Thread by @austinschless

0/ Everyone gets their hair cut.

Some more frequently than others.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about barbershops.

1. What makes them great?
2. How can they be better?

In this thread, you'll learn about some ideas I have for making barbershops better👇🧵

1/ One of my favorite thing to do is get a good haircut.

I sit in the chair, tell the barber what I want, and we chat for 30 minutes about whatever.

It's therapeutic.

Whenever I leave, I come up with a ton of ideas.

Let's get into it👇

2/ Subscription business for haircuts

Problem, it's hard to get an appointment at top barbershops, and walking-in and waiting sucks.

Solution, barbershop subscription where you pay X/month and you are guaranteed an appointment once a month - paired with additional amenities.

3/ Barbershop for business professionals.

The best part about going to a barbershop is the conversations.

Imagine your barber reads things like @MorningBrew, Trends by @DruRly, etc.

You guys chat about markets, creator economy, crypto, etc.

I would pay a premium for this.

4/ @tydevries asked if I could explore this idea a little deeper, so here we go!👇

Barbershops will never go away. Yes, there could be a time when robots cut out hair and make everything perfect, but I think we are a ways off from there.

5/ I think there is a huge opportunity in the market to make barbershops better.

When I think of how barbershops could be better, I think of what The Smilist Dental is doing for Dentists; they modernized the local dentists. Why not apply the same logic to barbershops?

6/ What what "modernizing" the local barbershop mean?
- opening new barbershops?
- helping existing barbershops?
- consulting for barbershops?

Let's explore👇

7/ If I were to open a new barbershop, I would have to...

1. Find barbers
2. Find managers
3. Find people to run the front desk
4. Find a property

I don't want to do that yet until I have a team.

8/ If I were to go the consulting route, I would have to offer my services for free and show how I can save them time and make them money. I have no experience operating a barbershop

I would have to come in and do it risk-free. How can I add more value though?

9/ Modernizing the scheduling system.

Scheduling systems through other apps suck. Yes they work, but maybe there is a way to make more money by owning your own system.

What if there was a way to upsell through the system?

10/ Similar to what Chipotle does with their app. You can't check out without saying "no, I don't want chips and guac".

What if you created an offer before checking out? That's a simple strategy that could make them much more money.

11/ Let's say that there are 60 haircuts in a day. 40 of which are booked through the system.

Now 50% fall for the upsell. That could be a way to make more money. As long as the system works, people will be happy.

12/ What about doing a punch card? Every 10 haircuts you get another one free?

This only works for getting more new customers though. Yes, it makes people come back. Maybe it is a way to get people to tip their barbers more?

13/ One thing to consider as well, lots of barbershops are cash only. This is an issue for modernizing a system because if the shop doesn't take cards, then they won't take payment online.

Just some more thoughts on this idea, but would love to explore it deeper!