The Morning After

Today was interesting. 

Yesterday I turned my focus to the fact that my life will be changing. For lack of a better term, I've come to terms with the upcoming change. Now I need to figure out how I want this to look.

As soon as I decided to start this movement, I decided that I need to brand myself. While still incredibly early on in the process, and two months away from seeing anything tangible, I know that if I don't keep myself on track my motivation will drift away like smoke from a burning candle. So what do I do? I try and think of something catchy.

The Barber Story

It seems simple enough. I wonder if the domain is available. 12 dollars later I have the receipt of an abstract concept. Well if I have a concept, I should probably secure social media. I only secure the ones I care about, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. The Gmail account I set up is tied to my blogger and google domains, and YouTube channel, so it seems like the social aspect is covered. I'm not terribly concerned with Facebook, not yet at least. I know that will be a beast of burden, and given that I deleted my Facebook in August I have no intentions on running back into bed with the Zuck.

But now I'm left with a digital collection of social media outlets, a website with a fairly easy url, and an idea. Where do I go from here? To answer where do I go, I must first answer what are my goals.

My goal for "The Barber Story" is about as simple as it can be.

Right now, there is someone stuck working at a job they can't stand to support the ones they love. I want this blog/website/whatever it becomes to become a source of motivation for those trying to follow their dreams. This is a completely new experience for me, I will be going through the education, trial and error, business planning, and all of the unexpected parts of that journey for you to be able to learn from my experiences.

Don't get me wrong, I would love it for this blog to get large. If I can build the shop I open off of the reputation of this site, that's obviously better for me, but a big portion of my business plan is to give back to the community.

Now, I want to address something. I do indeed have a business plan. I have no intentions on sharing them publicly, until I have had the opportunity to protect my intellectual property and what I consider to be a decent grasp on an emerging market. There will come a time that it will be revealed, but you have to know there is a five year plan behind all of this that has already been in the works for over a year.

So what about the portions you can control.

I am going to start up a weekly podcast of sorts. Whether or not that looks like an actual podcast, or a weekly YouTube update I haven't decided. But I have decided that in order to keep myself accountable to my audience, there has to be follow-up with the progress I've made. I think that will begin sometime next week when I've had an opportunity to sit down and outline what I want to see out of it.

Instagram is going to be pretty easy for this specific venture, right now it is a place holder until I start going to school. Then there will be a number of updates in school, things I'm working on, first haircut, then haircuts I'm proud of. Eventually Instagram will become the start of my online resume'.

Twitter will be my easiest point of contact as well as a place I will be trying to reach out to other barbershops in the country to try and spread the word.

Pinterest will be managed by my fiancé'. I will be working with her to create and organize collections of pins that will cater to my market, but also give a bit more insight to who I am as a person. I want to create a shop that is a family, and you may want to know as much about me as I want to know about who's coming into my home.

Trello - For the disorganized like myself, Trello is amazing. It keeps me on track without forgetting about things that will eventually come up. It's a great sounding board for myself. I have been working with some friends to start a different business for kickstarter, and this is a tool that I'm incorporating from that into my personal business venture.

At the end of every day, I want to be able to ask myself "What did I do today to help out with my tomorrow"

Today I put in my school accommodation at work. Baby steps at first. The long strides will come in time.