Barbering to 50 Rents a Month: How Jay Majors Turned Two Barbershops Into a Million-Dollar Empire

This week on Earn Your Leisure, we sit down with the legendary Jay Majors—entrepreneur, educator, and creator of one of the biggest barber expos in the world. Jay breaks down how barbering literally saved his life and how the craft transformed into a multimillion-dollar empire built on relationships, real estate, and relentless hustle. We dive deep into the business behind the chair: why barbering is one of the most underrated networking opportunities, how most barbers can instantly upgrade their customer service in 2025, and what it actually takes to stand out in a crowded industry. Jay gives a full blueprint on opening a barbershop, launching a salon suite, building a loyal clientele, and using technology to scale your time and income. Jay also reveals how he uses land ownership to earn 50 rents every month, why adding apartments above your barbershop is a cheat code, and the smartest paths to securing a mortgage as a barber. From suite models to expos to real estate, this episode is a masterclass for anyone in the grooming industry—or any entrepreneur looking to level up. #EarnYourLeisure #EYL #JayMajors #BarberBusiness #SalonSuite #Barbershop #Entrepreneurship #WealthBuilding #BusinessModels #RealEstate #Networking #FinancialLiteracy #MarketMondays #EYLNetwork #BusinessTips

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (00:43):
All right, guys, welcome back, ey l, you got a
special episode. Yah my god Jay Majors in the building,
better known as the Godfather of Barbara.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
That's a heavy title.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
I know.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Take that title. You accept that. I mean, I feel
weird because there is a lot of my predecessors, but
I believe that a lot of the business moves I
made for the barbering industry was able to better the
barbering industry as a whole. Not like I'm calling shots
like Don Carter, but I believe like I embraced it because,
like with my story with barbering saving my life, I

(01:19):
felt like the opportunities that I was given, I want
to give to others, you know. So maybe that's why
they call me got file. A lot of the young bucks,
the young barbers getting in come to me for advice,
and I try to be there for him. A little
too accessible sometimes, but.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Now it's gonna be a dope conversation, and it's important
conversation because barbering is something that is huge and essential
in every community. It's essential. Yeah, during COVID, they deemed
as essential workers. So you have a story not just
of like being a barber, but building a real business
behind it.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
Right, you have the largest barbering.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Event in the world, you have a business model of
suites that we're going to talk about. You're a consultant,
So I guess that's why the title comes into play,
not just from barbering skills, but like how you've been
able to grow and scale massively from the barbering industry
most most people kind of haven't got past the barbering phase.

(02:18):
But we're going to talk about first one. Well, thank
you for joinings. Appreciate it. I appreciate it. I honored
to be here.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
I've been watching you guys, especially from COVID when we're
all glued to our phones, watching your growth and what
you've been. You know, I believe that people like us
are blessed by what we give. The opportunities we've given
and the platform that you've given so many people is
what made Eyl what it is today. So have you
watched her to be here?

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Have you watched the development of my beard? Yeah, you
guys are always I'm going I appreciate that.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
So all right, you have an interesting story how you
even got into barbering. You said, borrowing save your life.
You want to tell that story?

Speaker 4 (02:54):
I mean in and out of institutions and troubles with
the loss since fourteen, my real like incarceration away from home,
a year sentence at the age of seventeen. So I
spent like my eighteenth birthday incarcerated. And I came from
the family, Like my family didn't have much, so they
couldn't send me money when I was locked up. So
like you do the crime, you do the time, So

(03:15):
I made the I made pretend I was a barber
because I was already like doing my own edge ups
and stuff. Because we didn't have money for haircuts like that,
I didn't go all the time, and I should have
went back to jail for the haircuts I was given.
Bro I was put this to me, the hairlines back,
I mean, that's dangerous. You ain't getting no trouble, yeah,
I mean I almost had to fight a couple of times.

(03:39):
It was never that that bad, but you know, definitely
like mediocre beginner haircuts. But I started getting better because
you have nothing but time in there. And I had
an epiphany on my last incarceration because I was like
a repeat offender and I remember seeing it as being like,
you know, in that bait, like you'll be back, And
I was like, why am I dedicating so much time

(04:02):
to being in the streets when I could take this
barbering thing really serious? Because I had a lot of
commissary in there. I was like, the man, you got good,
I got really good? How long take how long take
you get good? Tought yourself. I personally believe like I
still needed more practice with scissors because weren't allowed to
use them in there. But I would say like two
and a half years into my sentence, I was, I

(04:22):
was cutting here from the second I woke up to
the second I went to bed all day, and it
made my time go by faster. But it was really
an eye opener, like I could really do this when
I go home.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
What type of equipment they allow you using this?

Speaker 4 (04:35):
I was using a beard trimmer with a with a
mcguivered battery packs. We could plug it into the wall
because it was they were battery operated. And then you
know there's ways like you break a razor open for
the edge ups, and you know, use coffee for beerd dye.
I mean you have beerd dye coffee for temporary they're
going to a VI. We would use instant coffee for

(04:55):
beer dye. So you toaught yourself pretty much, Yeah, self taught.
There was no YouTube and stuff back then. It wasn't
like an og barber in the jail that kind of
there was. There was a couple, you know, but like
basically it was a hustler, right like I was. I've
always been a hustler in my whole life. I used
to sell mixtapes, not mixing these mixtapes like digable planets
do effects like that far back deep, Okay, we from

(05:18):
the same Yeah, exactly. So I felt like I was
always a hustler. But you know, when I chose to
sell drugs, I would always get incarcerated. Something always would happen,
and I was like, I'm going to treat this barbering
just like I treated the streets, and I'm going to
go full throttle with it. And I never looked back.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
So after you you get released, how do you now
turn this? You've obviously learned a skill? Yeah, how do
you turn this into a business? Are you like renting
a chair? You go into somebody's shop.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
So, ironically enough, I grew up in a Hartford area
of Connecticut, and I went about forty five minutes up
the highway to New Haven County, and I thought I
got a job, like in a really nice upscale shop.
But I was like right in the hood, just like
the hood that I left in Harford. So I was like, damn, Like,
no matter where you go, there you are. Though, Like

(06:08):
I felt as if a lot of my friends that
I grew up in number one they were all dying.
Like I lost four of my real close friends to murders.
One bonus ycle accident when I was incarcerated like my
true friends. And when I came home, my friend's mother
was like, you're next. I had a dream that You're
going to die next, and I was like it was.
It really hit me because I was really close to

(06:28):
him and his mother, and I was like, it even
pushed me a little bit more to take this barbering series.
So I relocated to New Haven County in a halfway
house and I started building a lot of clients, but clients.
I was fortunate to get clients that were like realtors
and loan officers at banks because I knew how to
use sheares at the time like scissors, and I was

(06:49):
building these clientele and rather than talking about the game
like the Lebron game, or like nowadays Diddy is a
big topic, right like the rather talking about bullshit in
the barbershop, excuse my language, I would talk about like
how do I get my credit score up? How can
I get a loan for my first property. I would
speak to these clients about that, and they built me

(07:11):
up so like I'm not self made? Is my clients
is sat in my chair? That opened so many doors
for me.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, we only say the barber is like a therapist
for people, and it's it's a relationship that people have
once a week an hour they sit down and yeah,
like you said, it's a great office, a great networking opportunity.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
One hundred percent before the Internet, there was the barbershop.
So like people, yo, where do.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
I get my windows tinted?

Speaker 4 (07:34):
Where can I?

Speaker 3 (07:34):
You know, where can I do this?

Speaker 4 (07:36):
And we were networking for so many years without even
knowing it, you know, like every you know back in
the days, if you need to hear something, you would
hear in the barbershop, especially in the hood where I
was at.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
You guys are a very unique people. It's like the
one person that you, at some point in your life
are going to trust more than yourself. Like some people
won't even touch their own here own beard because they
are a fear they are going to mess it up.
They only will allow their barber to do that. How
did obviously you get these clients? But the most important

(08:09):
thing is to trust, right, because like that's what keeps
us coming back. How did you build that up?

Speaker 4 (08:15):
I don't even think it's like I think a lot
of barbers unfortunately in twenty twenty five are lacking customer service.
They're doing it for the money. I never did this
for the money. I did this for the passion. And
like I got to know these people that became my friends.
Like one guy was Joe the plumber, another guy was
Frank the electrician, and I and I will put them
on my phone unerneath that because I know one day

(08:37):
I'm gonna need a plumber. One day I'm need an
electrician if I want to open my own business. So
I built bonds and I will support their business just
like they support mine. My plumber has been my plumber
for twenty two years now. I just bought three airbnbs
and he's as we speak, he is doing a plumbing
cap off on all three of my properties to winterize them,
like right now while we're in this podcast. So these

(08:58):
are relations I support those that support me. I'm at
four generations, father, grandfather, great grandson, like grandfather, four generations
because I've been open twenty one years now and people
are having kids young. So you know, to me, it's
like it's all about the community.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
So you start off, you're working in a barbershop. Correct,
when do you scale to own a barber shop?

Speaker 3 (09:20):
So at this point I was working in a barbershop.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
I had like a little clothing business, like white when
white teas are big, and I was wearing the five
x white tea's, you know. I was selling teas and stuff.
And there was an older gentleman who was a real
estate developer and he took a liking to me, and
he was like, I got to get you out of
this neighborhood because neighbor was getting really bad. It was
really bad at a lot of drugs, dangerous. And he's like,

(09:46):
I'm opening a strip mall in West Haven, Connecticut. I'll
help you with the fill up. It's a Manila envelope.
I'm like, what's a manilla envelope? What's a fit up?
Like I'm from the streets, Like I didn't know these things,
and he goes, just you pick which spot you want.
I'll give you like three four months rent free. And
I helped pay for your electric cool and stuff, which
was a big which was a big opportunity because electricians

(10:08):
are very expensive. And I opened my first shop, but
I chose a fourteen hundred square for a spot, and
that's a big barber shop.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
So but if you build it, they will grow.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
Like one of my mentors said, you'd rather grow into
your barbershop than out of your barbershop. So I went
from a twelve cheer shop, I only had three barbers.
My fourth barber had to buy his own chair in
order to work for me, and I took it out
of his rent because I ran out of money on
the build up from twelve.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Chairs with a thirteen and fourteen.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
Then the business in thet store was a pet store,
went out of business, and then it was a twenty
two chair shop shop operating. But the beauty about my
shop that was like the United Nations. I had West
Indian barbers. I had Latinos, you know, all different types
of Latinos, White Asian, so like anyone could come to
my barbershop and get a haircut, and to me, the

(10:59):
diversity was was important. You know.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
We had black barbers and.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Like some people at that time, like I only want
to go to them. He looks like me, okay, he
cuts my hair. Like women barbers weren't even get in
love twenty years ago. Now they're getting Now they're killing
it in the industry. So like for real, like I
had a woman barber and I felt so bad and
she was nice. She came straight from dr and people
really didn't want to sit with her and until they
seen her haircuts. So you know, I believe like diversity

(11:26):
is key. I think that the barbershop is like should
be common grounds for people just to feel comfortable.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Did you you saw that early on in the landscape.
I feel like, you know, you grow up, it's like,
oh there was super cuts, Nobody's going there, and it
was like, oh yeah, we got to go to the
local barbershop. But to unify it all, I mean, it's
a brilliant technique. I see it now more than ever.
Like the guy who does not like bid he's Colombian,
but I mean everybody goes into the shop, even like

(11:53):
you said, his barber was a woman. So like that diversity,
you saw that how the game was going before it
or you just like you know what, we've got to
adapt to you.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
I mean, I feel like I'm just such a businessman
that I want everyone's money, you know what I mean.
Like there's always been a stereotp type where like a
black gentleman will come into the shop and be like,
y'all call it black hair, or a white person would
come in to the shop and be like you do
this type of hair like it was like it was,
it was a stereotype. And I feel as if, like
with the clippers nowadays, being cordless with our tools that

(12:26):
we have, you know, I think the kids in school
nowadays are learning all different types of hair textures, and
I believe the game has definitely has elevated a lot.
Barbers are getting I'm sure you're paying a lot more
for your beer than what you paid what ten years ago? Right?

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Yeah, I mean but unfortunately, historically barbers were getting the
same for haircuts from the nineties all the way to
about two thousand and ten, twenty fifteen, twenty twenty. They
were scared to go up on their prices. So what
changed that?

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Because now, I mean like one hundred that was a
big debate online one hundred dollars hairdcut. I think Kysonna
said he would never pay a hundred off for a haircut.
But I mean you got people that's paying tree hundred
dollars for a thousand who started that Atlanta?

Speaker 4 (13:13):
I mean, I don't I really look at it like this, man,
how much is an hour worth of your time? How
much is an hour worth of your time? Like? Are
you paying for the haircut. Are you paying for the
professionalism the time management that that person has, Like, I
know when I call my barber, he's gonna be on
time to cut my hair.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
I'm a very busy man.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
I rather pay extra to get in and out of
his chair than to be sitting in the barbershop bsing
with a bunch of people, or you know, forty minutes
late for an appointment with possibly some dirty clippers. You know.
I feel there's different calibers, right, Like some people shop
at Louis and Sacks and some people are cool with Target.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
So I really depend now.

Speaker 4 (13:57):
Also on the flip side, there's lot of barbers a
charge hundred dollars for haircuts, don't have the credentials, that
don't have the professionalism and the punctuality. If that's what
they think they're worth. They might be doing less haircuts
and getting paid that, but I don't think they're fully booked.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Talk about I mean, you just brought up a pain point.
I felt like for the barbershop industry. We grew up
in the era where it was Saturday, you're going to
get a cut, You go in there, it's nine o'clock.
You might be in there till four before you get
your cut. Technology all day technology has definitely changed. That
has that obviously, I mean to me, that would help
increase profit margins. Right now you can have it scheduled

(14:35):
and put more people on that regiment and scheduled than
how they used to be. Talk about the royal technology
is played in the space.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
I mean yeah, and especially you know, a big shoutouts
to Squire for only focusing on the barber you know aspect,
like they could do salons and many of the nail salons,
but they mainly focus on barbering. I feel like I
feel like everyone's in a rush nowadays, especially after COVID,
Like you know, everything's at the palm of our and
some gratifications at the palm of our hands. I miss

(15:03):
the days when my fun clients would be in the
barbershop for three four hours. You always know, you got
the barbershop clown, you got the dude that's coming in
with the bootleg CDs. Like I missed those days. Unfortunately,
they have changed and a lot of people are sensitive.
Like in the barbershop you had to have thick skin.
I remember, like want to go home crying because me
and one of my barbers would be ranked on each

(15:25):
other so bad or you did a bad haircut. But
I feel like society on you know, unfortunately, is getting
a little soft. You know, people can't take certain you know,
Oh you're bullying him. No, we're just catching wreck in
the barbershop. That's what we do. So I feel like,
unfortunately the environment changes.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
That's kind of why. And I know we'll speak about
this a little bit later.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
I shifted to the suits because I feel like with
that intimate relationship that we have with our clients getting
them in and out, that they just really want to
be focused on themselves.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
If they're paying top dollar for haircuts.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
Well yeah, talk about that as far as the sweets.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Could you at one point transition from a regular traditional
barbershop model to the suite? So explain your model with
the suites and what made you transition intoday.

Speaker 4 (16:09):
So I'm controversial, like some people don't agree with me.
I don't believe you own the barbershop unless you own
the building, You own the name, you on the sign,
You might own the chairs, but if you have a landlord,
and a lot of these landlords pocket watch and unfortunately
a lot of barbers don't have a real big education.
They don't even get an attorney to look at their lease.

(16:29):
They're so excited to open their business that they'll sign
like a three year lease. And what happens is it
takes about eighteen months to really grow your brand and
get your money back from your business, even just to
break even, right. And I've seen landlords pocket watch people
and be like, oh man, this car's going in and
out this lot. This barbershop's busy, So we're going to
go from three thousand dollars a month to forty five

(16:50):
hundred dollars a month. Now, this barber just started making money,
and now they have to go up on their haircuts.
They have to hire more people, or they might have
to move out and find a cheaper location once their
lease is up. So I've told this and people argue
with me, like, you might own the brand, you might
own the name, but unless you own the land, unless

(17:10):
you own the property and a lot of a barbershop. Nowadays,
a fit ups about eighty thousand dollars. Are you really
going to put eighty thousand dollars into someone else's business,
someone else's building, and then pay their mortgage on top
of it, and pay the common area charges, which sometimes
aren't even met to a good standards. Sometimes they don't
plow the snow in time. So I once I had

(17:30):
that twenty two cheer shop and I saved up enough money,
I was like, my rent is a mortgage. I need
to find the building. So that was why I transitioned
into the two suite. And what was that first step
to find a building and do that? So you know, obviously,
like you talk about here building your credit, right building
your LLC's credit. Also, my first step was getting with

(17:52):
one of my real litor clients saying, hey, can you
find me something off market? And coincidentally, right before COVID nineteen,
at the end of the two tho I was nineteen,
I found a building which had eight apartments upstairs and
it had a dental office downstairs. So when I did
a walk through with my contractor, was like, all right,
we gotta rip all these walls down.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
We're gonna put twenty chairs here.

Speaker 4 (18:12):
I'm like, wait a second, they're talking about social distancing
right now. There's shampoo sink, there's hand sinks and dental
sinks in every room. I could turn one sink into
a hand sink, one sink into a shampoo sink, and
the barbers could all have private rooms to cut here,
which the salon suites have been around for a while,
but not in art industry one hundred percent for barbering.

(18:34):
So what I did was I came up with this location,
and it's like micro real estate. If you're getting three
hundred and twenty five dollars a week, you're getting about
thirteen hundred dollars a month for a ten by ten room.
You put twenty ten by ten rooms in a four
thousand square foot space. You do the math, and then
you could do like a two man suite where two
barbers that are friends. Let's say you guys want to
go on an endeavor together. You get a little break

(18:55):
on a rent, but you guys could work together because
you've been so used to working together. I'm on my
second location now and it's been an amazing journey for that.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
That's an interesting model. We've heard about that in a
salon space where they get sweets, it's like they're going
to do here here, there's nails there, there's an aesthetician there,
and it makes a lot of sense. You said something important.
You said, it takes about eighteen months to build your
brand in this space, I mean, because it can be tough.
How do you market yourself? Because I feel like you're
coming from an era where it was here said it

(19:25):
was like yo, yo, he's nice with the lineups. You
know he can you know, you can tape it your
fade crazy. You should go check him out. Now. It's
like once you get your barber, it's going to be
tough to move from that barber, right, So how do
you market your brand in this era?

Speaker 4 (19:39):
Well, due to me doing the Connecticut Barber Expo, being
an educator, being a consultant, having a decent following on Instagram,
people tend to gravitate towards you that want to do
what you're doing. And to me, that's always like keeping
my word has always been a big thing for me,
Like my word is my bond. And I stand by

(19:59):
that belive that when you do that in business, people
have no choice but to respect it. We always gonna
have our haters, right Like unfortunately people we grew up
with can't handle our success.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
I'm sure you guys might be going through it. That's
a whole another.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Podcast, right, But I feel as if you know the
way the way I've always held it down is like
I've been giving so many people the opportunity.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
I can't even tell you this.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
Coming up on my twenty year anniversary in January, and
we're going to do a reunion of everyone that's opened
their own barbershop, because I have thousands of men and
women that are able to open their own brand just
because they worked underneath my umbrella at one point. To me,
that's extremely gratifying and I think that's where the blessings come.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
So let's go back to the salon suite to really
break it down. So you have you brought the building.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
You have eight apartments, these eight apartments upstairs? Correct, Okay,
three barbers currently live upstairs, so they just come right
downstairs to work.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Okay, so it's a eight apartment real estate play that
you're written out apartments bottom level it is how many
chairs twenty four twenty four chairs, but they corner it
off to each like it's like a you have your
own space.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yeah, maybe when we edit this, I can give you
some b roll it. But so basically, both of my
locations have a four chaer barber shop in the front
because I don't want to really lose the barbershop culture.
I'm trying to hold on to it the most I can, right,
So I have a four cheer barbershop. I own a
barber school. Once a student graduates, the school is in

(21:30):
the buildings, No, it's another location. So once the school,
once they graduate and I feel that they're good enough
to work for me, I will put them in a
four chair barbershop at a cheaper rate than a suite.
Once they build up enough clientele and they're like, Jay,
I'm ready. Someone just moved out into a suite and
open their own business. Because that's usually what happens. They

(21:51):
start off in a shop, go to a suite, and
then open their own barbershop. I'll move that student into
a suite and I'll just keep recycling it. So it's
like a three sixty rotation deal that I have train them, job,
place them, get them in a suite, then set them
on to open their own business. And we provide accountants
and everything for them to do that.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
And so the suite is like you get to call
it whatever you want to call it. Yeah, but you
technically you have your own barbershop in that suite.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Correct, So they could put their own stickers as long
as they match the aesthetic. And yeah, anything they do
in the room, they pretty much could do on their own,
as long as they give me their room back. So
I have two options. You could get them anilla envelope,
which is just an empty room. You could paint it.
We have TV plugs, you know, we have wires ran
so you could design it yourself or my design team

(22:41):
could design it. And they could also lease the furniture
from me. So I buy containers of barber cheers from Turkey,
and I buy certain you know, toolboxes. So if you
let's just say you came and you work for me
and you're like Jay, I don't know how to do
any this construction stuff, I'll get you quotes like my
guy's gonna charge you this to paint it, and then
you could finance the chair from me. I'm buying the
chairs wholesale, so I also get to make money off

(23:03):
the furniture as well.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Wow, equipment as well. They bring their own equipment.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
Now, Like if you wanted to, if you're like Jay,
I like that black and gold chair and I like
that station, I'd be like, all right, well, you know,
we'll add it to your lease and you could pay
me like one hundred dollars a week towards the chair
until it's paid off. So they can also finance furniture
from me.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
They and they pay you acceet price anything over and
above that they keep.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
Correct, you don't get a percentage of the hair. I
have some barbers that make no nothing, I mean, you know,
and to me, some people are like, oh go percentage,
you make more money.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
It's also babysitting, you know.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
Like by them having their own online booking they have
it's called the squire Flex app. By them having their
own online booking, they manage everything. And what happens is
they come and they paint it, they hang a TV,
they give it their own personality, and you have a
longer lasting renter or slash, barber employee, whatever you want
to call it. They last, they're with you forever because
it's it's their own personal space.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
So you got twenty four rents coming in, yeah, twenty
four rents yeah, and eight apartment rints correct every month.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
Every month, and at one location. Then I have another
one with two apartments upstairs and twenty four same twenty
four as well. And the beauty is so you got
like fifty rents coming in.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Correct, every for two buildings, for two buildings, and the
chairs you said for well, the suits you said is
three twenty five.

Speaker 4 (24:25):
Two man suites are five hundred or five twenty five,
depending if they have a shampoo bowl in the suite.
And then it's three hundred to three twenty five a week,
depending on what's a week? Okay, week, gotcha weekly? And
then the we even like have it to a science,
Like every suite has to use different color towels because
there's a washer and dryer in house. And when I
first open, everyone's fighting, like those.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Are my towels. These are my towels.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
So there's a little sticker on the window for what
color towel they use, and then I give them a
link to or order the towels.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Like I kind of have everything to a science.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
How much of the building? Call this my first building.
I two buildings, the one with the apartments upstairs. I
had to knock down the house next door for parking.
The house was pretty beat down, but I kept it
as a lot. I kept it subdivided so if I
ever wanted to build on it, I can that one.
I paid seven to ninety for.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Two buildings, for two buildings. Two buildings.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, you turned a lot into parking.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
A parking lot. Yeah, and I even have Evy charging
for the spaces for the spaces as well to make
money off of that. And then the second location I
got for five to ninety It has got two two
bedroom apartments upstairs and then the suite. It was actually
a Chinese restaurant.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
So you all together you paid like one point two million. Yeah,
and you're getting fifty rents every single month because those
rents are like an apartment rate more.

Speaker 4 (25:44):
I mean, there's no way, yeah, I mean, there's no
way you're gonna rent out of four thousand square foot
business in the state of Connecticut for I mean, I
would think maybe on the high side, I get thirty
five hundred a month on just one of mine. I mean,
if I'm.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, and you gotta get twelve hundred this week. Yeah,
and then the chairs that get rented charging for parking.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
That's a good model, man, And that's a nice hit
right there.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
I mean it makes sense though, because you know, it's
that level of exclusivity right where you feel like I
don't necessarily want to be in the waiting room with
thirty seven people that I don't know and have to
deal with the people lying like that. So it's like
the barber has their own little and then that real
estate play is perfect too.

Speaker 4 (26:31):
I mean a guy like you goes in the barbershop
in Queens on a Saturday.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
You know, I need some advice.

Speaker 4 (26:37):
Should I do LC or escort? Like we can't go
anywhere without so like the doors closed, the shades down,
whatever music you choose. I mean to me, it's a
beautiful thing. Some people I don't recommend. It's not for
the week if you don't have a lot of clients.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Because you gotta have. It's gotta be a point how
to have clients. It's a disappointment based yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
I mean it is a believe it or not, Thank God,
my sweets.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
We can't do walkings like.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
You have a waiting room. Are you have a waiting
room area with a TV and have a directory of
who's in what suite?

Speaker 1 (27:06):
It's like the dentist.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yeah, I mean I kept it, you know, with the
kind of the idea to do this. I mean I've
heard of it, like JC Sweet's been doing it for years,
solo suites. I just honestly, COVID was like the gift
and the curse, right, because to me, I feel like COVID.
COVID gave a lot of separation to people, you know, Democrat,

(27:29):
Republican or what people's beliefs are. But you know, it
gave us time to sit down and think. You know,
I was like I was, you know, in the house
of the family, and I feel that no one really
gave me the idea, but I kind of So my
my suites are called major Luxury Suites, right, My abbreviation
is MLS.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
What does MLS stand for?

Speaker 1 (27:54):
Like no Major League Soccer?

Speaker 4 (27:57):
No, That is the real estate listening. So when if
you're on your so my I'm on to McDonald's a
less number less numbers. So basically for the real estate listenings,
my MLS model is to own the building. So if
I ever franchise it out, that would be my thing.
Like I don't want to own the building. You could
do what you want to do. That's what McDonald's does, right.

(28:18):
They don't sell burgers, they sell real ESTs and you
always have apartments and that's your model. Is that tries
to be my motto because like to me, the apartment's
paid the mortgage.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Everything else is profit.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
You know, there's a shorting houses everywhere, especially in Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
How long did it take to you to get that
level of structure, because that's not so. I mean, when
you grow up, you'd ever think of the barber as
the entrepreneur. But this is the first entrepreneur most people
probably ever meet, is the person that is cutting their hair.
How long did it take to you to get to
that point of structure to have what you're running now?

Speaker 4 (28:54):
I mean, like I started that on the street, Like
you know what I mean, Like those are the first
entreneur entrepreneurs. Like even when I was selling mixtapes, I
would go to Canal Street right where we are and
buy the mixtapes from I'm gonna do. I want to
I'm gonna do men here forever, legend dollar mixtapes.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
We all know I'm gonna do.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Man, I'm gonna do buy dollar mixtapes and sell them
for five in Connecticut, you know. So you know what, man,
Like I always say this, I'm here for a reason.
I've been through so much. I'm incarcerated and people tried
taking my life. When I was younger, I lived a
really rough life. I chose it. I didn't have to
do that, you know, like I didn't come from a
very we didn't have money, like I was like it

(29:38):
was like there was food in the house, but I
chose the streets for whatever reason that was, you know
that that's what attracted me. So you know, I kind
of feel as if like I've always been a hustler.
Adding the structure came as time, by my mentors, by
the people that sat in my chair, Like I said,
for thirty five minutes, I'm going to pick your brain
on how to better myself as a businessman rather than to.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Talk about sports or who's better at bigg A j
Z or not.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
Like it's really sad the conversations that go, Like a
lot of barber stays stagnant because they're in the shop
sixty hours a week and there's not a lot of
good information coming in there. It's all controversy, it's all
and you know, I wanted to change the narrative. Like
I didn't let a lot of that stuff go on
in my shop. A lot of people didn't want to
work for me because of that. Like we're not playing

(30:25):
music with swears in it. We're not you know, like
I don't want to talk about that street stuff who
got shot, we got indicted, Like you could talk about
that on your break, But I didn't want my place
to be an atmosphere for breeding that type of negativity.
Shouts all the barbers that's playing analsia. Yeah. I've made
into several lots, fact a lot. That's why the first
Barbara that's been out here. Now we had a few

(30:46):
we have you know, wait, wait.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
My guy, yeah with the pieces.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
But so all right, so you you got this rocking
and rolling as far as the salon suits, then you
have the biggest event in the world.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
Yeah, So when do.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
You have the idea to actually have an in person
event and how do you how do you scale that
to where it is now?

Speaker 4 (31:09):
Kind of people come to that event? That ten eight
hundred last year was my biggest attendance that we counted,
like you know sometimes people that's including vendors. So I
was cutting a lot of celebrities, a lot of Latin
artists as well. I was doing and I partnered in
a nightclub, which was worse mistake I ever. Connecticut, Yeah,

(31:30):
he Connecticut. I partnered in the nightclub. I invested in
the nightclub that lasts about a year and a half.
For some reason, Connecticut men rather fight than spend time
with women in a nightclub. No I mean no, I
mean I'm from Connecticut, but just it's just they fight
like every night, and my attorney goes, you got so
Major League barbershop was sponsoring these nightclub events because the

(31:53):
promoters were getting haircuts in my shop. And the club
owner came to me and said, bro, you're bringing more
people to my club than the promoters. Why don't you
just keep the door and I'll keep and I'll keep
the bar. So I started doing that, and then eventually
I bought a club and I was cutting a lot
of artists and I would book them. Because I was
cutting them, they would give me better prices. I was
cutting their management, and they'd be like, hey, we're going

(32:15):
to be in Boston tonight. You have a venue and
I will book like a lot of Latin artists. Actually,
I work with fifty cent for like a year and
a half when he lived in Connecticut. I did two
boxing events with him, and I started learning the organization
of events. So by accident, I was like, let's do
There's a lot of controversy about who could cut here better,
so I did a barber battle called Your Barber's Favorite

(32:37):
Barber in a nightclub. It was twenty dollars to get
in and you can compete for free, and my first
sponsor was fifty dollars. Everyone said, who's going to come
to Connecticut. No one's going to fly to Connecticut. It's
hard to get in and out of And I'm like, watch,
I'm gonna make it happen.

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(33:14):
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Speaker 4 (34:31):
I had a lot of Connecticut support in the beginning.
As the show started building, I was losing that support
because you know, they start saying they want to see
people you don't want to see you do good but not
better than them. I feel like people don't want to
see you do good nowadays. And I have more people
in Dallas, Texas in twenty twenty two of my show
than Connecticut statistic like ticket wise. And so I started

(34:54):
in the nightclub. I did it two years in the nightclub.
The health of the fire depart and shut us down
to capacity. Then I moved to Toyota Oakdale Theater. Did
three years there. Then I brought it to my hometown
at Hartford. I did it for about four years there.
I got the key to the city, I got the
proclamation for the mayor for bringing so much tourism to
the state of Connecticut. And I was fortunate enough to

(35:17):
get into Mohican Sun night Club. That was actually a
fifty play because someone that fifty does bookings with put
me on with the casino and I've been there ever since.
It's a beautiful. That's a beautiful. Was that your first time?

Speaker 3 (35:29):
That's a beautiful?

Speaker 2 (35:30):
I appreciate it, man, I was happy to be there. So,
but how did you scale it though? Like, how did
you get to the point where this is the premier event?

Speaker 4 (35:38):
So I will I had to put a lot of
money into it. Like so I felt as if Barber's
when we go to an international hair show because we
were urban quote unquote where they were tattooed up. They
would kind of put us like by the bathroom. They'd
be like, are you guys get a little stage over here.
We'll keep you away from the big brands. And I

(35:58):
felt defended by that. So what I did was I
took a lot of the smaller brands. I just scaled
it by building. I would go shop to this day,
I would go shop to shop, school to school, and
like I go to speak to students around the nation.
I start in Maine and I drive all the way
to Connecticut, and I started Philadelphia, and I drive and

(36:19):
I'll do three schools a day, and I kind of
tell my story how I went from you know, absolutely
nothing to homelessness to the entrepreneur I am today. So
I think it's a lot of groundwork. Because at that time,
barbers didn't even have credit cards. Like they would have
to buy tickets cash. I would have barbers drive from
Queen's and meet me off the highway because they couldn't

(36:40):
buy a ticket online.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
They have a credit card.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
That's how primitive our industry was. In two thousand and eight,
they accept credit card. I just accepted and like cash
is not even king anymore. You know, it really isn't.
So it just you know what, man like it was organic.
It just kept growing. I'm not a very religious person,
but I'm spiritual, like God has like this is God, Like,

(37:05):
this is not me. I'm not this powerful to bring
ten thousand people to the middle of my state. But
I think that what happened was the energy in that
room and the doors that were opening from everyone that
was attending. They would go back and say, Bro, you
need to go to the show. I just got a
sponsorship with a clipper company. Bro, you need to go
to this show. I just found a place to furnish
the barbershop. You need to go to this show. I
meant so and so, so and so on, and I'm

(37:26):
possibly going to do a collaboration on social media. So
I think it was more of what was happening in
the rooms that made it big.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
I think as the average person who's listening, it's probably
like what happens at the show. I remember hearing about
trade shows, but you hear about them it was always
like for salons and hear stylists. When you hear about barbershop,
all those are the type of things. We're looking for
new equipment, we're looking for potential partnerships. Is there new techniques?
Like what are we bringing each year in? And it's
tough because when we do an event, it's like, how

(37:55):
do you top last year? What can you do that's
innovative this year? Like what's that process for you?

Speaker 4 (37:59):
It's it's the same thing, you know. I want to
go over here, Yes, you can learn about haircuts. To me,
like a lot of these barbers go there already know
how to cut hair good. There's some beginners that might
want to learn here. The reason why I want to
earn your leisure at my show is I feel like
barbers as a whole make a lot of cash, but
retire broke. I've seen barbers that have rolexes that have

(38:22):
a GoFundMe because they got into a car accident. I've
seen barbers that can't afford to pay for their own burial.
They can't even pay for their own funeral, an eight
thousand dollars funeral, but they're popping bottles every weekend. It
was money coming in, but it was going out just
as fast as it was coming as it was coming in.
So at my education seminars. I've been focusing more on

(38:44):
building wealth four one k roth Iras sep Brus, putting
your children on payroll. I mean so many different things
that I feel like the barbers, they don't teach you
that in barber school. Number one, they don't teach you
that in barber school. And if you're not speaking to
the right people sitting in your chair, or if you're
not attracting the right people to your chair, how are

(39:06):
you going to learn this stuff? Majority of barbers get
their barber license and never go back to school a
day of their life. So you know you can come
to my show. There's a huge competition. I always have
entertainment after party pre parties. We also do a big
award set of ceremony, giving back to people that cut
the homeless, giving back to people that do things for
the community. So it is definitely a community based event.
But to me, my most important thing is the reason

(39:29):
why I invited you guys and other speakers in the past,
whether it's men's mental health or it's about investing your money.
I believe if we don't have a good retirement plan
as a barber, then real estate should be the way
to go. They're not building more land, you know.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
And then even yeah, the bar but the financial planning
aspect of it. The last event that I spoke about
the own occupation, disability and shurance alsome that just came
to me because I used to be a financial advisor,
Like you know, they can get insurance on their hands
because like if they get carpal tunnel syndrome, then they're

(40:08):
no longer able to perform dentistry, but they can still teach,
they can still make money.

Speaker 4 (40:13):
So you can get insurance.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Policy disability insurance policy for just one particular thing, and
for a barber, that's the same thing that's their hands, right,
like that that's vitally important. So even for them to
know that, like you said, for them to set up
the IRA, because there is nobody that's doing it for them,
right it's like the even health insurance. And that's another
thing too, is that what's your thoughts on this? Because

(40:38):
most people get paid in cash or some form off cash.
So like when your taxes come right, like you might
not have that full amount of money. Then you try
to buy real estate and then they see, oh, you
made ten thousand dollars for the year, like say, how
we're going to qualify you for a million dollar mortgage.
So what's your thoughts on that? How is you able
to like navigate that as far it's like making sure

(41:01):
you're keeping a record, make sure you're paying enough taxes
so you can get a mortgage.

Speaker 4 (41:05):
So I strongly recommend, like if you're a barber renting
a chair and rashads of barber, so I would get
like Rashod barber LLC and I would set up a
business account with a local bank and anything you buy
with that. See, the big problem is barber's buy a
lot of supplies, next trips, talk powder brushes, they don't
even write them off. So those are business expenses. So

(41:26):
I recommend getting an LLC, and I want to be
that LLC guy on the podcast. We hear that all
the time, but it's important for barbers to understand this.
You get that LLC, you get that business credit card,
and honestly, unless you're paying sixty thousand dollars a year
nowadays at least claiming like sixty thousand a year, banks
don't even look at you to buy a property. But

(41:48):
what the key is, and it was an old Italian
guy who owned a lot of real estate, and I
would cut his hair and he barely had here to cut.
And he goes, your first home should always be a
multi family matter what, because he says, your home.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
Is your worst liability.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
You think it's an asset one hundred percent. So he goes,
So I bought my first home. I wanted to go
buy a single family. They didn't approve me. For one
hundred and forty nine thousand dollars. I did not get approved.
So he's like, you got to pay more tax s
five fifty like mustling backwards here, you know what I mean.
So I bought a two family house. I built an

(42:25):
addition on it. I got a tool three k loan
where I could put fifty thousand dollars of that construction,
paid some of my contractors cash or whatever it was.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
But you know that house I still own to this day.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
I'm it. I owe like sixty thousand dollars on that house.
And that house right there's bringing in like forty two
hundred dollars a month, and my mortgage is eleven eleven
hundred dollars with tax and insurance.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
So I moved out of that house.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
I bought another house, rented that house then I bought like,
not my dream house, but a very comfortable house for
my family with a really good school system. And then
I just see, I don't know, I'm a little different.
I'm not the refinance guy. I don't like being in debt,
so I'll hold the equity and with the money that
I earned from everything every show, I try buying a
new property. So for my profits of every expo, I

(43:12):
buy another piece of real estate because I don't think
the expos are going to go forever. That's just my person.
I feel like the younger generation of Barbers don't believe
in the power of shaking hands and networking. They're like, oh,
you're streaming it or can I see it on YouTube?
So I don't know how much long longer of a run.
I don't want to put that out there, like, you know,
I hope and pray that I could keep going because
I know it's helping so many people. But if that

(43:36):
doesn't go, I'm gonna find another way. And I think
that's the key to being a true entrepreneur, like you're
always going to find a way to earn.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
It's crazy. As you said that, it made me think
this new generation. It ties into the same as you
made earlier about attracting the right clients. Is there a
formula to it? Because when you think about it, if
you have the same people coming in the conversation, isn't
elevating those same people are going to come in because
of your clients. How do you get a new base?

(44:03):
Is it social media?

Speaker 4 (44:04):
Like?

Speaker 1 (44:04):
How how does one get that if they're like in
this space right now?

Speaker 4 (44:07):
I mean Google reviews are great, you know, integrating Google
reviews word of mouth is to me, like we go
back to a biblical I mean there's been there's been
drawings in Egyptian chambers of people getting haircuts. So like,
we are one of the oldest professions in the world,
and I think people try complicating it. I think just
giving out a business card or you know, or you know,

(44:29):
trying to during the holidays is the best time to
build clients because it's like when people go to their
regular barber. Regular barber is so overbooked if you don't
get there in time. So during the holidays, I tell
my barbers, like, when these people are walking in, they're
coming from all foreign barbershops. Like, if you win them over,
you probably could have a new client. Because people get
offended when they can't get a holiday haircut. So you know,

(44:53):
when it comes to like getting a more high end clientele,
where are you looking for your clientele? Are you looking
for the guys that are popping bottles? You know? Are
you looking for? I mean you might have to go
to a Chamber of Commerce meeting and bring your business
cards and meet with a realtor, or meet with a firm,
or meet with loan officers, like show me who you
walk with. I tell you who you are, right, And

(45:14):
there's been a time where like my circle has changed
so much, and unfortunately there's someone like my real good
friends that they're still up to the same. You know, bs,
I was up two years ago and I kind of
to separate myself from them. You know, it's a growing pain,
right because I love them, but I can't be around
that in the position that I am in the community today.

(45:35):
So you just got to go out there and just,
I guess, put yourself in different places. You know, instead
of being in a hood hookah spot, you might need
to be in an upscale you know, steakhouse and rubbing
shoulders with them people, you know, to.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Talk about your consulting business. When death started, How's that call?

Speaker 4 (45:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (45:53):
That started.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
Man, it's been going on about twelve years now. People
were amazed that I could get people to fly to
the middle of Connecticut, and it started off consulting other
smaller barber shows. I was one of the first shows
that were getting big paychecks from corporate sponsors because of
the numbers that I was doing and the activations. I
was getting very creative with activations, as you saw, like

(46:17):
at the show how we have cool Little Activations? And
being a barber for so many years and being successful
and having worked with some of the biggest like artists
in the industry, I was able to sell myself. I
have my own pitch deck and I just would send
it to people and I've gotten publications Yahoo Finance and
say hey, like, I am a barber originally, but I'm

(46:39):
a barber entrepreneur. So by me having business savvy and
the savvy of an actual creative barber, I was able
to say, well, if you have a product line, I
could help you pump it because I know what barbers
are looking for, but you're gonna have to pay for it,
so you know, I do that. Like one of my
biggest clients in the World is a kan Air corporation.
There are fifty dollar annual industry in the in the

(47:02):
hair world. You know the Kanye blow dron and they
have the baby lists and they have different derivatives, own
Babyless as well. They own Queason Art, kitchen equipment. I mean,
they own a lot of everything that They're one of
my biggest clients. They've actually helped elevate me so much
because when you work with companies like this, you get
on big platforms in the hair industry. And the more

(47:23):
magazines I made it to or the more podcasts I
made it too, was able to grow my brand and
you know, the consulting things. It's it's good if you
have the right people, because there's nothing worse than giving
someone advice and they don't take it. You got to
deal with that. Like sometimes you feel like you're dropping
some gems and they just do the opposite or do nothing, yeah,

(47:45):
or do nothing. Yeah, I'd rather them try it and
do nothing.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
But yeah, no, it was I was thinking to myself,
how do you choose the brands that you actually say
all ideas align with me? Like kind of obviously that
makes sense, and it's makes sense. There's a lot of
brands in this space, how do you decide?

Speaker 4 (48:03):
All?

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Right, they are aligned with what I'm trying to do
with my vision, so.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
A lot of them choose you, right. And I've interviewed brands.
If they don't meet like my morals, like in what
I stay, I've turned down a lot of money. Not
all money is good money, right. If they have a
good mission statement and they're good to people, I'll work
with anybody. And that's why I started working with Squire
in twenty nineteen. I got hired twenty nineteen and then

(48:29):
shortly after the world shut down for COVID, and I said,
I will get with you guys, but there's a couple
of things that want you to do, and I think
it would be great for our industry. And they like
they said, we were already going to do that. We
waived all of our monthly fees for membership like instead
of just keeping it like gym memberships didn't do that.

(48:50):
We also sent tallets of Rubert Glove's hand sanitizer barber
side bleach cleaning equipment so people could reopen their barbershops.
Once I saw that David's song did that for the industry,
I knew and at this point, there were some glitches
with our software, like with our app that I didn't

(49:10):
believe in because people were complaining about it. And now
obviously it's amazing. It's to you know, and I'm not
saying because I worked for them, but we thought of everything.
Now we have the Squire AI that you saw at
the show. I realized that when David's song were willing
to give back to our community, Like there was one
company they just got with Squire two months before, and

(49:31):
we send them like fourteen hundred dollars worth of stuff.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
We never even made money with them.

Speaker 4 (49:35):
Yet so like to me, they aligned on my principles,
and you know, I feel like the barbering industry was
so underserved in so many different areas as far as
the resources we were given in school and then the
resources we were looked at, Like I remember people telling me, damn,
you're just going to be a barber, Like is this
going to be like a little thing you're going to

(49:56):
do for now? We weren't really respected, you know, I
mean due to some of the practices that were going
on in barbershops.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
But you also, you know, did the seven stream thing right,
Like you had the multiple I talked about that at
the XPO too, Like you got it. You can't just
cut here. I think that's gonna be a pathway to success,
Like you gotta. You've found a lot of different avenues
to make money off of your expertise of being a bar.

Speaker 4 (50:19):
One hundred percent. And I think, and I'm not no
different than anybody, you know what I mean, Like, I
think we all could do it, but you got to
You got to stop that barbershop mentality. I'm no longer
behind the chair because what would happen is at this
point in two thousand and eleven, I was getting fifty
or sixty dollars a haircut, which was good money back then,
but I would also neglect a thirty thousand dollars sponsorship

(50:42):
phone call while I'm doing a fifty dollars haircut. So
I'm like, damn, I just missed a call from Gillette
because I'm shaving this dude. And I didn't believe in
answering the phone because that's not professional while you're servicing
a client. But did you ever hear that saying you
can't trip over quarters pennies? And what happened was I
was cutting so much hair and I wasn't making enough

(51:05):
as I was getting from consulting and from sponsorship deals
that I had to slowly but surely get rid of
all my clientele. And that that's when I converted over
to being a full time consultant and entrepreneur, like real
like the business side of barbering. So you're not cutting, No,
I haven't managed every now and I got two sons.
I cut there here if it's an emergency, if my

(51:27):
plumber needs a haircut, like because I always got plumbing
issues for some reason. When you own a lot of
real estate, there's always something with frozen pipe, someone flushed
the Barbie doll down a toilet. I mean, so what's
your how many how many properties do you own? Right now?
I own one, two, three, four, eleven, eleven properties all

(51:50):
in Connecticut. Yes, all in Connecticut. So yeah, for now,
you want to scale that to more, you know, so
my like, so here's the thing, like, the more roofs,
the more leaks, right, I always want to scale it,
right because obviously I use real estate as a depreciation
tax from and now with the new law that's been

(52:12):
passed with the short term rental, I believe, you know,
being able to write off one hundred.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
It's not as easy. It's not a loophole, but it
is a tax advantage break.

Speaker 4 (52:22):
I do want to scale it, but like at my
own pace, I feel as if like I bought you know,
you talk about earn your leisure. I've earned my leisure,
you know, like I could, like I could leave here
right now and go to Dubai and go shopping when
I get I could do what I want when I want.
There's no obligations, and to me, that's priceless. The more roofs,

(52:43):
the more leaks, uh these everything I got going on
is cool. It looks good on paper, but there's always
something like the biggest problem I have with that sweets
is the air conditioning. One Sweet's too cold, one Sweet's
too hot, the one that's facing the windows how at
all the time. So it's like there's nothing perfect right,
and when you're made and money, nothing's just I haven't
met too many types of businesses that everything's smooth saling.

(53:05):
So yeah, I want to scale, but I want to
scale up my own pace. You know. Right now it's
about my children. Like I got an eighteen year old
and a fourteen year old, and you know when my
father died, he left me with a funeral and a
car payment, you know. So it's like I don't want
I believe I'm the first millionaire in my family, and
I just want to break that, like that generational not

(53:28):
generational curse, but I just want to break.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
I want to break that. I want my kids' kids
to be good.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
So you mentioned Dubai. I wonder it does the teaching
expand internationally and they didn't work in Ireland, Russia, Portugal, Chile,
Like is that part of the plan or is that
already in place?

Speaker 4 (53:46):
Yeah, So the issue is with the other countries like
to be very transparent. There's not a big bag there
for sponsorship dollars because they don't do a lot of
revenue like in the Third world countries or like a
less developed country. They'll buy one hundred dollars clipper and
they will fix, repair solder that one clipper for sixteen years,

(54:10):
whereas a barber here would just throw it out and
buy another clipper when a supply guy comes.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
Also, there's certain laws.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
When you know, like people have distribution rules in certain
cities and there's certain states. Also there's there's the wattage
the plugs. Certain clippers are going to blow up, so
I'll go to where the money is. Like I was
speaking to a shot earlier, like I'm finally my first
time going to Africa being I'm going to Lagos, Nigeria,

(54:38):
and I was asking them a little bit about it.
I'm going to go there December, December eleventh to get
some footage and I'll be doing hosting my first event there.
That's pretty dope. I have family and Angola, but that's
on the other side of Africa, so I'm just pretty
happy to go there as well. So yeah, I mean
I want to see the world and tell my story.

(54:59):
And like I said, the money's always like if you're
doing the right thing and you're helping others, the money
is always going to follow, you know. So I mean,
I think we all we have no choice, but the scale,
I can't look back now. But like when it comes
to real estate, man, I have to feel it. I
have to feel it in the heart. Do you ever
get some real estate like stuff thrown at you like
it's either too good to be true or something's not

(55:21):
right with the property. And I usually get that, like
my third eye sees that. So like I just bought
these three, three airbnbs in a beach town that's extremely on,
like new money's moving into the town. I'm literally ten
steps away from the ocean in Connecticut, right on the shoreline,
next to a carousel, next to an ice cream stand.

(55:42):
I bought it off market, but I felt it. I'm like,
I looked at the building. It's two two families and
one one family, and I'm like, this is going to
be a gold mine. So I don't know, I'm not
as risky as some of these investors, Like I know
some really risky investors. So I just I don't know,
a little more calculated that I would think. But I
might need some advice on that man, because you guys

(56:04):
are the masters of scaling.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
No thing or two. Yeah, you know, I can't let
you get out of here without asking this question because
you are the godfather. What are the essential pieces of
equipment that a barber should have or that you have?

Speaker 4 (56:21):
Right?

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Like, what's the trimmer, what's the like? What should we
be using or what would you use?

Speaker 4 (56:26):
Yeah? I mean, I see, I'm putting I have to
use baby Less because I'm in contract with them.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
I use that.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
Yeah, that's dope. So I'm gonna I got a dope
care packages for you guys, too perfect I need to
get I'm gonna get it to you guys. You know, honestly,
if you're a good barber, you could cut here with
Walmart clippers. Like I'm gonna be completely transparent with you.
If you have the technique, you have the technique. My
personal stuff is this new Compact series because I believe
in traveling, so everything I have is like like for

(56:53):
little traveling kits or whatever. So there's a new compact
series on babyless clipper, trimmer shaver, And I always like,
my biggest piece of advice to barber's is like you
should always have overstock and equipment always. A good friend
of mine like went to cut Puff a long time
ago and he didn't have any This is when clippers

(57:15):
were wired. He didn't have an extension cord. So he
was in France and Puff wanted the haircut on a
balcony and the clipper wires in the reach and he goes, yo,
I can't cut your hair here on a balcony.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
We got to cut in the bathroom.

Speaker 4 (57:28):
He's like, play boy, I'm paying you this much money
to cut my hair, and I flew you to France.
You better find an extension cord. You got twenty minutes,
so like it. He ended up finding it. Yeah, but
he was like, but am I right or wrong? Right?
Like you should be completely prepared you're going to any
because you'll never know, like you'll never know what you're

(57:51):
gonna need. So you know, with that being said, just
regardless of what equipment you have, make sure you have it.
Make sure you like you'll never know who's going to
show up on that set. You might go to cut
rashats here, but as managers a Mexican cat from Texas
that has straight here out to here. And you didn't
bring scissors because rashot than any scissors, or you know,
you don't you might get here beard color. You didn't

(58:13):
bring beard color to enhance your beard or an enhancement
of some sort. So I've learned be prepared because you'll
never know if you're on a movie set or video set,
what's going to come your way? Where did the best
barber's co phone? I don't know? Man all over man,
I don't OK.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
It's okay to say New York.

Speaker 4 (58:31):
Because you know dr got they came in and they
just say about dr Because I have a Dominican Sloan
that rents in my in my basement on my of
my suits. The thing about Dr is like, at the
end of the day, you got Haiti and Dr. Right,
they're African people. They're African, but one that speaks French
and one to speaks Spanish. So but with the colonization

(58:55):
and everything that happened, you got light skinned, blue eyed Dominicans.
You got black Michael Blacks and dark skinned Dominicans light skin.
So I feel as if the Dominicans were able to
master all hair types and a lot like so for
all my women, like predominantly the clientele at my sweets
are black women that a lot of them work at

(59:16):
Yellow Haven Hospital and they come to the Dominican ladies
because they know they're here. They're affordable, they get their
roller sets, they get their blowouts from the Dominican women.
So yeah, big up the Dominican barbers because they do
all hair types. Men. To me, you're not a master
barber unless you could cut any hair type, Like you
have to be able to cut every single hair type
to be a master barber.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
You know that's something shouting my barber Bob's I think
he went to your event a few times because I
was telling them I was going. He said that he
didn't go this year, but he had been. He's very
familiar with the event and had good things to say
about it. So, yeah, man, Barbara's are vitally important to
the ecosystem.

Speaker 4 (59:53):
You know, they keep the world spinning. That's a fact.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
He's looking good.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Yeah, I mean you had a real like Barber's will
cut you here for the most important days of your life,
you know for sure. And I think if we have
the ability to like to use our relationships because like
I said, there's nothing worse when I see self made
in the barber's Instagram by bio, because like, without our clients,
we ain't nothing. And like the real celebrity client is

(01:00:21):
that father that brings his son in every single week.
Because I remember when I was younger man being waiting
in hotel lobbies doing half a haircut. A celebrity gets
gets on the zoom phone, call comes back and like,
I'm not chasing no, bron.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Well, I appreciate you, my brother, anything else you want
to say, or you know, socials and all that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
Yeah, I'm j a y Underscore Majors at Connecticut Barbara
Expo June fifth, fifth through the eighth. This year, there's
going to be a Mohican son. It's my fifteen year
anniversary of the show. So thank you. So we're probably
gonna do like a big I'm thinking of possibly doing
a comedy show. I'm talking to some big commute and
you know, just just come on out. It's a dope resort.

(01:01:04):
And you know, I just want to thank you guys
for honestly you having me here. Man. I'm I'm a
big fan of what you guys are doing because it
is needed. It's like, this is essential right now, man,
because money is scarce, and you know what is gold
at today? Man? That sways like up one hundred thousand
the other day right that we.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Will check in two seconds it was a forty three
hundredunce shut down to forty one.

Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
But why have you guys here real quick? Man? What
is eyl Like? What are y'all doing now? Because I'm like,
I love the investment. I'm definitely making it. You gotta come.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
We got to do some level of collaboration, That's what
I was thinking, barbar especially we got the ve in
the marketplace.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
Yeah, it's sad to be dope to kind of have
some level of part city. Are you doing Atlanta again?
You know we haven't announced it yet. Okay, okay, alert
issue coming to alert coming soon. Yeah. I want to
be able to hopefully give you guys some sponsorship or
some way to help out. I appreciate just for what
you're doing. I feel like so many people need to

(01:02:04):
hear this man, and you guys are genuine you know
what I mean, Like you really care. So I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Thanks you man, appreciate my brother.

Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Yeah, let's definitely. Let's definitely connect anything we possibly can't.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
If you got any students that uh interested in coming
down and we can work something out. Get some here
cuts away, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
Let's do it. Whatever had a barber for y'all today,
he's not. I guess someone messaged him and the authentic
someone from your team messaged him. He cuts Jalen and
Ray Kwan and a.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Couple of other Oh yeah, yeah, that's the he might
be ahead of Jalen.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
Got the well now, Jayleen Rose Yeah, Jaylen Roses is here,
is like he's the king, He's the king from our
team message him someone Yeah, he's like, I'm so mad.
Son happened. He thought someone from Earned your Leisure message
him a while ago. I think he was. He was
on ESPN a lot with Jalen.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
So Jalens is ridiculous, Yeah, crazy, Ray kwans fable.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Jalen gets a haircut four times a week. Oh that's
a lot. Four times a week. That's a lot. That's
a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
Yeah yeah, not as lone as crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Hi, my brother. I appreciate you man. Thank you guys.
Rock on to you next week.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
Pace