We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rick Dahlstrom a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rick, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The more we talk about good leadership the more we think good leadership practices will spread and so we’d love for you to tell us a story about the best boss you’ve had and what they were like or what they did that was so great?
I used to work at this awesome barbershop, Craft Barbering Co. in Pembroke MA. I had these two amazing bosses, Jeff and Eric. They really taught me some of the most important and sometimes neglected keys to running a successful barbershop. Always have a clean workstation and shop, Nothing grosser than being skeeved out by the environment you are about to sit down for a service. And that mess equals stress and a lot of people come to barbershops not just to get a haircut but to escape reality for a while which brings me to my second point. Sometimes its better to just listen then to give advice. A lot of people just want to feel heard rather than actually hear an actual opinion. One of my favorite traits both of these guys had taught me is to practice what you preach and to lead by example. When I had a stint of showing up a couple minutes late I noticed that both of them had started showing up earlier to work and it motivated me to start getting there earlier. Both Jeff and Eric were my favorite bosses I’ve had because of the respect that they gave every employee and they were down to earth, never talked down to anyone or showed any signs of disrespect to clients or employees, which is something I was not used to. When I told them I was leaving to open my own barbershop they had both told me how proud they were and were super supportive in my transition and gave me great tips of advice. Although I do not work there anymore I do still keep in touch and try to pop by over there when I have a chance just to say hi and catch up on how business is doing. I still try to model how I run my business and how I treat everyone after them. Some of the best role models i could ever ask for.
Rick, 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?
People often ask how I came to be a barber and the short answer is college wasn’t for me and I wanted to get into a trade. A week after my high school graduation in 2016 I found myself at Massachusetts School of Barbering in Quincy as a full time student. I was fortunate to have knowledgeable instructors that moved me through the program in 10 months. After the 1000 hours of cutting hair and classes were complete, I passed my Barber’s License Exam. Within a week I was hired by Craft Barbering Co. in Marshfield, owned by two amazing people, Jeff Barrows and Eric Tengberg. I was their second hire and started by taking walk-in clients. It wasn’t long before I moved to appointments due to increased clientele. After 4 amazing years at Craft the opportunity to open my own business emerged and I took over a barbershop in Abington in June of 2021.
It was a great time to open for business where the mask mandate had just been lifted in Massachusetts which was especially helpful because it helped put faces to names and I got to see how truly touched people were after a haircut. I feel as though what drives us to be a successful business is we produce a great haircut and a sense of connection to our clients and the community. I take pride in contributing to funding the youth sports, opening up the shop during the town parades, and donating to organized town auctions and drives. Thank you to the community in Abington for driving us to be as successful as we are!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Consistency. Being consistent in my haircuts, prices, being on time, and your attitude is hard to do but I firmly believe consistency is the secret to successful business. Think about water against rocks. Water will cut right through a rock with enough consistency, Just look at the grand canyon.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Word of mouth. As much as we get business through people finding us on google I definitely got started via word of mouth and people asking clients ” Where do you get your haircut?”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ricksbarbershopma.com
- Instagram: @ricksbarbershopma
- Facebook: Ricks Barbershop
Image Credits
Chrissie Dahlstrom