We were lucky to catch up with Andy Mason recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Andy , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
ABSS.llc is a Barber-SPA. This is a place where you can leave the worries of the day and stress outside for forty five minutes to an hour and a half, so you can enjoy an experience that is unmatched in Memphis Tennessee. The idea for the business derived from a place of unprofessionalism. I never wanted to be a barber. It’s a skill that came naturally to me and as time progressed I realized it’s my gift from God. I never took barbering seriously and because of that, there wasn’t any passion or love for the craft. The absence of these attributes made room for unprofessionalism. Let’s go back to where it all started.
GRANDMA’S PORCH
My journey started with a simple heckle, LOL, jesting, joking, checking, or what ever term you use for making fun of someone. My uncle at the time was only trying to be a good boy friend and cut his girlfriend’s boys hair. The dilemma was that he wasn’t a barber. My aunt and I thought it was funny so we made fun of his effort and he was furious. I always knew that I was capable of executing a good haircut but the opportunity never presented it self until that moment on my Grandma’s porch. My uncle threw the clippers at me and told me to do it and to all of our surprise a Barber was born.
SHOP#1
After my barbering debut, I became the neighborhood’s barber. My uncle was now my regular client, along with his friends, his friend’s children, my friends and anyone that my uncle could tell about my new found talent. I cut hair all throughout high school, until I graduated. All that time I never developed a love for barbering, so I decided that I would go to college and learn something that I deemed more sustainable for raising a family I would have one day. I never thought barbering could be that profession. After high school I wasn’t ready to go back to school, so I started in my first barbershop. I thought it would be a great opportunity to use my skill and generate a substantial amount of income to get me started on my college journey, that was six months down the road. My clientele grew very fast as a result of my coworkers inability to execute and retain their clients. The barbershop operated seven days a week and after a busy Friday and Saturday there was a plethora of moms who were unsatisfied with their son’s haircuts. Since I was the only one there Monday and Tuesday all the complaints and disgruntle moms were mine to face. My response to them was “ma’am I didn’t do it but I can fix it.” My job on those two days was haircut repairs and my clientele grew exponentially in less than six months.
The JONAH EFFECT
It’s 1998 and I’m off to college, Alabama A&M university in Huntsville (Normal) Alabama. I’m on my mission to not be a barber, surprisingly I’m still holding on to the idea that barbering is not lucrative enough to support a family, still after a very productive six months of my first experience as a real barber. My objective here is to not be a barber and play soccer, but barbering keeps pulling me in. The mistake I made was keeping myself groomed. In college this is a task and a challenge to find a good enough barber that could manage the task and I was found out and there goes my effort to stay hidden. My friends, teammates and classmates found me out, and my quiet and peaceful world was turned upside down. My days out of class and any available free time I had was now occupied with people flocking my dorm room for a $5 shape up. I consider myself to be the Jonah of Barbering. The more I ran or tried to not be a barber or take a different route, barbering kept pulling me back in. I ran, hid, ducked, dodged and got a part time job and the part time job failed and barbering opened up another opportunity.
SHOP #2
My part time job at FYE wasn’t exciting and thank God it was short lived, but here comes barbering poking its head back in and offering me another means of proving itself worthy again against my opinion of it. I started at a barbershop a block away from the college. Unlike shop #1 there was only one person there, the owner. He was a very talented barber but he had extracurricular activities which pulled him away from the shop. This gave me the opportunity to showcase my skills and once again grow my clientele at an unusual rate. I became the top earner and barber in the shop and the owners extracurricular activities caught up to him when he was arrested; however he left the barbershop to me, but I had to intention of taking it. Graduation was on my horizon and I had already made plans to move to Memphis Tennessee and put my hard earned telecommunication degree to use.
SHOP #3
2002 after 9/11 there was a hiring freeze and my hard earned degree was frozen right along with it. I filled out tons of applications and submitted numerous copies of my resume and I’m still waiting on a response. Lol. In my waiting process I decided I would cut some hair until I get a call for an interview. No interview came, but clients sure did. Once again my clientele skyrocketed. I’m at shop #3, and the love and passion for barbering still hadn’t made its appearance. My client grew and I became the most requested barber and the highest earner in the shop. I eventually purchased the shop from the previous owner and Andy’s Barber & Style Shop was born 2010.
1055 E SHELBY Dr.
The business grew and flourished; however, in 2015 the owners of the building had their own ideas and the new owners stopped by to introduced themselves. They brought news of new plans for a restructuring, demolition and then an erection of a brand new gas station. I was offered a space in the new construction but the increase in the lease led me to find a new location. I found a building at 1055 E Shelby Drive and relocated the shop in an already established salon. There were four stylist there that wanted to continue to work, and just like that the business grew from four barbers to eight operators. I never realized how unprofessional I was until I started working with real professionals. The never wanting to be a barber has come full circle to bite me in the behind. I never took the time or realize that no matter how far I ran, one thing remained that didn’t registered to me and that was the fact that barbering is a business. All I did was cut hair and collected money without a thought about business of barbering. The light bulb was on and I couldn’t turn it off.
The SHIFT
I attended seminars and different events to educate myself and grow. One of those events was in Atlanta in 2018. I saw people dressing like business professsionals and they were excited about this industry. That made me wonder and questioned the difference between them and myself seeing that I’m in the same field. My weekend in Atlanta triggered the shift. I returned to Memphis turned the business upside down. I refocused and even thought about branding, a website, a logo and a complete restructuring.
COVID 19
All the work to go in a different direction and change the way I did business and then the pandemic took us by storm and just like that the shift became the big stand still. Throughout the pandemic the shop was shut down, but my clients still requested my service. So, I did house calls, tripling the cost of my regular price. I went from cutting on Tuesday through Saturday to Thursday Friday and Saturday. I made a plan to sit back through the pandemic and live off my savings until everything blew over but my clients and good ole barbering had other plans for me like always. Covid 19 changed everything and sling shot the business into to what it has become today.
THE IDEA
Riding around Memphis, going house to house gave me hours upon hour to think about the business. When I wasn’t out doing house calls, I was at the shop Sunday to Wednesday, reconstructing the shop and building the atmosphere that was to accommodate the idea. I demolished the shampoo area and recreated it with a tiled section for water sustainability, new cabinets and shelving, and new adjustable shampoo bowls as well as new shampoo chairs for a more upscale appearance. I remodeled the restroom, added a receptionist area with a desk, a new apple iMac, and a new payment system. I painted the entire shop, added new chairs for the Barbers, new chairs in the waiting areas, new stations, and added hardwood to the floors elevating the ambiance for the new experience. Pivoting was mandatory because of what the state required for public safety. They required disposable capes for each client and no crowding. So I would need crowd control because I couldn’t do all of the new task by myself. I thought to myself that I’m going to need assistants. One to handle customer service, phone calls and bookings. Another to handle shampooing, laundered towels, capes and assist with sanitation. The cost of the service had to increase because of all the requirements and assistance needed and all the changes I made for the experience that was on the horizon. I thought disposable capes were a wasteful idea; therefore, I purchased 100 capes and every client gets a clean cape to promote our desire for safety. Every client would get a mandatory shampoo to clean their hair from anything that they could subconsciously transfer to us. We made the shampoo into more than just the washing of the hair, it was now a relaxing scalp cleansing and massage service that preceded the most exclusive grooming and Barber-Spa experience in Memphis.
Andy , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am the best barber in Memphis. I have the best barbershop in Memphis. I created the best barbering experience that is top tier and at an upper echelon level, and is unmatched in Memphis. Ive been a barber for thirty years. I didn’t want to be a barber but this industry chose me. It deem me qualified enough to create an experience that will serve people and make them feel Good about them selves. Im a Huge believer In GOD and nothing happens by chance. He granted me the gift and skills to execute this task for a reason that I’m not qualify to comprehend. An awesome aspect of barbering is that if some has an event to attend, they’re coming to see me, if they’re going on a date, they’re coming to see me, if they’re going to a job interview, they’re coming to see me. I get the opportunity to meet new people on a regular basis and help them through conversation, encouragement, and a service that boost self esteem and confidence.
When you walk through the door of ABSS.llc, you are greeted and treated with the utmost respect. No one takes precedence over you. You’ve purchased your service, and we respect your hard earned money and value your time. So our appreciation for you choosing us is shown through our professionalism and eagerness to meticulously execute each service. Our service range from deep cleansing shampoos, first class grooming, beard detox, scalp detox, bald and beard grooming, first class women grooming, first class kids grooming, beard sculpting, loc re-twist, loc detox, two strand twist, manicures, pedicures, deep tissue massage, hot stone massage, and therapeutic massage
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
There are different factors that contributes to building a reputation in this market. One of those factors are the quality in the product or services provided. Our society are aware and very conscious about the quality of services they are seeking and it is evident in the amount of reviews that businesses are receiving and requiring. You can also build a reputation through proper execution in good business practices. Being professional takes you and business to another level. it separates you from the amateurs and the unqualified novices.
The factor that I hold true to that built my reputation is consistency. When you are in the service industry, people pay to receive the same quality service every time they enter your business. If a client gets a haircut this week, the next week they are returning with the idea that they will receive the same service and treatment they received last visit. If the service is consistent then you will have client retention which is very vital to success and growing a clientele base; however, if the client return and the service that was offered previously is no where to be found or not compatible to what they’ve received then there goes the reputation and retention of the client is not possible. This is why consistency is such a valuable trait for reputation building in this market
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had this idea that I was very good at my job and no matter what I did I would always have clients. I was super unprofessional because of that mindset. I showed up to work late, I showed favoritism, I wasted time talking sports and watching movies, I even dress as if I was a rapper or basketball player. These irreputable attributed kept me normal or average in the industry because I operated on the same level as everyone else. The moment I realized that I should invest and educate myself, that was the moment I had to unlearn unprofessionalism. This trait hindered me from elevating and taking my business to the level that would separate me from everyone else. I changed my mindset and implemented systems and now the business is 4.9 star rated.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://abss1055.com
- Instagram: abss_barberspa
Image Credits
Tawanna Jones, Jakerryah Isom, Topaz Williams