Issue 17: Before You Raise Your Prices

Have you heard business coaches advise you to spend more time working on your business than working in your business?

This is true if you are a CEO with different departments, but as a barber, this may not be as true for you.

You can hire someone to clean, work reception, or even shampoo, but the most important part of your business is the cut, and you have to do that.

However, you still need to carve out time for marketing and administrative tasks.

That’s why this week we’ll discuss how much time you spend working on your business, what you spend time doing, and how that factors into your pricing, especially if you are considering raising your prices for the holidays.

Mental Health System

Many barbers forget about all the tasks they do outside of the cut that help make the cut itself possible.

These tasks take time, and sometimes they also take money.

The time and money these tasks take must be factored into your price.

But what feelings come up when you hear me say that?

Confusion?

Resentment?

Overwhelm?

You could even feel like I’m wrong and disagree with me. This would be labeled resistance.

It’s not uncommon for a barber to feel resistance or any of the other emotions as it relates to pricing.

Feeling negative Money-Emotions is natural.

It’s what you do with those negative emotions that will determine how your business functions.

But this is everything your business is built on, so you need to feel the emotions and price right anyway.

Money System

The difference between an average barber and a prosperous barber is two things: price and process.

Why did I say this?

Because a prosperous barber has a clear process, and that’s why he can charge a premium.

The prosperous barber has a clear target market or niche, so he knows what his clients want and how much they are willing to pay for it.

The prosperous barber has clarity, and clarity creates confidence.

The clients feel confident, which helps the barber feel more confident.

Even if a barber can’t raise his prices because, let’s say, he works for a chain barbershop that controls the menu, he can increase the amount each client spends per visit.

This increases the lifetime value of that client.

The point isn’t to be the highest-priced barber so you can brag on Instagram.

The point is to be priced well.

The price that makes your clients feel proud to be your client but not taken advantage of.

It takes reading the data.

You need to know your expenses, know your most popular services, know what products your clients need and want, but also know your capacity and lifestyle desires.

And this is where many barbers leave money out.

Your price is not only paying for the 30, 45, or 60 minutes you spend cutting hair.

Your price also has to pay for the time you spend working on the business.

If you cut Wednesday through Saturday, but you use Tuesday to post content, answer messages, confirm appointments, order products, wash towels, review your numbers, follow up with clients, plan promotions, clean your suite, or handle administrative tasks, Tuesday is not your day off.

Tuesday is a work day.

You may not be standing behind a client, but you are still working.

And if you are working, the business needs to pay you.

That pay has to come through your pricing structure.

This does not mean you charge one client for your whole Tuesday.

It means your pricing matrix needs to account for the real amount of time it takes to run your business with quality.

If you only calculate the time spent cutting, your numbers will look better than they really are.

You may think you are earning $60 an hour because your haircut is $60 and it takes you one hour.

But if you cut 4 days a week and spend another full day doing marketing and administrative work, your business is not only using 4 days of your labor.

It is using 5.

That changes the math.

This is also where you factor in paid help.

If you pay a social media manager, that goes in the matrix.

If you pay a company to clean your suite, that goes in the matrix.

If you pay for reception help, that goes in the matrix.

If you pay someone to shampoo clients, that goes in the matrix.

If you pay for towels, booking software, payment processing, supplies, products, content help, or anything else that supports the client experience, that goes in the matrix.

These are not random expenses.

These are parts of your process.

Knowing this will help you feel more confident about your price, your service, and the products you sell to your clients.

Business System

So let’s sum this up by saying the business isn’t about the amount of money you charge or even what your best clients are willing to pay.

The business is a set of processes and what it costs to run those processes with quality.

I worked with a barber who had no desire to own his own barbershop.

In fact, he didn’t want to leave the barbershop he was in.

He had been there for 18 years, and he felt like he was too old and his clients were too old to make a change.

When he started cutting hair, cuts were $20, and now the average cut is about $50, but his cut was only $35.

To him, that’s higher than it was when he started.

75% higher.

But even though he felt like he was priced right, his numbers were telling a different story.

His revenue was not supporting the way he needed to run the business, and his personal income was not giving him much room each month.

He also wasn’t able to do anything extra for his clients.

Sometimes he was cutting corners, like watering down shampoo or using Barbicide too long.

So I had to tell him, if you can’t afford to run your business easily, your price isn’t right.

We spent most of our 4 months together helping him get comfortable raising his prices.

After 3 months, we got there, and we used the last month to design a plan for him to roll out his new pricing model.

His pricing had to account for more than the haircut.

It had to account for the time it took to prepare for clients, maintain the tools and space, communicate clearly, manage supplies, and keep the business running.

That is what many barbers miss when they are thinking about raising prices.

They only ask, “Will my clients pay this?”

That is an important question, but it is not the only question.

You also need to ask:

• What does it cost me to deliver this service with quality?
• How many hours do I really work each week?
• How many of those hours are spent cutting?
• How many of those hours are spent marketing, cleaning, planning, ordering, posting, responding, and managing?
• Who am I paying to help me keep this business running?
• What revenue does the business need to support the process?
• What income do I need to pay myself for life to feel stable?

If you are considering raising your prices by the holidays, include these items in your pricing matrix now.

Do not wait until you are frustrated.

Do not wait until you are exhausted.

Do not wait until you are taking more clients than your body can handle because the math does not work.

This is the same kind of work I did with the barber I mentioned earlier, and it is some of my proudest work.

Not because we raised his prices.

Because we helped him understand what his business actually required from him, what it was costing him, and what needed to change so he could serve his clients well without wearing himself down.

That is the part I want more barbers to experience.

So over the next 6 weeks, I’m going to share more of what I walked him through.

And if you are seriously considering raising your prices before the holidays, I’m looking for 3 barbers to train through that process.

I’ll use the Pricing Worksheet I already have, but I’ll personalize it for you.

You will not get a generic worksheet and be expected to figure it out alone.

You will get a worksheet designed specifically for your schedule, your services, your process, your support, your goals, and your numbers.

We’ll look at the time you spend cutting, the time you spend working on the business, what you pay for help, what your services cost to deliver, and what your pricing needs to support.

I’m keeping this small because I want to pay attention.

And I’m making it very low cost because what I really want right now is to help a few barbers do this well, then have them tell other barbers what the process was like.

If that feels like you, reply and tell me:

• What you charge now.
• What feels hardest about raising your prices.

From the Chair

This week, use your down time, check out the resources and pass issues that you may have missed.

You may want to revisit Issue 16: Raise Your Prices By the Holiday or share it with a barber you respect.

If you want to go back to an earlier issue to get more money foundation guidance, revisit Issue 10: Understanding Your Money Stress.

There are other resources that can help you get through this uncomfortable time in your business. You are not alone. Keep reading the journal and connect with me here, to keep going!

Love you muchly!

See you sooner.

Kiné

P.S. Send this issue to a barber you respect who is considering raising prices for the holidays. Tell them to subscribe so they can follow the next 6 weeks.