircut, and and you see it
on TV. Lebron James got his show on the HBO.
He said, the barbershop because we know, it's all about
(06:02):
the talk, It's all about the cultural environment. Is it
like that the fair job? It is it is you know,
the face shop is the cornerstone of the community. So
this is a place where people have problems and they
come in and they look for sound advice. Right. So
you know what you have to understand is these people
are trusting you and they you are close to them
(06:23):
that you will be to anybody that you're really in
their personal space. Right. So being in that personal space,
you have to give out positive energy. Well you know
I said down because you energy energy atic gap. I
first bet you were at the Neighborhood Awards or Hoodie Awards.
It was hosted by Steve Harvey.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I was producing and you want several orders to fade
shot for best barber not just in planning On, not
just in Dallas, not just for work, not just in
all not just in Texas, but the entire country and
recognized as one of the top barber's shops in the country.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
What did that type of recognition do for your business?
Mister Sean? What I tell you, just what they said
at the top four barber shops in the country is
number one, no fad shop and people just start calling, Hey,
they talking about y'all on Steve Harbyshire, They talking about jall.
Where all located? Where all located? It just really boosted
(07:19):
our business at that point. It really it really shined
the light on the Faede shop. When you're looking at
secrets to success, you started in why why was that
dream so clean when you were serving our country? You know, miss,
(07:39):
I'm gonna be one hundred percent honest with you. Growing
up as a kid, I didn't want to be a barber.
I wanted to be a greathound bus driver, right, But
I joined the military to learn how to drive, and
once I started driving, I hated driving, right. So right
before I left to go over and over the journey,
my dad took me to a crash course, gave me
some clips, said, boygoa make some money. And when I
(08:00):
went over there, I fell in love with it. My
first celebrity that I ever cut without a license was Usher,
rightment super bowlsh super Bowl US, you know, so yeah,
so Usher Genuine came over, no Lemon came over, Snoop Dogg,
all those guys came over and I was cutting their hair.
So it was like at that point, I said well,
(08:22):
this is bigger than the military. So when my time
came up to get out, I was like, okay, you know,
I'm ready to go and follow this dream. So, you know, left,
got out, went went to school in Arkansas, and at
that point I got my license and I moved to
Texas and it changed my life.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I was when we talk about your career, any moment
to you went, man, why.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Am I cutting hair? No, you know, I've never hit
the moment of why I'm Why am I cutting hair?
It was why am I running these shops? Okay, because
it's more so like I'm running a halfway house. You know,
I have to deal with with grown men with kids problems,
but those outside problems become inside problems. And now they
(09:07):
can't pay their rent, right, you know, they come in
and make the money, but they take the money out
and spend it in the streets. But they don't want
to pay you know, the house. Right. So there's never
been a time where you know, I didn't enjoy cutting
hair because I love doing this here. You know, I
do it for free.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
That's how much I love now because now we're going
to the community, yes, because I can't believe that the
individual who served our country and thank you for your service,
is not involved in the community.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And I say, I can't believe.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I'm just saying, I know there's an obvious decision you
made in your life.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Talk about your community service, you know, Miss Raehan. Without
the community, there's no us, there's no need, you know.
So my pride is to be in the community, you know,
mensuring the youth, you know, back to school haircuse I even,
you know, go back home and give out turkeys to
my neighborhood in Missouri, because you know, I wasn't an athlete,
you know, I wasn't a singer or anything like that.
(10:03):
I just got you know, I can hit a hump
of notes now, but I'm not gonna do that, right,
But but just to go back and show them that
you don't have to be an athlete or entertainer to
give back to your community, because somebody's always watched, right,
somebody's always watched you, and if you want them to,
(10:25):
if you want to be a good example, then you
have to produce a good example. Now this is right here,
This is just one of your products, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Eddie's yes, sir, just talking business. How did you come
about with the logo design. So I went to Fiver.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I told the guys that I wanted to say Eddie's
hair and skincare well. In the military, at is the
preparatory command. Ease is the command of execution. Right, So
when he brought it back, I was like, okay, he
had at Then he had the little hair tentacles up
in the air with just they was up, they was
(11:01):
at attention and as they went into ease they laid down. Okay,
And I was like, that's my logo right there, right
right right right. Yeah. So yeah, I went to fib
and had a designer to design that logo. Now the
reason I the reason I wanted to show everybody this
because people are how is the process? Because I joke
to say, you're order you a doctor or scientist or
(11:22):
a barber, but you had to put this together the
chemicals to make sure that doesn't burn people hair or
or irritate them when they put how's that process where
you start sharing your secrets to success of manufacturing products
outside of being a traditional barber. So it boils down
to just send down with a chemist who has a plan,
(11:45):
because every product out there has a foundation and it's
just like building a house. You know, if you want
the crown molding, you want the granite top, and then
you say'll get cool. I need a little bit of this,
So I want a little bit of that, and then
you go and test it because you know, to have
a product line. These companies, they have millions dollars of insurance,
(12:05):
you know, behind your product, so you're going to be
covered with that, and they're testing to improved by you know,
licensed chemists. You know. So. But but when it comes
to just being in business, you have to be all
you have to be. You have to be the market
you have to be the designer, you have to be
the spokesperson, you have to be all of those things.
If you want your business to be a success. You know,
(12:26):
you can't expect no one to do something for you
that you're not willing to do for yourself. So when
you get ready to get into the business of being
an entrepreneur, just be willing to put on many hats
because you're going to have to wear many hats if
you're trying to be successful. There are a lot of
people in the barber industry. There are a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Who are who retire out of the barber industry one
type of organizations out there that are like holding on
to the actual culture or honoring the culture of barbers.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So I'm a part of the OG Barber Conference. And
when I say OG, that means you're offering game, the
offering game offering game and game being what game being knowledge,
you know, the mentorship things of that there. And what
we're trying to do is just bring barbers together, old
and young, just bring the unity back. And when I
(13:15):
say you know old and young, you have maybe an
older guy who's a new barber or a younger guy
who's been cutting her for a long time. So it
doesn't matter what the age the person is, it's just
you know, how long they've been in the industry. And
we're just trying to unite these brothers and sisters, and
you know, so we can educate them a mentor and
they can you know, we see what they're doing. And
(13:36):
we have an annual event to where we honor individuals
that's been doing some amazing things in their community. Yes. Wow,
And so it's like so it's like it's a three
day event, a single day event, it's a two day event.
It's event talking about walking through the steps of the event.
It's called the O G the O G barbar offering game,
(13:57):
offering games because when you know what people think about OG,
they think can buy some original gangsters. Right, We're just
talking about offering game because you know what game is
knowledge and game. It's not because missus Shan you're OG
because you've been offering game along. You offer me some
game game, but you motivated me, well, thank you, thank you.
(14:19):
So so that's what it's all about. So it's just
like I said, it's an event. We search bars from
across the country that's really active in their community, that's
really doing things that's really mentally just really you know,
setting a stone, a trail blazing through this thing, and
we just bring them in and and you know, give
him an award to just sell them. Thank you, keep
(14:42):
up the good work. You know, we see you. And
what that does is either turn that fire up, motivates
them do something else, and they're going to inspire somebody else.
So how did you find this location? And plan old?
So when people understand.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
The process that one goes about finding a location to
set up a ball for shop.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
So this location here at planning location, it's all about
your network, right, and your network is gonna build your network. Well,
somebody called another barber friend of mine and say, hey,
do you want to buy some barber chairs? So when
they called me, say you want to buy dresser? No,
what's up with the shop? Right? Okay, yeah, what's up
with the shot? Well, the guy who owned the shot
(15:22):
passed away and his kids don't want it, and I
want to let me check the shop out. And when
I came in, it was some very old antique chairs
and I was like, you know what, this is the
new spot for the page shop. Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Welcome back to money Making Conversation master Class, hosted by
me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation master Class continues online
at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and follow money Making Conversations
(15:57):
master Class on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Okay, okay, playing no texts and plane no texts. But
but any time that you're going out and wanting to
do this here, you have to be about the location, location, location, location, right.
Don't open up no barbershop in an alley. Don't open
up no barber shop in no warehouse, you know what
I mean. You have to have apartments, you have to
(16:21):
have businesses that you can drive off of, you have
to have residents in a community. And that's what's going
to feed your barbershop.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Let's talk about what is the traditional barber, because you know,
one of thinks of a traditional barber as a male individual.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Is that still a standard today? Oh? No, not at all,
not at all. No. There are some very cold and
cold female barbers out here, you know, and they don't
want to be called female barbers because they say, you know,
there's not a female doctor, and you know it's a barber.
So they are really coming out of travelers. And when
I tell a woman barber, listen, a man would give
(16:58):
you everything, but this id because he needed ID to
get everything. You land in the chair. That woman's touched,
she's cutting you, she's picking those those hairs on your hair,
bumps oude of your face. She's besides in your faith,
you in heaven. Thirty minutes later, you're like, okay, how
much is it's forty dollars? Okay, here, gonna take a
hundred right right, right, hey, I see you next week,
(17:21):
right right. And it's all about the care in the
relationship exactly one thing I wanted you slid this in
when we were talking about the ol G. You talking about mentoring. Yes,
the important of mentoring and relationship please expire. Yes, Well
people look up us, you know, so it's very important
that we sold those positive seeds back into people. You know.
(17:43):
So mentoring is important because kids are coming here that
don't have a father, so they're looking to us to
be their father figure. It actually goes back to the
movie Barbershop. We said, you entertainer, he said that barberism
is a father, he's a brother, he's a fashion you know,
he's a doctor, he's all of these different things. So
(18:04):
we wear a lot of different hats from behind the chair.
And to be a successful barber, you have to be
willing to wear all these different hats. Because if that
kid's come to here and he's being a little disrespectful
to his mother, you know what as as that barbie,
why hey, hey, hey, we ain't doing that up here.
We're not doing it. Get sit out right right, and
that kid is gonna get in line. And what that
(18:24):
kid is going to do is he's going to find
a liking to you. There's one little kid right now,
And when he first came into the barbershop, I cut
his hair. The first question this kid asked me was
are you saying? And I said, that's strange. I never
really had thank you questions. I said, yes, I'm saying.
I used to asking Mike what you like basketball? What's
(18:46):
your favorite teams? Are you saying? So talking to him
and said, but what do you want to be when
you grow up? He said, I want to be the
prezise and Bishop of the church and God at Christ.
And this young man And when I tell this young
man right here, he walks in that lane strong, twelve
(19:07):
years old, he walks in that lane. So when you
talk about mentorships, see, you inspired me to go from
the rack to be spoke right. So I just bought
him his first custom suit. Okay, yeah, So you know
this young man here, he's he's very phenomenal, he's very
(19:28):
you know, driven, and God has his hands on this guy.
But he looks up to me, he watches what I do.
He listened to what I say, and that's very important.
So that's what mentorship is about. Because you have a
product line like this impact on people, use of young people.
It does, because what happens is when they hear you
say it and they watch you do it, then they
(19:53):
know there's action behind the words. You know. So when
they come in and they see the Addies brand and
I'm using on there, man, what's that right there? Oh?
This is a ad E. That's okay, man, that's that's male? Good?
Where do I get that? We can get it right here? Right? Wow?
Well are you represented for the company? No, I'm the
owner of the company. Wow. Oh how did you get
started with that? And then you just start talking and
(20:15):
inspiring people and it's like, well, what do you enjoy doing? Well? Man,
I like to wash cars? Okay, Well have you ever
thought about, you know, starting your own business? Well? Man,
you know that. Well, listen, you can always work for
them or you can work for you. Are you going
to be more loyal to them than you are going
to be to you? If you are, then you have
to do, you know, set up what they're going to
give you. And a lot of people have stepped out
(20:36):
and jumped into the entrepreneurship and come back and say,
you know what, man, I really appreciate you pushing me,
because at that point, once they step out, you don't
want to leave them out there, right. You always want
to be that person that they can talk. You know,
as we talk about secrets to your success and motivation
and information. Somebody wants you to get into the business
(20:56):
being a bar ber. You know what steps to success
what you offer to them. So the first step if
you're trying to be a barber, I want you to
ask yourself, is this really what I want to do?
Am I passionate about this when I do it for free?
If you say no, then you're not ready to be
(21:17):
a barber. Right. But if you get past that one,
step two is I want you to find you a
good school, a school that's going to teach you a
to z not just cutting hair. They need to teach
you business. They need to teach you marketing, they need
to teach you personal skills. And once you have that
school that's going to teach you all of those things there,
(21:37):
then when you get into a barber shop, you have
a strong foundation and you build from that foundation there.
So once you build from that and you feel okay,
you know what, I want to open up my own shop. Okay, Well,
now you start looking at people that's doing the things
that you want to do or have the things that
you want to have and understand it's okay be a copycat.
(22:01):
Just copy the right cat. It's okay to be a
copy cat, just copy the right cat. And once you
do that there, then you're going to be off to
success because people know if you're real about what you're
trying to do.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Thank you for allowing me to come into the Fade
Shop and hear your story and learn some of your
secrets to success. This has been Money Making Conversations Masterclads
with me Rashaun McDonald. Thanks to our guests and our audience.
Visit Moneymakingconversations dot com to listen or register to be
a guest on my show. Keep leading with your gifts,
(22:35):
keep winning,
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