Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Haris Guess. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Haris, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I’m much happier as a business owner, specifically because I am my only employee and my work, brand, and reputation is completely in my hands. As a self-employed barber, I’ve been able to find a great shop with other professional and talented barbers where I’m able to build my brand, skills, and career with endless opportunities to progress my talents and optimize my schedule.

The times in which I question if I should just have a “regular” job are when I’m experiencing fear of the future. What does retirement look like? What happens if something happens to my body and I’m unable to barber anymore? Could I provide a better life for my family if I were to quit barbering and move into a corporate job?

Fear has held me back from much in my life, so I continuously try to remind myself that fear is just a feeling and often carries so little truth. To combat that, I sit down with my wife, crunch some numbers, make financial plans and goals, and remember how much I love being able to work a job where I get to hang out with friends and meet new people daily and create a schedule that works for me. Once I’m able to get back into my body and out of my anxieties, it’s easy for me to say that I’m working my dream job.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As with so many others, my life got flipped upside down in 2020 and my career at that time changed drastically. I knew I would need to choose a new path for my life so I began looking into different trades. I knew I wanted to pursue something that was relational, technical, and wouldn’t evaporate if we ever experienced another 2020 which led me to consider barbering. After following hair professionals on instagram and learning more about the industry, I decided to tour a couple beauty schools in Tampa and began classes in early 2021.

It feels like a complete honor to be trusted by so many with such a deep part of their identity. I’ve found that with a lot of men, they love to say things like, “it’s just hair”, but I believe that if they experience a barber that really cares about them holistically, completes a fully attentive consultation, and communicates throughout the haircut process they will leave feeling differently about themselves and stop accepting the minimum effort in their self-care routines.

As a transgender man, I feel really proud of and grateful for the bridges and relationships that are built with my clients. It feels so simple, but I believe that having conversations that are safe, educational, and sometimes challenging will make us all better and create a more loving world for all of us. Of course, I could say that I’m proud of my growth in my career, and I truly am proud of myself as a barber, but I feel much more proud of the humanity that is shown and shared while providing a service. What good is being the best barber if I can’t bring more love, kindness, and understanding into the world?

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

One of the coolest parts of barbering is that everyone who walks out the door is a billboard for you. If you spend an extra five minutes on the small details, people will notice and that haircut you sent out into the world can bring countless people to you.

That said, word-of-mouth and being friendly, kind, and engaging in public spaces have worked better for me than social media ever could.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Being good at cutting hair obviously goes an extremely long way, but I believe that retention of clients and building my reputation has come from vulnerability, communication, and desire to know my clients and them to know me.

As frightening as the world is around us, and as much as we’re told to fear our neighbor, it is that much more important to connect and build bridges when the opportunity arises. As a trans man I am concerned about the narrative surrounding people like me, but magical things happen in those 30-40 minutes where we get to exchange humanities and I get to become less afraid of my neighbor and they’re able to understand more about the queer experience.

I hope that the bridges I build are the greatest part of my reputation not only as a barber, but as a person existing in this world alongside the rest of you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @snakelegz92

Image Credits

Qui Nguyen