Don the Barber
Tonight, I drove by the barber shop at 7:45pm. I planned to get my hairs cut tomorrow but when I saw his door open “after hours,” I decided to stop by. I said, “You’re not really open, are you?” His sign said he was open but he usually leaves around 7:00pm.
He reluctantly told me, “Yeah, come on in.” Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have approached a merchant when I believed they were closed. Don is different. Don, the barber is really a business man that earns money how he can. He’s a skilled barber of over 20 years. He lives 50 miles away in a nice part of Maryland but comes to Prince Frederick because he knows that he’s the best barber in Prince Frederick.
Don doesn’t just sell haircuts. That “gets ‘em in the door.” Don sells advertising to other local merchants on the wall behind the usually occupied waiting chairs. This guarantees at least one set of eyes will view little “mini-billboards” for every haircut-buying visitor. Don also sells swords and knives. I don’t know how many of these swords and knives he sells because in my 25+ visits to Don the barber, I’ve never seen anyone come in looking for a sword. Nevertheless, the small collection takes up a tiny bit of space on the back wall, makes for good conversation, and it occasionally makes Don a few extra dollars. I’ve also seen a few other goodies there on that back wall. For example, once I was there and he had a beginner’s guitar hanging there for $30. It looked like a good deal but at the time, I wasn’t into guitars.
I don’t aspire to be a barber, but I aspire to be like Don in some ways. He works hard, he’s resourceful, and he’s capitalizing on multiple streams of income. I failed to mention, Don owns 3 houses - one in Annapolis, MD where he lives, one in Ocean City, Maryland on the beach, and a farm also on the eastern shore of Maryland. Two of his three houses pay for themselves and he can retire any time he wants.
I want to write, but I’m thinking more and more that writing may be a tool for me in my quest for a way of life. Writing affords one the ability to work in his or her own environment on his or her own terms. Soon, I plan to add some Google Ads in here and perhaps one or two other affiliate programs. It can’t hurt to generate a little revenue for sustenance of this habit, right?
Please, consider what you want out of life and pursue it. There’s no time like the present and none of us know more than the sum of our experiences plus the courage to try something different.
Like Seal said, “You’re never gonna step out - unless you get a little crazy.”