We recently connected with Jabarah Nichols and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jabarah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I was working at the Conoco Station and saw a magazine about barbering. At that time there weren’t many barbers around and it felt like they were going extinct. Knowing that there were not many options for barbers in the Flagstaff area was how I knew It would be worthwhile to invest in myself for my community. Once I got into Barbering, I realized that Flagstaff has so much potential here and lack of resources for troubled youth and knowing how barbering changed my life, motivated me to open a barber college and give others in Flagstaff the option to change their lives as well. So many of our youths in Flagstaff had massive potential to be great yet couldn’t afford traditional colleges and I wanted to change that, give them an affordable option at having a career that could potentially change their lives and their outlook about their current situation. I was so excited just to be able to see others succeed and choose a better path for themselves and to this day I get excited every time a new student is ready to take that step. Their success is my success!

Jabarah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jabarah Nichols. I was born in Flagstaff Az and lived in Oakland CA for a brief period of my life before coming back. I had a rough up bringing and was going down the wrong path in life. I ended up having kids and was facing time in jail for some of my actions. It was at that time I decided I needed to do better for my family. I started working at the local Conoco gas station and was being mentored by the owner. He was showing me a different way to live and to make money. At work one day I saw a barbering magazine and decided that that was something I’d be interested in. With the help of Mr. Frescas (owner of Conoco) I enrolled in Barbering school in Phoenix Az and started down a new path.

I graduated Barber school in 2004 and was able to open my own business (Kuttz Barber Shop) in 2005. My life was finally changing. I was changing! I already had so many connections in my local community and with the opening of my shop I became more involved with the community, the people and the small businesses in town. I offered amazing cuts and great prices. I gave people a place to come and get cleaned up and conversate. I wanted anyone who came to my shop to feel like it was home. After running my own business and conversating with the youth in the area, I realized they didn’t have many options in Flagstaff to help them become successful. Knowing the struggles I had growing up in the area and the lack of resources, I set out on a mission to open my own Barber College!

Fast forward to today and I now have 3 amazing children, 2 Barber Shops and a Barber and Beauty College. I was able to change my life for the lives of my children and to better the lives of people in my community wanting to join a non traditional College in a field that they could succeed in. I am so proud to be able to help my community in a variety of ways. With help from amazing people who care, we all can change our lives and choose new paths. I would not change a thing in my life as all of my struggles and success have lead me to the man I’ve become.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Being authentic and showing compassion and respect for all of my clients has lead to more business. Treating people the way you’d like to be treated has retained the clients I have and word of mouth through those clients have helped bring in more.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Once I had my children I had to make a change! I had to be the man/father that they deserved and could be proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: Kuttzbarbershop.com
• Instagram: KuttzBarberCollege