Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kenneth Harris Iii. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Kenneth, thanks for joining us today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?
I feel like you shouldn’t ask or have to ask when it comes to getting support from family/friends. if they support you let them support you if not its cool. Me personally I get a lot of support from family & friends, but I get way more support from strangers and people outside of my area. One thing I can say is some family will look at you and rather a discount when this is the way you feed your family and that’s where you draw the line. It’s crazy because when I first started cutting hair, I was told family/friends are going to be the ones that do you the worse, and I have experienced it a few times from them wanting discounts to them not respecting your time, and I feel like when it gets to that point its ok to cut them off because its business nothing personal.
Kenneth, 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 got into barbering by just jumping out on faith and trying something out I wasn’t sure about which was barber school. My first day of barber school I knew it was going to be something I could do every day because I started getting a passion for it the first week in school. I feel like I solve a lot of client’s problems not just by building their confidence and self-esteem but also being that listening ear and being that safe space for my clients. One thing that sets me apart from a lot of barbers, I do not care for the money because the love and passion I have for it I know I will consistently put out good work, work hard and I know the money will come, also the dedication and me going after every opportunity that comes my way. I’m most proud of all the accomplishments, the things ive done in the barber industry, and the companies i have worked with in my 7-8 years of barbering. I want all of my followers/future barbers to know nothing was giving to me everything i have done in this industry came from hard work, networking, building relationships, always keeping a positive attitude, and staying humble!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
A lot of people knock social media perhaps me on the other hand i love social media! I started out using Instagram in 2012 and here we are in 2024, and I am at 56K followers. I started using TikTok during covid and now I am at almost 300K followers. Social media can be a good marketing strategy if you use it right. Growing my following and gaining clients all started with me getting business cards with all my social media platforms on there, taking pictures of my work and posting it and getting the clients to share it to get more reach, word of mouth, and being out in public being social and putting my name out there. Sometimes its good to be seen out and about so your area can recognize your face. Your appearance plays a big part in it as well.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
It’s a few things I could say helped me build my reputation within my market, Me being the humble person I am it started towards the end of barber school I would take my clippers from school Every day and I would drive all over Shreveport/Bossier cutting hair all day for no money!! I knew I needed the practice and that would be my only way of getting the practice giving out free haircuts some days I would make enough money to put gas in the car and get food lol. I’ve also did multiple back to school events, fed/cut the homeless and other community events. Another thing I will say that made people put me in a different category is when I started cutting celebrity clients, especially knowing where i came from with barbering and all the hard work and networking i put in.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kenkutzllc.bigcartel.com
- Instagram: _youngrasta_
- Facebook: Kenneth Mustafa Harris III
- Youtube: Kenkutz
