In our first blog feature, we connect with mobile barber Anthony Martin — founder & entrepreneur of BarberDasherClub, the first luxury mobile barbershop in a Mercedes Benz Sprinter in Vancouver.

Anthony, originally from Toronto, has been living out west for over a decade and making noise in the local barber scene, here's what he had to say about entrepreneurship, barbering and mastering his craft.

Could you give us a short background about yourself and your journey towards becoming a barber?

Actually I was in school for accounting, and I started looking into the barber industry for a school project. I found the barbering industry to be interesting and the next thing I knew I was enrolled in barbering school at the London School of Barbering. For real though, big shout out to them!

I started cutting hair for my friends and family for free. I was hungry to get experience and I just fell in love with it.

A long-time friend of mine and barbershop owner stopped by to teach a class on fading. At the time, he needed to build a new team for his shop and I needed the reps, so it worked out perfectly.

Shout out to my guy BK at IceKolKut Barbershop!

I started working there and honing my craft. Two years in, while working at the shop, I got into a really bad car accident and couldn’t put in hours due to my recovery, so I had to leave the shop.

While I was in recovery my wife suggested that I put my vintage chair in a van and make my own hours so I can rehab and still stay up on my craft and also service my clientele that needed appointments!! And that's in short how the concept of BarberDasherClub was born!

Tell us about BarberDashClub and its unique subscription business model. That's smart positioning which I haven't yet come across with other barbershops in Canada.

BDC is Vancouver's first and only luxury mobile barbershop.

I wanted to build a strong culture for this unique and first of its kind barbershop so I made it an appointments only thing. Then I built in a subscription model to really establish the loyalty to the brand.

Subscription is paid monthly making the client a VIP member and the subscription plan you choose determines the number of services you get for the month!

When a client orders a service with BarberDasherClub they get 100% focus on them. The whole experience is tailored for them, from the hair cut to the client’s very own customized music playlist.

It's definitely something different and possibly a game changer for the industry in Canada. Actually it’s a game changer!!!

What inspired the idea and concept of this innovative mobile grooming experience?

In the past I had requests for appointments that I could not accommodate because it was impossible with existing barbershop models and with my rehab I needed to make hours that worked around my schedule due to my accident so I put two and two together.

As an entrepreneur, what has been the biggest challenge for you thus far, and how have you overcome it?

The biggest challenge is figuring out how to scale the business. I am currently putting the final touches to that plan so don’t be surprised when you see BarberDasherClub in your city, stay tuned for that some big things are about to happen for BarberDasherClub!

So your customers get customized playlist requests. NICE!

Now how about for you, who's your favourite music artist right now and which song do you currently have on repeat?

I like Black Thought, The Roots, Nas, Dave East, Busta, Kamasi Washington, Roy Hardgrove, Robert Glasper, Garnet Silk, Dennis Brown, and Gregory Isaacs.

I got Conceptions by Black Thought on repeat and  NxWorries -Yes Lawd.

And that’s just at this moment, it changes all the time ..... great music = great fade, for real though!

Would you have any tips or advice that you would like to share with fellow entrepreneurs and other young barbers?

Find a way to monetize what your passion is so you can do it for the love and not the money...and you got to bet on yourself!

Go all in because scared money don’t make money!

To connect with the BarberDasherClub or subscribe to his service hit up Anthony below!

https://www.instagram.com/barberdasherclub/
https://www.instagram.com/thebarbersview/

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