We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jose Nunez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jose, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I feel like my work ethic comes from my parents. My dad especially! He came to the United States with nothing, and now has a business of his own. He has worked everyday since I can remember. I strive to be the same way and to be a great provider for my family.
I have a 1 year old and another baby on the way. So that’s a huge motivation for me also. I want to make my family proud.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am Jose Nuñez and I am a barber and the owner of La Flare’s Barbershop in Ferris, Tx. I cut hair for a living and primarily focus on bald fades, razor shaves, etc.
I love cutting hair! Sometimes I feel like barbers have a special power. With just a haircut it can help you get that job you just had an interview for. Or it can just be that confidence boost you’ve been needing. Once you get up off my chair you feel like a brand new person, all of a sudden you have all these errands to run! That’s the confidence boost to get you going.
That’s the power of a haircut.
That’s what I feel is the most special about being a barber.
I’m a local guy here in Ferris, I grew up here my whole life and I love serving the community! This small growing town has been amazing to me since I opened up 2 years ago.
I love giving back to our community, that’s why when I opened the shop I started an annual ‘Back to School’ Drive.
Where we provide free school supplies for all kids and give free haircuts!
Last year I partnered up with the city of Ferris and we had our biggest event yet! We provided lots of free school supplies, and we provided free haircuts for not only boys but girls too!
It was awesome and I hope it can continue to grow every year.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The top 3 skills that I believe that were most important when I was coming up were
1. Customer service / Communication
You have to know how to greet your client and how to carry a decent conversation.
Sometimes it’s awkward if y’all just sit in silence for 45 minutes.
But sometimes you get clients who don’t like to talk. It just depends.
2. Patience
You start from the bottom just like everyone else. You’re not going to start off being the best or being booked everyday and every weekend making big money. You have to start slow and be consistent and work your way up.
3. Faith
You have to have faith in yourself and in your skills. You have to trust the process! Perfect your craft and don’t listen to anyone speaking negative about your work.
Everyone was in your shoes once so keep working and don’t give up.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
This September of 2023 will be 3 years since I first opened up my shop. I was 21 going on 22 when I first opened up. It’s amazing don’t get me wrong, I feel like i’ve accomplished a lot of things at such a young age. I’m a business owner.
But the challenge I am dealing with right is what’s next?
I always feel like I could being doing something better. Or working towards something bigger.
Do I want to expand and open up a bigger shop? Or do I want to expand in the way of opening up multiple shops and grow that way. I’ve always talked about opening up my own barber school too.
There’s so many ideas that go through my head, I always want more i’m never satisfied.
I feel like that’s my current challenge, is what I want to accomplish next.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @joselaflaree
Image Credits
pictures @takemearchie
