Nicholas Baynes - The Entrepreneurs Blueprint: Strategies for Success

Copyright Nicholas Baynes

The Entrepreneurs Blueprint

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or conveyed without explicit permission from the author.

First printing 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4835933-0-2

In loving memory of my mentor Andre Ingguls

Chapter Index

Author Resources

PREFACE

First and foremost, thank you for investing in yourself. I have been a licensed barber for 3 years and consider myself to be motivated and dedicated towards inspiring and teaching future entrepreneurs how to be successful. The Entrepreneur's Blueprint was written strategically with the intent of providing knowledge that will aid in taking your business to the next level. Once as a student, I noticed as others graduated most did not come back to help and motivate others to succeed.

On the contrary The Entrepreneurs Blueprint will highlight the growth in various clienteles through my social media following and will also be complimented by an increase in revenue. You have the ability to reach your full potential. Upcoming barbers and stylists will have a head start on what to expect and what to work towards in this industry. Entrepreneurs in other career fields can also apply the many strategies in this book and set his/herself above the competition. As you reach the last page of this book, develop the mindset to get out there and propel your business to the NEXT LEVEL!

CHAPTER ONE: GETTING STARTED

The first step in becoming a successful entrepreneur is continuing your pursuit of furthering your education. In my case I knew I wanted to become a successful barber and I needed to get into Barber College in order to get the license I would need to become who I am today. Most cities there are trade schools such as barber school or cosmetology school you can enroll into to start your career on the right path. From my experience, what I found to be the toughest was separating myself from the other 52 students that were chasing the same dream I had. To resolve this I found a mentor to help me on my journey.

In regards to what you should look for in a mentor, you should seek out someone who is actually in the field you want to be in, someone who has the knowledge you are looking to achieve get while in school and for the future. Stay in contact with that person throughout your career. I was lucky enough to meet my mentor Andre Ingguls right before I enrolled in Barber College. Dre was a well-known barber in the Cincinnati and Kentucky area, owning multiple barbershops, and also cut hair for multiple celebrity clients. This was someone I wanted to become and by finding my mentor I had someone other than my instructors helping me on developing my craft. Thats what a mentor should be able to do for you. One thing my mentor asked me was, what kind of barber do you want to be? I told him I wanted to be the type of barber you can bring your father, mother, grandfather, grandson the whole family too. When he saw my passion through my response, he told me he could teach me some techniques he had to learn the hard way. So in this book I will give you information that you can apply and find useful.

First thing first, find out what your goals are as a barber, stylist and entrepreneur and find someone who has achieved those same goals and ask them to be your mentor. This may be difficult but, if the goals you're trying to accomplish with your career havent been done yet, I suggest you surround yourself with successful entrepreneurs. These types of people are the best people to bounce ideas off of without having to worry about being judged for wanting to do something outside of the box. These people will encourage you and hold you accountable for the goals you present to them.

When I say your mentor or mentors will hold you accountable for what you say, I mean successful people arent hanging around people who procrastinate. Successful people are people who say they are going to do something and really go do it. You want to be held accountable for what you say that should motivate you to go out here and put forth the effort on turning your dreams into a reality. I remember telling my brother I was going to dropout of college my senior year to pursue my passion for cutting hair. If its something you want out of life go get it. I had three classes left to graduate and decided to go down another path. When I made the decision to turn my plan B into my plan A I knew I couldnt let this dream fail. Im living my dream everyday due to the fact that I stepped out of my comfort zone and chased a dream that I knew would change my life.

Now that you have thought about whom you would want to be your mentor, some of the strategies I found to help with separating myself from the other barber students were my appearance. While in barber school I noticed that everyone looked and dressed the same. Easy problem for me to fix with being 65 all I had to do was dress different. I started off wearing a shirt and tie only on Saturdays. When I began to dress different people started to treat me different, not in a bad way but in a positive way. I wasnt looked at as just a student I was being looked at as someone who really took my craft serious. The reason they say dress for success is not to dress for someone else success but to dress for your own success. You will see how just changing your attire attracts other like-minded people. People tell me all the time that by the way that I dress they can tell I am serious about what I do. To me I didnt just want to dress in a different way I wanted to break down people issues with stereotypes in my profession. I also wanted to give kids an image of success without it coming from the rap videos that are playing on the TV all the time. You can show kids that there are successful people around them that do care for them other than what they are accustomed to seeing on TV. Be the change to create a change. When you dress for success you will start noticing how much people respect that regardless of what profession you are in. For example, if you worked in corporate America and someone approached you in a pair of gym shoes and jeans and gave you a business card would do business with them or the person that had nice blouse or dress pants with a collar shirt. Which of these two would get your business? You have to put yourself in the consumers point of view sometimes in order to really understand how people think. We all are in a customer service business and to know what customers you want to attract helps you narrow down what you have to do to get these types of clients. I knew I wanted to cut celebrities hair and I was presented with the opportunity while I was still in Barber College. It wasnt the way I cut hair to get me to that point it was everything else leading up into that point that allowed me to do so. The untold fact about being an entrepreneur is, you must be a people person. Being personable will take you far in any asset of life.

Attitude can affect how much money you make. If youre not happy doing something people can tell and it shows in your work. Attitude can cause you to either make money or lose money, why not do something that makes you happy thats the point in being an entrepreneur in the first place. If you dont know how to interact with people how will your business grow? Being personable with your clients can be as easy as just remembering their name, their childrens name and having a decent conversation. When a client books an appointment with me I already know who it is, their name and the type of conversation they like to have from prior encounters. If its a new client that I am servicing I ask a few simple questions. What kind of haircut they want, what made them decide to book an appointment with me, and what do they do for a living. These simple questions can help you with understanding your clients and also it can help you understand why they chose you as their barber/ stylist or whatever the case may be. The reason you want to ask questions like these is to find out what it is that your doing that people like and what it is that you need to continue to do to grow your business. I love talking to my clients especially my pro athlete clients do to that fact I like to pick their brain and also I want to leave them with something to think about that can enrich their mind and allow them to grow as a person. Building a relationship with your clients outside of work is important. Now I dont mean that you have to invite everyone over to your house but when a client asks you what are you doing later and they tell you or even invite you to stop by a restaurant, just go. You dont have to stay long but they want to feel a connection with the person they are spending their money with. If they ask you to come to their birthday party at a bowling alley or something if you can, show up. Strategies like this will go a long way. I had a client tell me he was going to a restaurant with a few of his friends around a certain time one day and I decided to show up. I never told him I was coming but by me showing up he was amazed to see me outside of work. The fact about it was most of the people there were people I knew and they all were excited to see me outside of work. What ended up happening was the guys that were there all asked for my business card and ended up becoming new clients. So taking time out of your day to bounce ideas off your clients can actually help you in the long run. Clients know what they want and if they see you wanting to take the effort and in increasing your business they will be willing the help you along the way as long as you are a person they can invest in. I built a brand by using the people around me to help me get to where I am. You should know your clients would do a lot for you if youre taking care of your clients. I stress the importance of building a relationship with your clients for this purpose alone. You cant and wont know everyone that needs you but your clients may see or hear someone looking for someone like you and would refer them to you without you even knowing. So remember to build relationships and continue to have a good attitude will take you far in any field.