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We're chatting about the people, places, events, and flavors that make Johnson City, Tennessee a lovely place to live. An interview show hosted by Colin Johnson.
Proud member of the Maypop Media family of podcasts.
[TRANSCRIPT]
0:00:00 - (Colin Johnson): It is a beautiful may day here in Johnson City, and I'm here to tell you I'm pretty excited about who we got on the podcast today. He is a big fella, and he's big time around town, and he's got a lot going on. And so we're going to let you guys, the listeners, get to know Craig Charles with Crown Cuts Academy. What's up, bro?
0:00:21 - (Craig Charles): Good. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Craig, thanks.
0:00:23 - (Colin Johnson): For coming on the podcast.
0:00:24 - (Craig Charles): It's just a privilege to be next to you. Like I said, I watch your podcast and I learn and I get tips from you all the time.
0:00:31 - (Colin Johnson): Well, you said that right before we started, and I was like, man, that's, like, one of the best compliments I've gotten, because you've got a great one and you do great things, and you got a ton of followers. And so it's the Johnson City Living podcast. You live in Johnson City. Let's hit you up with the first question. What do you love most about Johnson City?
0:00:52 - (Craig Charles): I love the people. And for me, what kind of settled me in Johnson City is when I was in college and I left and I came back, and most people in this area, they leave and they come back for a reason. And I started thinking, I'm like, why are people coming back? Because it's a great place to live. Some good people, and it's the ease of living.
0:01:18 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. So, people.
0:01:19 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:01:20 - (Colin Johnson): Okay. That's the number one answer. So. Ding, ding, ding. Survey said you scored number one. Yeah. Like, 85 points out of 100 for that answer. The people here are awful.
0:01:30 - (Craig Charles): The people here are friendly. I mean, it's. You would think most people from the north typically sometimes think that most people in the south are unfriendly. But, you know, I'm here to say Johnson City is a. Yeah, I was.
0:01:42 - (Colin Johnson): Just riding around with some people. She was from South Africa, and he was from somewhere. I'm gonna say he grew up in Florida. But they said, the people here are so nice, and this is. They were just day one on the ground. So you guys are doing a great job loving people around here. So share with the audience a little bit about your story, who you are, where you grew up, all about the Craig Charles.
0:02:07 - (Craig Charles): Well, I have a caribbean background, but I grew up in. Went to high school in Boston, then came to East Tennessee State on a football scholarship. I graduated, got an opportunity to play, picked up by NFL. I went to a camp that didn't work out, so. But I came back to Johnson City and started my business, becoming a barber.
0:02:32 - (Colin Johnson): I like it. I like it. So you had caribbean roots?
0:02:36 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:02:36 - (Colin Johnson): So were you born in the Caribbean?
0:02:37 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:02:38 - (Colin Johnson): And then you moved from there to somewhere totally different.
0:02:41 - (Craig Charles): Went to Boston.
0:02:42 - (Colin Johnson): Boston. Was that the family moving in there?
0:02:44 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:02:45 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:02:45 - (Craig Charles): Yep. It was a. It was a great experience. Really young. So.
0:02:52 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, cold in Boston.
0:02:54 - (Craig Charles): I was freezing. This brisk.
0:02:55 - (Colin Johnson): And then you came down here on a football scholarship.
0:02:58 - (Craig Charles): Yes, sir.
0:02:59 - (Colin Johnson): And then you went and played a little football in the NFL?
0:03:02 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:03:02 - (Colin Johnson): Who'd you play for?
0:03:03 - (Craig Charles): San Francisco. Went to camp with the 49 ers, got picked up from EtsU.
0:03:07 - (Colin Johnson): How long did you play for them?
0:03:08 - (Craig Charles): It's a year. It was. It was a short stint getting there. Just the work ethic, the hard work it takes to get there kind of propelled me to what I do today.
0:03:19 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:03:19 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:03:20 - (Colin Johnson): So give the audience a little bit about NFL football camp and how the different work ethic that you hadn't experienced, that trained you to be who you know, like you're saying you took. Brought it home.
0:03:32 - (Craig Charles): Well, that's the pinnacle of your sport. Sometimes you're in the pinnacle of anything. You had to put in some hard work to get there.
0:03:38 - (Colin Johnson): Right?
0:03:38 - (Craig Charles): So once I. And most people think and they look at the NFL like you up there. So I just used the same work ethic for my new career, which is barbering.
0:03:49 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:03:49 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. Get to the pinnacle of barbering.
0:03:51 - (Colin Johnson): Did you always want to be a barber? Like, was that something in the back of your brain? You're like, this is cool.
0:03:57 - (Craig Charles): It was. I think my first haircut was my mother. I had probably 1213, same. He was a barbecue. She was.
0:04:05 - (Colin Johnson): She cut her hair, so.
0:04:07 - (Craig Charles): And my mother, I gave her hair cut, and she said, this is great haircut. I'm like, know what I know now that.
0:04:13 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, you gave your mom one. I thought you were saying your haircut.
0:04:16 - (Craig Charles): No, your mom gave her haircut.
0:04:17 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:04:18 - (Craig Charles): She's like, this is like.
0:04:19 - (Colin Johnson): That's kind of.
0:04:20 - (Craig Charles): But I'm like, knowing what I know now. Know that was a terrible haircut. There's no way that I was a good haircut.
0:04:25 - (Colin Johnson): Well, yeah, but I mean, your first one. Come on. How many haircuts have you done since?
0:04:31 - (Craig Charles): Tens of thousands.
0:04:32 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. So. Right. You're a pro, you're an expert. You're at the pinnacle.
0:04:37 - (Craig Charles): I would say that you put in.
0:04:38 - (Colin Johnson): The 10,000 hours worth of practice. That's awesome.
0:04:43 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:04:43 - (Colin Johnson): I think it's cool. I guess we could tell, talk about this. You and I used to work out at the gym together some.
0:04:49 - (Craig Charles): Yes. That's where we first met.
0:04:50 - (Colin Johnson): That's where we first met. I think it was too tough for you because I haven't seen you around over there. I don't know. I think Chris Shay and I were just too strong for you. You're like, I can't handle these guys.
0:04:59 - (Craig Charles): You guys with guys are the beast of the gym.
0:05:02 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I think you went and like, picked up other gyms or something. I don't know. Or maybe we helped you. Yeah. So anyway, talk to the audience about. So, yeah, you catch your mom's hair and then tell me about the process to get to where you are now.
0:05:17 - (Craig Charles): I was thinking, me and my mother, we had a conversation and she said to me, you know, I have no money for college, so what are you gonna do? And, I mean, it was like 1415. I was like, I don't know, but I knew I had a skill of cutting hair and it was slowly forming and it was something that was cultivating a passion inside of me that I knew that I loved the art that just cutting in. And I was really young, but I didn't know it would take me to this place.
0:05:50 - (Craig Charles): So I started cutting the neighborhoods kids hair and started doing other things. High school, cutting my teammates, went to college cutting my teammates. And I was like, you know what? This is something I could do for a living.
0:06:05 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Yeah. And then there you go. Did you cut hair? Pros, too?
0:06:10 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, I cut a couple guys here. I mean, I always walk with my clippers wherever I go. Walk with my clippers. I don't cut much hair now, but I still walk with my clippers.
0:06:17 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. I just never want to miss an opportunity.
0:06:20 - (Craig Charles): It's just. I mean, it's like a carpenter with his hammer or a plumber with his own wrench, whatever. I mean, you always. Your skill. You always have a tool close to you from your skill.
0:06:31 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:06:32 - (Craig Charles): And my tool is my clippers.
0:06:33 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. Now you. You gotta train somewhere. I mean, like, as a professional barber, right? You have to, like, to get your license, you have to do a certain number. Is it 2000 hours under. Under study or something.
0:06:47 - (Craig Charles): To get your barber license, you have to do 1500 hours.
0:06:49 - (Colin Johnson): 1500, which I knew is a lot.
0:06:51 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, it is. I mean, it really is not in the realm of things, but it is, because being in this industry now, it takes you about three years to really hit the pinnacle of your barbering and be like, okay, you know what? I understand barbering. I can do it now. From starting fresh in school to about two and a half, three years to where you understand everything about barbering.
0:07:15 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha.
0:07:15 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:07:16 - (Colin Johnson): And then. So where did you do your. Like you're learning.
0:07:18 - (Craig Charles): I did my barbering in Boston.
0:07:20 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:07:20 - (Craig Charles): So I did my training up there, and then I came back to East Tennessee and opened my barbershop in 2004.
0:07:27 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, 2004. So 20 years ago.
0:07:30 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:07:30 - (Colin Johnson): That's been a little bit.
0:07:31 - (Craig Charles): Yes. That's. Man, I didn't think about it is 20 years.
0:07:34 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:07:35 - (Craig Charles): That's anniversary.
0:07:36 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And then. So then you said, you know what? I want to teach other people how to do this. So you opened a school. When did that happen? When did that transition?
0:07:43 - (Craig Charles): Well, initially, it wasn't even about opening a school. Initially, when I opened my barbershop, my goal was to have more barbershops in Kingsport, Greenville, and the Bristol area, but there wasn't a school. So I went back to one of my classes in college. Supply and demand. And if you want to open a business, you have to supply the demand. And the demand came about because my peers, people in the community, saw how I loved this industry, and there were so many people always would come to me and say, craig, how can I become a barber? How can I get my license? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. The closest barber school is in Knoxville, and it's like, it's a 90 miles drive. And I'm like, maybe I could do something about that.
0:08:33 - (Craig Charles): So that's when I decided to. I went to Nashville, and I would drive to Nashville every Sunday and drive back to Johnson city on Saturday and work half a day and go back to Nashville for six months to get my license for barbering to open the school.
0:08:54 - (Colin Johnson): Wow.
0:08:54 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:08:55 - (Colin Johnson): That's some determination, commitment. Were you married then?
0:08:58 - (Craig Charles): No.
0:08:58 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:08:59 - (Craig Charles): No, no, no.
0:09:00 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that would have been hard on my family.
0:09:01 - (Craig Charles): It would have been hard, yeah. Extremely hard.
0:09:03 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And then. So when did you say that was?
0:09:07 - (Craig Charles): In 2014.
0:09:09 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:09:09 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. So, 2014, I went out there, and you started the school up in 2016.
0:09:15 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. And then tell me about the school and how it's going and the school is going, how it's grown over the last.
0:09:21 - (Craig Charles): The school is ten years. I have a slogan right now, and I'm pretty sure you heard about it from a pair of Clippers to the White House. The school is going exponentially, to the point where I opened another school in Bristol, Virginia. And just recently, I got an award for the state of Tennessee, and I had to go get the award in DC, so.
0:09:42 - (Colin Johnson): So you're going, did you get the White House already?
0:09:44 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, we went up there and collected the award.
0:09:46 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, that's awesome. And tell me about that award. What was it for?
0:09:50 - (Craig Charles): Well, it was a small business person of the year. And what was most important about that award is that most people in our industry kind of get, like, pushed to the side, and all you hear is the last line of defense, your last option. It's not a great career. You're not gonna make no money. You're not gonna do this. So it was just kind of. It's a combination of just to show that, hey, from a pair of clippers to Capitol Hill, anything could happen.
0:10:19 - (Craig Charles): And I was the only borrower out of all the states who got that award. So every state represented, but everyone had a different job that they did.
0:10:30 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. Yeah, that's a big deal.
0:10:31 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, it was. I didn't realize how big it was, but it was major.
0:10:34 - (Colin Johnson): That's super cool.
0:10:35 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:10:36 - (Colin Johnson): Now, what do you see for the future of. I mean, I think you said you're maybe opening another one in Bristol, Virginia. What do you see? Let's fast forward five years from now.
0:10:45 - (Craig Charles): Well, what do we do? I'm also part of the Confess project, which is the first national barbershop movement for mental health. So I travel across the country, and I train barbers on mental health. So my next goal is I'm going to go on tour in 2025 and do some more mental health training. I'm gonna take it to the Caribbean.
0:11:04 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool. So, like, mental health training, meaning, like, as someone sitting there getting their hair cut, you know, they're often in a position where they talk about stuff, right? So you're, like, saying, okay, we're in a good spot to help lead these people and maybe heal some of them.
0:11:19 - (Craig Charles): And just kind of help them get resources, because for so long, I remember as a barber, when I was in the barber shop, I would always try to solve people's problems. And a lot of times, you get into, like, a dead end spot.
0:11:32 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:11:32 - (Craig Charles): That you just don't know what to do.
0:11:34 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:11:35 - (Craig Charles): And typically, being part of this confessed project, it kind of showed me that it's as easy as saying, hey, here's someone who was more educated than me, who was a specialist in this field, who can help you better yourself or just help you kind of get your feelings back, get you back in touch with yourself, because I don't think most people understand mental health or even take it serious. Right. Yeah.
0:12:02 - (Colin Johnson): What prompted you to start exploring that?
0:12:06 - (Craig Charles): A friend of mine, his name is Lorenzo Lewis. He's from Arkansas. And he reached out to me, let me go back. So this guy was going to Johnson City. His name was Kenny and Jesky. He was asking around for some interesting people to interview. So someone recommended me. So after he interviewed me, he connected me with a guy, Lorenz Lewis, in Arkansas. And we connected. And Lorenz Lewis started the confessed project of America.
0:12:33 - (Craig Charles): And I came on board and started traveling around the country. And he has a certain curriculum that he do where we talk to barbers, show them to identify certain things that they can help their clients with as far as, like, positive communication, active listening, validating and reducing the stigma.
0:12:53 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's cool.
0:12:55 - (Craig Charles): It's big. And that's what I really got the gist of understanding what mental health was, because before, I didn't really. I didn't really go down that line. I didn't understand. I'm like, you've hurt mental health, and you hear people have issues, but you think, why would someone want to have a war in their mind? You know what I mean? No one wants that, so. And if you don't understand it, most people would laugh or make fun of it or just try, right?
0:13:19 - (Colin Johnson): No, I think it's a big deal.
0:13:20 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:13:21 - (Colin Johnson): So what percentage of that stuff do you feel like? Maybe a spiritual battle?
0:13:28 - (Craig Charles): I think it's a lot of it.
0:13:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:13:30 - (Craig Charles): I don't know a specific percentage, but I think it's a lot of it. Because spiritually, when you're in touch with yourself and you touch with God, it kind of helps you.
0:13:39 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, totally.
0:13:40 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:13:40 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, he doesn't want you battling in your mind.
0:13:42 - (Craig Charles): Right.
0:13:43 - (Colin Johnson): That's the enemy coming against you to try and tear you down.
0:13:46 - (Craig Charles): But there's still some people out there who just don't know how to get the help, get the resources. Yeah.
0:13:51 - (Colin Johnson): And I think we've. Yeah, like you said, it's had a stigma for a long time.
0:13:54 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:13:55 - (Colin Johnson): And we just kind of sweep it under the rug. It'll be all right.
0:13:58 - (Craig Charles): Or I can remember as a young child, and. And I'd go to one of my friend's house, and he had his uncle, he was in the back room, and his uncle would just yell and scream. And I'm like, I was so afraid to go to his house. And his name is Domingo, and I was so afraid to go to his house. And I sit back and think, now his uncle was misdiagnosed. So what they did, they just put him in the back room. But if you put someone in the back room with no stimulation, no conversation, I mean, they're gonna go yeah.
0:14:33 - (Craig Charles): You took me in the back room all by myself.
0:14:35 - (Colin Johnson): Right? Yeah, for sure.
0:14:36 - (Craig Charles): So someone with some issues who just. You don't understand.
0:14:40 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:14:41 - (Craig Charles): You drive them more crazy.
0:14:43 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. What are your. Let's say somebody listening right now feels like they need to connect with somebody that, you know, needs, you know, to help them with their mental health. What would you be, what would be a good suggestion for them listening right now?
0:14:54 - (Craig Charles): The best thing you can do if you or someone that you know is going through some type of mental health issues, you can always call 988. 988 is the national hotline for suicide prevention, and there will be someone on the other end of the line that you can speak to or you can refer to someone. They'll always. They pick up every time.
0:15:10 - (Colin Johnson): You just gotta hit 988.
0:15:12 - (Craig Charles): 988.
0:15:13 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool. I didn't know that.
0:15:14 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:15:14 - (Colin Johnson): Sounds great. Yeah. See, well, the listeners, I mean, you know, if you're going through a dark time, don't. Don't do it by yourself.
0:15:20 - (Craig Charles): You don't have to.
0:15:21 - (Colin Johnson): No, we got people out there that.
0:15:23 - (Craig Charles): Love you, but a lot of times we don't know.
0:15:25 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:15:26 - (Craig Charles): And you don't know what you don't know.
0:15:28 - (Colin Johnson): Right. And then I think the whole, you know, the pandemic and all that, like, really isolated people, more like your uncle was back in the back room. We were all. And, you know, there are tons of people by themselves, and it's made it a lot worse.
0:15:38 - (Craig Charles): There's so many resources out there.
0:15:39 - (Colin Johnson): There's so many resources.
0:15:41 - (Craig Charles): And I think it's such a wonderful thing when we could take our time and understand that there's a mental warfare that people are going through that they don't want to go through.
0:15:51 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:15:51 - (Craig Charles): So if you can help remedy the situation, why not?
0:15:56 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I think that'd be a huge help. Now, as part of your school, are you offering classes in that to help?
0:16:03 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. Well, we have. We teach. We talk about it. The unique thing about my school is that we talk about financial literacy, we talk about mental health, because my whole focus is, if I just teach you how to be a barber, I have done you a disservice. I want you to be a whole person. I want you to be ready to just go out there and tackle everything.
0:16:23 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wouldn't think even physically. You need to be training, and if you're standing on your feet all day, right. You gotta be worked out.
0:16:31 - (Craig Charles): You know, you gotta be ready to roll, nutrition, everything. You know. So we talk about everything, just kind of get the whole barber ready, just go out there and into the workforce and do his job.
0:16:42 - (Colin Johnson): Sounds like. Yeah, and I think it's. It almost sounds like more of a. Than just teaching. It's almost mentoring someone through life. You know what I mean? It is like you're really setting them up for success and all areas and then. Yeah, if you're even helping with the mental health stuff, relationship stuff, you know, it's a lot.
0:16:57 - (Craig Charles): If you're teaching and you don't care about the whole person, you teaching.
0:17:01 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:17:01 - (Craig Charles): Well, why shouldn't you even teach?
0:17:02 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. You're standing up for the paycheck.
0:17:04 - (Craig Charles): Right.
0:17:05 - (Colin Johnson): And that's no fun.
0:17:06 - (Craig Charles): No.
0:17:06 - (Colin Johnson): After a while you're just like, why am I doing it?
0:17:08 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. I mean, but you'll get burnt out. You won't do it long term.
0:17:11 - (Colin Johnson): That's right.
0:17:12 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:17:12 - (Colin Johnson): So, yeah, I like it.
0:17:15 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:17:15 - (Colin Johnson): What do you think? Ten years out. So you're gonna, you're gonna do that next year? Let's go. 510 years out. Do you have a. Are you a long term planner? Dreamer?
0:17:23 - (Craig Charles): I do. I mean, I think about long term. Ten years out, I'll probably still be doing the barbering, still teaching. We have some plans. Open some schools in Asheville and open the school in Boston to kind of do the same thing. Because the whole industry, the cosmetology, barbering aesthetics, nail industry, I think it's an industry that can, people can level up. I know that. Level up. When I say level, I mean, like, it's a career that there are a lot of people who earn in 60, 70, 80, 9000 thousand dollars a year.
0:17:59 - (Colin Johnson): Barbering, barber and that.
0:18:00 - (Craig Charles): Cool. Yeah. I mean, that's amazing. I mean, you don't have to go.
0:18:03 - (Colin Johnson): To college, you go to your school. How long is, how long is the school?
0:18:06 - (Craig Charles): It's about ten months.
0:18:07 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:18:08 - (Craig Charles): Months full time.
0:18:08 - (Colin Johnson): Right?
0:18:09 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:18:09 - (Colin Johnson): So that's a great.
0:18:11 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, I mean, I'm an advocate for college. I love college. I think people should go to college and. But play football. Yeah. Well, you gotta be, you have to have, you gotta be specialized.
0:18:21 - (Colin Johnson): That's right.
0:18:22 - (Craig Charles): But I think it's important to kinda give people opportunity to see that. Hey, CTE programs in high schools and those things that you don't have to go if you wanna go to college for four years, it's an opportunity through trade schools and CTE programs that can help you take care of yourself and your family.
0:18:41 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. I think there are a lot of trade schools out there that are going to really start doing well because that industry has been, it's been pushed off like it's not, you know, that's not something you want to do. You need to be, you know, whatever. And not everybody. There's not that many jobs in those fields. So it's kind of like. It doesn't make sense. I don't know whether.
0:18:59 - (Craig Charles): And a lot. A lot of those tradesmen, they're retiring, so we need to fill those spots.
0:19:03 - (Colin Johnson): Right. And those guys need to be mentoring some guys.
0:19:05 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:19:06 - (Colin Johnson): A lot of it's just an art. I mean.
0:19:08 - (Craig Charles): I mean, I think the high school is doing a great job now, because I remember we never had no plumbers coming into school when I was in high school on all borrowers, electrician. But what we do now, we go into the high schools at the middle school level and talk about borrowing and cosmetology and aesthetics to kind of give the kids a descriptive of what we do and let them know, hey, there's options out there for you.
0:19:32 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. Are you still cutting hair?
0:19:38 - (Craig Charles): I do. Not much. There's some people that just wants me to cut their hair.
0:19:42 - (Colin Johnson): And you're like, all right.
0:19:43 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, but, I mean, I enjoy cutting.
0:19:45 - (Colin Johnson): You gotta keep your skills sharp, right?
0:19:46 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, you gotta keep. You gotta hone. You gotta hone it. You gotta hone. Yeah, you gotta hone.
0:19:52 - (Colin Johnson): Tell me about your shop. Tell the listeners about your shop.
0:19:54 - (Craig Charles): It's in Johnson City. We have two locations. I'm in Johnson City. The previous location we moved from when we started in 2016. Now it's just our work based workforce development. So the kids who are graduated, if they want to go there and start the workforce, we can take them there and let them just. But we moved down to the Burlington building, and that's where the main hub is for our program. And we do free haircuts the first and third Thursday of the month. But we also do discount haircuts. You can come and get a haircut for eight to $10.
0:20:28 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:20:29 - (Craig Charles): That's a good deal. Yeah, that's a great deal. I mean, I had good price, and now I think I did one up.
0:20:37 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, yeah, it's. It keeps going up, and they're like, I learned how to cut my hair myself. I did it on the back porch. Like, when we were. We couldn't go anywhere. You know, you could. You're tied up. So I'd be like, you know. And I was cutting my son's hair. He's like, dad, this is terrible. So I don't have that skill.
0:20:52 - (Craig Charles): Someone told me it was before, in everybody's family, there's someone who wanted to be a barber.
0:20:57 - (Colin Johnson): Hey, my son looks at his hair and does a lot of that. Maybe he. Who knows? I don't know. He's got long, longer hair and. Yeah. So I will. Somebody listening, like, you know, that may want to connect with you and get their hair cut at your, one of your stores. What's the best way to just call?
0:21:18 - (Craig Charles): Get on Facebook, get on Instagram, hit us up, stop by. We're open.
0:21:23 - (Colin Johnson): Where the name. What are the name of your store? Like, your shops?
0:21:26 - (Craig Charles): Crown cuts Academy. It's McKinley Road. 2203 McKinley Road.
0:21:31 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:21:32 - (Craig Charles): And the other one is right down Rome Street. 809 North Rome street. And the one is in Bristol. Is. Is right there off of Commonwealth Avenue. So is they all crown cuts?
0:21:45 - (Colin Johnson): All crown cuts.
0:21:46 - (Craig Charles): You can stop by from Tuesday through Saturday, from 1030 to about two. You can get a haircut or if you want to enroll in the school. If you want to enroll in the schools. We have four programs. We have cosmetology, aesthetics, males, and barbering. Yeah, I mean, it's one of the. We have about 40% of the new people getting into barbering now are women. There are a lot of people changing careers, from doctors to lawyers to school teachers who come into our industry. So it's an open industry.
0:22:16 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:22:16 - (Craig Charles): For, for anyone. And it's not. The salaries are not bad. I mean, you come out of school making about $50,000.45.
0:22:24 - (Colin Johnson): So tell me. Yeah, tell our listeners about that. You come out of school, you graduate from your school, and when you graduate in that ten months, do you have your. You probably don't have your 1500 hours in that period.
0:22:35 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, you do.
0:22:36 - (Colin Johnson): Okay. So you come out, you're a licensed barber, and then you're saying you can get a sat. You can get a salary job somewhere.
0:22:42 - (Craig Charles): About $40,000 starting now. Where at?
0:22:45 - (Colin Johnson): Cause I'm thinking, like, you gotta go to, like, one of your, like a shop.
0:22:48 - (Craig Charles): No, I mean, there's all these rent.
0:22:50 - (Colin Johnson): A chair and do that kind of thing. Is that another option?
0:22:52 - (Craig Charles): I guess there's sports clubs, there's great clips. There's all these barbershops around this area. I mean, but I specifically know a lot of barbers in the area who are making about six figures.
0:23:01 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, easily.
0:23:03 - (Craig Charles): So. But it's all like, you know, you have to put in the work.
0:23:06 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:23:06 - (Craig Charles): You're just not just gonna fall in right now.
0:23:08 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. You can't work three days a week.
0:23:09 - (Craig Charles): No. You can't work two days a weekend. You have to go out there and market yourself and you have to be. You have to be. You have to have soft skills.
0:23:17 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:23:17 - (Craig Charles): Cause if you don't have soft skills, if anything we do, you're gonna lose 100%.
0:23:22 - (Colin Johnson): You gotta connect with people, let them know you care about them. Provide a great product.
0:23:26 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:23:27 - (Colin Johnson): And at a good price.
0:23:28 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:23:29 - (Colin Johnson): And over and over and over. And it just continues to multiply and people talk about it. Yeah. What's something you wish you had known earlier in your career that you could pass on to some folks that are thinking about what you're doing?
0:23:44 - (Craig Charles): You don't have to wait. I wish I started about, like, 18.
0:23:49 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yeah.
0:23:50 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. Because I didn't realize the longevity in this industry. And for me specifically, no one was making Barbie look like the sexy profession or the profession where you're making some good money.
0:24:06 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:24:07 - (Craig Charles): But just understanding that this industry is one of the oldest profession in the world. It started back in Egypt, and it's a great career. I've not done nothing besides barbing.
0:24:20 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it's fun. I can just see the passion on you coming out of it.
0:24:25 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. Barbie is a love, there's a love for Barb that I love.
0:24:29 - (Colin Johnson): Crown cuts. What's the story behind the name?
0:24:33 - (Craig Charles): So I was going up Buffalo Mountain, and one of my friends, his name was Scott Lucas, and I was trying to come up with names for the barber shop, and we went up Buffalo Mountain. If anybody know anything about Buffalo Mountain, it's in Johnson City.
0:24:48 - (Colin Johnson): And, yeah, come to Johnson City to take a hike up buffalo Mountain. It's beautiful. The view up there is unreal.
0:24:54 - (Craig Charles): We was up there and we was trying to come up with names, and we sat on this rock and we heard this noise. It was a bunch of snakes just basking around us. And I'm like, someone took off. Cause it was that time, I guess it was in springtime, and they were just up there basking and chilling in. So I was sitting that thing. I was like, what am I gonna name this thing? And I rattled off some names like, nah, that don't sound good.
0:25:22 - (Craig Charles): So as we walked down the mountain, I said, crown. Top of your head is a crown and cuts. Just put it together.
0:25:29 - (Colin Johnson): There you go. That sounds good.
0:25:30 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:25:31 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. I love it.
0:25:32 - (Craig Charles): I think those sticks has something to do with it.
0:25:36 - (Colin Johnson): Well, you were on their mountain. You know, we're the outsiders there, so.
0:25:40 - (Craig Charles): I think that was a bunch of them boys, too.
0:25:43 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Who are some people that have influenced you in your life that you give a shout out to a little bit?
0:25:48 - (Craig Charles): My family, my parents, my on both sides. My father, my mother. I have a really big family, so, I mean, they've really been influential.
0:25:58 - (Colin Johnson): A lot of brothers and sisters?
0:25:59 - (Craig Charles): I have no brothers and sisters. Just a lot of you. Cousins, uncles, and a whole bunch of family.
0:26:05 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, yeah. Any barbers out there that you help? Who did you train under? Mister Boston?
0:26:14 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, mister Steele. I'm an oasis barber shop in Dudley. They were very.
0:26:20 - (Colin Johnson): Are they gonna help partner with you when you do the one in Boston?
0:26:24 - (Craig Charles): Yes. Yes, mister Steele. I remember when I, when I was leaving his shop to come back to Johnson City, and it was so tough for me to tell him that I was leaving to go to Johnson City to start my own shop. And it took me a while, and I was just like, nervous and telling that. When I told him, he was just so happy and because he knew that he was part of my development to get to this part and went out my barbershop, he came down to see it, which was kind of exciting.
0:26:51 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:26:52 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. Mister Spiel, isn't that cool how like.
0:26:55 - (Colin Johnson): The lord interweaves people in your life that you just are, like, they're just great people and then totally changed your life, you know, like, he could have been. He could have made barbering look like, I mean, something you don't want to do, you know, like, you start training and you're like, oh, this isn't what I want to do. And here's what you're doing, and now look at what you're doing. Because he poured into you and mentored you.
0:27:15 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:27:15 - (Colin Johnson): That's such a beautiful way of. Way it goes. Yeah. What are some of the challenges that you've had to overcome as a small business owner?
0:27:25 - (Craig Charles): Just like anyone else, I think that people don't realize in any business, it's gonna be ebbs and flows and you have to realize, you have to stick to it, stick with it, because most times is that everybody's so fast and give up. Everybody wants to swing that big stick.
0:27:41 - (Colin Johnson): And hit their own run.
0:27:42 - (Craig Charles): And I realize it's a process. Take your time. Everything happens in time. If you trust your product and you cultivate it, it's going to do you well. But don't think that you just can't cultivate your product. Manifest it, fix it, stop and start over. Just mold it into the thing that you want it to be in. You can't just mold it in a day. You can't mold it in a year. It takes some time.
0:28:12 - (Colin Johnson): It takes time, doesn't it?
0:28:13 - (Craig Charles): But if it's your passion and is it burning desire inside of you. That's going to help you. Yeah.
0:28:19 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Time on task over time, just keep after it.
0:28:24 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. I mean. Cause, Barbara, in the past 20 years, I've never had a day where I didn't want to go to work. I mean, it was just all love. Every. Every day I look forward to waking up.
0:28:35 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:28:35 - (Craig Charles): To going to work. And I think that's. That's something that most people are looking for.
0:28:40 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. For sure. Figure out what your passion is, what you were created to do, and then following it. That's pretty cool. Yeah. You're a people person, too.
0:28:48 - (Craig Charles): I mean, you have to be when you.
0:28:50 - (Colin Johnson): As you're a barber. Yeah. And or. Yeah.
0:28:53 - (Craig Charles): But more so you. You have to connect with people in your barber for you. For you to have retention and people come back and patronize your business.
0:29:03 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, for sure. So back to Johnson City. You're married. You have a family.
0:29:11 - (Craig Charles): Yes. My wife Wendy. Wendy, she does nails. She has an old nail salon. And she also has a nail school too, as well.
0:29:17 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:29:18 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:29:18 - (Colin Johnson): So you guys are screwing it up.
0:29:20 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:29:20 - (Colin Johnson): Training everybody up in Johnson City.
0:29:22 - (Craig Charles): Yep. Yep.
0:29:22 - (Colin Johnson): I like that. What do you and Wendy like to do on date night?
0:29:27 - (Craig Charles): Wendy likes, she loved going to the movies. She loved movies. She loved going to the theater and sitting there getting the popcorn.
0:29:33 - (Colin Johnson): Same Carly? Yeah, she likes the movies.
0:29:36 - (Craig Charles): And we love the trial.
0:29:38 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Where's your favorite place to go?
0:29:40 - (Craig Charles): I just came back from the Caribbean a week before last.
0:29:43 - (Colin Johnson): You still have family down there?
0:29:44 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. That's cool. We went down there, and it was fun. It was hot. It was a great time.
0:29:49 - (Colin Johnson): Which Allen's were you on?
0:29:50 - (Craig Charles): Owen St. Thomas.
0:29:51 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:29:51 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:29:51 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:29:52 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, it was fun.
0:29:54 - (Colin Johnson): We got married in the dominican, and just two of us. It was awesome. It was awesome. So let's say you. You're gonna go get a burger in town. Where are you going?
0:30:05 - (Craig Charles): I like, I love southern craft. That's my go to spot.
0:30:08 - (Colin Johnson): Isn't it great?
0:30:08 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:30:09 - (Colin Johnson): Raphael, I hear a lot of people say southern craft a label.
0:30:12 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:30:12 - (Colin Johnson): And he's just got a good burger.
0:30:14 - (Craig Charles): I mean, we travel so much. And I tell people all the time, if southern craft, like, Charleston's one of my favorite places to go.
0:30:20 - (Colin Johnson): Same.
0:30:22 - (Craig Charles): If something crab was in Charleston, they would clean house. They would clean house to be.
0:30:27 - (Colin Johnson): It would be. Yeah, I'm with you.
0:30:29 - (Craig Charles): I mean, because you would think that. And there are some overrated restaurants in Charleston.
0:30:34 - (Colin Johnson): Uh huh.
0:30:34 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. People stand in line for, like, hours. I'm like, yeah. And you. The hype does not yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
0:30:45 - (Colin Johnson): They would. They would have lines around the block.
0:30:46 - (Craig Charles): Yeah, they would clean out.
0:30:48 - (Colin Johnson): Well, maybe we should get Ralph to open one down there.
0:30:50 - (Craig Charles): I mean, as long as I keep her in Johnson city, I'm good.
0:30:54 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, yeah. Pizza. Where you got. Where you and Wendy like to get.
0:30:58 - (Craig Charles): The pizza when you're this main street pizza. Let's keep it simple. We live downtown, so we. We try to do everything in the downtown area.
0:31:06 - (Colin Johnson): Okay, cool.
0:31:07 - (Craig Charles): I don't adventure out, but we love going to Bristol. But yeah, yeah.
0:31:14 - (Colin Johnson): Dessert. Fun things like, you guys gonna go get a little dessert somewhere?
0:31:19 - (Craig Charles): I went to union 41 in Bristol, and they had this really amazing dessert.
0:31:23 - (Colin Johnson): Union 41? I haven't even heard about that. Tell us about. Tell the listeners about it.
0:31:26 - (Craig Charles): Union 41 is a restaurant in downtown Bristol. The lady chef t, she was on one of those major TlC shows, and I think she came in first or second place.
0:31:39 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, wow.
0:31:39 - (Craig Charles): And she has a really nice restaurant. Really great menu. Food is amazing.
0:31:44 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah. We've got some good foodies around here.
0:31:47 - (Craig Charles): Joshini. People underestimate JC.
0:31:50 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:31:50 - (Craig Charles): The tri cities to say the Highlands. People underestimate the Highlands. Yeah.
0:31:54 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. It's a great spot. It is so good. And again, it's because of the people. What are you getting into this summer?
0:32:03 - (Craig Charles): Traveling some more. We have a festival coming up. It's teamed up with Tennessee Hills Bristolery. Oh, yeah, reggae wine and shine. It's a live reggae band from Jacksonville. And hawaiian tasting.
0:32:15 - (Colin Johnson): When's that happening?
0:32:16 - (Craig Charles): Best? Next Saturday. Next Saturday, June 1.
0:32:19 - (Colin Johnson): All right. We'll put the link to it in the show notes so people can click on it. You have to register ahead of time.
0:32:24 - (Craig Charles): No, it's a show. It's a free event. It's gonna have vendors, some food, really good food, really great wine. It's kid friendly. It's gonna be a bouncy house. It's gonna be fun.
0:32:36 - (Colin Johnson): That'll be fun. Does Tennessee Hills do wine?
0:32:39 - (Craig Charles): They don't do wine, but I partnered up with them and I started the event five years ago.
0:32:43 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, that's cool.
0:32:43 - (Craig Charles): At the school. And so we just moved it to their facility because it has more space and it's a little bit more conducive.
0:32:49 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And they're finally getting Walnut street all finished up.
0:32:52 - (Craig Charles): It's finally.
0:32:53 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, finally.
0:32:55 - (Craig Charles): It's been a while.
0:32:55 - (Colin Johnson): It's been like two years of just craziness over there.
0:32:59 - (Craig Charles): Today I drove by and they were doing. They were planting plants, and so that.
0:33:05 - (Colin Johnson): Was good to see yeah, Albert drove through it a couple of days ago and. Yeah, it looks like it's there. It looks like they're days away.
0:33:11 - (Craig Charles): Yep. Reggae wine and shine.
0:33:13 - (Colin Johnson): Reggae wine and shine. Next Saturday.
0:33:15 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:33:15 - (Colin Johnson): So we'll drop this one. I don't know, probably right, right before that.
0:33:19 - (Craig Charles): Yep.
0:33:19 - (Colin Johnson): So we can pump it up a little bit. Anything I can do for you, sir?
0:33:26 - (Craig Charles): One thing that I just want to talk about, I think people underestimate the fact of volunteering and community service. I think that we don't do enough of that and I think we need to think about more volunteering and giving you time and just helping someone else, doing some community service for your community and volunteering and that's important.
0:33:50 - (Colin Johnson): What are some places you like to volunteer?
0:33:52 - (Craig Charles): I volunteered at the jail in Washington county and Unicorn county. We do haircuts and I. That's cool. I taught, we had a program in Washington county where we gave ten women their license. Oh, for startup for ten women and ended up with five. The license and nail, the nail technician.
0:34:13 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. That's a game changer for them when they come out of, I mean, it's.
0:34:17 - (Craig Charles): Important because we forget about the people who are, like I said, mental health issues, people who are in jail because they're coming out and they gotta be our neighbors. So we should equip them with the skills for them to take care of themselves. Because if not, they gotta go back the same cycle and hey, we have to live around them, so.
0:34:35 - (Colin Johnson): Right. I think if we, yeah, I think, and you think about the workforce that's there, that if you could train them up and give them hope.
0:34:42 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:34:43 - (Colin Johnson): And get them off of, you know, out of that cycle like you're saying, it's just a, you know, but they've got to wanna do it. And so, yeah, if you could break that cycle, then you could change a ton of people's lives, but save the state millions of dollars. I mean, it's crazy.
0:34:58 - (Craig Charles): I mean, just give someone a chance, I hope. And during that time I was in the jail, I'd go there from nine in the morning to twelve and I would teach them how to do the skill. We'd go through theory with a textbook and they were, and we'd have group sessions. Did it for six months. And one of the key things that I walked away with is a lot of those women, they never had someone say that, hey, you're doing well, congratulations, I'm proud of me.
0:35:24 - (Craig Charles): And that just went a long way. We're just hearing someone say, I'm proud of you.
0:35:28 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:35:28 - (Craig Charles): You're doing good. Congratulations.
0:35:32 - (Colin Johnson): Positive affirmation.
0:35:33 - (Craig Charles): Positive affirmation. Those little soft skills let people know that, hey, there's someone who care about you.
0:35:38 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:35:39 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:35:39 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Well, I'm sure they felt loved by you. Cause you're just a great guy.
0:35:44 - (Craig Charles): Thank you.
0:35:46 - (Colin Johnson): Last question. What gets you just fired up? Like, you're just like, let's go.
0:35:50 - (Craig Charles): I'm pretty a chill person, but I like watching my sports teams. The Patriots, the Celtics. When they win, I get fired up.
0:35:59 - (Colin Johnson): That's right. Cause you're from Boston.
0:36:00 - (Craig Charles): Yeah.
0:36:01 - (Colin Johnson): You gonna go to any of the games?
0:36:03 - (Craig Charles): Well, you know, this is the playoff time in the conference championship, so those tickets are hard to come by. Yeah, but no, I typically try to go to a game once a year.
0:36:12 - (Colin Johnson): That'll be fine. Yeah.
0:36:13 - (Craig Charles): Well, cool.
0:36:14 - (Colin Johnson): Well, I'm proud of you. Thank you. I'm glad we're friends. I'm just excited to see what you're doing. Everybody I talk to in town just has wonderful things to say about you and what you're doing. And so, yeah, I think you're changing our landscape here. You're helping people out, and it's just awesome to see it grow, and it's going to be cool to watch it continue to flourish.
0:36:35 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:36:36 - (Colin Johnson): And how you mentor people and just change their lives, it's just beautiful.
0:36:40 - (Craig Charles): That's important.
0:36:40 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it is important. It's super exciting. So, yeah, we wish you the best. Thank you for spending some time. What's your podcast name? And we can get people listening to it while they're on because the podcast.
0:36:52 - (Craig Charles): Is called Barber college success. Yeah, we're upwards to close to 200 episodes. It's a podcast talking about the industry and just help them give prospective students a descriptive of what we do and to help them make their mind about cosmetology, barbering aesthetics, or nails. And I read a review one time, and this doctor from. I think he was from California, he put a review, he said that the podcast is more than just barbering.
0:37:24 - (Craig Charles): So that was like a great compliment as well.
0:37:26 - (Colin Johnson): Sure. Yeah. Well, you can't only talk so much about hair. You're getting into people's hearts and lives and learning about them. And that's what I love about this podcast. It's not just about Johnson City. It's about what you said you love most about it. It's the people that make Johnson City awesome.
0:37:40 - (Craig Charles): Yes.
0:37:41 - (Colin Johnson): If we weren't here, it would just be a bunch of buildings and it'd be sad. It would be just sad.
0:37:46 - (Craig Charles): And I kind of tend to say sometimes spreading love to JC way.
0:37:53 - (Colin Johnson): Spread the love to JC way. I love it.
0:37:56 - (Craig Charles): Well, I think that's a. We gonna coin that slogan.
0:37:59 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, you should put that on a boomtown t shirt and start selling at the shop. So. Well, anything else we need to share before we go?
0:38:09 - (Craig Charles): I don't know, man.
0:38:10 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, we can talk for hours.
0:38:11 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. We can talk for days.
0:38:12 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Yeah. Well, I wish you the best. I really am, like, just glad I get to see you occasionally and so. Yeah, keep us posted. Come back on here in a few years and you can update us on your world tour and how many schools you got going on and where all you been.
0:38:26 - (Craig Charles): Cause how many lives you affected and how many lives you've helped.
0:38:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And then how many. Yeah, and if, again, if you are suffering, like, in the mental health realm.
0:38:34 - (Craig Charles): Yeah. Down 998898.
0:38:38 - (Colin Johnson): And, yeah, don't do it alone.
0:38:40 - (Craig Charles): Don't do it alone.
0:38:41 - (Colin Johnson): Don't do it alone.
0:38:41 - (Craig Charles): If you have a family member or a friend going through something, just call that number. There's always someone on the line.
0:38:47 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Or go reach out to any. If you. Yeah, if you can't reach out to that number for some reason, just reach out to somebody. You're not alone in this world.
0:38:55 - (Craig Charles): You're not.
0:38:55 - (Colin Johnson): There are a lot of people who love you and you don't even know. Yeah. Well, thanks for coming on the podcast and enjoyed our conversation. I hope you guys did as well. If you want to move here, get your hair cut, learn how to be a barber, be a part of the awesome Johnson city. Go up on the Buffalo mountain and meet some snakes. I'd love to help you make a move to Johnson City. Yeah. Or if you need to sell a house or invest in real estate, we love doing that, too. So we.
0:39:21 - (Craig Charles): Johnson is a great place.
0:39:22 - (Colin Johnson): It is a great place. It is a great place because you and the people around make it awesome.
0:39:27 - (Craig Charles): And yourself.
0:39:28 - (Colin Johnson): Well, thank you, sir. And my man Mitch, our main man, Mitch. He's the man. Until next time, I'm Colin Johnson of the Colin Carter group from Keller Williams Realty. Thanks and have a great day.