Massive career change - becoming a barber
Discussion
After a career in HNW financial management and then a very short stint with a FTSE100 insurance company I've felt a little lost. I've been looking for jobs but nothing seems to be available, especially in my new home town (west Wales). I've always been interested with style/fashion and recently couldn't get a haircut as they were fully booked for 4 days - and that got me thinking. I've found a barbering course - 9 weeks of intensive training. I appreciate financially I'll earn a lot less than I was use to, I'll be on my feet a lot - but I'll get to meet nice people, it's a trade not affected by technology, if I have my own place I can incorporate other aspects to make more money, I'm in control.
What am I missing? I'm meeting the training course person tomorrow.
What am I missing? I'm meeting the training course person tomorrow.
Antony Moxey said:
What you’ll be missing more than anything is probably stress!
Absolutely. Genuinely have no complaints about my precious career - it afforded me more than I'd have thought possible, but always felt like Dairylea slices vs an authentic Brie. I've never been overly money focused. PRO5T said:
Not to mention if your town gets targeted by the money-launderers (which one hasn't?). A 9 week "intensive" training course won't make you a very good barber, it will make you at best a competent one.
The worst hairdresser to employ is a new one-they don't have any client list to sustain their wages so you're not exactly a hot commodity.
If you're good, plan on building a client list over about a year and not earning a great amount until then if self employed or renting a chair. If renting, expect a 60/40 split until you're really busy then you might get 50/50.
I your "employer" or "landlord" rents you a chair and claims you don't have to pay VAT as every barber is and individual entity expect some exciting conversations with the VAT man when the time cometh.
Anything else? Ask away. Up until around two years ago I had many years experience across that industry.
Hey PRO5T - this is a bit different from our usually F1 talk! The worst hairdresser to employ is a new one-they don't have any client list to sustain their wages so you're not exactly a hot commodity.
If you're good, plan on building a client list over about a year and not earning a great amount until then if self employed or renting a chair. If renting, expect a 60/40 split until you're really busy then you might get 50/50.
I your "employer" or "landlord" rents you a chair and claims you don't have to pay VAT as every barber is and individual entity expect some exciting conversations with the VAT man when the time cometh.
Anything else? Ask away. Up until around two years ago I had many years experience across that industry.
The girl I'm seeing has a very successful hair dressing company - she's going to ensure I'm more than just the '9 week' product.
It's funny you say about money laundering - I was literally just saying to my friends in the local I don't know how much my Turkish barber actually makes from barbering. His phone seems to ring a lot - but he only speaks in Turkish so who knows. Good hair cut though!
h0b0 said:
Petrus1983 said:
Absolutely. Genuinely have no complaints about my precious career - it afforded me more than I'd have thought possible, but always felt like Dairylea slices vs an authentic Brie. I've never been overly money focused.
Were you not the poster who said if your earned less than £100k you were not living life and you should sacrifice everything for the dime? If it was you, I am curious about your journey and how you became enlightened. Others may benefit from your experience. Alickadoo said:
Making a wild guess that the 1983 refers to the year of your birth, you are now in your early 40s.
You have had a career in the financial world and you are n0w thinking of becoming a barber.
Don't.
Stay with what you know.
I'm 44. Whilst the financial world has provided me with a lot and I'm grateful for that - I desperately didn't enjoy it. I by and large didn't like the other people in the industry, client expectations, constantly worrying about global markets etc etc. I don't have a mortgage, my boat is fairly well behaved lately, my retirement is sorted and I have provisions for my son. You have had a career in the financial world and you are n0w thinking of becoming a barber.
Don't.
Stay with what you know.
I absolutely know that after 9 weeks I won't be an expert - but the course is intensive and I've met the owner this morning (and visited the location etc) who seems very professional in his approach. Plus I have to start somewhere.
MonkeyLegend... I weirdly have zero interest in doing women's hair.
Thanks for the concern re my wage etc.
I haven't worked for a few years - I sold my financial company, bought a boat, did some travelling, moved to a new place and have taken some time to myself. It's been nice.
Almost 8 years to the day I put my savings into a little known company called Nvidia. In those 8 years it's done ok.
I respect people who want superyachts - but I don't have that many friends so I'd look weird on one, I respect people who want supercars - but I don't really like driving anymore and it wouldn't be as good as my racing days anyway.
Basically I'm looking for something I'd enjoy, keep me busy, and ultimately see what happens.
BoRED S2upid said:
lol I meant month. And it’s likely to be more than £150 a day point being the one man barber would make a living out of it quite easily. How often do barbers go bust?
A friend is an Uber driver - he works 5 days a week and once he hits £150 that's him done for the day. But then he has his car costs/fuel (hybrid) to cover from that. He's happy. 
omniflow said:
There are far better ways to have a stress free life and earn a reasonable crust - if minimum wage fits that definition for you.
Personally, I deliver and collect cars. I get paid from when I clock on in the morning (either arriving at the depot or leaving home) until I clock off in the evening (again, either arriving back at the depot or arriving home). All of my expenses are paid using a company supplied card, so no using my own money and claiming it back. As I get paid for all downtime during the day, 220 hours / month is not an unreasonable expectation. This pays approx £2,900 before tax (because it's minimum wage you get holiday pay added to your hourly rate)
Ironically I've done similar but a long time ago. The lack of human interaction would prevent it now though. And I've now paid for the course! Personally, I deliver and collect cars. I get paid from when I clock on in the morning (either arriving at the depot or leaving home) until I clock off in the evening (again, either arriving back at the depot or arriving home). All of my expenses are paid using a company supplied card, so no using my own money and claiming it back. As I get paid for all downtime during the day, 220 hours / month is not an unreasonable expectation. This pays approx £2,900 before tax (because it's minimum wage you get holiday pay added to your hourly rate)
Countdown said:
Apologies for going O/T but whose money is being laundered?
Are the barbers shops, car washes, nail salons etc OVER INFLATING their earnings (by pretending drugs money is legitimate trading income, processing it via their books, paying tax and NI on it and then passing it back to the criminals)?
if that's the case surely they wouldn't actually need or want actual paying customers? That would just be more money to launder, wouldn't it?
Let's say a carwash does 50 valets at £10 each, that's £3k a week, £150k a year. If they're fronting as a money laundering operation why bother with the carwash?
PRO5T will know more - but Turkey is the 2nd largest heroin producer in the world. Now we've got Turkish barbers and car washes. Maybe they're linked??Are the barbers shops, car washes, nail salons etc OVER INFLATING their earnings (by pretending drugs money is legitimate trading income, processing it via their books, paying tax and NI on it and then passing it back to the criminals)?
if that's the case surely they wouldn't actually need or want actual paying customers? That would just be more money to launder, wouldn't it?
Let's say a carwash does 50 valets at £10 each, that's £3k a week, £150k a year. If they're fronting as a money laundering operation why bother with the carwash?
https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/1.2_T...
ETA - the car wash isn't there to make money, it's there to 'clean' illegal money. They're not declaring £150k - they're declaring £1.5m.
School day one is over!
I'm on the course with 4 other lovely guys - one of which is practically the same age as me and doing the same thing re career change. Another lad who's still relatively young has just left the RAF, so a nice mix.
Wow - it's so much more involved than I realised - but I guess it's like learning to use chop sticks. I'd also opted to buy the scissors from the training center - I'm very glad I did as the trainer failed to mention it's absolutely everything I'll need to start a career all all very high quality - and the scissors are gorgeous too - which is something I never thought I'd say about scissors 3 months ago
8 weeks and 4 days to go!
I'm on the course with 4 other lovely guys - one of which is practically the same age as me and doing the same thing re career change. Another lad who's still relatively young has just left the RAF, so a nice mix.
Wow - it's so much more involved than I realised - but I guess it's like learning to use chop sticks. I'd also opted to buy the scissors from the training center - I'm very glad I did as the trainer failed to mention it's absolutely everything I'll need to start a career all all very high quality - and the scissors are gorgeous too - which is something I never thought I'd say about scissors 3 months ago
8 weeks and 4 days to go!
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